City Directories

City directories are valuable historical data sources for identifying past occupants of buildings over long periods of time. ERIS has a research team of experts located at multiple research facilities throughout the country. As available, ERIS will provide digital images for your property or address range.

Research Parameters

• City directory covers your site at approximately five-year intervals.
• Specify which additional street you would like ERIS to research, or we will select the street for you based on the information you provide.
• An ERIS representative will contact you if we discover conflicting or incomplete information regarding your site location and the streets to be researched.
• For many older cities, city directory coverage can date back to the early 1900s.
• Custom city directories can also be searched. Please contact us for more details.

SmartCD is the most comprehensive and intuitive city directory report in the industry. ERIS has developed a proprietary methodology to better select adjoining properties based on the E1527-21 Standard’s guidance. It allows the professionals at ERIS to use their knowledge of historical and regional nuances to provide an ASTM-compliant CD search with no extra work for you. It alleviates any guess work and results in a high quality, more accurate, and ASTM-compliant product – with fewer reworks.

Here’s the process:

1. Outline the boundary of your subject property when placing the order.
2. Our team will pull relevant adjoining property addresses based on your subject property boundaries.
3. Our researchers utilize their access to parcel information, historical maps, imagery, and other sources as needed. This helps not only to identify adjacent addresses but also street name changes, address renumbering, historic streets, etc.
4. Should you have a larger property or complex site that requires more extensive research, our team will reach out and provide a complimentary consultation on options for you to evaluate.