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1776 Habermann View of New York during the Great Fire of 1776
FeuTerribleaNouvelleYorck-haberman-1776'… at a little past midnight, September 21, 1776, a fire broke out in a low drinking-place and brothel -a wooden building on the wharf, near White-hall Slip. The wind was brisk from the southwest, and the flames spread rapidly, unchecked, for there were few inhabitants in the city. every building between White-hall and Broad streets up to Beaver Street was consumed, when the wind veered to the southeast and drove the flames towards Broadway. The buildings on each side of Beaver Street to the Bowling Green were burned. The fire crossed Broadway and swept all the buildings on each side as far as Exchange Street, and on the west side to Partition (Fulton) Street, destroying Trinity Church. Every building westward towards the Hudson River perished.'The fire broke out as American Revolutionary forces, under George Washington, and British marines, under Lord Howe, fought for control of the strategically important harbor. The conflagration lasted two days and destroyed nearly 500 buildings, at the time about one third of the city. Both sides immediately accused the other of starting the fire intentionally, and indeed, when it became apparent that wresting control of New York harbor from the entrenched British was unlikely, the Revolutionary leaders did discuss burning the city to the ground, though supposedly the plan was abandoned. Nonetheless, the ramifications were significant, with the British using the fire as an excuse to maintain martial law over the city until finally expelled in 1783.
Franz Xaver Habermann (1721-1796) was a German engraver and artist active in the second half of the 18th century. Habermann was based in Augsburg where he was a well-respected engraver of urban views, particularly "vues d'optique" a type of lantern view rendered in reverse with the intention that it be viewed through an optic device. He is particularly known for his views of American cities, most specifically New York and Boston, which though merely artists conceptions and highly fictive, do illustrate the common European perception of the English colonies at the outset of the American Revolutionary War. Habermann's name occasionally appears in its French variant, "Francois Xav. Habermann" or more simplistically as "F. X. Haberman". More by this mapmaker...
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This copy is copyright protected.
Copyright © 2024 Geographicus Rare Antique Maps