When listing a historic property for sale, one is often tempted to say that the building possesses quirks or charm. This is often because the author of the listing does not have the vocabulary to accurately describe a historic building.  In Georgia, the Historic Preservation division has identified what it considers to be distinct architectural styles and types of residential buildings. Additionally special attention has been paid to distinguishing architectural features found within Ranch Houses and American Small Houses which are especially common in the Atlanta MSA.

Below are the manuals published by HPD:

Georgia Residential Architectural Styles Guide

Georgia Residential Architectural Types Guide

Georgia Commercial Types Guide

Property Listing Tips

If you are writing a listing to advertise a historic commercial or residential property, one of the first questions people have about a building is its date of construction and original use. Here are a few places to start your research on a property:

Tax Assessor Data:

Each county's government is responsible for maintaining tax assessment data for each parcel of land.  This data includes the year of construction of all improvements built on a parcel.  Many Atlanta Metro counties have published this information online.  Individual parcel data is available through the counties' Geographic Information System mapping system.  Each parcel's data is accessible by clicking on the map.  Some historic records are stored in offsite facilities and require special permission to access.  The following are a few links to Metro Atlanta county's tax data websites:

Cobb County Tax Assessor GIS Map

DeKalb County Tax Assessor GIS Map

Fulton County Tax Assesor GIS Map

Gwinnett County Tax Assessor GIS Map

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps:

The Sanborn Fire Insurance Company would make maps of cities across the United States for insurance companies and underwriters.  These highly detailed maps include information about building materials, the dimensions of buildings, house numbers, street names and locations of fire prevention items such as hydrants.  City of Atlanta maps were produced as early as 1886.  Index maps are available to help users locate which page will be needed to evaluate the blocks surrounding the property of interest.  Many Sanborn Maps are now available online through the Library of Congress .  Physical copies of Georgia maps can be found at the Atlanta History Center's Kenan Research Center and the University of Georgia Map and Government Information Library .

Metro Atlanta maps available online through loc.gov :

Atlanta, Buford, Canton, College Park, Conyers, Decatur, Douglasville, East Point, Fariburn, Hampton, Hapeville, Jonesboro, Lithonia, Marietta, McDounough and Palmetto .