The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has written a designation report on each individual landmark and historic district. The reports prepared after the mid-1970s are valuable sources on information on individual buildings, architects, neighborhoods and building types and include useful bibliographies.
CLIO, Columbia University Libraries online catalog lists paper and digital copies. Reports published after the 1990s include images. Search using the following terms:
Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscape Survey (HAL).
Digitized images of measured drawings, black-and-white photographs, color transparencies, photo captions, data pages including written histories, and supplemental materials on architecture, engineering, and design.
Diamonstein, Barbaralee. Landmarks of New York: an illustrated record of the city's historic buildings. Albany: State University of New York Press, c2011.
Compilation of designated landmarks in New York City, providing brief descriptions and photographs. A section on historic districts offers maps delineating the scope of these areas.
Avery-LC F128.7 .D585 2011
Digital copy
Dolkart, Andrew. Guide to New York City landmarks. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
Information on all individual landmarks, interior landmarks, scenic landmarks and historic districts designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission from 1965 to 2002.
Avery Reference AA735 N4 2009 G94
Goldstone, Harmon H. History preserved: a guide to New York City landmarks and historic districts. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974.
Organized by geographical areas within the city, it discusses the landmarks designated at that time and their historic significance.
Avery AA735 N4 G57