To connect an old NYC permit address to a street with a different name today, first decide whether the name changed officially or was added as an honorary co-name. Note the location and date, use the Department of City Planning (DCP) street-name-change dictionary to identify the kind of name clue and its action identifiers, then check the corresponding City Council law or other named action. Carry the documented name for the permit’s period into the building-record search. A street sign or an unverified proposed measure cannot, alone, establish that an older official address was retired.
After documenting the naming trail, the NYC DOB property search guide explains how to match a building by address, BIN, and borough-block-lot once the address clue is sound. A name-change record helps explain which street wording to try; it does not identify a building, prove a permit exists, or show that DOB updated an older filing’s address.
Classify the name before joining records
DCP’s dictionary uses OfficialNM for the official name, Old_Name for a retired official name, and Honor_Name for a secondary honorary name. Its ULURPCPNUM, Intro_NUM/Intro_Year, and Local Law fields provide action clues. Use a small comparison worksheet:
- Keep official, retired, and honorary wording in separate columns. A commemorative label gives another lead; it does not justify deleting the old official wording from your notes.
- Match the location as well as the name. Carry the borough, cross streets, and segment limits with each candidate to avoid joining two places with similar wording.
- Read the actual action to decide when and where the name applies. An identifier alone cannot establish the change’s scope.
The dictionary covers corner/intersection points from 1998 onward; it dates the dataset October 31, 2025, and metadata November 24, 2025, and warns that information can be incomplete. This is not a complete street-history timeline or DOB retention schedule. During our check, the old data landing returned a moved notice and the linked map failed to load. No individual street result was verified.
Follow the action, then the address
Write the street-name clue as a dated chain: the name and borough on the old permit; the location or cross streets; the DCP point’s official, old, or honorary classification if you have a point; and the Council or Planning identifier shown with it. Preserve a screenshot or copy of an actual record you obtain, along with its date. Do not silently replace an old street name with today’s name in your notes.
The Council’s Legistar legislation page presents blank search fields for year, type, file number, and text, including Introduction and Local Law types. These are documented route clues; no search was run here. When a candidate appears, compare its title, status, adopted law or action, date, and geographic wording. A proposed Introduction is not an adopted Local Law. Even an adopted action must be read for the particular segment and kind of naming before it is tied to an address.
Imagine a fictional 1988 permit for “North Lantern Street” near Cedar Place. A later neighborhood guide calls the corner “Mira Sol Way.” One possible explanation is a later honorary co-name; another is an official rename of a particular segment. Search the action trail for the documented intersection and date rather than assuming the two names are equivalent. If the actual action covers a different corner, keep the 1988 wording and mark the newer guide as an unresolved lead. If it covers this segment, record the action’s exact scope and use both historically appropriate name variants when checking DOB’s address records. This invented example asserts no real Council result.
Request a missing action or map record precisely
If the law or supporting Council document is missing, use the Council’s FOIL request page for a named Intro, Local Law, section, year, and street segment. The page contains old COVID-era office language; do not assume it describes current access. If the missing object is instead a DCP map or planning file, DCP’s records-inspection procedure points to NYC OpenRecords for DCP-held records. State the document type, approximate date, borough, street or cross streets, and any CP/ULURP identifier you actually know. These are two different custodial requests; neither asks the agency to reconstruct every name ever used for an address.
Keep a copy of the older permit’s date and address text with the request packet. A blank search or an unavailable map can reflect coverage, indexing, or access limits, not the absence of a legislative action. Once the naming trail is documented, the building permit records guide helps keep that address identity separate from permit issuance, inspection, and completion.
Last checked October 6, 2026 (2026-10-06 UTC).