New York City Atlases & Land Books: Brooklyn

 

Atlases and land books, published by Perris, Bromley, Robinson, Beers, Sanborn, and others, are invaluable for tracing information on neighborhood development and on the history of a particular site. Most of these are fire insurance maps and were originally created to help insure particular properties against fire. They were published every few years and show what was standing at a particular time. Details can include the footprint and construction materials of residences, industrial sites, and commercial buildings; property boundaries including old farm lines; building use; house and block numbers; and names and widths of streets.

Several of these atlases and land book publishers offered a correction service which kept the books up to date with the hundreds of changes that took place every year. The service made necessary changes in buildings, lots, zoning, etc. as officially recorded by New York City. Atlases and land books in this guide that have been corrected are marked with an * and are listed under their updated year, with the original publication date noted.

Only atlases and land books from Avery Library and NYPL Digital Collections (New York Public Library) are included.

After connecting to items in the NYPL Digital Collections please scroll down to the middle of the page to the "View as Book" link to see the entire atlas or land book.

Items in Avery Classics are by appointment only. See the Avery Classics Collection webpage to request an appointment.

 

1855:

Perris. Maps of the city of Brooklyn.
Contents: v.1 & v.2 
NYPL Digital Collections

1861:

Perris. Insurance maps of the warehouses & c., in Brooklyn from the Navy yard to Partition Street.
NYPL Digital Collections

1867:

Beers. Atlas of New York and vicinity.
Avery Classics AA730 N48 B393 F

1868:

Beers. Atlas of New York and vicinity.
NYPL Digital Collections

Higginson. Higginson's insurance map of the city of Brooklyn.
Contents: v.4
NYPL Digital Collections

1869:

Dripps. Map of the city of Brooklyn; being the former cities of Brooklyn & Williamsburgh and the town of Bushwick.
NYPL Digital Collections

1873:

Atlas of Long Island, New York.
NYPL Digital Collections

1874:

Beers. Farm line map of the city of Brooklyn.
Avery Classics: AA735 N4B7 F95 FF

Beers. Farm line map of the city of Brookyn
NYPL Digital Collections

1876:

Cornell. Property atlas of the City of Yonkers, N.Y.: including a portion of the twenty fourth ward of New York City.
Avery Classics AA735 Y8 C815

1879:

Dripps. Map of Kings County, New York: based on the recent official survey showing new arrangement of boulevards, streets, railroads, etc.
Avery Classics AA735 N4B7 D83

1880:

Bromley. Atlas of the entire city of Brooklyn, complete in one volume.
Avery Classics AA9127 N4 B7831 F

Bromley. Atlas of the entire city of Brooklyn, complete in one volume.
NYPL Digital Collections

Hopkins. Detailed estate and old farm line atlas of the city of Brooklyn. (6v.)
Contents: v.1 Wards 23,24 & 25--v.2 Ward 18--v.4 Wards 8 & 22--v.6 Wards 13,14,15,16,17 & 19
NYPL Digital Collections

1886-1951:

Proquest Sanborn Maps Geo Edition.
New York City [Bronx] [Kings (Brooklyn)] [Queens] [Richmond (Staten Island)].
This includes Manhattan, even though it is not listed.
Contents: 1890-1902; 1903-1919; 1908-1947; 1908-1952; New and additional sheets.

Brooklyn [Kings Co.]
Contents: 1886-1888; 1893-1895; 1901; 1904-1908; 1905; 1909; 1915-1933; 1915-1951; 1915-Apr.1951; New and additional sheets.

Robinson. Robinson’s atlas of the City of Brooklyn, New York.
Avery AA9127 N4 R56 FF

Robinson. Robinson's atlas of the City of Brooklyn, New York.
NYPL Digital Collections

1890:

Robinson. Robinson's atlas of King's County, New York. [Brooklyn]
NYPL Digital Collections

1891:

Beers. Map showing improved pavements in the City of Brooklyn in 1891.
Avery Classics AA735 N4B7 J33 FFF

Bien. Atlas of the Metropolitan District and adjacent country comprising the counties of New York, Kings, Richmond, Westchester and part of Queens in the State of New York, the county of Hudson and parts of the counties of Bergen, Passaic, Essex and Union in the State of New Jersey.
Avery AA9127 N4 B48 FF

Bien. Atlas of the Metropolitan District and adjacent country comprising the counties of New York, Kings, Richmond, Westchester and part of Queens in the State of New York, the county of Hudson and parts of the counties of Bergen, Passaic, Essex and Union in the State of New Jersey.
NYPL Digital Collections

1893:

Bromley. Atlas of the City of Brooklyn, New York.
Avery AA9127 N4 B783 FF

1898-1899:

Ullitz. Atlas of the Brooklyn borough of the City of New York.
Contents: v. 1. first 28 Wards
Avery Classics AA735 N4 B7 At1

Ullitz. Atlas of the Brooklyn borough of the City of New York.
Contents: v.1 first 28 Wards--v.2 Flatbush and New Utrect, 29th & 30th Wards--v.3 Gravesend and Flatlands, 31st & 32nd Wards
NYPL Digital Collections

1907-1908:

Bromley. Atlas of the Borough of Brooklyn, City of New York.
Contents: v.1 (1908)--v.2 (1907)
NYPL Digital Collections

1912:

*Hyde. Atlas of the borough of Brooklyn, city of New York. The first Twenty Eight Wards complete in Four Volumes. Three additional volumes for the Four new wards will complete the entire borough. (7v.)
Contents: v. 1 Wards 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12, & 22 (orig. publi. in 1903)--v.2 Wards 7,11,20,21,23,24, & 25 (orig. publ. in 1904)--v.3 Wards 13,14,15,16,17,18,19,27 & 28 (orig. publ. in 1904)--v.4 Wards 26 and part of 29 & 32 (orig. publ. in 1905)--v.5 Ward 29 and part of 32 (orig. publ. in 1906)--v.6 Ward 30 (orig. publ. in 1905)--v.7 Ward 31 (orig. publ. in 1907)
NYPL Digital Collections

1916-1920:

Hyde. Atlas of the borough of Brooklyn City of New York. Complete in Three Volumes.
Contetnts: v.1 Containing the first 28 Wards (1916)--v.1, second part (1920)--v.2 Flatbush and New Utrecht, (29th & 30th Wards.) (1916)--v.3 Gravesend and Flatlands, (31st & 32nd Wards) (1920)
NYPL Digital Collections

1920-1922:

Hyde. Desk atlas, borough of Brooklyn, city of New York. (4v.)
Contents: v.1 Sections 1-7 (1920) -- v.2 Sections 8-14 (1921) -- v.3 Sections 15-19 (1921) -- v.4 Sections 20-25 (1922)
Avery Classics AA735 N4B7 Eb32

1922:

Sanborn. Pier map of New York harbour, including Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Long Island City, Staten Island and New Jersey shore.
Avery Classics AA735 N4 1922 Sa54 FF

1929:

Hyde. Desk atlas, borough of Brooklyn, city of New York. (4v.)
Contents: v.1 Sections 1-7--v.2 Sections 8-14--v.3 Sections 15-19-- v.4 Sections 20-25. Shows zoning restrictions and bus lines in operation.
Avery Classics AA735 N4B7 D46

1931:

Map of the borough...City of New York: map of Topographical Bureau.
Contents: Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Richmond
Avery AA9127 N4 M32 FFF

1933:

New York (N.Y.). Board of Estimate and Apportionment. Map of New York City.
Avery Classics AA9127 N4 N4861 FF

*New York (N.Y.). Board of Estimate and Apportionment. Map of New York City. (orig. publ. in 1924)
Avery AA9127 N4 N486 FF

1963:

New York (N.Y.). City Planning Commission. Sectional map of the City of New York.
Avery AA9127 N4 N488711 FFF

1965:

Sanborn. Land use 1964-65 [map of the City of New York].
Avery AA9127 N4L1 Sa5 FFF

2002:

Sanborn. Sanborn CitySets.
Digitized Sanborn maps for New York City (south of 60th Street) and some of downtown Brooklyn. Layers of data include building footprints (with heights and data), streets and bridges, orthophotos, and TIN elevation (for 3D mapping)
Lehman Library Data Service CD-ROM G1251.A15 S26 2005g

2007-2008:

Sanborn. Sanborn building & property atlas of Brooklyn.
Avery AA9127 N4B7 Sa532 F

2013:

Sanborn. Sanborn building & property atlas of Brooklyn.
Avery AA9127 N4B7 Sa532 F

2014:

Sanborn. Sanborn building & property atlas of Brooklyn.
Avery AA9127 N4B7 Sa532 F

2016:
Sanborn. Sanborn building & property atlas of Brooklyn.
Avery Reserves AA9127 N4B7 Sa532 F