Visualizing Colonial Philadelphia
This digital exhibit details the history of urbanization in colonial Philadelphia using maps and 3D visualizations.
[Header Image: "North View of Philadelphia," Edwin Whitefield. Courtesy of the American Philosophical Society Digital Library.]
Then and Now: Use the toggle to view what Philadelphia looks like now (left) and a georeferenced map of Philadelphia created by Thomas Holme in 1681 (right).
"A Plan of Philadelphia," M. Drury, 1776. Courtesy of the American Philosophical Society Digital Library.
A new age in visualizing historical spaces?
In recent years, historians, geographers, and digital humanists have begun to recreate historical places to better understand societies, cultures, architecture, and spaces of the past. As 3D modelling and Virtual Reality (VR) software have become more accessible to researchers and academics, the attempt to understand early American spaces through VR and 3D visualizations has begun. Using maps like the 1777 map of Philadelphia can help historians begin to recreate colonial spaces and better answer questions about the urbanization of cities.
3D model of a colonial single-room rowhouse (left) and the textured VR model of the same building (right). Screenshots of part of the early VR model of colonial Philadelphia, by Molly Nebiolo
3D models and VR recreations of colonial spaces, like pre-Revolutionary Philadelphia, can help us to ask --- and answer --- questions about lived spaces, movement, and landscapes of that era. The process of recreating colonial Philadelphia in VR allows for historians to grasp, in a hands-on way, the interdisciplinarity needed to full understand a space. For example, recreating colonial Philadelphia began with studying the architecture and style of its brick rowhouses.
Here (above) is an example of what a typical rowhouse in eighteenth century Philadelphia looked like, with textures to replicate some of the materials used in making the houses. With VR, we can attempt to recreate one of streets that are mapped out, like in the 1777 map.
They also let users experience the surroundings of a colonial location when the ability to visit cities is unavailable. We can "jump into" images, like those below that hint at the density or openness of the city. With 3D and VR depictions of the past, we can better understand the ever-changing cities of the present.
All images courtesy of the American Philosophical Society Digital Library. Hover over each "i" in the top-left corner of each sketch for image information.
For more information about the 3D-modelling and VR aspects of this project, please visit the Background and Methodology page .
Interested in more digital projects about colonial American cities?
Welikia Project : View what Manhattan and its surroundings looked like before the Dutch built New Amsterdam. Much of the Philadelphia region might have looked liked parts of Mannahatta before Penn acquired it. Credits .
Mapping West Philadelphia - View the owners of West Philadelphia as the land boundaries stood in October 1777. Researched and prepared by J.M. Duffin, University of Pennsylvania.
