Architecture: Guide to Avery Index and Finding Plans

UB Building Floor Plans:

RESTRICTED ACCESS UBIT name and password required to view the floor plans Access to the building floor plans is for use by authorized faculty or staff for university purposes only. Students can request access to the floor plans for work related duties ONLY. Requests for class projects where students require floor plan information are handled on a case by case basis.

The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) collections are among the largest and most heavily used in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. Since 2000, documentation from the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) has been added to the holdings. The collections document achievements in architecture, engineering, and landscape design in the United States and its territories through a comprehensive range of building types, engineering technologies, and landscapes, including examples as diverse as the Pueblo of Acoma, houses, windmills, one-room schools, the Golden Gate Bridge, and buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Search HAER

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals

To locate the floor plans, find the journal by looking for the call number in the Bound Periodicals/Journals section in APL. There is a scanner on the 3rd floor and on the 1st floor.

To find the Avery Index, click on the link above. 

In the search box, type in the artictect and/or building:

Then scroll to Physical Description box and select the type of illustration you need:

Then click on the search button. Look through the results, select an article and click on the title. 

Under Source, it will display the citation information you need and the types of illustration this article provides. Click on the Get Access button to see if the Libraries have access to AV monografies.

If the Libraries have access to the journal, the call number and location will show. Click on the Summary Holdings more information to make sure that the 2022 issue 245 is available and it is between 134(2008)-275 (2025). Take down the call number: Per NA 7285.A2 and citation information and locate the journal. It will be in the first 3 rows of stacks in the Architecture & Planning Library.

Make sure to capture the citation listed under Source for the number, volume, or issue and page number to get the article.

Once you have found it, use the scanner on the 3rd floor or the first floor to scan the article.

Search in the catalog for architect and building: 

Click on the book link and use Control F keys to make sure the building is listed:

Write down the call number of the book and find the book on the 3rd floor of APL in Abbott Library. 

You can search in Google books if you are not finding the building in the catalog. Go to https://books.google.com/ and search for the architect and building:

And then go to the Libraries Catalog to check to see if we have the book in APL:

Write down the call number and get the book from APL, 3rd floor Abbott Library