i have a quote somewhere from about 1800 where someone identifies a site relative to a house number for the first time, and specifically refers to the "new" custom of numbering houses
previous to that i have several examples of very convoluted descriptions like "the house across from the pub called x, which is down the street from the church" & so on -
makes it very difficult to relocate a site
which might answer the question of why the practice seems to have been discontinued

"Ron May" <[log in to unmask]> schrieb:
> This past week, I have been researching a house identified in the County
> Recorder's records as "Sea Bluff." A few weeks ago, another house was identified
> as "La Casa de las Siete Candelas" (house of seven candles). Has anyone out
> there got ideas on why and when people named houses? Why dont we see this
> anymore? Is there a cultural or historical root to this practice of naming
> houses?