I used these scripts to extract all data on all new building applications filed in Manhattan from 1900-1986. The Office for Metropolitan History maintains this database.
The data is available in the data folder, in .csv and .Rds formats. Consult
the database site for issues with
the data.
See R/compile_raw_data.R for the code that generated this data. It calls the
scrape_metrohist() function.