• help verify that a building permit has been issued;
• check the status of a permit (Open, Finaled, Canceled); and
• locate a building permit for previous construction.

The Records section maintains files for all building permits by job address, and by year. This section can be reached by phone during business hours at 720-865-2790. To see the location of the Records section, click on the Office Location link to the left.

On-site versus archived records
Current permits and the most recent permits on file, 1996 to 1999, are maintained in original paper files and the oldest files are routinely converted to microfiche. Microfiche records date back to the early 1970s.

Building plans that have been reviewed and approved by the Building Department are archived for seven years. Building plans associated to buildings over 70 feet tall or over 40,000 square feet in floor area at grade (not including tenant finish plans) and plans for buildings built as Hospitals or Schools are maintained indefinitely. Requests to see archived plans are made at the Building Records counter.

Tips for speeding up the records search
It is important to stop at the Records Room first to complete a permit research for the construction permit associated to the plans you are looking for. When researching permits, it is not unusual to find many permits for one particular address. The more information you can bring in, such as the date of permit issuance, the name of the applicant, or the description of work, the more likely it is that your search will be successful.

When searching for a permit associated with a set of plans, the target permit that would lead you to the plans would in most cases have a 1, 1R or 1C designation. If the target plans were not reviewed as part of a complete construction review (examples include shop drawings reviewed only for the issuance of an electrical or HVAC permit), the target permit in files would be designated for the particular type of work permitted. All of this should lead to a permit with a description of work and a dollar valuation, etc., that matches what you are looking for AND INCLUDES A LOG NUMBER on the face of the permit.

Archived plans
Archived plans are retrieved using the Date, Permit number, Log number and Address. Older plans are archived off site and may take up to seven days to retrieve. Archived plans may not be taken off site by the public and may not be copied.

Persons looking for building plans more than seven years old, and not maintained indefinitely by this department, may try the Central Library, Western History Department (720-865-1821), which has a collection of old building plans for some of the more significant older buildings in Denver.