HOUSE HISTORY PRODUCTS
Our personalized house histories are offered in four different formats to fit a range of interests and budgets.
POSTER
Enjoy the highlights of your house's history in an attractive timeline format suitable for framing. The standard version incorporates the subdivision creation date, house construction year, all owner names, purchase dates, purchase prices, names of first occupants and historical property maps.
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Additional enhancements can include original building permit, original subdivision map, vintage photos and newspaper clippings as well as neighbourhood history highlights.
Provided as a 18" x 24" PDF ready for printing at your local print shop or Staples store. ​
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NEW
BOOKLET
An elegant printed exploration of your home's origin, the Booklet profiles the house's construction, original owners and architectural style as well as the early development of the neighbourhood.
Published in 8 1/2" X 11" softcover format on premium paper stock and contains eight pages of illustrated content. It's also provided in digital format to share with friends.
Makes a great one-of-a-kind housewarming gift for the new homeowner that has everything and a compelling sales tool for realtors that want to highlight a property's prestige!
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SCRAPBOOK
Designed to capture mementos of not only your home's past but also its unwritten future, the Scrapbook is a treasured keepsake that can be handed down to subsequent owners for generations to come.
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The bulk of the album includes a synopsis of your home's early history, profiles of the original owner and occupants and a summary of property ownership up to the present day lavishly supplemented by reproductions of related historical documents, newspaper clippings and vintage photographs.
The remainder of the book consists of blank pages for you to write the latest chapter in your home's ongoing history. Use these to add your own photos, stories and renovation plans.
Printed in an oversized 17" x 11" format with approximately twenty five printed pages handsomely enclosed in an engraved leather cover. Bound with Chicago screws so it can be easily disassembled to add more pages as needed.
CHRONICLE
This premium offering provides the most extensive level of research and weaves the results into a comprehensive illustrated narrative about the residence, its residents and the local neighbourhood dating back to colonial times. You can even write your own foreword if you wish!
The 10" X 10" hardcover book contains approximately thirty pages and the cover design is available in a variety of attractive templates. The end result is a striking coffee table book designed to delight homeowners and impress visitors.
The book is also provided in digital format so you can easily share your home's engaging story with friends and family.​
BLOCK AND MULTI-UNIT HISTORIES
Share the pride and share the cost! Available in Booklet or Chronicle format.
BLOCK HISTORY
APARTMENT HISTORY
Does community pride run deep on your street? We offer a block history that allows groups of neighbours to take advantage of the savings resulting from researching multiple adjacent properties at once. Each participating homeowner receives their own copy and the group can opt for an additional copy to donate to your neighbourhood library's Local History section.
Residents of heritage condominium and rental apartment buildings can pool resources to split the cost of a profile their communal home. Each contributing resident receives a digital copy with an option to purchase a printed version at a modest cost. The profile can also be incorporated into the building's website to be enjoyed by other residents or the community at large.
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY HISTORIES
All of our products are also available for commercial property histories. See our blog profile of 300 JARVIS STREET in Toronto for an example of a captivating profile of one such property, in this case a nearly century-old hotel for which no past business records existed. Relying solely on first-hand period sources we were able to piece together a backstory so comprehensive that more than half the uncovered information had to be omitted in order to keep the post to a manageable reading time.
HOUSE ILLUSTRATIONS
A whimsical hand-drawn black and white illustration of your home by artist Jake Garrett can be ordered for the Booklet and Chronicle or as stand-alone artwork. The drawing can depict the house as it currently appears or as it was originally built.
Water colour versions are also available and all options are provided on heavy card stock suitable for framing.
RESEARCH REPORT
Each of our histories comes with a report containing the complete results of our research into your property's past and copies of relevant background documents such as land registry records, tax assessment rolls, property maps, subdivision plans, censuses and historical photographs.
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