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A
i\
TOWN PLANNING IN PRACTICE
BY BARRY PARKER AND RAYMOND
UNWIN, "THE ART OF BUILDING A
HOME." ILLUSTRATED, 10/6 NET.
LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN & CO.
r
fr
Illus. HS-—i^'gtns6urs. Moitke Plalz.
I
I
1
I
■
I •
TOWN PLANNING
IN PRACTICE • AN IN-
TRODUCTION TO THE ART
OF DESIGNING CITIES AND
SUBURBS • By RAYMOND UNWIN
WITH 300 ILLUSTRATIONS
T. FISHER UNWIN • LONDON: ADELPHI
TERRACE . LEIPSIC: INSELSTRASSE 20 1909
•
• • «
» • - *
•
{^All rights reserved.)
1
MY WIFE AND J
INSCRIBE THIS BOOK
TO THE MEMORY OF
MY FATHER
WHEN a Bill conferring town planning powers on muni-
cipal bodies was pronused by the Government, it
occurred to me that it would probably be of use if
some of the maps, photographs, and other material which I had
collected during some years' study and practice of what I have
ventured to <^1 the art of town planning could be put
together and published. Hence this book. The spare time at
my disposal has only enabled me to deal in an introductory and
imperfect manner with the different points raised ; but I am hopeful
that those who do me the honour to read the text will find it
at any rate sufficient to help them to glean from the illustrations
many of the valuable suggestions which I believe them to contain.
I have made free use of ideas gathered from many sources which
it is impossible for me to acknowledge in detail; but I would
like here to express my indebtedness to those with whom I have
collaborated, particularly to Mr. Barry Parker ; also to Mr.
Edwin L. Lutyens, whose suggestions in connection with the
Hampstead Garden Suburb work have been invaluable.
My thanks are due to many whose writings on the subject I have
found helpful — Mr. Horsfall, Dr. Stiibben, Mr. C. Mulford Robin-
son, Professor Geddes, Mr. Phene Spiers, Professor Schultze-
Naumburg, Mr. Halsey Ricardo, Mr. Reginald Blomfield, to
mention the names of a few only of those of whom I think
with gratitude in this connection.
I would like also to record my appreciation of the way in which
my requests for permission to use valuable illustrations and other
material have throughout been met. These are, I hope, all acknow-
ledged in their places. I am particularly indebted to Dr. Stiibben
and to the editor and publisher of " Der Stadtebau," also to Herr
Berlepsch-Valendas, and to the officials of many German towns,
who have given me the greatest assistance at different times, and
have always been willing to help an Englishman to understand
their town-planning methods and to profit by their experience.
Last, and by no means least, my acknowledgments are due to
many of the members of my own staff who have co-operated with
me in various ways. Without Mr. Wade's charming and imagina-
tive pictures and the very useful illustrative sketches made by
Mr. Mottram, or wanting the numerous diagrams prepared by
Mr. HoUis and others, the book would have been but imperfectly
illustrated.
R. U.
Wyldbs, Hampstead, N.W.
June^ 1909.
ix
»
CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK
PAGE
X R£ffAC£ •••••••• IX
CBAPTBR
I. Of Civic Art as the Expression of Civic Life . i
II. Of the Individuality of Towns, with a Slight
Sketch of the Ancient Art of Town Planning . 15
III. Of Formal and Informal Beauty . . . 115
IV. Of the City Survey ..... 140
V. Of Boundaries and Approaches . . . 154
VI. Of Centres and Enclosed Places . . • '75
VII. Of the Arrangement of Main Roads, their Treat-
ment and Planting .... 235
VIII. Of Site Planning and Residential Roads . 289
IX. Of Plots and the Spacing and Placing of Buildings
AND Fences. . . . . . 319
X. Of Buildings, and how the variety of Each must
BE DOMINATED BY THE HaRMONY OF THE WhOLE . 360
XL Of Co-operation in Site Planning, and how Common
Enjoyment benefits the Individual . . 375
XII. Of Building Bye-laws ..... 386
Bibliography ...... 405
Index . . . .411
Zl
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A1GUE8-M0RTE8, Plan op
Allotments, Design for Group of
Amiens and its Cathedral
AosTA, Plan of Roman Town of
„ THE Town Plan developed from the Roman Lay-out
Arundel, Built-up Corner
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
AsTBURY, Church and Village
Athens, Acropolis at
Augsburg, Karolinen Strasse .
„ St. Ulrich's Church
Backs of some of the Hampstead
Backs, Projecting
Bad Kissengsn, Market-place
Beauty, Scenes of Natural
»»
>»
n
97
Tenants' Cottages
»
Beverley Market
Bonn, Popplesdorfer All^e
Bournemouth, Plan of
Bridgewater, Cornhill
„ Plan of.
„ View of Castle Street
Bruges, Plan of Rub des Pierres
„ Sketch of „
Brussels, Gare du Nord
Building Line, Broken and Unbroken
„ SEEN IN a too Isolated Position
Bulbous-shaped Beds, Example of
BUTTSTEDT, PlaN OF PaRT OF THE ToWN OF
„ Views from Various Standpoints on Plan i 51-159
Bye-laws. Diagram showing External Angle Completed
„ „ Internal
Chantilly, ChAteau de. Water Garden .
Chartres and its Cathedral .
Chester, Plan of ...
xiii
99
ILLU8TRATIOM
PAOS
38
60
III
164
124
183
30
5>
T 31
51
259
34»
220
29 s
128
191
16
29
197
265
144
209
239
3*3
»37. 238
323
139
205
87,88
121
89
123
91,92
127
119
•77
215, 216
287
61
87
•35
201
59
84
60
85
209
281
210
281
126^
188
191
259
146
209
93"
127
150
216
151-159
217-220
) *97
398
297a
399
90
•*3
123
•83
4
•S
n
»>
»>
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Chichester, Market Cross and Cross Roads
Collision Point Diagrams ....
Cologne, Enlarged Detail of Part of Plan op .
Part of the Town Plan of
Site Plan of Stadt-Wald
Plan showing Treatment of Property Boundaries
Conway, Plan of .
Copenhagen, Amalienberg Platz
„ Formal Lay-out round the Amalienberg Platz
Corner, Built up .
Corners, Typical Modern Street
Cottage Plans showing Different Frontages
Cottages, Group Arranged for Developing Greater
Depth of Land ....
Cottages, Group with Co-operative Centre
Depth of Land Gained by Means of Carriage Drive.
Diagram ......
Dinan, Place St. Sauveur
„ Steep Street .....
Dorchester, Avenue leading into
South Walk ....
West Street.
Drainage, Combined and Separate. Diagrams
Dresden, Market-place ....
»
»>
i»
»»
Dunstbr Village Street, Somersetshire, looking down
„ „ „ looking up
Ealing Tenants' Estate. Plan .
Earswick, near York, Plan of . . .
Playing Ground at .
Poplar Grove ....
„ Station Road • • • .
Edinburgh, Ainslie Place from Glenfinlas Street
Albyn Place, North Side
Charlotte Square
High School ....
99
99
99
99
99
[ONS
xiv
ILLUSTRATION
PAOB
179
247
173
238
74
103
73
102
72
lOI
[ES 82
III
5
16
85
117
rz 84
116
258
339
260, 260a
341
240
326
280
357
296
381
279
356
131
196
a3i
314
115
169
109
161
208
279
298
400, 401
142
207
*34
201
222
298
221
297
169
231
171
*33
219
295
225, 226
303
217, 217^
291
54
75
55
75
51
73
286
365
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Edinburgh, Moray Placb, looking N.E.
„ „ S.E.
Plan of
ViBw ACROSS Princes Street
Ephesus, Detailed Plan of the Agora
Plan of. General Lay-out
»»
fV
>»
»>
»»
w
>»
View prom the Coressus
Fences, Converging .....
Fences Replaced by Orchard ....
Flensburg, Building Plan ....
Florence, Piazza Signoria . . . .
S. Annunzuta ....
S. Maria Novella . . . .
Formal Gardens and Terrace, Sonning
Formal Water Tank, Marshcourt
Freudenstadt Church ....
„ Plan of .
Gardens, Groups of Small ....
Ghent, Building in too Isolated a Position
Grunstadt, Building Plan ....
Hampstead Garden Suburb, Arrangement of Buildings
ON Central Place
i>
fi
«
»»
11
»>
tt
19
19
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
Asmun's Hill
Asmun's Place
99 99 •
Built-up Corner
illustration
5*
53
7
50
i8
17
19
282
283
76
\z6d
126c
96, ()6a
95
49
48
281
146
75
167
290
227
293
258J
99
9J
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
„ „ AND
Street Terminal
Entrance
Group of Large Houses with
Carriage Drive Circling
Lawn .
Group of Large Houses with
Simple Carriage Drive .
Plan of Central Place
Plan of Temple Fortune Hill
234^
272-274
276
XV
paob
75
75
18
73
33
31
35
358
358
106
190
188
188
131
7»
7*
358
209
lOJ
229
369
305
377
339
315
35*
353
*75
353
166
227
291
371
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Hampstead Garden Suburb, Proposed Shops
Sketch of Central Place
99
91
91
»»
»»
11
99
99
99
99
91
99
9»
Subsidiary Centre .
Temple Fortune Hill .
Quadrangle of Cottages
Quadrangle of Houses .
Quadrangle of Medium-sized
Houses
Wall
Tenants, Ltd., Area developed by .
„ „ Backs of Cottages
Way, Asmun's Pi«ace, Entrance to
Hereford, Plan of .
HoLBORN ..••.•
Houses, Detached, Eight to the Acre
Groups of, „ „ . .
Grouped round Green, Sketch of •
Grouping of. Diagram
„ IN Pairs arranged round a Green .
Informal Village .....
Irregular Town, An Imaginary
Kahun, Plan of .
Karlsruhe, Acute-angled Corner on the Ludwig
Platz . • • . •
Corner Treatment on the Rondell Platz .
99
99
99
99
99 99
Houses facing Schloss Platz
Ludwig Platz
Markt Platz
Plan of .
View from the Schloss
View of Houses, facing Schloss Platz
„ Schloss Platz and Schloss
Karounen Platz, Munchen . . . ,
Kersey, Suffolk, A Village Street
Kufstein, BmLDiNG Plan
nXUSTRATIOV
ii6
167
168
218
289
277
292
lie
*39
227^
6
198
269
270
242
230
278
86
979 9^
II
198^
16a
zSa
103^
114^2
3» 3^
47
94tf
60a
$6a
127/
223
70
XVI
PAGE
172
229
230
295
369
354
372
163
321
323
305
17
267
350
350
331
314
355
121
1359 136
22
267
31
47
151
167
7
71
129
57
190
300
99
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Lbicbstbr Anchor Tbnamts' Estate
Letchworth, Birds' Hill Estate
Garden City, Designs for Broadway
Suggested Railway Bridge
THE St. Edmundsburt Weav-
ing Works
PixMORE Hill
„ Three Blocks of Cottages
Town Square ....
London, Diagrammatic Plan of Traffic Routes
„ „ 9, Passenger Traffic
„ FuLHAM. Plan ....
„ Regent's Park, Plan of District
West Norwood, Plan . . . '
n
»»
Wren's Plan of .
Louvre, Paris ......
Mannheim, Plan of «... .
Max Joseph Platz, MUnchen ....
Meandering Path, Example of .
MoNTPAZiER, Market-place ....
„ Plan of .... .
Moscow, Plan of «... .
Munich, Central Station .....
„ Karolinen Platz ....
„ Plan of . . .
Maribnplatz ....
„ Plan of .
Max Joseph Platz .
„ „ PXAN OF .
Nancy, Archway leading to the Place de la Carri^re
„ Place de la Carri^re . . . .
„ Place Stanislas ....
„ „ Looking towards the Cathedral
„ Plan of Part of ... .
Nuremberg, Market-place . . . .
Open Space, View secured by Grouping, Diagram
»»
99
b
XVll
SntATXON
PAOB
170
232
267
348
176
2+2
118
«74
I03tf
»SJ
268
349
271
351
165
227
99
142
100
H3
2
5
58
83
I
2
56
78
1*6/
224
+6
70
127/
190
93
127
36
57
37
59
8
19
126A
188
>37
203
117*
190
133
199
1724
236
138
205
127/
190
+3
6s
+5
67
4a
63
44
65
41
62
136
203
241
330
Ai-.rWA151LllL.AJL JLIM Ut ILJLUMKA
IIUJN^
XVUl
ILLUSTRATIOV
PAGE
Oxford High SruEXy Plak of .
199
269
yy „ STAlTDPOnfTS A TO P .
200-205 *7
1-275
„ Plak for the Partial RECONSTRucrioif of
57
81
„ Plan of .... •
83
"5
Palmyra, Gband CoLoirifADE
22
39
„ „ View and General Plan
21 Tcfaa
^38
,, Plan op Triumphal Arch
*3
39
„ Stadium .....
*4
39
Paris, Champs Elys^es ....
188
*55
„ La Rue Soufflot ....
180
H7
„ Louvre and Place db la Concorde
163^
224
„ Place de la Nation
i6$a
224
„ Rue de Rivoli ....
189
257
Pergame, Conjectural Re-creation of
122
181
„ Plan of •
121
179
Pfersee bei Augsburg, Plan of . . .
77
107
Pforzheim, Plan of ... .
71
100
Philadelphia, Bird's Eye View
67
95
„ Diagonal Streets .
68
97
„ Plan of Proposed Parkway
66
93
„ Plan of Proposed Parkway as shown
ON
Cmr Plan ....
65
93
„ Plan, Part of . . .
6+
V
„ Disregarding Contours
69
98
„ William Penn's Plan
63
90
Piazza del Duomo, Pistoja ....
126^
188
„ „ Verona
127^
190
„ Erbe, Verona .....
127^
190
n ff ....
132
199
„ S. Marco, Venice ....
127^1
190
„ SiGNORiA, Florence
1274/
190
PiRjBus, Plan of .... .
20
38
Pisa, Piazza .....
H3
207
Pinx>jA, Piazza del Duomo ....
iz6a
188
Place, A Village Markbt-
129
193
M »» • . . •
164
226
ALPHABETICAL UST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Place de la Concorde, Paris
„ „ AND Place db la Madeleine,
Original Design for .
DE l'^toile, Paris .
DE LA Madeleine, Paris ....
«
Du ChAtel, Provins ....
Example of Long . . . . .
St. Sauveur, Dinan ....
Vbnd6me, Paris . . . . .
n
M
99
99
>•
99
19
99
99
99
99
99
Places, according to Camillo Sittb
Del Duomo, Pistoja ; Domplatz, Regensburg ;
St. Maria Novblla, Florence ; St. Annunziata,
Florence ; St. Pibtro in Vincoli, Rome ; St.
Bartolombo all' Isola, Rome ; Garb du Nord,
Brussels ; Central Station, Munich ; St.
Nicholas Station, St. Petersburg
St. Marco, Venice ; Del Duomo, Verona ; Erbb,
Verona ; Signoria, Florence ; Karolinbn,
MOnchen ; Max Joseph, MCnchen .
Plan for a Town, Theoretical Web-shaped
Platz. 8ee Place.
Pompeii, Plan op .
„ THE Forum ....
View op Curved Street in . .
Prince Rupert City, Plan of . . .
Provins, Frambd View .....
„ Place du ChAtel ....
Ragusa, Plan of .
Ravenna, Places . . • .
Regensburg, Domplatz . . . ^ . •
„ MoLTKE Platz ....
Regent Street, London, Plan for Rearranging Piccadilly
Circus ....
Photo of Portion of Mr. Norman
Shaw's Design
JJNb
XIX
ILLU8THATION
PAGE
163E
224
162
223
I63D
224
163c
224
130
195
184
252
131
196
149^
213
163B
224
160
222
99
99
99
99
126
206
207
188
127
190
172
236
*5
4>
26
43
28
47
62
89
236
3*»
130
«95
39
60
140
207
1263
1S8
H5
Frontispiece
Z77
279
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xx
ILLUSTRATION PACK
Rheims, BirdVeyb View of Gardens Laid Out on former
Ramparts . . . . .106 159
Rheims, Formal Part of Gardens at . 108 161
„ Plan op Gardens Laid Out in Place of Ramparts 107 161
RicHBLiEUy Porte de Chinon . • . .114 167
Road, Curved ...... 263 344
„ „ Square Roof Line . . 265 346
„ „ Street Picture Defined . 264 345
Roads, Diagrams of Cross .... 232 314
Examples of German Multiple Track . 176/7 243
Lighter Building Roads 228, 228/;, 228^, 228^ 308-310
Road Junctions, Plans and Sketches of . . 243-256, 332-338,
261-262J 343
Junctions, Diagrams of . .174 239
Junction for the Circulation of Traffic 175 240
„ Hampstead Garden Suburb . 257 339
Sketch of Irregular Y-Shaped 183 251
Sketch of . . .182 250
Junctions, Sketches of Various . . 187 2J3
Square . . .178 245
Junction, Symmetrical . . . 185 252
with Terminals . .186 252
Junctions . . 181 249
„ ON Hillside, Cross Section . . . 224 301
Roads, Sections showing Varying Widths of German 176a, 177 243, 244
Road, Sketch of Curved ..... 266 347
Rome, S. Bartolomeo all' Isola . 126/ 188
„ S. PlETRO IN ViNCOLI .... 126^ 1 88
„ The Forums ..... 27 46
Rothenburg, Market Place .... lo^a 157
Standpoint L, Towards the Markusturm 32 53
IL, Spital Gasse . 33 53
IIL, Spital Gasse 34 5;
IV., Weisserthurm . 35 55
v., Wall dividing Town from
Country . . 104 155
1>
99
99
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
rothbnburg, standpoint vi., country coming up to thb
Town
VII., The Roderthor
VIII., ROBOLZELLERTHOR
IX., Klingasse
X., Herrngassb
XL, St. Jacob's Church
XII., Irregular Gabled Street
Rowntreb's, Messrs., Cocoa Worrs, York
Salzburg Places .....
Selinonte, Conjectural Restoration .
„ Plan of. Conjectural Restoration
„ „ Present Condition
SiBNA, Harmony op Building Materials .
SiLCHESTER, PlaN OF ReMAINS OP ROMAN ToWN
Smith 8c Sons', Messrs. W. H., Bookbinding Works,
Letchworth .....
S. Annunziata, Florence ....
S. Bartolomeo all' Isola, Rome .
S. Maria Novella, Florence ....
St. Petersburg, S. Nicholas Station
S. Pietro in Vincoli, Rome ....
Station Place, Suggestion for
Straight Path, Example of a .
Straight Street, with Break
Street, Bad Treatment of Steep
Stuttgart, i 860-1870, Portion of Building Plan
„ 1902, Portion of Building Plan .
„ Market-place
„ Schloss Platz ....
Sun Diagrams .....
Tewkesbury High Street ....
Turin, Plan of .
Ulm, Monster Platz .....
Ulm, showing an Irregular Street Terminal
Venice, Piazza S. Marco ....
lUINb
XXI
illustration
i
PAGE
105
157
112
i6S
"3
.65
195
263
285
361
287
365
288
365
102
H7
141
207
14, 15 To face
p, 26
>3
*5
12
23
284
361
29
50
103
147
1261/
188
126/
188
126^
188
1 26;
188
126^
188
117
173
94
129
»93
261
^34
315
80
no
81
no
147
211
211, 212
283
229 311
-313
196
265
9
20
161
223
194
263
127^
190
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
xxii
Venice, Piazza S. Marco .
Verona, Castello S. Pietro
Piazza del Duomo
Piazza Erbe
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
Vienna, Burghop .
Kabrntnerring -
Neuemarkt
Schlossgarten
VoTIVKIRCHE PlaTZ
Werntnbrstrassb
Wallingford
Warwick, Irregular Street Line
Washington, Plan of
Wells, Market
Vicar's Close
Plan showing the Vicar's Close and Market-
PLACE • • • • •
Winch ELSE A, Plan of .... .
Wind Diagrams .....
Zschertnitz, near Dresden, Building Plan for .
99
99
99
99
99
99
STRATION
PAGE
148
211
149
213
*33
315
127^
190
IIJC
190
132
199
213
285
125
i8s
1606
222
214
285
163/
224
190
»S7
128/7
191
192
261
10
21
120
177
294
377
295
.380
40
61
lOI
144
79
109
78
108
FOLDED MAPS.
L Nuremberg, Old Plan
XL „ Extension Plan
in. Rothbnburg «...
IV. Karlsruhe ....
V. Cologne, Detailed Plan of Small Area
VI. Hampstead Garden Suburb
VII. First Garden City, Letch worth
/ See end of book.
I._OF CIVIC ART AS THE EXPRESSION OF CIVIC
LIFE
THE last century has been remarkable, not only in this
country but in some others, for an exceedingly rapid and
extensive growth of towns. In England this growth has
produced most serious results. For many years social reformers
have been protesting against the evils which have arisen owing to
this rapid and disorderly increase in the size of towns and their
populations. Miles and miles of ground, which people not yet
elderly can remember as open green fields, are now covered with
dense masses of buildings packed together in rows along streets ///i«. 2.
which have been laid out in a perfectly haphazard manner, without
any consideration for the common interests of the people. It is not
to any design adopted for the benefit of the whole that we are
indebted for such semblance of order or convenience as may be
found here and there in these new areas. The very complete
system of country roads following usually the lines of old tracks,
and made for convenience of access to and from the town, has
undoubtedly formed a connecting frame for the network of streets
which has sprung up along and between them. A part of these
developments, too, has taken place on estates of large size, where
there has been a limited possibility of comprehensive planning and
where it has been to the advantage of the individual owner to
consider the convenience of a tolerably large area. But for these
two circumstances, the confusion of our town plans would have Illus. i.
been even worse than it is. To-day it is hardly necessary to urge
the desirability of 'a proper system of town planning. The
advantage of the land around a growing town being laid out on
a plan prepared with forethought and care to provide for the needs
of the growing community seems self-evident ; and yet it is only
within the last few years that any general demand for such powers
of town planning has been made. The corporations and other
governing bodies have looked on helplessly while estate after
estate around their towns has been covered with buildings without
any provision having been made for open spaces, school sites, or
any other public needs. The owner's main interest, too often his
only one, has been to produce the maximum increase of value or of
ground rent possible for himself by crowding upon the land as
much building as it would hold. The community, through its re-
presentative bodies, having watched the value of land forced up to
its utmost limit, has been obliged to come in at this stage and
purchase at these ruinous values such scraps of the land as may
have been left, in order to satisfy in an indifferent manner important
OF CIVIC ART THE EXPRESSION OF CIVIC LIFE 2
public needs. In this way huge sums of public money have been
wasted.
In the year 1889 Mr. Ebenezer Howard published a little book
entitled " To-morrow," in which all this was very forcibly stated,
and in which he suggested that it would be comparatively easy to
try the experiment of developing a town on the precisely opposite
and obviously rational method of first making a plan, and, by the
Illus. I. — Example from West Norwood^ London^ of futile arrangement resulting
from lack of town planning powers.
Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Map^ with the sanction of the
Controller of H.M.^s StatiotUry Office.
exercise of foresight, providing in that plan for all public needs
likely to arise, and then securing the development of the town
along the lines of this plan. This scheme was so obviously
rational and desirable that in a comparatively short time it attracted
the attention of a sufficient number of reformers to create a strong
Garden City Association ; and as a result of their efforts in
popularising the idea, in the year 1903 an estate was purchased of
about 3,800 acres at Letchworth in Hertfordshire, by the First
VII.
OF CIVIC ART THE EXPRESSION OF CIVIC UFE 3
Garden City Company, upon which there has now come into being
the nucleus of a considerable town. Fold Plan
This movement was too theoretical and experimental to appeal
very widely . to the English people, but another book was forth-
coming of quite a different character. "The Example of
Germany," by Mr. Horsfall, first published in 1904 (University
Press, Manchester), showed how in Germany the same problem of
rapid increase of towns had been dealt with on lines much akin to
those advocated by Mr. Howard. Unfortunately, the English
people do not in very large numbers read books in foreign
languages ; and until the publication of Mr. Horsfall's book turned
general attention to the matter it was known to only a few in this
country that for many years in Germany, and indeed in many other
countries, orderly planning and designing of town development
formed a part of the ordinary routine of municipal government.
Since the publication of Mr. Horsfall's book the facts have become
generally known. International congresses of housing reformers
and architects, the exchange of international courtesies, between
municipal bodies, and the work of various associations and
individuals, have contributed to spread the knowledge that powers
for planning and controlling the development of their cities more or
less on the lines of those possessed by Germany are enjoyed and
successfully used by the municipalities of most countries except
America, France, and England up to the present time. This is the
kind of evidence which the Englishman likes, and on the strength
of this the demand for town planning powers has become so
general and so influentially backed by municipal corporations that
the Government has already passed through the House of Com-
mons a Bill conferring upon municipalities some, at any rate, of the
necessary powers ; and it is confidently expected that such a Bill
will become law during the present year.
Although we have only just realised the importance of the com-
prehensive and orderly planning of our towns, it must not be
supposed that nothing has hitherto been done to cope with the evils
raised by their rapid growth. On the contrary, much good work
has been done. In the ample supply of pure water, in the drainage
and removal of waste matter, in the paving, lighting, and cleansing
of streets, and in many other such ways, probably our towns are
served as well as, or even better than, those elsewhere. Moreover, by
means of our much abused building bye-laws, the worst excesses of
overcrowding have been restrained ; a certain minimum standard of
air-space, light, and ventilation has been secured ; while in the more
OF CIVIC ART THE EXPRESSION OF CIVIC LIFE 4
modern parts of towns a fairly high degree of sanitation, of im-
munity from fire, and general stability of construction have been
maintained, the importance of which can hardly be exaggerated.
We have, indeed, in all these matters laid a good foundation and
have secured many of the necessary elements for a healthy con-
dition of life ; and yet the remarkable fact remains that there are
growing up around all our big towns vast districts, under these
very bye-laws, which for dreariness and sheer ugliness it is difficult
to match anywhere, and compared with which many of the old un-
healthy slums are, from the point of view of picturesqueness and
beauty, infinitely more attractive.
lUus, 2. ' The truth is that in this work we have neglected the amenities of
life. We have forgotten that endless rows of brick boxes, looking
out upon dreary streets and squalid backyards, are not really homes
Illus, 260 for people, and can never become such, however complete may be the
2^ 2^8 ^ drainage system, however pure the water supply, or however detailed
the bye-laws under which they are built. Important as all these
provisions for man's material needs and sanitary existence are,
they do not suffice. There is needed the vivifying touch of art
which would give completeness and increase their value tenfold ;
there is needed just that imaginative treatment which could
transform the whole.
Professor Lethaby has well said, *■ Art is the well-doing of what
needs doing." We have in a certain niggardly way done what
needed doing, but much that we have done has lacked the insight
of imagination and the generosity of treatment which would have
constituted the work well done ; and it is from this well-doing that
beauty springs. It is the lack of beauty, of the amenities of life,
more than anything else which obliges us to admit that our work of
town building in the past century has not been well done. Not
even the poor can live by bread alone ; and substantial as are the
material boons which may be derived from such powers for the
control of town development as we hope our municipalities will
soon possess, the force which is behind this movement is derived
far more from the desire for something beyond these boons,
from the hope that through them sometning of beauty may be
restored to town life. We shall, indeed, need to carry much
further the good work begun by our building bye-laws. We
shall need to secure still more open ground, air-space, and sun-
light for each dwelling ; we shall need to make proper provision
for parks and playgrounds, to control our streets, to plan their
direction, their width, and their character, so that they may in
P11
■Is;*
I'll
l!U
/.'.'hi. 3. — Karlsruhe, Markt Plaiz. Vian lotting loviards Ihe Sehloss.
OF CIVIC ART THE EXPRESSION OF CIVIC LIFE 9
the best possible way minister to the convenience of the community.
We shall need power to reserve suitable areas for factories, where Fold Plan
they will have every convenience for their work and cause the ^^^•
minimum of nuisance to their neighbours. All these practical
advantages, and much more, may be secured by the exercise of
powers for town planning ; but above all, we need to infuse the spirit
of the artist into our work. The artist is not content with the least
that will do ; his desire is for the best, the utmost he can achieve.
It is the small margin which makes all the difference between a thing
scamped and a thing well done to which attention must be directed.
From this margin of well-doing beauty will spring.
In desiring powers for town planning our town communities are
seeking to be able to express their needs, their life, and their aspira-
tions in the outward form of their towns, seeking, as it were, free-
dom to become the artists of their own cities, portraying on a gigantic
canvas the expression of their life.
Beauty is an elusive quality, not easily defined, not always easily
attained by direct effort, and yet it is a necessary element in all good
work, the crowning and completing quality. It is not a quality that
can be put on from outside, but springs from the spirit of the artist
infused into the work. We are too much in the habit of regarding
art as something added from without, some species of expensive
trimming put on. Much of the restless, fussy vulgarity we see
about us springs from this mistake. So long as art is regarded as
a trimming, a species of cpochet-work to be stitched in ever increas-
ing quantities to the garments of life, it is vain to expect its true
importance to be recognised. Civic art is too often understood to
consist in filling our streets with marble fountains, dotting our
squares with groups of statuary, twining our lamp-posts with
wriggling acanthus leaves or dolphins* tails, and our buildings with
meaningless bunches of fruit and flowers tied up with impossible
stone ribbons, William Morris said : " Beauty, which is what is
meant by Art, using the word in its widest sense, is, I contend, no
mere accident of human life which people can take or leave as they
choose, but a positive necessity of life, if we are to live as Nature
meant us to — that is, unless we are content to be less than men."
The art which he meant works from within outward ; the beauty
which he regarded as necessary to life is not a quality which can be
plastered on the outside. Rather it results when life and the joy
of life, working outwards, express themselves in the beauty and
perfection of all the forms which are created for the satisfaction
of their needs.
OF CIVIC ART THE EXPRESSION OF CIVIC LIFE lo
Such exuberance of life will, indeed, in due course find expresnon in
the adornment of its creations with suitable decoration, and such
adornment may become their crowning beauty ; but the time for
this is not yet. While the mass of the people live in hovek and
slums and our children grow up far from the sight and pleasure of
green fields and fiowers ; while our land is laid out solely to serve
the interests of individual owners, without regard to the common
needs, this is no time to think of the crowning beauty of ornament.
We need to b^n at the other end. Our immediate business is to
lay a firm foundation.
Remembering then that art is expression and that civic art must be
the expression of the Ufe of the conununity, we cannot well have
a more safe practical guide than Mr. Lethaby's saying that ^^ Art
is the well doing of what needs doing/* Does the town need
a market-place, our rule would teach us to build the best, most
convenient, and comely market-place we can design ; not to erect
a corrugated-iron shed for the market and spend what would have
done this work well in ** decorating " the town park with orna-
mental rsulings. First, let our markets be well built and our
cottage areas well laid out ; then there will soon grow up such
a full civic life, such a joy and pride in the city as will seek
expression in adornment. This is not the place to consider in
detail the many causes which have led to the rapid growth of town
populations. The concentration of industry, the decay of agriculture,
the growing contrast in the conditions of life offered in the country
and the town, have all had their influence in leading people in such
vast numbers to forsake the lonely cottage on the hillside or the
sleeping village in the hollow in favour of the dirty street in the
town slum. The impulse partly springs from the desire for higher
wages and the attraction of varied amusement and fiaring gas lamps ;
but it equally arises from the desire for a greater knowledge, wider
experience, and fuller life generally which men realise they can only
find in closer association with their fellows. But whatever their
motives in leaving their villages, the people have broken many old
ties of interest and attachment ; it should be our aim to secure that
in going to the city they may find new ties, new interests, new hopes,
and that general atmosphere which will create for them new homes
and new local patriotism. Hitherto our modern towns have been too
much mere aggregations of people ; but it must be our work to trans-
form these same aggregations into consciously organised communities,
finding in their towns and cities new homes in the true sense,
enjoying that fuller life which comes from more intimate inter-
OF CIVIC ART THE EXPRESSION OF CIVIC LIFE 1 1
course, and finding in the organisation . of their town scope and
stimulus for the practice and development of the more noble
^ms which have contributed to bring them together.
Aristotle defined a city as a place where men live a common life for
a noble end. The movement towards town improvement of which
town planning forms but one branch must have for its aim the
creation of such a city as shall at once express the common life and
stimulate its inhabitants in their pursuit of the noble end. With
the expression of the common life, as we have already seen, town
planning is intimately concerned, and whether our cities will indeed
become great works of art will principally depend on the prevalence
of the aim towards a noble end to which Aristotle referred. It is,
indeed, from this expression that civic art must draws its inspiration
and guidance. We are told by many authorities that expression is
one of the fimdamental elements in all art, and that the creation of
great art results when some great idea is finely rendered. It is
probable that in the art of city building great work will again be
done when there is a fine common life seeking expression, and when
we have so mastered the technique of our art as to have established
a tradition capable of giving adequate form to such expression.
Before attempting to consider in detail the various practical
problems of town planning, it will be useful if we can under-
stand something of the reasons which exist for the general lack
of beauty in our towns, and further if we try to arrive at some
principles to guide us in determining in individual cases what treat-
ment is likely to lead to a beautiful result and what to the reverse.
We have become so used to living among surroundings in which '
beauty has little or no place that we do not realise what a remark- .
able and unique feature the ugliness of modern life is. We are apt
to forget that this ugliness may be said to belong almost exclusively
to the period covered by the industrial development of the last
century. We do not find evidence of it before that period, in our
own towns or in those of a character to be compared with our own
in other countries. It is not that in other respects older towns
excelled modern ones ; it is not that they were less overcrowded,
that their streets were finer, better kept, or cleaner. On the con-
trary, excessive overcrowding existed in old towns ; the streets were
usually very narrow, and at many periods were both dirty and in-
sanitary. Nor does there appear to have been generally very much
conscious planning of the streets. Often there is little apparent
order or arrangement in the placing of the buildings ; and yet,
in spite of this, a high degree of beauty almost always marked
OF CIVIC ART THE EXPRESSION OF CIVIC UFE i2
the effect produced. So much so, that both in this country and in
many others wherever one finds a street or part of a street dating
from before what may be called the modern period, one is almost
sure to see something pleasing and beautiful in its effect. The
result, no doubt, is due largely to a greater degree of beauty in the
individual buildings ; many of these, in fact most of them, were
quite simple and unadorned, yet there seems to have been such an
all-pervading instinct or tradition guiding the builders in past times,
that most of what they did contained elements of beauty and
produced picturesque street pictures. Something also is due to the
hand of time, which, through the sagging of timbers, has softened
Illus, 32-35, the lines of the buildings, and through the weathering of the
42-45, and surfaces has mellowed the textures of the materials used in them.
The influence of the tradition we have mentioned was not confined
to the buildings themselves, but seems to have extended to the treat-
ment of streets and places as well as to such minor details as steps,
entrance gates, walls, and fences, which often enhance the beauty ot
the picture. To a very great degree this tradition appears to have
acted unconsciously and almost as a natural force ; for the absence
of symmetry or orderly arrangement is often as evident as the
picturesqueness of the architectural grouping is pleasing. In these
old towns and streets we read as in an open book the story of a life
governed by impulses very different from our own ; we read ot
gradual growth, of the free play of imaginative thought, devoted
without stint to each individual building ; while the simplicity of
treatment, the absence of decoration or ornament in the majority
of cases, and the general use and skilled handling of the materials
most readily accessible, tell of the usual avoidance of what could
be called extravagance. Nevertheless, we are impressed by the
generous use of material and labour revealed in the dimensions of
the beams, in the thickness of the walls, and in the treatment of all
necessary features, which suggests that two prominent elements in
the tradition which influenced builders in old times were that the
work should be well done, and that it should be comely to look
upon when finished. While obviously the cost was carefully con-
sidered, it was not deemed legitimate to sacrifice proper construction,
good design, or good finish in order to attain the last possible degree
of cheapness. How different is the spirit in which the modern
suburb is built up ! A similar absence of planning or conscious
design in the laying out, and an almost equal freedom to the
individual builder to do as he likes mark the modern method ; but
with what a different result ! There is little thought bestowed on
OF CIVIC ART THE EXPRESSION OF CIVIC LIFE 13
the individual buildings or on its adaptation to the site and sur-
roundings, no imaginative fitting of it into a picture. Instead, some
stock plan of a house which is thought to be economical is repro-
duced in row after row without regard to levels, aspect, or anything e,g^ view of
but just the one point, can the building be done so cheaply that it Northamp-
can be made to yield a good return on the outlay ? Is it any wonder,' ^ j^^ w^ ^^.
then, that our towns and our suburbs express by their ugliness the
passion for individual gain which so largely dominates their,
creation ? How, then, it may be asked, are we to make any
progress, for the passing of a Town Planning Bill will not change
the character of the life which we see expressing itself in our dreary
suburbs ? And, indeed, if this desire for individual gain repre-
sented the only impulse of the citizens, it is little that we could
hope to do. But happily this is not the case. There is much that
is great and splendidly co-operative in the life of our towns, and
our social instinct is aJready highly developed by the mutual help-
fulness of common life. Therefore, thQugh town planning powers
wiU not change the individualistic impulses which prevail, they will
for the first time make possible an adequate expression of such
corporate life as exists. Here, as elsewhere, action and reaction
will take place ; the more adequate expression of corporate life in
the outward forms of the town will both stimulate and give fresh
scope to the co-operative spirit from which it has sprung.
The conscious art of town building is practically a new one for us
in England. We shall need to begin somewhat tentatively, and at
first we may well be content if we can introduce order to replace
the present chaos, if we can do something to restrain the
devastating tendency of personal interests and to satisfy in a
straightforward and orderly manner the obvious requirements of
the community.
Though the study of old towns and their buildings is most useful, ?
nay, is almost essential to any due appreciation of the subject, we
must not forget that we cannot, even if we would, reproduce the
conditions under which they were created ; the fine and all-
pervading tradition is gone, and it will take generations for any
new tradition comparable to the old one to grow up. While, there-
fore, we study and admire, it does not follow that we can copy ; for
we must consider what is likely to lead to the best results under
modern conditions, what is and what is not attainable with the
means at our disposal.
The informal beauty which resulted from the natural and apparently
unconscious growth of the medieval town may command our
OF CIVIC ART THE EXPRESSION OF CIVIC LIFE 14
highest admiration, but we may feel that it arose from conditions
oflife which no longer exist, and that it is unwise to seek to repro-
duce it. Possibly other forms of beauty will be found more adapted
to our present conditions. The very rapidity of the growth
of modern towns demands special treatment. The wholesale
character of their extension almost precludes the possibility of
our attaining that appearance of natural growth which we have
admired in the medieval town, where additions were made so
gradually that each house was adapted to its place, and assimilated
into the whole before the next was added. We already see in the
modern suburb too much evidence of what is likely to result from
any haphazard system of development. Modern conditions require,
undoubtedly, that the new districts of our towns should be built to
a definite plan. They must lose the unconscious and accidental
character and come under the rules of conscious and ordered design.
We find that in the few instances in which towns were laid out as
a whole in ancient times the plans usually follow very simple
rectangular lines, and are quite diflferent in character from those
which developed by slow, natural growth. A short examination of
the different types of town plans will perhaps be the most helpful
way of approaching our subject.
il.— OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS, WITH A
SUGHT SKETCH OF THE ANCIENT ART OF TOWN
PLANNING
TANY Englishmen, as tourists, have become familiar with
foreign towns as well as with those in their own country ;
^ . __ but the tourist in examining town maps does not regard
them as designs. Let any one so regard them and he will be
astonished at the variety erf" types which he will find. It is only
necessary to turn over the pages of Baedeker's or Baddeley's Guides Illus. 4.
to Great Britun to realise this. If we compare, for example, the
plan of Chester, obviously based on the rectilinear lines of a regular
M'
oblong Roman camp, with that of Conway, following the irregular //'<«■ s-
strategic lines of its fortifications ; of Hereford, so much influenced
by the three main roads which meet in its High Town ; or of /^^'"- 6.
Edinburgh, containing within itself the contrast between the narrow, ///•«. 7.
irregular streets of its old town and the formal lay-out in the lat^
manner of its more modern north-western quarter, we must be
struck by the wide differences between them, and the marked
individuality which characterises these different town plans. If the
survey be extended further and plans of foreign cities and of those
founded at different periods be compared, the variety increases
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS i6
Illus. 8. greatly and the individuality becomes still more marked. Contrast,
Fold Mats ^°'" example, the plan of Moscow with that of Nurembui^ or
I.andll. Turin, or either of them with that of Washington. To the lover
Ulus. 9. of cities this individuality is a very real quality, and one of the
. Ulus^io. dangers of town planning schemes, gainst which we should guard,
is the tendency to efface this individuality and to drill all town
plans into a similar type and pattern. This tendency can only be
avoided by a very thorough appreciation of the individuality — one
might almost say the personality — of towns. There are in each
cert«n settled characteristics arising from the nature of the scenery,
the colours of local building materials, the life of the citizens, the
character of the industries prevalent in the district, and numerous
other circumstances, which taken all together, go to make up that
IIIu!. 5. — Plan fff Cfnmay, sketning tmgtilar wailtd Ivam,
Repraductd from the Ordnance Survey Map, with tJu sanction ef the Conlreller ef
H-M.'s Slatimury Office.
lUus. 14, 15, flavour which gives to the town its individuality. For purposes of
J* ^^' '°t' comparison and study, it may be necessary to classify cities and
lajl 125,148! towns as we classify races and peoples ; but we must not, when so
150,188,189. doing, forget that classi&cation is only a rough and superficial aid
to study, nor must we let it in any way obscure the varying
characters of the individual cities.
It is to be hoped that some competent authority will take in hand
the complete history of town development and town planning, with
a classification of the different types of plan which have been
evolved in the course of natural growth or have been designed at
different periods by human art. We can here only give sufiident
examples of various types of plan and a sufficient sketch of the
historical development of town planning to render generally
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 17
intelligible the references which may be made in considering the
details of the work of the town planner.
The first broad classification would divide towns into those which
have been definitely designed and those which have grown
gradually without being based on any prearranged plan. In both Fold Maps
of these divisions we shall find such subdivisions as fortified or ^•<^^"'-
walled tQwns and unfortified or open ones ; while among designed lUus. 10, 47.
towns we shall find a main subdivision of those laid out on regular
lUits. 5. — Plan of Hertford, skaaing tenn plait influtnced by junction cf three main roads,
Reproduted fram the Ordiuiiue Survey Map, milh the sanctitn ef the
Cotttreller of H.M.'s Slatumery Office.
lines and those definitely designed but on irr^ular lines. The Illus. n, 13,
former we can ^ain clasafy according to whether the plans are ''*'37-
based upon rectilinear lines, variations of what is Icnown , as the Illus. 61, 7^
checker-board design — probably the oldest and most common type — ''■
on circular, diagonal, or radiating lines, or on various combinations Il/ui. 470^4
of these, forming geometrical figures. fy'^M^
Of the towns which have grown there would be found characteristics 63.^
common to those which have clustered round some centre — some
castle, palace, church, or harbour, for example — and others
characteristic of those which have sprung up at the junction or
ntiu. 8. — Flaa of Meteow, which tltarfy shews radiating and ring nods.
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 20
crossing of main highways, or where such ways cross rivers by
fords or bridges. Other peculiarities may characterise towns which
have developed around some special industrial site, near iron, coal,
or other mineral deptosits ; or those which have developed near
spots of exceptional beauty, near medicinal springs or holy wells,
and have become places of resort for health or pleasure. All
these circumstances whirh determine the development of a town
profoundly affect its plan and might form subdivisions in any
complete classification ; while in each type there is the natural
classification of period — the ancient, medieval, and the modern
towns ; though it will be found that many of the types were
prevalent at the same period, and not a few have been common at
most periods. There is ground here for interesting study and
very valuable historical work to be done. We find that towns
have been designed as a whole, on comprehensive lines, in almost
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OF THE INDIVIDUAUTY OF TOWNS 22
all ages. Probably even in prehistoric times certain forms have
been typical of certain tribal settlements, just as to-day, for
example, we see that the Swazi kraal nearly always takes the
customary form, the circular huts being generally arranged in
a circle.
Professor Flinders Petrie has described in his book " Illahun "
the ancient town of Kahun, recently excavated, which was built
about 3,000 B.C. to accommodate the workmen and others en-
gaged in the building of the pyramid of Illahun. It is interesting
as showing the earliest known town laid out on a definite plan. It
will be seen from the illustration given, which is taken from Pro-
fessor Flinders Pctrie's book, that the town was Iwd out on
regular lines and consisted of a few large houses and a number of
smaller ones for workmen, the latter containing four or five rooms
each. A small acropolis on the higher part ofthe ground served as
the centre of the littie community, probably both as a place of
worship and seat of government It is interesting, among other
things, to find that the roads are arranged with a drain in the
centre, this being the earliest known example of street drainage.
It will be seen from this that nearly five thousand years ago town
r
/iueiiti, shmohig lonjeitiiral resloralioii ef the plan of iht Airofclis and
■ made 6y M. Hiihl, based on a sindy of the existing remains.
Reproduced by kind penuission of Al. Hulol.
^
OF THE INDIVIDUAUTY OF TOWNS 27
planning on simple and orderly lines was practised by the ancient
Egyptians ; and when we consider the disorderly, haphazard
character of the temporary settlements or little towns which grow
up near great engineering works in our own country, we may
well feel humbled that after the lapse of so many ages instead of
doing better we do worse than these ancients.
Another interesting example of town planning on regular lines has
been recently brought into notice by the joint work of M. Gustav
Fougeres, antiquarian, and M. Jean Hulot, architect, the winner
of the Grand Prix de Rome, who, as part of the work imposed on
the winners of this Blue Ribbon of architectural students, has made
a most careful study and survey of the ruins of the ancient Doric lllus, 12.
colony of Selinonte in Sicily, and has embodied the results in a
most beautiful set of drawings, which were exhibited in England lllus, 13.
under the auspices of the Royal Institute of British Architects,
during the summer of 1908. By the kind permission of the
authors I am able to reproduce some of the drawings, showing the
j plans of this fortified city and its re-creation, based on careful study
j of the existing remains and of the historical data. It will be seen
i that the city consists of an acropolis regularly l^d out and enclosed
by walls, and a much larger outer city on the landward side, also
probably fortified. Interest for us centres in the smaller city or
acropolis, the plan of which appears to date from 575-560 b.c.
I cannot do better than quote from the translation of M. Fougeres*
paper, made by Mr. J. W. Simpson, F.R.I.B.A., and read at the
opening of the exhibition.
" Selinonte, or Selinus, was a Greek colony in the South of Sicily, iilus, 14 and
founded 628 b.c. by the Dorians of Megara Hyblaea, a town '5'
situate to the north of Syracuse. The history of Selinus was as
short as it was brilliant. The city existed but two centuries,
unceasingly at war with its neighbours of Segesta. . . . The
city thus fortified was divided as to its length By a great street
running straight from north to south, and seven metres wide ; and
as to its width, by seven or eight transverse streets, cutting the
first at right angles, and dividing the houses into nearly equal
blocks. All this American town plan, which we believe attribut-
able to Hermocrates, is of the highest interest. It is the oldest
example known of the application to the lay-out of towns of the
geometric principles of the architect Hippodamus of Miletus, a
contemporary of Pericles, and author of the plans of the Piraeus, of
Thurii, and of Rhodes. Hippodamus, a follower of Pythagoras,
was the Greek "Haussmann" of the fifth century b.c. Strongly
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 28
imbued with the idealistic spirit of his time, he desired to substitute
clear, reasoned, and scientific conceptions for the caprices of chance.
He dreamed of regular and geometric cities, preferring his theoretic
plans to the tortuous mazes gradually formed by force of time, and
saw therein a triumph of reasoned order over the wanton riot of
Nature. The Germans have discovered at Priene, in Asia Minor,
a type of city built throughout according to these principles ; but
this late example dates only from the third century b.c. That of
Selinus, almost contemporary with Hippodamus, must hencefor*
ward be regarded as classic.
" The houses which line these streets are also of the end of the fifth
century b.c. They are of ertreme simplicity and of a uniform
model. Towards the street the front wall, with a massive plinth,
is pierced by two doorways, one large and one small. On each side
of the entrance corridor a shop opens to the street, being shut
off from the interior, as at Delos and Pompeii. The corridor leads
to a small internal court, surrounded by a rough peristyle and
provided with a well. All around the peristyle are narrow
rooms. The type is, in fact, that of the small houses at Delos. . • .
There remain the temples, the glory of Selinus, whose colossal ruins
still astound the traveller ; of these eleven now exist, divided into
three groups. In the Acropolis arc six Temples of the tutelary
divinities of the city." . . .
In the second edition of " The Architecture of Greece and Rome,"
by W. J. Anderson and R. Phene Spiers, there is an interesting
account of the early cities of Greece and Rome, and the excavations
and remdns of these cities prove beyond question that many of
them were laid out on definite and regular lines. At the same time,
it seems to have been characteristic of the Greeks that they
usually took advantage of natural features and were very ready to
modify or upset the regularity of their arrangement in order the
better to make use of hilkides or rocky eminences to give grandeur
and emphasis to their temples and other buildings. The treatment
of the southern range at Gergantum is a good instance of this
Illm. 16. tendency of which the Acropolis at Athens is perhaps the best
known and most splendid example. The same characteristic
marked the arrangement of the temples at Eleusis, at Olympia, at
Ephesus, and at many other places. It seems that the private
buildings and dwelling-houses of the Greeks were comparatively
insignificant, whereas their public buildings and places are usually
laid out on a scale of magnificence that astonishes us.
The plan of Ephesus is a good example, with its fine treatment of
Is
&
lllus. \(ki.— Karlsruhe. Cerrur InalmenI in Ihe Rgndtll Plot:. Ste Feid Map IV.
T'^
iiJk •"""
■u
KAHJ to a '
■■r™'™'^ ^
HU
c :>
nius. i%.—Epkesus. Detailed plan ef Ike Agora and other public buildings.
(T
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 37
the outer and inner ports leading up to the great Agora, itself the
centre of a group of public buildings, squares, theatres, race-*courses i^^^^^ '7«
and gymnasia, which convey to us some idea of the greatness of nius. 18.
the civic life which could express itself with such magnificence, illus. 19.
Where the conditions of the site allowed, it appears that, in the
later periods at any rate, it was customary to lay out the streets of
the town on square and regular lines, opening out in places into
the great squares, or agone, leading up to the temples and other
public buildings.
Many conjectural restorations of Greek cities have been made by the
students of the Grand Prix de Rome in Paris, and these show groups
of buildings often situated in wide enclosures with groves of trees,
the whole forming a magnificent combination of the art of building
with natural beauty of scene and foliage, a parallel to which can
hardly be found except perhaps in some of the great Buddhist
sanctuaries of the East.
No very definite line can be drawn between the Greek and the
Roman cities, the remains of one often overlying the other, as at
Ephesus, which was measured by Edward Falkener and later by
J. T. Wood, who confirmed the accuracy of the former survey.
Wood states that although the actual remains found are Roman,
in many cases they were built on Greek foundations, some of
which he found, and it may therefore be fairly assumed that the
general lines of the plan agree with the Greek city of Ephesus as
laid out in the fourth century. Falkener, in his book ** Ephesus,
the Temple of Diana," published in 1862, draws attention to the
fact that the loniane laid out their streets in straight lines, with
the cross streets at right angles to them, and considers that it was Illus, 20.
from the lonians that the Greeks derived this plan of laying out
their towns.
In Asia Minor and Syria there are interesting ruins of many old
cities of Greek or Roman origin, most of the remans found being
Roman. Many of these furnish examples of colonnaded streets,
which, like the agorae of the Greek cities, impress us with the
greatness of the public life to which they bear witness. Unfor-
timately very litde has yet been done by excavating to discover
the details of the arrangement of these cities, but in some
instances sufficient remains above ground to give evidence of
extensive town planning having been carried out. Some of the
earliest records of these colonnaded streets are those describing
the city of Antioch, where Antiochus Epiphanes is said to have
laid out a street with a double colonnade more than two miles in
IIIUS, 21.
IllUS, 22.
Illus, 23.
lUus, 24.
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 38
length, with other streets crossing at right angles. This would be
about the year 170 b.c.
The ruins of Palmyra are described by Robert Wood in a book
published in 1753 ; and many fine drawings and plans of the same
city are included in a book published by Cassas in Paris in 1799,
entitled " Voyages Pittoresques de la Syrie et de la Phoenicie," from
which our illustrations are taken. Cassas draws attention to the
curious bends in the main colonnaded street, and to the masterly
way in which these bends have been treated by means of triumphal
arches, so that looking along the street from either direction the
lUus, 20. — PircBUSy showing plan of the town as laid out by the Greeks. It will be noticed
that some of the temples are orientated.
Reproduced by kind permission Jrom ^* Der StlXdtebau^
arch set square with the line of the street terminates the vista.
He suggests that these bends may have arisen owing to the
existence of buildings, or to the fact that the road, intended
apparently to connect two great temples, could not run in a
straight line from one to the other and finish squarely with both.
Whatever be the reason, the treatment of these bends is very
impressive. It is interesting also to compare the fine architecture
method of providing shade and shelter along the footways of this
road with the mean glass and iron structures which we nowadays
erect in the few cases where any shelter at all is provided.
Palmyra. View ef the best prtserved portions of flu Grand Cfflvmiadc, thgvhig tht p
Illus. z\.—Cttttral plan of the viholt of Ike Grand Colonnade of Palmyra. The Unglh of this colon'
from Ike building inarttd " C" on iHe Itfi of Ihe plan to tht ptdtHah marked " D."
'c from the Triumphal Arch en the left to the Temple of Neptune on the right is about 3,500/
[To iacc pW 3S-
Illus. 22.— Palmyra. View cf the Grand Celonuadt I
looking lewards lite Temple of the Sun at Ike
Ik ♦ • <
% I,
/iius. 13.— Palmyra. Enlarged plan 0/
Triumphal Areh and pertioa of
Grand Colonnade.
Illus. 2^.— Palmyra. Portion of lie Grand
Colonnade, showing Ike Stadium and de-
tailed plan of Ivio temples.
f
^
iSrI
r
\N
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 45
We must admire also the treatment of the road junctions, at one of
which four immense pedestals, each carrying a group of four columns
with their entablature, emphasise the crossing. Anderson and Spiers Ili$is. 21.
tell us that in some cases where colonnaded streets were used, as
at Antouret, Bosra, and Gersa, the intersection of two cross roads is
marked by a four-arched gateway vaulted over.
In these streets the central space or roadway was open to the sky,
the side avenues or footways being covered in with a terraced roof,
often extending over the shops and offices on each side, which, in
some cases at any rate, were of two storeys. Although the buildings
themselves and the roofs have mostly disappeared, the indications
on the columns and arches remaining are sufficient to prove their
existence. The central avenue of the main street at Palmyra is illus.2^\
37 feet wide, flanked on each side by a row of columns 31 feet
high. There were originally 454 columns in this street, of which
116 were still standing erect in Cassas* time. The side avenues or
covered walks were 16 feet wide. Archways exist at the entrance
of some of the minor cross roads, and at the east end of the main
street is an immense triple gateway the central arch of which is
23 feet 6 inches wide and 45 feet high, and the two side arches for
pedestrians are 1 1 feet 6 inches wide and 23 feet high.
It is to be hoped that some of these towns will be excavated and
that we shall know more of the plans on which the remaining
and less important portions of them were laid out. Many further
examples are pointed out and interesting particulars given in the
book already mentioned by Anderson and Spiers, to which the
reader is referred and to which I am indebted for the information
here given.
In the work of the Romans we find less respect and consideration
for the site than was characteristic of the Greeks. LWhere the
Greek would adapt his arrangement to the site, the Roman would
adapt the site to his arrangement, carving away the rocks and
levelling the ground to obtain a clear field for his work. In
general the lay-out of the Roman town seems to have been on
regular lines and similar in many ways to that of the Greeks,
the forum taking the place of the Greek agora. The same
importance does not seem to have been attached to .the orientation
of the temples by the Romans as by the Greeks. J
For the general character of Roman town planning I cannot do
better than quote from Anderson and Spiers: —
^' On the foundation of a new town,, the first consideration would filus. 25.
appear to have been the two chief thoroughfares, and these were laid
OF THE INDIVIDUAUTY OF TOWNS 46
out at right angles to one another, running as a rule north to south
and east to west. In order to be as central as possible, the forum
occupied an angle of two of the streets, but there were always
buildings between the street and the forum, the entrance to the
central area of the latter being at one of the narrow ends, so as to
interfere as little as possible with the covered porticus round it.
The forum of Pompeii, which may be taken as a typical example,
was about 500 feet long, north to south, and 1 50 feet wide, in both
/llus. rf.— Reproduced by kind permission of Mr, S. Pheni Spitri, F.S.A., F.R.I. B.A.
cases including the peristyle. At the north end, projecting about
100 feet into the forum, was the Temple of Jupiter and an entrance
gateway, the Arch of Tiberius, at the north-east corner. On the
east side were in succession the provision market, the sanctuary
of the city Lares, a small Temple of Vespasian, the building of
Eumachia (which was probably a cloth market), and the Comitium,
or voting-place. On the south side were three municipal buildings,
and on the west «de the Basilica, to the north of which was the
lUta. 28.— View of curvid U
r\
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 49
Temple of Apollo in a court surrounded by a peristyle in two
storeys, and, farther north, another market and latrines. Except-
ing the temple of Jupiter, the only other monumental features in
the forum itself were statues raised on pedestals to various emperors
and distinguished citizens."
Rome itself rapidly outgrew the capacities of the original forum, Illus, 27.
and others of greater extent were added by the Emperors. Ap-
parently the original Forum Romanum may have been partly
the result of natural growth, as it was unsymmetrical in shape ;
the subsequent forums, however, were in the main laid out on
strictly symmetrical lines ; and extensive excavations into the hill-
side were made to render this possible ; so much so that the height
of the retaining wall round the Forum of Augustus was in some
places over 100 feet.
The older Forum Romanum, as also the forum at Pompeii, may be
taken as representing the general character of the more typical
centres of the Roman towns better than those architectural creations
which were added from time to time by Roman emperors.
It will be noticed in the plan of Pompeii that although there is a general
sense of regularity in the lay-out of the streets, the town pretty
obviously grew gradually and was not laid out on very exact lines ;
irregular streets are not wanting, and the photograph of one of these
illustrates the beautiful curved line resulting from the way that the Illus. 28.
Romans, in this instance at any rate, adapted their road to the
contours of the hillside, instead of driving straight over or through
it The paving of this street is interesting as showing the double
gutter at the sides and the convexity of the road surface which we
have adopted in modern times as preferable to the more ancient
arrangement of a central gutter which we noticed in the Egyptian
town of Kahun.
We have an interesting example in Silchester of a Roman town laid Illus. 29.
out in our own country. The plan, which is taken from the
Ordnance Survey, shows a quite regular arrangement of streets,
within, however, a line of fortifications of irrpgular shape.
The old part of Chester also shows even now the clearly marked Illus. 4.
lines of its origin as a Roman camp or town. The two main streets
run approximately east to west and north to south ; the Northgate
Street and the Water Gate are very characteristic, and these streets
have given a general squareness and regularity to many of the other
streets in the town.
Dr. Stiibben gives two interesting plans of Aosta, one showing Illus. yy.
the ancient Roman town within the walls so far as it is known, the illt*s. 31.
nius, 9.
Illus. 150.
Fold Maps.
III.
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 50
other the modern town ; if these are compared, it will be seen how
much the Roman origin has influenced the later planning and
development.
Turin is another instance of a town laid out on very formal and
four-square lines, largely as a result of its Roman origin. It is
conspicuous among Italian cities for its broad, straight streets and
spacious squares.
The plan of the old town is known to be substantially that of the
colony founded by the Emperor Augustus, which formed a
rectangle of about 2,210 feet in length and 1,370 feet in width.
■■ ■ti i iij
Illus, 29 — Plan showing the remains of the Roman town of Silchester,
Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Map, with the sanction of the Controller
of H.M, Stationery Office.
Some diagonal streets have been introduced for convenience. The
plan is peculiarly interesting as showing more variety than is usually
found in a town so entirely laid out on four-square lines with
straight streets.
If we compare with these towns, characterised in the main by formal
systems of lay-out, one or two typical medieval towns, such as
Rothenburg or the little town of Buttstedt, for example, the contrast
is most striking. Looking at the plan of Rothenburg, it is easy to
recognise the line of the inner thirteenth-century town, and to see
how the direction of its fortification influenced the planning of the
_BL
Tbrl»
inr^'
PPr
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 52
streets, both in the inner portion and also in the e3ctended area
of the town which was developed and filled in to the present line
of fortifications probably in the fourteenth century. This affords
a good example of a plan developed apparently in the main by
natural growth, but at the same time characterised by very distinct
framework lines and a marked sense of scale or proportion in the
main places and streets, so that although there is nothing of regu-
larity in any of it, a very definite sense of design is produced, the
central portions and the main streets being well emphasised and
the minor portions subordinated and falling mto place.
It is interesting to notice also how the irregularly shaped
places are still so planned that in the main the views from
all the streets opening into them are closed with picturesque
groups of buildings, and how, also, the places to some extent adapt
themselves in shape and size to the mdn buildings overlooking
them ; so that the Rathaus has the wide space facing its side, while
the Church of St. Jacob has the comparatively deep place facing its
end, and a wide, shallow place facinj? its side. Both the church
and the Rathaus, though detached from other buildings, are so
placed that it is not possible from any point to get a view of the
nius. 32, 33, bmldings entirely detached from their surroundings. The photo-
^ 35- graphs given testify to the picturesqueness and beauty which have
resulted from this gradual development of the town on irregular
lines. Camillo Sitte deduces from the fact that in most such
medieval towns the irregularities appear to have so much system
and art in them that there must have been much more of conscious
planning and designing in the layine; out of these towns than we
have been accustomed to think. This may well be the case, and
that the general lines in their irregularity and want of symmetry
suggest natural growth may at least to some extent be due to the
fact that probably the setting out of the buildings was done largely
on the ground by the eye, and not transferred from a paper plan by
means of an accurate survey with careful alignment ; but whether^
the designing was conscious, as Sitte and his school think, or the
imconscious result of the influence of the guiding tradition in
which the whole building profession was steeped, is very difficult
to determine.
/l/us.iso-iS9' A much simpler example is to be seen in the town of Buttstedt,
where the same marvellously happy result has sprung from natural
growth or fi-om very cunning design. The tendency for a road to
grow up following the lines of walls or fortifications is fairly evident
in such plans as that of Rothenburg, and we can often recognise
^1
|l
pi
l-i
lUus. iCa.—A'arlsruit. Vitvi ef Ike Schless Plats and Schka. Fold Map IV.
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 59
in roads ringing a town such an origin, although the walls or
fortifications may long since have been obliterated. Reference has
already been made to Conway as an instance in our own country of nius. 5.
a completely walled town, the lines of whose generally straight roads
have been influenced by fortifications. Here, however, we do not
find within the walls any roads following their line, though there
are such roads on two sides without.
Although it appears that in medieval times towns mainly grew or
were developed on irr^ular lines, there are not wanting examples
of that period which were definitely laid out on regular lines. Some
of these we know to have been planned by English engineers or
tUml. J,-}.— Plan of Mentptaiir fn>m Parket's " Domalic Architeelurt ef tht Middle Ages."
A. Market-place. D. The frtneifial ttreeli.
B. Churek. E. The lamt.
C. A double hmte of the original flan. F. The tovxn.
G. The gates.
architects, particularly those in the south-west of France which
were laid out diu-ing the time of the English conquest in the
fourteenth century.
A diagrammaHc plan of Montpazier is given showing the general nim. 36.
lay-out, together with a sketch taken from Parker's " Domestic lUut. 37.
Architecture of the Middle Ages." It will be seen that the
general scheme is entirely regular. Two large places are formed in
one of which the cathedral is placed, and the other is the market-
place or central square of the town. The sketch shows the covered
way round the market-place which formed such a beautiful feature
in this and other similar towns, causing a break in the long stnught
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 60
streets and affording an arched frame to the vista of these streets, at
the ends of wluch appear the gatehouses to the mun roads.
lUus. 38. Aigues Mortes is another example of a walled town in southern
/U11S.39. France, with the streets laid out on fairly regular lines, while
Ragusa forms an interesting Dalmatian example in which occurs a fine
series of places with a regular network of streets. It will be noticed
that in many cases the line of these streets is slightly broken at the
junctions, the continuation on the opposite side of the road not
bring exactiy oppoMte to the previous line of the road. In this way
many of the street vistas would be closed by buildings.
At Winchelsea we have In our own country an example of a town
planned as a whole at the same period and on very similar lines.
The new town of Winchelsea was laid out in the year 1277, after
the destruction of the old one by the encroachment of the sea.
It is interesting here to notice that although the site and the line of
the wall would suggest the usual irr^ular development, the town is
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 6i
laid out on square lines, one of the central spaces or plots between
four roads being reserved as a site for the church. Leyland in his
" Itinerary," after describing the destruction of the old town,
proceeds : —
"Whereupon a.d. 1277, the King sent thither John Kirkeby
Bishop of Ely and Treasorer of England, and vewid a plot to
make the new Toune of Winchelsey on, the which was at that time
a ground wher conies partily did resorte. Sir John Tregose a Knight
was the chief owner of it, and one Maurice and Bataille Abl»y.
The King compoundid with them : and so was there vli score and
tenne Acres iimittid to the New Toune, whereof parts is in the King
Mede withoute the Toune, and part in Hangging of the Hille,
'* Then in the tyme of the yere Euforesayde the King set to his Helpe
in b^inning and waulUng New Winchelsey and the Inhabitantes of
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 62
Olde Winchdsey took by a little and a little and bmlded at the
New Toune. So that within the vi or vii yere afore expresad the
New Towne was metely well fiirnishid and dayly after for a few
yeres encreasid,
" In the Toune as withyn the walles be 2 Paroche Chirches and there
were 2 Collies of Freres."
This r^ularly planned town, however, must be regarded as
exceptional ; the characteristic beauty and picturesqueness of the
Gothic town are due in no small degree to its irregular plan.
///«!. 4l.~/V(»( of part of tha lorn
I. Plate Stamtlas.
II. Piatt de la Camirt.
Ktpredutid by kind fermisii
. Cathedral.
IV. Ckurtk af St. Bpvrt.
I »f MM. Btrger-Levrault et Cit.
combined with a style of architecture which displays great freedom
in the proportion and outline of its masses, and a richness and
picturesqueness in its details contrasting in a high d^ree with the
Greek and Roman architecture, so much more stiff and limited in its
lines, and consisting as r^ards its masses m^nly of groups of cubes.
The Renaissance ofclassical learning and art, followed by the intro-
duction of classical traditions and feeling into architecture in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, influenced the pUnning of
towns. The regularity and symmetry of the buildings soon spread
lUiu. \^-— Nancy. Archway leading to Ihc Place de la Carr,
View /torn Ike Place Slanisi
r
/
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 69
to the streets and places which were laid out at this period. Indeed^
the Renaissance brought with it the power and courage to handle
town planning on a large scale, and developed what one may call a
grand manner in the schemes of laying out. The town of Nancy is lUus. 41.
a good example, and its plan affords in itself a contrast between the
old Gothic and the newer Rensdssance types.
Around the old town, which is marked by irregular street lines and
informal places^ there has developed a very handsome scheme of
town extension on Renaissance lines, including places of formal
shape and some of them of great size. The Place Stanislaus in the llius. 42.
heart of this new town, with the Hotel de Ville on the south side,
the Bishop's Palace on the east, and the theatre on the west, is one
of the finest of these. Connected with this by a triumphal archway iu$is. 43.
is the Place de la Carriere, with the Palais du Gouvernment at the Illus. 44.
northern end. From this end of the place direct access is given to Tllus. 45.
the series of places round the church in the old town, while on the
east there is an opening into a large formal park or garden. The
bulbous forms favoured by a later school of landscape gardeners
appear to have invaded a portion of this park, but the main formal
lines on which it was laid out remain intact. In Paris and in very
many other French towns will be found quarters laid out on
comprehensive lines during this period.
Dr. Stiibben, to whom all town planners are so greatly indebted,
and to whom I gratefully acknowledge my own obligations for
more information than I can specify and for permission to use
illustrations from his great work ^^ Der Stadtebau," published in
1907, tells in that work how, after the troubles of the Thirty Years'
War were over, the foundation of new towns and town districts in
Germany became a favourite occupation of princes, who associated it
with the building of their castles. These towns and districts are
generally laid out on the straight, formal lines typical of the
Renaissance work. The plans of Mannheim and Karlsruhe are -///««. 46.
given as examples ; in each case the older parts of the town are
shaded more darkly. Mannheim is exceedingly regular in its lines ;
nevertheless variety occurs owing to the different widths of the
streets and to a certain number of diagonals. The relation of the
whole town to the castle, or Schloss, is evident. A wide ring-strasse,
or avenue, surrounds the town on three sides, and we notice from
the plan that the regular system has been departed from, outside po^Maif.
this ring, in the more modern parts of the town. Karlsruhe is IV,
interesting from the largeness of the conception in which the castle -^j^' 3» Vh
forms the great central feature ; the main lines of the roads radiate 114a, i9&^'
4
k
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 70
out from this, and are cut by a long, straight road formerly known
as the Lange Strasse, now the Kaiser Strasse. Here, agun, the main
system of framework has been departed from in various ways.
Freudenstadt offers an interesting example of a different plan for
laying out a town. Here the tendency is to enclose the corners,
the main streets going out from the sides of the large square which
forms the central feature of the town. This was originally intended
for the site of a castle ; tO'day a portion of it is occupied by the
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 72
market-place, and the reminder by gardens and various buildings.
It is interesting to note that even the church, which occupies one of
the corners, has been planned to suit the site, in the shape of the
letter L, the pulpit being in the corner and commanding both wings
of the building.
The town of Magdeburg, though without a central square, is planned
on somewhat similar lines as to the treatment of the corners.
Herr Stiibben suggests that this system offered advantages for
defence, and that this may have been the reason for its adoption.
It has the effect of producing a large number of closed street
nita. ^g.—CAurei at fi
Rtfriducid ly kind fitrmissu
Dr. StUMtn.
pictures which are generally wanting in plans based on straight
lines.
llimt. 1 and Edinburgh affords a fine example in our own country of this lai^e
So-SS- manner of Renaissance town planning, dating from about 1768.
The magnificent Princes Street from its commanding poeition over-
looking the gorge, through which the railway now passes, and the
gardens which have been laid out in it, is in itself one of the finest
streets of the kind to be seen anywhere. Behind it, George Street
and Queen Street, with numerous squares, places, gardens, and
crescents, afford an example of the stateliness of the orderly laying
out of towns on generous lines. We do not find in this suburb
that exclusive proviuon for one class of people which is such a
■/ la the Old Town.
>1
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OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 77
marked feature of many modern suburbs. On the cross roads small
tenements were amply provided for.
To the same style, though a century earlier in date, belongs Sir
Christopher Wren's plan for rebuilding the centre of London after Illus. 56.
the great fire. I cannot do better than quote the description of this
plan given by Mr. Elmes in his " Life of Sir Christopher Wren."
" In order therefore to a proper reformation Dr. Wren pursuant
to the Royal Command immediately after the fire took an exact
survey of the whole area and confines of the burning, having traced
with great trouble and hazard the great plain of ashes and ruins,
and designed a plan or model of a new city in which the deformities
and inconveniences of the old Town were remedied by enlarging the
streets and lands, and carrying them as near parallel to one another
as might be : avoiding if compatible with greater conveniences,
all acute angles, by seating all the parochial churches conspicuous
and insular, by forming the most public places into large piazzas
the centres of eight ways ; by uniting the Halls of twelve chief
Companies into one regular space annexed to the Guildhall ; by
making a commodious Quay on the whole bank of the river
from Blackfriars to the Tower. Moreover in contriving the
general plan the following particulars were chiefly considered and
proposed.
" The streets to be of three magnitudes ; the three principal lead-
ing straight through the city, and one or two cross streets to be at
least 90 feet wide ; others 60 feet and lanes about 30 feet, excluding
all narrow dark alleys without thoroughfares and courts. The
Exchange to stand free in the middle of a piazza and be as it
were the nave or centre of the town, from whence the 60 feet
streets as so many ways should proceed to all principal parts of
the city ; the building to be contrived after the form of^ the Roman
Forum with double porticoes. Many streets also to radiate upon
the bridge. The streets of the first and second magnitude to
be carried on as straight as possible and to centre in four or
five piazzas.
" The Key or open Wharf on the banks of the Thames to be
spacious and convenient, without any interruption and with some
large docks for deep laden barges.
**The Canal to be cut up Bridewell 120 feet wide, with sashes
[sluices or floodgates] at Holborn Bridge and at the mouth to
cleanse it of all filth, and stores for coal on each side. The
churches to be designed according to the best forms for capacity
and hearing, adorned with useful porticoes and lofty ornamental
I*-
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 79
towers and steeples in the greater parishes. All church yards,
gardens and unnecessary vacuities and all trades that use great
fires or yield noisesome smells to be placed out of the town.
"The model or plan formed on these principles, delineated by
Dr. Wren, was laid before the King and the Honourable House
of Commons, and is thus explained : —
" From that part of Fleet Street which remained unburnt about
St. Dunstan's Church, a straight street 90 feet wide crosses the
valley, passes by the south side of Ludgate Prison and thence
in a direct line ends gracefully in a piazza at Tower Hill, but before
it descends into the valley where now the great sewer [Fleet Ditch]
runs, about the once middle of Fleet Street, it opens into a round
piazza the centre of eight ways, where at one station are these
views, first straight forward into and through the city ; second,
obliquely towards the right hand to the beginning of the key
that runs from Bridewell Dock to the Tower, third obliquely on
the left to Smithfield ; fourth, straight on the right to the Thames ;
fifth straight on the left to Hutton Street and Clerkenwell ; sixth
straight backwards towards Temple Bar ; seventh, obliquely on
the right to the walks of the Temple ; eighth, obliquely on the
left to Cursitor's Alley.
" Passing forward we cross the valley, once sullied with an offensive
sewer, now to be beautified by a useful canal, passable by as
many bridges as streets that cross it. Leaving Ludgate Prison
on the left side of the street (instead of which gate was designed
a triumphal arch to the founder of the new city. King Charles II.),
this great street presently divides into another as large which carries
the eye and passage to the south front of the Exchange (which we
leave as yet for a second journey), and before these two streets,
spreading at acute angles, can be clear of one another, they
form a triangular piazza the basin of which is filled by the
Cathedral Church of St. Paul. But leaving St. Paul's on the
left, we proceed as our first way led us, toward the Tower, the
way being all along adorned with parochial churches. We return
again to Ludgate, and leaving St. Paul's on the right hand, pass the
other great branch to the Royal Exchange, seated at the place
where it was before, but free from buildings, in the middle of
a piazza included between two great streets, the one from Ludgate
leading to the south front and another from Holborn over the
canal to Newgate, and thence straight to the North front of the
Exchange.
" The practicability of the whole scheme without loss to any man
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 80
or infringement of any property was at that time demonstrated
and all material objections fully weighed and answered ; the
only, and as it happened insurmountable difficulty remaining
was the obstinate averseness of great part of the citizens to alter
their old properties and to recede from building their houses on the
old ground and foundations ; as also the distrust in many and un-
willingness to give up their properties, though for a time only,
into the hands of public trustees or commissioners till they might
be dispensed to them again with more advantage to themselves than
was otherwise possible to be effected, for such a method was
proposed that by an equal distribution of ground into buildings
leaving out churchyards, gardens, &c. (which were to be removed
out of town), there would have been sufficient room both for
the augmentation of the streets, disposition of the churches. Halls
and all public buildings and to have given every proprietor full
satisfaction, and although few proprietors should happen to have
been seated again directly upon the very same ground they had
possessed before the fire, yet no man would have been thrust any
considerable distance from it, but placed at least as conveniently and
sometimes more so to their trades as before. By these means
the opportunity in a great degree was lost of making the new
city the most magnificent as well as commodious to health and
trade of any upon earth, and the Surveyor being thus confined
and cramped in his designs it required no small labour and skill
to model the city in the manner it has since appeared.**
Wren's plan is interesting alike for the masterly grasp of the
problems to be dealt with and for the variety in the arrangement
and treatment. The streets are all straight, but are not all
parallel, the main roads are made to radiate from certain fixed
points, to connect conveniently with thoroughfares existing in
the parts of London outside the area destroyed by the fire. The
plan is, indeed, laid out in the grand manner, and depends for its
effect on the largeness of its scale and the length of its vistas,
while no attempt is made to reproduce the enclosed places and the
limited street pictures so characteristic of the medieval towns. We
find in Wren's plan no provision for open spaces, gardens, or parks,
the necessity for which had not apparently been realised then as
it is now.
lUus. 57. Mr. F. Madan, of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, has in his
possession an interesting sketch plan made by an Italian architect
about the year 1730, showing a proposed rearrangement of the
central part of the City of Oxford carried out on Renaissance lines.
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OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 84
By the kind permission of the owner and of Mr. Henry W. Taunt,
who has photc^raphed and prepared this plan for reproduction
in his fine book " Oxford, Past and Present," I am able to give an
illustration. Those who know Oxford as it is cannot but be
interested in the proposals made for reconstructing portions of
the city on the more symmetrical and formal lines characteristic
of Ren^ssance work. The proposed bringing forward of the
Ashmolean Museum, to balance the old Clarendon Press on the
other side of the Sheldonian Theatre, is an interesting feature, as
also are the suggested rearrangements of the lines of Broad Street
and the High and the treatment of Carfax.
Many parts of London — such, for example, as the squares and dis-
tricts around Regent's Park — were laid out by what we may call
the Renaissance School of town planners, and similar squares and
Illus. 59. — PLm ef Bridgeaater, Semirset.
Rtprodueed fram tie Ordiianit Survey Map, tvi/i tht taru/ien of tht ContrtUer of
H.M. Slatiimery O^t.
districts may be found in other towns. Such town planning as
///«. 59. took place was chiefly on the land of individual owners of large
lUus. 60. estates, and was generally rigid and forma!, until the influence of
the landscape gardening school began to extend to the planning of
streets. Since that penod they have been laid out very largely with
a view to produce curved lines, without much regard to the archi-
tectural effect of the buildings. Eastbourne, Bournemouth, and the
lUus. 61. newer parts of Buxton, and many other towns and suburbs which
Jtlm. eoa.—A':irhru
a of house! facing the Sihloss
Sec Fold riaii n:
I!
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 88
have grown up on land belonging chiefly to one owner, have been
developed on these lines. But when the whole of these examples
are considered, they are still exceptional in character, and in the
main we in this country were found entirely unprepared for the
enormous growth of town population which the last century wit-
Illus.vand2. nessed,^ and towns have been allowed to grow in a haphazard
manner, each individual owner developing his own land on the
lines which suited his own interest or fancy. Too often the only
consideration has been to find a plan which would give the maximum
number of building sites at the minimum cost. In the main it is
true to say that the newer portions of our English towns represent
a hopeless jumble of unrelated groups of streets.
Meantime the reconstruction of Paris, which took place between 1852
and 1870, gave a new impetus to town planning on the Continent.
With this reconstruction is always associated the name of Georges
Eugene Haussmann, who was born in 1809, and who became Pre-
fect of the Department of the Seine. But the actual work, as is
clearly set forth in Haussmann's autobiography, was carried out by
M. Deschamps. In 1853, under Haussmann's influence, M. Des-
champs was appointed to take charge of the plan of Paris, under
the pompous but inexact title of " Conservateur du Plan de Paris,"
and to him is due the great and masterly town planning work which
made Paris what we know it to-day. His work is characterised by
straight lines, formal arrangements, and geometrical patterns. Many
roads are made to converge at important points, and usually these
points are chosen so that some monument or public building stands
in full view down each of these roads. The place^ as understood by
Deschamps, was largely a space to facilitate the circulation of traflic
at points where many roads meet, and seldom was anything of the
nature of an enclosed place formed by him. If we examine a plan
of Paris of the seventeenth century, we find that it is characterised
by certain main, direct thoroughfares, direct but not straight, with
a number of informally arranged minor roads, much like other
Gothic towns. The plan of Paris as left by Baron Haussmann is a
mass of geometrical pattern-work, consisting almost exclusively of
straight streets very cunningly disposed to show up all the public
buildings from the maximum number of points of view, and so
make the greatest possible use of these in glorifying the city. No
doubt the strategic convenience for the control of revolutionary
mobs may have had something to do with the choice of the straight
street style of planning, but a high appreciation of the value of long
vistas and of the use to be made of public buildings and monuments
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OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 90
in beautifying a town must have been at the bottom of the way in
which the work was carried out.
In America the tradition of a formal lay-out, usually on a rigid
fridiron or checker-board pattern, has hitherto been little disturbed
y any other style. Towns once started on this pattern have con-
tinued to grow to an enormous extent, until vast areas are covered
by this regular, monotonous latticework of streets laid out in parallel
lines, cutting up the building areas into rectangular blocks of equal
size. The inconvenience and monotony of this arrangement are,
however, now compelling the Americans to consider new systems.
Diagonal streets are being arranged, and in some cases cut through the
existing blocks, so that it will not be necessary on so many occasions
to travel two sides of a triangle in order to go from point to point.
The Americans, like ourselves, have hitherto been without municipal
town planning powers, but the work of town improvement has
been taken in hand by Commissioners, well supported, and much
good work is being done under the guidance of able men like Mr.
Mulford Robinson and Mr. Day. Special attention is being devoted
to the provision of parks to break up the monotony of the towns
and provide breathing spaces, also to the arrangement of wide
boulevards and strips of parkway to link up the parks and so
provide walks and drives about the town, passing through belts of
park or garden.
lUus. 63. The town of Philadelphia may be taken as illustrating many others.
A plan of the town as designed by William Penn is given, the
central square of which, marked " A," became the site of the City
Hall, while four other squares or parks are shown. This plan
□ommiDDDr
IHDDDDmiDraDODI
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 92
seems in the main to have been followed, and the city has to a large
extent grown on the rectangular lines thus laid down, as will be
TZfttf. 64. seen by reference to the plan of the modern town, where the City
Hall and the Loean and Franklin Squares will enable the portion
included in Penn s design to be identified. The regularity of the
plan has been in various parts broken by tracks which hiad been
established before the growth of the town reached these points, but
has tended to reassert itself after passing these roads. Numerous
straight, diagonal roads and parkways are now being planned, and
one of these, leading from the City Hall to the Fairmount Park,
passing diagonally across Logati Square, is shown as at present
TUus. 65. marked on the city plan. A complete design for the treatment of
this parkway and the Logan Square, prepared for the Fairmount
nius. 66. Park Art Association by Horace Trumbauer, C. C. Zantziger, and
Paul P. Cret, is also given. In this plan the French treatment of
developing along vistas with terminal features has been taken as a
model, and numerous subsidiary vistas around the Fairmount Park-
IHm. 67. way have been planned. An imaginary bird's-eye sketch of this
lUus. 68. parkway at the Fairmount end will explain the proposal. Another
illustration shows a further scheme which is under consideration for
the treatment of League Island Park and the surrounding district,
and the introduction of radial symmetrical diagonals into the grid-
iron of the street plan. The modern German school of town
planners point out with much truth that this arrangement of
diagonals crossing a square trellis system of streets, leaves numerous
lUus. 65. acute-angled plots which do not lend themselves to the production
either of very successful groups of buildings or very useful open
spaces. Too often a r^ular system of streets, once started, is
nUis. 69. continued quite regardless of the contours of the ground, and not
only entails vast expense in levelling, but destroys any interesting
character that may spring from a more perfect adaptation of the
town plan to the conditions of the site. It will be interesting to
lUus. la compare with the plan of Philadelphia that of Washington, where
the design includes a considerable number of diagonals.
In spite of the lack of municipal town planning powers, the civic
spirit would appear to be strong enough in many American cities to
carry out very extensive and costly improvements, and the numerous
careful and exhaustive reports on city developments which are
constantly being issued by voluntary associations, architectural
societies, &c., are proof that the Americans are seriously taking in
hand the beautifying of their towns. Reference to some of these
reports will be found in the Bibliography.
■53.
It
lllu!. 67. — BinTs-cyt view oj Ihc proposed tay-oul of the Fairmount partway, as shown
on Plan 66.
By courtesy of the City Parks Associalion, Philadelphia.
i
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 97
The geometrical system adopted by Baron Haussmann in his re-
constructions in Paris was practised also by the Germans previous
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lUus, 68. — Example of the combinatum of diagontUs with the typical American trellis
arrangement of streets.
By courtesy of the City Parks Association^ Philadelphia,
to 1889 ; but since the publication in that year of Camillo Sitte's
book, " Der Stadtebau," the French translation oif which, under the
title of " L*Art de batir les Villes," was published in 1902, there
5
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 98
has been a marked change in the character of German town
planning.
Camillo Sitte, by a careful study of plans of medieval towns, came
to the conclusion that these were designed on lines which not only
provided completely for the convenience of traffic, but were in
accordance with the artistic principles upon which the beauty of
towns must depend.
Impressed by the picturesque and beautiful results which sprang
from devious lines and varying widths of streets, and from irregular
lllm, 69. — Example of American trellis pattern of streets carried forward without any
regard to the contours.
By courtesy of the City Parks Association^ Philadelphia,
places planned with roads entering them at odd angles, the Germans
are now seeking to reproduce these, and to consciously design along
the same irregular lines. It is, indeed, maintained by Sitte and
others that much of the irregularity characteristic of the medieval
town which we have been apt to consider the result of natural and
unconsidered growth was, on the contrary, deliberately planned by
the ancients in accordance with artistic principles then well under-
Stood. Be this as it may, there can be little doubt that the true
artistic tradition in the Middle Ages was so steadily maintained and
so widely prevalent as to constitute almost an instinct in the people,
lllat. JO.— General Builditig Plan fir Ikt fawn of Kufstcin by Herr OtU Latnt, ArthiUd.
I. Ober-StatitplatM. III. Railway Ana.
II. UiUer-Sladtpiatt. IV. Fata Gtroldstek.
By Hnd ptrmiitUm tf tit EdUtr of •• Der SiadUbam.^
lata. J2.—A t ^ , _ ^ .
ihemitig in lemt spaces tkt original proptriji lints, and i
rtarmngtd by tkt municipality in mitahlt fiats.
By covrttsy ef Iht Municipal Aulhtriiits of Calepu.
108
I03
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 104
which would lead them in dealing with irregularities arising from
natural growth to do just the right thing in each case. The dif-
ference between this instinct which made the best of irregularities,
and the conscious artistic designing of these irregularities, may seem
a small one, but it is of importance when upon it is based the claim
that the conscious designing of the modern town planner should be
carried out on the same irregular lines.
Illus, 70. If, for example, a modern German town plan such as that for
lilus. 71. Kufstein, or the prize plan for the town of Pforzheim, be com-
Fold Map pared with the plans of medieval towns such as Rothenburg or
^^^* Bruges, it will at once be apparent how closely the modern school
in that country are basing their work upon medieval models.
If, further, these same plans be compared with earlier work, such as
/f/«x. 72-74. may be seen in Cologne, Antwerp, Dusseldorf, and many other
towns, it will be equally evident how entirely the character of their
work has changed since those plans were made, so much so as to
constitute a complete change of style, a change as complete as in
the field of architecture would be a Gothic revival following upon
a period of Renaissance work.
The examples illustrated will give some idea of town planning as
practised in Germany, and it is particularly evident from them how
the earlier geometrical and more regular planning has given place to
much more carefully considered but altogether irregular systems.
Illus, 80, 81. The contrast is seen in the two examples or a portion of Stuttgart as
planned in i860 to 1870, and as finally revised in 1902. Several
intermediate plans were made for this rather difiicult area, each
showing a more marked development of irregularity and adapta-
tion to the contours than the one preceding it. It is noticeable also
that considerable individuality of style distinguishes the work of
Illus. 78, 79. different men. If the plans for Zschertnitz, for example, are
Illus, 75. contrasted with the sweeping lines which mark the plan of Griin-
lUus, 76. stadt, and this again is compared with Flensburg, this variety will
Illus. 70. be evident ; while the plan of Kufstein, with its very carefully
worked out building lines designed to produce picturesque street
pictures and closed vistas, shows perhaps better than any other the
extent to which the modern German School of town planners are
trying to embody in their present work suggestions which they
derive from their older towns. The three illustrations from
Ulus, 72-74. Cologne serve to show the thoroughness of their work. The plans
are worked out with increasing detail, and very large scale drawings
of the streets and junctions are prepared before the work is executed.
Some plans are specially prepared to show the division of the areas
i i r iiii T; i, ilT ii ri7iiir
6eBHWN6SP!LaN
IN yLCNSBVM*
Illus. 76. — Building Plan of Flensburg by Herr /. Henrici^ Aachen,
By kind permission of the Editor of ** Der Stddtebau,^'
106
BrolHiliDplu mr da Venrt PC r m M An^nrf.
nka. T<).—Suilding PUm for Zickertnitt, near Dreiden, by Dr. Cenuiiui GurliH and
Strr S. FrukUtig, Dretdnt. Tim is ait ttUtrtuUiv* tiait for tit arttt tli«m» m
im$t. 78.
By Hnd ptrmiitiem of tht Sdilar of " D^ Siaduitm."
Illus, 72.
Illus, 73.
Fold. Maps
I.andIL
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS no
into plots, others to indicate the intended arrangement of planting,
the treatment of open spaces, or the distribution of different classes
of buildings. The Cologne examples may perhaps be classed as
representing the period of transition from the geometrical to the
modern systems.
Ilbis, 80. — Building Plan far a portion of Stuttgart as planned between i860 and 187a
Illus, 81. — Building Plan for nearly the same portion of Stuttgart as planned by Prof,
Theodor Fischer in the year 1902, showing greater adaptation to contours and less
rt^ular treatment. The Utters A^ B^ C, indicate identical points on both plans.
By kind permission of the Editor of *' Der StOdteban,'*
The plans of Nuremberg are of special interest, showing one of
the most beautiful German cities which has of recent years grown
rapidly, and for which a town plan was completed as recently as
1907, covering a large area on all sides of the town. A portion of
IlUa. 83 Tamt Plan of Cehgtu.
A. — Skevnttg giairuiriail f burning disrcgarditig firaptrty beuttdaria.
By kiitd permissit
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 112
Fold Map this plan is illustrated, and shows how the design has been adapted
^^* to the sporadic development which had already taken place on the
area covered. However much we individually may like or dislike
the- particular style and the detail treatment adopted by the Germans,
we cannot but feel the highest admiration for the skill and the
thoroughness displayed in their town planning work; no labour
seems too much for them, no number of revisions too great to be
made so that they may bring their plans up to date and in accord-
ance with the best style that is known and approved by the skilled
town planners of their country ; and, while there is much in their
work that one would not wish to see copied in English towns, there
can be no question as to the immense benefit to be derived from a
careful study of that which has been accomplished in a field where
they have been working earnestly for many years and where we are
in comparison mere beginners.
While, however, the importance of most of the principles which
Camillo Sitte deduced from his study of medieval towns may be as
great as the modern German school thinks, it does seem to me that
they are in danger of regarding these principles as the only ones of
great importance ; nor do they appear to realise how far it is
possible to comply with these principles in designs based upon more
lUus. 78, 79. regular lines. Some of the irregularity in their work appears to be
introduced for its own sake, and if not aimlessly, at least without
adequate reason ; the result being that many of their more recent
plans lack any sense of framework or largeness of design at all
in scale with the area dealt with.
Fold Map If we examine the plan of Rothenburg, we see how, especially in the
^^^* original old town, the scale of the principal places and streets is
sufficiently large for them to dominate the town, and to provide for
it a frame and centre points which render the whole really simple
and easily comprehensible to the stranger, but in any such plan as
nius. 71. that of Pforzheim one feels the same simplicity is lacking. In the
case of towns arranged on land having such complicated contours as
characterise the neighbourhood of Pforzheim, it is, of course, im-
possible to criticise the plan fairly mthout an intimate knowledge of
the ground. The system of roads appears to be most admirably
adapted to the contours ; nevertheless this kind of plan, which is
characteristic of much modern German work, seems lacking in the
simplicity of framework and order of design which are needful to
enable the plan of the town to be readily grasped. It would be very
easy for a stranger to get lost in such a town. The same remarks
Illus, 7$. Apply to the town of Grunstadt, which covers a far smaller area.
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 113
The continual repetition of small , irregular places and road junctions
suggests a degree of artificial imitation of accidentally produced
features hardly likely to lead to successful results in the hands of
modern builders; who have completely lost touch with the tradition
which apparently proved so successful a guide to our forefathers.
One point of great interest in the description which we have quoted lUus, 56.
of Sir Christopher Wren's plan of London may well be again
mentioned here, namely, his proposal that the boundaries of all
existing properties should be disregarded, and that the individual
parcels of land should all be temporarily given into the hands ot
public trustees or commissioners so that they might be rearranged
and the area divided, each person receiving back, not his own plot
exactly, but as nearly as possible the equivalent of it in the shape of
a plot of land arranged to suit the new roads and new groupings of
buildings proposed. It is interesting to find thus early suggested by
Wren a lOTva of solution for this difficult problem in connection
with town planning which has been adopted in Germany. The
city of Frankfort possesses compulsory powers for thus rearranging
boundaries of plots under what is known as the lex Adickes.
Other cities have to depend on promoting voluntary arrangements
for the exercise of indirect pressure to secure this rearrangement of
plots. Where land is held in small lots, some such power of rearrang-
ing boundaries seems necessary for good planning to be possible ; but
there is much discussion among town planners in Germany on this
point. Camillo Sitte and those who follow him argue that the neces-
sity chiefly arose owing to the particular geometrical type of planning
which was in vogue previous to his day, and that a freer type of
planning, in which greater consideration could be shown for the
existing conditions of the site for existing roadways and property
boundaries, would render needless very much of the rearrangement
of properties which the geometrical school of town planning found
so necessary. It is further argued that the consideration of these
existing conditions would lead to a type of plan having in it some-
thing of the interest and variety which characterise the towns of the
Middle Ages. To illustrate this point refer to Illustrations Nos. 82 llius. 82A.
(a and b), the first of which shows a portion of the ground adjacent
to Kdser Wilhelm Ring in Cologne as laid out by the geometrical
town planners, in a scheme which it is obvious could not be carried
out without an entire rearrangement of the plot boundaries which
are shown. The scheme also cuts up the ground into a number of
triangular pieces not very convenient for building sites, and pro-
duces a star-shaped junction at the point A, which would not be an
6
OF THE INDIVIDUALITY OF TOWNS 114
Ilhis. 82B. attractive feature. The second illustration, No. 82B, shows the same
ground with roads laid out on lines suggested by Camillo Sitte in
such a way that almost the whole of the existing property lines
could be utilised without rearrangement. The general character of
the planning is much more like that characteristic of the medieval
town, and now being practised by the modern school of German
town planners, the geometrical planning shown in the first illustra-
tion which was common a few years ago having been largely super-
seded by the new school in Germany and in some other countries.
Before the architect can properly weigh the arguments on both sides
of this and, indeed, many other questions which town planning raises,
he must think out for himself the abstract question of formalism as
opposed to informalism, and must adopt for his own guidance some
theory by which he can weigh the relative importance of carrying
out some symmetrical design, and, on the other hand, of maintaining
existing characteristics of the site with- which he is dealing. Some
preliminary consideration of this rather difficult subject will be found
in the next chapter.
I
III.— OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL BEAUTY
WE can hardly have examined the many difFerent town
plans referred to in the last chapter without realising
that in spite of their great variety they fall into two
dearly marked classes, which we may call the formal and the
informal, and that there are tonday two schools of town designers.
Illus. Zy—Plan of Oxford.
Repreiiuitd from (he Ordnance Survey Map, utlk tkt laiKtion oj the Controller of
H.M. Stationery O^.
the work of one being based on the conviction that the treatment
should be formal and regular in character, while that of the other
springs from an equally strong belief that informaUty is desirable.
From the views given of both types of town we shall almost
certainly agree that a high order of beauty has been attuned by
each method, for although our personal preference may lean
OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL BEAUTY ii6
strongly to one or the other type, there will be few who will not
admit great beauty in many of the examples of its opposite. We
are all sensible of the beauty of such towns as Oxford and Rothen-
burg, where hardly any lines are straight, any angles square, or any
views symmetrical, but we are alike impressed by the formal parts
of Paris, Nancy, or Copenhagen, with their straight streets, regular
squares and sky-lines, and symmetrical pictures.
nius 8d and ^" ^'^ country we are, perhaps, more familiar with the two schools
85. in the sphere of garden design ; the landscape school representing
Illus. 86.
nitu. 41-45.
BIIDCUD
:»»rapii
^
the devotees of informality, while the other school is known by the
title " formal," which describes its work.
The former school, as its name implies, bases its work on the
admitted beauties to be found in landscape scenes. Finding little
or nothing of formality in wild nature, it rather rashly assumes that
formality in garden work is unnatural, and the less intelligent
section easily passes from such a doubtfiJ premise to the even more
doubtful conclusion that the avoidance of formality will produce the
natural. There follows in the train of these ideas, particularly
among those who have only attained to the little knowledge of the
subject which we are told is dangerous, a vague belief that the
beauty of wild nature arises from the fact that it is free, not subject
OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL BEAUTY 119
to any constraint, and that the fault of formalism lies in its
imposing order, and introducing fixed rules which must be obeyed.
It is true that the beauty of wild nature is usually informal in the Illus. 92.
sense in which we have used the term, but this does not mean that
it is the result of chance, or of freedom from restraint. On the
contrary, the forms which we find beautiful in wild nature are the
result, so far as we know, of obedience the most perfect to laws the
most complex, so much so that we may call the forms inevitable.
That is to say, the forces of weather and gravity, the strengths of
the materials and the chemical reactions resulting from their play iiius, 87.
being what they are, the slopes of the hills and valleys, the bend iiius. 88.
of the river, the curve of the bay, and the forms of the trees and the Illus, 89.
shrubs could not have been otherwise than as we see them. Illus. 91.
How far this complete adaptation to the circumstances and nature
of its being may be called an inevitable rightness in any object,
and further, how far its beauty is due to this rightness of form,
are matters for the philosophers to decide. It seems probable,
however, that adaptation to place and function or, as we have
called it, rightness of form, if not necessarily resulting in beauty,
is at least the basis upon which it is most likely to flourish.
Because the interplay of numerous and complex influences in
wild nature results in beauty of a type we call informal, we are
not therefore justified in assuming either that there is any beauty
in mere informality, or that informality in the work carried out
by men is in any sense natural ; nor, on the contrary, can we
deduce from such a premise either that formality will not produce
beauty or that it is in any sense unnatural for man to do his
work on formal lines.
While, therefore, we may share with the landscape gardener his
admiration for the beauty of wild nature, while we may even,
with Ruskin, place that beauty on a level far higher than any
attained by man's handiwork, it does not at all roUow that in
the making of a garden we should adopt his methods, which
amount to an attempt to reproduce the efi^ects which have
resulted from the interplay of natural forces. Any attempt to copy
nature must be futile, for the conditions of natural growth are
so complex as to be quite beyond the power of the gardener to
understand or reproduce. He can only hope at best to parody,
and is much more likely to caricature. The slopes of his hillocks
but distantly resemble those formed by the age-long action of
wind and weather, and his artificially shaped ponds have little
in common with the tarns scooped out by the mountain torrent ;
OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL BEAUTY 120
liius.gsyg^; while meandering paths and bulbous-shaped beds or clumps of trees
mus%4. ^^ "°^ ^^^^ distantly resemble natural objects.
There can be no doubt as to the beautiful effects often produced
by the landscape gardener in clearing away obstructions, opening
up views, framing them in a suitable setting, and in a hundred
other ways. But when he introduces direct imitation of nature,
by seeking to eradicate all traces of the gardener's hand, and
particularly when he does this by the studied avoidance of any
formality in the lines of his work, he is attempting to do what is so
far beyond his power to do properly as to justify us in saying that
it is improper to do it. Here and there, indeed, illusion may be
produced, but even the illusion cannot long be maintained, and is
at best a dangerous and a doubtful expedient. Hence it is,
probably, that in spite of the many beautiful effects which a
skilled landscape gardener does produce, to many the shapes of his
beds and the lines of his footpaths are both unconvincing and
irritating. Surely the result of highly revering natural beauty
will be to convince us that we cannot create it, that we cannot
even successfully imitate it. Rather is it the privilege of the
gardener's art to design a simple frame and setting for it. We
may terrace the hillside to form beds for nature's blooms, and
dig trenches and tanks to hold her water, and by so doing
secure in abundance the natural beauty of both ; but this beauty
will in no way be helped by the disorderly lines of our terraces
or the informal shapes of our tanks. The blooms will be as lovely
on the straight terrace, and the light on the water as varied in the
///iif.9o,94a, shapely tank as in the most informal setting.
95-96a. 'jpj^g beauty which we find in many landscape gardens arises
mainly from the successful accomplishment of definite purposes ;
not only does it not depend on the informality of the forms and
lines, but in many cases arises in spite of this. Many of these
larger considerations in the treatment of grounds have been little
understood by the formal school of gardeners, who have been too
apt to design gardens as though their beauty were to depend upon the
intricacy and variety of elaborate carpet patterns. While the
formalist resents the inforrilality of the landscape gardener's work
and does not grasp the rightness of many of his aims and the
pleasure produced by many of his effects, the landscape gardener,
in his turn, ridicules the meaningless and often fussy pattern-
making of the formal gardener, and loses sight of the fact that the
formalist is at least designing within limits which he may under-
stand, and whatever effects he may be aiming to produce he honestly
lUiu. 86. — View showing informal devclopmtnt.
lllus. 89.— /Mn/D kindly laien by Mr. J. B. Petligrf.
Illus. i^.^lValrr Gardin, Chateau de Chaiiti/ly.
OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL BEAUTY 125
attempts to reach by means of definite design on orderly lines,
which design he seeks to make beautiful in itself. The most
beautiful gardens of all I believe to be those in which some of Iiit4s.^,g6a.
the aims of the landscape gardener have been carried out on a
simple and orderly plan, where the formal frame or setting has been
provided for the display of the informal beauties of trees and
blossoms and still or running water.
The landscape school has taught us the importance of careful study
of the site and its possibilities, a reverence for the existing natural
beauties to be found upon it ; it has taught us the pleasure to be
derived from a wide outlook, the homeliness to be produced by
simple treatment, the efFect of contrast between enclosed spaces and
spaces commanding wide views ; while from the formalist we have
learned how all these effects may be obtained through the medium
of beautiful formal design. The formalist needs to remember
that his design is subordinate to the site, that the undulation of the
ground and the presence of natural features of beauty worth
preserving will frequently require some departure from the regu-
larity of his treatment. His formalism must be regarded as a
method of carrying out definite ^ms, and not as an end in itself
justifying either the destruction of existing beauty or the creation
of formality for its own sake.
The subject is, of course, a wide and difficult one ; many of the
words, such as " natural," ** formal,*' &c., used in discussing it have
meanings difficult to define. Both schools of designers include men
of such distinguished abilities and produce results of such marked
beauty that we need not so much to decide between them as to seek
for some third course, not exactly a via media but perhaps a vid
latiora which shall embrace what is valuable in the aims and
methods of each ; and I have ventured to indicate tentatively the
direction which I feel such wider way may take. Whether our
sympathies lean to the formal or informal school, it is at least safe
to avoid attempted deceptions, and to carry out our aims in the most
simple and straightforward manner, and above all, to do nothing
without having some definite reason for doing it. Nature and
man will be indulgent alike to the formalist and the informalist so
long as they are working to satisfy some requirement or to produce
some definite efFect ; but that which man will not readily forgive
and nature cannot easily disguise is mere sumlessness.
Very much the same arguments apply to the two schools of town
planning, though of course the analogy is in many ways incomplete.
It is only to a certain extent that the growth of towns in past ages,
OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL BEAUTY 126
under the influence of an artistic tradition followed largely un-
consciously, can be compared to the growth of wild nature ; yet
there is a good deal in the analogy, and it is not altogether
destroyed even if the builders of these towns were much more
conscious designers than we have thought, for even in that case it is
true of their growth as it is of the growth of wild nature that the
principles which guided it are so complex and illusive as to be little
understood by us to-day. It is true that the artist, by giving
Illus. 97 and expression to a well-stored memory, may create the design of a
^- picturesque old town street just as he may create the picture of a
landscape. But the building up of a town is not accomplished by
the making of such a sketch design. And even were the artist
himself given absolute control of every detail of the work, he would
find that modern conditions would upset many of his proportions
and that the result when realised would fall far short of his mental
picture. But if we plan our towns on somewhat formal lines there
are effects of simple, orderly dignity which we may with some
probability count on, for the conditions which we shall need to impose
on the builder in order to realise them will be few and of a character
fairly easily understood. How far it might be possible to cultivate
a school consciously working for the reproduction of the beauties of
an old Gothic town the present efforts of the Germans in this
direction may do something to show, but there can be no doubt
that much of the interest of the old irregular streets and towns lies
in the sense of their free, spontaneous growth, their gradual
extension under changing influences, much of which must be
lacking in the case of^a town built to order and according to a
prearranged plan. We may well doubt whether new towns so built
will ever acquire the same sort of picturesqueness which the old
spontaneous and uncontrolled growth brought about, and yet may
feel that our right course is not to try and imitate the old. For in
considering town planning we must take into account the conditions
of the present day, the lack of unanimity as to style among architects
and of guiding tradition among builders.
Not only is there a strong analogy between the landscape school
of gardening and the informal system of town planning, but in
England at any rate, as we have seen, there is a direct historic
connection ; for undoubtedly the informal and meandering plans of
the few towns and suburbs laid out during the last century in this
country were the direct outcome of the spreading influence of the
Illus. 61. landscape gardener. See as examples the plans of Bournemouth,
Eastbourne, or Buxton. The analc^y between the formal schools
i
91. Ill
Photos kindly iaien by Mr. J. B. Pelligreui.
Illm. 93. — Example of mfandering path.
flliis. 93a. — Example of biilbgiis -shaped beds.
. 94' — Example a/ a slraigkt path in an Earmrui Collage Garden.
By courtesy of Mr. F. W. SuUHffe, WkMy.
Ilhis. i^a.~K(irlsruht. View /roil the Schloss. See Fold Map IV.
r
r
OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL BEAUTY 135
in each case is fairly complete. If, then, the conclusions we
have arrived at from our short examination of the question as
it applies to gardening are at all correct, we may apply to town
Illus, 97. — An imaginary irregular town.
planning the principles suggested at any rate tentatively ; for
we must admit that in this art we are in England only begin-
ners, and I feel that we cannot attempt yet to define accurately
the right limits between formalism and informalism of treatment.
OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL BEAUTY 136
and that for the moment what is needed to guide the town planner
is not so much strong prejudice in favour of either formal or
informal treatment, but rather a right appreciation of the meaning
and value of each, and a just estimate in each case as it arises
of the reasons in favour of one or the other. If the designer is to
go to work in a right spirit, he must cherish in his heart a love for
all natural beauty, and at the same time have always in his mind a
clear appreciation of the beauty of the definite design which he
seeks to develop. His regard for a type of beauty which it is
beyond his power to create will cause him to approach his site with
Illus, 98. — An imaginary irregular Unon,
reverence, will fit him to receive from it all the suggestions which it
has to offer. It will help him to realise the importance of in-
corporating his design with the site and of so arranging his scheme
of laying out that it may serve as a means of harmonising his
buildings with the surrounding country. It will save him from
rashly destroying trees or other existing features which, with care,
might be preserved and incorporated in his design. At the same
time, his belief in the rightness and the importance of definite
design will prevent him from sacrificing it unduly to quite minor
features of the site, which, however charming they may be in their
present state, may either lose their value in the new conditions to be
OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL BEAUTY 137
imposed or may be of less importance than the completion of the
scheme. The designer who approaches his work in this spirit may —
no, I would say must — be left to decide for himself in each case how
far the lines of his site must be followed and how far his design
must prevail where the one or the other must give way.
Quite apart from theoretic considerations as to the beauty of the
result, there are, of course, many practical ones which will help to
determine the course to be followed in each case. For example, a
certain degree of orderly design in the main lines of a town plan
undoubtedly helps materially to the easy understanding and following
of it, and in a town so planned a stranger would more readily find
his way about, more easily grasp the main lines of direction.
But the practical advantages of such an orderly arrangement of the .
plan do not require exactitude of symmetry, which often could not
be attained without considerable sacrifice of convenience or natural
beauty. In such cases it would seem foolish to pay heavily for
securing a degree of symmetry only appreciable on a paper plan or
from the car of a balloon. The eye with difficulty measures
distances and angles, and very great departures from regularity in •
certain directions may be made without being noticeable. Standing
in an enclosed square, for example, a very considerable departure from
the right figure would be necessary to be apprehended even if looked
for, wlule a still greater departure would be needed to cause any
serious detraction from the beauty of the effect, and in many cases a
place might have five sides without the fact being readily discovered SeeHaupt
by the observer. On the other hand, there are irregularities very j^^j^.
easily recognised ; a building which should be centrd with the end Fold Map.
of a road will be readily noticed if not in the exact centre. It is
dangerous to presume much on the want of power in the eye to
detect irregularities ; it is easy for the planner to overlook some
small feature which will often be enough to reveal them. The
irregularity of the uneven square not noticed from within will be
very evident if viewed from an adjacent hill, and may become very
unpleasing if it disturbs an otherwise orderly arrangement of roof
lines.
On sites much overlooked from high ground, roofs and roof lines
become matters of the utmost importance. In fact, the beauty or
otherwise of towns, seen from a distance, depends very often much lllus. 105,
more on the roofs than upon any other part of the buildings. "39284,285.
Much observation and long practice alone will teach us what does
and does not disturb offensively an otherwise regular design. We
have a certain sense of order and derive gratification from that
OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL BEAUTY 138
which satisfies this sense, a gratification slight in degree perhaps,
and not to be compared in importance with that to be derived from
many other sources ; still, it is suflicient for us to resent its being
disturbed for no apparent purpose.
Apart from extremes of formalism and informalism, there is room
for a wide divergence of individual preference among designers who
accept in general the same guiding principles ; some will lean to
one side and some to the other ; some arrive at one estimate of the
relative importance of different circumstances, some at quite a
different one. We shall be wise at present to avoid dogmatising
on the theories, to keep very closely in touch with actual require-
ments, and to be content if we can give comely form and expression
in the most simple and practical manner to the obvious needs of those
who are to dwell in the towns or suburbs we plan. So only shall
we keep on safe ground, or lay the firm foundation of experience
and tradition which may perhaps form a basis for finer efforts of the
artist's imagination in the future.
Of this I feel very much convinced, that town planning to be
successful must be largely the outgrowth of the circumstances of the
site and the requirements of the inhabitants, and going back by
way of example, to the point raised at the end of the last chapter as
to whether and to what extent the existing boundaries of properties
should be regarded in the making of a new town plan, it would seem
to me that, so long as the sense of property means what it does to the
owners and occupiers of land, it would be neglecting one of the most
important existing conditions if we were to disregard entirely these
boundaries ; that to try and carry through some symmetrical plan
at the expense of upsetting the whole of the properties and destroying
all the traditions and sentiment attaching to these properties would
be to give to our plan a degree of artificiality which in the result
would probably vastly outweigh any advantage which it might gain
from a more complete symmetry. On the other hand, it would
be attaching undue importance to one only among the many con-
ditions with which a town plan must comply if we were to refuse
to the town planner any powers to rearrange properties or boun-
daries. It seems to me, in short, that a theoretic preference
for formalism or for informalism, while it may find ample scope
and^and ^^^ expression within the limits of the conditions, in no sense
Fold Map V. justifies either the neglect to satisfy the requirements of the case or
to respect the conditions of the site. Therefore, while the in-
formalist might welcome the picturesque accidental groupings and
the informal arrangement which would result from respecting in his
OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL BEAUTY 139
plan the existing property boundaries, he would probably seriously
err should he allow his love for informality to lead him to follow
these boundaries to the detriment of the public convenience or to
the destruction of all comprehensive planning of his site. The
formalist, on the other hand, would be open to the opposite
temptation, of thinking that the maintenance of a formal character
in the details of his plans would justify him in riding roughshod
over the property boundaries and the sentiments of the individual
owners or occupiers of the various plots of land comprised within
his area.
-V
IV.— OF THE CITY SURVEY.
THE very limited sketch given in Chapter II. of the types
of town plans to be found in different countries and at
different periods, showing as it does the immense variety
of these types, must make us feel how rash it would be at present to
dogmatise on the best form of plan, and how little we can regard as
settled. This being so, it will be well for the designer to approach
any actual work with due humility. He should remember that it is
his function to find artistic expression for the requirements and
tendencies of the town, not to impose upon it a preconceived idea
of his own ; he must first make himself thoroughly acquainted
with that for which a form of expression is needed, and only after
he has done this will he be in a position to determine that form.
He will, no doubt, have very definite ideas and preferences, and will
express the requirements in the terms of that form which most
appeals to him ; in this way his opportunity is splendid enough to
satisfy any legitimate ambition ; he has no need to go beyond that,
no right to usurp the functions of a dictator decreeing what shall
be expressed. Is it not enough for the singer that he should finely
voice the song of the poet ? Must he also dictate what the poet
shall say ?
The designer's first duty, then, must be to study his town, his site,
the people, and their requirements. There is no need to fear that
such a course will lead to commonplace designs, that it will check
the flights of fancy, will subordinate the main effect to trivial
convenience. The fancies of the man who can only work when his
mind is free from the consideration of conditions are likely to be of
little value, while the work of the one who, lacking high flights of
genius, is yet able to grasp and provide for the needs of the case,
will at least be safe and serviceable. In this work we cannot rightly
say the practical considerations come before the artistic, or the
artistic before the practical ; they are interdependent, and must be
worked out together. But there is this difference between them,
that the practical considerations are often fixed, while the artistic
expression may take varying form. Drainage will not run uphill to
suit the prettiest plan ; nor will people, to please the most imperious
designer, go where they do not want to go or abstain from going
where they must needs go, and from taking generally the shortest
route to get there. Lines of drainage and of traffic may indeed be
modified, but only within f^rly narrow limits ; and the planner
who pits the form of his plan against the forces which define these
limits will but wreck his scheme.
Before any plan for a new town or for a scheme of town develop-
OF THE CITY SURVEY 141
ment can with prudence be commenced a survey must be made of
all existing conditions, and this survey cannot well be too wide or
too complete.
Professor Geddes has published some most helpful and stimulating
essays on this subject ; and although it may not always be practicable
to carry the survey to the extent suggested by him, there can be no
doubt about its importance, if the development is to grov/ healthily
from the past life and present needs of the town. The greater part
of the work must necessarily be done by the sociologist, the historian,
and the local antiquary ; and as we are dealing with the work of
the town planner, we can only here give a summary of the informa-
tion which it is desirable that such a survey should provide for his
use, and must refer the reader to Professor Geddes*s writings for
a more complete treatment of the subject. The nature of this
survey will necessarily differ in the case of the founding of a new
town, such as the Garden City at Letchworth, from that required
for a town extension scheme, the sociological survey of the existing
population and the historical survey of the past development of the
town being absent ; but even in the founding of a new town
historical and sociological considerations are by no means wanting,
though they would be of a more general character. If, then, we
consider the survey as it relates to the development of an existing
city, this will readily be adapted by the reader to the less frequent
case of the laying out of a new village or town.
Seebohm Rowntree's survey of York, T. R. Marr's of Manchester,
and Charles Booth's great survey of East London may be mentioned
as examples of the sociological side of the survey ; and, although
such an exhaustive study could not always be made, it should be
sufficiently thorough to enable maps to be prepared, based on the
Ordnance Survey, coloured to indicate such matters as the degree
of density of population in the different parts of the town and any
insanitary areas or areas of special poverty ; the distribution of
residential, business, and manufacturing areas, with such subdivisions
of each as may seem desirable ; and the distribution of parks, public
and other open spaces, and the extent of each. For examples of
such maps refer to Rowntree's or Marr's books, above mentioned.
In most towns there exists already much material of the nature of
an historical survey. In connection with this there should be
collected a series of maps, showing as completely as possible the
past development of the town ; and in addition plans should be
prepared showing all public buildings, and all buildings or places of
historic value, general interest, or special beauty ; while a collection
142
OF THE CITY SURVEY . . '43
of photographs of these taken from points of view exactly indicated
on the pkns would have great value.
There should also be available for the purpose of comparison and
suggestion good plans of neighbouring towns and of towns in this
Illus. lOO. — Diagrammatic Plan of London^ showing the volume of passenger traffic entering
London from the suburbs by railway during the month of October^ 1907. The black
lines indicate traffic for ordinary passengers ^ the hatched tines that of passengers using
workmen's tickets.
Reproduced from the Report of the London Trt^fic Branch of the Board of Trcuie by
permission of the Controller of 6,M, Stationery Office,
country and abroad similarly situated to the one under consideration.
The geolc^ical maps of the Ordnance Survey will be useful, and any
other results of local geological investigations should be collected,
together with statistics of wind and weather, from which diagrams
showing the climatic conditions could be prepared.
7
nius, 1 01.
OF THE CITY SURVEY 144
Where the town to be dealt with is at all a large one, there should
Illus, 99 and also be a careful survey made of general traffic ; statistics should be
prepared of its distribution and of the relative intensity from
different districts of the daily inward and outward flow of popula-
tion. All existing traffic facilities should be tabulated and their
capacities estimated, whether consisting of rdlways, tramways, Water-
loo.
3. Kew
Raimpau.
Relative InTEnsrrv
Winds
w
/i
\
b^HT
MM.
Illus, loi. — Diagrams showing the relative duration^ averaged for thru years of different
winds in days per annum at four different stations. The length of the line indicates
the duration of the wind blowing from the 8 rruu'n points of the compass given in
days per annum in accordance witn the scale given. The number of calm days is
indicated by the length of the line to the same scale. Diagrams are also given to show
the number of days on which rain fell at the same stations^ also the total annual fall
in inches. A further diagram indiceUes how the relcUive intensity and duration of
the different winds may be combined in a diagram.
The diagrams are bcued on the annucU summary tables issued by the Meteorological Office.
ways, roads, subways, or bridges, and both proposed and desirable
extensions noted, so that proper provision could be made for them
in the new plan.
Particulars of local industries and of those which show signs of
increasing would be needed, with the nature of any special require-
ments, such as their dependence on water or railway frontage, and
the area of land required per hundred employees.
OF THE CITY SURVEY 145
All existing drainage systems and water supplies, with the height
and depth to which they are available and their capacity for increased
use, should be scheduled.
Any marked tendencies of town growth should be noted, with the
indications afforded by them as to the most natural lines for future
development
It is very important also that plans should be prepared showing
accurately the different ownerships of the land for which the
development is to be arranged. Some reference has been made
in Chapters II. and III. to tne method adopted by many German
towns of rearranging the boundaries of properties. Under the
English Town Planning Bill, as it exists at present, powers are
given to the local authorities to negotiate with, and institute negotia-
tions between, different owners, also to purchase land where necessary.
But it is very important that the town planner should have before
him when making his preliminary scheme a map showing accurately
the boundaries of the different ownerships, because these ownerships
form one of the circumstances of the site, which should be treated
with considerable respect, and where they can conveniently be left
undisturbed it is obviously an advantage that this should be done.
At the same time, particularly where ownerships are in small parcels,
cases must frequently arise when the distortion of the plan required
to leave all tliese boundaries imdisturbed would be so serious that
it would be obviously to the best interests of all to rearrange them.
Local requirements, customs, or prejudices affecting the desirable
size and shape of building plots for various purposes and so
influencing the distance apart of new streets, should be stated, and
the widths, character, and treatment of new streets suitable for the
locality might be suggested.
Conditions as to building materials and traditional methods of
building found in the locality, types of trees and shrubs prevalent
or suitable for planting, and any other characteristics which go to
make up the individuality, economic, historic, and artistic, of the
town should be very carefully noted with a view to preserving and
fostering such individuality.
Some estimate might well be made of future requirements in the
way of schools and other public buildings, and of parks, play-
grounds, and open spaces, so that suitable sites could be provided
tor them ; while general suggestions as to special spots of^ natural
beauty ; as to the historic or l^endary associations attaching to
buildings or places ; as to special prospects, of the sea, river front
or distant scene, or views of beautiful buildings or groups of
OF THE CITY SURVEY 146
buildings, which should be preserved or opened up, could not fail
to be of great value.
This, then, shortly summarised, is the City Survey which should be
prepared before any plan of new development is made. None of
this information can be dispensed with if the best plan is to be
obtained. The city which seeks to design its future developments
must first know itself thoroughly, must understand its own needs
and capacities. On the thoroughness of this understanding will
depend both the economic success of all its plans, and the preserva-
tion of its individuality of character, by which alone the poetry of
its existence can continue to cling to its enlarged self. The sacrifice
of this individuality is to a city a vastly more momentous loss than
we are to-day apt to realise. We most of us know how some
towns appeal to us, how we come to love them, with what aflFection
we remember our visits and with what a sense of joyful reunion
we return to them after long absence. All this springs from the
individuality of a town and is intimately bound up with the poetry
of its existence. Who has heard of the same feelings roused by
the modern suburb ? We may live there and be happy there after
a fashion, but we do not love the place, we can never begin to
individualise or personify Kilburn.
This loss of individuality is due partly to the ease of modern long-
distance carriage, which takes Welsh slates to Whitby and Ruabon
tiles to Rowsley, and delivers them at such a price that the slates
displace the red roofs which were one of the glories of the old
fishing town, while the tiles drive out the stone slabs which gave
character to the Derbyshire village. But what folly it is, surely,
that we should allow our cheap transit to reduce all our towns to
one dead level of characterless jumble instead of preserving in each
its natural characteristic, which for ages has lent an interest and
variety to the towns and villages of Britain, hardly to be found
elsewhere. This instance is given as the most obvious one, but in
many other ways local colour and character may be either destroyed
or fostered, and with it the variety, the interest, and the poetry of
life. While the need for the survey of economic conditions will be
generally acknowledged, it is to be hoped that the equal import-
ance of such a survey as will enable the town planner to preserve
the individuality of the town will not be lost sight of.
To make this survey hardly falls within the province of the town
planner. It should be made for him, and may very largely be the
result of voluntary work on the part of the citizens, and the results
should form the basis of his instructions. These results he must
^.^
OF THE CITY SURVEY 149
master, to the interpretation of them he must bring his ex]3erience
and technical skill, and in the light of them he must make his own
survey of the site ; for no general survey can absolve the town
planner from the duty of thoroughly studying the site upon which
he is to work. Nor will he, if he approaches the work in the right
spirit, have any desire to shirk this part of his duties ; for he will
' regard all the requirements of the community and all the circum-
stances of the site as together constituting the kindly hand of
necessity, guiding him into the right path. Any one to whom
all these needs and conditions are so many irksome restraints
preventing him from carrying out his own pet ideas had better
leave this class of work alone.
The first thing the designer will do is to make sure he has all the
needful plans ; these should include a survey of all the trees worth nius, 235.
preserving on the site, and a contour plan showing by the contour Fold Map
lines every five feet of height. Except on sites so level as to be ^^•
quite exceptional, this contour survey will be found not only
invaluable to the designer but also a source of economy. It may
cost from a few shillings to a pound per acre, according to the size
and character of the site, and it is hardly possible that it should not
be the means of saving its cost many times over by enabling the
roads and sewers to be more accurately adapted to the levels of the
ground. If this plan has not formed part of the general survey,
the designer's first duty should be to secure its production. It is
an essential, alike for the small estate and the large town develop-
ment scheme, and is such a source of economy that there can be no
possible excuse for starting without it.
Having secured all the needful plans and preliminary information
and suggestions, the designer will study the site for himself, com-
paring and considering it in connection with the information and
suggestions, and judging for himself the relative importance of each
point. He will also have to judge how far the various conditions
and tendencies brought to his notice are likely to prove permanent
and how far they are likely to undergo modification in the future ;
for although it is the present needs for which immediate provision
must be made, still in town planning, as in building, the work is
of a permanent character and will remain through a long future,
so that foresight must be combined with the realisation of past
tradition.
As- the designer walks over the ground to be planned, he will
picture to himself what would be the natural growth of the town or
district if left to spread over the area. He will try to realise the
OF THE CITY SURVEY 150
direction which the main lines of traffic will inevitably take, which
portions of the ground will be attractive for residences, and which
will offer inducements for the development of shops, business
premises, or industries. As he tramps along there will arise in his
imagination a picture of the future community, with its needs and
its aims, which will determine for him the most important points ;
and the main lines of his plan should thus take shape in his mind
before ever he comes to put them on paper.
Fold Map An existing or probable railway station will at once give focus to
^^^' the lines of traffic, and may be regarded as a centre from which
easy access should be provided to all parts of the town or district,
a provision the character of which will be affected by all existing
highways or waterways. Existing bridges or points where the
conditions are favourable for constructing bridges or subways over
or under railways, rivers, or canals will suggest themselves as
additional centre points in the system of roads, to which they would
naturally converge. The grouping of the town or suburb upon the
hills or slopes available will also be thought out most readily on the
spot ; there, too, will most easily be selected suitable sites for
factories, where they will have all the necessary facilities of rail and
water carriage, and, if possible, where the prevailing wind will take
the noise, dust, smell, and smoke away from the town. If such a
site can be found screened somewhat from view from the residen-
tial districts and parks of the town, so much the better ; for,
unfortunately, it is not yet generally thought necessary to consider
the appearance which a factory presents, though there are to be
lllus. 102, found many notable exceptions of factories and works designed to
J°3,^««^ afford a comely exterior.
The selecting of suitable positions for central squares or places
round which may be grouped in some dignified order such public
buildings as may be required for municipal, devotional, educational,
or recreational purposes will be done on the site, and will require
much thought For such purposes places must be chosen that will
not only offer adequate architectural possibilities, but will also be
suitable in character and position to form centre points in the plan,
at which it may be reasonable to hope the common life of the city
or district will find a focus.
The picture will grow in the designer's mind as the various needs
are considered and met ; and all the while he is thinking out the
main points of his problem he will be finding spots of natural
beauty to be preserved, trees to be guarded from destruction,
distant views from the town, and views into it of the fine buildings
loyi.
OF THE CITY SURVEY 153
he hopes some day to see rise on their allotted sites, to be kept
open. There will be steep places to be avoided or overcome, the
cost of roads always to be remembered, and a due relation to be
maintained between this and the building areas opened up. But,
while the problem seems to become more and more complicated, it
is really solving itself ; for every fresh need and every drcimistance
considered is a new formative agency, determining for the designer
the lines of his plan ; and his chief aim at first must be to determine
and to keep clearly before him the right proportional importance of
each and to give it due expression ; and only when, on the ground,
all these formative influences have been balanced, can the designer
safely commence to draw out his design. There will come a stage
when the main lines of the plan as determined on the site exist in a
flexible condition in his mind, when he feels the need of something
more definite. This is the time for his designing genius to seize
upon the ductile mass of requirements, conditions, and necessities,
and, anchoring itself to the few absolutely fixed points, brushing
aside minor obstacles or considerations where necessary, modifying
or bowing to the major ones as each case seems to require, to mould
the whole into some orderly and beautiful design.
v.— OF BOUNDARIES AND APPROACHES,
ANY ancient towns derive exceptional beauty from their
enclosure by ramparts or walls. To this enclosure is
due in no small measure the careful use of every yard
of building space within the wall which has led to much of their
picturesque effect. To this is due also the absence of that irregular
fringe of half-developed suburb and half-spoiled country which
forms such a hideous and depressing girdle around modern growing
illus. 104 towns. We have no occasion, and it would therefore be a pure
and 105. affectation, to seek to fortify our towns with walls, nor is it desirable
that we should cause undue congestion ; but it is most necessary in
some way to define our town areas, and in the case of lai^e towns
to define and separate new areas and suburbs. It would seem
desirable to limit in some way the size of towns, but how far this
may be possible we have yet to learn. When walls were neces-
sary as a means of defence and there was much risk in living
outside, we know that towns outgrew even the possibilities of
crowding which the standard of the Middle Ages allowed, and that
settlements outside the walls were not infrequently made in times of
peace, to be abandoned in times of war. If the pressure of this
ever present danger proved insufficient to keep the town within its
defined limits, we may well doubt whether it will prove possible for
us to limit the population of a modern town to a given number,
should the town become so prosperous and popular that natural
tendency would cause that number to be greatly increased. The
attempt would bear some resemblance to King Canute and the
flowing tide. There can, however, be little doubt that it is possible
to set a limit to the size to which a town shall extend con-
tinuously without some break, some intervening belt of park or
agricultural land ; and this at least it is most desirable to secure.
Thus we may derive useful lessons from the beautiful towns of
other lands and other days, not seeking to copy their features,
but finding the reasons which gave rise to them and gathering
some suggestions which may in turn help to beautify our own
cities. Though we shall not copy the fortified wall of the old
city, we may take from it a most pregnant suggestion of the value
of defining and limiting towns, suburbs, and new areas generally.
This may be done in many ways. In numerous continental
towns which have outgrown their fortifications or where the
Illus. 106, changing character of warfare has rendered wider rings of
707 and 108. ramparts needful, the removal of inner rings has given an oppor-
tunity to replace them by wide boulevards, avenues, or belts of
park land, which do to a large extent maintain the break and the
Illits. lO$a.—RolhiiibHrg. Marti Plaiz from the end sf Ike Hafcn Cane.
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OF BOUNDARIES AND APPROACHES 163
definition of the old wall. Even the wall itself may find some lllus. no.
modern counterpart ; where the ground is sloping and the district
adjoins a park or belt of open space, the retaining wall may be a
charming boundary, its monotony broken by garden houses and
gates instead of the old turrets and bastions. The ha-ha or sunk
fence, too, gives a good defining line. But the line of limitation
may take many forms. Where woods exist and cannot be entirely
preserved, a narrow belt of woodland, just enough to serve as a
screen, may be secured, and through it may be taken a path or drive.
An avenue of trees requires some years to mature, but a wide grass
glade with such an avenue would be in time a most successful juus. 109
feature ; and while the latter trees were growing it might be "«'' ^^7-
rendered delightful if planted with fruit-trees or other blossoming
trees or shrubs. In large towns or areas it would be desirable to
secure wide belts of park land, playing fields, or even agricultural
land. In any case, we should secure some orderly line up to which
the country and town may each extend and stop definitely, so
avoiding the irregular margin of rubbish-heaps and derelict build-
ing land which spoils the approach to almost all our towns to-day.
These belts might well define our parishes or our mu-ds, and by so
doing might help to foster a feeling of local unity in the area. As
breathing spaces, they would be invaluable ; as haunts for birds and
flowers, and as affording pleasant walks about the towns, free from
the noise and worry of modern street traffic, they would give
endless pleasure and would in a very true and right way bring into
OF BOUNDARIES AND APPROACHES 164
the town some of the charms of the country. It is not an easy
matter to combine the charm of town and country ; the attempt
has often led rather to the destruction of the beauty of both. A
certain concentration and grouping of buildings is necessary to
produce the spcdal beauties of the town, and this is inconsistent
with the scattering of buildings which results from each one being
isolated in its own patch of garden ; but it is not inconsistent with
the grouping of buildings in certain places and the provision of
large parks or gardens in other places. If we are to produce really
satisfactory town effects combined with the degree of open space
Illt$s» III. — Design for group of allotments^ showing orderly arrangement of sheds ^ ^c.
now thought advisable, we must work on the principle of grouping
our buildings and combining our open spaces, having areas fairly
closely built upon, surrounded by others of open space, rather than
that of scattering and indefinitely mixing our building and our spaces.
It must be admitted that small holdings and allotment gardens
which are so apt to occupy the agricultural belt immediately adjacent
to a town are generally a somewhat depressing sight. This, how-
ever, I am convinced is an accidental feature of small culture as
often practised in this country. The ground is laid out in a hap-
hazard way ; shanties composed of old orange boxes and ragged
lHus. l\2.~Ral'uniiirs, Slamtpohit VI!. m Fiil.l Plan III. Town Gateway— Ikt Kodirihor.
JUus. lyi.—Rolkinburg. Slandpoint Vlll. Fold Plan III. Town Galevmy—RobiilulUrlher.
—Porte dc CkiiioH al Kiihilicu wAitA i
///hi. \ ma.— Karlsruhe, Liiiiu-ijl Plctlz. Sa llliis.
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OF BOUNDARIES AND APPROACHES 171
felt, with greenhouses of all shapes and sizes, are dotted about
without any order, and no thought whatever is devoted to the
appearance of the area, either by those responsible for the whole or
by the individual cultivators. These allotments and small holdings
have but replaced the old cottage garden and the small peasant's
homestead, both of which we know to be capable of being beautiful
enough to satisfy the most fastidious. The tenants of allotments
are in the msun seeking to do with scant means and implements,
without shelter or suitable buildings, what a richer man does in his
walled or hedged garden, and one could not wish for anything more
beautiful than some of these fruit and vegetable gardens, decorated
as they often are with so many flowers and blossommg fruit-trees that
the plainer beds of vegetables form, as it were, a fitting background.
In the town of Nottingham, too, which has for many years been
noted for its allotments, one sees how the area may be redeemed
merely by well-grown hedges which screen some of the untidiness
of the miscellaneous shanties. Given a moderate use only of glass-
houses and the provision of suitable barns or buildings, arranged in
an orderly manner and of some simple harmonious design, it is easy
to imagine a group of allotments laid out so as to become as llius.ui.
charming as the glorified kitchen garden we find within the walled
enclosure attached to many a mansion in England.
Having found suggestions in the ancient wall, we must not forget
the gateway and the importance of marking in some way the
entrances of our towns, our suburbs, and our districts. The
character of treatment will be quite different from that of the ///««. 112,
ancient gateway, which was designed too much for excluding "3»<wwfii4-
the unwelcome guest to be suitable to modern conditions ; but in
many ways it would be fitting to mark the points where main roads
cross our boundaries and enter towns, or new districts within the
towns. For example, some little forecourt of green surrounded by
buildings and led up to by an avenue of trees would strike at once
the necessary note ; and many other simple devices will occur to Illus, 109,
the designer for giving the required emphasis and dignity to these iiS» 116,245,
points of entrance. In the modern 'towns, however, the roadways * '
as channels of entrance and departure are less important than the
railways, and it is in the treatment of our railway stations that the
suggestion of the entrance gate may be utilised. The great arch-
way at King's Cross Station has about it such suggestion ; and if an
open space in front of it could have replaced the low mean buildings
and the narrow entrance lane, where the cabs and omnibuses jostle
one another and threaten destruction to the arriving and departing
OF BOUNDARIES AND APPROACHES 173
ptssenger, Bome little dignity could have been given to this one of
London's modern gateways. Too often, as at Paddington, the
station is entirely obscured by the hotel building In front, and the
actual entrance and exit is nothing but a mean gangway on each
Mde of, or through, the hotel building ; but one can imagine other
treatments of railway stations with ample space in front for traffic,
and with the hotels flanking the entrance, leaving the opening of
the station with some genuine suggestion of gateway as the central
feature. Euston Station, indeed, was laid out somewhat on this iUtis. i
plan, although the size of the station has now outgrown the original
Ilhis. il-j.Suggtstim fir a Sla/mt Place.
design, and much of the entrance and departure has to be arranged
at other than the main gateway.
Something of the gateway idea attaches also to bridges, for when
they do not form the actual entrance into a town they at least form
the entrance or exit point from one part of the town to another,
and in the treatment of bridges and their approaches something of
this idea should be expressed. In some cases it may be possible to
roof in the footways of bridges in an exposed position to protect the
passenger from storm or from the steam and smuts of the locomo- niut. 118.
tives when the bridge passes over a railway ; while the abutments of
the bridge or the piers on which the ends of the girders rest in a
OF BOUNDARIES AND APPROACHES 174
girder bridge may well be emphansed by small and somewhat tower-
shaped buildings, which would not only add much to the effect of
the bridge, but could be made serviceable for many purposes —
offices for professional men, lodges for pubHc servants, small shops
Ilhu. lii—Suggtsted Railway Bridgi far iMckwartk, Cardat City.
and stores, &c., &c. The railway bridge over the Rhine at Mainz
may be mentioned as an example of a girder bridge which acquires
dignity from the bold and somewhat gate-like treatment of the
piers on which the girders rest.
VI.— OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES
IT is not easy for us to-day to realise the great part which the
centre played in the life of an ancient town. So much more of
that life was carried on in the open air, so much more of the
intercourse and exchange of ideas was dFected by speech in the market-
place, in the days when printing and the newspaper were unknown,
that it is very difficult for us who gather the news of all the world
at our breakfast table, and transact the main part of our business by
letter or by telephone, to realise, for instance, the importance of the
agora in the lite of a Greek city or of the forum in that of a
Roman town. We find some parallel to this in the market-place of illus. 119,
the English country town, which in many places is still on market "^ ^*^ ^'
days a very real centre of the communal life of the district. We
have seen in a former chapter how the city wall, though unsuitable ^^^^' "°'
to modern times, may nevertheless offer useful suggestions to the
designer of our towns to-day. Here again, although the change in
the lives and habits of the people has rendered the re-creation of a
Greek agora or a Roman forum hardly possible, nevertheless the
examination of plans of Greek, Roman, and other ancient towns can
hardly fail to impress upon us the great value of having a centre to
our plan. The Greek city is marked alike by the unpretentious
character of its private dwelling-houses and the splendour of its
public buildings and meeting-places. The great central feature of
the town was the agora. There is a good account of these agoras
in " The Architecture of Greece and Rome," already referred to.
They seem to have been of two kinds : ( i ) a great meeting-place
where the people assembled for public functions, and (2) other
meeting-places, usually smaller, where they met for traffic and trade.
These two open spaces were surrounded with peristyles or colonnades,
often of two storeys in height, forming shady walks and meeting-
places ; sometimes the centre was filled by an artificial lake, as at llIus, 121.
Ephesus. Around this grand central space were grouped the council ii/us. 122,
chamber, or senate house ; the theatre, often partly cut in the hill- *^» ^'^ '9-
side ; the hall of music ; the gymnasium, where the adults practised
physical exercises ; and the paUestra, or physical training school for
boys ; and the race-course ; and in close proximity would usually
be found the second agora, or market-place proper, where goods
were bought and sold and business was transacted.
This group of places and buildings would usually be further adorned
by temples dedicated to various gods and goddesses, though in some
cities these do not seem to have been grouped immediately round
the agora.
What a different picture of life from our own is brought to our
175
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACE3 176
mind by these public buildings ! We cannot but be astonished at
the predominance of the arts, music and the drama, and physical
culture, as evidenced by the gymnasia and race-courses, over what we
are apt to regard as the more serious purposes of life.
From the excavated remains of ancient Greek cities it is evident
what a splendid group of buildings formed their centre. No doubt
the arrangement of these variea much in different places and in
lllus. 12, 13, different periods. It was a marked characteristic of the Greeks to
m^^ ^^ seize upon any natural condition offered by their site to form a
and 12-2, ' fitting centre, and the Acropolis at Athens is an example of the
formation of a central group of buildings on a commanding hill,
around which the town was grouped. In many medieval towns the
great church or cathedral seems to have been the important centre.
lllus, 123 Certainly, as at Amiens and Chartres, the magnificent pile towering
andiz^, up is fitted alike in position, scale, and dignity to form the centrd
feature of the town. The plans of many other cities are also marked
lllus, 2s by this large central feature. The forum of Pompeii, the arcaded
^w ^^\ d '^^rket-place at Monpazier, and the splendid group of places and
^^us, 3 an byjijjjjgg forming the centre of Ragusa are instances in point ; while
lllus, 39. in Paris the Louvre, with its surrounding places and buildings, forms
lllus, 163E a central group of such magnificent scale as to dominate even the
immense extent of the city. Indeed, the very elements of design
demand that we should give due importance to the suggestion of
central features which we gather from most old cities. We need to
establish a relation and proportion between the different parts of our
design. We need to emphasise some parts and subordinate others,
and the best way to do this in town design is to have definite
centres. The effect of our public buildings is lost if they are scat-
tered indiscriminately about the town ; they are imperfectly seen in
ordinary streets, and no totality of effect is produced such as may
lllus. 125. be obtained by grouping them in central places^ or squares, or along
river banks. If grouped in this way the buildings help one another,
the violent contrast of size and scale between them and the sur-
rounding buildings is to some extent avoided, and if the buildings
are well arranged the total result obtained may be of a character to
impress the imagination and of an extent to form a genuine central
feature in the design of the town.
The main centre would naturally be occupied by Government or
municipal buildings and others necessarily related to these. But
many subsidiary centres are desirable also. An educational centre
suggests itself, where schools might be grouped in conjunction with
art schools, gymnasia, technical colleges, pkying fields, and other
nins. \i<).—Bii-irky Markel-flaa
lllm. ilo. — IVi//' MarkeZ-platc. See /lliis. 295.
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OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 187
accessories, which by their proximity would add to the efficiency one
of another.
But even in districts, suburbs, parishes, and wards it is desirable
that there should be some centre. There should be some place
where the minor public buildings of the district may be grouped
and where a definite central effect on a minor scale may be produced.
The importance of this central point can hardly be exaggerated. It
will be wise, therefore, at a very early stage in our planning to select
suitable sites for the main and subsidiary centres, and as these are to
serve, not only as sites for the public buildings, but also to focus the
common life of the community, both these points of view must
influence our selection. To secure that they shall be genuine
centres where people will be likely to congregate, they must either
be themselves the focal points of the main traffic lines, or must
lie very near to these points, the latter in many ways being prefer-
able. We have seen that one focal point of trsiffic is likely to be at
or near the railway station, and that in the modern town the railway
station at which the majority of people will arrive and from which
they will depart seems to demand much the same emphasis that was
given to the ancient town gateways. . Considerations of fitness and
convenience, then, alike suggest that in front of the station there
should be an open space or place to give dignity to this main
entrance to the town and to afford space for the bustling traffic
which must congregate there, and in the planning of this place the
pedestrian should receive consideration. He should not, the moment
he emerges from the station, be in danger, whichever way he turns,
of being run over by road traffic. We see stations planned so that nius. 1 26,(7,
the front opens on to a busy street and other busy streets form the -^» and J.
flanks, so that whichever way the stranger turns on emerging, before
he has time to realise the direction which he ought to take, or to
get any grasp of the general lie of the town, he must rush across lllus. 117.
some crowded thoroughfare. Far better that the station should be
recessed in a place with no roads flanking it.
It is worth remembering when planning sites for stations, town
halls, or other buildings where people are likely to need to wait for
trains or appointments, that it would be a great boon if some open-
dr waiting-room were provided, some sheltered garden where the
waiting time could be passed in quietness amid pleasant surround-
ings, instead of in the noise of the rsulway station or the busde of
the busy business centre.
The station place should not usually be the central square of the
town, even where the railway station comes sufficiently near the
8
u in^^as^
A E> C
^
F
,. Piatta del Dtiama, Pisleja.
:. Dtmplatz, HtgtttsbuTg.
. S. Maria Novella, Florence,
>. S. Amtutaiata, Flortna,
}. Si. Petersburg, St. Nicholas Station.
B. S. Pieire in Vtiuali. Some.
F. 5. Barlalopteo all 'Isola, Some.
C. Srmtels, Cart du Nord.
. Afuniih, Central Station.
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 189
actual centre of the town area, though in this case probably the
central square should not be very far removed from the station, and
may be connected with it by broad and important thoroughfares or Fold Map
avenues. The noise of the railway and the necessary bustle of ^^/•
traffic would render the station place itself unsuitable to be
the main square or assembly-ground of the town ; and quieter sur-
roundings would also be better for the public buildings and Govern-
ment offices. In many cases the station will lie outside the town,
though it is probable that this will be less true of new towns than
of the old, the prejudice ag^nst railways which led to their being
kept outside so many towns having to a large extent died out ; and
the probable reduction in the future of both the noise and the smoke
arising from railways will tend still further to remove this prejudice.
Where, however, the station does lie outside the town, probably the
best arrangement will be to have again some main avenue leading
from the station direct to the central flace. It is certainly desirable
that some view of the central buildings of the town or district
should be obtainable by the stranger, and that the main framework
of the plan should be revealed to him as quickly as possible wh«i he
leaves the station, wherever it may be placed, so that he may easily
grasp the general lie of the town, and be able to find his way about
in it. The possibilities in this direction will, of course, depend very
much upon individual circumstances and on the size of the town or
district to be dealt with. In a large town there may be several
existing stations, and, therefore, several such focal points to be con-
sidered ; often there will be a probability of new stations being
required, and if so, suitable positions should be provided for them.
It should be within the power of the town to secure that any future
r^way falls in with such provision, and carries out its work in such
a way as to complete the arrangement intended.
In choosing, then, a suitable site for the main centre of our town or
district, in addition to its relation to the main entrance and traffic
lines we must consider that it is desirable that its buildings should
be well placed and as widely seen as possible. This would suggest
the choice of some hill-top, and undoubtedly it is often desirable to
choose the summit of some rising ground ; but neither the height nor
the steepness of the access must be too great, as in either case the
line of traffic will tend to be too much diverted from the central
position. A small rising ground in the centre of a valley is a position
well seen from the whole of the valley or basin. Sometimes the most
prominent position will be found part way up one of the slopes of
the valley. Where there exists a river front, harbour, or sea shore,
II
I
A. Piatui S. Marco, Vemct.
B. Piiaaa del Duame, Vtreta.
C. Piaua Er6t, Verona.
D. Piatta Signeria, Florcttti.
B. KarolineH Pla/i, Muiu/un.
F. Max Joseph Plat%, MHiuhen.
—Aslbury, Church and Vitlagt.
f/lus. liia.— lVallin^.
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 193
the attractiveness of this would suggest the advisability of putting lUui. 127a,
the central flact near or overlooking it. ^^V-
But the idea of the centre should not be confined even to centres of
districts, parishes, or wards. E^ach area should have its special
central feature or point of interest round which its plan should be
grouped, and up to which it should lead. At the point where
sevenU roads converge there should always be something of an open
space arranged, to give fteedom for circulation of traffic, and archi-
tectural effect to the various road- junctions. These points may
have to be con^dered munly with respect to the added convenience
tllut. \3ii.—A small ComUry Marktl-plact.
of traffic, and only secondarily as offering special sites for buildings.
In other cases settlements or groups of buildings having, for one
reason or another, some form of common life will suggest supple-
mentary centres — such groups, for example, as those formed by the
various co-operadvs building sodeties and the co-partnership tenants'
sodedes, or the settlements erected for the convenience of the
employees of pardcular Stories or workshops. Various markets
and exchanges also suggest central spaces in connection with them \
and harbours, docks, or landing-stages, in places where they are
avulable, require open spaces which the charm of water will generally
make spedaUy attractive. These places or central points may take
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 194
nius. 126, many difFerent forms according to the purpose to be served. We
127, 162, 163. £^j jjj qJj towns a wealth of suggestion : successful instances may
be seen of places of almost every conceivable shape, regular and
lllus. 1 28, irregular ; while the open greens of our English villages, the quad-
rangles of colleges, and the closes of cathedral towns will offer
lllus. 294, many varied suggestions for the treatment of centres suitable to the
295. difFerent requirements, as will also the charming little places which
lllus, 129, afford shady standing ground for the country women's stalls in so
I2P, and 131. many of the French towns and villages.
It must not be thought that any open space is a true place^ or that
because successful places are found of all kinds of irregular shapes
that therefore any shape will do. This is very far from being the
case.
Under the influence of Baron Haussmann and the engineer town
planners, although the word place was retained to designate the
spaces formed at the junctions of the many diagonal or radiating
roads used by them, the true idea of a place was quite lost in Paris.
It was not until Camillo Sitte drew attention to the artistic side of
town planning in his book " Der Stadtebau " that the true meaning
and importance of the place was realised. If we examine German
plans made befpre the spread of his influence, we shall find them
liius. 72. carrying on mainly the Haussmann tradition, and shall usually look
ll/us. 80. in vain for the true place.
Illus. 82A. Camillo Sitte devoted a large part of his volume to the examination
of places^ and to elucidating the principles of their design. He
holds, as does generally the modern school of town planners in
Germany, that the irregular places of the Middle Ages were definitely
designed on sound, artistic lines to produce the definite effects
aimed at, and were by no means the result of accidental growth. It
is likely that this theory is being pushed farther than the evidence
will support. There is, however, no doubt that in the Middle
Ages there was such a strong and widely prevalent tradition of the
right and wrong in building at any period, that the builders seem at
least to have been generally capable of seizing upon accidental
irregularities, and making something definitely fitting and beautiful
out of them ; so that unconscious growth and conscious design seem
to have been working towards much the same end, and probably it
is not possible to distinguish between them, nor is it necessary for
our purpose. It is enough if we can discover to what is due the
pleasing effect produced.
The place is the more modern form of the Greek agora and the
Roman forum. We have no English word exactly equivalent.
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 197
The English market-place was often a true place ^ but not always, iiius. 119,
The English word ** square/* besides limiting the shape to a regular '^°' '3S» 59-
form, denotes something often quite different. We must, therefore,
be content with the simple French word place ; it has the advantage
of being essentially the same word as the Italian piazza and the
German platz ; and if at present it does not convey a sufficiently
definite idea, perhaps it may be possible for us to pack more
meaning into it.
A placcy then, in the sense in which we wish to use the word, should
be an enclosed space. The sense of enclosure is essential to the
idea ; not the complete enclosure of a continuous ring of buildings,
like a quadrangle, for example ; but a general sense of enclosure
resulting from a fairly continuous frame of buildings, the breaks
in which are small in relative extent and not too obvious. If we
examine a series of ancient places^ we shall see that, whether from
accident or desigh, the entrances into them are usually so arranged nius. 131.
that they break the frame of buildings very little, if at all.
Plans of many such places are given, and if these are examined it
will be seen in how very few cases can any one entering a place by
one of the streets get any extended view out of it along another lUus, 140-
street. If this has been entirely the result of design, great ingenuity ^^^ 127 a-d.
has been displayed in some cases in contriving to mask the entrance
of the streets from many points.
If we compare the photographs of some of these places with the
plans, this will be more evident. A photograph of the Piazza lllm. 132.
£rbe at Verona reveals no break in the line of surrounding build-
ings, and yet if we examine the plan we shall find that no less than lilus. 137c.
eight different streets enter this place. In the north-west comer is
shown an instance of a not uncommon plan by which two roads
enter a place at the corner, in such a way that when looking across
the place no direct view down either street is open, but the buildings
at the corner — ^in this case the tower — block the view and complete
the frame.
In the Marien Platz at Munich also is shown an instance of several lHus, 133
roads entering near the end of the place without breaking the line ^^ ^^^^' *
of the buildings. In this case the result is attained by diverting the
course of the road immediately after its leaving the place. A similar
example may be seen in the old market-place at Dresden, where the ///us. 134
church tower, filling the angle of two streets entering at the corner ^^ ^2-
of the placfy completes the ring of buildings.
Even in the market-place at Nuremberg the same result is attained, ^^'J^
although in plan the enclosure of the place appears at first sight very Mc^ l.
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 198
lUus. 137 incomplete. If we contrast with this the modern Karolinen Platz
and 127E. at Munich, we shall see how entirely this sense of enclosure is lost
by the arrangement of large radiating streets, converging in such
a way that from almost all points the frame of the buildings is
completely broken, and the eye is led out of the place along the
street vistas of the different roads.
Illus. 138 In the Max Josef Platz in Munich, in the position from which the
<^fnd 127F. photograph is taken we see again the frame of the buildings entirely
broken by the long, straight road at the side of the Royal National
Theatre. It will be seen from the plan that the other angle of this
place is entirely closed. If this view is contrasted with the view of
Illus. 139. the market at Bad Kissengen, in which the Town Hall building
occupies a somewhat similar position, it will at once be noticed
how the course of the street brings into view the other buildings
along it, thus closing the vista.
This enclosure of a place is not only important because it gives a
sense of completeness and repose to the place itself, but also because
of the importance of providing a proper frame and background to
the public buildings ; and if we examine the various places^ plans of
which are given, we shall find that in nearly all cases the public
Illus. 128. buildings are not in the centre but on one side ; very often they are
actually attached to their surrounding buildings or are separated
///itf.i26A-F, from them by such narrow openings that when viewed across the
ilo-^rrf 6 f^^^^ ^^ S^P between them is not evident. Camillo Sitte quotes
the almost universal custom of the ancients to prove that buildings
are not seen to the best advantage when seen in isolation. Where
it is desired that several sides of a building shall be visible from a
distance, instead of placing it in the centre of a place^ places may be
arranged on its different faces with other buildings approaching or
connected at the corners, in such a way that they will form a sort of
frame for each view, and from no point will the building be com-
pletely detached and isolated in the pictures obtained of it. A good
Illus. 140. mstance of this arrangement may be seen at Ravenna, where places
Illus. 141. exist on the north and west sides of the cathedral ; at Salzburg,
nius. 143. where there are places on three sides of the cathedral ; and at Pisa,
where there are three irregular-shaped places on three sides of San
Stefano. In these instances it will be seen that although sufficient
space is afforded for a good view of the building to be obtained on
several sides, yet in no case is it seen isolated in the middle of an
open space or detached from its fitting framework.
It has become too much the custom to build our churches and other
public buildings in isolated positions on comparatively large sites.
Illiis. 132.— /iaiM Erl<t, Verona. For t
Illus. I2(f.—Nareriibcrs Markei-plaie. Sec Fold Map I.
lilus. 137. — Karelimn Platz, Muniih. Far plan see Illus. \^^Y,.
Ilhis. 138.— J/ojr fesifk Plali, Muniih. J-or flan
lllm. 139. — Bad Kiisengtn Marktl-plati
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 207
This is not the way to produce satisfactory pictures or to show the
buildings to the best advantage. In a picture so very much depends
on relation, surroundings, on the contrast of one part mth another,
and it is the same with street views. For one thing, size is not in
itself appreciated. It is only apprehended by its relation to some
known standard, by a comparison, or by contrast. It is not when
we are close to Chartres or Amiens or Beauvais that we realise their Itius. 123
i-^
i- #
Illus. l^.— Ravenna. Illus. Hi.— Salzburg.
U^m*^
lUui. 141. — Dnsdtn, Marktt-plaa.
Illus. 143.— /i'lfl.
impressiveness ; but it is when we obtain some view which shows
these cathedrals towering up above the surrounding houses, and
when we are enabled in some degree to measure them by their
relation to and contrast with these houses, that we realise the full
splendour of their dimensions.
In the pictures given of Augsburg and Regensburg it will be seen ^^'j'v.'^ .
how the smaller buildings give scale to the towers and churches "piece.
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 208
with which they are grouped. If we contrast these photos with the
Jllus. 146. one given of the cleared church at Ghent which now shows a build-
ing treated in the modern manner, the correctness of this view will,
I think, be apparent.
Undoubtedly the sense of enclosure in places was much more easily
attained in the old towns, particularly old Gothic towns, where the
streets were so narrow that a very slight divergence from a straight
line was sufficient to close the view. In the picture of the old
Jllus. 147. market-place at Stuttgart one has only to imagine two modern
50-feet streets replacing the two narrow ones leading out from the
end of the square, to realise how entirely they would oreak the frame
of buildings and destroy the sense of enclosure. But still, much
may be done even with modern streets ; and it is to be hoped that
the absurd restrictions which require all streets to be of a cert^n
minimum width, whatever their purpose, will be modified, and that
it will become possible again to make reasonable use of narrower
streets and passages for pedestrians which may enable us to form
our places with fewer large openings, while providing, by means of
smaller openings and archways, for ample convenience to foot
passengers.
It will be apparent from the examples given, many of which are
admittedly of great beauty, that definite rules for the size and pro-
portion of places cannot be laid down. They should bear some
relation to the size of the buildings likely to surround them. An
over-large place will tend to dwarf buildings. Sitte points out also
that tall buildings, narrow in proportion to their height, such as the
west ends of cathedrals, seem to require places deep in the dimen-
sion at right angles to their front ; while wide buildings of lesser
height, such as are many town halls, picture-galleries, and the north
and south fronts of cathedrals, seem, on the other hand, to show
Jllus. 140, best on places wide in the direction parallel to the building, and '
'"**• shallow in the direction at right angles to it. He also recommends
that places should not usually be square but rather oblong, the
length and the width bearing some definite proportion one to the
other. Usually the length should not be greater than three times
the width. Such rules, however, can at best only indicate one
method likely to prove successful. Proportion in town planning,
as in architecture, is a matter that cannot be reduced to figures,
but must be Judged of in each case according to the circumstances^
one of the difficulties of the town planner being that he must lay
out his streets and places often with very imperfect knowledge of what
will be the character and height of the buildings surroundmg them.
I4i.—--li'i'iiurff. S/. Ulrieb's Church from M.iuimlian Stra.
Far Illm. 145 see Fronlispieie.
///hi. 14J. —S/u/fgarl, Markei-ptace.
niiis. I4S.—Pia!ia S. Mano, Ven.
///hi. 149,— Pia::a S. Mano, FemVc. See lllus. 127A,
Illiii. li/^.— Paris, rtaii VcitiKme. For plan sie lllm. 163B.
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 215
For this reason probably it will be wise to follow fairly simple
straightforward lines in cases where he will have no means of
controlling the buildings ; for though many of the finest effects have
resulted from departure from the simplicity of regular lines, there
is undoubtedly a danger, if the town planner aims at effects depend-
ing on a too special treatment of certain sites and buildings, that he
may not only lose the effect he aimed at, but lose also the sense of
orderly design which it was within his power to reach. In
considering the question of regular and irregular treatment the
style of architecture must also be considered, and there can be no
doubt that as irregularity is a most marked characteristic of Gothic
times and towns, so Gothic architecture is the more adapted to give
successful groups on sites of irregular shapes. The truth of this
may almost be illustrated by the two ends of the Piazza San Marco iiius. 148.
in Venice. Looking towards the cathedral, few would notice, and lllus, 149.
none would be troubled by, the splayed side of the square, which
gives a wider and more picturesque view of the church itself ; but,
on the other hand, looking from the cathedral, the strongly marked
horizontal lines and form^ treatment of the square seem to empha-
sise the irregularity of its plan, which, if not a serious disadvantage,
cannot at least be felt to be any advantage to the buildings.
Before we pass on to consider the plannmg of modern placeSy let us
linger over the plan of the beautirul little town of Buttstedt, and iiius, 150.
seek to glean for ourselves from it and from the views given some
of the secrets of that beauty which led Camillo Sitte to believe
that the whole was carefully planned with a view to producing
the picturesque effects we see. The centre of the town consists
of a large, apparently shapeless, open space, in which stand
the Churw and the Rathaus. From this space the streets lead off
in various directions, and are linked together by a sort of Ring-
strasse, probably following the lines of some old town wall. The
town was at one time the centre of an important cattle market,
while a wide portion of the Ringstrasse appears from its name to
have been the site of a pot market. The emphasis in the design of
the central area of the town, and the way the whole leads up to this,
is very marked. This central open space stands on the top of a
hill, the ground falling away sharply on the west, gradually in other
directions. If we examine this central space more carefully, we shall
find that it is divided by the buildings into what forms practically
a group of three places^ irregularly shaped it is true, but, for the
purpose of the picturesque views of the buildings, well proportioned.
The tall and narrow east end of the church, with the tower rising
/
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 216
above it, is viewed from what Sitte would have described as a deep
narrow place, marked I. on the plan ; while the north-east end of
this forms a place of different proportion, more suited to the broad
end elevation of the Rathaus. The space marked IL serves as a
wide, shallow place, in the sense used by Sitte, for the long side eleva-
tions of both the Rathaus and the church ; while the space marked
III. on the plan affords a somewhat similar place, from which is
viewed advantageously the south elevation of the church. At first
sight these buildings appear to have been dropped casually into the
. ITO.— /Vo« vf fori af Ike loam of BiUUIttU. Tkit plat and tht JoOoainp eight
sielchei are made from illustratiens in " Der SlSdteiau, by kind fermissim e/SiHIor
and Publis/ur.
open space, but \i we look more closely we shall see that, although
a way is clear all round, they do not in fact stand isolated in the
centre of the place, but approach so nearly to the buildings at two
or three of their corners that from whichever direction they are
viewed the frame of buildings around them is unbroken. Except
for the Neuestrasse, a modem straight road from the railway
station, all the roads leading out of the square, in some cases
along slightly curved lines and in others opening out from points
entirely screened by the buildings, are so contrived that from no
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 217
point in the open space is the frame of the buildings broken or the
sense of enclosure disturbed. View A shows the church from the ilius. 151.
end of place No. i, and though seen in its most detached position,
it has nevertheless a complete background and frame of buildings
in which no gap is evident. View B shows the east front of the ilit^- isi-
Rathaus, with the fountain and its few acacia-trees in front, and
illustrates with View C how admirably a break in the direction of a ^■"'"- "S3-
street may prevent the isolation of a building. Instead of the
Briicktorstrasse being a continuation of the Obertorstrasse, there is a
definite break of line ; the opening into the Briicktorstrasse is
hidden by the Rathaus building and the end of the view is closed.
and the frame is completed by the buildings at the point D on the
plan. The small road leading to the north is at such an angle that
its opening is not seen tmtil actually reached, and from it another
view of the corner of the Rathaus would be obtained. From the
Sammelgasse also a perspective view of the Rathaus, mth the church
tower beyond, forms a group again closing the view. If the centre
is approached from the Brucktorstrasse, the west end of the Rathaus
fills the view, while a small enlargement at this point has the effect
of a small place facing this end of the building. From this point,
E, a very beautiful view of the northern side of the church is ///«*. 154.
shown, framed in by the corner of the Rathaus and the buildings
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 218
opponte, with the widening for the tiny place appearing in the
lUta. ijs for^ound. From the points F and G are obtained views of the
amdiit. pi^gg 11^ showing the interesting southern side of the Rathaus, with
Stattdfeint C on flan.
a row of small acacia-trees marking the line of the building and the
north side of the church, while the buildings beyond close the view
out of this long place. Approaching from the south-west, a charm-
ing flight of steps gives access to the central place, the buildings
clinging to this hillside, with the west end of the church and its
tower riMng on the crest, are particularly pleasing. See view H.
From the Kirchgassc the tower of the church rises as the central
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 219
feature of the street picture, while the whole of its south elevation
opens out as place No. III. is approached. See view J. Both Jllus. i
along Martctstrasse and the Obertorstrasse the street views end in
the Rathaus, while at various points along what we have called the
nhu. isy.—Bumttdl, VUwfifm Slattd/vint H on flan.
Ringstrasse, glimpses of the church tower are seen through
openings in the buildings, as in view K.
Whether this arrangement has been the result of conscious design
or the product of a more or less unconscious instinct, we must
admit the beauty of the effects produced and the success of the
whole. Here we have a little town consisting of the simplest and
9
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 220
plainest buildings in the main, and yet, owing to the splendid
placing of its two public buildings and to the arrangement of its
streets and places, the whole presents a degree of beauty and impres-
siveness quite astonishing ; and we may well ponder over the
details of this and many another such plan, and the features spring-
ing from them, and try to glean for ourselves the harvest of sugges-
tion and guidance which they afford in the art of town planning,
which though so old is in reality to us a new art to-day, the prin-
ciples of which we have to re-leam for ourselves from the work of
other times and other lands.
For a fuller account of this little town, with further illustrations, the
reader is referred to the December, 1908, number of that admirable
periodical Der Siadtebou, which well sustains the distinction of
being, I believe, the only periodical in the world devoted entirely
to town planning. To the kindness of the editor and publisher I
am indebted for this and much other information, as well as for
many illustrations used in this book.
The effect of enclosure in a place is so important that many
methods have been suggested for obtaining some considerable
degree of enclosure, even with the modern wide streets. In some
nius. 126F, cases the place may be formed entirely on one or both sides of a
i6o£, 1635. ij^jj thoroughfare having no outlets in the recessed portion of the
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 221
place other than those of quite minor size, such as footways ;
and where there exists anything of a market in the old-fashioned
sense, or where public buildir^, such as the town hall, which
numerous people must frequent, can be so situated as to keep
the place well used, such a plan would be in many ways a good
one ; if the stream of traffic does not pass through it, there
is always a danger that some other point will become the natural
centre and the place itself become deserted and deteriorate in
character.
Furthermore there are ways of securing a sufficient background
for the buildings and a sense of enclosure in a fairly large place
if the roads are so arranged that from the main points where people
would stand to view groups of public buildings, they do not
afford direct vistas. The roads may pass out of the square at right
angles to the line of vision, or if along the line of vision, their
direction may be diverted sufficiently early for the vista to be
closed with other groups of buildings. In this way it may be
possible to make a place in the traffic centre where it will be
most constantly used, without sacrificing the frame and background
required for the public buildings. Also it may be arranged
that these same public buildings form terminal features along
some of the main roads converging towards the centre of the
town.
Enclosure, however, is not the only desirable effect to be produced.
Professor Lethaby has pointed out in one of his lectures how
carefully the view of the sea has been guarded in Constantinople.
The views out of a town into the country beyond have always
a special charm, and it may be well worth while to secure these
distant views of sea and mountain, and even to bring into the
heart of the town glimpses of sunset glory, where openings to
the west can be secured.
One finds very charming little pictures at times at the ends of
such long vistas. There is one from the Square at Lisieux.
Indeed, these long vistas seem to have a special charm for the
French people as they are commonly to be found in French towns.
They are none the less pleasing to the eye because their effect
cannot be conveyed in a photograph, where, as a rule, the distant
vista fades away into vagueness. In like manner the return
view along these open roads may be so arranged as to give those
approaching the town a distant glimpse of its public buildings.
One simple form of place may be made at the junction of four
streets by breaking the line of direction, the result being that the
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 222
view down each street is closed and a figure resembling a turbine is
produced ; or the roads may be brought in at the comers of
the place in such a way that, while giving plenty of space for
the turning of traffic, the buildings will close the view.
l:[
IUhi. i6a.—Placts
Camillo SiUi.
The new market at Vienna aflfords an example of the way in which
r. i6oZ>. the streets can be brought into a modem place without unduly
breaking the Irame of the buildings; wbUe illustrations 160A,
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 223
160B, and 160E, taken from Camillo SitCe's book, show how these
principles may be applied to regularly shajwd places and groups of
places. In each of these examples it will be noticed how places
Ilhu. 161.— 7to# ailtmativt proposals /&r tnatatg tkt Miauter Phtix at Ulm%
are formed to aiFord views of the different sides of the chief
buildings and how the picture is made to develop itself in the
ft>V) CmZBAL DE LA ft-iUC IK XitSaOTXi A TilBn KH.fl TOUTU ics Depcndahccs.
. l(>3.~0rigitiai design far tht Plact <U la Cotutirdt and the Plate dt la MadeUine,
made by tkt archileci Gabriel abaui the year 1753,
main on concave lines. It is an important point to remember that,
owing to the nature of vision, a group of buildings taking generally
a concave line is likely to be more pleasing than one taking the
"TOEiTw ;:2
Ilka. i63>
A. Plac» A Im //alien, Parit. D. Plaet dt FSbi&.
B. Plaa VtndSmt, JParii. M. Leuort aid Plaet it la Cmcord*, Paris.
C. Plat* 4$ la MaAUtu. F. VtlmUnU Plait, fitmia.
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 225
convex line; and that where, as in illustration 160B, the building
must for some reason stand detached, projecting forward into the
main place^ it is a matter of great importance to link it up by
means of arcades, or in some other way, so as to give it a frame
and connection with the other buildings.
There is another type of place which is more of the nature of
a forecourt to a building. The Fizzzsl in front of St. Peter's
in Rome is a well-known example ; and in the laying out of
Vienna, a place on somewhat similar lines was arranged in front lUus. 163F.
of one of the churches, an illustration of which is given.
There is a fine group of regulzr places at Nancy, some views of which ^A»x. 4J-45-
are given. In some parts a general sense of enclosure is secured, in
others it is somewhat markedly wanting, although the elaborate iron
gates and arcades which fill some of the open sides and corners so
some way towards completing the picture, and are helped by the
background of foliage.
CamUlo Sitte was very emphatic in his opinion that the centres
of places should be kept free from statues and monuments, and
that these should be placed at the sides or in the corners, as in
the Roman Forum or in the Forum of Pompeii. Many charming nitts. 36 ami
Eictures of old street fountains and drinking troughs might ^7*
e given showing how these will fall into the picture when not lUus.yii
too much isolated. When statues are in the middle of busy "^ '*^5^
roads they cannot be seen with comfort or safety and their effect
is lost in the traffic.
Here, again, no definite rule can be Idd down ; there occur central
points which one feels instinctively need to be marked and nius. 149a
emphasised, and there occur other spaces where it seems of equal s€mdD\
importance to avoid anything that would break up the simplicity nius. 164.
of the space itself.
The plan of the town square at Letchworth may perhaps serve lUus. 165
to illustrate some of these points, though it was planned before '^^^yfj^
the writer had the good fortune to come across Camillo Sitters
book. Here it will be seen that the square is the <;entre into
which many roads converge from different parts of the town ; and
along several of these roads, particularly those to the east and
west, views of the distant country ^11 permanently remain open.
A wide main avenue leads from the station to the Town Square
and commands directly a view of the fagade of the Municipal
Buildings, these being the most important buildings dominating the
square. It is intended that the roads on each side of them shall be
partially closed by an arcade, while in any case they extend but
326
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 227
a short distance before they diverge, and groups of buildings
will close the vista and form a background for the Munici^
Buildings themselves. The fa^^es of the buildings on each side
will also be in full view, up to the point where we see instead
the ends of the square, so that a ^r sense of enclosure in these two
corners will be obtained. The roads branching otF east and west
from the front of the Municipal Buildings are placed at such
an angle that a perspective view of the bufldings will be obtained
along them. The curves of Eastcheap and Westcheap will have
somewhat the same effect in giving background and frame to
Illm. 165. — Tevn Sqtiart at LttektwrlA.
the buildings on the north side of the square. On the south ude
of the Municipal Buildings it was intended to place the central
church of the town, and views of this building were secured from
east, west, and south, also from south-west and south-east, the
south fa^e of the church being intended to be the m^n one ;
while the church itself was intended to form the south side of
a smaller quadrangle of which the Municipal Buildings would form
the other three sides.
With roads 40 or 50 feet wide, or even wider, as main roads
in a modern town must usually be, unless the place is of considerable
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 228
extent, it is very difficult to secure much sense of enclosure,
particularly when, as in the instance just referred to, it is to be made
m any sense a centre to the framework of roads, and all that will
be possible in some cases will be to secure closed and completed
street pictures from each of the roads leading into the flace^ or
to secure definite sense of enclosure at one end or in certain
corners.
Ilius. 166. The treatment of the central place in the Hampstead Garden
lUus. 167. Suburb may perhaps be taken as afFonUng a contrast to that at
Fold Map Letchworth just described. Here the arrangement is on four-
^^' square lines, to suit Mr. Lutyens*s fine Renaissance design for the
whole of the buildings round this group of places. The two main
approaches from the south and from the north lead up to enclosed
places^ the view being terminated by the north and south sides,
respectively, of the church and the chapel. Between these two
places is laid out a large open space or green, the western side being
kept quite open, and the slope in the foreground planted as an
orchard ; while on the east a row of buildings with an institute in the
centre overlooks this green. It is proposed to attach the vicarage,
halls, and Sunday schools to the churdi and chapel to complete to some
extent the enclosure on three sides of this larger place. The whole is
situated on the flat top of rising ground, and the treatment has
been adopted in order to combine a sense of enclosure in the places
with a sense of space and openness in the green ; and while securing
background and frame to the main views of the chief buildings, to
secure something of the wide outlook over the surrounding country
which the rising ground aflFords. Particularly has the view of
Hampstead Heath been kept open, and the view from it up into
the central square. The roads entering from the east side lead up
to the east end of the church, which will form the terminal feature
of the street picture here also.
lUms. 168. A subsidiary centre in the Hampstead Suburb has been formed
by means of an irregularly shaped green, round which some of the
smaller public buildings will be grouped.
Other examples of small subsidiary centres are aflForded by the
nius. 169. plans of the Ealing Tenants' Estate and that of the Anchor
Ittus. 170. Tenants at Leicester. In the former case a wide avenue is made
to serve as the central feature ; one or two public buildings arc
arranged at points where the cross roads lead into tlus, and the
avenue is l^d out in such a way as to afford space for seats and
wide, shady promenades.
In the latter case a small square is arranged as the centre, and
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 230
here it is intended to build the institute, school, place of worship,
and co-operative store, which are likely to be required by the
community. In this scheme the necessity, for drainage purposes,
of arranging one of the roads to follow pretty closely the contour
lines of the undulating surface has been taken advantage of to
bring two of the roads into the square diagonally, so that the
Illtu. 16S. — Hampsttad GareUn Suiuri. Suiiidiaty Centre.
views along them may be closed by the side of the square opposite
them.
In the plan of Earswick, near York, a green, large enough to
serve as a playing field and recreation ground, was taken as
the most fit central feature for the village, and where the main
road runs alongside of this green it is intended to arrange for
a few shops, and for the grouping of the public buildings.
i
I
1
I
ll
4
ft
ii}
I
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 232
It is by no means easy to secure the proper development of
centres ; where an estate or district develops slowly there will
always be some tendency for those interested in the various
semi-puljlic buildings, such as places of worship, shops, &c., to
lUus* 17a — Leicester Anchor Tenants' Estate, Plan shewing part of the estate with the
village centre,
take short-sighted views of the future development, and to insist
on placing these buildings on sites adjacent to the first groups
of houses built, so that it may easily happen that only to a
limited extent can the centre be developed in the way .originally
intended. Nevertheless, it is well that the centre should be fixed
lUus. lyi.^PUm of Eanwick^ near York, beifig built by Tis fostph RowtUru VUiagt
Trust.
t33
OF CENTRES AND ENCLOSED PLACES 234
and form the main feature of the plan. It is probable that in
the full development of the scheme other public buildings whose
requirement was not foreseen may help to fill up the centre,
and as the public become somewhat accustomed to the use of
foresight in the laying out of towns and suburbs, they will the
more readily come to acquiesce in the placing of their public
builcUngs on these pre-arranged central spaces.
VII.— OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS,
THEIR TREATMENT AND PLANTING
ROADS are primarily highways for traffic. They serve also \/
a secondary purpose in affording sites for buildings. ^
They should therefore be considered in relation to both
these functions, and in the order of their relative importance. For
the roads in a town to satisfy properly their primary function >^ y
of highways, they must be so designed as to provide generally
for easy access from any point in the town to any other. But they
should provide, in addition, special facilities for the ebb and flow of
particular tides of traffic, such as that from the outskirts to the
centre and back again which d^ly takes place in most large cities, v^ ^
or that across the town from a residential district to a quarter
occupied by works, factories, or other places of employment, or
to important rdlway stations, harbours, and other centres of
industry.
A general scheme of roads may be based on various theoretical lUus. 37 and
figures ; the most common is that representing a trellis, in which ^3-
streets run in two directions only, crossing one another at
right angles, and dividing the town into building lots, square or
oblong in shape. This arrangement, while it is convenient and
economical for the bmlding blocks, is open to serious objections ; it
does not provide convenient roads for passing to and from the centre,
and, except when going in two directions, all traffic must travel
along two sides of a triangle to get from point to point. In
addition to this, the arrangement produces a monotonous effect;
the street pictures are not closed, and the vistas wander off in
an indefinite, vanishing perspective, often devoid of interest or
variety.
In many of the more modern systems the objection to the trellis
arrangement of the roads is to soi|ie extent being met by intro-
dudng diagonal streets to accommodate the traffic to and from the Ilius. 68 and
centre of the town; the result produced, however, is not entirely '°'
happy. The shapes of the plots, spaces, and road junctions which
are created by these radiating streets crossing the square net-
work of roads, are not such as to produce satisfactory buildings,
or beautiful open spaces.
If we examine the plans of old towns which have grown up
more naturally, we find that to a very large extent they consist
of main arteries branching out from the nucleus of the town
in different directions — forming, in fact, an irregular radiating
system ; we find, further, that there has been a general tendency Ilius. 8.
for cross roads to grow out from these main roads, approximately
10 335
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 236
at right angles, and that these have in many cases been diverted or
curved round to meet others ; and that in the end a very irregular
network of streets has grown up, the outline of which would be
IHtu, 172. more nearly represented by a spider's web than by any other figure.
lilits. 8. This resemblance is distinctly traceable in the plan of Moscow ; and
in many other town plans, although the theoretical figure of the web
is less noticeable, it will be found that the more rectangular arrange-
ment, which may have been characteristic of the original nucleus,
has been departed from in such a way as to give much the same
convenience for traffic that the spider-web form would have given ;
for complete convenience, however, there are needed, in addition
/Mm. 47.
See ZJm^
Sirasst.
B«^'Of»a
lUui. \ii.—Tluorttiaii wtb-skaped flaMfw
a tetDH, iHuiifud/rom an ideal itrntfitm
bf R»Umd Ltoirhyt, Parii, 1770.
to the roads following the spider>web lines, others crossing the
town and linking up pcnnCi oetween which there is likely to be
considerable traffic.
In the designing of a new ares, while such theoretical conndera-
tions will be helpfiil, it will, nevertheless, be necessary to lay down
the mun lines of traffic mth special r^ard to the existing drcum-
stances of each case ; particularly will this be so when doUing with
the extension of an existing town ; and it will only be in the rare
instances in which new towns have to be laid out on ground the
nature of which leaves furly free ch<Hce to the designer that
anything like a close approximation to a theoretic figure will be
likely to be attained.
In laying down a main framework for our network of roads, while
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 237
the nature of the ground will usually introduce much irregularity of
form, I cannot but think that some sufficiently simple and largely
conceived design of main roads and central places^ to give the plan
a character of its own is desirable. This framework must be of
such a size as adequately to introduce a sense of scale and of the
due proportioning and relation of the parts, and to make of the
whole something of a true design.
Such framework once designed, the exact symmetry or regularity
of it is a matter of secondary importance, often of no importance
at all ; for while the regularity and symmetry of cert^n points may
be vital to the production of the desired effect, the eye can never
see more than a small portion of the area at once, and cannot ju(%e
either distances or angles over a large area, so that considerable
departures from the regular figure may be made without their being
apparent except on the paper plan.
Except in cases where it is desirable to keep open distant views,
straight roads indefinitely prolonged without change of direction or
deviation of line are not only monotonous and destructive of
satisfactory street pictures, but when running parallel to the direc-
tion in which high winds are liable to blow, are objectionable as
developing their force to the utmost and creating a maximum
of dust Along these main roads a change of direction or a break
in line must be managed in such a manner as not seriously to impede
traffic. The electric tram, street railway, and motor-car all require
that abrupt changes of direction or sharp curves should be avoided.
In very large towns where the traffic in the streets is considerable
and the marshalling of it becomes a problem, the necessity arises
for small places at the junctions of roads, purely for the purpose
of giving ample space for its circulation. The traffic problem
is a complicated one, and there is a rather marked difference
of opinion between the German and French schools as to the
best way of dealing with it. Camillo Sitte, who may be
taken to represent the German school, shows by diagrams the ///m. 173.
possible collision points in different forms of road junctions, and
how these increase in number to a remarkable degree with every
additional street joining in at the point ; from which he argues
that to bring each street singly into another produces the minimum
number of collision points, and is, therefore, the best for traffic, and
that the junction of more than four streets at one point must
necessarily be very dangerous and undesirable.
Herr Stiibben shows, however, that some of the diagrams, which
have been used to prove the relatively small number of collision
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 338
points with two single road junctions as opposed to one junction
where four roads meet at right angles, are incorrect, owing to
the fact that at each single junction the vehicles entering from
the side street into the one running at right angles are alone
taken account of, whereas there should be a second line of figures
to represent those which purpose to cross from one side street into
the other. A reference to the illustrations will make this clear. ^\
German town planners now constantly break the direction of thdr
cross roads as shown in Illus. 174^ partly in order to secure this
iro^ined immunity from collision, but also to secure the closing of
the street vistas. In Illus. 1 74(3 the view up the two cross streets is
indefinitely prolonged, while in lUus. 174^ the view is in each case
definitely closed by the buildings opposite ; moreover (Illus. I74f),
the arrangement ^ords an opportunity for creating a small place
with one of its angles closed, and the view into it from two of
the streets, a closed view. There is, however, much to be sud
in favour of the theory upon which the French school of town
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 239
planners have acted, that it is in every way advantageous for
traffic that a number of streets should meet at one point, and that
ample provision should here be made for its circulation. Where
the traffic is sufficiently dense to be necessarily controlled by a
police officer it would seem wise to reduce the number of points
requiring this control, and wherever the traffic is sufficiently dense
for Camillo Sitte's collision points to represent even approximately
the truth, it will also be dense enough to require police regulation.
On the other hand, in cases where the traffic is comparatively sparse,
the chances of collision would be but slightly greater at a point
where many roads meet than at the point where one road joins another.
Danger arises, and delay is caused to traffic, by every change of
direction of the vehicle, and it is obviously simpler, and less likely to
cause confusion, to drive straight across a main street, when the con-
dition of the traffic will allow it, than to drive into the street, take a
turn, go along the street some distance, take another turn and go
out of it ; particularly is this the case with such vehicles as motor-
cars and electric trams, any turn of which, especially at right
angles, always causes difficulty and danger.
The great fallacy of diagrams in such a case as this arises, however,
from the fact that the human element is not represented by them.
They may show theoretically the number of collision points for
machines moving at r^ular paces, vnth some approach to accuracy ;
but it is impossible to compare diagrammatically the danger ari^ng
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 240
at one multiple road junction, where the risk is sufficient to cause
every driver to move cautiously, with that at several single road
junctions, at each of which, though there is an element of risk, it
will not be sufficient to suggest the necessity for special caution.
I am inclined to think, therefore, that from considerations of traffic,
the German system, if we may call it so, as put by Camillo Sitte, can
by no means be accepted as the whole truth. It perhaps most
lUms, 175.— J?«Af jwuHon for the circulation 9/ troMc as tugguied fy M, £tijghu Hinard
and published by his hiud permission,
nearly approaches to the truth when chiefly horse traffic is con-
cerned, and when that traffic reaches the greatest degree of density
which can be left to regulate itself without police supervision.
Where traffic is sparse, to be constantly pulled up and made to turn
sharply at right angles must be an inconvenience ; and to be able
to drive without interruption to a main point, from which roads can
be taken in many directions, must help the rapid distribution of
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 241
carriages. Monsieur Eugene Henard, in ** Etudes sur les Trans-
formations de Paris," suggests that for really busy centres, where
many roads converge, the most convenient arrangement is to have
a round space with the traffic circulating in one direction. Vehicles
coming from any one road can fall in with the line of traffic, circu-
late with it, and fall out again when they reach whichever of the
other roads they wish to pass down. With a view to assisting
pedestrians to cross such a circulating space, M. Henard suggests that lilus» 175.
subways should be provided from all the footpaths leading to a
space in the centre where the passengers in like manner could sort
themselves and depart along the subway to whichever of the streets
they might wish to reach. This would not, of course, prevent their
crossing above ground when the condition of road traffic would allow.
The Place de 1 Etoile, in Paris, may serve as a good instance of this lilus, 163A
arrangement, and here the Arc de Triomphe forms a central feature* '^^'
Probably such central feature, to be entirely satisfactory, should be
in the form of an obelisk or circular building, so that it might look lllus. 179.
its best from whatever point of view it might be seen, and so that it
would form a fitting terminal feature to all the streets leading up to
the open space. Of course no sense of enclosure can be secured in
a place of this character, and some care is required to produce any-
thing like a satisfactory effisct in the buildings themselves, so that
one would regard it as an undesirable form of place except in cases ///«^- 137
where traffic considerations must be the all-important ones.
It is very needful that at all street junctions there shall be such a
degree of openness, as will enable the traffic in one street to be early
perceived by the drivers of vehicles coming along another. This
may be secured by setting back the corner buildings and by the
formation of small places at these points. We had, however, better
leave the consideration of this until we come to deal with the second
function of roads.
For our most important and busiest highways we may well take a
hint from the main railway lines, where central tracks are provided
for the through expresses, and outside tracks for the slow stopping
trains. This system has been largely adopted in continental cities,
where on the main roads and boulevards multiple tracks have been
provided. Through traffic in such a system is not impeded by
vehicles stopping, turning, entering, or leaving the track, only by
those which have to pass right across it ; and the number of points
at which these crossings can take place may be restricted. In many
of these roads special tracks are provided for tramways, for riding, Illus. vjt
and for cycling, in addition to those for the ordinary fast and slow ^'^ '7«».
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 242
traffic of vehicles. With such an arrangement a great improvement
is possible in the position of the tram lines ; these can be so planned
that the trams pass along the side of the footway, so that people
boarding or leaving the cars do so in safety. It is our English
custom to run our trams in the centre of a wide roadway, and the
poor pedestrian has to make a dash, at the risk of his life, through
all the traffic of the street before he can reach the car.
In the case of cars driven by electricity or motor power it has been
found possible, both in America and on the Continent, to run the
trams along a belt of grass, with a footway on each side, and thus
the tramway becomes a street decoration, introducing a wide grass
margin. These wide streets or boulevards are further decorated
Ilbu. \y6.—DtsigHs far Broadmty, Garden City, iMehxoBrik.
with avenues of trees, and are favourite promenading grounds in
the evening, when the amount of traffic is reduced. Such roads,
however, are costly, bpth in the amount of land required for them
and in the construction and maintenance of the numerous tracks,
and, while roads of this form are desirable and their expense justified
for main thoroughfares in large towns, they must not be recklessly
adopted. Continental cities are undoubtedly, in many cases, suffer-
ing severely from needless extravagance in the laying out of roads
of^much greater width than the requirements justified. This has
had the effect of increasing greatly the return necessary to be
obtained from the land, and has consequently intensified a tendency,
already sufficiently strong, to crowd too many buildings upon the
land, and to carry these buildings too high.
Jllus. I76ff. — Some examples of German multiple track roads.
243
Jllus. 177'
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 244
Much greater variation in the width and character of roads is
desirable than it has been usual to provide for in England ; in
fact, it is only in comparatively few English town bye-laws that
provision is made for the municipality to be able to secure any
variation at all in the widths of the streets ; usually a minimum
width is fixed which applies in all cases.
The question of building roads will be referred to later, but even
for roads for which traffic considerations may be regarded as the
most important, very great variation in widths should be provided
for, and roads of different types and characters arranged. It will
Illus, 177. — Sections showing the great variety of widths of roads used in Germany. The
figures give the dimensions in metres.
be seen from the illustrations given what great varieties of width are
used in German towns.
Roads, however, in addition to being avenues for traffic, serve the
only less important function of providing sites and frontages for
buildings, and it does not always follow tlut the form of road and
road junction which would be the most convenient for traffic would
necessarily afford the best sites for buildings, or provide the most
beautiful grouping of these when erected ; it will therefore be neces-
sary in some cases to concede something from one point of view or
another, in one case sacrificing the beauty of the buildings for the
greater convenience of the traffic and in another sacrificing a little
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 245
of the directness of the traffic lines for the purpose of securing the
more beautiful grouping of the buildings.
Much of the picturesqueness of old Gothic towns springs from the
narrowness of the streets. Not only does this narrowness give the
sense of completeness and enclosure to the pictures in the streets
themselves, but it is much easier with such narrow streets to pro-
duce the effect of enclosure in a place into which they may lead.
Where roads are mde and bounded by small btuldings, the deiinite
street effect is apt to be lost altc%ether, the relation between the
two sides is not sufficiently grasped, and on such roads some quite
B
different effects may need to be worked oat, if they are to be
sucocMful. There seems to be no retsoo why a certain number of
narrower stretis and pass^es could not be oscfiilly provided, even
in modem towns, to give access to buildings c^ a character for
«4iich it is not necessary to secure a large amount of open space.
We have seen in speaking of places and squares how important to
the effect is a sense of enclosure, the completion of the frame of
buildings ; and much the tame applies to street pictures.
When conndering the buildings therefore, in order to secure a
ftaxXy frequent completion of the street picture, we shall de^re to
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 246
close from time to time the vista along the street ; this result is
secured by a break in the line of the street ; or by a change of
direction, or curve, either of which has the effect of bringing
into view at the end of the street some of the buildings on the
concave side.
It is upon the treatment of street junctions that much of the effect
of the town will depend. Having once secured sufficiently easy
lines for the traffic, and an adequate degree of openness of view
about the junction, we may turn our attention mainly to producing
a satisfactory grouping of the buildings. Where streets cross at
right angles, and it is desired to close the vistas along one of
lilus.ijZ, the streets, a simple arrangement is that shown in Illus. 178 a,
where the small open place allows the traffic on the cross street
X, y to take an easy sweep. Where it is desirable to close
the view along all four of the roads the plan shown in Illus. 17 8b
may be adopted. In this case the picture seen from each of the
four streets is terminated by the building opposite the end of it ;
not only so, but from the buildings on four sites an o[)en view
straight down one of the roads is obtained, and they would there-
fore be specially attractive for residential purposes, and also for
business purposes where prominent position is desirable. A modi-
fication of this arrangement is shown in Illus. 178c, where th^ place
formed by the junction is slightly enlarged so that an earlier view
is obtdned of vehicles entering from any direction, and a more
complete frame is secured for the view down each street from the
place itself. The same modification can, of course, be applied to the
arrangement shown in Illus. 1 7 8 a (see Illus. 1 7 8 d ). Roads, however,
will not always meet at right angles. Sometimes three roads are
required to meet at a point. A useful, symmetrical junction can
be arranged in this case, treated in several ways, so as to secure a
terminal to the street picture, while the obtuse angle affords easy
lines for the traffic in all directions (see Illus. 181A and 18 ib).
Illus. 182. Where two roads join at an acute angle it may be possible to
Illus. 183. create a quite effective, irregularly-shaped place giving enclosed
street pictures in many directions, while affording sufficiently easy
lines for traffic (see Illus. 1 8 1 c and 1 8 1 d).
Illus. 184. Where streets cross at an acute angle, a long enclosed place may be
formed by bringing two of the streets with a curve into the place ^ as
shown in Illus. 1 84 ; or the crossing may be treated symmetrically ;
if it is not important to close the street pictures, this may be done as
Illus. 185. shown in Illus. 185. If, however, terminals are needed to the street
Illus. 186. views, their lines may be made to converge on the buildings as
-, skewing closing of the v
iSo.— £fl Em Soufflol, Pari'
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 249
shown in Illus. 186. Indeed, when once attention is given to the
subject, there are very many ways in which street junctions can be
treated, either to secure open vistas or closed-in pictures, as may in
each case be most desirable. Some examples, showing how build-
ings have been treated at the corners formed by the junction of Ulus. 16a,
roads meeting at various angles will be found in the illustra- ifAfly*"!^
tions. Many small, irregular places and street junctions, from 188,19(^195,
which most picturesque results have sprung, will be found on ^^^^^
examining the plans given of old Gothic towns. LandL^
B
It may be interesting to compare some irregular street junctions,
such as are bang very widely used in modern German town plans,
with more regular plans so arranged as to secure a similar sense of liOu. 187.
enclosure. At first sight some of these irregular shapes seem to
have no purpose or meaning, but a closer examination of them will
show that they are cunningly devised to give enclosed vievre and to
render possible the erection of irregularly picturesque groups of
buildings. See Illus. 187, where the regular plans are placed under
the irregular ones.
Sitte and some of the German town planners, in advocating the use
of curved streets, have perhaps not done quite justice to the advan-
ia.—Skteti 9f a raadpmctwit limiJar It i8i D.
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 252
tages which attach to the straight street. These adyantages shortly
stated are : directness of access from point to point ; convenience
and economy in the arrangement and laying of tram lines, &c. ;
lUus. i8o. the symmetry and simplicity of the character of the street picture
produced ; the convenience of rectangular buildings and building
nius. 188. sites ; the production of long vistas, which, where they can be ter-
minated by a suitable bmlding or view, have great charm ; or where
trees are planted, the avenue dFect is in itself a delightful one.
The chief disadvantage of the strught street, on the other hand, is a
tendency to monotony, due to the hjct that the street picture remains
much the same for its whole length ; and that, except in the immediate
foreground or in the terminal feature, the acute perspective at which
the buildings are seen tends to destroy any interest which they
might have ; this disadvantage may to some extent be met by a
judicious breaking of the building line. It will be seen by referring
to photographs of any straight street, such as the Rue Soufflot in
Paris, given in lUus. 1 80, tl^t the cross streets, which form breaks
in the line of buildings, have the effect of bringing into the picture,
in exchange for the portion of the vanishing perspective which is
®
®
IBus. 1S7. — Shttch6s ef variaus road jtmetiem. Nat. \ to j shea imgvlar Jiautitns at
found OH many modem German toaiM flaru. Nes. lA la 7A shoiB more r^vlar ^rpes
of road Juncfimt securing muck tht Sam* result in tht tm^ if closod strut vitmi.
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 254
displaced by the street, part of the side elevation of the building,
which is nearly square with the line of vision, and adds interest to
the view. Where the purpose of the buildings will allow of such
treatment, it is possible, by judicious variation of the building line,
nitis. 190. to build up a street picture in a straight street, in which a long
vanishing perspective is very largely replaced by portions of the
Illus. 191. sides of buildings seen in front elevation, and in this way quite
picturesque street effects may be arrived at.
The setting back of some of the individual buildings in a street not
only has the effect of breaking up the monotonous row, but affords
an opportunity for the creation of forecourts to some of the build-
ings, which, when suitably treated, are very charming in themselves,
Illus. 193 and are a means of introducing foliage and flowers into the picture.
and 202. Where in a straight street there is no interesting terminal feature to
lead up to, it is especially desirable in this way to introduce interest
and variety into the foreground. Where the street picture is closed
by some terminal feature of special beauty and interest, a more
simple and monotonous treatment may be permitted, and will even
serve to enhance the effect by contrast with the more ornate centre.
Illus. 180. The breaking of the building line and the creation of forecourts
must be done with much restraint and judgment, if the result is to
be successful. The quiet monotony or the straight front may easily
be replaced by a restless monotony of alternate buildings and gaps ;
or the street line may go to pieces and a sense of mere disorder be
produced, if suitable proportion is not maintained between the parts
built up to the strpet line and the parts set back.
M. Henard, in " Etudes sur les Transformations de Paris,** already
referred to, gives some ingenious and suggestive designs for breaking
up the street lines, giving greater frontage to the buildings and
more extended outlook from the windows. But, as shown in his
diagrams, the frequent repetition of equal buildings and spaces
would hardly lessen the monotony and might destroy that sense of
dignity and repose which often redeems a straight, uninteresting
street from meanness.
Illus. 193 It is as an occasional contrast to the street lines that breaks or fore-
and 702. courts are so welcome. The fine old tree breaking out into the
otherwise treeless street view produces a very different effect from
that which would result from a regular alternation of trees and
buildings.
Straight streets, as used in Paris, not only form fitting frames for
the views of monumental buildings, but they extend the effect of
such buildings over a far wider area than would otherwise be in-
— Rue dt Riveli, Paris.
iia, showins; tht imfirmied Untl ficlin-t
the biiildUig line.
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 259
fluenced by them, so that the streets 6f whole districts seem to film. 149a,
acquire dignity from the monument which is seen at the end of '88,ai»rfi89.
them. A straight street leading up to a terminal feature, if a
simple and obvious arrangement, nevertheless often produces a very
pleasing effect. It is somewhat stiff and formal in character, no
doubt, but it is at least safe. It is generally possible in planning
such a street to secure with some certwnty the placing of a reason-
ably symmetrical building at the end of it ; whereas if a more
irregular, picturesque effect is amed at, it may be entirely frustrated,
should the buildings not be carried out in a suitable manner. The ■/'''«. 194.
buildings closing a street picture may take many irregular forms and
lUtu. igi. — Plan Olid ske/ch ef strut shaaing ait tnt tide the mUttteretling vanishing ftr-
speclivt of tht vnbrehen Imilding lint, and on tht elhtr the mare pietunsqiu nsuit
yet look quite satisfactory, as will be gathered from the illustrations ; //&«■. 195.
but there is distinct risk if, owing to a curve in a street, the end of
the picture is crossed by the lines of a row of buildings having little Jilus. 196.
Grouping in their design or little distinction in their character. IHus. 198.
am indined to think, therefore, in spite of the general absence of llims. 197.
straight streets in medieval towns, and in spite of their tendency to
fornulity, stiffness, and monotony, that they have both use and
beauty of their own, and that they may with advantage be freely
used by the modern town planner. After all, when one wishes to
go from one p(nnt to another, the obvious course is to take a
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 260
straight line, where the contour of the ground or other cause does
not suggest doing otherwise.
But one must equally admit the special usefulness of curved roads ;
the great advantage to traffic of changing direction by means of
curves instead of abrupt angles, the ease with which curved roads
can be adapted to the contours of the ground, made to link up
existing tracks, or to avoid obstacles or features of interest, which it
may be desirable to preserve. Furthermore, the curved road affords
to those passing along it an ever-changing picture, a new grouping
nius. 199- of the buildings coming into view at every point. It is only neces-
205- sary to glance at the series of views of the Oxford High Street to
realise this, and to see what very beautiful street pictures may
result from the way in which, in a curved street, the spires of build-
ings along it keep rising into view over the shoulders, as it were,
of the lower buildings.
Many of these beautiful pictures seem to have grown up accidentally,
and the town planner must be on his guard against the supposition
that it is easy to design accidents. While, therefore, he must recog-
nise the beauty of curved roads, he must resist . the temptation to
produce aimlessly wandering lines, in the hope that happy accidents
may result therefrom.
Illus. 206. Curves may, of course, be as formal as strdght lines ; we have
Illus. 207. scarcely yet begun to realise the great variety of combinations of
straight lines and curves which are possible within the limitations
of orderly design ; probably these are enough to give full play to
the beauties which spring from both curved and straight streets.
Illtis. 192. Moreover, rarely will it happen that the site will be so level, and so
devoid of existing roads, rivers, valleys, woods, or other features, as
not to provide ample reason for the introduction of many irregular
lines ; and these irregularities, produced in response to natural con-
ditions, following accurately the contours or avoiding obstacles, will
be likely, being justified by the requirements and natural lines of
the site, to be justified also in appearance. In many English subur-
ban areas the vague idea that a curve is always more beautiful than
a straight line seems to have taken possession of the mind of the
surveyor, and a series of meandering lines, without scheme or relation,
has been the result.
In the central portion of towns or districts, where a certain stateliness
of effect is desirable, and where sites will be required for large public
buildings, probably straight streets, combined with some simple and
regular curved lines, will be the most successful.
The general tendency of modern architecture suggests square and
v'ik, showing fkluresqiie, irregular ilixil tine.
4 slraigiil arcil tvi/A lireat shoTuiiig foliasi and ii
Illm. 194. — Ulm, shoTiiiiig an iiregutar street ttrtnin,
Ilhis. tgy^AW/ieiiiiir^. AVin^vsst; SHiiidfainl IX. on Fold Plan Ko. III.
nius. 196. — Titokcsbury High Street, showing the want of sugiiient featur
Ilhti. 197. — Augsburg, Karolinen Slrasse, skoaiin^
— Holbom, showing an iimuaessfnl grouping ef buildings along a street.
198a. —Karlsruhe, shatoiug
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 269
regular sites for public buildings, and it is probably wise for the town
planner to consider such tendency, even if his own sympathies lead
him to prefer a freer or more picturesque treatment, such as charac-
terised the Gothic period ; for he must not forget that, though he
may provide the sites, he cannot dictate the kind of buildings that
will be erected. On a regular site it is not difficult to erect an
irregular, picturesque building, if such be desired ; but for an
irregular site it may be very difficult to design a successful building
in a style which depends largely on symmetry, balance of mass, and
simplicity of line for its effect. In the suburbs of towns and in
villj^es, where anything of a stately effect may not be attainable or
even desirable, a much freer arrangement may be adopted. One may
lUus. 199. — Plan of the High Street y Oxford^ showing view points. Traced from the
Ordnance Survey Mapy with the sanction of the Controller of ff.M, Stationery Office.
say generally that a much greater degree of adaptation of the site to
the plan will be justified in important central positions, than would be
desirable in other parts of the town, where the right course would
seem to be to adapt the lines of the roads much more completely to
the site.
Many German writers point to the varying width of streets in old Illus. 208.
Gothic towns as being the cause of much of the beauty of the street
pictures found in them. Camillo Sitte particularly instances the Illus. 209.
Rue des Pierres in Bruges, a plan and sketch of which, taken from liius. 210.
his book, are given to illustrate this point. Much of this variation
in width has probably been due to accidental reasons, and, like other
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 270
accidental effects, can only with considerable risk be consdously
imitated.
Probably also the msun beauty of the sketch he shows arises, first,
from the change of direction of the road, which brings the cathedral
tower into the street picture ; secondly, from the sudden narrowing
of the road after passing the Place Stevin, which closes the street
picture with the corner buildings of that place. These two points
may certainly be attained by careful and orderly arrangement, and
it is clearly the province of the designer to create such pictures, by
changing the directions of his roads or by reducing their width,
which may often be a sensible and proper thing to do, where much
of the traffic of a main road becomes diverted by a cross or
diagonal road*
lUus. 169. Short lengths of road of increased width, to allow for a double
avenue of trees and to enable the footpath to be carried up between
such avenues, or to allow space for a few seats at the side of the
footpath, may add to the variety and charm of a suburban road.
The gradual widening out of a roadway for some distance where
See S, Gilesy two main roads converge, or where the increase of traffic seems
^^Z%. to require it is a legitimate variation ; but in spite of the undoubtedly
beautiful and picturesque effect obtained in Gothic towns by irregular
street lines and irregularly varying widths of streets, I cannot but
feel that in newly designed work such variations need definite
justification, and that anything in the way of departure from
regularity, merely for the purpose of producing variety in an
indefinite sort of way, had better be avoided.
Trees and grass form the natural decoration for streets and places
in towns, wherever the condition of the atmosphere will allow them
to grow. The free use of greenery is certainly one of the pleasing
characteristics which first strikes the Englishman when visiting
continental cities. Like every other form of decoration, however,
this needs to be used with considerable judgment and restraint.
Breadth and simplicity of treatment seem to be essential to good
result. Many fine streets and places in continental towns are
spoiled for lack of restraint in the character of the gardening and
planting adopted. Broad stretches of grass and simple masses or
avenues of foliage are generally successful, if well placed. But
spaces cut up into numerous beds, and these again worked into
patterns with variegated leaves and flowers, too often tend to
destroy the sense of quiet, which is necessary for good town
lUms. 211 decoration with foliage. A reference to the two views given of
^'*^*"' the fine Schloss Platz at Stuttgart will, I think, illustrate this. In
•o by H. IV. Tauiil.
0) 5p
W / i Hill
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 278
one case the fussy lay-out of the garden space has been cut out of
nius. 213. the picture and nothing left but the masses of foliage, which add
Illus. 21/^ immensely to the effectiveness of the view. In the other the
sarden is shown in full, with all its elaboration of footpaths,
lUus.yba fountains, flower-beds, and band-stands. Far better would have
and 9^. looked a plain stretch of greensward, cut perhaps by one or two
broad paved footways necessary for general convenience. In the
lUus, 215. fine Popplesdorfer Allee at Bonn may also be seen the contrast of
Elus. 216. one portion of its wide road treated with plain grass and trees, and
another portion with some elaborate pattern worked in beds of
flowers, and again I think it will be . admitted that success lies with
the simpler treatment. The avenue effect, as the French have
lUus. 109, instinctively felt, is one of the finest to aim at in decorating streets
188. ^j^j^ trees, and very great variety may be attained without des-
troying the essential avenue feeling. It is necessary to maintain a
unity of effect by planting a fair length at a time with one particular
tree. The variety which is attained by mixing or alternating the
types of tree on any street, is one which loses its interest after about
half a dozen trees are passed, and its total effect when carried out
over a large area, is only to spread monotony farther than is neces-
sary ; but by treating each road differently, planting each with one
particular kind of tree and the adjacent roads with a different tree,
it is possible to stamp each with some individuality of its own and
produce very considerable variety in a district. Particularly can
this be done in the suburbs, where the atmosphere will generally
allow a large variety of trees to flourish. Our allies the Japanese
celebrate some of their greatest holidays and festivals at the
blossoming of the cherry or the plum, and turn out into the places
set apart specially for the particular tree to enjoy their holiday by
revelling in its blossom. If we can give to our streets some
/ individuality, may we not find that our people, going to and from
their work, will change their route, taking the almond-planted street
in the early spring, the plum, the crab, and the hawthorn streets
^ later ; and later still the streets planted with acacia and catalpa, or
with the trees whose early foliage is their glory, such as the syca-
) more. In the autumn those planted with trees most noted for the
colour of their berries and fading leaves — the rowan, the hawthorn,
the beech, and many others — will be preferred.
Then, of course, there are the larger trees where space will allow — ^the
horse chestnut, the elm, the plane, and the lime — ^the latter pleasing
by the delicate green of its foliage and charming for the fragrance
of its flowers. But not alone by varying the kind of tree can we
Itliis. 207. — TAt Qiiadranl, Rtgutt Slrtel^ shmving a ierlion gf Mr. Noniian Skavs'! design.
Illtts. ia&.—Ihr(hesUr, West Streil.
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 281
vary the decoration. In some streets we may have continuous
avenues, in others be content with here and there introducing a ^"'"',^'
mass of foliage in a recessed forecourt ; in others, agun, where the ^^^' ''''
building lines of the houses vary, we may emphasise still further
those portions by planting avenues where our houses are set back-
ferther from the road and the trees have more room to grow,
lilta. 309 and 2lo. — Plan and sktich af the Rut da Furres, Srvgu.
and omitting them where the houses are set up to the building line.
In places, also, we may introduce a double avenue, planting one row
of trees between the footpath and the roadway and another row
either in a second grass margin between the footpath and the
front gardens of the houses, or in the hedge or within the gardens
themsdves; thus securing not only to the main roadway, but to each
footpath, the effect of passing through an avenue of trees.
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 282
nius. 180. At junctions of roads spaces may be found where the planting of a
few trees will introduce colour and the form of foliage into the
picture. Where it is desired to have in places or streets the decora-
tion of flowers in addition to that of grass and foliage, as far as
possible the beds should be arranged with some background, and
the lines should be simple and not needlessly broken. Where, for
example, some long, bare, factory building or high wall runs along
by the street, a strip in front of this might well be planted with
flowering shrubs or with flowers. A long herbaceous border, or one
of hardy perennials, would look well in such a position, and dignified
approaches to towns, public places^ or buildings might well be
arranged on these lines. Above all, in the treatment of garden
spaces in streets we should avoid frittering away our ground and
wriggling our lines, which can only result in the destruction of the
rimpUcity and repose of the efi^ect, without adding anything whatever
to tiie variety.
In deciding upon the treatment of any piece of open ground which
can be devoted to a green or garden, it should first of all be clearly
in the mind of the designer what the piece of ground will be avail-
able for. If it can be used only as decoration, then it should be
planted from this point of view, and treated so that it must help
the total effect of the scene of which it will form part. Where a
large area is available it should be decided whether it is to be used
as a place of repose or as a promenade, or whether, in the case of a
fairly large open space, part of it may be laid out for promenading
purposes, and part for rest and quiet. For promenades some open-
ness of outlook, contrasting with occasional enclosures and portions
passing through copses or shrubberies, will be attractive, while
long borders planted and decorated with flowers and shrubs will
add variety and interest to the walk ; but in this, as in all else,
the details must not be too minutely varied ; the masses of
each kind of treatment should be large enough and bold enough to
produce a strong individual eflFect. The beds of each kind of flower
should be generous in quantity and extent, like those of rhododen-
dron, azalea, and iris, and the wide glades of. bluebell^ in Kew
Gardens. Compare the pleasure and interest, the total beauty and
impressiveness, in passing from one to another of these groups, with
that derived from ordinary park beds, in which we find the azalea
and rhododendron alternating singly with one another and many
other shrubs, with here and there a small clump of iris or a
root of hyacinth, all mingled together in a manner destructive at
once of unity of effect, and producing the maximum of monotony
when spread over a large area.
Illus. 2\\.—Sliillgat
'at:. Standpoint J. en plan
\z.—Slullsarl. Schloss Plal:, Slaadpoin
J13. — B'lrghof, Vienna, ihmaing bread, !,
Illiis. 214. — Vienna Si- lilos smarten, shewing hrai
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 287
For places devoted to repose, some sense of enclosure should be
secured. Here good use may be made of the tall, trim hedge, the
plwn, well-kept lawn, the formal tank, the lily pond or fountain, lllus. 96a.
the surrounding flower border restfioUy arranged with a corner
sheltered from wind or shielded from sun, beauty not only to
attract but arranged to rest rather than excite the beholder.
The children, too, should not be forgotten in the open spaces. The
kittderbank, or low seat to suit th«r short legs, should always be pro-
vided, and where possible spaces of turf supplied with swings or see-
saws, with ponds for sailing boats, and with sand pits where these can
be kept sufficiently clean. These spaces should be either definitely
enclosed so that the wear and tear of the turf may not destroy the
appearance outside the enclosure, or better still, should be in the
centre of stretches of grass sufficiently large for such wear and tear
not to be of serious moment. But, if spaces are small, they must be
devoted to one or other of these purposes, and must be designed
accordingly. If they are large, variety will spring from the careful
adaptation of the different parts to the different uses. The great
value of water in such a scheme, as introducing life, light, and
colour, should be remembered ; and where, as was arranged in one
of the open spaces in the Hampstead Garden Suburb, the pond
can be so placed that the rosy hues of the sunset will be reflected in
the -water, and be seen from different streets or groups of houses as
the sun changes its setting point with the changing seasons, a natural
decoration of the greatest beauty will be provided.
Where the space available already contains the natural beauty of
running water, rocky ravine, heights and hollows, woods or heath,
probably the designer's art will be exercised to preserve these, and to
contrive ways by which the public may be taken to enjoy them
OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF MAIN ROADS 288
with the minimum damage to the existing beauty, rather than
to substitute some artificial scheme of his own. Where the
space at his disposal lacks these natural attractions, then he must
create his own features of interest and beauty, and probably he will
do this best by working along some orderly and formal lines to
adapt the space for some particular purpose, or to produce upon it
some particular effect.
Where some degree of co-operation can be stimulated among the
individual owners or occupiers of groups of houses, some little con-
sistent treatment of the garden spaces may very greatly enhance the
decorative effect of these upon the street. Where room has not
been allowed in the road itself for trees to be planted, they might
quite well be placed immediately inside the forecourt gardens,
and by arrangement with the tenants a consistent scheme of spacing
the trees could be carried out. On rows or groups of houses also if
each tenant would plant a vine or wistaria or some other such creeper,
and train it along the upper portion of the houses, a beautiful frieze
of decoration would result, which would at once produce an effect of
unity, and add dignity to the whole group of buildings. The
gardener, like the architect, has fixed his eye too exclusivdy on the
individual plot ;. he has thought too much of the bulbs in his own
individual beds. We need to think of the street, the district, the
town as larger wholes, and find a glorious function and a worthy
guidance for the decorative treatment of each plot and each
house in so designing them that they shall contribute to some
total effect. For is it not a finer thing to be a part of a great whole
than to be merely a showy unit among a multitude of other units ?
VIIL— OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS
BETWEEN site planning and town planning there is no line
of demarcation, and the main principles which govern the
one would also apply to the other ; but there is none the
less a considerable difference between the two, and it is convenient
to treat them separately, because in site planning the first considera-
tion will be the arrangement of the buildings and the development
of the site to the best advantage, whereas in town planning the first
consideration must be the general convenience of the town, and the
arrangement of the main roads. When the main roads have been
laid down and the main traffic requirements have been provided for,
the spaces left between these through roads can be developed more
from the point of view of making the best of the sites for the
buildings, and less from the point of view of public convenience.
This, therefore, forms a real difference ; and, moreover, where
town planning is undertaken by municipalities it will certainly be
well to leave a good deal of freedom in the matter of site planning,
particularly in cases where the land is held in largish parcels, to the
owners or societies who may be developing the land.
Site planning cannot be carried out successfully in too wholesale a
manner, without monotony resulting. It requires a degree of
thought for the individual buildings, for the aspects and minor
characteristics of the site, which it is Jmost impossible to obtain if
the land is treated in a wholesale manner.
It is only necessary to look at some of the German town plans,
where the design has been carried to the extent of showing the
whole of the subsidiary building roads and placesy to see how the
stock of ideas of a particular town planner, which may be very
good in themselves, is hardly adequate to give variety and individual
treatment to the many streets, ^/^j^^j, and buildings that are required
for a large town. No doubt site plans must be subject to a certain
amount of guidance and approval on behalf of the town planning
authority. There will at times be minor traffic roads for linking
up the more important ones, even on smallish sites, and the com-
munity is clearly entitled to see that the sites are well planned on
healthy and sanitary lines ; but no one more readily than the town
planner himself will admit that it is impossible when dealing with
a plan of a very large area to take full advantage of each individual
site, or to give sufficient time and play of fancy and imagination, to
produce the best result. It may, indeed, be helpful when engaged
in town planning, to work out tentative site plans for different areas.
It may, for example, be necessary to do this to see whether the
larger parcels of land, which are left between two main roads, are of
389
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 290
such shape and size that they will cut up economically for building
purposes ; but such tentative schemes if prepared should be left
open for revision by the site planner when he comes to deal with
them. My experience has been that when the town planner him-
self becomes the site planner, and concentrates the whole of his
thought on one portion of the site, arranging buildings and open
spaces upon it, he can generally improve considerably in detail
on the preliminary scheme sketched out in connection with his
town plan.
In site planning a thorough study of the site and a survey of its
levels, its trees, the prospects which it affords, and any features of
interest it contains are as essential to success as in the case of town
planning. It has been too common for site planners^ to work out
their plans on paper only, and to save themselves trouble by clearing
away trees and hedgerows, wherever these happen to come in the
way of the plan. No system can be more foolish, for a new building
estate, at best, looks raw and poor, the gardens empty or filled
only with small struggling shrubs and plants ; and nothing so helps
the early appearance of a building site as the preservation of
lUtu, 217, existing trees, and even sometimes of existing hedgerows. Where,
ai7a, and f^j. example, a road can be made to run alongside a well-grown old
hedgerow a beautiful decoration and a special characteristic is at
once secured for that road, and a sense of privacy for the gardens,
which it would take perhaps many years to secure by new growth.
In planning out a site, whether large or small, one of the first
considerations should be to determine the centre point of 'the
design. In • any but very small sites there are likely to be re-
quired some buildings of a larger or more public character than
the dwelling-houses — such, for example, as churches, chapels, public
halls, institutes, libraries, baths, wash-houses, shops, inns or hotels,
elementary and other schools ; and it would probably be well,
having decided which, if any, of these are likely to be required,
to group them in some convenient situation, and of them to form a
centre for the scheme. Churches and chapels require to be near
to the population that they are to serve ; they should be on f^urly
prominent sites, and they should not be placed sufficiently near to
one another, or to other halls likely to be used on Sundays, for the
singing in one to interfere with the service in another.
In the case of shops and refreshment-houses, the requirements are
rather different, the essential thing being that they should front to
the roadway which has, or is likely to have, the greatest amount of
traffic passing to and fro. Shops, moreover, generally succeed best
237
( A'oarf, Earswiri.
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 293
when in groups of a sufficient number to form what is known
among the shopkeepers as a ^* market *' ; odd shops scattered about
are not liked. Sometimes it would be best not to attempt anything
in the way of a centre beyond a portion of wide roadway, which might Ulus, 221,
contain shops and a few public buildings, on the lines of the mdn ^^^*
village street with which every one is familiar. In other cases it
may be possible, while keeping the shops on the main streets, to Ulus. 171.
develop opposite them a green or square around which some of the
other buildings may be grouped ; but whatever be the form, there
can be no doubt of the importance, even on small sites, of having
some central feature up to which the design may lead.
In considering the planning of sites for residential purposes,
it will very often not be possible to aim at enclosed architectural
effects such as would be desirable in the town ; the planner must
be very careful not to sacrifice to some particular effect which he
wishes to secure the convenience and pleasure of those who are to
occupy the buildings ; otherwise his scheme will probably fail to be
carried out. Beauty of surroundings forms undoubtedly one of the
main pleasures and attractions of the residential district, and it will
probably be economical to devote much thought, money, and land
to the laying out of such a site in an attractive manner, but types of
beauty must be sought which do not clash with strong prejudices or
desires on the part of future householders. This will often lead to
a greater degree of openness in the spacing of the houses than from
a purely architectural point of view might be desirable. But here Illus. 241
again it may be possible, by grouping buildings, for them all to ^"^ ^^•
command a wider outlook ana have a more general sense of space
than could be obtained by scattering them ; and it may easily be
possible to reconcile those whose first idea would be to secure a
detached house in the middle of its own plot of groimd, to taking
a house forming one of a group, if the grouping is so arranged that
there is obviously a considerable gdn in the matter of outlook.
In site planning we at once meet with the question of formal and Ulus. 60a,
informal treatment discussed in connection with town planning, and |i3?^'P^'
much the same principles must apply here. It is probable that the
variety of arrangements that may be made, on orderly lines, of
buildings and building roads is vastly greater than at first sight
one would expect. Sufficient reasons will generally be found on
the site itself to cause or suggest irregular buildings and interesting
accidental features. These one may welcome, and on the skilful
handling of these rest the success and beauty of the plan when
carried out ; but in site planning, as in architecture, the seeking after
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 294
features for their own sake is very liable to lead to fussiness. It is
far safer, whether one's plan leans to the formal or informal, to do
nothing for which one has not good reasons. We may well
remember the value of little open spaces, spots where folk may
repair from the bustle of the street to stop and rest awhile ; very
small spaces may serve such purposes. Playing places for children may
often be secured in the centres of building areas, which without the
^^- 219 making of an additional and costly road would be of little value for
^^*' building purposes ; points too where fine views are obtained, and
where the sunset can be seen, can often be preserved by the devotion
of a very small area of ground and would add much to the
pleasure to be obtained in the district.
Both in town and site planning it is important to prevent the com-
plete separation of different classes of people which is such a feature
of the English modern town. Mrs. Barnett in her writings has
laid special emphasis on this point and has referred to the many
evils which result from large areas being inhabited entirely by
people of one limited class. Indeed, it was one of her special aims
in promoting the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust to show to how
much greater extent the intermingling of the different classes
might be brought about. It is not within the power of the town
planner to alter the prejudices of people, or to prevent entirely the
growing up of the East End and West End in a town ; but a good
deal may be done in this direction by care and forethought ; certainly
within limits, more or less wide, there is no difficulty in mingling
houses of different sizes. There is nothing whatever in the pre-
judices of people to justify the covering of large areas with houses
of exactly the same size and type. The growing up of suburbs
/ occupied solely by any individual class is bad, socially, economically,
and aesthetically. It is due to the wholesale and thoughtless
character of town development, and is quite foreign to the traditions
of our country ; it results very often in bad municipal government
and unfair distribution of the burdens of local taxation, misunder-
standing and want of trust between different classes of people, and
in the development and exaggeration of differences of habit and
v/ thought ; it leads, too, to a dreary monotony of effect, which is
almost as depressing as it is ugly. In the English village we find all
classes of houses mingled along the village street or around the
green, from the smallest labourer's cottage to the large house of the
wealthy farmer, doctor, or local manufacturer, and even at times
there is included the mansion of the lord of the manor. How
much this adds to the charm of the village street may be gathered
V
Illtu. 2\i.—HampsUiiii Garden Saiai-6, Ttmpk Foilii
Iltus. 2ig. — Playing pciiiiii a,
12
291
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 299
from the illustrations given. If, then, the site that is being planned ///««•. 86, 221,
is one which we expect mainly to have a working-class population, ^*^*^^-
we should still try to arrange some attractive corner in which a few nius. 223.
rather larger houses may be built ; we should induce the doctor to
live among his patients by affording him a suitable site, and give an
opportunity for those who have been successful in life, and may have a
little leisure to devote to the public work of the district, to live in
suitable homes among others not so fortunate. And whether or not
we shall succeed will depend very much upon the arrangement
We shall not, for example, expect to let plots for larger houses if
the approach is arranged along a street of the smallest type of
cottages.
In arranging our site plan we must keep in mind economy in the
length and gradient of the roads, facility for drainage, and such
practical matters. Where a road can be made to run at the bottom
of a hollow, the arrangement will be found economical and satisfac*
tory in many ways ; the houses on each side being on ground slightly
above the road, a minimum depth of drain will be required ; while any
surplus material arising from the excavation can usually be spread
upon the road without raising it above the level of the houses.
Roads following the lines of natural drainage are, therefore, from
these practical points of view desirable, and difficulties of dealing
with surface water will likely be avoided ; where, on the other hand,
roads run across hollows, they are likely to need filling and cutting,
excessive depth of drain, excessive depth of foundations for the
buildings where they face the banked portions of the road, and con-
siderable expense for retaining walls and steps where the buildings
face the cuttings. Where roads run along the hillside, it is usual
to cut one side and fill the other, and this is probably the most
economical arrangement from the point of view of the road itself;
but it is wise to do more cutting than filling, and even more
economical on roads intended for residences, particularly if the
removal of the surplus material is easily manageable. In roads on
the side of a hill the sewer must be laid deep enough to drain the
houses on the low side ; this adds considerably to the expense, while
the plots on the low side are of less value because either the house
will stand below the level of the road, which is not usually thought Illus, 224.
desirable ; or it must be raised at considerable expense of extra
foundation ; it would therefore be wise to err on the side of
cutting such roads to greater depth than would be done if the first
cost of the road were aJone considered.
The sites which stand above the road gain in attractiveness.
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 301
except in the cases of large houses where a carriage drive is
required, so that the cost of a retaining wall is not resented
by the plot-holder in the same way that he is apt to resent
the cost of extra foundations.
The question of the character of building roads in this country
certainly requires much re-consideration. There are two cir-
cumstances which have complicated the situation. First, the width
of roads has been used, under our form of building bye-laws, to
determine the distance between the houses, and as a means of
securing a greater degree of open space than would otherwise
be obtained. The result is that the widths of roads under the
bye-laws commonly in force in the English towns, are not regulated
Illm, 224. — Cross-section of a road on hillside. TAs chain lines show the actucU Uvel
o* the ground*
with regard to requirements of traffic, a minimum width for
streets is arbitrarily fixed, 40 to 50 feet being usual, and all
roads are required to be laid out at least this width ; usually there
is no power for the local authority to require greater width,
although 40 to 50 feet is as utterly inadequate for the main
roads of a town as it is excessive for the purpose of giving access
to a few cottages. As a consequence, roads have to be ^dened
at vast expense to allow for trams and for traffic, while cottages
are built fronting to dreary wastes of asphalte and macadam, one
half of which could with great advantage be added to their gardens
or laid out as grass margin.
The second condition which greatly influences the character of
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 302
our roads is that the cost of their construction is borne by the
owners or lessees of the land and frontages, while the cost of
maintenance, after they have become pubhc roads, is borne by
the local authority. The result of this is that in order to reduce
as much as possible the liability of the public for maintenance,
all roads are required to be finished in the most expensive and
durable manner, irrespective of whether the traffic on them
is likely to require or justify such expense. It is, of course,
right and proper that roads should be sufficiently substantially
made to carry their probable traffic, with a reasonable cost
for upkeep; but the fact that the capital outlay is stipulated
for by the party that pays for the upkeep and does not pay
the first cost, has resulted in a very great waste of capital on roads
where such outlay is neither justified by the requirements nor
necessary to bring the upkeep within reasonable limits. A large
residential hotel, a mansion such as Chatsworth or Blenheim,
will be adequately served by a simple carriage drive from 13
to 20 feet wide. The population of such a building will be
larger than that of a row or group of cottages and the amount
of wheel traffic to and from it many times as great ; yet for
the cottage road asphalte or concrete paved footpaths, granite
kerbs and channel, and granite macadamised surface, the whole
from 40 to 50 ft. wide, and costing, with the sewers, &c.,
from ^5 to. ^8 a lineal yard, are required by the local authority,
under our existing bye-laws. It will be seen at once how this
excessive cost tends to limit the frontage of the houses. Where
an attempt is being made to build cottages under j^2oo in cost,
the charge of jf 3 per yard for the half-share of the road be-
comes a serious matter, and the houses must suffer, both in size
and frontage, to quite an unnecessary extent. Where traffic is
likely to be heavy, and where the building roads will serve
also to link up main roads or be likely in the future to develop
into main roads, suitable provision must, of course, be made. But
where, as frequently happens, it is virtually certain that the
road will only be used for the d^ly visits of the milkman's
/r/«tf. 217. cart and the daily rounds of the coal merchant's van or the
doctor's gig, it is clear that a well-made track, more of the
nature of a gentleman's carriage drive, with a grass margin on
nius. 22s each side, and in some cases a simple gravel or paved footway
and 226. q£ narrow width, for use in wet weather, is all that need be
demanded ; and that with the small amount of traffic coming down
nius, 227. such a road, the maintenance ag^nst wear and tear would be no
—Pof'lar Grvfe, Earsnic.
lied hy iBurlcsy sf Mr. /■'. IV. Sulcliffe, U'hilhy.
111,11. 226.— /i7>/flJ-
Piiblished by Kourhsy a/Mr. F. \V. SuMiffc, Whilby.
Mr. J. P. Slate, SIcte-ufoii- Trent.
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 307
greater than in the case of the vastly more costly road usually
required.
The cost of roads varies very much, according to the price of
material and labour in the district, and according to the require-
ments of the local authorities. In some cases a separate system
of drainage is provided for surface water, which of course adds
heavily to the cost, though it is probably a most desirable
arrangement from the point of view of sewage treatment. The
authorities in some districts permit the sewers to be laid in the
roads at depths as shallow as will allow for the reasonable
drainage of the houses to be built. In other districts greater
minimum depths are required to provide against future contin-
gencies, and to protect the pipes from possible injuries, owing to the
passage of traction engines and other heavy traffic. In some dis-
tricts drains are allowed to be laid in the ground without concrete ;
in others a bed of concrete under the drains is required, while in
some places drains need to be entirely surrounded by concrete.
These and many other such detjuls affect the cost of roads so that
it is not possible to give any estimate. Further, it must always
be remembered that the cost of a road may mean one of two
things — either the construction of the road in accordance with the
bye-laws for the purposes of building, or this, plus the cost of
making up the road to suit the standard of perfection which will
be expected when the road is taken over by the local authorities.
The owners or lessees of the plots fronting to the road are
legally liable for this latter expense. It is usual for the land-
owner who lets out the site to bear the first cost, but custom
varies considerably as to how much of the work is included in the
first cost and how much in the second. Sometimes the road is so
thoroughly made up to begin with that the subsequent cost is
reduced to a minimum. At other times the preliminary making up
of the road is only carried to such an extent as will give an
eflFective cartage road for building operations ; and the kerb and
channel are laid, and any paving and asphalting to the footpaths
carried out after the road is built up, and when it is about to
be taken over by the local authorities. Where building operations
are being carried out on an extensive scale by the same person
or body who is responsible for the making of the roads, probably it
is better to be content with the simple building road in the first
instance, and to make up the road properly once and for all when
the buildings are completed, and it is about to be taken over ; it is
often found when a road has been pretty thoroughly made in
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 308
the first instance and some ttme elapses before it is taken over, that
it is so damaged by the building operations — kerbs and channels
chipped and displaced, and the surface so deeply scored with ruts —
that the local authorities practically re-make the surface, re-lay
kerbs and channels, &c., before they will accept the road, which
entails a very heavy cost. In some districts, however, building
operations are not allowed to be commenced until the road is made
and the kerb and channel laid, and in these cases there appears to be
no option to the builder in the matter. The whole question of the
apportionment of the costs of construction and muntenance of
roads and their character seems to need thorough investigation.
uid it is to be hoped that the interest in such matters roused
by the town pljinning movement will result in this being done.
To meet this difficulty to some extent the Hampstead Garden
Suburb Trust obtained an Act of Parliament (the main clauses of
which are given in "Practical Housing" by J. S. Nettlcfold), under
which the width of road to be constructed according to bye-laws
was limited to 40 feet, and the Trust were allowed if they made
their roads of greater width than 40 feet, to devote the extra
space to grass margins in which trees could be planted. At the
time the Act was passed the local bye-laws fixed 40 feet as the
minimum width for all roads, but new bye-laws were being prepared
in which 50 feet was fixed as the minimum. Another clause
allowed the Trust to construct roads not exceeding 500 feet in
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 309 ,
length of a width of 20 feet, provided that the houses on each V
side of such roads should not be nearer to one another than
50 feet. By the same Act, on the ether hand, the Trust agreed V
to limit the number of houses to the acre, on the average over
the whole of the estate, to 8. This Act suggests that the local
authorities might offer an inducement to landowners, and others
developing estates, to limit the number of houses to the acre
by offering concessions in the matter of road construction.
Reference to the Hampstead Suburb plan will show that these fllus.z^a
short roads have been extensively lued and have led to the forma-
tion of many groups of houses around greens, tennis-courts, and Fold Map
squares which could not practicably have been arranged without *'■'•
the powers given under this Act. It will be seen from the Act
that it is not intended that these roads should be taken over
by the local authcnities, and although 20 feet is dedicated for the
purpose of the road, in many cases a carriage drive of 13 or 14 feet
is all that it is intended to construct. Many of the main roads in
the suburb will exceed the minimum of 40 feet, some being 50 feet
and some 60 i^sX, and in these cases usually grass margins planted
with trees will be provided. Special concesMons have also been
made with regard to the character of the roads on the estate of the
Harborne tenants in Birmingham. In other cases — as, for example,
in the village of Earswick, near York, and at the Garden City at
Letchworth — no bye-laws as to the character of roads and streets
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 310
have been in force, and it has there been pos«bIe to experiment
tUm. 328, with roiids of various characters and widths, illustrations of many
"**■ ^> <»»^ of which are given.
The direction of the building roads must be considered from every
point of view, besides that of drainage and convenience of con-
struction. The question of the aspect of the buildings is an
imporunt one, and here the site planner is often in the difficulty
of being obliged to lay out the roads without knowing, or having
any control over, the character of the buildings which will be placed
upon them. In such cases there is no doubt that roads having their
direction mainly north and south have a very great advantage in
^^~^,
^"'' •■
■^
■■^'
(-"i!
,E-N
¥..
..K
\ ■ )
lUus. aaS*. //&j. aaSc.
ExampUs o/tigkttr building roads attd drives as used at Eartmci, Letckwirtk, and HamptUad.
that the houses will have a fair amount of sunshine on both their
open- sides. Where roads run east and west the houses mil get
more sun on the south side, but, on the other hand, the north sides
will get but little in the summer and none in the winter. Many
people desire a south front to their house, and roads having a
general direction east and west are desirable from this point of
view, if the buildings can be arranged and planned accordingly.
Houses with a south aspiect need a greater frontage, as all the
best rooms should be on the south side, and in the case of houses
on the south side of the road which have a north aspect, there is,
especially with smalt houses and cottages, the difficulty that the
front of the house should be to the garden. Without very
careful planning this is liable to result in untidy backs to the
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 311
road, but with care may result in a most attractive type of
house, having its best rooms overlooking the garden and away
from the dust and noise of the street. It is probably best,
on the whole, that the roads should not be cut quite due east
and west, so that either in the early morning or in the late after-
noon during the greater part of the year the sun may shine on the
more northerly side of the buildings. The relative advantages
of a southern outlook and of an east and west outlook will vary
V) IL-LC; 5
^^
lUus, 229. — Diagram /., contrasting the sunrise and sunset amplitudes through the seasons
at London and other places, with details enlarged 20 times^ comparing the daily
sections at the equinox and solstices. The above diagrctm is taken from the Rationed
Almanac, by Mr. M. B, Cotsworth, and is published with his kind permission,
according to the latitude of the house. Taking the latitude of
London, it will be seen from the diagrams given that for the few Illus. 229.
winter months the advantage of the south front is very great, but Diagrams /,
that for the remainder of the year an east and west aspect secures a ^^^ ^^^'
very large amount of sunshine on both sides of the house, and has
the advantage of giving sunny and shady rooms for both morning
and afternoon, and avoiding the excessive heat of the midday sun«
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 312
A reference to Illustration 229, Diagram III., will show that on
Midsummer Day the sun, when unclouded, from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m.
would be shining well into an east window, while from 2 p.m. to
8 p.m. it would be shining into a west window ; so that for six hours
in the morning and six hours in the evening a house facing east and
west would have the sun shining into it. On the other hand, a
house facing due south would receive little sun before 9 a.m. and
little after 3 p.m. Also, owing to the height of the sun above the
horizon during these hours, it would penetrate less into the rooms.
One would expect that there would be no difference between the
amount of sunshine in the morning and in the afternoon, but from
the following table it appears that there is rather more sunshine
I lAewing the ritative elevation of the stai at »
diagram is laien from (A< Rational Almanat, by Mr. M. B.
published ty hit land ^rm""~
recorded after noon than before noon in this country. Taking
into account also that the sunshine before 8 a.m, is little enjoyed,
while that from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. is perhaps the most enjoyed, it
would seem that some preference might well be given to a west
over an east aspect. While, therefore, taking the whole year
round, there can be no doubt that an aspect south or slightly west
of south may be considered the most desirable for dwelling rooms,
it will be found that where dwelling rooms must be placed on both
sides of the house, ample sunshine would be secured with an east
and west aspect through the greater part of the year, and that
during the summer months a considerable amount of sunshine
would penetrate windows facing somewhat north of east or west.
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 313
Table showing relative Duration in /fours per Annum of actual Sun-
shine before and after Noon recorded at four Stations^ the
Average for fifteen Tears being taken.
Valencia* Aberdeen. Falmouth. Kew.
l^r} 700-46 655-88 840-87 700-23
i^n } 758-55 682-66 895-02 760-64
In France, where a road runs north and south and it is desired
lUm. 2ag.^I>it^gram ///.» showing tk$
hour of the day oh Midnmmor
tUffsnui hours*
oMroximaU path of the sun and its position at sach
jSayt with a vortical section gnring tho attitude at
to c;ive the houses a southern frontage, one often sees little rows
of nouses placed with their ends to the road, access being obtained
by a simple pathway. It would seem desirable to modify the usual ^^^^ ^30*
form of building bye-laws to allow of this arrangement, under
certsdn restrictions as to the number of houses and as to the Ilius.220.
distance apart of the rows. We shall refer to the matter of
aspect again in dealing with the setting out of the building plots ;
meantime another consideration must be borne in mind, namely,
that of the wind. It is certainly not desirable to have too many
roads following unbroken for any considerable distance the line
Ilba. ay. — Sketch thatntig ficturetgue Itlut.ixi. — A shons ana with ovii road mnMid.
' — ■— r of slt^ street at ZHnan. B ihomi extra croti road not justified bw
frontagt gaaitd.
CaHello S. I^el:
Ilia!. 234. — Bali modem
. I34<I. —llamf-slead Oarde.
id Urininal and hmll-uf a
■IS- 23s and as4.
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 317
of the prevailing winds, or of those winds which are likely to be
violent or to produce excessive dust. Here, again, local conditions
must be borne in mind, though, speaking generally for this country,
south-west is probably the prevailing direction of the wind. A
diagram is given showing the extent and average intensity of the
different winds in four districts. Illus. loi.
In imdulating or hilly countries the question of the gradients of the
roads will very largely influence their direction. On a main traffic
road a gradient o^reater than i in 30 may be regarded as a disad-
vantage, though for short distances steeper gradients may not be a
serious drawl^ck, and building roads with steeper gradients may
be used where sufficient reason exists. In some districts the special
charm of the site may be its elevation, and it may be desirable to
emphasise this by carrying certain roads and ways straight up the
hillside, with little or no regard to the steepness of the gradient.
Undoubtedly one finds in old towns many beautiful examples
of such steep streets, as at Clovelly in our own country, and at
Dinan in France. nius, 2^1.
The steep street, however, adds very greatly to the difficulties of lllus. 233.
building, and although the clever handhng of problems due to these
difficulties may lead to very beautiful and picturesque results, there is
no doubt that the common methods of dealing with buildings on steep
sites by means of a number of repeated steps or jumps in the roof,
or still worse by means of the sloping line of roof which is carried ^^^^' 234.
parallel to the road instead of being kept square with the floor line,
are so unsatisfactory that it would be prudent to avoid aiming at
the special eff^ects to be derived from steepness, unless one is fairly
sure that the designing of the buildings will fall into capable hands.
In places where small subsidiary roads can be used — and one must
hope that all places may soon be included in this category — it may
even be wise where a main road runs through a building estate
to arrange the houses so that most of them front on to such sub-
sidiary drives, only a few having a frontage direct to the main y
road. The character of modern traffic, particularly the present
character of motor traffic, has rendered frontage to the main Illus, 275
road anything but desirable for residence ; the dust, the noise, the ^"^ ^^6. {/
smell are all objectionable features ; and though at first sight it
may seem extravagant not to make use of the main frontage,
it would not be found so in practice, the subsidiary roads costing
comparatively little. Moreover, it is not possible to utilise the
whole of the frontage both on the main and the cross roads to the
utmost extent, and if the frontage on the smaller side roads is more
/
OF SITE PLANNING AND RESIDENTIAL ROADS 318
desirable, little will be lost by sacrificing a portion of the main
road frontage.
With reference to the desirability of straight or curved roads little
need be added to what has already been said with regard to the
main roads of the town, except that in the planning of sites for
residential purposes greater freedom of treatment may well be
adopted, the stateliness which may be desirable for the treatment
of the central portions of the town not being appropriate very often
to the residential district. The width apart of the buildings on
residential sites will tend to give greater freedom in the treatment
of the street pictures ; and where the streets are planted with trees
and the houses set back considerably from the road, a good deal
of freedom may be taken in the treatment of the two sides; but
whatever the character of the street, it is of the utmost importance
to avoid mere sdmless wiggles.
IX.— OF PLOTS AND THE SPACING AND PLACING
OF BUILDINGS AND FENCES
IN dealing with the laying out of building roads, we have
incidentally referred to the size of the plots required as a
determining factor, but for convenience did not in that chapter
consider the matter in detail. It is necessary first to decide upon
the approximate number of houses which are to be built to the
acre.
Under the modern urban bye-laws as adopted in most English
towns the number of houses to the acre is only limited by the
regulations which fix, first, the minimum width of streets ; secondly, ///m. 2.
the minimum space allowed to be left at the back of buildings.
The first bye-law provides in effect for an open space varying in
different districts from 36 feet to 50 feet in front of the building,
not exclusively belonging to it ; this space is usually occupied by
road and footways. The second bye-law usually requires at least
1 50 square feet at the rear of the building, and in addition requires
that the open space shall extend to the full width of the building,
and shall be not less in any case than 10 feet in depth where the \/
building does not exceed 10 feet in height. The depth of the
open space increases in proportion to the height of the building,
reaching a maximum under the old bye-laws or 25 feet for a build- .y
ing 2 5 feet high, in some of the newer bye-laws going up to 40 feet
for a building exceeding 35 feet in height. It will be seen that for ^
cottages, which usually do not exceed 25 feet in height, the maxi-
mum depth of open space at the rear usually secured by the modern
bye-laws is 25 feet. With the narrow frontages usually adopted
for small cottages, it is possible under these bye-laws to crowd as
many as 50 houses to the acre or even more. There can be no ^ s/
doubt that this number is altogether excessive for reasonable health
and comfort ; it provides for no garden ground, only a small back
yard attached to each cottage.
It is not possible to fix any absolute limit for the number of houses
to the acre which can be regarded as a maximum compatible with
health and comfort. Very much depends upon the size of the houses
and their arrangement. It is not easy yet to weigh the disadvan-
tages that might arise from enlarging our towns to such an extent as
would give a much lower number of houses to the acre all through,
but one may safely say that, according to circumstances, the desir-
able number would be between 10 and 20 houses to the acre, and in
this case I refer to the net measurement of the building land,
excluding roads. There will necessarily be areas in the centre of
towns where buildings will be crowded to a greater extent than this
13 319
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 320
figure would suggest ; but in any district where cottages are likely
to be built it should not be necessary to exceed the maximum
number of 20, and wherever possible the number should be reduced
to 10 or 12. Twelve houses to the net acre of building land,
excluding all roads, has been proved to be about the right number
to give gardens of sufficient size to be of commercial value to the
tenants — large enough, that is, to be worth cultivating seriously for
the sake of the profits, and not too large to be worked by an
ordinary labourer and his family. There will, of course, be men
who can work more, and men who can only work much less, but in
the laying out of the land there are sure to occur great varieties in
the size of the individual gardens which will allow for these differ-
ences, and it is only the average number of houses to the
acre that needs to be very carefully considered from the point
of view of health, the exact size of each garden being a matter of
comparative indifference. This figure of 12 houses to the acre has
now been fairly well tested, having been adopted in the main at
Bournville (although here there are some larger gardens), at Ears-
wick, at the Garden City at Letchworth, at Hampstead, and at many
other places. That a greater number of houses to the acre than
12 may be planned, and yet produce a healthy suburb is proved on
niiu, 169. the estate of the Ealing Tenants and many others. On some parts
of the estate at Ealing the houses approach 20 to the acre, excluding
roads and larger open spaces reserved for recreation grounds. A
illus, 235. comparison of the plan with that of the industrial quarter of the
Hampstead Garden Suburb, for example, will at once show the
difference produced in the size of the gardens and the degree of
openness by the extra number of houses. One of the difficulties of
the usual open space bye-law is that it takes no account whatever of
the size of the building ; the large hotel or boarding-house, covering
perhaps a quarter of an acre in extent, cannot usually be compelled
by the local authorities to reserve any greater space around it than
a strip of 25 feet at the back. In fixing from 10 to 20 houses to
the acre as something like the right number, cottages only were
considered.
. -In order to meet this difficulty, when framing the Garden City
Building Regulations which are at present enforced under the
terms of the lease and are not bye-laws in the ordinary sense,
additional provisions were made by which the number to the
acre varied in accordance with the value and presumably the
size of the houses. A further regulation provided that as a
general rule in the case of dwelling-houses not more than one-
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 321
sixth of any site should be covered by the buildings, some
exception being allowed in shop and corner sites, and in a rew other
ili^
Illus. 235. — Part of Hampstead Garden Suburb developed by the Hampstead Tenants^
Limited^ and laid out for cottages,
cases. Taking this rule of one-sixth of the site being covered by
buildings, it will be seen from the following table the building area
which is permissible on sites of the following sizes : —
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 322
SchtiuU titwing Arta ef Phtt with Buitdimg Arte fir taek.
Size of plot I
infrsctionof [ i i/» 1/3 i/+ l/s 1/6 1/7 1/8 i/io i/ii 1/15 i/»o
acre )
^^^Z'"* ) 4.840 M*o '.613 i.Jio 968 807 691 60s 48+ 403 3«3 *4*
Building I
>Teiiny>Td«[ 807 403 369 101 161 134 115 101 81 67 54 40
M^ of plot I
For one-twelfth of an acre this would give a square measurit^
about 24 feet each way, which is larger than is usually occupied by
small cottages.
tOm. 336. — luteins, i/utBtt^ the adaait^* of a frvmtd vit9 and a ftummt atrvtd itttet Btu.
Having determined generally the class of house to be built and the
number to the acre, the next point to determine is the most suitable
shape for the plots, bearing in mind that economy in road-maktng
would suggest narrow plots and great depth, but that the apparent
economy of this arrangement is greater than the actual economy,
owing to the fact that the cross roads become longer, and that ^th
this arrangement they have little value for building purposes. The
frontage required must, of course, depend on the size of the house
and on its arrangement. There can be no doubt that the usual
niiis. liq.—Namfisltad Gardtn Siihiirb. I'iciv of Ike Boik! of somt of the HampHiad
Tciiaiif!' Cofla^-cs. Coiilrasl Jllus. 237 atid 2j8,
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 325
frontages allowed in suburban districts are too small, and this fact, nius. 2.
taken in conjunction with the particular form of the space bye-law iiius. 237.
adopted in this country, has resulted in a very objectionable type lllus. 238.
of house with long projections running out behind. To avoid these lllus, 239.
projections greater frontage is required. In the case of cottages this lUus. 240.
should rarely, if ever, be less than 1 5 feet, which will allow a cottage
having a living room, kitchen, and two bedrooms to be fairly com-
fortably planned. Where three bedrooms are required a frontage
of from 1 8 to 20 feet is desirable. For the type of cottage having 1/
a living room, parlour, and scullery, with three bedrooms over,
frontages should be from 20 to 23 feet, if the aspect of the house
is east and west or thereabouts, and from 25 to 28 feet if it is \/
north and south. For where the aspect of the cottage is east
and west one of the living rooms may face each way with advan-
tage, but where it is nearly due north and south both the living
rooms at any rate should be on the sunny side of the house. For
this a frontage of 25 feet suffices where the entrance is on the
north side of the house, or where, as in the case of semi-detached
houses, it can be at the side ; but it will only serve where the
entrance must be on the south side by using one of the living
rooms as a passage room. Unless the houses are to be built
in long, continuous rows, allowance must be made in addition for
spaces between the groups of houses and f6r a certain loss of
frontage which must always take place at the corners of roads. By
reference to the table which is appended, giving the frontages of See page 227*
rectangular plots, with varying depths and a varying number of
houses to the acre, it will be seen that with plots 1 50 feet deep and /
12 houses to the acre an average frontage of 24 feet is obtained.
If the cross roads are planned in such a way that some advantage
can be taken of their frontage also to make up rather more than is
lost at the corners, and if the types of house can be mixed, giving
some of shorter frontage and some of longer, I have found that
this is a very good general depth to aim at for cottages, where from
I o to 12 to the acre are required. The depth is also a good one
for rather larger houses where not more than 8 or 10 to the acre
are to be built ; so that where building roads are running nearly
parallel for any considerable distance a space of 300 feet or 100
yards between the roads will be found very often a convenient one
to leave. If the space is increased much beyond this, the houses are
apt to be short of frontage for comfortable planning, unless the
number to the acre is greatly reduced. On the other hand, if the
space is nmch reduced, any variation in the grouping of the houses
)^
yZHEDULE-
L.R. - LIVING POOM.
^R - :yTTWC ROOM
-3C- - ZCULLERY
L. ' UJRDCR
/r " FUEL STORZ
C. ' CUPBOARD
HC. • yiQT£RCLOXT
R - PORCh
B.R ■ BEDROCm
B. • Bf^TM .
'. 240. — Sxam^tf of ceUagt plani ihmritig diffattU frentagts nguired.
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 327
is apt to bring them too near together at the back. Very often,
however, the spaces enclosed by roads will be uneven in shape.
Table B.
Frontages of rectangular Plots of different Depths.
130 13s H<^ HS '50
Depth of
Plot in
- 100
120
1*5
feet.
^
Size of PI
ot
in feet.
I Acre
435-6
363
348-4
i „
217*8
181-5
174-16
* „
145-2
121
ii6'i6
i «
108-9
90-75
87-12
i „
87-12
72-6
697
6 »
72-6
60-5
58-08
7 >J
62-23
51-86
49-78
1 *'
54-43
45-37
43-56
TTO w
43*56
36-3
34-84
A w
36-3
30-25
29-04
IT »
29-04
24-2
23-23
^<S )>
21-78
18-J5
17-42
335
167-5
322
161
3"
155-5
300
150
290-4
145-2
111-6
837s
67
107-3
80-5
64-4
103-6
77-75
62*2
100
75
60
98-8
72-6
58-08
55-83
41-875
53-<J
46
40-25
51-83
44-428
38-875
50
42-8
37-5
48-4
41-49
36-3
33-5
27-91
32-2
26-83
31-1
25-91
30
25
29-04
24-2
22-3
16-65
21 '46
i6-i
20-73
15-55
20
15
19-36
14-52
It is quite a mistake to suppose that it is always economical to
put the maximum number of houses which can be contrived on
any space. This will be seen from the diagrams here given. Cases Jttus. 233.
may frequently occur where the loss of ground to provide an
additional cross road to open up the centre of some area of land,
and the cost of the road itself, when taken together are not
compensated for by the increased value of the central area of
land thus developed, and it may often be wiser to reduce slightly
the number of houses to the acre rather than to cut up the land
with too many roads. In the example given, a parcel of land
measuring 600 feet by 400 feet is taken ; and assuming that a
suitable depth for the plots would be 150 feet, it will be seen
that there is in the centre of this parcel of land an area 300 feet by
ICXD feet undeveloped by the road frontages already provided. If an
additional cross road is made of the width of 45 feet, we first
lose on each of the main roads a frontage of at least this extent and
possibly of a greater, if the houses are required to be set back
on cross roads to a building line behind the frontage. We shall,
secondly, lose land amounting to '45 of an acre which, at ^^300
per acre, would represent ^135. We should have to make 400 feet
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 328
of new road, which would cost, let us say, 30s. per foot, or ^600,
making a total money cost of ^735. It will be seen from the
above that unless we can increase the value of our land by more
than j^735 we shall gain nothing whatever by making the road, and
might just as well have left the open space in the centre to be used
as a recreation or allotment ground, from which at any rate
some revenue could have been obtained.
J Of course where inexpensive, subsidiary roads such as have been
used in the Hampstead Garden Suburb estate are allowed, it would
lUits. 277. ^ possible to utilise this area of land to form a green in front
J of the houses on the main road, thus producing an attractive
feature in the road, and at the same time securing an additional
number of houses by the increased frontage provided around
the green.
The necessity for greater frontage on plots where the houses
will face nearly due north or south, applies to larger villas just as
it does to cottages, and for much the same reasons. On roads where
the houses must face north or south it may be a great advantage to
frequently break the building line, setting it backward or forward so
that for many houses there may be an additional open side provided
on the east or west. Where this can be done sufficient sunshine
to keep the less important rooms of the house healthy may often
be admitted from the east or west, enabling the north side of the
house to be effectively utilised. It will already be apparent how very
important it is when laying out building plots to consider the plans
of the houses likely to be erected upon them.; and important as this
is in the case of large plots for large houses, it becomes even more
important in the case of smaller plots for cottages, where the
possibilities of the site are so much reduced, and there is so
much less probability of any individual treatment being given. So
much, indeed, is site planning bound up with the planning of the
buildings, that to secure the best result possible from any site
the architect who plans it should be in close co-operation With the
designer of the buildings, or should himself design them. Where
this can be arranged the laying out of the land may be done
with some degree of certainty that the aims of the site planner
will be realised. Many things may then be attempted and success-
fully carried through which it would not be wise to attempt in cases
where the site planner's work ends with the laying out of the
plots, and the buildings have to be left in the hands of individual
builders or architects who may have little knowledge of or respect
for the particular aims of the man who planned the site. But
lUus, 272.
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 329
whoever the site is planned by, and however necessary it may
be to sacrifice possibilities in the placing of buildings in favour
of more customary methods which will be more likely to be carried
out by the local builder, it is the buildings which must be the
primary consideration in laying out the site ; so much so that
the designer, if he is wise, will lay out his buildings roughly,
not only before he considers the division of his plots, but before he
fixes the exact lines of his roads. If he is content with merely
cutting up his spaces into what he will caU " lettable " plots,
there is little likelihood of any beautiful result or satisfactory group-
ing of the buildings which will be placed on them. Having laid
down approximately the position of the roads, the right placing
of the buildings must then command his attention ; he must decide
on the main building lines and masses, placing any important
features in his design, such as the terminal feature at the end
of a road, or any buildings required to limit the size and give
a sense of frame to the street picture which he is dealing with. Illus. 236,
Having placed his buildings roughly and decided on the general 2561257.
picture which he is desirous of obtaining, it will be time enough
then to consider the plotting of the land, working from these
important and fixed points. It is usually easy to adapt the
boundary lines of the plots to suit the buildings, much easier
than to adapt the arrangement of the buildings to any preconceived
plot lines. The planner, having considered the placing of his
buildings with a view to the street pictures and the frontage lines,
must not forget the spaces behind the buildings. Nothing more
thoroughly expresses the shoddy character of our modern town
development and the meanness of the motives which have inspired it
than the treatment of the spaces at the backs of buildings. It seems
to be forgotten that from all the houses around such a space the
outlook of the inhabitants must be on to the backs of their neigh-
bours* houses opposite, but just because these are not seen from
the public street outside all attempt to make them even passably
decent according to the excessively low standard which governs
the fronts of such buildings has been neglected. The removal of
the excessive back projections will of itself be a great improve-
ment, but a little care in the arrangement of the houses and
in their design may very often make the spaces at the backs as
beautiful as or even more beautiful than the fronts. For one ///i«. 239.
thing, there is generally a sense of enclosure already secured in the
backs of the houses which lends itself to producing satisfactory
architectural effects with very simple treatment.
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 330
In residential districts the site planner must not only give much
thought to the buildings themselves, but must try to secure an
attractive outlook from them, which can be done to some extent by
beautifying the streets and the spaces between the houses. But few
who can afFord to obtain a house with some distant outlook from
its windows choose to live in one the outlook from which is limited
by the houses on the other side of the street ; and it is for the
site planner who is engaged in laying out sites for smaller houses,
r--nx.~~i:i;ir3Mrjrr-
31- *! •" *
'5 P A^'C
Illus. 241. — Diagram showing haw the view of an open space may be secured to a large
number of houses^ also how the land may be developed by roads at the bach of the
houses.
where each cannot stand in large grounds of its own, to secure for
as many as possible of these houses some extent of outlook by
arranging breaks in the street line, by setting the houses back round
greens, by planning his roads so that they may command some
distant view or may lead on to some open space ; and wherever
a specially fine view is obtainable, by grouping as many of the
houses as possible so that they may enjoy it. Definite breaks
may also be left between buildings, and in fact, if only this
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 331
matter is kept well in the mind of the planner when he is laying
out his sites, there are numerous ways in which some extent of
outlook may be secured, and the architect who is impressed
with the importance, architecturally, of securing close grouping
of his buildings and a sense of enclosure for his street picture must
not let himselT be carried away by these ideas, but must remember
that some sacrifice of the sense of enclosure may well be justified
if thereby a pleasanter outlook may be obtwned from the windows
of the houses. It is, however, by a combination of the two
principles that the most successful results may be obtained. By
Illia. 342. — Hampstead Garden Suturi. Sittch shaming gm^ iif hotiset round a grun.
Set Illut. 341 and Fold Map VI.
Being buill fy Tie Garden Suiterb DevelopmeM Cnapatty {Hampitead), Limited.
combining the houses into groups at cert^n points and producing
satisfactory effects, it will be found possible to leave a greater degree
of openness at other points where enclosure may not be required.
For example, there may exist some large open space, and instead
of building semi-detached villas facing this, thus confining the
enjoyment of it to one row of houses, which by their detachment
would produce little architectural effect, an alternative arrangement
may be adopted by which spaces may be left in the frontage line
of buildings varying from 50 feet to 150 feet in width, and
groups of houses may be laid out around drives or roads at right ■'^- ^'
angles to the open space, and in this way the view of it may be "
extended to a greatly increased number of houses, while at the
same time some definite grouping of the buildings may be obtained
as seen from the open space itself.
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 332
The plan of the Hampstead Garden Suburb shows various ways
in which the view of the Hampstead Heath Extension has been
secured to a great number of houses not built on the plots
immediately fronting on to the space itself. Most of these arrange-
ments have been rendered possible by the special powers obtuned
by the Hampstead Garden Suburb, allowing them under certain
conditions to use carriage-drives to give access to groups of houses,
in the place of ordinary roads as required under the bye-laws.
Other examples will be seen on this plan of breaks arranged in
cm
^k
4
"f
911
®
lUui. 343. — Treatmtiti ef road junctiim
mitrt tfaet at the rear ef each building
is ripured.
the road lines by means of greens or small cross roads, by which
there is secured for a great number of houses a much more extended
outlook than if it were limited by the distance to the houses imme-
diately across the street. Many groups of houses have also been
arranged to command the view down roads, at the same time u^ng
the buildings as terminal features in the street pictures; an arrange-
ment which adds to the beauty of the roads themselves, while making
the houses more attractive on account of their more extended views.
Both on account of the houses themselves and in order to produce
a satisfactory effect in the streets, special attention must be given to
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 333
the planning of the buildings at street junctions and the bends of
the roads. The usual modern bye-laws as to open space, requiring
as they do that this space shall oe at the rear of the building, and
making little or no provision for corner sites, has resulted in the
production of the most unsatisfactory treatment of street corners ;
and their ugliness has been exaggerated by the want of care in the
treatment of the ends of the buildings at the corners of side streets, nius, 260
Some liberty shoul4 be allowed in the treatment of corner* sites. As <«^26oa.
the building has usually two open sides, a very small amount of sdr-
space at the rear is all that is necessary to secure through ventilation.
Jllus, 245. — Sketch showing effect of junction planned as Ittus. 244.
Where modifications in the bye-laws are not obtainable, the old
methods of treating street corners must for a while continue ; but at
least some decent arrangement of the buildings may be made, so
that the junction of the road is developed and emphasised as a
feature of interest, and is taken advantage of to give extended
outlook from the windows. For this purpose special treatment
of the corner buildings is required, with all the open sides designed iiius. 243,
as front elevations, and windows arranged to command the lllus.^^
different views opened up by the cross rc^s. 245, a»/ 293
In some districts the space at the rear of buildings is allowed
lUus. 247.
Illus. 250-
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 334
to be taken as an average measurement, in which case the corner
treatment shown in Illustration 246 may be adopted. Even under
the more rigid existing bye-laws the ends of the buildings should
be considered as front elevations, and the erection of a high
wall, with arched openings through to the rear, might serve to
link the houses together and help the architectural effect. Where
only one street branches off from the m^n road, and where it
is not desired to keep open any special view opposite this street,
the junction may be emphasised by breaking the building line
Illui. 346. — Read jtoKlion vhert average /Hut. ^T .—Read jtmetian juhert sfiaee tU lit
meatwtmmt for eftn sfituet at Iht rear side of Ihe bialdittg en a corner lite mq)'
is allaoed. be substituted fir tfact at the rear.
Opposite, and so producing something in the nature of a small
square ; this would balance the break which occurs owing to the
street junction, so that looking down the main street from either
direction a frame for the street picture and some extent of Jront
elevation of buildings on each side of the road would be secured.
On corner mtes where the area at the side of a building is allowed to
count in the place of that usually required at the rear, many other
Arrangements become possible, such as that shown on Illustration 247.
Other plans for treating the junctions of roads by means of houses
placed across the corner are shown in Illustrations 250-253.
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 335
In the latter case a continuous line for the buildings may be obtained, lllus.
which is often very important for producing a satisfactory effect. ///«".
The restlessnesBof many arrangements of street corners and junctions //'»«-
is due to breaks in the roof lines, and it is only to a limited degree •'''»«■
that the use of high hedges or walls may help to tie the buildings ^''''"■
together and to emphasise the grouping. Often roads cannot be
planned to cross one another at right angles, and many social
arrangements will be required in these cases. Very often it will be
mse to neglect the road line to some extent and secure some
lUus. ajfi.— Road junction when the
art entirtly iuill up.
building line that will in itself be satisfactory ; in other cases it
may be possible to secure that the roads shall meet, forming three „,
equal angles in one central point. When this can be arranged, andj^ia.
various symmetrical plans for treating the corner become possible, /Uiu. 253.
such as those shown on Illustrations 253-257. ///w. 254.
In the case of Illustration 253 the houses forming the terminal ///or. ass-
features to the roads are set forward, and their angles form a frame /'/««■ 256.
to the terminal feature opposite, down whichever of the roads the
view is taken. In the case of Illustration 255 the picture is limited /i/ut. 257.
:. 349- — Aittmativ* arrttngiiHtiH af nad jtmctUn with cantiHuatu ivaf lint mmtttai)i4d.
m.
\ \
lUus, aW-^Soad Jmutien mitt tpmaUr (&- W«". asl—Xtadjui^uinmtifiir»Mild-
liimdbuildiHg.fiHiikingiquart B>iiA botk "^ «' ''• ""-
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 338
by the buildings which are square with the road, and the terminal
feature consists of a long, narrow house planned to carry Une with
the houses on each side, somewhat as shown in Illustration 252, or
recessed a little as shown in Illustration 255. Illustration 254 shows
an alternative arrangement where an opening between the buildings,
which may be of greater or less extent according to the desirability
lUms. 234a. of giving greater or less outlook at the end of the street, forms
the central terminal feature. Where desirable, this opening; may be
partly closed by a wall or an archway as indicated on the plan,
where roads are meeting at an irregular angle, sometimes the
lUus. 261. buildings may take a geneial hexagonal form as shown in lUustradon
nius, 357.
lUus. 258a.
Illus. 256. — Sketch showing effect of treatmsnt ptanned as Illus. 255.
nius. 261. 261. Illustrations 262 and 262a show a rather interesting example
of the way in which the town planner*s preliminary ideas of a road
junction were modified by the architect to whom was entrusted the
design of the buildings around it, the essentials of the scheme being
Illus. 262. maintained. Illustration 262 show;s the buildings arranged for
detached or almost detached houses round a junction where four
nius. 262a. roads meet. Illustration 262^2 gives the block plan of the buildings
as designed by the architect.
lllus. 358.— PAelo ofbuiil-up a
Illus. asg. — Arutidil, skcrming eomfUlely built up c,
Illus. l6o and ^Xta.—iypical Modem S
m from main road and from
OF PLOTS jAND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 343
Sometimes the angles at which roads meet, or the character of thdr
curves and bends, do not lend themselves to the placing of terminal
lUm. 363. — Imgular rood Jimcti«it fltumea
Jor ^ati^d bididingj ^ardmg Urminaii
te two of iMd road fUiurts, and franus
Jarlht „--■"•
■PUm if imldiiigi for Ikt
"m at Ilbu. 363, dtsigmd
by Mr. M. H. BaiiiU
features square mth the line of vision, nor should we desire to
repeat such treatment monotonously. An alternative plan is to
arrange something of a cluster of budding? showing some grou[ntig
344
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 345
in the roof lines which, when seen in perspective) may form a lllus. 221,
satisfactory finish to our street 'view. '53> 156, 97.
In planning buildings round a green where any specially interesting
view exists, it may often be desirable to splay the sides somewhat.
This would very greatly add to the extent of view obtainable from
the houses, particularly those on each side.
On curved roads it will very often produce a satisfactory street
picture to allow the houses to follow pretty much the line of
the road, generally keeping the face of the buildings square with
a line touching the curve opposite the centre of the group of
'»^-
^ 1
^K M*^'' .'•"'"^'rtg^
^.T5a■**^?^^ .'t»S-. "1
^
r \
•
fa
LT
•
4«««
^'^J
Jlltis, 264. — Similar arrangement to that shown on Jllus. 263 for bend of smaller angley and
with terminals and buildings designed to frame and define the strut pictures,
buildings. This arrangement is apt sometimes to produce an
awkward line cutting diagonally across the centre of the street
picture, owing to the vanishing perspective of the roof lines on the
one side of the street which alone fill up the centre of the view ;
in such a case it may be desirable to so group the buildings
that terminal features square with certain lengths of road will
come into the picture. Where houses are built fairly closely
together, in rows or groups of three or four, it may be desirable nius. 263-
to make such arrangements to avoid breaking up uncomfortably 2^*
an otherwise orderly series of roof lines. Several examples of
this treatment are shown in Illustrations 263-66.
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 346
The question of roof lines is one of considerable importance to
the total effect of the site when planned. It is true that a mass
of irr^ular roof lines may be exceedingly picturesque ; but where
a considerable number of these tines are arranged in a regular
and orderly manner, if it becomes necessary to break this orderly
arrangement, it must be done with some care, otherwise a jarring
note of disorder may be introduced. Many sites seem to reqmre,
and certunly lend themselves to, iir^rular planning ; such an one
is the Bird's Hill Estate of the Garden City Tenants at Letchworth,
where an irregularly shaped piece of land on the hillside.
Ilka. 365. — Gtvt^t af imldmgi dttignsd to m ai n t am ipuot no/ Hiut e» » attving reaA
commanding considerable views to the south and west, and having
a depth too great to be developed entirely from the r<»d frontage,
and too small to require a second road, had to be dealt with.
Here definite breaks m the line of the buildings were arranged
to keep open the views from some of the cottages which, owing
to the aspect, were made to face into the interior spaces ; and
partly in order to open up more of the western view of the cottages
surrounding the short drive, and partly to avoid an awkward angle
with Group 4, Group 5 was splayed in relation to the drive.
On the adjacent piece of land known as Pixmore Hill, also
1
1
I
I
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 348
developed by the Garden City Tenants, the general shape of the
plot being square, the development was carried out on more regular
Unes, and except that a few of the groups were set across the
north-eastern corner to preserve the existing copse at that corner,
nearly all the groups of cottages on this site were placed square
with one another. Such departures from the regular plan as may
arise from the attempt to take some advantage of the features
lUus, 76'J,— Garden City Tenants. Bird's Hill Estate, Letchworth. Irregular lay-<na
to suit site, with plantation defining the area.
of the site the designer should feel free to adopt, at the same time
adopting them in a straightforward and orderly manner. It is
the mere aimless arrangement, such as one finds springing from
an ill-considered reaction against formal design, that offends
ag^nst one's sense of order without satisfying any definite require-
ment of the case.
In considering the shape of plots, apart from the question of
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 349
the expense of the road front^, it is by no means clear which
is the best to adopt. There is strong prejudice on the part of the
public in favour of detached or semi-detached houses. This has
probably arisen to some extent from the very poor party-walls
generally built between houses, and the consequent annoyance
arising from the noise of one house being so clearly heard in
the next. There arc, of course, conveniences in the planning,
lighting, and vendlating of detached houses, ' in that windows
can be obtained on all four sides, and to a less d^;ree in semi-
detached, where they can be obtained on three sides ; but even
where houses are buut in groups of from three to six, if the central
ones are given ample frontage in proportion to their areas, it
is easy to plan them so that thorough lighting and ventilation
are obtained ; greater length of garden can be arranged and
greater distance oetween the baclcs of the houses is thus secured.
nius. 270.
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 350
If the two diagrams shown are compared with one another, the
advantages and disadvantages of the two arrangements will at once
be seen. With the square plot and the detached house in the
centre of it, the garden is necessarily cut up into several pieces
at the front and sides which are of little practical value, while the
main garden at the back has no single dimension large enough
to produce any sense of size or to develop any vista. In the long,
narrow garden, however, the reverse is the case. All the ground
is in the most valuable position ; and having one long dimen^on,
good vistas may be developed, while there can be no doubt that
from the architectural point of view the grouping of the buildings
to some extent is almost essential for the production of good street
pictures.
Uus, 271.
Illm. 272.
IHus. 273
liius, 291.
Illus. ^•'^Detaehid houses tn eentn of tlots, lllus. 270. — Plan showing extra depth of garden
Eight houses to the acre. and distance' apart ^ the houses whin they
are built in groups^ also eight to the acre.
In residential districts one of the greatest difficulties to be
contended with is the constant multiplication of buildings too
small in scale to produce individually an effect in the road, and
every opportunity should be taken to group buildings so that units
may be produced of a larger scale. Even where it is not possible
to avoid much repetition of semi-detached or detached houses, they
should be so arranged as to give some sense of grouping. The set-
back of three or four pairs of houses and the arrangement of
a continuous green in front of them, with the proper treatment
of the houses at each end, which are set forward again to the
building line, will of itself produce some grouping ; or the street
may be widened and a double avenue of trees planted on this
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 351
length ; and in many other similar ways, especially where it is
possible for the site planner to be in touch with the de^gner
of the buildings, much may be done to produce interest and variety
in the street pictures, while at the same time maintwning the
general sense of unity which is usually so wanting in modem
suburban roads. Also in the spacing of the buildings some
variety may be obtained, the purs forming the individual group
being kq)t nearer together and a sufficient break being arranged
before the commencement of the next group. But the uneven
spacing of the distance between the pairs in an irregular manner
is anything but pleasing, and where detached or semi-detached
bmldings stand by themselves some regularity or rhythm in their
spacing is an important matter to secure.
From the groups of houses to be found round old English village
greens, or in our cathedral closes, we may get valuable suggestions, jn^^^ ,33^
The tendency of the modem individual has been to build his house 294.
in such a way as to emphasise its detachment and difference from
u
I
1!
^\
I1f
III
111
III
Mil
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 353
alJ its neighbours, but no beauty can arise from the mere creation
cf detached units. So long as we are confined to the endless w
multiplication of carefully fenced in villas, and rows of cott^es
toeing the same building line, each with its little garden securely *''
railed, reminding one of a cattle-p)en, the result is bound to ^
be monotonous and devoid of beauty. It must be our effort
to counteract this tendency and to prove that greater enjoyment
to each householder can be secured by grouping the buildings
so that they may share the outlook over a wider strip of green
or garden — in fact, that by some d^ree of co-operation more
enjoyment of the available land can be secured than by divicting
it all up into individual plots, and railing each in.
>'¥4*v*i^''^^„
lUut. 375. — Hampitead Garden Suburb, tUus. 276. — HampsUad Garden Suburb.
Group of targe keuset with simple Grvup ef large houses vith carria^
tarriage drive oicess. drive circling loam.
In planning groups of houses around greens or subsidiary roads
great variety of arrangement is possible. In some cases a simple
footpath round the small green is all that is necessary, the
distance from the front door of the most distant house to the
roadway not being greater than one often finds in houses that
are buUt at the end of a longish garden.
Where a road or carriage drive is used the most economical plan
is to make a single drive with a carriage turn at the head of
it, as shown in Illustration 275. With this arrangement some lUus. 275.
common tennis-courts may be provided at the back of the houses if
/Uh*. Vn.—HamfsUod Gardtn Suitirt. Quadrtuult ef kauttt witi carriage driot drtling latmt-
caurt, built fir tht Hamptttad TtHOHtt, ZJmiltd. Ste Ilhts. 392.
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 355
desired ; but although this is the most economical way, it has the
disadvantage that the green or lawn is not available as a decoration Illus. 276.
for the street. Illustrations 276 and 277 show a plan in which
the green forms the centre, and the carriage drive runs round it. ^^- ^77
Where the length of the cross road is greater the arrangement ^^*
shown in Illustration 278 may, if adopted, still secure a public lUui. 27Z.
green in the centre.
Where it is desirable to develop a considerable area of back land
the arrangement shown in Illustration 279 or 280 may be adopted ; ///«». 279-
the first being planned for larger houses with two lawns, the second nius. 380
for smaller cottages with two lawns or children's playgrounds, and
Ilhis. %'j%,^^Pairs of Abuses arranged ro$md a gntn,
a bowling-green. In all these cases the land is developed from
a road on to which the buildings would naturally front, but
examples will occur where it is desirable to develop from a road
at the back of the houses. One or two examples of this are given. niusMii.
This method is likely to be useful where the land adjoins an open
space, park, river, or other feature affording a desirable outlook.
In suburban districts the question of fences presents special diffi-
culties. Few details are more depressing than the masses of new
fencing often seen round a series of little suburban building plots.
The carefully fenced-ofF front garden patch tends to emphasise the
detachment of the units, whereas, from the point of view of
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 3J6
the street picture, it is of the greatest importance to emph^se
their relation and grouping. In America such fences have been
lai^ely dispensed with, the front strip of garden being left open to
the rc^ ; and even in larger gardens than we are considering at the
moment the ground is often left open from plot to plot, without
any dividing hedge or fence. In some cases a very fine effect can
be produced in this way ; but English people desire some privacy in
their gardens, and there can be no doubt that enclosure imparts at
any rate a sense of peace, and is almost an essential part of a garden
as we understand the word in England.
Ilhu. an.—Arraiigtmaa for tUvili^ittg grtaier depth ef Umd if
The question is whether the privacy obtained by means of the
usual 4-ft, wall or fence compensates for the ugliness of the fences
themselves. Nothing less than 6 feet in height can really secure
privacy from the next garden, and very often this — though enough
to give a fair sense of enclosure — would not secure privacy from
the upper windows of the neighbouring house. As most of the
dividing fences afford little real privacy, it would seem better
to awsut the growth of hedges and shrubberies ; moreover, it is
poswble by means of these to enclose parts of the garden, without
necessarily enclosing the whole space, or following exactly the lines
of the plot. In laying out a large garden the gardener rarely
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BVILDINGS 357
leaves It all open, but ^ms at securing separate endosed spaces,
«ich having its treatment and charm, the whole series so arranged
that whether one looks at the whole or at the individual portions
the effect is good. There can be no doubt that in the treatment
of numerous little garden plots the nearer we can approach to this
plan the better. In the front gardens the dividing fences between
the plots serve little purpose. It is rarely that any privacy at
all can be secured in these small plots ; they exist primarily to
protect the house from the dust and noise of the road, and its
windows from being directly overlooked by passers-by ; and,
secondarily, as an extended street decoration. For n«ther of these
functions is the dividing fence of any service. Where the houses
stand slightly above the road a retaining wall affords sufficient
protection, and the garden may be level mth the top of the wall.
Divisions may be introduced at the ends of special groups of houses, Z/'"^- 27a.
and may there be marked by a wall or high hedge, which would
help to emphasise the group. Where some form of fence is
desired, probably the best is a ample trellis, preferably of inter-
twined laths, unobtrusive in colour, and up which all sorts of
climbing plants may readily twine ; by the use of such fence it
is possible to secure what would practically have the appearance
of a well-grown hedge much more quickly than the hedge by
itself could grow ; but if people were willing to spend as much
»5
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 358
money on the planting of the hedges as they usually spend on a
dividing fence or wall, a much better grown hedge than one often
sees to new. houses could be secured at once. Trellis is made in
Ilbu. aSl. — Creufit ef small gardmi disigmd Ic product some total effiet.
many patterns and styles ; it lends itself to vanation in height, so
that special portions of the garden in which privacy is desired can
be screened by higher trellis, without the necessity of having the whole
of the fencing the same height. In this matter of fencing it is,
lUus. 283. — Skovnng convergittg ftttcu. Illus. 283. — SAewiitg an enhardtn platl ofthesi,
again, the endless repetition of the lines that is really objectionable ;
many an old garden wall from 6 to 8 feet high forms an interesting
and beautiful reature in a street picture, and the enclosure of a group
OF PLOTS AND PLACING OF BUILDINGS 359
of gardens by a high wall may often be rather an advantage than
otherwise, while the enclosure of each individual garden by such a
wall would produce an appearance which one could not liken to
anything but a wilderness of walls.
On sites on curved streets, for example, where the gardens diminish
in width almost to a vanishing point, the concentration of fences at
such a point is most unpleasing ; but if all these useless strips of Illus, 282
ground as they near this point, instead of being separated, could be ^^ ^^^'
thrown together to produce a small orchard, a lawn, a hazel copse,
a playground for the children, or an allotment garden, a sense of
orderly design would at once be given to the ground, and the
fences or hedges between the remaining portions of the garden plots
would lose much of the ugliness arising from their concentration
near the central point.
In all probability there is no way of dealing with these masses
of small garden plots without the introduction of some form of
co-operative laying out and development, the advantage of which
will be referred to later.
X~OF BUILDINGS, AND HOW THE VARIETY OF
EACH MUST BE DOMINATED BY THE HARMONY
OF THE WHOLE
THE laying out of building sites, whether mthin the town
area or in the residential districts, is so intimately bound
up with the nature of the buildings likely to be erected
on them that some reference to the general character of these must
be made, and some consideration given to the conditions which
influence that character, particularly from the point of view of
the total effect produced in the street or town* In comparing the
architectural results produced to*day with those of earlier periods
of our history, we must recognise the great change which has
taken place. We may say roughly that at any other period than
the modern, there has existed a fairly widespread and consistent
style of building ; and although this has been a developing and
changing style, still, in the main, the development was slow,
and the changes spread gradually and evenly over the country, or,
at any rate, over large districts of it. No doubt at the period
of the Renaissance there was a condition more approaching to what
we know to-day, a new style being introduced largely by foreign
influence, which for some time was developed concurrently with the
old English Gothic, and was developed for certain purposes more
thoroughly and consistently than for others. But even this style
gradually spread until it became a prevailing one, and nothing
parallel to the present condition of affairs was produced. At any
of these earlier periods a site planner, laying out his site, would have
some fair idea as to what was likely to be erected upon it, and
would know that whatever buildings were erected on the different
plots would be in the main harmonious in style. No such harmony
can be counted on to-day. Buildings are being erected in all con-
ceivable styles, the majority, alas ! with little or none ; and except
where some form of guidance or regulation can be introduced, no
harmony or consistency can be counted on by the town planner.
Another change in the character of buildings has been brought
about by the development of cheap railway carriage for materials.
In former days a general harmony of building in any district was
secured by the economic necessity of using mainly local materials.
We do, indeed, read of exceptional cases in which building stones
were conveyed great distances for special buildings, but in the main
each district was built of the materials most readily available there ;
and in each district there was developed a style suited to these
materials, and the skilled handling of these revealed itself in the
details of the work. From this fact there resulted, first, a great
360
///hi. 2S4. — Siiiia. View showing general harmony ef building materials used.
V siiim/ing general
OF BUILDINGS 363
harmony of colour and style in each village or town ; and, second,
a great variety of colour and style between the different towns and
different districts. In spite of the harmony of colour and materials
it is seldom that any sense of monotony is produced in the older
parts of our villages and towns ; while the individuality which
the varying treatment of different towns and districts produced is
undoubtedly one of the greatest causes of the charm and interest
of the scenery of Great Britain.
Cheap railway carriage has, however, upset all this. It has at once
destroyed the individuality of our districts and the harmony of their
buildings. In place of these it tends to reduce all places to a similar
jumble of colours and materials which is fondly referred to as
** variety." Is it necessary for us to regard this state of affairs as
permanent ? Because we have cheap railway carriage, must we
necessarily spend our time and energy in shuffling the materials
characteristic of each district over the whole of the country }
Surely it should be possible to check this process, and the first thing
required is that both architects and the public should consider their
buildings more from the point of view of their effect on the whole
town. So long as each architect and each client thinks only of his
own building, how individual and how noticeable he can make it,
little progress in the total effect can be expected. Architects should fl^us. 233.
be trained to think first of how their building will take its place in ///"-f- 284.
the picture already existing. The harmony, the unity which binds
the buildings together and welds the whole into a picture, is so much /-^/^j- 285.
the most important consideration that it should take precedence.
Within the limits of this enclosing unity there is plenty of scope
for variety, without resorting to that type which destroys all har-
mony by its blatant shouting. Surely some public opinion could be
formed among architects themselves on this point. Certain materials
and treatments obviously discordant in a district could be ruled out
by common consent of the profession. There is no doubt that in
this advertising age some little sacrifice of individual interest might
be involved in this course. The business man at any rate believes
that he must shout if he is to live, and naturally desires his architect
to help him to make his building do some of the shouting for him.
The young and original architect, too, must become known if he is to
secure commissions, and a little shouting in his earlier buildings may
greatly aid him. But, if we are to have beauty of surroundings — and
for what does the profession of architecture exist if it is not to pro-
duce beautiful surroundings? — we must set our faces against the
development of such incongruities in our buildings as completely
OF BUILDINGS 364
destroy the harmony of our street pictures. Harmony does not
require monotony, but a proper relation between the different
colours and parts.
By all means let the architect revel in colour, let him develop colour
schemes. Both in his site planning and in the buildings themselves
much may be done in this direction without producing the mere
jumble of incongruous colours which marks so many of our streets
and suburbs. The external appearance of a building is so much
more important to the public at large than it is to the individual
occupant or owner, that there would seem to be clear justification for
the exercise of some public supervision of the designs of buildings ;
and unless an improvement can be brought about by an educated
public opinion, there is little doubt that sooner or later definite
public control will be demanded. Difficult as it is for any form of
artistic expression to be put under arbitrary r^ulations without its
being seriously checked or even destroyed, nevertheless, it is pos-
sible by means of suggestion and supervision to obtain a certain
minimum standard of design, to secure a certain degree of harmony,
and at any rate to avoid the perpetration of such monstrous examples
of ugliness as too often disfigure the country to-day. Where building
estates are developed by individual owners, or by companies or
associations, as, for example, the First Garden City Company, and
the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, it is clearly both their right
and their duty to endeavour, by the supervision of the plans of all
buildings to be erected on their estates, to secure some definite
scheme of development. They do npt make any profession that
the scheme which they lay down is necessarily the best or the only
good one ; nor need they, in rejecting or criticising plans submitted
to them, take up the attitude that these are in themselves bad. It
is only necessary that they should state that they would not fall in
with the total effect aimed at in this particular suburb or estate.
Experience shows that by means of such supervision a condderable
degree of harmony of design may be obtained ; that objectionable
features may be eliminated ; and that, although it is not possible to
secure by criticism really good designs from those who have not the
power to make them, still it is possible to improve the designs of
such people up to a point where they will at any rate form a harm-
less bacl^round for better buildings, and will not clash with the
general scheme.
In all cases where the supervision of plans is attempted it should be
by somebody who is either the site planner himself or is thoroughly
in touch and in sympathy with his aims ; and it should be carried
Illus. 2S6. — high SfAgsl, Edinburgh, ihauiing general grouping ef classical buildings.
Illui. aSj.—RmAeniurg. StandfcinI XI on Illus. %9&.~Rethenburg. SlaadpainI XII
Fold Plan in. Si. Jacob's C/imrli ; an FM Plan III. /mgi.lar gabled
txampli of Gothic building. sireel typical of Calhic Icroin.
^§
OF BUILDINGS 367
out, as far as possible, by means of suggestions offered before the
plans are prepared. Where the site planner, to complete his street
picture, requires even roof lines he should be able to suggest heights
for eaves and ridge ; where he desires to m^nt^n definite colour
schemes he should be able to suggest materials and treatment in
accordance with these schemes.
Where the position of his building requires a symmetrical, picturesque,
or other special treatment to complete some effect aimed at, he should
be able to suggest this treatment to the architect or builder who is
responsible for the building on the plot. By such suggestions,
wisely made, very much may be secured that will be helpful to the
total effect. Suggestions will often be welcomed when criticisms to
the same effect would be resented. Where, to complete some
scheme, a special degree of harmony in the style and character of
the building is required, it may often be possible to fix on an archi-
tect who is to be employed by any one wishing to build within the
area covered by the scheme. Or two or three architects may be
asked to meet together and agree on a style and treatment for a
certain group of buildings, and the lessees of individual plots in
this group may then employ any one of these architects. All
these methods have been tried on the Hampstead Garden Suburb,
and it will be strange if experience will not provide one which may
be applicable to the general control of buildings by the public acting
through their municipalities or other local bodies.
The difficulties of such public control are undoubtedly very great,
but the evils which result from absolute lack of control are even
greater. Without touching at all the higher regions of art and
design, where differences of opinion might well come in, there is a
mass of building erected which architects would be unanimous in
condemning. That there may be great difficulty in establishing a
criterion for judging hardly seems a sufficient reason for making no
attempt whatever to criticise or veto buildings which, to quote
Robert Louis Stevenson, ** belong to no style of art, only to a form
of business much to be regretted."
Other methods might be adopted besides that of direct criticism.
Good design in building might be encouraged by means of rewards,
both honourable and material, given annually to the architects and
builders of the best buildings in the town. Where a specially good
building is desirable on account of its prominent position, the build-
ing owner might be induced to agree to improvements in his design
by means of some reduction in the rating of the building for a short
period, or other quid pro quo which it might be within the power of
the local authorities to offer.
OF BUILDINGS ... 3^^
The simplest and most easily enforced r^idations of buildings would
be such as those requiring the use of certain materials in certain
streets, fixing definite rootlines and angles, and in the case of shops
perhaps fixing a definite height for the main fascia line of the
shop windows. This is not the place to discuss the different
styles of architecture except as they affect the town or site planner,
but from his point of view there may be said to be two styles of
lllus, 286, work, the picturesque and the formal or symmetrical. Of the first
287, 288. Gothic is the best example, with its irregularly shaped masses, its
gabled and pinnacled roof lines, and freedom of treatment both in
balance and proportion. To the second class belongs classical archi-
tecture, usually marked by regular cube-shaped masses, symmetry
of balance, and simple unbroken roof lines without gables or
pinnacles.
To the picturesque style of architecture irregularity of site and lack
of symmetry in arrangement offer no difficulty. English domestic
architecture very largely belongs to this class. Though many clas-
sical buildings have been successfully designed for irregular sites,
there can be no doubt that for this type of architecture a regular
and formal lay-out is much better adapted ; for it does not lend
itself to the production of picturesque irregularities, nor do clusters
of such buildings, designed without regard to one another, produce
successful groupings, as often happens with similar buildings of
the more picturesque types of architecture. Such formal designs,
depending as they do on proportion and repetition of the parts and
on strongly marked horizontal cornices and roof lines, need space
Illus, 198. for their development ; and where, as in an ordinary English
shopping street, buildings of narrow frontage have to be designed
in close proximity to each other without regulations as to heights
and styles, the painful breaks in cornices and window lines which
have resulted from the use of this style of architecture are
destructive of any satisfactory street picture.
On an estate where some opportunity for suggestion and some
degree of regulation are to be secured for the town planner, many
things may be attempted which might otherwise be out of the
lllus, 227. question. He will give much thought to his roof and sky lines
and on sloping sites will attempt to secure the necessary breaks in
lllus, 289. the roof lines in such a way that satisfactory grouping at these
points may be obtained. He will try to reduce the number of
breaks on such roofs by planning his groups of houses so that the
taller ones with higher rooms or additional storeys may occupy
the lower ground and those with lower rooms and fewer storeys
OF BUILDINGS 371
the higher. Where the difference in level between two sides of a
road is slight he may, in like manner, by arranging for higher houses
on the low side of the road and lower ones on the high side, secure
an even balance between the roof lines.. He will also use the breaks
in his building line in conjunction with the breaks in the roof line Hits. 290.
to help in the effect he is aiming at, which effect may be of various
kinds ; either he may seek to disguise the hill or to emphasise it ; lUus. 231
or he may concentrate the emphaas at certain points, producing "^ in-
here and there something of a cliff effect in his buildings. Indeed,
it is not so much the details of the individual buildings that will
concern him as the general masses and roof lines; for he is attempting
to produce a total effect in the picture, he is tliinking of the whole
rather than of the unit, or of the unit only as forming part of the
whole.
In the same way he will apportion his materials with a view to
some colour scheme. He will avoid monotony, not by an
irregular jumble of materials and colours, but by a sufficient
though unobtrusive variation in the different buildings, leading
up to more definite breaks in colour in certain parts ; treating
differently different roads or prarts of roads, and so producing
interest and variety on his estate, which will be greatly helped
by the sense of unity maintained in each individual part, and of
harmony over the whole.
In the more suburban areas especially it becomes of great import-
ance to group the buildings. Hardly anything is more monotonous
than the repetition of detached or semi-detached houses, and this
monotony is Httle relieved by variety in the individual houses,
OF BUILDINGS .373
owing to the fact that no total effect in the street is produced.
The variety is, as it were, unrelated variety. A practicable com- lUus. 290 .
promise giving most of the real advantages of semi-detached houses ^'^ ^^'^'
may be made by having passages between every pair, built over on
the first floor, through which access to the gardens at the back
of the centre houses may be obtained. By this means, on the
ground floor at any rate, complete separation of the two buildings
is secured, while on the upper floor the space over the passage may
often be occupied by bath or box rooms on one side, at any rate, of
the party wall, so th&t little disadvantage could arise from the noise
passing from one house to the other. In this way the grouping
of 4, 6, or 8 houses can be attained. This treatment may be
carried a step farther if two or three of such groups are treated ///«j. 271.
as one design. A central feature in the middle block, or pro-
nounced wing features at the ends of the side blocks, may help
to give a degree of coherence to the whole ; while the treatment ///«j. 291.
of the gardens and even of the street itself may be varied opposite
such an enlarged group to give the needful emphasis.
Care must be taken to maintain a certain relation in the scale of
the different buildings adjacent to one another. This does not
mean that necessarily larger buildings and smaller ones cannot
be combined, but rather that in their treatment the scale of the
two and the individual features must be kept in such relation that
they will combine satisfactorily. So long as this comparative scale
is kept in mind great advantage will result from combining buildings ///«^. 290
of somewhat different size. In groups of 4 or 6 cottages, for ^^^^7^-
example, the two at the end may well be somewhat larger, and
will thus materially help the design by giving the opportunity
for breaks in the frontage line and perhaps a different treatment
of the roof. ,
In planning sites for public bmldings many special considerations
should be taken into account ; for instance, one sees in towns
school sites with expensive paved and macadamised roads running
on two or three sides of the playground. The money wasted in
useless road frontage in such a case would have been far better
devoted to a larger site on which some grass and trees could have
been planted. It is, of course, important in a school site that
there should be sufficient points of access for the scholars, but
it is an advantage rather than otherwise that the access should
not open out too directly on to the high-roads. There should,
indeed, be some space for the children to disperse without going
into conflict with the ordinary road traffic. This applies not only
OF BUILDINGS . . 374
to school sites but to sites for all other public buildings where people
congr^;ate in large numbers. Places of worship, in which special
attention is likely to be devoted to architecture, should be so placed
as to afford the maximum of decoration to the district. As terminal
features at the ends of streets they are well seen, but very often thdr
towers, domes, or pinnacles rising up behind the other buildings
would form an equally beautiful decoration to the street, and the
site planner should always be on the look-out for opportunities of
bringing such decoration into his street views, leaving openings,
arranging pathways, or prescribing some low buildings, where helpnil
for this purpose.
The mistake of isolating buildings with the intention of their being
exceptionally well seen b^is already been referred to when treating
of the importance of enclosing places in towns. We have indeed
in our English villages many beautiful examples of isolated church
buildings ; in most cases, however, the church itself is of a simple
character and is surrounded by ancient trees, which go far to
remove any sense of its isolation ; but even in these cases, beautiful
as they are, it seldom happens that the church produces so great an
effect in beautifying the village as where it comes more completely
lllus, 128. into the street picture, as in the photograph of Astbury.
XL— OF COOPERATION IN SITE PLANNING, AND
HOW COMMON ENJOYMENT BENEFITS THE IN-
DIVIDUAL.
THE consideratioii of mte planning can hardly have failed
to empha^se still further what appeared so evident when
considering the question of town planning, namely, that the
features which we deplore in the present condition of our residential
areas have been largely due to the excessively individualistic
character of their development. We have referred in an earlier
chapter to the fact that towns and suburbs are the expression of
something in the lives of those who build them. The fact that our
town populations have been too much mere aggregations of
struggling units, having little orderly relationship one with the
other, and little of corporate life, has naturally expressed itself in
our street plans and in the arrangement of sites. The absence of
any attempt to develop with a view to making the, best of the
whole site for the benefit of everybody dwelling on it, and of
any unity and harmony in the total effect produced, are but too
evident.
In feudal days there existed a definite relationship between the
different classes and individuals of society^ which expressed itself
in the character of the villages and towns in which dwelt those
communities of interdependent people. The order may have been
primitive in its nature, unduly despotic in character^ and detri-
mental to the development of the full powers and liberties of
the individual, but at least it was an order. Hitherto the growth
of democracy, which has destroyed the old feudal structure of
society, has but left the individual in the helpless isolation of
his freedom. But there is growing up a new sense of the rights
and duties of the community as distinct from those of the individual.
It is coming to be more and more widely realised that a new
order and relationship in society are required to take the place of
the old, that the mere setting free of the individual is only the
commencement of the work of reconstruction, and not the end.
The town planning movement and the powers conferred by
legislation on municipalities are strong evidence of the growth of
this spirit of association. To no one can this growth appeal more
strongly than to the architect, who must realise that his efforts to
improve the design of individual buildings will be of comparatively
little value until opportunity is again afforded of bringing them
into true relationship one with the other, and of giving in each
case proper weight and consideration to the total effect. In the
planning of our towns in future there will be opportunity for
375
OF COOPERATION IN SITE PLANNING 376
the common life and welfare to be considered first ; how are we to
secure that consideration for the commonweal shall also come first
in the planning of our sites and buildings ? To some extent the
Elanning of sites and buildings will, no doubt, be taken in hand
y the community, as organised in its municipality ; but there seems
no need to wait until the development of corporate life and feeling
has reached the stage at which it would seem natural for the
community to carry out for itself through its own ofi^cials the entire
development of its towns and homes ; it may be better that
smaller bodies, more responsive to the initiative of individual
pioneers, should deal with the more detailed work. There is a
wide field for the activities of companies, associations, and co-oper-
ative societies, and for what the Germans call Societies of Public
Utility, to develop suburban areas and sites, on lines which shall
place first t^ie good of the whole of their community. The
way has been shown to some extent by individuals. Mr.
Cadbury at Bournville, Mr. Lever at Port Sunlight, and Mr.
Rowntree at Earswick have all as pioneers broken ground, and
demonstrated how great are the improvements possible in the
housing of the people. Others are following their example, as,
notably, Mr. Cory in South Wales and Sir Arthur Paget at
Wolverhampton. The First Garden City at Letchworth and
the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust are examples of companies
banded together for the purpose of experimenting on a larger scale
in the development of new towns and suburbs, while the various
Co-partnership Tenants* Societies are proving the value of co-opera-
tion in the development of the sites themselves, and in the building
of the houses upon them. Many estates have, of course, been
developed in the past by co-operative societies with a view to
housing their members, and in a sense they are co-operatively
developed. Too often, however, co-operation has ceased with the
purchase of the estate, and the development has been carried
out very much on the old lines without a full realisation of the
opportunities which co-operation ofFers. It is the importance of
these opportunities which I wish to emphasise, and to illustrate
to some extent from the work of those Co-partnership
Tenants* Societies. In some cases, as in the Garden City at
Letchworth and the Garden Suburb at Hampstead, the roads and
the laying out of the land have been carried out by parent
bodies, and the Tenant Societies have developed co-operatively
the sites thus prepared. In other cases, as at Ealing, Manchester,
Birmingham, Leicester, &c., they have taken up sites of 50 to 100
////«. 2<)'i.—Hamp!lcaH Garden Siiturb.
s I'iaci, sbotviiig thildriii's grtcn
Illiit. 294 — The Vka
OF CO-OPERATION IN SITE PLANNING 379
acres and have undertaken the construction of the subsidiary roads
themselves.
Consider how different is the position of the site planner when
designing for one of these co-operative societies from his position
when planning an area to be let in plots to individuals or speculative
builders. In the latter case his first consideration must be
the dividing up of the land into well-marked individual plots,
avoiding any joint usage or other complications — in fact, securing
first of all the absolute separation of each holding from its
neighbour. He cannot well provide sites even for minor
public buildings, for tliese will be chosen on individual lines and
only after the need for them has arisen. But in working for a
co-operative body, such as the Tenants' Society, where the houses
when built remdn the property of the association, the site planner
can approach the problem from a quite different point of view ; Illus. 169,
he at once begins to think of the good of the whole. Just as ^70, and 171,
in the other case he was bound to concentrate his attention on
making individual "sell-able" plots, now he can concentrate it
on the creation of a village community ; he can consider the needs
of such a community, how far they will be met by outside
opportunities already existing or likely to be developed, and how
far they will need to be met on the area of the site. The shops,
schools, institutes, and places of worship can all be considered,
and the most suitable sites for each reserved. Some place can
be arranged around which many of these buildings can be
grouped and a centre point to the plan be thus secured. The
designer can then proceed to lay out the buildings as a whole,
considering first their main lines and arrangement, with a view
to create a good total effect, and to preserve and develop any
fine views or other advantages the site may offer. It is not
necessary for him to think of the absolute isolation of his build-
ings ; this point, instead of being his first consideration, becomes
his last thought. The whole of the land remaining in one owner-
ship, there is no difficulty in the common enjoyment of footpaths,
greens, or other open spaces ; hence he is able to consider the
grouping of his buildings with much greater freedom. Where,
as may often happen in connection with such co-operative societies,
the architect who plans the site also plans the buildings, a most
complete opportunity is given for making the best of the site.
Only under some such circumstances is it possible to work up
the whole scheme in the right order, taking first the big interests
and the main lines, following on with the buildings in their masses
OF CO-OPERATION IN SITE PLANNING 381
and their grouping, working down to the individual buildings
themselves, and finally to the details of their arrangement,
placing the best rooms where it has been planned to give
the best aspect and the best outlook ; designing bay windows
to take advantage of views which have been kept open, giving
special attention and care to those elevations which will most
prominently come into the picture, and, indeed, welding the plan
of the site, the buildings, and the gardens, more and more into one
complete whole.
With a co-operative society it is safe to count also on the common
enjoyment of much of the garden space. It is, indeed, possible,
even where houses are sold to individuals, to arrange some degree
of associated use of gardens, as has often been done in the centres of
squares ; but difficult problems, both le^al and practical, are always
lllus. 296. — Group ef attaget vith a ce-opertUive centrt.
raised by such schemes, which do not arise where the whole of the
Mte is owned co-operatively. Where this is the case it becomes
possible to group the houses around greens, to provide playgrounds
for the children, bowling greens, croquet or tennis lawns or orna-
mental gardens for the elders, or allotment gardens for those who
wish for more ground than the individual plot affords. It becomes iii„s. 280,
possible also to carry out some consistent treatment of garden land, 292. 293-
such as the creation of an orchard ; for by a consistent planting
of fruit-trees in an orderly manner in a series of gardens, much -'''"^- ^^'i
of the beauty and effect of an orchard may be produced. In this '" ''
way it seems possible to hope that with co-operation there may
be introduced into our town suburbs and villages that sense of Ulus. 294-
, being the outward expression of an orderly community of people,
having intimate relations one with the other, which undoubtedly lltus. 295.
16
OF CO-OPERATION IN SITE PLANNING 382
is given in old English villages, and which has been the cause of
much of the beauty which we find there.
The growth of co-operation among cottage dwellers which wll, no
doubt, spring from the development of the Tenants' Copartnership
and other Societies of Public Utility which are undertaking, and no
doubt in fxiture will increasingly undertake, the erection of dwellings,
will lead to a need for something in the way of common rooms,
baths, washhouses, recreation-rooms, reading-rooms, and possibly
eventually common kitchens and dining-halls. These will give to
the architect the opportunity of introducing central features in his
Illus, 296. cottage group designs, like the dining-halls, chapels, and libraries
that we associate with colleges and almshouses.
However much we may strive to improve the individual cottage,
to extend its accommodation, and enlarge its share of garden or
public ground, it must for a long time, and probably for ever,
remsun true that the conveniences and luxuries wth which the few
rich are able to surround themselves cannot be multiplied so that
they can be added to every house. It is possible, however, and
indeed easy, by co-operation to provide for all a reasonable share
of these same conveniences and luxuries ; and if we once overcome
the excessive prejudice which shuts up the individual family and all
its domestic activities within the precincts of its own cottage, there
is hardly any limit to be set to the advantages which co-operation
may introduce. Nothing can be more wasteful, alike of first capital
cost, cost of maintenance and of labour, than the way in which
hundreds and thousands of little inefficient coppers are lit on
Monday morning, in small, badly-equipped sculleries, to carry out
insignificant quantities of washing. Here, at least, one would
think it possible to take a step in the direction of co-of)eration.
Where cottages are built in groups round a quadrangle, how simple
it would be to provide one centre where a small, well-arranged
laundry could be placed, with proper facilities for heating water,
plenty of fixed tubs with taps to fill and empty them, and with
properly heated drying-rooms. By two or three hours' use of such
a laundry each housewife could carry out her weekly wash more
expeditiously and more cheaply than she could do it at home.
Perhaps some play-room would need to be attached in which
the children could be within reach of their mothers, during the hour
or two they would be at work in the laundry. The distance to the
laundry from any of the cottages using it must not be too great,
and it would be better if it were accessible without passing through
the street. In connection with this laundry there might be an
OF COOPERATION IN SITE PLANNING 383
arrangement by which, at any time, a hot bath could be obtained
at a minimum charge. Where houses are built in continuous rows
it would be easy from such a centre to distribute hot water to all
of them, thus effecting a great saving in fuel, boilers, and plumbing
systems in the separate houses. Such an arrangement has been carried
out by the Liverpool Corporation in some of their dwellings. In
many other simple ways co-operation may provide for the needs
of the individual tenants. Cloisters or covered play-places for the
children ; public rooms of reasonable size, in which the individual
may entertain a number of guests, too many for the small accommo-
dation his cottage affords ; reading-room, and library at once suggest
themselves as obvious and easily managed projects. More difficult,
perhaps, is the question of the common kitchen and dining-hall,
and yet it is probably quite as uneconomical, in every sense of the
word, for forty housewives to heat up forty ovens and cook forty
scrappy dinners, as to do the weekly washing in the usual way.
Among the middle class the difficulty of obtaining efficient domestic
service is forcing large numbers of people to give up the privacy of
family life altogether and to live in boarding-houses and hotels ;
but by co-operation it is quite possible to combine all the valuable
elemejits of private family life with the advantages of a more
varied diet, less engrossing domestic labour and care, and a greater
degree of social intercourse, which are the features that attract so
many people to the life of the boarding-house and hotel — a kind of
life which is unsatisfactory owing to its entire destruction of family
life, just as the individual house is unsatisfactory owing to its
oppression of the individual by all the necessary details of that
life.
This, however, is carrying us beyond the scope of the present
subject. We should need a volume in order adequately to discuss
the advantages and the difficulties of co-operative living. Along
certain directions it is clearly possible, even with the present preju-
dices, to secure by co-operation very great advantages to the indi-
vidual ; but such a form of life can only be developed tentatively,
and the subject is considered here mainly as it affects town planning
and architecture. One cannot but feel that for successful work to
be produced in this field there must be some form of social life,
some system of social relationships, which must find expression,
and may be the means of introducing harmony into the work. We
see that in the great periods of architecture there have been definite
organisations of society, definite relationships, the interdependence
of different, clearly defined classes, and the association of large
OF CO-OPERATION IN SITE PLANNING 384
bodies of people, held together either by a common religion, a
common patriotism, or by the rules of a common handicraft guild.
Many of these uniting forces have been weakened or lost in modem
times. One naturally looks around to see in what way the unit
members of society, who have secured their freedom from so many
of the old restraints and guiding influences, are likely in the future
to be drawn and bound together. These units are undoubtedly
realising very strongly in the present day how limited is the life
which it is possible for them to obtain for themselves under con-
ditions of greater freedom from restraint and organisation. They
are seeking more and more to procure an extension of opportunities
through the State, the municipality, and other existing institutions,
and through numberless voluntary unions and associations. It
seems, therefore, likely that we may with some confidence predict
that co-operation will recover for society some organised form,
which will find expression in our architecture and the planning of
our towns and cities.
How far this more crystalline structure of society will be due to the
direct effort of the whole body, acting through the medium of its
State, municipal, and parochial organisations, and how far it will
spring from independent, voluntary societies, only time can show.
Experience alone can prove how far our present municipal organisa-
tions can advantageously carry the work of town planning, laying
out of sites, making of streets, and building of houses. Obvious
advantages would be found if the whole of the people living in a
limited area could co-operate for its development, for the laying
out of their city and the building of their houses. The possibilities
are greater and the convenience of the whole community can be more
thoroughly considered, the wider the area covered by the unit of
association. On the other hand, effective oversight of expenditure
and details and effective adaptability to new ideas are apt to decrease
in proportion as the magnitude of the unit of organisation increases.
The problem may well be worked out from both ends. The
municipalities will find how far they can wisely go, working from
the town-planning end ; while the smaller societies, beginning with
co-operative building, will find by experience how far they can
extend their sphere of operations without losing touch with the
individual needs. They will prove, also, how far the interests of
separate societies will come into conflict, and will need to be har-
monised by some federation, controlling in the interests of a wider
whole.
The whole question is more one of convenience and form of organ-
OF CO-OPERATION IN SITE PLANNING 385
isation than of principle. By the present haphazard system we
entrust the satisfaction of the community's needs to the individual,
who generally acts only when, and in so far as, that satisfaction falls
in with his own inclination, and his own limited view of his personal
interest. The real opposition of principle lies between this and the
organisation on co-operative lines of the spontaneous ministering
of the community to its own requirements. The form in which
this associated effort will organise itself is of secondary importance.
The essential thing is that it shall be as little artificial as possible,
that it shall be a spontaneous growth following the traditional lines
of development ; for in so far as it is the natural outcome of the
past and present life of the community will its foundation be firm
and its future assured.
XII— OF BUILDING BYEr-LAWS
WE have inddentally in an earlier chapter spoken of the
good work which bye-laws have done in checking the
worst evils of overcrowding and bad building. There
is, however, no doubt that the English building bye-laws do not
work alt<^ether satisfactorily when considered from the point of
view of good architecture. Any one who has been accustomed to
building under the various sets of bye-laws which are to be found
in different towns is able almost on entering a town to say which
of cert^n bye-kws are in force there, owing to the influence they
have on the buildings. Indeed, the abrupt and arbitrary manner in
which some of these regulations work has produced a type which
is practically bye-law architecture. Forms are distorted ; the roof
is exaggerated or depressed ; lines of space and height cut the
buildings at awkward angles ; street corners are spoiled by spaces
being left between the buildings just where it is important that they
should be carried round in a continuous group ; and feeble imitations
of old styles of building, needlessly prevented from being properly
constructed, are encouraged. It is not, of course, to be said that
the whole of the responsibility for this ugliness can be attributed to
the action of the bye-laws. The general low standard of design,
and the lack of imagination in working within the rules laid down,
greatly exaggerate the result. Neither must it be assumed from
this detrimental influence that restraints «on building are necessarily
harmful. There are many natural restraints which have no
tendency to produce ugliness ; nay, indeed, very much of the
beauty of buildings results from working within defined limitations.
Questions of cost, strength of materid, utility, and stability, all
exercise restraint on the builder, and he is constantly feeling these.
But there is this great difference between natural restr^nts and the
action of building bye-laws, that with the former the limits, though
fairly defined, are flexible in character. The height of the building
is strictly limited by the strength of the material of which it is
built, but a little increase in the material will allow of a little added
height where desired. So also with regard to cost ; the size of a
building of a given style is absolutely limited by the cost ; but a
little economy may be effected in one part in order to enable a little
extravagance to be indulged at another, where the design may seem
to require it. On the other hand, the line laid down by the building
bye-laws is a rigid and inflexible one. The builder is compelled to
conform to it, and in seeking to secure the utmost which the bye-
laws will allow him, he pushes his building, as it were, against an
unbending line or plane. His building becomes moulded by this,
386
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 387
and from this moulding springs what I have called " bye-law
architecture/' It is the hard-and-fast form of these building
regulations, coupled with the want of any sympathy between the
building impulse and the restraining action of the bye-laws, resulting
in mutual antagonism and suspicion between the builder and the
man whose duty it is to enforce the restraint, which leads to so
much harm. What is required is that we should give to our bye-
laws something of that elastic character which belongs to natural
restraints ; so that while the height of a building, for example, may
be as strictly limited as at present, a little give and take, a little
averaging of one part with another, may be permitted, and the rigid
form which results from the present arbitrary rules may cease to be
required.
There are many ways in which this can be done, and in certain bye-
laws there have recently been introduced new forms, having much
of this elastic character. Probably to begin with there may need
to be a certain excess of strictness. If, for example, the size and
shape of the open space at the rear of the buildings is to be subject
to averaging, to give and take, in the first instance the amount of
open space must be somewhat larger. So long as 150 superfeet,
with a distance across of 15 to 25 reet, is all the open space that the
bye-laws require for a building, it may be difficult to relax the rule
that the open space shall measure this amount at all points, that it
shall, in fact, be practically rectangular in shape. But if the amount
of the open space were double in size, its exact form or position
would immediately become a matter of less importance, for health,
and therefore much greater freedom could be given. So also with
the height of buildings. So long as streets are narrow and houses
are allowed to be erected to the utmost limit of height consistent
with the decent lighting of the streets, this limitation may require
to be fairly rigid ; but with a less maximum height in proportion
to width of street as the general stipulation, a much greater freedom
could be allowed in the interpretation of the bye-law, either by per-
mitting, within certain limitations, the average height to be taken, or
in some similar manner.
It is well worth the while of the authorities to devote more care to
framing and revising bye-laws, so that their action shall be as little
arbitrary as possible. So long as some definite standard of building
is required, so long will bye-laws in one form or another be neces-
sary. It is not a matter that can be entirely left to the discretion
of the building surveyor. It is as necessary to the builder in pre-
paring his plans that he should know within fairly definite limits
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 388
the standard required of him as it is for the building inspector to
have some definite standard to keep his judgments regular and con-
sistent and fair to all. At the same time, it is eminently desirable
that certain discretionary powers should be vested in the building
inspector on points specially defined in the regulations themselves.
Building regulations cover such a multitude of matters, and the
combinations of circumstances under which difiiculties may arise are
so numerous, that It is quite impossible to frame absolute regulations
on all these points, without a considerable amount of needless harass-
ment and restriction of really good building. It is the opinion of
the Local Government Board at present that in the case of municipal
building inspectors the evils arising from the giving of discretionary
powers are greater than the benefits. Such powers lay them open
to so much undue influence and pressure that they are often placed
in very difficult positions, and in addition, are subjected to severe
temptations. At present, therefore, it would seem that beyond
altering the form of bye-laws, as suggested above, any introduction
of elasticity, through leaving individual cases to the discretion of a
surveyor, will only be brought about if some outside person, free
from local influence but having a sufficient opportunity for securing
knowledge of the circumstances of a given case, can be made the
recipient of this discretionary power. There must shortly be
created some department of the Local Government Board to super-
vise the town planning work and the extended work in connection
with the housing of the people which the Housing and Town
Planning Bill will call upon the local authorities to undertake. It
would seem that such a department would be exactly suited to
exercise the discretionary powers of which we have spoken above.
Through its inspectors it would have an intimate local knowledge ;
it would be in constant touch with the general planning work and
building operations carried on in the different localities, and would
be in an exceptionally good position for judging as to the fsur
working of any bye-law in particular instances. Such a department
would be entirely independent of the influence of local builders, or
landowners connected with the municipality, who might be in a
position to exert very tmfair pressure upon a local official.
If town planning is to produce the good results that are hoped for»
the range of building bye-laws must necessarily be extended ; it
will not be practicable for a town plan to show everything that
needs to be determined. The limitation of the number of houses
to the acre ; the reservation of sites for probable public buildings or
other requirements ; the proper distribution of works and factories ;
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 389
and many other similar matters, will need to be brought imdcr some
public control if towns are to be adequately managed, and developed
along the best lines. Upon many of these points it will be pecu-
liarly difficult to frame regulations, so difficult that probably it will
hardly be practicable, unless some means can be discovered of in-
troducing the element of discretion and affording some opportunity
for the individual case to be considered on its merits. Rules may
be framed that will cover the majority of cases and work out
satisfactorily, but there must arise in a minority of instances
circumstances not allowed for in the regulations, where some
special consideration is required. It is these few cases that cause
nearly all the friction and outcry against bye-laws ; except, of
course, the general outcry from jerrybuilders, which, unsupported by
instances of obvious unfairness, would be a negligible quantity. It
cannot be too clearly recognised that for building bye-laws to work
successfully they must have the sympathy and actual support of
those architects and builders, admittedly many, who are seeking to
do good work. So long as the goodwill of those who are trying to
build well can be retained on the side of the bye-laws they can be
enforced with ease, and are in no danger of being seriously
weakened ; but as soon as they hamper the operations of those
who are trying to do good work they raise against themselves
a very powerful opposition which strongly appeals to the public.
Architects as a body do not object to reasonable restrictions ; they
would be the last to desire that the jerry builder should be
allowed a free hand ; but they do strongly resent the arbitrary
character of many building bye-laws, and the needless restrictions
which their hard-and-fast character imposes. I believe that
greater care in their framing along the lines suggested above, and
some simple and inexpensive arrangement by which a special case
could be referred to an impartial person, who should have the
power to decide promptly whether some modification could, with-
out harm to the community, be allowed, would, by removing
much of the friction, greatly strengthen the position of the bye-
laws.
From the first a greater degree of co-operation and sympathy
should be cultivated between the municipal controlling office and
the builders and architects working under this control. When
new building bye-laws are being framed, instead of their being
pushed through with the minimiun amount of publicity, every
encouragement should be given to those concerned to con^der
them and bring forward objections. Not so, however. Obstacles
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 390
are put in the way of people finding out what the proposed
bye-law8 will contain. In one case the writer had to pay 17s. 6d.
for a copy of a few only of the proposed new bye-laws of a district,
in which he wished to secure modifications. In another case a copy
of the draft bye-laws cost {j 8s. 6d. It is not to be expected that
individuals will incur expenses such as these on the chance of
finding out something in the proposed bye-laws to which they
ought to object, or that they will, in most cases, give the time
necessary to consider a complicated set of bye-laws, or will learn
up the procedure for lodging objections to them. The result is
that the bye-laws are framed almost entirely by the surveyor, who
looks at the matter from the point of view of the man who has to
administer them, not of the man who has to work under them.
They are advertised in the local paper, it is true, but only a few
people read such advertisements, and in many cases builders and
architects find that new bye-laws, having clauses of the most arbi-
trary character, have come into force without their having had any
eflFective opportunity to consider them. Surely when a municipality
is preparing a new set of bye-laws aflFecting such an important
industry as the building trade, it should be compelled to secure the
co-operation of all those interested ; it should be obliged to supply
copies of the proposed regulations to all builders and architects,
free of cost ; it should be obliged to aflFord opportunities for the
consideration of objections and suggestions from those aflFected; and
generally to secure that the question is thoroughly ventilated. If
objections to the bye-laws are lodged, it is generally possible to
secure an inquiry by the Local Government Board, and the result
of several such inquiries, coming within the writer's personal know-
ledge, has been that the Local Government Board took a reasonable
view and was willing to introduce modifications, and in some cases to
compel the local authorities to accept these, even ag^nst their wish.
But the procedure should be put on a different footing ; the inquiry
should not be a last resort, but, on the contrary, those interested in
building should be encouraged to come forward with suggestions
and objections, and their co-operation in the framing of the best
possible set of bye-laws, adapted to the needs of the locality,
should be secured.
It may be of interest to refer to some particular instances in which
modification of bye-laws ha$ been obtained, and to give the form of
some of those which were secured by the Hampstead Garden
Suburb Trust in the new bye-laws of the Hendon district, which
were being framed at the time that the Trust purchased their
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 391
estate. As far as possible this work was carried out under agree-
ment with the Hendon District Council, certain matters being left
by both parties to be decided by the Local Government Board after
hearing both sides. I can only say that in this case the greatest
care and trouble were taken, both by the District Council and the
Local Government Board, to secure a form of regulation which
would effect the ends desired, and hamper as little as possible the
general building operations. As the Hampstead Garden Suburb
Trust had obtained an Act of Parliament giving them special
exemption from certain of the new bye-laws as to the width of
streets and roads, it was agreed that no question referring to this
should be raised. There are, however, many points that should be
watched when new bye-laws on this subject are being made in any
district. First of all, some distinction should be made between
roads that are likely to be required to carry considerable traffic,
and those that are likely to serve only to give access to com-
paratively few houses or other buildings. The width of 40 or
50 feet, prescribed for all roads exceeding 100 or 150 feet long,
is as absolutely inadequate for main traffic roads as it is excessive
for roads giving access to a few houses only, and the length of
the road is no criterion of the size required. A short road of
100 feet may happen to be so placed that it will become a very
important traffic-way ; while a considerable length of road may often
serve no purpose that would not be quite adequately provided for
by means of a simple carriage drive, such as is found sufficient for
a college, a hospital or asylum, or other large building, containing a
population sometimes as great as that of a considerable village. No
doubt the Town Planning Bill will materially assist in this matter
of providing different widths for streets, but the bye-laws also
should be so framed as to provide for the necessary variations.
The technical definition of a street, taken in conjunction with
the common law as to streets, undoubtedly raises difficulties.
Mr. J. S. Birkett, Solicitor to the Hampstead Garden Suburb
Trust, has kindly furnished me with particulars of the law in
this matter, from which it appears that the Public Health Act,
1875, section 150, enacts that the Local Authority can give notice
to the owners or occupiers of the premises fronting on any road
to sewer, level, pave, metal, flag, channel, and make good, or to
light any street within any urban district not being a highway
repairable by the inhabitants at large where such street is not made
up or lighted to the satisfaction of such Local Authority, and if
such notice is not complied with the Local Authority may them-
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 392
selves do the work. When the work has been done, the Local
Authority may, if they think fit, declare such street to be a
highway, and thereupon it will become repairable by the
inhabitants at large unless a majority of the proprietors object
(in other words, the street is taken over by the Local Authority).
Where the Private Street Works Act, 1892, has been adopted
by the Local Authority, they have power to take over a street if
they wish to do so, and are compelled to take it over if the greater
part in value of the owners of the houses and land call upon them
to do so. Where Part II. of the Public Health Acts Amendment
Act, 1907, is by order of the Local Government Board declared to
be in force in the district of the Local Authority, the majority in
number or rateable value of the owners of lands and premises in a
street may require the Local Authority to do the necessary paving,
&c., works, and on completion thereof the local authority must take
over the street. In all cases the making up of the road by the
Local Authority is chargeable pro rata on the owners of the houses
and land fronting on the roads.
Section 4 of the Public Health Act, 1875, provides that the term
" street " includes any highway and any public bridge (not being a
county bridge) and any road, lane, footway, square, court, alley, or
passage, whether a thoroughfare or not ; a definition sufficiently
wide to indude pretty well anything in the way of a road or path.
Where, for instance, houses are set back from the road, a common
footway is often provided to give access to them, running round
the green or margin that may be left between the houses and
the road or highway, and such an arrangement is in every way
desirable. Under many bye-laws, read in conjunction with the
common law, it would be impossible to carry out this arrange-
ment, without making this footway into a complete street 50 feet
wide. Provision should clearly be made in the bye-laws for per-
mitting such narrow roads or footways. There is no doubt that
the bye-laws as to streets, for want of other powers, have been used
as a means of doing away with objectionable courts and narrow
alleys, but other and more direct means should be taken for dealing
with these evils. The widths between houses should be regulated
independently of the width of the roadway. That courts and
quadrangles shall be sufficiently large to be airy, or sufficiently
open at the ends when small, are matters which can be directly
secured ; and it is not necessary, in order to secure them, that
we should be prevented from erecting an arched gateway over
the end of our street, or carrying our minor or back roads through
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 393
a sufficiently large opening in a building ; and yet bye-laws for-
bidding these archways and preventing the picturesque bridging of
streets are often in force. Provision should also be made for the
construction of cheaper roads, adapted to lighter traffic than m^n
roads, having grass margins planted with trees to take the place
of part of the width of the kerb, channel, and pavement, required
for main roads. There seems no sufficient reason why, in the case of
roads running along the slope of a hill, or through a cutting, the
footpaths should not be allowed to be raised above the roadway, as
one often sees in old roads. Where this is done a more satisfactory
result can be attained, and a better gradient for the road secured,
than would be practicable if the whole of the road, footpath, &c.,
had to be excavated to the bottom of the cutting.
Some bye-laws contain a provision that no street shall exceed a
cert^n length without a cross road, a regulation reasonable in itself,
but liable in particular cases to work out in a most unfortunate
manner for the convenience of the town. At Ealing, for example, ///ay.Ji69.
owing to this bye-law, an estate of some thirty or forty acres would
have been nearly isolated from the remsunder of the town, access
only being had through a bottle-neck at out end, but for a happy
accident which brought into the market an additional piece of land,
enabling a cross road (a, b) to be planned within the 600 feet required.
This is a very good example of the sort of case that could with
advantage be submitted to some referee. Obviously it was the
intention of those who made this bye-law to secure specially good
and convenient point-to-point access, but it worked out in practice
so as to prevent any communication at all from being obtainable
through a very large area. Another bye-law which is not un-
common is that against roads having no through way, known as
cul-de-sac roads. This action has, no doubt, been taken to avoid
unwholesome yards ; but for residential purposes, particularly since
the development of the motor-car, the cul-de-sac roads, far from
being undesirable, are especially to be desired for those who like
quiet for their dwellings.
No one is likely to find fault with the rules requiring the damp
course, proper foundations, and a sufficient strength of structure
for buildings. It is only where these provisions prevent other
legitimate arrangements that some modification is desirable.
In the Hendon bye-laws the following modifications were
secured : —
I. In the bye-law permitting hollow walls, the word " outside " was
omitted, so that hollow walls can now be built where it is specially
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 394
desirable to secure a sound-proof party-wall, a matter of no little
importance.
2. Modifications were secured in the bye-laws relating to half-
timber walls, and permitting tile-hanging on wood-framing of the
upper storeys of buildings. The usual clauses render the con-
struction of genuine half-timber work either impossible or so
costly that its erection becomes impracticable, and where the
effect of half timber is desired cheap and flimsy imitation work
is resorted to. The effect of the modifications introduced was to
extend the permission for half-timber framing from one building
to a block of domestic buildings not exceeding 6 in number, the
block to be 15 feet from an adjacent building. Further, the brick
backing usually required for half-timber work may be dispensed
with in the case of a wall or part of a wall, not exceeding 25 feet
in height or 30 feet in length, where the following requirements
are complied with —
" The timbers to be of oak, teak, or other suitable hard wood,
to be not less than 6 inches by 4 inches in section, the studs
or vertical timbers to be not more than 14 inches apart,
measured between, the inner surface to be covered with a
suflicient thickness of good hard plaster, or suitable non-
combustible material, and any brickwork used in filling the
spaces between the timbers to be built in cement mortar."
The projecting of the party wall beyond the face of the timber
framing was dispensed with. These rules make it possible to
construct half-timber work with the necessary over-hang and other
characteristics of old work. They might be still further improved
— notably the distance apart of the uprights for work of a certain
character is needlessly small. The use. of other solid and non-
combustible material than brick-work for filling in the spaces is
an advantage. The requirement that such framing shall be carried
out in hard wood, though adding to the cost, at least secures
additional durability and power of fire resistance.
3. In the bye-law concerning framing, tiling or slate hanging to
upper storeys was allowed in groups not exceeding 4 ; cement
plaster, not less than i inch thick, was permitted in addition to tile-
hanging as the outside covering, on condition that the spaces
between the timber-framing should be completely filled in with
a thickness of 4 inches of brick-work or other non-combustible
material. The wording of the requirement was so modified that
it was made to apply to the ** topmost storey, including any gable
above it, and if the topmost storey should be wholly in the roof
to the storey next below it.**
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 395
In addition to the above there was introduced the following bye-law
allowing a similar treatment for the space between bay windows
which occur over one another, and for the space in the gable over
such windows, where it is found difficult to provide an outside wall
of the bye-law type, and where its provision throws an unnecessary
and unsuitable weight upon the bay window : —
"That where in a new domestic building an external wall
is constructed in the form of a bay for a bay window, and the
bay extends through more than one storey in height, but does
not in any place exceed twelve feet in width, measured exter-
nally, or project more than Jive feet beyond the main external
wall of the building, the person erecting such new building
may construct such part of the external wall of the bay as is
above the level of the top of the ground floor window opening,
of timber framing covered with tiles, slates, or other suitable
incombustible material, subject to compliance with the fol-
lowing condition, that is to say —
"The timber framing shall be properly put together, with
sufficient braces, ties, plates, and sills, and shall be of sufficient
strength, and the spaces between the timbers shall be filled in
completely with a sufficient thickness of brickwork or other
solid and incombustible material/'
Further to secure the overhanging of half-timbered walls, words
were introduced in the bye-law providing for overhanging walls
properly supported, permitting corbels or supports of oak or other
hard wood to be used, and in other bye-laws making it clear that
such timber-framed walls were to be exempted from the action
of certain bye-laws applying to the ordinary outside wall. The
definition of fire-resisting material was also modified to include
" beams or posts of oak, teak, or other hard wood," Indeed, it is
important when examining a proposed set of bye-laws to scrutinise
the definitions, as the scope of a bye-law is often very much extended
by a definition.
4. There is a common form of bye-law which requires the whole
of the walls of the two main storeys to be increased in thickness
where any use is made of the attic storey. So long as economy in
building requires cottage walls to be 9 inches thick it is clearly only
necessary when the attic storey is made use of to increase the thick-
ness of the wall for the height of one storey. This modification
was secured.
5. One of the most valuable modifications secured at Hendon was
that which permitted a party-wall to be carried up to the under
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 396
sides of the slates or tiles only, these to be bedded in mortar ;
lllm. 234. instead of requiring it, as is common in London, to be carried
up above the roof and formed into a parapet wall. This, which
may be a necessary precaution against the spread of fire in the case
of lofty buildings crowded together in the centre of a town, cannot
be regarded as a sufficiently necessary precaution against the spread
of fire from house to house in the case of ordinary dwellings, in
which it very rarely happens that fire spreads to any serious extent.
It is, of course, desirable in the interests of the community to reduce
this risk, but it is certainly not desirable to disfigure the whole of
the buildings in a district with parapet walls to divide the roofs,
and projecting corbels to divide the eaves and gutters, for the
sake of the infinitesimal degree of additional safety thereby secured.
6. The difficulty and structural weakness of carrying all timbers in
9-inch party-walls on corbels was met by allowing them to rest
4J inches on the wall, provided that 4J inches of brickwork was
secured at the back of the timber. So long, therefore, as purlins
and joists in the two adjacent houses are arranged not to come
opposite one another they may get a firm bearing in the party-wall.
Here again the necessary protection from the spread of fire is
sufficiently secured, while- a more satisfactory bearing for the
timbers is allowed.
7. Oak or other hard wood was added as a sufficient support for
a bressummer, and —
8. In the bye-law dealing with the thickness of 9 inches required
at the back of fireplace openings this was allowed to be reduced to
4^ inches in cases where fires are back to back.
9. Some modification was made in the bye-law relating to hearths,
allowing these to be above the level of the floor, in order to bring
the regulation in harmony with the modern types of fireplace, so
many of which require a raised hearth.
10. With regard to the open space rules, the bye-laws already con-
tained a clause allowing for the average measurement across the open
space to be taken : thus for a building requiring a space 30 feet
across, if rectangular and extending the full width of the building,
a triangular site measuring 60 feet to the apex of the triangle would
give the average measurement of 30 feet and would be taken to
satisfy the bye-law. But the bye-laws contained no provision on
corner sites for counting space at the side of the building as part
of the open space to be provided, and in the form suggested it was
not possible to turn the corner of a street with a continuous group
of buildings, nor to build a quadrangular block, or a part quad-
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 397
rangle of houses, without omitting the corner houses, and thus
causing a gap in the roof line quite destructive of the quadrangular,
enclosed effect. The local authorities were unwilling to adopt over
the whole of their district a bye-law permitting the erection of
corner houses in the way desired, but on account of the large
amount of open space in proportion to the houses provided on the
Garden Suburb estate, they agreed to bye-laws upon this matter
applying to this estate only, and to this the Local Government
Board also agreed, so that the following two bye-laws were
inserted : —
{a) To provide for an internal corner house.
" Provided further that in the case 6f a new domestic building
erected in the Garden Suburb Ae open space hereinbefore
mentioned shall not be required to be provided throughout
a frontage of more than eight feet if two sides of the building Illus, 297^.
other than the front shall abut on an open space of not less
than one thousand square feet exclusively belonging to the
building, the distance across which, measured at right angles
from each of such sides to the boundary of any adjoining land
or premises, shall not at any point be less than twenty feet^
(^) To provide for an external corner house.
" Provided that in the case of a new domestic building erected
in the Garden Suburb upon a corner site the requirements of
this bye-law shall be deemed to be satisfied if the following ^lus, 297.
conditions are complied with —
^^ (i) There shall be provided at the rear of such btdlding an
open space of at least one hundred and fifty square feet txidmwf^
belonging thereto. Such open space shall extend throughout
not less than ten feet of the width of such building, and shall
be free from any erection thereon above the level of the
ground except a water closet, earth closet, or privy, and an
ashpit constructed respectively in accordance with the require-
ments of the bye-law in that behalf.
" (2) One side of such building other than the front shall
abut on a further open space (not being a street) of such an
extent as together with the open space provided at the rear
of the building will amount to not less than six hundred
square feet."
It will be seen from this that a very generous provision of open
space was agreed upon in exchange for the permission to arrange
it in a different form to that required under the ordinary bye-law,
and this would seem to be a useful precedent.
17
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 398
II. The minimum height of 8 feet for rooms was secured in these
bye-law3, on the ground that 8 feet is a sufficient height for health,
and that it would be wiser to leave it to the public to decide
whether they wanted higher rooms or not.
^^^
1
1
I
4
■
-F
»0 PT
R AB
1
W
t
f
^
lUui. 297. — Diagrams iXeaing tit ifflct tf tkt medtfiatimu in th* tataU spate bftiams
ftrmittiiig tkt (tmpUtisn of an acttmal angle in tmldimgs skeming four difflraU
11. That r^ulation in the bye-laws relating to attics with a portion
of sloping ceiling was made to apply to any room in the roof,
whether on the first, second, or third floor. This bye-law, as
sometimes worded, hampers the design of houses considerably
by permitting rooms partly in the roof, only on the third floor.
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 399
The above notes on a recent set of bye-laws are not in any sense put
forward as covering all the points in which alteration is desirable ;
but they may, perhaps, serve both to show that reasonable modifi-
cations can be obtained, and to suggest the lines on which such
modifications may be introduced into the different building regu-
lations, so as to give them a less arbitrary character. The pomt
aimed at by a bye-law is generally a good one in itself, and
attention shoidd be turned to its wording, so that while the point
desired is effectually secured, it is not at the expense of needless
regulation and hampering of design.
As examples of other points in which some variation might be
ioooa«.ri
Illus. 297a. — Diagram shewing completion of internal angle.
allowed, the regulation as to thickness of walls and use of but-
tresses may be mentioned. The projection of a buttress beyond
one-third of its width is not usually allowed to coimt as adding to
the stability of the outside wall, whereas in the modern type of
building, which often resembles a heavy cabinet standing on a few
legs, it may be of the utmost importance that these legs should be
stiffened by wide buttresses to resist wind pressure and the tendency
to buckle under great weight.
Regulations as to soil pipes and ventilating pipes from drains,
though no doubt generally required, should be subject to some
modification, so that buildings may not have to be disfigured by
these pipes being carried up entirely exposed to view. Extra
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 400
precautions as to the character and jointings of pipes should enable
them to be placed in a chase in the wall or to be carried up behind
rough-cast, tile-hanging, or half-timber framing.
Provision is also necessary for the utilisation of new materials, such
as ferro-concrete, concrete bloclcs,and the many fireproof concrete and
plaster slabs which are now made ; while the relatively h^h fire-
resisting qualities of good beams and hard wood as compared with iron
girders and stanchions should be recognised ; and the use of other
than fire-proof materials for minor features in buildings, and for the
rooi^ of buildings which are sufficiently isolated, might well be
allowed under suitable restrictions.
1
^
jtdi|:
I
-r-'^-'r
diagram I. Diagram j.
IlUa. 298. — Diagraru %luimng the simplkily tj cemiiittd drainagt for groups aj aitagti as
etinpared viiih stparatt drainagt.
In the question of drainage, particularly that of small cottages, much
needless complication and expense is caused by the requirement that
every cottage shall have a separate connection- with the sewer in the
road, and in many places another separate connection with the
surface-water drain also. In some districts this requirement can be
enforced under the bye-laws, in others it is being put forward owing
to the unsatisfactory condition of the common law in relation to
combined drainage. A Bill has already been introduced into Parlia-
ment and approved by the Local Government Board to deal «ith
this matter, and make it clear that the local authorities shall be able,
if they wish, to allow the use of combined dr^nage for a number of
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 401
cottages, without being liable to be called upon to muntain and
repdr such drain at the public expense. It is obviously important
that no needless obstacles should be put in the way of those who are
willing to set their cottages back some distance from the road line ;
but with this requirement of separate connections to the sewer and
surface-water drain for each house, the increased cost of setting
back the houses becomes a serious item. Hence this really forms of
itself a strong inducement to the builder to build his houses in long
rows as near to the street line as may be, because every departure
from such an arrangement will add to his dr^nage expenses. The
wmea fiMwa. 0B-™
wm (bMMicp DiuNKie.
DiagrBm 3. Z)i^ra)tt 4.
Illtts. 29S> — Diagrams thsming lie limfilUity aj cambintd drainagt fir gnmpi PJ eattagts as
tampartd with lefarott drainagt.
diagrams given show the needless complication and expense of pro-
viding separate connections, and show further that it is generally
necessary in a group of cottages to bring some of these connections
under the buildings, an obviously undesirable arrangement even
when careful precautions are taken to render the drain secure against
damage. Diagrams i and 3 show groups of cottages with separate iiius. 2
connections, while Diagrams 2 and 4 show the same cottages
provided with combined drainage. In the case of Diagrams z
and 4 the drainage is entirely ventilated as if it were one system.
In some cases Independent ventilation is required. This is very
often a quite needless complication, but even with this arrangement
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 402
the saving in expense on a group or eight cottages by iising the
combined system was found to be about ^80, and it is only
necessary to compare the two diagrams to realise the comparative
simplicity of the combined system.
The preparation of town plans should afford an opportunity
for adopting another expedient for giving somewhat greater elas-
ticity to building bye-laws. At present, in England, bye-laws are
usually adopted for a whole town, and any regulation which is
deemed advisable in the most closely built up centre of the town
applies equally to the most sparsely built areas on the outskirts. It
is obvious that this must mean that either too little is secured for
safety in the centre or needlessly much is required on the outskirts.
In Germany towns are divided into zones or areas, and certain of
the bye-laws apply to the inner zones only, while certain others vary
for the different zones. The building plots are further divided into
classes according to the use which is to be made of them, and very
elaborate regulations are framed for these classes — fixing, for example,
the proportion of a site to be left unbuilt-upon, which varies from
one quarter of the site in some parts to two-thirds or more in other
parts ; and in some of the zones and classes, only the land behind the
building line is reckoned as unbuilt-upon land for determining this
proportion. In the same way the maximum height of buildings is
varied both for the different classes of site and in relation to the
width of streets, and altogether the system enables the bye-laws to be
adapted to the requirements of the particular districts of the towns
with much greater exactitude than is possible in our country.
There are some very interesting precautions in the German bye-
laws which read oddly to one used only to the English byelaws ;
for example, plastering work may not be commenced sooner than
six weeks after the authorities have made a survey of the rough
construction, and a certificate of completion must not be given
before six months have elapsed from the date fixed for the
commencement of the plastering operations. Thus some steadiness
in the rate of building is secured and some opportunity for the
building to be dried before occupation.
In addition to fixing zones or areas, and varying the bye-laws
in connection with these, it would seem to be a good policy for
local authorities to follow and carry farther the precedent created by
the Hampstead Garden Suburb Act ; where, in exchange for an
undertaking embodied in that Act that not more than 8 houses
to the acre should be built over the whole estate, certain of the
existing regulations as to roads were relaxed. So long as the laild-
OF BUILDING BYE-LAWS 403
owner is allowed to build 30 or 40 houses to the acre under
the ordinary building regulations, it is not to be expected that
individual owners will greatly reduce this number, unless some in-
ducement is ofFered to them by the local authorities. Such induce-
ment could quite easily take the form of transferring their land to a
zone or class within which certain of the bye-laws which are chiefly
necessary in districts very closely built up are omitted or modified.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ENGLISH SECTION
I
The following list of books and papers bearing on the subject of Town Planning
and Housing Reform, though by no means exhaustive, contains many works which
the student of the subject will be likely to find useful.
For the German section I am indebted to Dr. StQbben, Professor Theodor Goecke,
Herr von Berlepsch-Valendas, B.D.A., Herr Zetzsche, Professor Schultze-Naum-
bergy and others for valuable assistance.
For the French section I am indebted to Mons Augustin Rey.
N.B. — In the German section the most important works and essays of general
interest are marked * ; those which are chiefly important for the study of the
historical development during the last hundred years are marked ** ; those dealing
specially with individual cities are marked ***,
Adams, Thomas, Garden City and Agriculture, is. London : Simpkin.
American Cities. Reports on —
Boston. Society of Architects. Report on Municipal Improvements, 1907.
Charities and the Commons, Feb. 1908. Series of articles on the city
plan, edited by C. Mulford Robinson.
City of Cedar Rapids. Civic Improvement Reports. C. Mulford Robinson,
1908.
Columbus, Ohio. Report of the Plan Commission. Charles Mulford
Robinson, Secretary.
Crawford, A.W., The Existing and Proposed outer Park Systems of American
Cities.
Day, Frank Miles, Municipal Improvement Report. Proceedings of the
Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects, 1904.
Detroit. Reports to the Detroit Board of Commerce, by Frederick Law
Olmsted, Jun., and C. Mulford Robinson, 1905.
Honolulu, the Beautifying of ; Oakland, The Civic Improvement of ;
Ridgewood, the Improvement of. Reports, by C. Mulford Robinson.
Massachusetts Civic League Reports.
New York. Report of the City Improvement Commission, 1907.
Philadelphia. The City Parks Association. Numerous Reports.
Anderson and Spiers, The Architecture of Greece and Rome. London : Batsfbrd.
ArcUtBciural Record^ Tke^ New York —
August and November, 1908. German City Planning, by Cornelius Gurlitt.
August, September, November, December, 1907, and January, 1908.
Series of articles on the Topographical Transformation of Paris, by
£. R. Smith.
Art and Life and the Building and Decoration of Beaudful Cides ; five essays, by
T. J. Cobden Sanderson, Reginald Blomfield, W. R. Lethaby, Halsey
Ricardo, Walter Crane.
Association of Municipal Corporations-^
Planning of Suburbs, 1907
Scheme for Town Planning Bill, 1907
405
BIBLIOGRAPHY 406
Barnett, Mrs., Science and City Suburbs. A Chapter in Science ana Public
Affairs. Edited by J. E. Hand. London : Allen. 5s. nett.
Birmingham, City of. Report of the Housing Committee. Birmingham, 1906.
2s. 6d.
Blomfield, Reginald, Mistress Art, The. 5 s. Edwin Arnold.
Booth, Charles, Life and Labour of the People in London. Macmillan.
Cadbury, George, Bournville, Illustrated Papers on.
Co-partnership Tenants, Ltd., Garden Suburbs, Villages, and Homes. London,
1906; 6d.
Foug^es, Gustav, and Mons. Hulot. S^linonte, R.LB.A. Journal, Third Series,
vol. XV, No. iv.
Frankfurt-on-the-Main, Guide to some of the Public Works of. Published by
the City Engineer's Department, 1907.
Garden City Association, Town Planning in Theory and Practice, is., and
other publications, including Garden Cities and Town Planning
(formerly The Garden City.) id. monthly.
Geddes, P.—
City Development. Edinburgh. Geddes and Colleagues. 1904.
Civics, in Sociological Papers. Vol. i., ii., and iii. Sociological Society, and
Macmillan tc Co., 1904-7.
Papers on Town Planning, City Surveys, Chelsea, &c., in Sociological
Review. Sherratt and Hughes, 1908-9.
Gurlitt, Cornelius, see Architectural Record^ The.
Harvey, W. Alexander, The Model Village and its Cottages, Bournville. Batsford,
London.
Horsfall, T. C—
Housing Lessons from Germany, The Independent Review^ October, 1904.
The Improvement of the Dwellings and Surroundings of the People : The
Example of Germany. Manchester, Sherratt and Hughes, 1904.
IS.
Translation of Part ot Swedish Building Law for Towns, 1874. ^^
Municipal J oufnal^ November 8, 1907.
Howard, Ebenezer, Garden Cities of To-morrow. London, Sonnenschein.
International Congress of Architects, 1906. Transactions R.I.B.A. Articles by
C. H. Buls, E. H^nard, B. Poll^ Augustin Rey, Dr. J. Stfibben, Gaston
Tr^lat, R. Unwin.
Lanchester, H. V., Town and Country : Some Aspects of Town Planning.
Paper from the R.I.B.A. Journal, February, 1909.
Lever, W. H., Port Sunlight,. Illustrated Papers on.
London County Council —
Housing Question in London. King tc Sons. Report by C. J. Stewart.
Park Handbooks. King tc Sons.
London, Maps of Old. Adam and Charles Black, London. 5s.
London Traffic Branch of the Board of Trade, Report of the. Wyman Sc Sons.
4s.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 407
London Traffic, Royal Commission Reports.
Marr, T. R., Housing Conditions in Manchester and Salford. London, Sherratt
and Hughes, is. nett.
Mawson, Thomas A., Carnegie Dunfermline Trust Scheme for Park and City
Improvements. London.
Meakin, Budgett, Model Factories and Villages. London, Unwin, 1905. 7s. 6d.
National Housing Reform Council-
Report of the National Housing Congress. London, 1908, and other
publications.
International Housing Congress, 1907, and other reports.
Nettleford, J. S., Practical Housing. Garden City Press, is.
Peabody, Robert S., A Holiday Study of Cities and Ports. Society of Architects,
Boston, 1908.
Pite, Professor Beresford, The Planning of Cities and Public Spaces. R.I.B.A.
Journal, April, 1905.
Robinson, C. Mulford —
A Railroad Beautiful. House and Garden^ Nov., 190Z.
Improvement of Towns and Cities, The. G. P. Putnam k, Sons, New
York and London. 5s. nett.
Modem Civic Art. G. P. Putnam & Sons, New York and London.
$3.25.
Rowntree, B. S., Poverty : A Study of Town Life. London, Macmillan.
Sennett, A. R., Garden Cities in Theory and Practice. Bemrose k, Sons.
2 vols. 21s.
Simpson, J. W. —
R.I.B.A. Journal, April, 1905, Town Planning.
The Planning of Cities and Public Spaces. R.I.B.A. Journal, April, 1905.
Smith, Edveard R., see Architectural Record^ The.
Thompson, William —
Housing Handbook. King & Sons.
Housing Up-to-date. King h Sons.
Town Planning and Modern Architecture at the Hampstead Garden Suburb.
By the Hampstead Garden Suburb Development Company. Published by
T. Fisher Unwin. is. and 2s. 6d.
Unwin, Raymond, Town and Street Planning, Rojal Sanitary Institute Journal^
September, 1908.
Weather —
Meteorological Reports. Annual Summary, &c., from the Meteorological
Office, Victoria Street, S.W.
Rainfall Organisation, Reports of the British, London.
Royal Meteorological Society's Report.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 408
GERMAN SECTION
Baumeister —
***Hygieni8chcr FOhrer durch Karlsruhe.
**Stadterweiterungcn. Berlin, 1876.
**Stadtprane in alter und neuer Zeit.
Zeitfragen des christlichen Volblebens. Heft 206. Stuttgart, 1902.
'^'^^Brentano, Professor, Wohnungszustande und Wohnungsnot in MQnchen.
Ernst Reinhardt, Karlstrasse 4.
**Brinkmann, A. E., Platz und Monument. Berlin, E. Wasmuth, 1908.
Eberstadt —
***Das Wohnungswesen. Jena, 1904. S. Lex.
**Die stadtische Bodenparzellierung in England und ihre Vergleichung mit
deutschen Einrichtungen. Berlin, Carl Heymann's Verlag, 1908.
***St*adtische Bodenfragen. Berlin, 1894. C. Heymann.
***Fischer, Th., Stadterweiterungsfragen, mit besonderer BerQcksichtigung
Stuttgarts. Stuttgart, 1903.
***Fritz, J., Deutsche Stadtanlage. Beilage zum Programm des Lyceums in Strass-
burg im Elsass. Strassburg, 1 894.
***Gartenstadt — Mitteilungen der deutschen Gartenstadtgesellschaft. Hans
KampfFmeyer, Karlsruhe.
^^Genzmer, Die Entwickelung des Stadtebaues und seine Ziele in kiinstlerischer
Beziehung. Technisches Gemeindiblatt^ 1900, Seite 363.
'^'^Goecke, Verkehrsstrassen und Wohnstrassen. Sonderauszug aus den preussischen
JahrbUchem. Berlin, 1893. Verlag Walter.
***Gro8S-Berlin. Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin.
**Gurlitt, C, Stadtebau. Sammlung Mathesius, Verlag Bard, Berlin.
^^'^Heimann, Kleinhauser. Deutsche Bauzeitung^ 1908, Seite 178, 238.
Henrici —
*Beitrage zur praktischen Asthetik im Stadtebau. G. Callwey, MOnchen, 1904.
*Die kQnstlerischen Aufgaben im Stadtebau. Deutsche Stddtezeitung^ 1905,
Seite 271.
*Von welchen Gedanken sollen wir une beim Ausbau unserer deutschen Stadte
leiten lassen ? Trier, 1 894.
*Lilienthal, Warum enstehen bei uns keine Gartenstadte ? Bodenreform^ 1908,
No. 4. Verlag J. Harwitz, Nachfl. Berlin, Friedrichstr. 16.
*** Meyer, Prof., Die Haupt- und Residenzstadt. Karlsruhe.
*Neue Aufgaben in der Bauordnungs- und Ansiedlungsfrage. Report of the
Germany Company of Dwelling Reform. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
Gdttingen, 1906.
***Oehmke, Th., Gesundheit und weitraumige Stadtbebauung, insbesonders her-
geleitet aus dem Gegensatze von Stadt zu Land und von Miethaus zu
Einzelhaus, samt Abriss der stadtebaulichen Entwickelung Berlins und
seiner Vororte. Berlin, 1904, Julius Springer.
*Pfeifer, Kontrast und Rhytmus im Stadtebau. Der Stadtebau^ 1904, Seite 97.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 409
•Rehorst, Dr. Carl. tJber die MOglichkeit dcr Erhaltung alter Stadtebilder
unter BerQcksichtigung moderner Verkehrsanforderungen. Karlsruhe,
C. F. Mallersche Hofbuchdruckerei, 1907.
*Schultze-Naumburgy Stadtebau, Rulturarbeiten —
Bd. I. Hausbau.
Bd. II. Garten.
Bd. III. D5rfer und Colonien.
Bd. IV. Stadtebau.
Bd. V. KleinbQrgerhauser.
*Sicte, Camillo, Der Stadtebau nach seinen kOnstlerischen Grundsatzen. Wien,
1909, C. Graeser 8c Co.
StObben—
^'^'Der Bau der Stadte in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Berlin, 1895.
'''Der StILdtebau (Handbach der Architectur IV. 9). Stuttgart, 1907,
A. Kroner.
"^Voigt und Geldner, Kleinhaus und Mietskaserne. Berlin, 1905, Jul. Springer.
***Wohlfahrtseinrichtung in der Guss-stahlfkbrik von Fried. Krupp zu Essen
a. d. Ruhr (Krupp in Essen on the Ruhr). Buchdruckerei der Guss-
stahlfabrik von Fried. Krupp. III. Bd., 1904.
***Wuttke, R., Die deutschen Stadte. Leipzig, 1904.
*Zetzsche, C, Das dfFentliche Gebaude im Stadtbild. Architectonische Rundschau,
Seite 73.
FRENCH SECTION
Annuaire de Paris et du D^partement de la Seine, 1904.
Barras, Notes sur le Bois de Boulogne. Paris, 1900.
Benoit-L^vy, Georges, Publications of the French Garden City Association.
Blondeau, Servitude militaire. Grenoble, 1892.
Bocher, M^moires k consulter de ^douard Bocher avec consultations de
MM. Berryer, Dufaure, Paillet, Odilon, Barrot« Paris, 1852.
Brousse, Paul —
Rapport sur la suppression du mur d'enceinte de Paris. Paris, 1893,
A propos de la d^safiectadon pardelle du mur d'enceinte de Paris. 1 898.
Bulletin de la Soci^t^des Paysages, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908.
Buls, Ch.—
De la position et du d^veioppement des Rues et des Espaces libres dans
les Villes. Cong. Int. Architectes, Londres, 1906.
La Construction des Villes.
L'£sth<^tique des Villes.
L'Esth^tique de Rome.
Des Cilleuls, Le domaine de la Ville de Paris dans le pass^ et dans le pr^cnc.
Paris, 1885.
Dezamy, Th., Consequence de rembastillement et de la paix i tout prix.
Depopulation de la capitale. 1840.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 410
Dieudonn^y Notice pittoresque et historique sur le Bois de Boulogne. Paris, 1855.
D'Andign^—
Rapport sur la ddsaffectation des Fortifications. Paris, 1906.
L'aggrandissement du Bois de Boulogne. Echo de Paru^ Septembre, 1905.
Forestier, Grandes Villes et syst^me de Pares. Paris, 1906.
Foug^es, Gustav, S^Hnonte Colonic Dorienne en Sicile. Essai de restauration
d'une ville grecque au VI* et au V* Sik:le avant J.C. no francs,
Charles Schmid, Paris.
Fuster, l^ouard —
La sant^ publique et les espaces libres. Revue de PAide 8octate^ I9<^7i 1908.
Articles dans le journal Le Figaro intitule ** L'aide sociale," 1906, 1907.
Guist'hau, Discours sur Taction des Mutuality sur l'am61ioration de la sant^
publique.
H^brard, Jean, Articles dans le Joumai sur Thygi^ne de la population et I'am^liora-
tion des plans de villes, 1906, 1908,
H^nard, Eugene —
Etudes sur les transformations de Paris. Fascicule 2, 1903.
Projet de prolongement de la rue de Rennes avec pont en X sur la Seine.
Fascicule i, 1903,
La question des fortifications et le Boulevard des grandes ceintures.
Fascicule 2, 1903.
Les grands espaces libres, les pares et jardins de Paris et de Londres.
Fascicule 3.
Le pare des sports et les grands dirigeables. Fascicule 4, 1904.
La perc^e du Palais Royal, la nouvelle grande crois^e de Paris. Fascicule 5,
1904.
La circulation dans les villes modernes, Tautomobilisme et les voies rayon-
nantes de Paris. Fascicule 6, 1905.
Les voitures et les passants, carrefours libres et carrefours k giration.
Fascicule 7, 1908.
Des Places publiques, la Place de I'Op^ les Trois Colonnes. Fascicule 8,
1909.
Paper for the London Inter. Congress of Architects, 1906.
Joumai des l^ebats — La ville rationelle, par ArvMe Barine. Septembre, 1906.
Mabilleau, Leopold, Articles et discours sur la sant^ publique et la Mutuality
Fran9aise, 190J k 1908.
Marmottan, Les espaces libres. Paris, 1902 {Journal des Arts^ juillet).
Mcynadier—
Paris au point de vue pittoresque et monumental.
Element d'un plan gdn^ral d'ensemble. Paris, 1 849.
Montet, Eugene, Rapports au Mus^e Social sur les espaces libres.
Revue Scientifique. St^phane Leduc, Les conditions sanitaires en France. F^vrier,
1892.
Rey, A. Augustin —
Les espaces libres, les rues, les cours. Cong. Intern. Tuberc, Paris, 1905.
BIBUOGRAPHY 411
Rey, A. Augustin {continuei) —
De Taction des espaces libres bois^s sur la sant^ publique, notamment dans les
quartiers populaires. Cong. Int. Architectes, Londres, 1906.
M^thodes nouvelles de creation des rues modernes.
La ville et les espaces libres. Cong. Nat. Hyg., Marseille, 1906.
La sant6 publique et les espaces libres.
Les formes nouvelles de Thabitation salubre. Cong. Alliance Hyg. Soc,
Lyon, 1907.
La speculation sur les terrains et I'hygi^ne des grandes villes. Cong. Int
Hyg., Berlin, 1907.
Les espaces libres et les plans de formes nouvelles it adopter pour les villes
modernes.
La sant^ publique et les agglomerations actuelles.
La speculation du sol dans les villes modernes et la tuberculose. Comment
enrayer le d^veloppement croissant de cette speculation. Cong. Intern.
Tuberculose, Washington, 1908.
Une ceinture de pare pour Paris — Un projet executable. Paris, 1909.
Sitte, Camillo, L'art de b&tir les villes. (Translated from the German, with
additions by Camille Martin). Lib. Renouard.
Souza, Robert de, Le Bois de Boulogne et les fortifications de Paris. Avril, 1907.
Turot, Henri, Le surpeuplement et les habitations populaires. Paris, 1907.
INDEX
AooRA, Greek, 175
Aigues Mortes, 60
Allotmenta, 164, 171
America, fences dispensed with in, 3J6
American lay-out, characteristics of an,
90
Amiens, 176, 207
Anderson, W. J., 28, 4J
Antwerp, 104
Aosta, 49
Art, definition of, 4
Athens, 28
Augsbarg, 207
Avenues, 278, 281
Back land, development of, 355
Back spaces, 329
Bad Kissingen Market, 198
Bamett, Mrs., 294
Beauty, a necessity, 9
Beauvais, 207
Birkett, J. S., 391
Birmingham, 376
Bonn, Popplesdorfer All^, 278
Booth, Charles, 141
Bournemouth, 84, 126
Bourn ville, 320, 376
Bridges, 173
Bruges, 104
„ Rue des Pierres, 269, 270
Building Area Schedule, 322
Building line, breaks in, 330-335, 338,
34S
Building materials, local, 360
Building roads, 301
Buildings, aspect of, 310, 311, 312
Buildings, grouping of, 331, 371
Buildings, supervision of plans for, 364
et seq,
Buttstedt, 50, 52, 215-219
Buxton, 84, 126
Bye-law, cross roads, 393
framing and tile-hanging, 394
half timber walls, 394
„ height of rooms, 398
99
99
413
Bye-law, hollow walls, 393
number of houses to the acre,
319
open spaces and corner houses,
333» 396
party walls, 395
space at rear of building, 319
space in front of building, 319
thickness of walls, 395
use of new materials, 400
Bye-laws, elasticity needed, 389
in Germany, 402
introduction of new, 389-
391
new, publicity required, 390
width of roads, 244, 301, 391
99
99
99
99
99
99
99
Carriagb drives, 30,2, 353
Cassas, 38
Centre points to designs, 290
Chartres, 176, 207
Chester, 1 5, 49
Classes, mingling of, 72
Collision points according to Camillo
Sitte, and Dr. Stfibben, 237-240
Cologne, 104, no
Contour survey, 149
Conway, 1 5, 59
Copenhagen, 116
Corner treatments, 333, 334
Cotsworth, M. B., 311, 312
Cotuges, frontages for, 325, 328
Day, Frank Miles, 90
Depths of plots, 325, 327, 328
Der Stadtebau, 69, 97, 194
Deschamps, M., 88
Drainage, combined, 400, 401
„ considerations in site planning,
299
Dresden market-place, 197
Dusseldorf, 104
99
99
Ealing, 376, 393
Ealing Tenants, 320
18
INDEX
Ealing Teiuntf' estate rabtidiarj centrCy
Eanwick, 309, 320, 376
Eartwicky central featore, 250
Eattboome, 84, iz6
Edinborgh, 15, 72
Ebne's life of Sir Christopher Wren,
77-So
Ejdiesas, 28, 37
EphetnSy the Temple of Diana, 37
Enston Sution, 173
Faikmouvt Park Asiociatioh, Phila-
delphia, 92
Falkener, Edward, 37
Fence, Ha-ha, 163
Fences, converging, 359
Fencing for privacy, 3 56*3 $9
First Garden City Company, 3, 364
Flensbarg, 104
Flinders Petrie, Professor, 22
Fortifications, 154
Fong^es, Gustav, antiquarian, 27
Freadenstadt, 70, 72
Frontages of plots, 322, 325
Frontages of rectangular plots of difitrent
depths, table of, 327
GAaDBM Cmr Associatiow, 2
Garden City Building Regulations, 320
Garden City, Letchworth, 2, 141, 309-
310, 320, 376
Gardening, fornul, 116-126
Gardening, landscape, 116*126
Gardens without fences, 356-359
Garden Suburb Development Co.
(Hampstead), illus. on pp. 163, 331,
35*
Gateways and entrances, 171
Geddes, Professor, 141
Geological maps, 143
German plans, 97-1 14
Gradients influencing direction of roads,
3«7
Grand Prix de Rome, 27, 37
r9
f»
Gfist as street decoiation, 270
Greek dries, remains o( 176
Granstadt, 104, 112, 113
Hamvstiad Garden Soborh, 320^ 55a,
367* 376, 397
„ Garden Saborb Act, 508,
30* 39'» 40*
„ Garden Suborb, Centnd
PUce, 228
Garden Snborb, open space,
287
Garden Suburb, snfasidiary
roads, 328
„ Garden Suburb Trust, 294,
364* 376
Harbomc Tenants, Birmin^iam, 309
Harmony of buildings, 360-374
Haussmann, Baron, 88, 97, 194
H^nard Eugene, 241
Hendon bye-laws, 393
„ District Council, 391
Hereford, 15
Horsfall, T. C, 3
Hot water from common centre, 383
Houses, detached and semi-detached,
349-3S3* 373
Houses, number to the acre, 319-322,
3*5
Howard, Sbenezer, 2
Hulot, Jean, 27
Illamuv, 22
Individuality of towns, 146
Irregularides not noriceable, 137
Kahun, 22, 49
Karlsruhe, 69, 70
Kew Gardens, 282
King's Cross Station, 171
Kufistein, 104
LAUNoar common to cottages, 382
Leicester, 376
„ Anchor Tenants, subsidiary
centre, 228, 230
99
»9
99
INDEX
Letchworth, Bird's Hill EsUte, 346
Garden City, 2, 141, 309-
310, 320, 376
Pixmore Hill Estate, 346,
348
Town Square, 225*227
Lethaby, Professor, 4, 10, 221
Lex Adickes, 113
Liverpool Corporation, 383
Local Government Board, 388, 390, 391
Lutyens, E. L., 228
Madan, F„ Bodleian Library, 80
Magdeburg, 72
Mainz, railway bridge at, 174
Manchester, .14 1, 376
Mannheim, 69
Market-places, 175 et seq.
Marr, T. R., 141
Montpazier, 59
„ market-place, 176
Moscow, 16
„ arrangement of roads, 236
Munich, Karolinen Platz, 198
Marien Platz, 197
Max Josef Platz, 198
99
Nancy, 69, 116
„ places, 225
Nottingham, 171
Nuremberg, 16, no
„ market-place, 197^
Oxford, 80, 84, 116
„ High Street, 260
Paddington Station, 173
Pforzheim, 104, 112
Philadelphia, 90, 92
Pisa, San Stefano, 198
Place, definition of a, 194, 197
„ de I'Etoile, Paris, 241
Places, 175-234
„ enclosed, 245-246, 249
PIaygrounds,«K:hildren's, 287, 294, 355
Playroom, children's, 382-383
415
Plots, area of, 320-322
Pompeii, 28, 46, 49
„ Forum of, 176, 225
Port Sunlight, 376
Private Street Works Act, 392
Public buildings, sites for, 373
Health Act, 392
Health Act's Amendment Act,
39*
99
99
99
99
Ragusa, 60, 176
Railway sutions, 1 71-174
Ravenna, 198
Regensburg, 207
Regent's Park, London, 84
Rehorst, Dn Carl, Fold Map V.
Road junctions in Palmyra, 45
„ making, economy in, 299
„ trellis arrangement of, 90, 235
Roads, cost of, 307, 308
„ curved, 317, 345
„ framework of, needed, 11 a, 237
spider web plan of, 236
widths of, 244, 269, 301, 391
Robinson, C. Mulford, 90
Roman Forum, 45, 46, 49, 225
Roof-lines, 345, 346
Roofs, 137
Rothenburg, 50, 52, 104, 112, 116
Rowntree, Seebohm, 141
Ruskin, 119
Salzburg, 198
S^linonte, Doric colony, 27, 28
Silchester, 49
Sitte, Camillo, 52, 97, 98, 112, 113,
194, 198, 208, 215, 216, 223, 225,
237-240, 269, 270
Societies of Public Utility, 376, 382
Sociological studies, 141
Spiers, R. Phend, 28, 45
Station places, 187, 189
Stevenson, R. L., 367
Street decoration, 278, 281, 282
Street junctions and corners, 333-345
>»
n
79
99
99
99
INDEX
Streets, colonnaded, 37-45
n curved, 260, 317
diagonal, 90
junctions of, 246
steepness of, 317
straight, 249, 252, 254^ 259, 260
StQbben, Dr., 49, 69, 72, 237, 238
Stuttgart, 104
market-place, 208
Schloss Platz, 270, 278
Sunny aspect, 328
Sunshine, table of hours of duration of,
312
Swazi kraal, 22
Tbhamts' Socimr, 379, 382
Town Planning Bill, 3, 145, 388, 391
Town plans contrasted, 15^/ sgf.
Trams on grass, 242
Trees as street decoration, 270
„ preservation of, 290
Turin, 16, 50
416
VaaoNA, Piazza Erbe, 197
Venice, Piazza San Marco, 215
Vistas, closed, 246
„ long, 221, 252
Walls and defining areas, 163
Washington, 16, 92
Winchelsea, 60, 61^ 62
Wind, direction in regard to building,
Wood, J. T., 37
„ Robert, 38
Wren, Sir Christopher, Plan of London,
77,80, 113
"VoTACBs Pittoresques de la Syrie et
de la Phoenicie," 38
YoMc, 141
Z0MB8 in German towns, 402
Zschertnitz, 104
FOLD MAP I
NUREMBERG OLD PLAN
Q
'
^
FOLD MAP II
NUREMBERG EXTENSION PLAN
^
• «-•-•■
A
FOLD MAP III
ROTHENBURG
^•1
FOLD MAP IV
KARLSRUHE
wm^i^tm
J
i
\
FOLD MAP V
COLOGNE, DETAILED PLAN OF SMALL
AREA
^
i^tafa
FOLD MAP VI
HAMPSTEAD GARDEN SUBURB
FOLD MAP VII
FIRST GARDEN CITY, LETCHWORTH
19
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UNWIN BROTHBRS, UMITBD,
WOKING AHD LONDON.
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