1885 Henry Wellge map
The 1885 Henry Wellge map is a lithograph created in 1885 by German-born artist Henry Wellge (1850-1917), depicting a constructed "bird's-eye" view of Birmingham as it appeared at the time, allowing for artistic interpretation, simplification, and the inclusion of unbuilt proposed structures.
Wellge was a partner in the firm of Norris, Wellge and Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The company's agents visited cities across the United States and offered lithographic prints of city views to citizens and businesses by subscription. For a fee, a business location would be indicated on the map legend. For an additional fee, a separate larger view could be included on the border of the print.
Once enough subscriptions had been received, the company would send an artist with a team of surveyors to take measurements and prepare sketches of each building in the area to be depicted. The artist, Wellge in this case, would construct a perspective view using existing topographic and street maps and insert the individual buildings using his associates' sketches. The preliminary composition would then be redrawn as a detailed, finished work ready to send to the publisher, in this case, Beck & Pauli, also of Milwaukee.
During the year 1885 Wellge prepared artistic views of twenty-two cities, including, in addition to Birmingham, ten in Wisconsin, six in Florida, four in Georgia, and one in Texas. The Birmingham map exceeds his others in scope and detail. The print is 20 1/4" x 32 3/4" in size and is bordered on top and bottom by fourteen individual views of sponsoring businesses, along with a map of the state's mineral resources and a separate view of Highland Avenue and Lakeview Park.
References
- Fazio, Michael W. (2010) Landscape of Transformations: Architecture and Birmingham, Alabama. Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press ISBN 9781572336872
- Desmond, Jerry (December 16, 2014) "1885 City View Map" 310 Pythian Place, Birmingham History Center
External links
- 1885 Henry Wellge map at the Library of Congress