Average Home Sizes in Philadelphia, 1798:

1
Average Home Sizes in Philadelphia, 1798

• Looking at the Federal Direct Tax in order to
  gain a very general picture of what the average
  home looked like in Philadelphia in 1798.

2
Samples

• Samples from three wards in Philadelphia
• 15 samples taken from High Street Ward
• 5 samples taken from Middle Ward
• 5 samples taken from North Ward
• The focus was on the High Street Ward and the
  overall averages from the gathered data.
• Smaller samples were taken from the Middle and
  North wards to serve as comparators.
• Did certain wards have larger buildings and if so
  did this correlate to the wealth of the ward?

3
Location of Wards

• North Ward
• Extends within a line form Fourth Street,
  thence by Sassafras Street to the Western
  boundary of the City, thence by the same to High
  Street, thence by the same back to Fourth Street,
  and thence by the same to the place of
  beginning.
• Middle Ward
• Extends within a line from Fourth Street,
  thence by High Street to the Western boundary of
  the City, thence by the same to Chestnut Street,
  thence by the same back to Fourth Street, and
  thence by the same to the place of beginning.
• High Street Ward
• Extends within a line from the Delaware,
  thence by Mulberry Street to Fourth Street,
  thence by the same to High Street, thence by the
  same to the river Delaware, and thence by the
  said river to Mulberry Street.

This information was taken from
http//home.earthlink.net/shackamaxon/wards.html.
This site stated that they found the wards
defined as such in the 1805 Philadelphia
Directory.
4
Ward Value Averages
Ward Average Area (sq. ft.) Average Assessed Value of Homes () Average Width of Homes (ft.) Average Depth of Homes (ft.)
High Street Ward 1655.5 3891.7 18 81.5
Middle Ward 3472 3620 28.2 115.4
North Ward 2846 4640 18 75

Surveyed Philadelphia Homes 2256.88 3987 20.4 89.2
5
Percentiles
Based on Value
20th percentile 40th percentile 60th percentile 80th percentile 100th percentile
Assessed Value () 1250 2250 4500 5500 13000
Area (sq. ft.) 1200 1092 1095 2550 5712
Based on Area
20th percentile 40th percentile 60th percentile 80th percentile 100th percentile
Area (sq. ft.) 722 1200 2000 4158 6400
Assessed Value () 4500 1250 6000 8000 10000
6
Points of Error

• The way in which the data was gathered and
  recorded by the assessors of the tax varied from
  ward to ward and even within wards. This made
  comparison more difficult.
• It was hard to tell how the space was being used
  commercial or residential. This would affect the
  average area and the value.
• It is probable that the values were affected by
  the particular ward.