#beaver st

[newarknjhijrah]

Market & Beaver, Newark, NJ

[manchestergalore]

Insurance Plan of the City of Manchester Vol. III: sheet 52 

1893

Whitworth Street area between Oxford Streer and Princess Street

This detailed 1893 plan of Manchester is one of a series of twelve sheets in an atlas originally produced to aid insurance companies in assessing fire risks. 

The building footprints, their use (commercial, residential, educational, etc.), the number of floors and the height of the building, as well as construction materials (and thus risk of burning) and special fire hazards (chemicals, kilns, ovens) were documented in order to estimate premiums. 

Names of individual businesses, property lines, and addresses were also often recorded. Together these maps provide a rich historical shapshot of the commercial activity and urban landscape of towns and cities at the time.