Map of a Piece of Land Situated at Harlaem in the Twelfth Ward of the City of New York. Drawn April 1827 by J.F. Bridges, from a Survey made by Daniel Ewen in March 1826 [manuscript title]

Bridges, Joseph F.

Edité par New York, 1850

A propos de cet article

Manuscript title, hand colored manuscript index map and 19 hand colored manuscript cadastral or plat maps each with corresponding manuscript leaf identifying ownership of each numbered plots. Folio (20 x 8 inches). This manuscript cadastral atlas depicts what at the time was designated the Twelfth Ward, i.e. from Third Avenue to Eighth Avenue between 124th and 133rd Streets, east of the Old Kingsbridge Road, in Harlem. The index map divides the ward into 19 parts, i.e. each roughly a square city block; and each is in turn divided into individual plots. The numbering on the plots corresponds to the manuscript text on the facing page which details ownership, with dates of deeds, prices of sales, as well as some mortgage information. Chief among the purchasers was real estate agents John R. Peters, Stebbins & Brown and landowner Charles Henry Hall. Of particular note, on 127th Street between Fifth and Fourth Avenues, directly across the street from "Floy's Garden" were a number of tracts deeded to David Hosack, noted American physician and botanist, and the founder of the Elgin Botanic Garden. The maps were drawn by Joseph Bridges, the son of famed New York City surveyor William Bridges, the mapmaker of the famed Commissioner's Map of 1811. In 1807, the New York State legislature appointed a committee to draft a plan for the orderly development of the city north of Houston Street as far north as Washington Heights. The result was the grid plan which marks New York City geography to this day. The present cadastral atlas records much of the original "grid" development of Harlem post-Commissioner's Plan. Although settled as early as the 17th century, during the American Revolution much of Harlem was burnt to the ground by the British. Following the war, development of the remote area was slow to recover, with only a handful of families living an agrarian life in what was then very much the countryside. However, by the 1820s, areas of Harlem, like the present 12th Ward, were divided and developed per the Commissioner's Plan. The arrival of the New York and Harlem Railroad in 1832 led to a boom in population and building. The manuscript map would be published as map sheets 39-42 within Speilman and Brush's Certified copies of original maps of property in New York City, filed in the Register's Office and elsewhere, together with the Register's index to maps and important notes regarding the same (Hoboken, N.J. 1881). A manuscript note on the endpaper recorded the volume as presented to "Lawyers Title & Guarantee Co. by Dr. Reginald H. Sayre through Robert Kelly Prentice, April 1927." Contemporary marbled paper covered boards, rebacked and retipped, spine gilt. Tissue repairs to edges of maps, a few repaired tears, the final map with small area at bottom in facsimile Manuscript title, hand colored manuscript index map and 19 hand colored manuscript cadastral or plat maps each with corresponding manuscript leaf identifying ownership of each numbered plots. Folio (20 x 8 inches).

N° de réf. du vendeur 352203

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Map of a Piece of Land Situated at Harlaem in the Twelfth Ward of the City of New York. Drawn April 1827 by J.F. Bridges, from a Survey made by Daniel Ewen in March 1826 [manuscript title]
• Éditeur: New York
• Date de parution: 1850
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Americana