Houses - How can I find out about the history of my house?

Council's Archives and the Local Studies and Family History Library at the Parramatta Heritage Centre hold many sources to assist you in researching the history of your house. Records such as Rate Books, Valuation Lists, and Sand's Directory are all available at the Centre. Staff can provide advice and assistance on the use of these records.

Staff also run regular "Hunting Your House" workshops to familiarise researchers with material to assist them. Contact the Heritage Centre for details of workshops.

LOCAL STUDIES AND FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY
Photographs, maps and old newspapers that may have articles about your house and its former occupants in addition to reference books about architectural styles. There is also a number of published histories of Parramatta. Check the indexes of these for information about a property and its inhabitants.

Council heritage-listed properties are recorded in the City of Parramatta Heritage Study, 1993. This information is also listed on the State Heritage Inventory, available on the Heritage Office of NSW website.

Houses in the Parramatta CBD are recorded in the National Trust's Parramatta CBD Housing Study, 2001 in CD-ROM and book formats.

Before the era of telephone books individuals could be located using a residents' directory. Sands' Sydney N.S.W. directory was produced annually and contained district-by-district, house-by-house listings of householders and businesses. The value of using directories like Sands is that you can construct a list of the successive occupiers of a house over a long period. You may also be able to discover what a house was called because house names are given, particularly when street numbers were not used. Parramatta appears in Sands from 1884.

Survey maps, show the locations of roads and buildings. A very accurate and extensive survey was done of Parramatta in 1895 and looking at this may help you work out when your house was built, or even when extensions were completed. The Local Studies Library holds an incomplete set of the 1895 survey.

PARRAMATTA CITY COUNCIL ARCHIVES
Rate Assessment Books and Rate and Valuation Books are held for the municipalities of Parramatta and Dundas, with less complete holdings for the municipalities of Granville and Ermington/Rydalmere. These records provide details about property and buildings including construction, ownership and occupiers.

Valuation Lists, compiled by the NSW Valuer General's Department are held for the municipalities of Parramatta, Dundas and Granville circa 1921-1961. They record the valuation of properties and can record details of ownership, transfer of ownership and occupiers. They also document improvement to property, such as construction of and additions to buildings.

LOOKING FOR CLUES
The architectural style or styles of the house can assist with dating. Reading a building is a skill that can be learnt. Walk around and through the building, noting the different materials used, and look for any features such as doors, windows, verandahs or fireplaces which have been added or removed over the years.

The use of various materials can approximately date a property. For example, corrugated iron became widespread from the 1870s, casement windows in the 1910s and fibro walls from the 1940s.

Perhaps neighbours recall information or stories about the house that would expand your research.

SELECTED BIBILIOGRAPHY
Apperly, Richard. A Pictorial guide to identifying Australian architecture : styles and terms form 1788 to the present.
Shelf Location: LS 720.994 APP

Balint, Emery. Record of commercial buildings constructed in the Victorian Era in NSW.
Shelf Location: LS 725.20934944 BAL

Boyd, Robin. Australia's home : A pioneering social history of our domestic architecture.
Shelf Location: LS 728.0994 BOY

Broadbent, James. The Australian colonial house : architecture and society in New South Wales 1788-1842.
Shelf Location: LS 728.0094 BRO

Dupain, Max. Georgian architecture in Australia.
Shelf Location: LS 720.994 DUP

Evans, Ian. More colour schemes for old Australian houses.
Shelf Location: LS 747.940994 EVA

Getting the details right : restoring Australian Houses 1890s-1920s.
Shelf Location: LS 728.370288 GET

Identifying Australian houses.
Shelf Location: LS 720.994 IDE

Jahn, Graham. Sydney architecture.
Shelf Location: LS 720.99441 JAH

Kingston, Daphne. Early colonial homes of the Sydney region, 1788-1838.
Shelf Location: LS 728.37099441 KIN

Latta, David. Early Australian architecture.
Shelf Location: LS 720.994 LAT

Parramatta Regional Branch, National Trust. Parramatta CBD housing survey.
Shelf Location: PAR also CDROM

Regan, Des. How to trace the history of your house.
Shelf Location: LS 994.00722 REG

Stapleton, Ian. How to restore the old Aussie house.
Shelf Location: LS 728.0288 STA

Stapleton, Maisy. Australian house styles.
Shelf Location: LS 728.370994 STA

All items listed are available for use in the Local Studies and Family History Library. Items are not for loan. Photocopying facilities are available.

OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION
The Land Titles Office, now called Land and Property Information New South Wales (LPINSW) holds records of all legal land transactions in New South Wales from 1863, along with some earlier records. The records held by LPINSW pertain to land, rather than buildings, but can be used to trace property ownership details.

The Mitchell Library collection at the State Library of New South Wales will probably hold other useful information, including subdivision posters, which can show you when your house block first became part of an estate subdivision.

Land and Property Information New South Wales
Queens Square
Prince Albert Road
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 9228-6666

State Library of New South Wales
Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 9273-1414

Heritage Office of NSW
Marist Place
Parramatta NSW 2150

Ian Evans World of Old Houses

Our House: Histories of Australian Homes (Australian Heritage Commission

The National Trust of Australia NSW

Historic Houses Trust (NSW

Art Deco World Online

Parramatta Heritage Centre
346a Church Street
Parramatta NSW 2150
Phone: (02) 8839 3322
Fax: (02) 9683-5608
Email: discoverparramatta@parracity.nsw.gov.au

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