For a property in Richmond, Virginia, use the City’s Online Permit Portal to check public permit, plan, and inspection searches. For an older project, the Library of Virginia’s Richmond building-record finding aid gives a different route: find the project in a year-and-location index, copy its City permit number, then use that number to look for the application and any surviving drawings. A blank portal search or missing blueprint is not proof that the work never had a permit.
At a glance
- Address search: Yes. The Online Permit Portal’s Search Public Records works without logging in (portal user guide).
- Online records start: Not confirmed for the portal. The Library of Virginia holds 1907–1976 City permit records on microfilm.
- Older records: Planning & Development Review FOIA form: $0.25 per page plus $22 per hour of research; response within 5 working days.
- Checked: October 21, 2026. Compare 15 other jurisdictions in our permit lookup by address comparison.
Building Permit History tool · for buyers and owners
Permit status decoder
Copy the permit rows from the city or county portal and paste them below, one permit per line. The decoder explains each status, flags the ones to ask about, and lists what to request before you rely on the record.
Try the City search with a short address
The City says public users can use the portal’s Search or Map options without logging in. Its portal guide describes changing the search type from All to Permit or Plan to narrow an address search. Start with the street number and street name. The City’s public-record search instructions tell users to omit the street type, such as “Street” or “Avenue,” and use a direction abbreviation only when needed. Keep a known permit number if you have one; it is more precise than a broad address result. Norfolk publishes every permit and inspection as daily open data instead; our Norfolk building permit search guide shows how to read it.
Read the record type and dates before deciding what you found. An application, issued permit, inspection entry, and finalized permit can describe different stages. The City portal is a useful first stop for a current searchable record; for historic drawings, use the Library of Virginia route below. For general address-search problems, our permit lookup by address guide explains how to check alternate address forms.
Use the old index to recover the permit number
The Library’s accession 37533 contains surviving Richmond City permit applications, indexes, drawings, and specifications dated 1907–1976, with much of the material from 1910–1929. Some addresses have no surviving file in it.
Take an approximate work year to the Index Books inventory. Choose the listed name or location index for that year. The introductory guide says location-only indexes begin in 1941, but the detailed inventory also lists name indexes for 1941–1944; use the actual year listing and ask an archivist about that discrepancy. The inventory separately lists alterations and repairs, demolitions, and “verbals.” A remodel search should therefore include the relevant work-type index as well as the main building index.
Keep three identifiers together as you move from the index to the file:
- Index year and work type: these identify the volume you searched.
- Location as written: retain the historic wording rather than silently replacing it with today’s address.
- Complete City permit number: copy every suffix, then use this number for the application and drawing inventories.
A parcel number or modern portal record number can differ from the old permit number, so ask an archivist to confirm a cross-reference before substituting one.
Follow the number to the application and any surviving plan
Match the complete permit number against the permit-form reel inventory. It lists number ranges against reels, including separate ranges with an A suffix. Preserve that suffix: choosing a reel from the digits alone can send a request to a different range. Ask for the permit form first, then check the drawing inventory linked from the introductory guide. A plan may survive on film, on paper, in both forms, or in neither.
The finding aid reports lost early material, discarded lower-cost project drawings, and some items filmed out of order. An index entry therefore supports a targeted search; the blueprint itself, and whether the design was built, need separate confirmation.
Ordering Richmond microfilm or City records when the trail stops
Use the Library of Virginia’s Research Services page to ask how to consult or order the specific accession, index year, permit number, and reel. Its current page offers a research-question route and copy-order information. If the issue is a City-held permit or inspection record rather than the historical microfilm, the City’s FOIA page explains its records-request route. Name the property, approximate dates, record type, and any permit number; ask for a specific existing record rather than a newly compiled history.
Keep issuance and completion separate. Whether every inspection passed, and whether the final structure matches a drawing, comes from inspection records beyond the permit itself. If completion is the real question, use our final inspection status guide to identify the next record to seek.
City of Richmond portal guides and Library of Virginia finding aids checked September 28, 2026.