City Plan of Savannah, Georgia
N 32° 04.785 W 081° 05.487
17S E 491369 N 3549279
Commemorated by this plaque in Johnson Square, the Savannah city plan, whose execution began in 1733, is the oldest city plan in the United States to use a repetitive modular grid with mixed residential blocks and multi-purpose public areas.
Waymark Code: WM2CRV
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 10/13/2007
Views: 137
The Savannah city plan is distinguished from those of previous colonial towns by the repeated pattern of connected neighborhoods, multiple squares, streets, and designed expansion into lands held by the city. It is unique in the history of urban planning in a number of aspects, not the least of which is that the squares allow for more open space in Savannah than any city layout in history.
The basic plan unit is a ward, 600 feet to a side in the north-south direction, and 540 feet to 600 feet in the east-west direction. Street and building lots are organized around a central square. The streets bounding the wards allow uninterrupted movement of traffic while the internal streets are interrupted by the squares to create a pedestrian-friendly scale. The four corners of each ward contained a "Tything." A tything consisted of ten house lots each. These ten house lots were reserved for the private homes of the settlers. Each house lot measured the same, 60 feet in width and 90 feet in depth. Sometimes they were divided into increments of 20 or 30 feet, thereby creating a diverse pattern of building sizes and types. On the east and west flank of the square were positioned four larger lots called the "Trustee Lots." They were reserved for public structures such as churches, banks, or government buildings.
Savannah's plan reflects political and organizational considerations of the day. Each ward had tythingmen, who shared guard and other duties. Wards were tied to a larger regional plan of garden and farm lots. The repetitive non-hierarchal placement of wards, squares, and equal-sized lots points to the utopian ideals of the colony. The city plan also proved to be very adaptable and allowed the city to grow and develop. The city used the power gained through municipal ownership of the common to shape growth in the public interest.
Location:
Johnson Square, Savannah
West Congress Street and Bull Street
Type of structure/site: City Plan
Date of Construction: 1733
Engineer/Architect/Builder etc.: General James Oglethorpe
Engineering Organization Listing: American Society of Civil Engineers
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Web Site: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
The listed coordinates for this waymark must be personally visited.
Please submit at least one ORIGINAL PHOTO of the structure, preferably one showing a different aspect, angle, season, etc. from the original waymark.
Give the DATE of your visit and any comments or additional information that will help other visitors enjoy this site.