Fire insurance plan of a section of Port Adelaide

Surveyed and drawn for the Fire Underwriters' Association of South Australia. Detailed plans giving street names, names of occupiers and building usage. Lithographs, some colour, with annotations in red ink

Fire insurance plans are large-scale town maps which grew out of the need for fire insurance underwriters to know the physical characteristics of a building which was being insured. These maps detail with colour and symbols, the nature of the outside and inside construction of buildings: materials used in the building (whether it is timber, brick or stone or iron), the location of passages, fire walls, sky-lights, windows and other openings in walls, height and occupancy or use of individual buildings or groups of buildings. Fire hydrants are also indicated on the maps. The maps show not only the internal hazards of the buildings but also their position relative to adjoining buildings, which may contain further risks to the insured structure.

The maps are bound in large volumes.