Pair 14: One Nation, Under a Grid

Number 20 in 101 Treasures is this 1683 map of the projected city of Philadelphia, from a survey conducted at William Penn’s request by Thomas Holme. Part of William Clements’ original gift to the university, this map is the first published city plan for any English settlement in the Americas. William Penn received the royal patent to settle Pennsylvania in 1681, and selected the site of Philadelphia the following year. He famously wished for the city to be a “greene and countrie towne,” with genteel houses on large lots and numerous public squares. His purposes for this plan included permitting for air circulation, which he felt would reduce the risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases (which did not work so well), and for hindering the spread of catastrophic fires by having buildings set farther apart (which did work–Philadelphia never experienced the kind of catastrophic urban fires that destroyed London in 1666, Charleston in 1740, or New York in 1776 and 1835). This plan is often credited with introducing the urban grid system, although this is untrue. However, in projecting an as-yet unbuilt city along rectilinear streets and avenues, and showing how the blocks would be divided into lots, Penn displayed the grid’s ideal suitability for promoting urban real estate speculation, which would remain the basis of many of the United States’ greatest fortunes.

Thomas Holme, A Portraiture of the City of Philadelphia, in the Province of Pennsylvania in America.
London: sold by Andrew Sowle, [1683].