Posted by Will Hayes on May 23, 2002 at 09:42:35:In Reply to: looking for land measurements posted by Vince Fontana on May 22, 2002 at 23:11:25:
Philadelphia was the first city in America planned as a grid (or planned at all), but that has no bearing on any standard block size.
Remember, the original Wm. Penn plan for Philadelphia in the 1680's was to have 8 properties per block, per side (the "Greene Country Towne", which was what determined the planned size of the block. This was to be surrounded by 80-acre "gentlenman's estates".
However, as we know, the city rapidly developed with a quaker-influenced post-fire London Georgian terrace form, which negated the original idea of the scale of the blocks and gave the city the pedestrial urban character that it has developed.Philadelphia city blocks are a much different size than later laid out grids in U.S. cities like, for example, New York city blocks.
Incidentally, your estimates are correct. An old Philadelphia city block is approximately 400-425 feet per side, which means an entire city block is 3.6 to 4 acres, and there are about 13 blocks in a mile.
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