About Goad’s Old Street maps
Charles Goad’s old street maps were created for insurance companies to underwrite the risk of urban fires, and whilst the printing of old street maps certainly goes back a long way before Charles E. Goad started producing his ‘Fire Insurance Plans’, his street maps are considered by many as preeminent.
Goad’s cartographic tools allow us to examine the urban development of many of the towns and cities throughout the world, most famously perhaps the UK capital London and the major cities of Canada. Many examples of Goad’s old street maps have appeared at auction over the years, sometimes making very high prices, including rare examples of his more international plans such as the Plan D’Assurance de Constantinople, which sold at Bloomsbury Auctions for £8,400 in 2009, and the Insurance Plan of Kjøbenhavn, which fetched £6,000 also in 2009.
To this day, his street maps remain an invaluable resource to historians, town planners and developers alike, and the iconic design, colour system and font lend them an aesthetic appeal that resonates with cartophiles, graphic designers, interior designers and, particularly when combined with local-area interest, businesses, institutions, local councils & services as well as private individuals.
