The Houses Of
Philadelphia Generally Are Not So Large As Those Of Other Great
Cities In The States.
They are more modest than those of New York,
and less commodious than those of Boston.
Their most striking
appendage is the marble steps at the front doors. Two doors, as a
rule, enjoy one set of steps, on the outer edges of which there is
generally no parapet or raised curb-stone. This, to my eye, gave
the houses an unfinished appearance - as though the marble ran
short, and no further expenditure could be made. The frost came
when I was there, and then all these steps were covered up in
wooden cases.
The City of Philadelphia lies between the two rivers, the Delaware
and the Schuylkill. Eight chief streets run from river to river,
and twenty-four principal cross-streets bisect the eight at right
angles. The cross-streets are all called by their numbers. In the
long streets the numbers of the houses are not consecutive, but
follow the numbers of the cross-streets; so that a person living on
Chestnut Street between Tenth Street and Eleventh Street, and ten
doors from Tenth Street, would live at No. 1010. The opposite
house would be No. 1011. It thus follows that the number of the
house indicates the exact block of houses in which it is situated.
I do not like the right-angled building of these towns, nor do I
like the sound of Twentieth Street and Thirtieth Street; but I must
acknowledge that the arrangement in Philadelphia has its
convenience.
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