A good first step is to determine if your home is on the historic register at the Philadelphia Historical Commission located in room 576 in city hall.  If it is, a stop in to city hall is a good idea to see if there is a folder on your property and view and copy the contents.  You can do a lot of research on the internet as well.  The Preservation Alliance is an excellent source to identify basic resources available to you in their publication “How to Nominate an Individual Building, Structure, Site or Object to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places”, pages 14-20.  There you will find a list of historical, architectural, archaeological and engineering surveys available, web sites, institutions, some of which are listed below.

• www.philadelphiabuildings.org
• www.arch.state.pa.us
• www.brynmawr.edu/iconog
• www.phillyhistory.org

Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania
220 S. 34th Street, 215-898-8232

The Athenaeum of Philadelphia
219 S. 6th Street, 215-925-2688

Free Library of Philadelphia
1901 Vine Street

Philadelphia City Archives & Department of Records
3101 Market Street, 215-685-9401

Urban Archives, Temple University
Paley Library, Ground Floor, 215-204-8257

A wonderful new resources is http://www.philaplace.org/, a project of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania started in 2005 that connects stories to places across time in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods, and focuses on Southwark and Northern Liberties in its first release.

Once you’ve poked around a bit, you may be ready for a book sold by the The Athenaeum ($30) that is a good guide for researching in the Philadelphia area:   Architectural Research In Philadelphia: A Guide to the Resources Available throughout Philadelphia By Jefferson M. Moak (Athenaeum 2001, revised 2002).  Last, here is a link for beginners suggested by the National Trust: http://www.lib.umd.edu/NTL/Houseguide/