A Guide to the Norfolk (Va.) Sanborn Fire Insurance Company Maps, 1923-1958
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Barcode numbers: 1183486-1183490
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
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© 2008 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.
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Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
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Use Restrictions
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Preferred Citation
Norfolk (Va.) Sanborn Fire Insurance Company Maps, 1923-1958. Local government records collection, Norfolk (City) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.
Acquisition Information
This item came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers under the accession number 43600.
Historical Information
The city of Norfolk was established in 1680. Incorporated as a borough in 1736, it was incorporated as a city in 1845. In 1906 it annexed the adjacent town of Berkeley.
The Sanborn Map Company was founded by D. A. Sanborn, a surveyor from Massachusetts, in 1866. The maps allowed fire insurance underwriters and policy holders to more accurately protect the risks of business even if a building was not able to be inspected in person and to prevent an insurance premium from being set too low or high. Aside from fire insurance companies, the Sanborn Maps are useful to people involved in government, business, engineering, health and sanitation, planning and zoning, public works, tax assessment, education, highway development, public libraries, architects, geographers, environmentalists, water works, banking, mortgages, and life insurance, utilities and many other professional industries. Sanborn Maps also serve as historical documents for cities and towns and are important to those involved in social history, local history, architectural history, genealogy, urban studies, and preservation. The detail provided by the Sanborn Maps about each city in terms of its physical make-up, as well as the infrastructure of each city or town, provides important insights into a locality for professionals of all sorts.
Scope and Content
Sanborn Fire Insurance Company Maps of Norfolk (Va.), 1923-1958 consist of volumes 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the Sanborn map for Norfolk City issued for the year 1923. Various annotations, corrections and paste overs are present on the maps through the years 1958. The maps are plans showing the fire insurance risks of buildings in the city and identify commercial, industrial, and residential sections. They show color-coded building construction material, locations of windows and doors, roof type, street widths and names, water facilities, proximity to fire stations, population size, and a coded key to symbols. Oriented with north toward the upper right. Includes index and location map.
An additional box contains approximately 20 Norfolk neighborhood maps, and blueprints for developments, some from the city's Department of Public Works that were originally folded and stored in the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company map volumes. These maps are from the years 1884-1928 and undated.
Index Terms
- Sanborn Map Company.
- Buildings -- Virginia -- Norfolk -- Maps.
- Insurance, Fire -- Virginia -- Norfolk -- Maps.
- Norfolk (Va.) -- Buildings, structures, etc. -- Maps.
- Norfolk (Va.) -- History -- 20th century.
- Blueprints (reprographic copies) -- Virginia -- Norfolk.
- Fire insurance maps -- Virginia -- Norfolk.
- Historical maps -- Virginia -- Norfolk.
- Local government records -- Virginia -- Norfolk.
- Maps -- Virginia -- Norfolk.
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Significant Places Associated With the Collection
- Norfolk (Va.) -- Buildings, structures, etc. -- Maps.
- Norfolk (Va.) -- History -- 20th century.