Maps & Buildings

Getting Started

Carmel House History: The Road to Your Home – Join Local History Librarian Katie O’Connell and family historian and librarian Kathy Nielsen for a talk on finding your house’s history. You’ll learn how to navigate historic newspapers, city directories and property files; what City and County resources are available; the particularities of historic research in Carmel-by-the-Sea; and how tracing a house’s history can fill in gaps in your own family history.

Carmel House & Building Research: A resource guide put together by our local history librarian

Home & Building Research 

• City of Carmel Building Permits: 1920-Feb 1928; 1928-Jan 1934; 1939-1940
• City of Carmel Property Files: construction information, permits and plans for individual properties within city limits
• Inventory of Historic Carmel Buildings: Part I (Blocks A-73) and Part II (Blocks 74-End). (Current Historic Inventory (2022))
• Carmel Development Company Collection: Business records of the development of Carmel, from Devendorf and Powers, 1891-1997. (Full collection guide)
• List of Deeds of Property, Carmel Development Company Papers (1903-1935)
• Fire Insurance Sanborn Maps: Access through your library account. Historical maps of Monterey County houses and buildings, 1880s-1950s. Additional maps available in the Local History Department
• House Names in Carmel (This map is not created or maintained by the City of Carmel-By-The-Sea.)
• City Directories Online (1947-1961, some gaps)
• Monterey County Recorder Historical Indices: Historic index of property transactions, 1850-1977 (Halfway down list. Note: much of the older records are handwritten and the text search can’t read them.)

Maps

• Fire Insurance Sanborn Maps: Access through your library account. Historical maps of Monterey County houses and buildings, 1880s-1950s. Additional maps available in the Local History Department. (Learn how to read a Sanborn map)
• Homes of Famous Carmelites (Additional information)
• House Names in Carmel (This map is not created or maintained by the City of Carmel-By-The-Sea.)
• Old Carmel on Historypin: Explore Carmel’s history overlaid on today’s streets. Find Jo Mora’s studio, George Sterling’s home, Carmel’s first library and much more.

Historic Building Brochures

• Artists and Artisans - Carmel Woods
• The Eighty Acres - Carmel-by-the-Sea
• Historic Houses - Carmel-by-the-Sea
• Historic Inns - Carmel-by-the-Sea

More in the Library

Available at the Local History Department in the Park Branch Library.

• Carmel Preservation Foundation Collection: Survey of Carmel buildings, builders and architects conducted 1990s-2000s.
• City directories and reverse look-ups (1926-present, some gaps)
• M.J. Murphy estimates/costs for home building/projects (1915-1917)