A Bird's-Eye View of Modernity: The Synoptic View in Nineteenth-Century Cityscapes by Robert Evans A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Mediations Institute of Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2011, Robert Evans Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-87765-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-87765-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada Abstract Title: A Bird's-Eye View of Modernity: The Synoptic View in Nineteenth-Century Cityscapes Author: Robert Evans Degree: Ph.D. Year: 2011 Institution: Carleton University Supervisor: Mitchell B. Frank This dissertation examines the role of the synoptic view in representing the city in late nineteenth-century America, using Boston, Massachusetts, as a case study. Lithographic bird's-eye views and panoramic photographs from the tops of buildings and other structures were popular images in the second half of the nineteenth century before the age of powered flight. These lithographs and photographs are usually discussed as records of urban development, but in my dissertation I break down the urban synoptic view into three components for analysis: the viewed object, the vantage point, and the viewing distance. The three components then, in turn, inform my proposal for a synoptic visual regime of modernity specific to urban centres in the late nineteenth century, a period of unprecedented urban development. Lithographic bird's-eye views and panoramic photographs usually exist in archives without contextualizing historical information. Indeed, their survival is incidental, making them visual ephemera of the late nineteenth century. My methodology, therefore, relies on interpretive strategies based on semiotics and placing the objects in a general history of urban development. This dissertation foregrounds a body of visual culture usually considered more as historical records, reflective and illustrative of their period, than constitutive of it. This dissertation thus gives consideration to the productive role of the synoptic view in both imaging and imagining the modern city of the late nineteenth century. ii Acknowledgements I am indebted to many people, both personally and professionally, without whom this dissertation would not have been possible. I would like to thank first and foremost my supervisor Professor Mitchell Frank for his guidance, encouragement, patience, and, in particular, his extraordinary efforts in the final days to guide this project to its completion. I also wish to thank the members of the examination committee for their comments and suggestions on my manuscript: Professors Peter Coffman, Carol Payne, Stephane Roy, and Jeffrey Cohen from the Growth and Structures of Cities Department, Bryn Mawr College, who acted as the external examiner. Over the course of my research and writing, I have had the pleasure of benefitting from the expertise of many people. Thanks are due to Sally Pierce and Catharina Slautterback at the Boston Athenaeum; Aaron Schmidt, Ronald Grim, and Jane Winton of the Boston Public Library; and the staffs of the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Library and Archives Canada, and the The Maps, Data, and Government Information Centre at the Carleton University Library. I have also benefitted from conversations at different points in the process with Professors Paul Keen and Chris Faulkner at Carleton University, Joan Schwartz at Queen's University, and Mark Dorrian at the University of Edinburgh. In addition, I am thankful for the financial support for I have received from the Social Sciences and iii Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, and Carleton University. Personally, I would like to thank my friends and colleagues, at Carleton University and elsewhere, who have commiserated, sympathized, provoked, challenged, and, ultimately, supported me through this endeavour. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the support of Anna de Aguayo, Janne Cleveland, and, of course, my heartfelt thanks to Jessie Stewart for putting up with Rabbie. I also wish to thank my parents who have been a constant source of gentle and unwavering support over the last half dozen years, and it is to them that I dedicate this dissertation. iv Table of Contents List of Illustrations vii Introduction: A Bird's-Eye View of Modernity 1 Lithographs and Photographs of Cities 8 Objects of Study and Methodology 9 Literature Review 15 Chapters 19 Chapter One: A Historical Overview: Cities and the View from Above 22 Cities 24 City as Representation 27 Representations of Cities 31 The Space Between Cities as Representation and Representations of Cities 36 Landscapes 37 History of Bird's-Eye Views and the Synoptic View 46 Chapter Two: Pastoral Cities and Prospects of Progress 67 Boston as Picture: An Introduction 69 Cities in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century 79 Cities and Capitalism in the Nineteenth Century 86 Boston as Picture and Rational Landscape 93 Chapter Three: The View from There 116 I Am There 118 North, South, East, West 120 Where Can I Stand? 134 Views from History 136 Views from Modernity 147 Double Modernity 158 Chapter Four: "Boston as the eagle and the wild goose see it, is a very different object..." 161 A Distanced City 165 Boston at a Distance 170 One City, One Voice, One Legible Space 191 V Conclusion: Bird's-Eye Views 202 Uneven Modernity 207 Synoptic View of Modernity 217 Appendices 222 Illustrations 230 Bibliography 279 vi List of Illustrations Fig. 1. Albert Ruger and Notman Studio, Halifax, N. S., c. 1880. [Albert Ruger, Panoramic View of the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1879; Notman Studio, Halifax, N. S., c. 1880.] Black and white photographic reproduction of lithographic bird's-eye view and four black and prints pasted on board. Fig. 2. Anonymous, [ View from Arlington Street Church], 1910. Eleven black and white photographs. Fig. 3. "Complete Panoramic View of Boston Taken from the Top of Arlington Street Church Spire, 200 Feet Above the Sidewalk," Boston Globe (July 3,1910), 11. Fig. 4. John Bachmann, Bird's-Eye View of Boston. Chromolithograph published by John Bachmann, New York, 1850. Fig. 5. Louis Bretez, detail of Paris (Plan de Turgot), 1739. Commissioned by Michel Etienne Turgot, Prevot des Marchands of Paris. Fig. 6. William Burgis, A South East View of ye Great Town of Boston in New England America. Engraving published by William Price and Thomas Selby, Boston, 1725. Fig. 7. Paul Revere, A View of Part of the Town of Boston in New England and British Ships of War Landing Their Troops! 1768. Hand coloured engraving published by Paul Revere, Boston, 1770. Fig. 8. W. H. Bartlett, Boston and Bunker Hill (from East End), engraving published in N. P. Willis and W. H. Bartlett, American Scenery; Or, Land, Lake, and River Illustrations of Transatlantic Nature (London: George Virtue, 1840). Fig. 9. W. H. Bartlett, Boston from the Dorchester Heights, engraving published in N. P. Willis and W. H. Bartlett, American Scenery; Or, Land, Lake, and River Illustrations of Transatlantic Nature (London: George Virtue, 1840). Fig. 10. Louis Le Breton, Boston. Lithograph published by Wild Editeur, Paris, 1850-early 1860s. vii Fig. 11. Edwin Whitefield, View of Boston in 1848 from East Boston, 1848. Lithograph published by Whitefield and Smith, Boston. Fig. 12. Richard P. Mallory, Boston from Bunker Hill Monument, engraving published in Samuel Gardner Drake, The History and Antiquities of the City of Boston (Boston, 1856). Larger version originally published in James Smillie and R. P. Mallory, A Panoramic View from Bunker Hill Monument (Boston: Redding & Co, 1848). Fig. 13. Freeman Richardson, Environs of Boston from Corey's Hill, Brookline, Mass. Lithograph published by Freeman Richardson, Boston, 1864. Fig. 14. Thomas Sulman, Bird's-Eye View of Boston, United States, engraving published in The Illustrated London News 61, no.1733 (Nov. 23,1872). Fig. 15. John Bachmann, Boston, Bird's-eye View from the North. Chromolithograph published by L. Prang & Co., Boston, 1877. Fig. 16. Thomas Sulman, London from the south side of the Thames, engraving published in The Illustrated London News (Feb.