2 min
Updated: Jun 2, 2021
This massive collection of historic photos of New York City can easily consume hours of your time. Not only can you browse through hundreds of thousands of old photos and documents in the archives, you can now search for a specific address and then search to find old photos of that location! Here's how:
To locate an exact address, first you'll need to find the Block and Lot of the location you wish to search. Do this by going to http://maps.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/
From there, enter the address or locate the location on the map.
Once you locate the property on the NYCityMap, click on the lot you are looking for. A window will pop up showing the Block and Lot numbers. An example is shown here:
Next, go to http://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/allCollections
Use the format shown here to enter both the Block and the Lot number:
For example: block=34 AND lot=1 (Replace the numbers with the ones you found in the first step)
You could also try entering the name of the street in quotes. With a little tinkering, I was able to locate the address my great-grandfather, Percy Daniels, gave on ship manifests in 1907. He was a sailor and when he was at port, he resided at 27 South Street, facing the waterfront at South Street Seaport.
I also tried to find photographs of South Street by using their Category page. I used my browser's page-search feature (press and hold Ctrl and press F) to search the page for "South Street". This allowed me to find other photos of the area. One of them shows the building next door to where Percy stayed. In the bachelor stage of his life, I can imagine his appreciation for such places as the "Seamen's Bar and Grill". (You can learn more about Percy's life here!)