House histories
A history of your house and those who made it a home.
Welcome to Home Story by WHB.
Capture your bespoke house histories in print or take a virtual stroll with your own interactive house history hub.
Every house has a story, no matter how old the abode. A history of not just bricks and mortar, but a rich narrative etched with memories, moments and lives intertwined..
This is Home Story by WHB: your answer to that age-old hypothetical of “if only these walls could talk”. What events unfolded here? Who walked these floors before you? How has time shaped the house you now call home?
And here to let your walls sing is author-historian, William Hastings Burke. He has spent 25+ years uncovering history’s biggest stories, through his books, journalism and TV documentaries, including for the BBC and the History Channel. Now you can call on his expert skills to bring your house history to life on the page and/or in your own interactive Home Story hub.
Uncover your house histories on the page, online or both.
HOME STORY - ON THE PAGE
A professionally written, referenced and published house history book with a stunning coffee-table book design. Choose the Lite Package when you already have a good collections of records or the Complete Package when starting from scratch.
Starting from as low as £1000/$1400 (+ printing)
- Complete Package: 50 hours, including 20 hours of pro house history research
- Lite Package: 40 hours, including 10 hours of pro house history research
- Your Story Book: premium hardback with matte finish, quality 150gsm silk paper & vibrant image prints. Order as many copies as you want!
- Digital Book: share with family and friends around the globe
- Bespoke podcast diving into your home’s story. Listen to a demo here!
HOME STORY - INTERACTIVE
Step back in time and walk in the footsteps of former owners in your own interactive Home Story hub. Choose the Lite Package when you already have a good collections of records or the Complete Package when starting from scratch.
Starting from as low as £750/$1000
- Complete Package: 35 hours, including 20 hours of pro home history research
- Lite Package: 25 hours, including 10 hours of pro home history research
- Interactive story hub: complete house chronicle, maps, images, original records, footnotes and more.
- Bespoke podcast diving into your home’s story. Listen to a demo here!
- Password-protected or unlisted page to share with family, friends or on the Socials.
Make it a combo or a once-in-a-lifetime gift.
HOME STORY - COMBO
Preserve the history of your house for generations to come with Home Story – On the Page, while also taking a virtual stroll through your house over time with Home Story – Interactive.
All for just an extra £200/$250 with any Complete Package
- Combo Package: 60 hours, including 20 hours of expert house history research
- Interactive story hub: complete house chronicle, maps, images, original records, footnotes and more.
- Your Story Book: premium hardback with matte finish, quality 150gsm silk paper & vibrant image prints. Order multiple copies!
- Digital Your Story Book: share with family and friends around the globe
- Bespoke podcast diving into your home’s story. Listen to a demo here!
HOME STORY - GIFT CARDS
Big occasion coming up, and you’re looking to make a life-long impression? Anniversary, 50th Birthday or a big Christmas? Select a gift package and treat your special someone to a gift like no other.
Starting from as low as £225/$300
- Home Story - On the Page: Choose Lite - 40 hours, including 10 hours of research, or Complete - 50 hours, including 20 hours of research
- Home Story - Interactive: Choose Lite - 25 hours, including 10 hours of research, or Complete - 35 hours, including 20 hours of research
- Home Story - Combo: House History Book + Home Story Interactive - 60 hours, including 20 hours of expert home research.
- Bespoke Research Package: 5, 10 or 20-hour packages of house history research on a research area of your choice
- Personalised message add any message you want on a digital or printed card delivered to your giftee.
Home Story Pod
Every Home Story package comes with your very own custom audio podcast. Here, we unpack your Home Story research into bite-size pieces, ready to be consumed on the go. Perfect for the younger members of your family. Choose to have it set to private or unlisted to share it with friends and family.
Hit play and listen to this demo Home Story podcast on Fairwick House.
Your Story
Get the celebrity treatment and have an expert genealogist/historian bring your family history to life in your own ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ journey.
Capture Your Story in an interactive story hub or a stunning family history book – for your kids, grandkids and generations to come.
Know how
What journey do you want to take?
Tell the story you know so far and what you would like to discover.
What rumours or mysteries have you heard? What period most interests you? Who’s the famous occupant your neighbours always talk about?
To get the ball rolling, we just need a starting point. Pass on any building plans, house records at hand or just your address.
Choose your story
Every Home Story project comes with free Exploratory Research. This gives you or your giftee a better idea of where to focus and what to expect.
We’ll look into the records to highlight any interesting former occupants, events or general areas of interest. We’ll then come back to you with options. Your feedback will determine the shape and look of your house history book or interactive house history hub.
This is your Home Story. You call the shots. We’ll keep you posted throughout the whole process.
Time to get to work.
After payment, we’ll dig deeper into the records and piece together the facts behind your house’s narrative, as well as prepare all the maps, charts and images. Depending on your project brief, this could include:
- Chronicling the building history of your house
- Building profiles of former occupants and the wider history around them
- Uncovering links to notable figures and events in history
Pick up the keys to your house’s history.
Sit back and watch your house history come to life in your stunning home story book or interactive story hub.
For Home Story – On the Page projects, you’ll receive a digital proof before printing. Select the quantity and we’ll send out your books via courier anywhere in the world. You can always order more copies later on. Tip: The greater the quantity, the cheaper each copy will be.
For Home Story – Interactive projects, you’ll receive a custom link to your house history hub to share with family, friends or the world. You can also have your page password-protected.
So,
what stories are buried in your walls?
FIND OUT TODAY BY STARTING YOUR OWN HOME STORY JOURNEY
Get started
with a free project assessment
Got any questions?
William's story...
William Hastings Burke brought the story of anti-Nazi crusader Albert Goering to the world in his book Thirty Four – which is set to be made into a feature film. Over 20+ years, he has cracked other big cases in history, through journalism and TV to special cold-case projects for the biggest ancestry platforms. Whenever there’s a case too difficult, they turn to William.
