Editing Address (section)

== History ==
{{Further|House numbering#History}}
Until the 18th and 19th centuries, most houses and buildings were not numbered.<ref name=mask>{{cite news|author=Deirdre Mask|date=2018-10-19|title=Where the Streets Have No Names, the People Have No Vote|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/opinion/sunday/north-dakota-addresses-voting-id.html|access-date=19 October 2018|archive-date=19 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019210555/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/opinion/sunday/north-dakota-addresses-voting-id.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
In London, one of the first recorded instances of a street being numbered was Prescot Street in Goodman’s Fields in 1708.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Duffield |first=Annie |date=February 25, 2021 |title=The history of house numbering |url=https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/house-numbering/ |access-date=October 15, 2024 |website=The Postal Museum}}</ref> Street naming and numbering began under the [[age of Enlightenment]], also as part of campaigns for [[census]] and military conscription, such as in the dominions of [[Maria Theresa]] in the mid 18th century.<ref name=mask/> Numbering allowed the efficient delivery of mail, as the postal system evolved in the 18th and 19th centuries to reach widespread usage.<ref name=mask/>

In [[London]], house numbering was not regulated until the [[Metropolitan Management Act 1855]], which granted the newly formed [[Metropolitan Board of Works]] the power to control street naming and numbering. Under pressure from the [[General Post Office|Post Office]], the board began simplifying addresses in 1857, tackling the most confusing streets and assigning district codes, like EC (Eastern Central) and WC (Western Central), which laid the foundation for the postcode system. [[Postal code|Postcodes]], as we know them, were only introduced in the 1960s-1970s. Despite some public resistance to changing street names and numbers, by 1871, over 4,800 street names had been altered, and 100,000 houses renumbered in London. Though house numbering took time to become widely accepted, it eventually became firmly established.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Duffield |first=Annie |date=2021-02-25 |title=The history of house numbering |url=https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/house-numbering/ |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=The Postal Museum |language=en-US}}</ref>

Comprehensive addressing of all buildings is still incomplete, even in developed countries.<ref name=mask/> For example, the [[Navajo Nation]] in the United States was still assigning rural addresses as of 2015<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/11/02/452824825/navigating-navajo-nation-soon-to-be-easier-for-amazon-ambulances|title=Navigating Navajo Nation Soon To Be Easier For Amazon, Ambulances|publisher=NPR|access-date=5 April 2018|archive-date=20 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181020052950/https://www.npr.org/2015/11/02/452824825/navigating-navajo-nation-soon-to-be-easier-for-amazon-ambulances|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nndcd.org/rural-addressing.aspx|title=Rural Addressing|website=nndcd.org|access-date=18 March 2017|archive-date=2 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502055521/http://www.nndcd.org/rural-addressing.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the lack of addresses can be used for [[voter disenfranchisement]] in the USA.<ref name=mask/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18a335_l647.pdf |title=Opinion |publisher=supremecourt.gov |access-date=2019-11-13 |archive-date=27 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027070503/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18a335_l647.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In many cities in [[Asia]], most minor streets were never named, and this is still the case today in much of Japan. Over a third of addresses in Ireland shared their address with at least one other property at the time of the [[Eircode|Eircode's]] introduction in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Eircode {{!}} Smart Location Codes – Postcodes Ireland |url=https://www.eircode.ie/what-is-eircode |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=eircode.ie}}</ref>

Land registration systems, known as [[cadastre]]s, helped manage property ownership in Ancient Rome, especially as Rome expanded. The city was divided into 14 regions (regiones) by [[Augustus|Emperor Augustus]] to streamline administration, which became the foundation for locating properties.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Smarthistory – Roman domestic architecture: the insula |url=https://smarthistory.org/roman-domestic-architecture-insula/ |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=smarthistory.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mandich |first=Matthew J. |date=2019-12-10 |title=Ancient City, Universal Growth? Exploring Urban Expansion and Economic Development on Rome's Eastern Periphery |journal=Frontiers in Digital Humanities |language=English |volume=6 |doi=10.3389/fdigh.2019.00018 |doi-access=free |issn=2297-2668}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Villas, insulae, domus, and slums: Why housing differed dramatically for the ancient Romans |url=https://www.historyskills.com/classroom/ancient-history/roman-houses/ |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=History Skills |language=en-US}}</ref>

{{Expand section|date=June 2008}}