American Institute of Architects San Francisco Chapter

If you are researching your home or building’s history, here are some local and national resources to get you started. In the San Francisco Bay Area, we recommend the following organizations and research institutions. Keep in mind, too, that the best place to begin is always your local library and/or historical society.

ART DECO SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA

CALIFORNIA STATE HISTORICAL LANDMARKS IN SAN FRANCSICO COUNTY

DOCOMOMO
Non-profit organization devoted to the documentation and conservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the modern movement.

EICHLER NETWORK
Architectural, historical, maintenance information, and other resources for owners and admirers of the Modernist-designed homes built in the Bay Area by Eichler.

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

NOEHILL
This is the personal website of several San Franciscans who reside in the Victorian heart of San Francisco, the boundary between Noe Valley and The Castro. The site is devoted mainly to journals, both narrative and photographic, about life in San Francisco, travels in America and Europe

SAN FRANCISCO ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE
San Francisco Architectural Heritage encourages appreciation of the built environment and understanding of the value of preserving significant San Francisco architecture. They offer lectures, workshops, seminars and architectural walking tours. Heritage also published “Splendid Survivor’s,” the definitive work on architecturally significant buildings in the downtown area.

SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY INDEX

SAN FRANCICSO MUSEUM & HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The San Francisco Museum and Historical Society is a non-profit organization focused on preserving, interpreting, and presenting the historical heritage of San Francisco, from its variegated natural history to its lively human history.

SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY

How to Research Your San Francisco Building
Historical Photographs Archive

SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY HISTORY CENTER
The Daniel E. Koshland San Francisco History Center contains a research collection of books, newspapers and magazines, photographs, maps, posters, archives, manuscript collections, and ephemera documenting all aspects of San Francisco life and history. The Center is also the official archives for the City and County of San Francisco.

UC BERKELEY, COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN ARCHIVES
The Environmental Design Library is one of the premier architecture, landscape architecture, and city/regional planning libraries in North America. It is part of the UC Berkeley Library system, which has more than 9,000,000 volumes, the Environmental Design Library has 201,000 volumes and subscribes to more than 1,000 serials from all over the world.

A rare book collection of more than 2,500 volumes represents early architectural treatises, limited editions, materials with original reproductions or fine bindings, and other rare books, including the libraries of John Galen Howard, Beatrix Farrand, Frederick Law Olmsted and F.L. Olmsted, Jr., Greene and Greene, and William Charles Hays. UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design also maintains the AIA San Francisco archives.