Grid Pattern

Pre-Columbian Grid Designs and the Spanish Colonial Grid

Over a century before European contact, the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán was laid out in a cross-axial formation, and although there is evidence that the original city contained a central plaza, the precise geometric pattern of the pre-Hispanic street system remains a subject of debate. Some scholars believe that when the Spanish conquered the Aztec Empire in the 1520s they built Mexico City upon the ruins of [Page 318]Tenochtitlán in conformity with an original grid layout, whereas others have disputed this claim.

During the mid-15th century the Incas utilized gridlike patterns to lay out settlements such as Chucuito, Hatunqolla, Paucarqolla, and Ollantaytambo. There is also evidence suggesting that the Spanish grid plan of Puebla (1533) in what is now east-central Mexico was, in part, influenced by the design of the neighboring Aztec settlement of Cholula.

Although numerous early Spanish settlements in the Americas were based on the grid pattern—such as Santo Domingo (1496) in the Caribbean and Mérida in the Yucatán (1541)—it was not until Phillip II of Spain established the “Laws of the Indies” in 1573 that the grid became codified as the standard design of Spanish colonial settlements. These royal instructions were based upon the architectural writings of Vitruvius (70–25 BCE) and incorporated a rectangular plaza as part of the grid layout. The four corners of the plaza were to be oriented toward the cardinal directions, and various other open spaces were allocated for a cathedral, palace, town hall, and custom-house.

Spanish towns, or pueblos, were established in what is now the United States along the Gulf of Mexico as well as in the Southwest and California. Cities such as San Antonio, Texas, and Pensacola, Florida, have their origins in Spanish colonial grid designs laid out according to the Laws of the Indies.

Gridiron Cities in a Checkerboard Landscape

When the English established colonies in North America, they were not required to follow a standardized protocol for settlement design comparable to the Laws of the Indies. Nevertheless, the grid pattern was utilized for various town plans as early as the 17th century. One of the first English colonial grid plans was that of New Haven, Connecticut (1638). Philadelphia was laid out as a grid in 1682 and later became a model for other cities. The Philadelphia plan consisted of two perpendicular axes intersecting in a central square, with streets numbered along one axis and named after different tree species along the other. Each quarter of the city was to also have a smaller square, in part to prevent the spread of fires.

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