While the Office for Metropolitan History has — fabulously — made Manhattan new building application information available through a database covering the years from 1900 to 1986, the nineteenth century permits represent a larger project that is yet to be undertaken.

It turns out that the Internet Archive is hosting scanned and searchable copies of the Real Estate Record and Builders’ Guide from 1879 to 1922, each reporting new buildings, alterations, purchases, mortgages, and other transactions in detail. Searching for this journal returns a list of volumes available in pdf and other formats. The one unnumbered volume is 73 (1904), and volumes 26, 28, 30, 38, and 46 appear to be unavailable. Of those, volume 28 (second half of 1881) is available from Google Books.

Google Books also has volumes 5-6 (1870), 7-8 (1871), and 9-10 (1872).

A new list of about 675 Lamb & Rich projects should be available here in the next few weeks.

[Update 12.07.2009: It is more like 600 projects, and it is available at Lamb & Rich.]

[Update 02.14.2010: Reference to volumes 5-10 added.]

[Update 04.12.2010: Another good way to search the Record & Guide is to put this into Google:
site:www.columbia.edu “firm name”.]