This blog will describe the Manhattan DOB docket book collection; future blogs will provide information about extant docket books for the other boroughs.

On June 9, 1977, Eugene J. Bockman, Director of the Municipal Reference and Research Center (and the first Commissioner of the Department of Records and Information Services), wrote to Department of Buildings (DOB) Commissioner Jeremiah T. Walsh alerting him to “. . . a potentially dangerous situation” regarding the DOB docket books dating from 1866 through 1915. 

In the 1970s, the DOB was located on the 20th floor of the Municipal Building and the docket books were on open shelves in a public hallway outside their offices. Bockman explained that it had been brought to his attention that the docket books were being “borrowed” for periods of time and not always returned. Bockman offered to house the books in the Municipal Reference and Research Center, located on the 22nd floor of the Municipal Building. He noted that they would be under “constant supervision” by the librarians but still easily accessible to DOB staff and others requiring access.

“The docket books . . . are extremely valuable historical resources,” Bockman added.

Walsh granted Bockman’s request and the pre-1916 docket books were moved to the Library. Three years later, in March 1980, the Municipal Archives accessioned the docket books from the Library. Municipal Archives staff working on the grant-funded Manhattan Building Records project at that time made frequent use of the docket books. In April 1982, the Municipal Archives accessioned the docket books dating from 1916 through 1959 from the DOB. During the 1980s, the Archives solicited donations to re-bind several of the earliest volumes. The Archives microfilmed the entire docket book series in 1989.

There are five series in the docket book collection:

1. New Building Application dockets, 1866-1916, (31 volumes)

2. New Building Docket Application Index dockets, 1866-1911, (29 volumes)

3. Alteration Application dockets, 1866-1910, (29 volumes)

4. Alteration Application Index dockets, 1866-1915, (37 volumes)

5. Application dockets, 1916-1959, (151 volumes).

On June 4, 1866, the DOB began requiring the filing of written applications, with plans, for the construction of new buildings or alterations to existing structures. They began recording summary information about each application in large, ledger-type books. Prior to 1916, they maintained separate ledgers for new building and alteration applications, and alphabetical indexes to each series.  

The New Building and Alteration Application ledgers are organized in column format on two facing pages in two sections; across the top of the page and then continuing across the lower portion. The pre-1916 ledgers record extensive information about each application.

Reading left to right, headings at the top of the left-hand page:

• Plan no. /Date Submitted /Location /Street No. /Owner /Architect /Building /Ward No.

Reading left to right, headings at the top of the right-hand page:

• Value /Size of Lot /Size of Building /Height in Stories /Foundation Specifications /Upper Walls Specifications /Materials of Front /Type of Roof /Material of Cornice.

Reading left to right, headings at the lower half of the left-hand page:

• Plan No. /Iron Shutters /Configuration of Roof /Access to Roof /Type of Walls /Strength of Floors /Trap Doors /Fire Escapes /Type of Furnaces /Type of Building (1st Class Dwelling, 2nd Class Dwelling, etc.)

Reading left to right, headings at the lower half of the right-hand page:

• Approved /Not Approved /Amended and Approved /Date Commenced /Date Completed /Name of Inspector /Remarks.

In April 1916, the Manhattan office of the DOB began recording docket book information on 10 ½” square typewritten forms bound into volumes.  

The new typewritten form also coincided with an expansion in the number and types of applications recorded in the docket books. In addition to the New Building (NB) and Alteration (ALT) applications, the ledgers also included Demolition Permits (DP), Building Notices for minor work (BN), Electric Sign applications (ES), Dumbwaiter installations (DW), Sign Applications (SA), Computations (determination of safe floor loads), Elevators (sometimes accompanying alteration or new building applications), and Plumbing & Drainage Applications (P &D).

There are several ways to find a docket book entry.

If the New Building application dates between 1866 and 1911, or the Alteration application dates between 1866 and 1915, the index volumes can be searched to identify the application number and relevant entry in the NB or ALT dockets. The indexes are based on location—i.e. street address of the building. In many instances, the location is rendered in distance from a street or avenue. For example an entry in the 1880 NB index for the letter “E” written as “83 S.S. 125’ W. 10th” translates to: 83rd Street, South Side, 125-feet west of 10th Avenue. It is also important to note that street names may have changed in the succeeding decades. For example, the Dakota Apartment building, is listed on the 1880 index under the letter “E” for Eighth Avenue; the name change to Central Park West did not take place until the 20th century.

Another avenue to identifying application numbers is the Department of Building’s website. Entering building address or block and lot numbers into the search box on their Building Information System (BIS) brings up a “Property Profile Overview.” At the bottom of that screen there is a “select from list” box where the application type, e.g. NB—New Building, can be chosen. After clicking “show actions” the relevant New Building application number will appear in the search results. Using the Dakota apartment building again as an example, entering the current address, 1 West 72nd Street results in NB 829-80* in the search result. (The asterisk indicates the date is 1880, not 1980.)

Another approach is using the searchable database created by the Office for Metropolitan History (OMH). Founded in 1975 by the late Christopher Gray, an architectural historian and journalist (he wrote the popular “Streetscapes” column in the Real Estate section of The New York Times from 1987 to 2014), the OMH website is another excellent resource for identifying New Building applications filed after 1900. The OMH data was entered from building application information published in the Real Estate Record and Builders Guide. Digitized copies of the Real Estate Record, 1868 through 1922, are available from Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections.  Although the online Real Estate Record is not a particularly user-friendly tool, it is still a great resource for the pre-1900 information not available in the OMH database.

The OMH database is particularly useful for researching demolished buildings, or finding information that isn’t on the DOB website. In 2006, a building known as the “Tunnel Garage,” located on Broome Street, near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, was demolished despite a vigorous campaign by preservationists. According to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the garage had been admired for its “bold graphic lettering, its green and orange terra cotta ornamental accents, its original casement windows, and its striking rounded corner.” It fell into disrepair during the 1980s and was replaced by a nine-story luxury condo. Perhaps tenants of the new building might want to know something about what previously stood on the site. If they did, the answer is readily available by entering address data into the OMH database: NB application: no. 188 of 1922.

The Municipal Archives’ related collection, the Manhattan DOB ‘block and lot folder’ series also serves as an option for identifying application numbers for buildings in lower Manhattan, below block 965. As described in previous blogs [add link], the “block and lot folder” portion of the DOB collection contains the original written applications. Most folders show the application contents listed by application number. But if the application is missing from the folder, the docket books can at least supply summary information.

In addition to providing information about specific buildings, the docket books serve to document the work of architects practicing in the city, and general research on the built environment. Mosette Broderick, Clinical Professor of Art History, New York University, spent many hours at the Archives in the early 1980s reviewing all the New Building and Alteration docket books from 1866 through 1910. “I learned how the city grew,” Professor Broderick remembered in a recent conversation. By tracking new building location information in the dockets she could see patterns of development. She also added that she discovered several smaller, less well-known projects by the renowned architect Stanford White in the dockets.

Eugene Bockman’s remark about the importance of the docket books was accurate and prescient. They have served generations of researchers and future digitization (they are on the priority list) will enhance their significance.