Are blueprints available for your home? If your home was built before 1945, we do not have your original blueprints. However, we may still have some blueprints for your home! And if your home was built in 1945 or later, we probably do have your original plans. Read on to learn more:
From the establishment of Shaker Village, a set of house plans had to be submitted with a building permit application to the Van Sweringen Company (and later the City of Shaker Heights). These plans were not retained but were discarded after the home was finished. Beginning in 1945, the City of Shaker Heights microfilmed these building plans and blueprints before destroying them. The City subsequently sent these rolls of microfilmed building plans, containing approximately 12,000 sets of plans, to the Shaker Library Local History Collection.
Shaker Library Local History indexed the rolls of microfilmed blueprints with the help of awesome volunteers and found the microfilm contained not only original building plans but many plans for renovations, additions, and garages, among other alterations. All microfilmed plan information has now been listed in the Shaker Buildings Database. So, even if your home was built before 1945, there may still be a set of plans for post-1945 work available for your home.
So, do we have any blueprints for your home? Here’s how to find out:
- Look up your home’s record in the Shaker Buildings Database.
- If a microfilm roll number is listed in your home’s Shaker Buildings Database record, microfilmed blueprints of some kind are available for your home.
- Connect to Local History to arrange to receive a digitized copy of your microfilmed blueprints. When leaving a message by voicemail or email, be sure to include the building address.
