Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/771

PHILADELPHIA 737 of its sides, divided by one or more small thoroughfares. Upon the city plans there are plotted 191,928 separate town lots. The main streets running north and south are num bered from First or Front to Sixty-third streets, and those running east and west were formerly named after the trees and shrubs found in the province. Thus, while the principal street in the city is named Market street, other main streets are named Chestnut, Walnut, Spruce, Pine, &C. 1 The main streets of Philadelphia are 50 feet wide, with some few exceptions: Broad or Fourteenth street is 113 feet wide, and Market street is 100 feet wide. The streets are gener ally paved with rubble stone, although square or Belgian blocks of granite are being extensively introduced. There are laid down on the city plans upwards of 2000 miles of streets, but at present (1884) only 1060| miles are opened, of which 573 54 miles are paved and 44 28 macadamized. The pavements are chiefly of brick, but some of the more prominent streets have flagstone sidewalks. Market street and Chestnut street, below Eighth street, and Front street are the localities where the main wholesale business of the city is conducted. Most of the retail stores are situated in the upper part of Chestnut street and Eighth street. The principal banking institutions are in Chestnut street, between Second and Fifth streets, and in Third street between Walnut and Chestnut streets. Walnut street in the southern section of the city, and Spring Garden and Broad streets in the northern section of the city, are the chief streets for large and luxurious private residences. There is not a street of any consequence which has not a tramway along it ; and the tramway system has done a great deal to increase building, until now Philadelphia is emphatically "the city of homes." There are upwards of 160,000 dwelling-houses, of which at least 110,000 are owned by the occupants. According to the returns for the census of 1880, there were 146,412 dwelling-houses in the city, which, taking the population as given by that census, 847,170, gave 5 79 persons to each house, while the num ber of dwellings in New York to the population gave 16 37 to each house. On the original plan of the city five squares, equidistant, were reserved for public parks. One of these, called Centre square, situated at the intersection of Broad and Market streets, has been taken for the erec tion of the city-hall, and the remaining four, situated at Sixth and Walnut, Sixth and Race, Eighteenth and Walnut, and Eighteenth and Race, and named respectively Wash ington, Franklin, Rittenlfcuse, and Logan, have a com bined area of 29 06 acres. There are six other public squares in the city, with a total area of 18 90 acres. In addition to these public squares, Fairmount Park, with an area of 279 1| acres, including 373 acres of the water-sur face of the Schuylkill river, is the most extensive public park in the United States. It lies in the north-western section of the city, and the Schuylkill river and Wissa- hickon creek wind through the greater portion of it. 2 In the park Horticultural Hall and Memorial Hall remain 1 The geometrical laying out of the city into parallelograms made easy the adoption of the decimal system of numbering for the houses, which is readily understood and greatly helps strangers and citizens in finding their way about the streets. The houses in streets running east and west are numbered by hundreds, beginning at the Delaware and going west. Thus, from Delaware river to Front street the houses are numbered from 1 to 100 ; from Front street to Second street from 100 to 200 ; above Second street 200 ; above Third street 300 ; and so on. The even numbers are placed on the south side of the street and the odd numbers on the north side of the street. Mar ket street is taken as a dividing line between north and south, and all the main streets stretching north and south, which lie north of Market street, are in the same way numbered running northerly, and those which lie south of Market street are numbered running southerly. The west side is given the even numbers and the east side the odd numbers. 2 There are 34 27 miles of footwalk, 30 46 miles of carriage-drives, tnd 7 82 miles of bridle-paths within the boundaries of the park. as mementoes of the Centennial Exhibition held there in 1876. The garden of the Zoological Society, covering 33 acres, on the outskirts of the park, was opened 1st July 1874, as the pioneer of such enterprises in the United States. H Until within the last score of years the buildings in Philadelphia bore a singular resemblance to each other, especially the dwelling-houses. The predominant material for building Avas, and is, red brick, the soil affording the finest clay for brick found in the United States. The desire for uniformity in buildings, both in style and material, has happily undergone a change in recent years, although the danger now is of running to the other extreme, and thus giving the streets a decidedly bizarre appearance. There are 238| miles of sewers in Philadelphia, but the drainage of the city is wholly inadequate. The streets are lighted by 12,805 gas-lamps, and Chestnut street by the electric light. There are 748 miles of gas main, and the average daily consumption is 10,624,000 cubic feet. Buildings. The old brick Swedes Church in Swanson street in the extreme south-eastern section, dedicated on the first Sunday after Trinity 1700, is the oldest building of character now standing in the city. When it was com pleted it was looked upon as a great masterpiece, and nothing was then equal to it in the town. The four other colonial buildings of importance still standing are Christ (Protestant Episcopal) Church, the old State House (Inde pendence Hall), the Pennsylvania Hospital, and Carpenter s Hall, all of them built of red brick with black glazed headers. Dr. John Kearsley, a physician, was the archi tect of the first-mentioned, and Andrew Hamilton, a lawyer, the architect of the second. Christ Church stands on the west side of Second street between Market and Arch streets, and its erection was begun in 1727, but it was not finished, as it now appears with tower and spire, until 1754. It was built on the site of a still older Christ Church, which was also of brick, erected in 1695. Queen Anne in 1708 presented a set of communion plate to the church, which is now used on great occasions. During his presidency Washington worshipped at this church, and his pew is still preserved, as is also that of Franklin. In 1882 the interior of the church was restored to its ancient character at an expense of about $10,000. The nave is 75 feet long by 61 feet in Avidth and 47 feet high; the chancel is 15 feet by 24; and the spire is 196 feet 9 inches high. The old State House or Independence Hall, on the south side of Chestnut street between Fifth and Sixth streets, was commenced in 1731, and was ready for occupancy by the Assembly towards the close of 1735. It was the scene of almost all the great civil events of the Revolutionary War. It is 100 feet in length on Chestnut street by 44 feet in depth ; and prior to the centennial celebration its exterior and interior were restored as nearly as possible to their original appearance. The Pennsylvania Hospital occupies the square of ground bounded by Spruce, Pine, Eighth, and Ninth streets, and the corner-stone of the building was laid on 28th May 1755. Carpenter s Hall, where the first Congress met, stands back from Chestnut street, east of Fourth street, and was begun in January 1770. These four buildings are all very simple in their construc tion, but substantial and imposing, and are interesting specimens of colonial architecture. Among the notably fine buildings in Philadelphia are the old United States bank, now the United States custom-house, the Girard bank, the United States mint, and the Girard College, all of which, with the exception of the last-named, were built more than half a century ago. They are all of white marble and of the different orders of Grecian architecture, with porticos and high fluted columns. Other fine build- 3 The collection numbers 673 specimens, mammals 251, birds 372, reptiles and batrachians 50, valued at $46,726. XVIII. 93