Building Name: Consider names over time and in relation to specific audiences
Building Type: Consider function (consider change over time), form, or purpose
Client: Anonymous (vernacular), individual, institution, government, or corporate entity
Date: Design date, construction date, completion date, restoration date
Designer: Individual, architect, architectural firm, multiples over time, design firm.
Location / Context: Urban/suburban/rural, commercial/residential, zero lot
Period / Style: Periods are defined relationally as much as by time; styles can be revisited from one epoch to the next
Building Technology: Construction method & materials, technological innovations or significance
Significance: Historical, technological, aesthetic, cultural: first, last, best, tallest, largest, worst, "only example of ___," etc.
Changes over time: Alterations, additions, renovations, restorations, catastrophic damage, demolition
Why was it built? Why was it built in this place, at this time, in this way? What were the alternatives?
Who benefited? Who did not?
What impact did it have, as physical object and as meaningful object?
Why should we care now?
