Lu Ann De Cunzo AN HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION OF WILLIAM BIRCH'S PRINT "HIGH STREET, FROM NINTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA" PHILADELPHIA printmaking reached its apogee in 1800 with the appearance of The City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylva- nia, North America; as it appeared in the year 1800 consisting of 28 Plates Drawn and Engraved by W Birch and Son, Published by W. Birch: Springland Cot, near Neshaminy Bridge on the Bristol Road, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1800. In the centuries prior to the advent of modern mass communication, prints circulated widely. An art expres- sion with universal appeal, the print served the dual purpose of entertaining and informing people pictorially of the world around them.' Today such prints are also historical documents. Supplemented by written records, these graphic representations can increase our understanding of the buildings, people and neighborhoods depicted. In this study information gathered from numerous sources provide insights into Philadelphia life in 1800 as well as the Birch print's meaning. William Birch had arrived in Philadelphia in 1794, having appren- ticed with a goldsmith in London and subsequently decided on a career as a painter of miniatures in enamel.2 So impressed was he with the city, he set out to produce a pictorial album of the city and its life; his medium, naturally, the print. In an Introduction to the volume, Birch states his aim thus: The ground on which it [Philadelphia] stands, was, less than a century ago, in a state of wild nature; covered with wood and inhabited by Indians. It has in this short time been raised as it were by magic powers, to the eminence of an opulent city, famous for its trade and commerce, crowded in its port with vessels of its own 109 110 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY production and visited by others from all parts of the world . .. Its plan was laid out by William Penn and was confirmed by charter, on the 25th day of October, 1701. This work will stand as a memorial of its progress for the first century; the buildings, of any consequence, are generally included, and the street scenes all accurate as they now stand; the choice of subjects are those that give the most general idea of the town ... 3 Beginning in 1797, Birch examined the entire built-up portion of the city for subjects for his views. After deciding on the number of plates required, he actively began work, with his son Thomas, in 1798. Most of the plates were engraved in 1799, a few more in 1800. On the last day of that year, the first edition, consisting of twenty eight views, was published.' One of the few plates showing a strictly residential vista is Plate 12 of the first and second editions, "High Street, from Ninth Street." As were all of the views, it is printed from an engraved copper plate measuring 11 by 13 inches onto paper 151/2 by 18/2. Wishing to memorialize the city, it is no surprise that William Birch chose to depict Philadelphia's primary religious, commercial, and civic buildings in his views. For what reason, then, did he also include this view of a residential neighborhood along High Street? Does the block merely serve as the backdrop for a genre scene-a street teeming with the life and business activity characteristic of the city? In part, but there is more to it. Birch did not enlarge the figures to a scale suggesting the intent they serve as the focal point of the view. Also, as will be shown, special care was taken to accurately portray this block of High Street between Eighth and Ninth Streets; accurately enough, indeed, to permit the identification of individual dwellings. For the dwellings, their owners and occupants, as well as the figures and activities depicted, have significance. They impose another dimension on the print as artistic expression-that of cultural document. In this view as in those of Christ Church and the State House, though more subtly and symbolically, William Birch is celebrating Philadelphia. The physical and political expansion of the city accompanied its selection as the national capital in 1790. By the turn of the century, Philadelphia was well established as a cultural, financial, and commer- cial center of the new nation. New commercial structures, churches, and fine homes appeared in the next decades, and the population grew apace. According to John F. Watson, 28,522 persons resided in the city HIGH STREET ill in 1790, 41,223 in 1800, and 53,722 by 1810. Between 1802 and 1804, 1122 new houses had been constructed in Philadelphia.' Beginning during the city's reign as state and national capital from 1790 to 1800, numerous guide books were published describing the city for visitors. This tradition continued into the nineteenth century. In 1811, the following description of a typical street scene in Philadelphia was recorded by James Mease in his Picture of Philadelphia: The improved parts of the city are paved with round stones, brought from the bed of the river at Trenton falls. The footways are paved with brick, and raised on a level with the highest part of the street, and defended from the approach of carriages by ranges of curbstones. The houses are generally roofed in cedar shingles, though slate is coming into use . .. The edges of the pavements are planted in many streets with Lombardy poplars, for the introduc- tion of which we are indebted to William Hamilton Esq. who brought them from England about the year 1784. They serve not only to ornament the city, but to promote public health by the circulation of air they produce, and the shade they afford during summer;-enough to overbalance the trifling tendency of the roots to force up the pavement and which has been offered as an argument against their propagation in the city . William Birch's view of "High Street from Ninth Street" depicts a street scene of 1798 to 1799 which exactly corresponds to Mease' description-the rows of brick houses, a cobblestone roadway and brick sidewalk, and the rows of Lombardy poplars. This scene, however, was not very old at the time Birch recorded it. Matthew Clarkson's Plan of the Improved Part of the City inscribed in 1762 shows the western terminus of the then settled portion of the city as just beyond Eighth Street. The majority of patents for the lots fronting on High between Eighth and Ninth Streets were not granted until the 1780s. By 1791, within a year of Philadelphia's establishment as the national capital, Jackson found seven buildings on the south side of the street,7 the north side being even more densely populated. Available in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, City Hall, are block plans for the city showing lot divisions. Changes in lot configurations through time, from the initial subdivision of the block, are visually documented, and present street numbers given to aid in locating particular lots. Figures 1 and 2 reproduce sections of these block plans for the north and south sides of High Street between Eighth and Ninth RANSTEAD STREET SS]55' to Eighth Street 135' to Ninth Street l . : s I . i I I I ,. I iI I I- ces 1p X r - ti- - o1 BUILD AGS a HOUSES O.\ I 272 274 276 278 280 282 284 286 - - A MARKET STREET MARKET STREET <-d 55' t. Eighth Stt..t 135' t. Ni.tb St-t I I I fI 2I I .1I 17 1 I 2 1 I Z .1I I I I it I I A I s 11 FILBERT STREET 114 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY Streets. The lots shown in the plans are those on which the houses believed to be in Birch's view stood. The westernmost houses pictured were located about midway in the block, with the view receding to the east. Contemporary buildings have been drawn in where documented. Dotted lines represent estimated size and/or location. House numbers along High Street initially began at I at the Delaware River and ran west, odd numbers on the north side of the street, even numbers on the south side. This system was changed in the nineteenth century. City directories, published annually since 1791, sometimes listed residents block by block (for example: High Street Eighth Street to Ninth Street, North Side. 305 NAME, 307 NAME, etc.), thus facilitating correlation of the two systems. The houses to be presently considered are those numbered 272 to 284 (present 806 to 818) on the south side of High Street, and numbers 315 to 325 (present 811 to 821) on the north side. The architectural form of the Philadelphia house was limited by the narrow, deep city lots and large blocks. The narrow frontage encour- aged the development of back buildings and alleys to service them.' These back buildings, however, generally covered less than half of the open space of the lot, allowing small gardens and courtyards to be incorporated into the rear area of the lot. Ventilation and light were thus admitted to the back buildings9 and a trace of Penn's "greene countrie towne" preserved. This distinctive plan for using the narrow city lot, with some minor modifications, has continued into the twentieth century and indeed become an architectural symbol of the city.10 During the period Philadelphia served as national and state capital, the city experienced a building boom. The sense of national pride felt by the city's inhabitants was expressed in architecture through the medium of classical detail. Janson, in his Strangers in America wrote of Philadelphia in 1806, "The houses are well built, chiefly of red brick, and in general three stories high.