GIS for Architecture 

The latest print edition of Sanborn maps for St. Louis can be viewed in the Art and Architecture Library Reference Section.  Use the available street index to locate the volume and page for your area of interest.

Older paper editions of the Sanborn Maps are held in the West Campus Library.

Sanborn maps date back to the 1860s and were created as a detailed building record by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company.  They are large scale (50 feet to the inch) and highly detail and include such information as building location, construction materials, and building height.

Washington University Libraries and the Missouri History Museum hold approximately 3,300 fire insurance maps produced in St. Louis by Alphonso Whipple between 1870 and 1898.  Currently, use of these paper maps is restricted by their brittle condition, but through this joint digital project, they are now being made available to the public.

Visit the Unreal City to view these historic maps of St. Louis.

Digital Sanborn Maps is an online resource consisting of scanned black and white images of Sanborn maps for Missouri.  The maps were produced between 1876 and 1970, and can be searched by city and date.