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AD\ERT1SKMENTS 


A     TOWN     PLANNING     REQUISITE. 

The    "MODEL    COTTAGER" 

RANGE    COPPER    &    BATH    COMBINATION 


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4-1      C 

£| 

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CORNES    &    HAIGHTON, 

Housing    Specia/ists, 
BATH  CHAMBERS,    240  HIGH  HOLBORN,  LONDON,  W.C. 

"MACK" 

FIRE,         SOUND,  VERMIN     PROOF. 

PLASTER 

AND 

"  K  I  N  G  " 

PUMICE-CONCRETE 

PARTITIONS 

CEILINGS,     PUGGING,     FLOORS,     ROOFS. 

Tested  by  the  British  Fire  Prevention  Committee  to  2,250  dee:.  Fahr. 

Adopted  by 
H.M.  Office  of  Works,  Admiralty,  War  Office,  L.C.C.  and  Leadingr  Architects. 


SOLE      MANUFACTURERS- 


J.  A.  KING  &  CO., 


BRIDGE  HOUSE. 
'    (next  Blackfriars  Bridge), 

181  QUEEN  VICTORIA  STREET,  LONDON,  E.G. 


Telephone  : 
CENTRAL  773. 


TeleRrams : 
KINOVIQUE,  LONDON. 


ADVERTISEMENTS 


Si 


IV 


ADVERTISEMENTS 


THE 


'HEAPED'  FIRE 


-AND  ITS 
MERITS 


IT  is  impossible  here 
to  cite  all  the  advant- 
ages of  the  'Heaped'  Fire, 
but  the  chief  are  :  great 
fuel  economy — maximum 
heat  radiation — very  simple  in  construction  —  easily  fixed 
— saves  labour  in  cleaning  —  no  danger  —  readily  fitted 
to  existing  chimney-piece.  The  'Heaped'  Fire,  in  fact, 
is  immeasurably  superior  to  any  other  type,  a  fact  which 
is  emphasized  by  its  adoption  by  leading  architects  every  - 
where. 


"The    'Heaped'   Fire  in   my  room  never  went  out,  on  one  occasion,  from 
Dec.  17th  until  March  10th." 

"  My    husband    has    had    lots    of    resident    patients   and   nurses  who    all 
think    these   fires    unique" 


WRITE    FOR    ILLUSTRATED    BOOKLET. 


Bratt,  Golbran  &  Co. 

and  the  HEAPED  FIRE  COMPANY,  Ltd. 

10  Mortimer   Street,    London,    W. 

Telegrams:  'Proteus,  London.' 

Telephone  :     Central 

1372 


ADVERTISEMENTS 


The  Associated  Portland  Cement 
Manufacturers  (1900)  Limited 

are  the  Largest  Manufacturers  of 

PORTLAND  CEMENT 

in  Europe. 


Their  well-known  brands  include : — 

"J.  B.  White  &  Bros." 
"Hilton  Anderson  &  Co." 
"  Anchor,"  "  Pyramid," 
Francis'  "  Nine  Elms," 
"  Burham,"  "  Eddystone," 

"  FerrOCrete"  (tot  Concrete  Specialities). 

The  above  brands  possess  an  unrivalled  record  and  a  world-wide 
reputation :    none   are    so    largely    specified    by   Architects   and 

Engineers. 


Head  Office  :— 

Portland  House,  Lloyd's  Avenue 

LONDON,    E.C. 


Agents  in  every  large  town  throughout  the  United  Kingdom. 


AD\'KRTISKMENTS 


Co-Partnership  Tenants,  Ltd. 

6   BLOOMSBURY   SQUARE.   LONDON,   W.C 

Voard  of  Managsment, 

Chairman:   HENRY    VIVIAN.   J. P. 

Deputy  Chairman  :    \V.   HUTCHINGS  (Ealing  Tenants  Ltd.) 

J.  F.   L.  BKUNNKR,  M.P.  (Liverpool  Garden  Suburb  Tenants  Ltd.); 

JOHN  H.   GREENHALGH  (Hampstead  Tenants  Ltd  )  ;    VISCOUNT 

HOWICK  ;     F.     LITCHFIELD     (Third    Hampstead    Tenants    Ltd.)  ; 

C.  NAPIER-CLAVERING  (Harborne  Tenants  Ltd.)  ;  F.  SWANZY,  J. P. 

(Sevenoaks  Tenants  Ltd.)  ;    13.  WILLIAMS  (Garden  City  Tenants  Ltd.) 

Secretary:    GEORGE  MORRISS. 

Architect  :    G.  L.  SUTCLIFFE.  A.R.I.B.A.,  MR. S.I. 

Consulting  Architect  :    RAYMOND  UNWIN,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Works  Manager:  GEORGE    RAMSBOTHAM. 

THE  estates  of  the  societies  affiliated  to  Co- 
Partnership  Tenants  Ltd.  are  practical 
examples  of  suburb-planning.  Each  estate 
is  planned  out  as  a  whole  under  expert  supervision, 
and  provision  is  made  for  churches,  schools,  clubs, 
and  other  public  buildings,  as  well  as  for  open  spaces 
and  tree  planting.  The  remarkable  nature  of  the 
growth  of  Co-Partnership  Tenants  Ltd.  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  its  present  capital  is  nearly  ;^1 60,000 
and  that  the  turnover  of  its  trading  department  for 
building  materials  for  last  year  exceeded  /^l 30,000. 
Five  years  ago  only  three  of  the  Tenant  Societies 
now  federated  with  it  existed,  their  total  value  being 
not  more  than  /^36,390,  At  the  present  time  there 
are  fourteen,  and  these  are  actively  engaged  in 
building  operations,  which,  when  completed,  will, 
it  is  estimated,  make  the  total  value  of  the  estates 
^2,105,990,  with  land  to  the  extent  of  652  acres  and 
6595  houses.  Applications  for  Shares  5%;  Loan 
Stock  4%  now  invited.  Prospectus  on  application 
to  the  Secretary. 


Mussrs.  11,11  ry  Parker  and  Raitnond  L'liwiii. 
The  Orchird,  Hampstead  Way.     Hampstead  Tenants  I  td. 


■  a. 


?:  ^ 


THE   KOYAL  INSTITUTE  OF  BRITISH  ARCHITECTS 

TOWN    PLANNING 
CONFERENCE 

LONDON,  10-15  OCTOBER  1910 


TRANSACTIONS 


LONDON 

THE    ROVAL    INSTITLTi:    OF    BRITISH    ARCHITECTS 

9  CONDUIT   STREET.  REGENT  STREET.  W, 

1911 


PREFACE. 

The  art  of  laying-out  either  the  nucleus  of  a  new  city  or  the 
extension  of  an  existing  one  to  the  best  advantage  of  its  popula- 
tion, as  regards  economy,  beauty,  and  health,  both  now  and  in 
time  to  come,  is,  for  want  of  a  better  term,  called  "  Town 
Planning."  The  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects  has  long 
been  impressed  by  the  public  spirit  shown  by  architects  in  other 
countries  (notably  in  America,  where  schemes  have  been  prepared 
and  formulated  for  the  extension  and  improvement  of  their  cities) 
and  some  years  ago  appointed  a  Town  Planning  Committee, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  study  such  schemes,  to  found  affiliated 
committees  in  the  provinces,  and  to  endeavour  to  prepare  the  way 
for  similar  schemes  in  Great  Britain.  When,  therefore,  the  Town 
Planning  Bill  of  1907  was  brought  forward  by  the  President  of 
the  Local  Government  Board,  the  Institute  was  prepared  with 
certain  suggestions.  These  were  put  before  Mr.  Burns  by  a  depu- 
tation of  the  Royal  Institute,  and  the  privilege  of  being  represented 
and  heard  at  the  inquiries  to  be  held  upon  proposed  schemes  of 
town  planning  by  the  Local  Government  Board  was  obtained  for 
the  Institute. 

When  at  length  Mr.  Burns'  valuable  measure  passed  into 
law,  and  the  careful  consideration  of  the  architectural  develop- 
ment of  town  planning  became  a  matter  of  immediate  importance, 
the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects  organised  the  Town 
Planning  Conference  to  study  the  questions  involved  in  our  cities' 
improvement  and  extension,  with  special  reference  to  the  artistic 
and  constructional  conditions  of  the  subject.  The  holding  of  the 
Conference  furnished  an  opportunity  to  put  before  the  public  an 
object-lesson,  in  the  form  of  the  Exhibition  of  Plans,  Drawings, 
and  Models  which  were  shown  at  the  Royal  Academy  during 
the  weeks  from  the  loth  to  the  29th  October ;  the  finest  exhibition 
of  its  kind — by  common  consent — which  has  ever  been  brought 
together  in  any  country. 

The  Royal  Institute  believes  that  it  is  performing  a  public  duty 
in  placing  before  the  local  authorities  who  will  have  to  prepare 
schemes  under  the  Act  the  best  information,  both  historical  and 
actual,    which    is   available   on    this   subject ;   and    this   is   now 

A  2 


i',-   'rninsaclions  of  the  Toi^'n  Phiniiing  Conference,   Oct.  igio. 

given  in  the  Papers  presented  and  read  during  the  Conference  and 
brought  together  in  the  official  volume  of  Transactions. 

As  is  the  case  with  all  conventional  phrases,  "  town  planning  ' 
has  different  meanings  in  different  mouths.  To  the  medical 
officer  of  health  it  means  sanitation  and  healthy  houses  ;  to  the 
engineer,  trams  and  bridges  and  straight  roads,  with  houses 
drilled  to  toe  a  line  like  soldiers.  To  some  it  means  open  spaces  ; 
to  the  policeman  regulation  of  traffic ;  to  others  a  garden  plot  to 
every  house,  and  so  on.  To  the  architect  it  means  all  these  things, 
collected,  considered,  and  welded  into  a  beautiful  whole.  It  is  his 
work,  the  work  of  the  trained  planner,  to  satisfy  all  the  require- 
ments of  a  town  plan,  and  to  create  in  doing  so  a  work  of  art. 
That  this  is  not  an  unprofitable  matter  even  from  the  merest 
business  point  of  view  is  self-evident.  Nothing  is  more  ruinously 
wasteful  than  unregulated  growth,  whether  in  nature  or  a  city. 
It  will  certainly  have  to  be  pruned  away,  thinned  out,  or  dealt 
with  in  such-like  drastic  fashion  if  it  is  not  trained  and  super- 
vised during  its  formation  ;  and  to  cut  away  slums  and  open  up 
light  and  air  to  them  by  avenues  and  open  spaces  is  a  very  costly 
and  not  always  satisfactory  process,  which  may  be  avoided  by 
intelligent  anticipation. 

Another  point — perhaps  the  most  important  of  all — is  the 
tremendous  influence  upon  man,  the  animal,  of  the  surroundings  in 
which  he  is  bred  and  passes  his  life.  Ruskin,  speaking  of  the 
blocks  of  London  houses  intersected  by  railways,  said,  "  It  is  not 
possible  to  have  any  right  morality,  happiness,  or  art,  in  any 
country  where  the  cities  are  thus  built,  or  thus,  let  me  rather  say, 
clotted  and  coagulated  ;  spots  of  a  dreadful  mildew,  spreading  by 
patches  and  blotches  over  the  country  they  consume.  You  must  have 
lovely  cities,  crystallised,  not  coagulated  into  form  ;  limited  in  size, 
and  not  casting  out  the  scum  and  scurf  of  them  into  an  encircling 
eruption  of  shame,  but  girded  each  with  its  sacred  pomoerium  and 
with  garlands  of  gardens  full  of  blossoming  trees  and  softly 
guided  streams."  The  animal  man  can  never  be  morally  sound  if 
he  is  deprived  of  those  reasonable  and  healthy  pleasures  to  which 
he  is  entitled;  and  Art  aims  at  giving  pleasure  in  a  noble  form. 
"  Non  tantum  corpori,"  said  Seneca,  "s^rf  etiani  moribus  salubrem 
locum  cligere  debemus.'" 

John   W.    Simpson. 


CONTENTS. 


Portraits  :  Hon.  President,  President,  Secretary-General — Frontispiece 
Preface   [John  \\\   Simpson]     .......         iii 

PART  I. 


RECORD  OF  THE  CONFERENCE. 

Portraits  of  Chief  Officials  of  Sub-Committees,  &c.  . 
Organisation — ^Membership — Desig-ns    for    Conference    Badge, 
Poster,      Handbook     cover,      Banquet     Card — Railway 
Facilities — Receptions — Exhibitions — Professor   Geddes' 
Exhibit — Order  of  Procedure  at  Meetings — Programme- 
Letter  from  the  American  Civic  Association     . 
Committee  of  Patronage  ..... 

Executive  Committee         ...... 

Committees  of  the  Executive    ..... 

Honorary  Interpreters        ...... 

Representatives  of  Corporations,  Councils,   and  Societies 
List  of  Members         ....... 

Inaugural  Meeting  ...... 

Address  by  the  President,  Mr.  Leonard  Stokes  . 
Inaugural  Address  by  the  Hon.  President,  the  Right  Hon 

John  Burns,  M.P 

Telegram  from  the  King     ..... 
\'ote  of  Thanks  to  Mr.  Burns  [Sir  Aston  Webb] 
\'isiTS  AND  Excursions  :  Reports — 

Letchworth  Garden  City  [Courtenay  Crickmer] 

Hatrield  House  [J.  Alfred  Gotch  and  Harold  I.  Merr 

Hampton  Court  Palace   [H.   P.   G.  Maule] 

Bedford  Park,  Chiswick   [Maurice  B.  Adams]    . 

L.C.C.   Housing  Estate,  White  Hart  Lane  [W.  E.  Riley] 

St.  Paul's,  The  Tower,  St.  Bartholomew  the  Great  [Percy 

W.   Lovell]  

Greenwich  Hospital   [F.  Dare  Clapham] 
Hampstead  Garden  Suburb   [Raymond  Unwin] 
Bridgewater  House  and  Dorchester  House  [Septimus  \\'ar 
wick]  ........ 

Regent's  Park  and  Avenue  Road  Estate  [H.  A.   Hall] 
Houses  of   Parliament  and   Westminster   Hall    [G.    J.    T 

Reavell] 

Westminster  Abbey     ....... 

Inns  of  Court  [C.  Harrison  Townsend] 
Bournville  ....... 


PACK 

phiic 


I 

12 
13 
14 
14 
16 

30 

59 


62 

75 
76 


77 
77 
80 
80 
82 

8i 
83 
83 

84 
84 

85 

85 
86 

86 


vi    Trtuisactio)is  of  the  Tonvn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910, 


Visits  {continued)  : 

Bath    [Mowbray  Green] 

Port  Sunlight  [George  Hornblower] 

Oxford    [Edward  Warren] 

Cambridge  [Maurice  E.  Webb] 
Banquet  :  Speeches — 

The  Right  Hon.  John  Burns 

The  President     . 

Lord  Redesdale 

Sir  L.  Alma-Tadema 

Mr.  Sidney  Colvin 

Professor  Eberstadt    . 

Sir  Aston  Webb 

Mr.   Daniel  H.  Burnham    . 

M.  Louis  Bonnier 

Mr.  Leslie  Vigers 
Portraits  of  some  of  the  Readers  of  Paper 


87 
8& 

89 
9» 

94 

99 

99 

101 

lOI 

103 

105 
106 
107 
108 
plate 


PART  II. 

PAPERS  AND  DISCUSSIONS. 

SF.CTION  I.— CITIES  OF  THE  PAST. 

The  Planning  of  Hellenistic  Cities  [Professor  Percy  Gardner]     1 1 1 

Uhistrations. 
Plan  of  Priene      ........ 

Restoration  of    Priene        ...... 

Agora  of  Priene  ....... 

Market  Building  at  JEg?e.  ..... 

House  of  Assembly  :  Reconstruction  .... 

House  at  Delos  ....... 


112 

.  plate 

.      116 

•   117 

.   118 

120 

Town  Planning  in  the  Roman  World    [Professor  F.   Haver- 
field]  

Illustrations. 
A  Chinese  Colony  in  Central  Asia       .... 

Florence  :   The   Centro       ...... 

Timgad  (Roman  Africa)      ...... 

Silchester  :  General  Outline        ..... 

Detailed  Plan  of  Part  of  Silchester 

Plan  of  Caerwent      ....... 

.A.ugusta  Trcverorum,  Trier        .  .  ... 

Rome  [Dr.  Thomas  Ashby]        ...... 

Illustrations. 
Hydrography  and  Chorography  of  Ancient  Rome 
'the  Wall  of  "  Roma  Quadrata,"  Palatine 
The  Cloaca  Maxima  ...... 


123. 
124 

126 

127 

128 

plate 

133 

134 
135 
135 


Contents. 


Vll 


PAGE 

Servian  Wall  on  the  S.W.  Side  of  the  Aventine  .         -136 

Ponte  S.  Angelo  before  completion  of  Modern  Embankment     139 
Column  of  Trajan  and  Basilica  Ulpia  .  .         .  .140 

Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome  on  the  \'elia  .  .         .141 

Arch  of  Aqua  Marcia,  built  by  Augustus,   incorporated  in 

the  Aurelian  Wall  as  the  Porta  Tiburtina         .  .  .142 

The  Curia  .         .  .  .  .  .  .  .143 

Basilica  of  Constantine  from  the  Palatine  .  .  .144 

Plan  of  Rome  (Harris  and  Senex)        .....  plate 

Entwicklung   des    Stadtebau-Ideals    seit    der    Rexaissanxe 
(The  Evolution  of  the  Ideal  in  Town  Planning  since 
THE  Renaissance)   [Dr.  A.  E.  Brinckmann]     .         .  .      146 

Illustrations. 
Piazza  della  Signoria,  Florence  .....      146 

Piazza  in  Livorno         .         .  .  .  .  .  .  .147 

Scamozzi's  Ideal  Town  Plan        ......      148 

Plan  showing  position  of  the  Palazzo  Farnese,  Rome  .      149 

Carlo  Fontana's   Design   for  the  Piazza  of  St.    Peter's  at 

Rome       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .150 

Portici  degli  Uffizi,  Florence       .  .  .  .         .  -151 

Perret  de  Chambery's  Ideal  Town  Plan       .  .  .  .152 

Place  Royale,  Xancy  .  .  .         .  .  .  -153 

Rousset's  Scheme  for  Place  Louis  X\'.        ....      154 

Roland  Levirloy's  Ideal  Town  Plan     .....      156 

Design  for  the  Gendannenmarkt  in  Berlin  by  Bourdet         .      158 
Plan  showing  grouping  of  Buildings  round  Opera  House, 

Berlin       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .159 

Ludwigstrasse,   Munich       .......      160 

Translation  of  Dr.  Brinckmann 's  Paper    .  .  .  .  .161 


The  Foundation  of  French  and  English  Gothic  To\\  ns  in  the 
South  of  France  [Dr.  A.  E.  Brinckmann] 
Illustrations. 
Carcassonne 
Plan  of  Carcassonne 
Albi  .  .      ,   . 

Plan  of  Cordes 
A   \'iew  of  Cordes     . 
Sainte-Foy  la  Grande 
Sauveterre-de-Guienne  :  Plan 
Monsegur  :  Plan  .... 

"  \'illes-neuves  "  in  the  Garonne  Basin 
Market-Place  of  Libourne 
Aigues-Mortes  .... 

Montauban,  showing  its  Gothic  Bridge 

Discussion. 
Professor  Reginald  Blomfield      .  .  .  •      '7/ 

Professor  Lanciani      .  .  .  .  .  •      i"/ 

T.   C.   Horsfall 
Colonel  Plunkett 
Professor  Gardner 


166 

167 
168 
169 
170 


174 
174 
175 
175 
176 
176 

180 

179 
179 

179 

179 


viii  Transactious  oj  the  7oivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


John  Mitchell      . 
John  S.   Brodie 
Professor  D.  Reid  Keys 
Matt.  Garbutt     . 
Councillor  R.  M.  Cameron 
Councillor  John  S.  Galbraith 


PAGE 

179 
180 
181 
181 
182 
182 


SHCTIOX  II.— CITIES  OF  THE  PRESENT. 

Town  Planning  and  the  Preservation  oe  Ancient  Featires 
[Professor  G.   Baldwin  Brown]       ..... 

Cities  of  the  Present  as  representative  oe  a  Transition 
Period  in  Urban  Development. — The  Evidence  of 
Standardised  Streets  [Charles  Mulford  Robinson] 

Notice  slr  les  Architectures  Oblu.atoires  dans  la  Ville 
DE  Paris  (Notes  on  the  Regulations  governing  the 
Planning  and  Design  of  Buildings  within  the  City  of 
Paris)  [M.  Louis  Bonnier] 

Illustrations. 
Place  des  Vosges 
Place  Vendome 
Place  Saint-Sulpice 
Rue  de  Rivoli 
Place  de  la  Concorde  ......      216, 

Translation  of  M.   Bonnier's  Paper  . 

Cause  and  Effect  in  the  Modern  City   [H.  W  Lanchester] 
Illustrative  Diagram    ....... 


Discussion. 


John  A.  Brodie 
'ihomas  .Vdams 
Dr.  Heg-emann 
Colonel  G.  T.  Plunkett 
Benjamin  Hall  Blyth 
Edward  Warren 
Arthur  E.   Collins 
F.  S.  Baker 
Sir  Aston  Webb 
James  A.  Morris 


187 


200 


208 

212 

215 
215 
215 
217 

222 

234 

237 
238 

239 
240- 
241 
241 
241 
242 
242 

243 


SECTION  III 


-CITY  DEVELOPMENT  AND 
EXTENSION. 


The  City  Devklcm'ment  Plan   [Raymond  Unwin] 

Jllustnitions. 
Model  of  Extension  for  Gotenburg- 
Combination  of  Site  and  .Architecture 
Heath  Close,  Hampstead  Garden  Suburb    . 
The  Parkway,   Philadelphia 


247 

249 
251 

255 
258 


Contents. 


IX 


PAGE 

Chicago  :  Plan    .........  260 

Portion  of  the  Fairmount  Parkway  .....  261 

\'iew  looking-  down  Proposed  Madison  Avenue  Extension  to 

Union  Square,  New  York         ......  262 

Diagonal  Approach  to  Blackwell's  Island  Bridge  at  Fifty- 
ninth  Street    .........  263 

ITie  Great  Gallery  of  Palmyra  ......  264 

Ditto,  General  Plan     ........  264 

Du    Dkveloppemext    et    de    l 'Extension    des    Villes    (The 
Growth  and  Development  of  Towns)     [A.    Augustiii 

Rey] 266 

Translation  of  M.  Key's  Paper            ......  274 

Discussion. 

Thomas  C.    Horsfall             .......  282 

Councillor  the  Rev.  Dr.  Walter  Walsh        ....  282 

F.   R.   Durham              ........  284 

Peter  Macnaughton     ........  284 

Sir  Richard  Surtees  Paget           ......  285 

Councillor   May             ........  285 

H.    G.    Ibberson            ........  286 

Dr.   Sidney  Cameron  Lawrence            .....  286 

Mr.  Justice  Neville 288 

CiTV  Develoi'ment  \_\V.  E.  Rile\J     ......  291 

Illustrations. 
Sir   Christopher   Wren's   Plan    for   rebuilding   the   City   of 

London,  and  the  Holborn-Strand  Improvement  .         .  293 

Aldwych  Entrance  of  the  Holborn  to  Strand  Improvement    .  294 

View  of  Tower  Garden  from  Terrace  .....  295 

W^hite  Hart  Lane  Estate  :   Plan  .....  297 

View  from  Tower  Garden  looking   East  .  .  .  299 

Five-Room  Cottages,  Corner  of  Awlfield  Avenue         .  .  301 

D'Arcy   Buildings,    Hackney  .....  303 

Caledonian   Road  Buildings  :  Courtyard  Gardens         .  .  304 

Neure  eortschritte  im  Deutschen  Stadtebau  (Recent  Pro 

tiREss  in  German  Town  Planning)  [Dr.  H.  J.  Stiibben]  .     306 
Translation  of  Dr.  Stiibben's  Paper    ......      309 

Illustrations. 

Rue  des  Pierres,  Bruges      .  .  .  .         .  .  •312a 

Anger-Strasse  in  Erfurt      .......    312b 

Maximilian-Strasse  in  Augsburg         .  .  .  .  .3126 

Aistadt-Strasse   in    Landshut       .  .  .  .  .  -3120 

Arnulf-Strasse  in  Munich    .  .  .  .  .  .  .312^ 

The  Fishery  Quarter  in  Briinn  .  .  .  •  .   3i2e 

Konigsberg  :   North  Western   lixtension  .  .  .    312/ 

Landshut  :  New  Station  Quarter         .  .  .  .  ■   S^^g^ 

Landshut  :   The  Station  Square  .....   312^ 

Landshut  :  New  Market  Place 3121 

Scheme  for  a  New  Quarter  in  Berlin  .  .  .  .  .   2^^^^ 


X     Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,   Oct.  1910. 

PAGI-: 

New  Suburb  at  Pozen 3^2/ 

Neustrelitz  :  Design  b>  Dr.  Stijbben 312m 

Louvain  :  Reconstruction  Scheme  by  Dr.  Stiibben  •   312/1 

Ix)uvain  :   Bird's-Eye  View 3120 

Louvain  :  Place  du  Parvis  .  .  .  .  .  .  •   3i2/> 

Proposed  New  Town  of  St.  Anne  on  the  Schcldc  .  ■   S^-Q 

Colony  of  Hellerau,  near  Dresden        .  .  .  .  •   3^2r 

(.iarden  City  near  Niirnberg 312.V 

Artisans'   Settlement,    Merck,   near   Darmstadt  .  .  -312/ 

Darmstadt  :  The  Herdweg  Quarter,  the  Mathild  Hill,  and 

the  Garden  City  of  the  "  Hohlcn  W'eg  "        .  .  •   3i2» 

Essen  :   New    Districts       .......   31211' 

Margarethe  Krupp-Stiftung- for  Convalescents     .  .  .    312.Y 

Bernewiildchen,  Essen  .  .         .  .  .  .  •   S^^V 

Charlottenburg,  near  Berlin  .  .  .  .  .  .312s 

Town    Planning    in    Germany  :    Tin-:    (iREATER    Berlin    Com- 
petition [Professor  Rud.  Eberstadt]        .  .         .  -313 
Ilhistrations. 

Plan  of  Berlin  plate 

Jansen's   Scheme         .  .  .  .  .  .         .  .314 

Ditto,  Suggested  Embankment   .  .  .  .         .  -315 

Ditto,   Planning  of  New  Suburb  .....      316 

Ditto,    showing    "  Sally    vStreet  "    for    fast    Motor-Traflic 

between  Town  and  Country     .  .  .  .  .  .317 

Scheme  of  Professors  Brix  and  Genzmer  and  the  Hochbahn- 

Gescllschafte  :  Improvement  of  the  Konigsplatz       .  .318 

Ditto,  Main  Street  approaching  Railway  Station  .  .      319 

Ditto,  Improvement  of  a  Square  .  .  .  .  .      320 

Ditto,  Bird's-eye  view  of  Garden  Suburb      .  .  .321 

Ditto,  connecting  principal  Lines  of  Traffic  .  .  .     322 

Scheme  of  Messrs.  Havestadt,  Contag,  Blum  and  Schmitz  : 

System  of  organising  Local  and  Long-Distance  Traffic  .      323 
Ditto,  Scheme  of  Factor}-  District  showing  means  of  Trans- 
port ..........      324 

New  Civic  Centre  in  Old  Berlin  (Professor  Bruno  Schmitz)   .      325 
Avenue  connecting  Railway  .Station  with  prominent  Point 
of  Street  Traffic  .......     325 

Proposed  Site  for  Berlin  University      .....      327 

Scheme   of   Messrs.    Mohring,    Petersen,    and    Eberstadt  : 

Town  Extension  by  New  Rings  and  Belts       .  .  .     328 

Ditto  :   Radial  Pattern  for  Town   Extension         .  .  .      328 

Professor  Mohring  :  New  Parallel  Street  at  most  Congested 

Point  of  Traffic       ........      329 

Ditto  :  Project  for  the  Konigsplatz     .  .  .  .  .3^0 

Scheme   of   Messrs.    Mohring,    Petersen,    and    Eberstadt  : 

Mixed  Plan  for  high-priced  Land   .....      331 

Scheme  for  connecting  Local  and  Long-Distance  Traffic  .      332 

Discussion. 
.Alderman   .Arthur   Bennett  ......      334 

Dr.  Chalmers     .........     334 


Contents. 


XI 


A.  B.  McDonald 
Councillor   Galbraith 
Provost   Davidson 


PAGE 

335 
335 


SECTION  IV.— CITIES  OF  THE  FUTURE. 
The  Immediate  Future  in  England  [Professor  C.  H.  Reilly]  . 

Les  Villes  de  l'Avenir  (The  Cities  of  the  Future)  [Eugene 
Henard]  ......... 

Illustrations. 
Defects  of  Streets  and  Houses  of  To-day  . 
Street  of  the  Future  ..... 

A  many-storied  Street  ..... 

View  of  City  of  the  Future  from  an  Aeroplane 
Translation  of  M.  Henard 's  Paper     .... 

A   City   of   the    Future   under   a    Democratic   Government 
[Daniel  H.  Burnham]       ....... 

The  City  of  the  Future- — its  Chances  of  Being    [L.   Cope 
Cornford]         ......... 

Discussion. 


339 

345 

346 
349 
351 
356 
357 

368 
379 


Sir  Richard  Paget       ..... 

•     383 

Ebenezer  Howard        ..... 

•     384 

Andrew  T.  Taylor       ..... 

386 

Augustin  Rey      ...... 

387 

Francis  Swales             ..... 

387 

John  S.  Galbraith        ..... 

391 

Harry  de  Pass     ...... 

392 

Professor  Adshead     ...... 

392 

Herbert  Freyberg        ...... 

393 

H.  G.  Ibberson   ....... 

393 

Matt.  Garbutt 

394 

Councillor  Marr           ..... 

395 

F.  R.  Farrow      ....... 

398 

J.  A.  Brodie 

398 

SECTION  v.— ARCHITECTURAL  CONSIDERATIONS 
IN  TOWN  PLANNING. 

The  .Vrchitect  and  Town  Planning  [Professor  Beresford  Pite]      403 

Town  Planking  in  relation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas, 

with  Special  Reference  to  London  [Arthur  Crow]       .     407 
Illustrations. 
Proposed  Traffic  Avenue  .......   plate 

Part  of  the  City  and  East  London        .....   plate 

Map  of  the  Ten  Cities  of  Health plate 

Three  Examples  of  Narrow  Streets  which  may  be  legally 
perpetuated     .........     406 

Buildings  re-crected  to  excessive  Height  in  Narrow  Streets     413 
Examples  of  awkward  Street  Projections      .         .  .  .414 


xii    'rraiisactiofis  of  the  Toii'ii  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


42 


'Jraffic  Obstruction,   Spitalfields 

\'anishing-  Gardens      ........ 

View  of  Proposed  Central  Avenue,  showing-  Trams,  Tram 
Shelters,  and  Gardens      ..... 

Courts  on  the  Route  of  Proposed  Central  Avenue 
Gardens  in  Proposed  Central  Avenue   . 
Example  of  Inexpensive  Avenue 
Contrasts  in  Child  Life        ..... 

Discussion. 

C.  Watkins 

Alderman  Fildes  ...... 

Rev.  Dr.  Walter  Walsh 

Arthur   Crow       ....... 

W.  R.  Davidg-e  . 

V.  G.  Painter      ....... 

M.  C.  Hulbert 

PiBLic    Parks    and    Gardens  :    their  Design  and  Equipment 
[Thomas  H.  Mawson]       ...... 

Illustrations. 
Lord  Street  Gardens,   Southport  .... 

A  Marine  Garden  at  vSouthport     ..... 

Small  Recreation  Ground,  Cleethorpes 
Pittencrieff  Gardens,  Dunfermline        .... 

Pittencrieff  Park  :  Plan        ...... 

Proposed  New  Bridg-e,  Dunfermline     .... 

DiscHSsioti. 
Sir  James  Lemon  ....... 

H.  B.  Grubb 

Edward  Warren  ....... 

The  .\rchitect  and  Civic  Ornamentation   [E.  A.  Rickards] 

Illustrations. 
Portrait   Memorial       ..... 

City  (iardens  and  Ornamental  Waters 
Sculptured  P'ountain    ..... 

Lamp  Standards  ..... 

Typical  French  Portrait  Memorial 
Treatment  of  Main    Thoroughfare 
Forecourt  to  Park       ..... 

Design  for  Public  H::ll  and  Monument  terminating  important 
Avenue    ....... 

Discussion. 
Professor  Adshead       ..... 


Open  Spai.es  and  Running  Waters   [Colonel  G.    1 
C.B.,  R.E.  retired]  .... 

Jlliislrations. 
The  Wandle        ...... 

Beverley  Brook  ...... 

River  Colne,   near   Hillingdon    . 
River  Brent  Di\ision,  near  Perivale  . 


Plunkett, 


PAGE 
417 

4'9 
42a 

420 

423- 

4-' 4 


4^6.   427 
426" 

427 
429 
428 

430- 
432 


434 

440 
442 
44.^ 
445 
447 
449 

450- 
451 
451 

453 

454 
455 
45^ 
457 
458 

459 
460 

461 

4^\> 

465 


466,  468 

•  469 

•  471 

•  473 


Contents. 


XIII 


Discussion. 
C.  J.  Jenkin         ......... 

H.  M.  Ellis 

Ernest  George     ......... 

Open    Spaces,    Gardens,    and    Recreation    Grolnds     [Basil 
Holmes]  ......... 

Illustrations. 
Village  of  St.  Giles-in-the-Fields,  c.  1560     .  .  .  . 

Bishopsgate  Street  and  the  Village  of  Shoreditch,  c.  1560    . 
Village  of  St.  Pancras,  1746        ...... 

York  Street,  Walworth  :  Disused  Burial  Ground,  before  and 

after  being  laid  out  as  Public  Garden     .... 
Albion  Square,  Dalston,  before  and  after  being  laid  out  as 

Public  Garden         ........ 

Benbow   Street,    Deptford  :    Boys'   and  Girls'   Playgrounds 

equipped  with  Gymnastic  Apparatus      .... 

Meath  Gardens,  Bethnal  Green    ...... 

Christ  Church,   Spitalfields,  Public  Garden 
A  Typical  City  Churchyard  laid  out  as  Public  Garden   . 
Discussion. 

Herbert  M.   Ellis 

T.  C.  Horsfall 

Bernard   Gibson  ........ 

Sir  Gilbert   Parker       ........ 


City  Improvement  [Professor  Adshead] 

Discussion. 
John  Belcher       .... 
S.    Bylander         .... 
D.   Bass  all  .... 

Augustin  Rey      .... 


Some  Factors  in  Town  Planning    [Sir  W.   B.   Richmond] 

The  Restraint  of  Advertising   [Richardson  Evans] 

Discussion. 
Andrew  T.  Taylor       ....... 

W.  D.  Caroe  ' 

Mr.    Watkins 

Frederick  W.  Piatt      .... 
G.   Ernest  Xield  .... 

Mr.   Trier  ..... 

M.   J.   Wells 

Edwin  T.  Hall 

Richardson  PZvans        .... 


PAGE 

475 
475 
477 


478 

481 
481 
482 

485 
487 

488 
491 
491 
498 

493 
494 
496 

497 

499 

505 
506 
506 
506 

:;o8 


517 


519 


\2\ 


21 
21 


5- 

C  '  > 


Town  Planning  and  Town  Training  ;  The  Scope  and  Limits 

OF  THE  Town  Planning  Act  [A  Member  of  the  Conference]     524 
Illustration. 
Sheet  X\'.,  n.w.,  Ordnance  Survey  Map  ....      ^2)- 


xiv  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


SECTION  VI.— SPECIAL  STUDIES  OF  TOWN  PLANS. 

PAGE 

The  Civic    Sikvkv  of  Kdiniurgh    [Professor  Patrick  Geddes] 

Illustrations. 
The  West  How,  Eclinburj,di         ..... 

View  of  Athens   ........ 

\'iew  of  Edinburt^h  from  X.W.  ..... 

luJinburgh  Rock  and  Inveresk  :  Native  and  Roman  Points  o 
View       ......... 

Mediaeval  Edinburgh,  showing-  essential  Components 
Section  across  Head  of  Old  Town      .... 

Early  Type  of  Edinburgh  House         .... 

vSurviving  Later  Example  ...... 

Mediaeval  Development  of  Castle        .... 

Bird's-eye  View  from  above  Salisbury  Craigs  . 
First  Beginnings  of  Edinburgh  as  Hill  Fort 
Modern  Culture-Institutions  on  Sites  of  Ecclesiastical  Foun 
dations     ......... 

Developments  previous  to  New  Town  Plan  1688-1765 
Princes  Street  1816      ....... 

Edinburgh,  Old  and  New,  1829   ..... 

Edinburgh  :  Railway  and  Tramway  Developments 
Milnes  Court,  Lawnmarket  ..... 

"  King's  Wall  Garden  " 

Old  Edinburgh  from  Bank  of  Scotland  to  New  College 
Old  Town  from   Bank,   showing  University  Hall  Improve 
ment  Scheme  ....... 


537 

543 
544 

545 

546 
547 
547 
549 
549 
550 
552 
553 

554 
555 
556 
559 
561 

567 
568 

570 


572 


The  Planning  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman  [W.  H.  McLean]     575 

Illustrations. 
Map  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman 
Khartoum,   1898  :  Plan 
Old  Khartoum  :  Views 
Omdurman  :  Views     .... 
Khartoum,  1910  :  Plan 
Khartoum  :   Sections  of  Streets 
New  Kliartoum  :  \'iews 
Omdurman  :  C-eneral  I*lan    . 
Omdurman  :  Plan  (original  state) 
Omdurman  :    Plan  (reconstructed) 
Khartoum  :  General  View    . 
Law  Courts,  Khartoum 
War  Office,  Khartoum 
The  Palace  from  the  Ri\tr,  Khartoum 
The  Duke  of  Connaught  in  Onulurmaii 
(if>rdon  College   ..... 
Type  of  Houses  in  Khartoum     . 
The  Embankment  Road,  Khartoum 

Discussion. 
Lord   Kit<hcner  ..... 
.Major  .Stanton     ..... 


576 

579 
580 

581 

584 
586 

589 
592 
593 
594 
596 
598 
598 
598 
599 
599 
599 
602 


596  &  603 
•  597 


Contents. 


XV 


Colonel  Plunkett  ........ 

Alderman  Bennett  ......... 

R.  Weir  Schultz  .         . 

Bernard  Gibson  ........ 

Leonard  Stokes  ........ 

The  Federal  Capital  of  Australla  [John  Sulman] 

Illustrations. 

A  Radially  Planned  City      . 

A  Fan-shaped  Plan  ....... 

Greater  London   [G.  L.  Pepler]       ...... 

Illustrations. 
Suggested   Division   ol   (Greater   London   for   Collection   of 
Information  in  anticipation  of  Town  Planning  Schemes 
Plan  showing  Proposed  Ring,  and    other    suggested    Im- 
provements of  Concentric  Communication 
Cross-Section  of  Proposed  Ringway 
Plan  showing  Areas  of  different  Authorities  in  Greater  Lon- 
don with  Town  Planning  Powers  . 
Discussion. 


PAGE 

600 
601 
602 
603 
603 

604 

60& 
609 

bix 


Joseph  Fels 

Edwin  T.  Hall     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .621 

Herbert  Freyberg- 
Mr.  Watkins 
Dr.    Fremantle 

C.  J.  Jenkin 
Harold  Williams 
Frederick  W.  Piatt 
Mr.  Bassett 
G.  L.  Pepler 

D.  B.  Niven 

L'Amenagement  des  Fortifications  kt  de  la  Zone  des  Ser- 
vitudes   Militaires    (The   Maintenance    of   the   For- 
tifications   AND    OF   the    Zone    subject   to    Military 
Regulations)  [Louis  Dausset]        ..... 
Illustrations. 
Removal  of  the  I''ortifications  of  Paris  and  Utilisation  of  the 

Site  for  Open  Spaces 
Pare  de  Bagnolet 
Translation  of  M.  Dausset's  Paper    . 

Bruxelles  aux  Champs  (Rural  Brussels)   [E.  Stasse  and  H 
De  Bruyne]    . 

Illustrations. 
Plan  showing  junction  of  Boulevards  of  the  first  and  second 

Rings 

Plan  showing  Proposed  New  Arteries,  Parks,  and  Buildings 
Bird's-eye  View  of  Pare  Josaphat 
Translation  of  the  foregoing  Paper 

Glasgow  City  Improvements   [A.  B.  McDonald] 
Plan 


plate 

plate 
617 

plate 

621 
,  625 
621 
622 
623 
624 
624 
624 
625 
626 
627 


628 


630 
631 
633 

636 


639 
641 

643 
646 

654 
655 


Trunsactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


TuF.  Improvh.mknt  of  Trafalgar  Sqiare    [Wm.   Woodward]  656 

Illustrations. 

Plan 658 

Perspective  \'ic\v         ........  659 

Discussion. 

V.  G.  Painter 660 

Alderman  Fildcs 660 

Wm.  \\\)()d\vard           .......  660 

SECTIOX  VII.— LEGISLATIVE    CONDITIONS 
AND  LEGAL  STUDIES. 


Thk  Growth  of   Legal  Control  o\  i:r    Iown   Dkvklopment 
IX  England,   with  Observations  on  the   Expense  in- 
curred BY  Local  Authorities  in  carrying  out  a  Scheme 
UNDER  the  Town  Planning  Act  [H.  Chaloner  Dowdall] 
Town  1'lanning  and  Land  Tenure  [C.  H.  B.  Quennell]    . 

Discussion. 

Isaac  F!dwards    ....... 

W.  H.  Hope 

Edwin  T.  Hall 

Howard  Martin  ...... 

John  Lindsay       ....... 

J.  A.  Crowther    ....... 

Henry  W.    Robinson  ..... 

Mr.  Hawksworth  ...... 

Chaloner  Dowdall         ...... 

W.  T.  Nicholls 

Leslie  \'ig"ers       ....... 

The  Public  and  the  Private  Surveyor  :  their  respective 
Parts  under  the  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act  1909 
[Sir  Alex.   R.   Stenning]  ...... 

The  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act  1909 :  the  Possi- 
bilities OF  Section  44  [Harry  S.  Stewart]     . 

Town  Plaxning  ab  initio  [Ebenezer  Howard] 

Town  Planning  and  Legislation  in  Sweden  during  the 
LAST  Fifty  Years    [Dr.   Ing.   Lilicnberg-] 

Illustrations. 
Plan  by  A.   Lilienbcrg  ....... 

Model  of  the  above  Plan       ....... 

Gefle  :  Plan  by  P.  Hallman  and  F.  Sundberg-     . 
Helsingborg  :  Plan  by  X.  Gellerstedt  .  .  .  . 

Discussion. 
John  Belcher        ....... 

T.  C.  Horsfall 

J.  Fels 

Dr.  Lilienberg     ....... 

J.  Loseby  ....... 


689, 
689, 


663 
670 

679 

680 
681 
684 
686 
687 
688 
690 
690 
690 
691 


692 

695 
698 

702 


705 
707 
709 


7H 
712 

7H 
714 
7H 


Contents. 


xvii 


L.\  Li;(.i.sLAZio\E  Itai.iana  in  materia  di:  Piam  Rk(;(^lat()ri 
Edilizii  (Italian  Legislation  respecting  the  Plannin(; 
OF   BriLDiNG  Areas)    [Mario  Cattaneo]  .  .  .     -i6 

Translation  of  Signor  Cattaneo's  Paper      .....      722 


PART  III. 

EXHIBITIONS  OF  MAPS,  PLANS,  DRAWINGS, 
AND  MODELS. 

THE  ROYAL  ACADEMY. 

Opening-  of  the  Exhibition  :   Remarks  by  the  President  and 

Mr.   John  Belcher,   R.A. jt,^^ 

Notes  on  the   Exhibits    -H.    \'.    Lanchester  and   Raymond 

Unwin]    ..........  734 

Illustrations  from  the  Exhibition. 

Old  Plan  of  the  City  of  Turin 745 

Turin  :  Extension  Plan         .......  746 

Milan,    1910         .........  747 

Plan  of  Garden  Cit}-  on  the  Outskirts  of  Milan      .          .          .  748 

Mogg's  New  Plan  of  Reg^ent's  Park,  &'c.     ....  749 

John  Nash's  Plan  for  laying  out  Regent's  Park    .          .          .  749 

Professor  Pite's  Design  for  approach  from  St.  Paul's  Bridge  750 
■Queen  \'ictoria  Memorial  :  Plan           .          .          .          .          .751 

Mr.  T.  E.  Collcutt's  Project  for  Street  Bridges     .          .          .  752 
\'iew  showing  Proposals  of  the  Further  Strand  Improvement 

Committee        .........  753 

Site  Plan  for  New  Government  Offices,  Jamaica   .          .          .  754 

New  Government  Oflficcs,  King  Street,  Jamaica   .          .         .  755 
Kearrangement  of  Piccadilly  Circus  :  Mr.  Norman  Shaw's 

Plan ' 756 

A\"est  Side,  Piccadilly  Circus  :  Proposed  Treatment,  by  Mr. 

John  Murray    .........  757 

Improvement  of  Piccadilly  Circus  :  Mr.  John  Murray's  Sug- 
gestion          758,  759 

Suggested  Improvement  to  British  Museum  Approaches,  by 

Professor  .\dshead  .......      760,  761 

Suggestion    for   a   Traffic    Place  at    Shepherd's    Bush,    by 

Mr.   H.   Inigo  Triggs       .         .                    ....  762 

Dunfermline  :    Design   for   super-arched    Bridge,    by    Mr. 

T.   H.  Mawson        ........  763 

Port  Sunlight  :  Mr.  E.  Prestwick's  Design   [from  Drawing 

by  Mr.  Robert  Atkinson]          ......  764 

Port  Sunlight  :  Plan 765 

Bournville,  1909  :  Plan         .......  766 

Harborne  Tenants  Limited  :  Plan  of  Estate         .         .          .  767 

Hampstead  Garden  Suburb  :   Model    .....  768 

Ditto,  Plan 769 

An  Industrial  \'illage  :  Suggestion  by  Mr.  H.  Inigo  Triggs  770 

Alkrington  Estate  :  General  Plan  of  Development     .          .  771 


x\\:\  'rraiisactions  of  tJic  Toii-'ii  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910^ 


Fallingfs  Park  Garden  Suburb,  Wolverhampton 

Gidea  Hall  Estate,  Romford  :  Plan  for  Development     . 

Woodlands  Mining  X'illage  ... 

A   Suburban    Development   suggested   by    the    Manchester 

Society  of  Architects  ......        7 

Liverpool  Improvements  :  Suggestion  by  Professor  yXdshead 
Washington  :  Proposed  Treatment  of  Basin,  Terrace,  and 

Capital  Approaches  ...... 

Ditto,  General  Plan  of  Mall  System     .... 

Ditto,  General  View,  Monument  Garden 
Ditto,  View  of  Proposed  Lincoln  Memorial 
Chicago  :  General  Diagram  of  Exterior  Highways 
Ditto,  Proposed  Civic  Centre      ..... 

Ditto,  Proposed  Boulevard,  continuing  Michigan  Avenue 
Ditto,  Plans  of  Proposed  Parks   ..... 

Ditto,  Proposed  Plaza  ...... 

Extension  Plan  for  The  Hague  ..... 

Antwerp  at  the  beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  :  Plan 
Vienna  :  W^estern  Part  of  Inner  Town  and  Ringstrasse  :  Plan 
Ditto  :    Proposed   Revision  of  the  Karlsplatz 
Ditto  :  Karlsplatz,  before  the  river  was  covered  in 
Berlin  :  A  Place  from  Design  by  Messrs.   Schmitz,   Have 

stadt,  Contag,   and  Blum         ..... 
Konigsberg  :  Model  of  the  Schloss-Teich  Bridge 
Berlin,   \'iew  of  Moabit  Quarter  .... 

Sketch  of  General  Building  Plan  for  the  Forest  Land  and 

for   the   Land   of   adjoining   communities   along   Gorlitz 

Railway  ........ 

Town  Extension  of  Chemnitz 

Bremen  :  Old  Plan  of  City         ..... 

Crefeld  :   General  Plan        ...... 

Ditto,    Bird's-eye  View       ...... 

Nancy  in  1873  .  .  .  . 

Lille  :   Area  within   the   Fortifications 

The   Guildhall   Exhibition     ...... 

The  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects'  Exhibition 

View  of  London,  with  the  Improvements  of  its  Port  . 
View  of  Brunswick  Dock,  1790    ..... 
View  of  West  India  Dock,  1802 
Port  of  London  :  London  Dock,   1803 
View  of  the  London   Dock,   1808 
View  of  East  India  Docks,   1808 

Informal  Meetings  :  Exhibition  of  Lantern  Slides 


PAGE. 

772 

773 
774 

75-77 
778. 

779- 
780. 
781 
782 

783- 
784 

785 
786. 

787 
78S 

789 
790- 
791 
792- 

793^ 
793 
794  • 


795 

796. 

797 
798 

799 
800 
80 1 

802- 
804 

805 
80& 
807 
808 
809 
810- 

811 


ALPHABETICAL  LLST  OF  AUTHORS  OF  PAPERS,  REPORTS, 
ADDRESSES,  SPEECHES,  &c. 


Adams,  Maurice  B.,  80 
Adshead,  Professor,  392,  463,  49(j 
Alma-Tadema,  Sir  L.,  loi 
Ashby,  Thomas,  133 

Bassall,  D.,  506 

Bassett,  Mr.,  625 

f?clcher,  John,  505,  712 

Bennett,  Alderman,  334,  601 

Blomtield,  Reginald,  iii,  177,  180 

Bonnier,  Louis,  107,  208 

Brine kinann,  Dr.,  146,  16  3 

Broriie,  J.  A.,  398 

Brodie,  John  S.,  180 

Brown,  Professor  Baldwin,  1S7 

Bruyne,  H.  de,  636 

Burnham,  Daniel  H.,  106,  3(^8 

Burns,  The  Rt.  Hon.  John,  62,  94 

Bylander,  S.,  506 

Cameron,  R.  X.,  1S2 
Caroe,  W.  D.,  518 
Cattaneo,  M.,  716 
Chalmers,  Dr.,  334 
Clapham,  F.  Dare,  83 
Colvin,  Sidney,  lot 
Corn  ford,  L.  Cope,  37) 
Crirkmer,  Courtenay,  77 
Crow,  Arthur,  407,  427,  42a 
Crowther,  J.  A.,  687 

Dausset,  Louis,  628 

Davidge,  W.  R.,  428 

Davidson,  Provost,  336 

J^owdall,  H.  Chaloner,  663,  689,  690 

Durham,  F.  K.,  284 

F.berstadt,  Dr.  Rud.,  103,  313 

Edwards,  Tsa?tc,  679 

Ellis,  H.  M.,  475,  493 

I' vans,  Ricb-ardson,  511,  522 

Farrow,  F.  R.,  398 
Fels,  Joseph,  621,  7x4 
Fildes,  Alderman,  426 
Fremantle,  Dr.,  623 
Freyberg,  Herbert,  393,  621 

Galbraith,  Councillor,  182,  335,  391 
Garbutt,  Matt.,  181,  394 
Gardner,  Pcrcv,  in 


Geddes,  Professor  Patrick,  537 
(leorge,  Ernest,  477 
(iibson,  Bernard,  496,  603 
Gotch,  J.  Alfred,  77 
Green,  Mowbray,  87 
Grubb,  H.  B.,  451 

Hall,  Edwin  T.,  321,  621,  625,  GSi 
Hall,  H.  A.,  84 
Haverfield,  F. ,  123 
Hawksworth,  .Mr.,  689 
Henard,  E.,  345 
Holmes,  Basil,  478 
Hope,  W.  H.,  680 
Hornblower,  George,  88 
Horsfall,  T.  C,  179,  282,  494,  712 
Howard,  Ebenezer,  384,  698 
Hulbert,  M.  C,  432 

Ibberson,  H.  G.,  286,  393 

Jenkin,  C.  J.,  475,  624 

Keys,  Professor  Reid,  181 

Kitchener  of  Khartoum.  Ix)rd,  596,  605 

Lanrhester,  H.  V.,  232,  734 
Lanciani,  Professor,  177,  179 
Lawrence,  Dr.  S.  C.    286 
Lemon,  Sir  James,  450 
Lilienberg,  Dr.,  702 
Lindsay,  John.  686 
Loseby,  J.,  714 
Lovell,  Percy  W.,  82 

Macnaughton,  Peter,  284 
Marr,  Councillor,  395 
Martin,  Howard,  684 
Maule.  H.  P.  G.,  So 
Maw.son    'Ihoinas  H.,  434 
May,  Councillor,  285 
McDonald,  .\.  B.,  335,  654 
McLean,  W.  H..  575 
Merriman,  Harold  L,  79 
Mitchell,  John,  179 
Morris,  James  A.,  243 

Neville,  Mr.  Justice,  288 
NichoUs,  \V.  T.,  690 
Nielcl,  G.  Ernest,  521 
Niven,  David  Barclay,  627 
Xorthover.  G.,  Editor 


NX   Triiiisiichoiis  oi  the  Tow)i  Planning  Cunjcrencc,  Oct.  1910. 


Paget,  Sir  Kichard,  -'63,  383 
Painter,  F.  G.,  430,  660 
Parker,  Sir  Gilbert,  497 
Pass,  Harry  de,  39^ 
Pepler,  G.  L.,  611 
Pite,  Beresford,  403 
Piatt    Frederick  W.,  520,  624 
Pliinkett,  Col.,  lyg,  465,  600 

yucnnell,  C.  H.  B.,  670 

Rravell,  G.  J.  T.,  85 
Redcsdale,  Lord,  99 
Rcilly,  Professor  C.  H.,  339 
Key.  Augustin,  266,  506 
Richmond,  Sir  W.  B.,  50S 
Rickards,  E.  A.,  453 
Rilev,  W.  E.,  82,  2QI 
Robinson,  C.  Mulford,  200 
Robinson,  Henry  W.,  688 

Schultz,  R.  Weir,  602 
Simpson,  John  W.,  v 
Stanton,  Major  E.  A.,  597 
Stasse,  E.,  636 


Stenning,  Sir  Alex.  R. ,  692 

Stewart,  Harry  S.,  695 

Stokes,  Leonard,  58,  59,  93,  99,  60^ 

Stiibben,  Dr.  Ing.  H.  J.,  306 

Sulman,  John,  604 

Swales,  Francis,  3S7 

Taylor,  Andrew  T.,  386^  517 
Townsend,  C.  Harrison,  86 
Trier,  Mr.,  521 

Unwin,  Raymond,  83,  247,  734 

Vigers,  Leslie^  108,  691 

Walsh,  Rev.  Dr  Walter,  282,  427 
Warren,  Edward^  89,  451 
Warwick,  Septimus,  84 
Watkins,  C,  427,  429 
Watkins,  Mr.,  519,  622 
Watrous,  Richard  B.,  11 
Webb,  Sir  Aston,  76,  105 
Webb,  Maurice  E.,  91 
Wells,  M.  J.,  521 
Williams,  Harold.  624 
Woodward,  William,  656.  660 


PART  I 

RECORD  OF  THE  CONFERENCE 

LISTS  OF  COMMITTEE  OF  PATRONAGE,  EXECUTIVE  COM- 
MITTEE, REPRESENTATIVES  OF  CORPORATIONS,  AND 
ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  MEMBERS 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  BY  THE  RIGHT  HON.  JOHN  BURNS, 
PRESIDENT  OF  THE  LOCAL  GOVERNMENT  BOARD 

VISITS  AND  EXCURSIONS 

THE  BANQUET 

PORTRAITS  OF  CHIEF  OFFICIALS  AND  AUTHORS  OF 
PAPERS 


TCMN\J4 
PLANNING 
CONFERENCE 


J L 


RECORD  OF  THE  CONFERENCE. 

The  passing-  into  law  of  the  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act  of 
1909  having  rendered  the  careful  consideration  of  the  architectural 
development  of  town  planning  a  matter  of  immediate  importance,  a 
Conference  was  organised  by  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects 
to  study  the  questions  involved  in  tiic  improvement  and  extension  of 
our  cities,  with  special  reference  to  the  artistic  and  constructional 
conditions  of  the  subject. 

The  Conference  took  place  in  London  from  the  loth  to  the  15th 
October,  igio,  under  the  gracious  Patronage  of  His  Majestv  the  King, 
and  under  the  Hon. -Presidentship  of  the  Right  Hon.  John  Burns, 
M.P.,  President  of  the  Local  Government  Board. 

The  President  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  Mr. 
Leonard  Stokes,  presided  at  the  Conference;  Sir  Aston  Webb,  C.B., 
R.A.,  F.R.I.B.A.,  was  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee;  and 
-Mr.  John  \V.  Simpson,  F.R.I.B.A.,  acted  as  Secretary-General. 

Lists  of  the  distinguished  gentlemen  who  accepted  the  position 
of  \'ice-Presidents,  of  the  members  of  the  various  Committees  and 
Sub-Committees,  of  the  representatives  of  Corporations,  Councils, 
and  Societies,  and  a  complete  alphabetical  list  of  ordinary  members, 
are  given  on  pages  12-57. 

The  Conference  was  open  to  architects  and  to  all  others  interested 
in  the  subject  of  Town  Planning,  at  a  subscription  fee  of  215.  Ladies 
were  eligible  for  membership  at  the  same  fee,  and  a  Ladies'  Committee 
was  appointed  to  arrange  for  their  comfort  and  entertainment. 

Privileges. 
Members  were  entitled  to  receive  without  further  charge  : — 
A  card  of  identity  ; 
:\  case  for  the  various  tickets  issued  ; 
The  Conference  badge  ; 

All  the  literature  issued  in  connection  with  the  Conference  ; 
A  Handbook  containing  descriptions  of  places  of  interest,  with 
plans  and  maps,  and  information  as  to  hotels,  cab  fares,  &c.  ; 
.\  copy  of  the  official  volume  of  Tr.\nsactio\s  ; 
A  copy  of  the  Catalogue  of  each  Exhibition  ; 
Also  invitations  to 

The  Inaugural  Meeting  at  the  Guildhall ; 

The   Conversazione   given   by   the    Royal   Institute   of    British 

.\rchitects  ; 
The  Reception  by  the  Lord  Mayor  at  the  Mansion  House; 

n  2 


4     Transactions  of  the  Toivu  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Members  were  entitled  to 

Admission  to  all  the  meetings  of  the  Conference  ; 

Admission  to  the  Exhibition  of  Drawings  and  Models  at  the 

Roval  Academy  from  October  10  to  15  inclusive; 
Admission   to   the    Exhibition   of   Maps   and    Plans   and   Town 

Planning  Literature  in  the  Library  of  the  Royal  Institute  ; 
Admission  to  the  special  Exhibition  in  the  Guildhall  of  Maps 

and  Plans  of  London  from  the  City  Collections. 
Members  were  also  entitled  to  attend  the  Banquet  at  the  Hdtel 
Cecil,  and  the  various  visits  arranged  by  the  Executi\e  Com- 
mittee, on  payment  of  the  necessary  charges. 

Special  Privileges. 

The  Royal  Botanic  Society  kindly  accorded  free  admission  to 
their  Gardens  in  Regent's  Park  for  all  members  during  the  Confer- 
ence week. 

The  Zoological  Society  of  London  placed  at  the  disposal  of  foreign 
members  tickets  of  admission  to  the  Society's  Gardens  and  Collections 
in  Regent's  Park  for  Sundays,  October  9  and  16. 

Through  the  good  offices  of  Mr.  Greville  Montgomery  arrange- 
ments were  made  for  gentlemen  members  to  be  received  as  honorary 
members  of  the  Savage  Club. 

Foreign  members  (gentlemen)  were  accorded  honorary  member- 
ship of  the  Arts  Club,  40  Do\er  Street,  W. ,  during  the  Conference 
week. 

Lady  members  were  received  during  the  same  period  as  hoiiorary 
members  of  the  Lyceum  Club,  128  Piccadilly,  W. ,  and  of  the  Ladies' 
Army  and  Navy  Club,  Burlington  Gardens,  W. 

The  Conference  Offices,  Interpreters,  &c. 

The  Headqunrters  of  the  Conference  were  at  the  Galleries  of  the 
Royal  Institute  of  British  -Architects,  9  Conduit  Street,  Regent 
Street,  W.,  where  the  Conference  Offices  were  open  daily  for  the 
issue  to  members  of  their  Badges,  Programmes,  Cards  of  Invitation, 
Tickets  for  \'isits,  the  Banquet,  and  various  papers  connected  with 
the  Conference. 

For  the  convenience  of  members  arrangements  were  made  for 
receiving  and  issuing  correspondence  addressed  to  them  at  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Conference.  The  West  Gallery  was  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  members  as  a  writing-room. 

Several  ladies  and  gentlemen  gave  their  services  as  honorary 
interpreters,  wearing  coloured  flags  to  indicate  the  nationality  of  the 
language  with  which  they  were  conversant. 

Notices  issued  from  the  offices  during  the  Conference  week  were 
in  English  and  French. 

Designs. 

The  Executive  Committee  desire  to  express  their  indebtedness  to  : 

Mr.   John  W.    Simpson,   F.R.I.B.A.,   Secretary-General,   for  the 

design    of   the   Conference    Badge,    which   was   supplied   to   ordinary 

members  in  bronze  with  oxidised  silver  finisfi,  and  to  members  of  the 


Record  of  Ike  Conference.  5 

Committees  in  bronze  g^ilt  [see  page  facings  title] .  Also  for  the  design 
of  the  Pocket-Book  cover  [see  page  2]. 

Professor  Beresford  Pite,  F.R.I.B.A.,  for  supervising-  the  design 
of  the  Exhibition  Poster,  used  also  for  the  covers  of  the  Catalogue,  the 
Programme,  the  season-ticket  of  the  Exhibition  for  non-members,  and 
for  the  cover  of  members'  copies  of  the  present  volume. 

Mr.  E.  A.  Rickards,  F.R.I.B.A.,  for  designing  the  cover  of  the 
Handbook  [see  below]. 


Covi;r  of  Handbook,  dksigned  by  Mr-  K.  A.  Rickakus,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Messrs.  H.  M.  G.  Wood  and  H.  Bradshaw,  of  the  Liverpool 
School  of  Architecture,  for  designing  the  Menu-card  of  the  Banquet 
[see  pp.  93,  94]. 


National  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Council. 
The  Executive  Committcx-  desire  to  express  their  acknowledgments 
to  the   National   Housing  Council    for  their    cordial  co-operation    m 
the    work   of  the  Conference,   and   in   particular  to    their   Secretary, 
Mr.  Henry  Aldridge,  for  his  energetic  and  valuable  assistance. 


6      Trans, icli(nts  oj  Ihc  IDwn  Planuing  Conjcrcncc,  Oct.  1910. 

Railway  Facilities. 

Vhv  lollowin^-  c()ncf>si()ns  were  obtained  lor  members  of  the 
Conlerence  : — 

(-Jri:at  Britain  \m>  1ki;i.\.\u. —  llie  London  and  North  W'eNtern, 
London  and  South  Western,  Caledonian,  (ireal  Western,  Clreat 
Central,  Midland,  Great  Northern,  and  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire 
Railway  Companies  issued  to  members,  on  presentation  of  \ouchers 
at  the  booking  office,  return  tickets  from  the  8th  to  the  17th  October 
inclusive  at  the  rate  oif  a  single  fare  and  a  quarter.  During  the 
Conference  week  the  above-named  Companies  also  issued  to  mem- 
bers, on  presentation  of  their  cards  of  membership,  return  tickets  at 
a  single  fare  and  a  quarter  to  any  station  not  more  than  fifty  miles 
distant  from  London. 

Fkanck.  —  From  l^aris  to  London  return  tickets  available  for 
fourteen  days  were  issued  from  5th  to  10th  October  at  the  following 
rates  :  Chemin  de  Fer  du  Xord  and  South  Eastern  and  Chatham 
Railways — via  Calais-Dover,  or  Boulogne-F'olkestone  :  first  class, 
72fr.  85c.  ;  second  class,  46fr.  90c.  Chemin  de  Fer  de  I'Etat  (Ouest) 
and  London  and  South  Western,  and  London,  Brighton  and  South 
Coast  Railways — via  Dieppe-Newhaven,  or  Le  Havre-Southampton  : 
first  class,  49fr.  05c.  ;  second  class,  37fr.  8oc.  ;  third  class  (available 
by  night  service  only),  32 fr.  50c. 

Belgium. — The  Chemin  de  Fer  de  FEtat  allowed  special  excursion 
rates  to  parties  of  at  least  twenty  Conference  members  travelling 
together,  the  rates  varying  according  to  the  number  of  the  party. 

Special  instructions  were  given  by  Messrs.  Thomas  Cook  &  Son 
to  their  agents  at  all  their  foreign  offices  with  regard  to  giving 
information  and  assistance  to  members  of  the  Conference. 

Receptions. 

The  Royal  Institute  of  British  .Architects  entertained  the  members 
of  the  Conference  at  a  Con\  ersazione  at  the  Galleries  of  the  Royal 
Institute  on  Monday,  October  10.  The  function  attracted  a  large  and 
brilliant  company,  the  guests  being  received  by  the  President  of  the 
Royal  Institute  (Mr.  Leonard  Stokes)  and  Mrs.  Stokes. 

The  Right  Hon.  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  entertained  the 
members  of  the  Conference  at  a  Conversazione  at  the  Mansion  House 
on  the  evening  of  Thursday,  October  13,  at  9  p.m.  The  guests  were 
received  and  welcomed  by  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Lady  Mayoress, 
attended  by  the  principal  City  dignitaries,  in  full  civic  state. 

Exhibitions. 
By  the  generous  courtesy  of  the  President  and  Ccnincil  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  the  Exhibition  of  Drawings  and  Models  of  Town  Planning 
Schemes  was  held  in  the  Cialleries  of  the  Royal  .Academy,  Burlington 
House.  The  Exhibition  was  open  daily  from  9  a.m.  to  6  r. m.  In 
order  to  enable  visitors  to  the  Itxhibition  to  appreciate  the  various 
points  in  the  Plans  and  Models  exhibited,  arrangements  were  made 
for  guides  to  conduct  parties  each  day  through  the  Galleries  and  give 
full  explanations.  The  Executive  Committee  desire  to  express  their 
acknowledgments  for  the  following  voluntary  contributions  which  were 


Record  of  the  Confere)ice.  7 

received  towards  the  cost  of  Professor  Geddes'  Kxliibit  in  (iallery  II.b 
at  the  Roval  Academy  : — 


The  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects 

Mr.   \V.'  H.   Lever         .... 

Bournville  \'illage  Trust 

Joseph  Rowntree  \'illage  Trust     . 

>Fr.  U.  D.  Pearsall,  Letchworth  . 


20 

20 

10 

I 


Ihe  Exhibition  of  Maps  and  Plans  of  London,  lent  from  the  City 
Collections  by  the  courtesy  of  the  City  Corporation,  and  arranged  by 
the  City  Surveyor,  Mr.  Sydney  Perks,  F.R.LB.A..  F.S.A.,  was  held 
in  the  Guildhall  from  the  loth  to  the  12th  October. 

The  Exhibition  of  Maps  and  Original  Drawings  of  town-planning 
interest  selected  from  the  Royal  Institute  collections  was  held  in  the 
Library  of  the  Royal  Institute  at  9  Conduit  Street,  W. 

Illustrations  of  Maps,  Plans,  &c.,  at  the  various  Exhibitions,  with 
descriptive  and  critical  notices,  form  Part  III.  of  this  volume. 

A  collection  of  current  literature  on  Town  Planning  was  on  view 
at  the  Institute  Library,  and  members'  orders  for  books  were  trans- 
mitted to  the  respective  publishers. 

The  Galleries  of  the  Royal  Institute  were  open  to  members  after 
8  P.M.  on  the  evenings  of  Tuesday,  October  11,  and  Friday,  October  14, 
for  the  Exhibition  of  Lantern  Views  and  descriptions  of  the  subjects 
shown. 


Meetings  for  reading  and  discussing  Papers. 

The  meetings  of  the  Conference  for  the  reading  and  discussion  of 
Papers  were  held  on  October  11,  12,  13,  and  14,  at  10.30  a.m.  and 
3  P.M.  daily  at  the  Galleries  of  the  Royal  Institute  at  Headquarters. 
The  official  language  of  the  Conference  was  P2nglish,  but  the  Papers 
contributed  were  read  in  the  language  in  which  they  were  written. 
As  far  as  possible,  translations  of  the  Papers  in  foreign  languages 
were  available  for  members  on  application  at  the  bureau.  Speakers 
using  a  foreign  language  in  the  discussions  were  requested  to  hand 
in  an  abstract  of  their  remarks  to  the  Secretary  of  the  meeting  for 
inclusion  in  the  official  Tran"S.\ctioxs. 

In  view  of  the  large  number  of  members  attending  the  Conference, 
it  was  found  desirable  to  hold  Overflow  Morning  Meetings  in  the  East 
Gallery,  the  Programme  of  Papers  and  time  of  opening  being  the  same 
as  for  the  Great  Gallery.  This  arrangement  necessitated  the  deli\er\ 
ofPapers  twice  over  on  the  same  morning,  the  order  of  delivery  being 
arranged  to  facilitate  the  double  reading.  The  Committee  desire  to 
acknowledge  their  indebtedness  to  the  authors  for  so  kindly  acceding 
to  this  arrangement,  and  also  to  the  gentlemen  who  at  very  short 
nctice  gave  their  services  as  Chairmen  and  Secretaries  of  the  Overflow 
Meetings. 

The  purpose  of  the  Conference  being  the  free  exchange  of  views 
by  those  interested,  in  order  to  promote  a  knowledge  of  the  architec- 
tural principles  involved  in  Town  Planning,  rather  than  the  formula- 
tion of  hard  and  fast  rules,  the  Committee  considering  that  meetings 
might  perfectly  fulfil  their  object  without  any  definite  resolution';  being 


tS     Trausaclions  of  the  To-ccn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

suljmitlcd,  thouj^h  Chairnun  were  at  liberty  to  accept  and  put  any 
motions  which  appeared  to  them  to  serve  a  uselul  purpose. 

Having  regard  to  the  vast  field  of  inquiry  opened  up  by  the  subject 
of  Town  Planning,  the  Executive  Committee,  while  not  desiring  to 
fetter  discussion,  felt  it  desirable  in  their  instructions  to  Chairmen  to 
suggest  that  speeches  on  questions  of  hygiene,  housing  of  the  poor, 
administration,  traffic,  ground  values,  and  the  like  (otherwise  than  as 
such  matters  might  be  relevant  to  a  Paper  under  discussion)  should  be 
discouraged  as  being  outside  the  scope  of  the  Conference. 

The  order  of  procedure  at  the  Meetings  for  the  reading  and  discus- 
sion of  Papers  was  as  follows  : — 

Tuesday,  October  11. 

I.N   THE   GrKAT  GaLLERV,    IO.3O   A.M. 

Chuirnian—ProL  Reginald  Blomfield,  A.R.A.,  F.R.I.B.A. 
Secretary — Mr.  Maurice  Webb,  M.A. 

In  the  East  Gallery  {Overflow  Meeting). 

Chairman — The  Lord  Provost  of  Edinburgh. 

Secretary — Mr.  C.  Brownridge,  M.Inst.C. E.,  Surveyor  to  the  Cor- 
poration of  Birkenhead. 

Papers  on  "  The  CiTn-:s  of  the  Past  " — 
"   TIic  Hellenistic  Period," 

by  Professor  Percy  Gardner,  LL.D.,  P'.S.A. 
"   Town  Planning  in  the  Roman  \\'orld," 

by  Professor  F.  J.  Haverfield,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 
"  Rome," 

b\-  Dr.  Thomas  Ashbx ,  Director  of  the  British  School  at  Rome. 
"  The  Development  of  Town  Planning  during  the  Renaissance  (X\T.- 
XVH.  Century)," 

by  Dr.  .A..  E.  Brinckmann  (Aachen). 
Discussion. 

L\  THE  Great  Gallery,  3  p.m. 

Chairman — The  Hon.  Mr.  Justice  Neville,  President  of  the  Garden 

Cities  and  Town  Planning  Association. 
Secretary— Mr.  H.  D.  Searles-Wood,  F.R.I.B.A. 

"  Du  Developpement  et  de  I'Extension  des  Cites," 

by  M.  Augustin  Rey,  S.A.D.G. 
"  Some  Factors  in  Town  Planning," 

by  Sir  W^illiam  Richmond,  K.C.B.,  R.A. 
Discussion. 

Ix  THE  East  Gallery,  3  p.m. 

Cliairman — Mr.  Leslie  Vigers,  President  of  the  Surveyors'  Institution. 
Secretary — Mr.  C.  Wontner  Smith,  A.R.I.B.A. 

"  The  Growth  of  Legal  Control  over  Town  Development  in  England," 

by  Mr.  H.  Chaloner  Dowdall,  M.A.,  B.C.L. 
"  Town  Planning  and  Land  Tenure," 

by  Mr.  C.  H.  B.  Quennell,  F.R.I.B.A. 
Discussion. 


Record  of  the  Conjerencc.  9 

Wednesday,  October  12. 
In  the  Great  Gallery,  10.30  a.m. 
Chairman — Sir  Aston  Webb,  C.B.,  R.A. 
Vice-Chairman — Dr.  Heg-emann,  Berlin. 

Secretary — Mr.  Arthur  Keen,  F.R.I.B.A.,  President  of  the  .'Xrchi- 
tectural  Association.  London. 

In  the  East  CiALLERV  {Overflow  Meeting). 

Chairman — The  Chairman  of  the  London  County  Council. 
Secretary — Mr.  F.  W.  Piatt,  Surveyor  to  the  Salford  Corporation. 

Papers  on  "   The  Cities  of  the  Present  " — 
"  Town  Planning-  and  the  Preservation  of  Ancient  Features," 

by  Professor  Baldwin  Brown,  M.A.,  Hon.  Assoc.  R.I.B.A. 
"  Cities  of  the  Present  as  representative  of   a  Transition  Period  of 
Urban  Development," 

by  Mr.  Charles  Mulford  Robinson. 
"  Notice  sur  les  Architectures  obligatoires  dans  la  Ville  de  Paris," 

by  Monsieur  Louis  Bonnier,  Architectc-voyer-en-chef  de  la  \'ille 
de  Paris. 
"  Cause  and  Effect  in  the  Modern  City," 

by  Mr.  H.  \'.  Lanchester,  F. R.I.B.A. 
Discussion. 

In  the  Great  Gallery,  3  p.m. 

Chairman— Mr.  John  Belcher,  R.A.,  F.R.I.  B.  A. 
Secretary— Mr.  \V.  A.  Forsyth,  F. R.I.B.A. 

"  Town  Planning;  \\'ork  and  Leg-islation  in  Sweden  during  the  last 
Fifty  Years," 

by  Dr.  Ing-.  Lilienberg-,  of  Goteborg-,  Sweden. 
"City  Improvements," 

by  Professor  S.  D.  Adshead,  F. R.I.B.A. 
Discussion. 

In  the  E.^st  Gallery,  3  p..m. 

Chairman— Mr.  Edwin  T.  Hall,  F.R.I. B. A. 
Secretary — Mr.  C.  Harrison  Townsend,  F. R.I.B.A. 

"  Greater  London," 

by  Mr.  G.  L.  Pepler,  F.S.I. 
"  The  Restraint  of  Advertising," 

by  Mr.  Richardson  Evans,  M.A.,  Hon.  Sec.  S.C.A.P.A. 
Discussion. 

Thursday,  October  13. 

In  the  Great  Gallery,  10.30  a..m. 

Chairman — Mr.  Daniel  H.  Burnham  (Chicago). 
Vice-chairman— Mr.  E.  A.  Abbey,  R.A.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 
Secretary — Mr.  Henry  Tanner,  F. R.I.B.A. 

In  the  East  Gallery  {Overflow  Meeting). 
Chairman — Councillor  Galbraith,  Glasgow. 
Secretary — Alderman  Bennett,  W'arrington. 


lo     Transactions  o]  the  Town  I'lanning  Conjerencc,  Oct.  ujio. 

PajxTs  on  "  City  Dhvki.op.mkm  and  Kxtknsion  " — 
"  The  City  Development  lM;in," 

by  Mr.  Raymond  Unwin. 
"  City  Development," 

bv  Mr.  \V.  K.   Rilev,  F.R.l.B.A.,  Superintending  Architect  of 
Metropolitan  Buildings. 
"  Recent  Progress  in  German  Town  Planning," 

by  Dr.  Ing.  H.  J.  Stiibben,  (ieheimer  Oberbaurat. 
"  The  Greater  Berlin  Competition," 

bv  Professor  Dr.  Rud.  Hberstadt. 
Discussion. 

In   THK   liRKAT   G.M.I.URV,    3   P.M. 

Chairman — Sir  Gilbert  Parker,  D.C.L.,  M.P. 
Secretary — Mr.  Maxwell  Ayrton,  A.R.I.B..A. 
"  The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh," 
by  Professor  Patrick  (ieddes. 
"  Open  Spaces,  Gardens,  and  Recreation  (Grounds," 

by  Mr.  Basil  Holmes. 
Discussion. 

Ix  THE  East  Gallery,  3  p.m. 
Chairman — Mr.  Ernest  George,  A.R.A.,  F.R.1.B..A.. 
Secretary — Mr.  Curtis  Green,  F.R.I.B..\. 
"  Public  Parks  and  Gardens," 

by  Mr.  T.  H.  Mawson,  Hon.  Assoc.  R.I.B.A. 
"  The  Architect  and  Civic  Ornamentation," 

by  Mr.  E.  A.  Rickards,  F.R.l.B.A. 
"  Open  Spaces  and  Running  Waters," 

by  Colonel  (i.  T.  Plunkctt,  C.B.,  R.E.,  retired. 
Discussion. 

Friday,  October  14. 

In    IHE   (iREAl    (iALLKKV,    IO.30  A.M. 

Chairman — Professor  Beresford  Pite,  F.R.I.B..\. 
Vice-Chairman — Cav.  Ing.  Rudolfo  Bonfiglietti. 
Secretary — Mr.  Paul  Waterhouse,  M.A.,  F.R.l.B.A. 

In  the  East  Gallery  {Overfloiv  Meeting). 
Chairman — Mr.   J.   A.   Brodic,  M.Inst.C.E.,  City  Eng-inccr,   Li\er- 

pool. 
Secretary — Mr.  J.  W.  Johnson,  Clerk  to  the  Maiden  and  Coombe 

Union  District  Council. 

Papers  on  "  Cith:s  of  the  Future  " — 
"  The  Immediate  Future  in  England," 

by  Profe-ssor  C.  H.  Reilly,  M.A.,  F.R.l.B.A. 
"  Les  Villes  del'Avenir," 

by  Monsieur  Eugene  Hrnard,  S.A.D.G.,  Architecte  de  la  \'ille 
de  Paris. 
"  A  City  of  the  Future  under  a  Democracy," 

by  Mr.  Daniel  H.  Burnham. 
"  Cities  of  the  Future  :  their  Chances  of  Being," 

by  Mr.  L.  Cope  Cornford. 
Discussion. 


Record  of  the  Conference.  ii 

I.\  THE  Great  Gallery,  3  p.al 
Chairman — Field-Marshal  Lord  Kitchener  of  Khartoum,  G.C.B.,  O.M. 
Secretary— Mr.  John  Slater,  B.A.,  F.R.I.B.A. 
"  The  Planning  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman," 

by  Mr.  W.  H.  McLean. 
"  The  Federal  Capital  of  .\ustralia," 

by  Mr.  John  Sulman,  F.R.LB..\. 
Discussion. 

In  the  East  Gallery,  3  v.m. 
Chairman — Mr.  F.  G.  Painter,  F.C.A.,  Chairman  of  the  City  Lands 

Committee. 
Secretary — Mr.  Edmund  Wimperis,  F.R.LB.A. 
"  The  Treatment  of  Trafalgar  Square," 

by  Mr.  William  Woodward,  F.R.I.B.A. 
"  Town  Planning-  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Cong-ested  .Areas," 

by  Mr.  Arthur  Crow,  F.R.I.B.A. 
Discussion. 

The  foregoing  Papers  and  Discussions,  with  a  selection  of  the 
illustrations  and  a  number  of  Papers  contributed  which  time  did  not 
admit  of  including  in  the  Programme  for  reading  and  discussing, 
will  be  found  printed  i)i  extcnso  in  Part  II.  of  this  \olume. 


Message  from  the  American  Civic  Association,  Washington,  D.C. 

The  following  letter  was  read   by  the  Chairman,   Mr.   Daniel   H. 
Burnham,  at  the  opening  of  the  Meeting  on  October  13  : — 

To  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  London,  England, — 

The  American  Civic  Association  sends  cordial  greeting  to  the 
Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  and  wishes  for  it  the  greatest 
measure  of  success  in  its  Town  Planning  Conference.  With  you  the 
American  Civic  .Association,  representing  the  organised  movement  for 
civic  improvement  in  all  of  North  .Vmerica,  regards  as  one  of  the  most 
hopeful  signs  of  the  times  the  growing  interest  in  and  appreciation  of 
the  value  of  comprehensive  city  and  town  planning.  We  congratulate 
the  Royal  Institute  of  British  .Architects  upon  the  efficient  service  it 
has  rendered  to  the  general  subject  in  urging  the  passage  of  the 
British  Town  Planning  .Act  and  in  arranging  for  your  present  Town 
Planning  Conference.  We  assure  you  of  our  earnest  desire  to  co- 
operate closely  and  eftectively  with  you  in  the  world-wide  propaganda 
for  city  planning,  which  we  consider,  briefly  stated,  a  substitution  of 
order  and  method,  w  ith  a  close  weaving  of  the  practical  and  aesthetic, 
for  haphazard  effort  in  city  making. — A'ery  truly  yours, 
.American  Civic  Associ.\tion, 

Richard  B.  Watrous,  Secretary. 


12      Transactions  of  the  ioicn  l^lanni)iii  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


COMMITTEE  OF  PATRONAGE  AND 
EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

COMMITTEE   OF   PATRONAGE. 
Patron. 

HIS    MAJESTY    THE    KING. 

Hon.  President. 
The  Right  Hon.   John  Burns,   M.P. 

President. 
Mr.  Leonard  Stokes,  P.R.I.B.A. 

Secretary  -G  eneral. 
Mr.  John  \\\   Simpson,   F.R.I.B..\. 

Hon.  Vice-Presidents. 
His  Highness  the  Maharaja  Gaekwar  of  Baroda. 
The  Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid. 

His  Grace  the  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
His  Grace  the  Lord  Archbishop  of  York. 
His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  K.G. 
His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Argjil,  K.T. 
His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Fife,  K.T. 

The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Wemyss,  G.C.V.O.,   Hon.  .X.R.I.B.A. 
The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Lytton. 
The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Crewe,  K.G. 

The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Plymouth,  C.B.,   Hon.  A.R.I.B.A. 
The  Right  Hon.  Viscount  Portman. 
The  Right  Hon.  Viscount  Esher,  G.C.B. 
The    Right    Hon.    Field-Marshal    Viscount    Kitchener    of    Kiiartoum, 

G.C.B. ,  O.M. 
The  Right  Hon.  Viscount  Miiner,  G.C.B. 

The  Right  Hon.  the  Lord  Balcarres,  M.P.,  F.S.A.,  Hon.  A.R.I.B.A. 
The  Right  Rev.  the  Lord  Bishop  of  London. 
The  Right  Rev.  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Birmingham. 
The   Right   Hon.    the   Lord   Strathcona   and   Mount    Roval,    G.C.M.G.. 

G.C.V.O. 
The  Right   Hon.    tiie   Lord  Curzon   of   Kedleston,   G.C.S.I.,    G.C.I.E.. 

F.R.S.,  D.C.L.,  Hon.  F.R.I.B.A. 
The  Right  Hon.  the  Lord  Rcdesdale,  G.C.V.O. 
The  Right  Hon.  the  Lord  Islington. 
The  Right  Hon.  the  Lord  Mostyn. 
The  Right  Hon.  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London. 
The  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  of  Westminster. 
The  Chairman  of  the  London  County  Council. 


Committee  of  Patronage.  i; 

The  Right  Hon.  Lewis  Harcourt,  M.P. 

The  Right  Hon.  A.  J.  Balfour,  M.P. 

The  Right  Hon.  Charles  Booth,  F.R.S. 

The  Right  Hon.  Sir  George  H.  Reid. 

The  Right  Hon.  Alfred  Lyttelton.  M.P. 

The  Hon.  Mr.  Justice  Neville. 

Sir  Richard  Paget,  Bart. 

Sir  Edward  Poynter.  Bart..   P.R.A.,   Hon.    I'.R.l.B.A. 

Sir  James  Reckitt,  Bart. 

Sir  L.  Alma-Tadema,  O.M.,  R.A.,  Hon.  F.R.I.B.A. 

Sir  William  Richmond,  K.C.B.,  R.A.,  Hon.  A.R.I. B..\. 

Sir  John  Wolfe  Barrv,  K.C.B.,  Hon.  A.R.I.B.A. 

Sir  Aston  Webb,  C.B.,  R.A.,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Colonel  Sir  Herbert  Jekvll,  K.C.M.G. 

Sir  George  Frampton,  R.A.,  Hon.  A.R.I.B.A. 

Sir  Gilbert  Parker,  M.P. 

Sir  William  Emerson,   F.R.I.B.A. 

Sir  George  Gibb. 

Sir  Alexander  Stenning,  F.R.I.B.A.,  F.S.I. 

George  Noble,  Count  Plunkett,   B.L.,    F.S.A.,   Hon.   A.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  Thomas  Brock,  R.A.,  Hon.  A.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  John  Belcher,  R.A.,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  T.  G.  Jackson,  R.A. 

Mr.  Ernest  George,  A.R.A.,  F.R.I.B..\. 

Mr.  T.  E.  Collcutt.  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  Sidney  Colvin,  D.Litt. 

Mr.  Edmund  Gosse,  LL.D. 

Mr.  Thomas  Hardv,  O.M. 

Mr.  T.  E.  Harvey^  M.P. 

The  President  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers. 

The  President  of  the  Surveyors'  Institution. 

The  President  of  the  National  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Council. 

Professor  Baldwin  Brown,  M.A.,  Hon.  A.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  T.  C.  Horsfall,  J. P. 

Mr.  G.  Mallows  Freeman.  K.C.,  Hon.  A.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Lever. 

Mr.  B.  Seebohm  Rowntree. 

Mr.  Ebenezer  Howard. 

AND   THE 

EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE. 

Sir  Aston  Webb,  C.B.,  R.A.,   F.R.I.B.A.,  Chairman. 

Professor  S.  D.  Adshead,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  Reginald  Blomf^eld,  A.R.A.,    Vice-President  R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  W.  D.  Caroe.  F.S.A.,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  E.  Guy  Dawber,   Vice-President  R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  Edwin  T.  Hall,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  H.  V.  Lanchester,  F.R.I.B..\.,  Hon.  Sec. 

Mr.  E.  L.  Lutyens,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  Ian  MacAHster,  Secretarv  R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  Sydney  Perks,  F.S.A.,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Professor  Beresford  Pite,  F.R.I.B..^v. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Seth  Smith,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  Leonard  Stokes,  President  R.I.B.A. 

Sir  A.  Brumwell  Thomas,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  Raymond  Unwin. 

Mr.  Paul  Waterhouse,  F.R.I.B.A. 


14     Tninsiictions  of  llw  Toicii  I'lminino  Conference,  Qd.  1910. 


COMMITTEES  OF  THE  EXECUTIVE. 


KXIIlUniON    SlB-COMMITTEE. 

Professor  S.  I).  Adshoad,  F.R.I. B.A.       Mr.       Ian      MacAlislor 

Mr.  Henry  R.  .Mdridf^e  (Represent- 
ing- the  National  Ilousins-  and 
Town  Planning-  Council). 

Mr.  W.  Curtis  Green,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  II.  V.  Lanchestcr,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  Percv  VV.  Lovell,  A.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  E.  L'.  Lutvens.  F.R.I.B.A. 


Secretary 

R.I.B.A. 
Professor  Bercsford  Pile,  F.R.I.B.A, 
Sir        A.         Hrumwell         Thomas, 

F.R.I.n.A. 
Mr.        C.        Harrison       Townsend, 

F.R.I.B.A. 
Mr.  Raymond  L'nwin,   F.R.I.B..\., 

Hon.  Sec. 


Mr.  F.  Dare  Clapham,  F.R.I.B.A. 
Mr.  E.  Guy  Dawber,  F.R.I.B.A. 
Mr.  H.  V.Lanchester,  F.R.I.B.A. 
Mr.  E.  L.  Lutyens,  F.R.I.B.A. 
Mr.  Ian  MacAlister,  Sec.  R.I.B..\. 


ENTKKTAINMKN'rS    Sl'H-CO.MMriTKK. 

Sir  A.  Brumwell  Thomas, 
F.R.I.B.A.,  Hon.  Sec. 

Mr.  Edward  Warren,  F.S.A., 
F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  Septimus  Warwick,  .A.R.I.B.A. 


Mr.  Henry  Tanner,  F.R.I.B..\. 


I   Mr.  Maurice  E.  Webb. 


PAPERS    SU15-COMMirTEE. 


Mr.     Rcsinald     Blomfield,     A.R.A., 

Vice-President  R.I.B..\. 
Mr.  Arthur  T.  Bolton,  F.R.I.B.A. 
Mr.  H.  V.  Lanchester,  F.R.I.B.A., 

Hon.  Sec. 


Mr.  Ian  Mac.Mistcr,  Sec.  R.I.B.A. 
Professor  Beresford  Pite,  F.R.I.B..\. 
Mr.  Raymond  Unwin. 
Mr.  W.H.  Ward,  A.R.I.B.A. 
Mr.  Paul  Waterhouse,  F.R.I.B.A. 


Mr.      Geori^e 
F.R.I.B..\. 


M.NAXCK    SL"B-CO.MMITTEE. 


Hubbard,       F.S.A., 


Mr.  John  Slater,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.  A.  Needham  \\'ilson,  F.R.I.B.A. 


Mrs.  Maxwell  Ayrton. 
Mrs.  Barnett. 
Mrs.  John  Burns. 
Mrs.  Caroe. 
Mrs.  Dawber. 
Miss  Gurney. 
Mrs.  Hare. 
Mrs.  Lanchester. 


SUB-COMMITTEE. 

Lady  Emily  Lutyens. 
Countess  Plunkett. 
Mrs.  MacAlister ") 


Mrs.  Slater 
Mrs.  Stokes. 
Miss  Thomas. 
Mrs.  Unwin. 
Ladv  Webb. 


Hon.  Secretaries. 


Bone,  Mrs.  Chas. 

Brown,      Professor      G.      Baldwin, 

M.A.,   Hon.  Assoc.   R.I.B.A. 
Castello,  M.  N.,  A.R.I.B.A. 
Durham,  F.   R. 
Favarg^er,      Henri,      F.S..\., 

I'\R.I.B.A. 
Fletcher,    Banister    F.,    F.R.I.B.A. 
Hutchinson,  C.   E.,  A.R.I.B.A. 
Jackson,       I<"rank,       Hon.       Assoc. 

R.I.B.A. 
Kent,  E.  A. 
Kirb)',  Edmund. 


HONORARY    INTERPRETERS. 
French. 

•   Lafontaine,  P.  Cart  de. 
Newton,  Mrs. 

Plunkett,  Count,   B.I,.,   F.S.A. 
Plunkett,  Countess. 
Robinson,   Miss  Evelyn. 
Ryan-Tenison,   A.    H.,    F.R.I.B.A. 
Stahl,  M.  E.,  A.R.I.B.A. 
Ward,  W.    H.,   M.A.,   A.R.I.B.A. 
Warren,     Edward,      F.S.A. , 

F.R.I.B.A. 
Warren,    Mrs.    E.    P. 
Webb,  Mrs.  .Maurice. 


Town   Planning  Confkkence,  LfiNDON    1910. 


Mk.    H.    V.    1- AN(  llESTKK, 

K.R.I.  K  .\., 

Hon.  Sec.  Executive  Comtnittee 

and  Papers  Siib-Cotnniittcc. 


SiK  ASTUN    W  Kl-.r.,  I  .1;.,  R.A., 
K  K.l.B  A., 

Chairman  Executive  Committa 


Mk.    Raymo.m)   U.nwin, 

F.R.I.B.A., 

Hon.   Sec.   Exhibition  Sub- 
committee. 


Mrs.  .Slater, 
Hon.  Sec.  Ladies'  Sub-Committee. 


Mkn.  Stdkks, 
t  resident  Ladies  Sub-Committee. 


Mks.  Mac.Ni.istki: 
Hon.  Sec.  Ladies'  Sub-Committee. 


SiK  \.  Bkimwell  Thomas, 

F.K.I.H..\  , 

Hon   Sec,  Entertainments 

Sub-Comm.iffee. 


Mr.  John  Si.atek,  f.r.i.b.a.  , 
Hon. Sec.  Finance  Sub-Committee. 


Mr.  Ian  MacAlister, 
Secretary  K.LB..4. 


Exec u t ive  Co m  m  il I ces . 


»5 


HONORARY  INTERPRETERS— couHiitied. 

Dutch. 
Newton,  Mrs. 


Bone,  Mrs.  Charles. 

Doll,   C.   Fitzroy,    F.R.I.B.A. 

Durham,  F.  R. 

English,  C.  \\'. 

Hutchinson,  C.   E.,   A.R.I.B..\. 

lenkin,   Mrs.    Fleeming. 


Horsfield,    Mrs.    Xi.xon. 
Lafontaine,  P.  Cart  de. 


German. 

Jackson,       Frank,       Hon.       Assoc. 
R.I.B.A. 
I     Plunkett,   Countess. 
I     Ryan-Tenison,   A.    H.,    F.R.I.B.A. 
Warren,  Mrs.  E.  P. 
Wood,  Douglas,  A. R.I.B.A. 

Italian. 

Plunkett,  Count. 
Plunkett,  Countess. 


Wood,  Edgar,  A. R.I.B.A. 


English,  C.  W. 
Blom,    Miss. 


Danish. 

I    Westbye,  J.  T. 

Norwegian. 

I    English,  C.  W 
Westbye,  J.  P. 

Swedish. 
Westbye,  J.  P. 


i6     Transactions  at  the  Toicn  Planning  Conferenci',  Oct.  1910. 


REPRESENTATIVES  OF  CORPORATIONS, 
COUNCILS,  AND  SOCIETIES. 

LOCAL  GOVERNMENT  BOARD, 
J.  A.  E.  Dickinson,  Comptroller  of  Housing  and  Town  Planning. 
B.  T.  Kitchin,  F.R.I.B.A.,  the  Architect. 
Thomas  Adams,  Town  Planning  Assistant. 
Major  C.  E.  Norton,  R.E.,  Engineering  Inspector. 
Thomas  Carnwath,  M.D.,  Medical  Inspector. 

London  County  CounciL 
Lord  Alexander  Thynne,  M.P.,  Chairman  of  the  Improvements  Committee 
Andrew  T.  Taylor,  Chairman  of  the  Building-  Acts  Committee. 
\V.  Whitaker  Thompson,  J. P.,  Chairman  of  the  Council. 

London  (City  of)  Corporation. 
Josiah  Gunton,  F.R.I.B.A.,  Chairman  of  Streets  Committee. 
Matthew  Wallace,  J. P.,  Deputy  Chairman  of  Streets  Committee. 

Aberdeen  Town  CounciL 
Councillor  Thomas  Gibb. 
James  Watt  Davidson,  Town  Clerk  Depute. 

Abertillery  (Mon.)  Urban  District  CounciL 
Councillor  G.  Jcnes,  J. P.,  Chairman  of  the  Council. 
Lionel  D.  Lewis,  Surveyor  to  the  Council. 
Dr.  A.  E.  Remmett  Weaver,  M.D.,  ]\ledical  Officer  of  Health. 

Acton  Urban  District  CounciL 
Frederick  Sadler,  Surveyor. 

Altrincham  Urban  District  CounciL 
Councillor  Joseph   Brooks. 

American  Conference  on  City  Planning. 
C   Mulford   Robinson. 

American  Institute  of  Architects. 
Edward  A.  Kent. 

Architectural  Association  (London). 
Arthur  Keen,  F.R.I.B.A.,  President. 
Sir  A.   Brumwell  Thomas,    F.R.I.B.A.,   ^'ice-President. 
Henry  Tanner,  F.R.I.B..\. 
D.  G.  Driver,  F.C.I.S.,  Secretary. 

Atherton  Urban  District  CounciL 
F.   H.   Griinshaw,   Surveyor. 


Representatives  uf  Corporalions,   etc.  jj 

Auctioneers'  Institute  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

Sir  Robert  Buckell,  President. 

J.  George  Head,  Member  of  the  Council. 

Australia  :  Royal  Victorian  Institute  of  Architects,  Melbourne. 
.'\nkctcll  Henderson,  President. 

Ayr,  Burgh. 
John   Young,    Burgh   Surveyor. 

Barking  Urban  District  Council. 
C.  F.  Dawson,  .Surveyor  to  the  Council. 

Barrhead  Corporation. 
A.  S.  Bryson,  Sanitary  Inspector  and  Master  of  Works. 

Barrow-in-Furness  Corporation. 
Alderman  John  Charles,  J. P.,  Chairman  of  Health  Committee. 
Arthur  Race,  Borough  Engineer  and  Surveyor. 

Barry  Urban  District  Council. 
VV.  R.  Lee,  J. P.,  Chairman  of  Council. 
J.  C.  Pardee,  Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.,  Surveyor. 

Bath  City  Council. 
Councillor  A.  W.  Wills.  C.  R.  Fortune,  City  Surveyor. 

Beckenham  Urban  District  Council. 
J.   A.   An  gel  1. 

Belgium  :   Chambre  Syndicate  des  Architectes  de  Belgique. 
Louis  van   Langendonck,   President. 
Armand  Wauters,  Treasurer. 

Belgium  :  City  of  Antwerp. 
Louis  Strauss,  President  du  Conseil  Superieur  de  I'lndustrie  et  du  Commerce 

de  Belgique. 
Richard  Lemeunier,   Ingenieur-en-chef,   Directcur  de  la  Voirie  de  la  Ville 

d'.Anvers. 
F.  Van  Kaijck,  Echevin  des  Beaux-.\rts. 

Monsieur  Gyselynck,  Directeur  du  Service  des  Propri^t^s  Comnumales. 
Alex.  Van  Mechelen,  Architecte-en-Chef  de  la  \'ille. 

Belgium  :  Commission  d'Etudes  de  I'Amenagpment  de  I'Agglomeration 

Anversoise. 

J.  Schobbens,  le  Secrdtaire-General. 
Paul  de  Heem,  le  Secretaire. 

Belgium  :  Ministere  des  Finances. 
Auguste  Dons,  Directeur  au  Ministere  des  Finances. 

Francois   de   Stryker,    Inspecteur   de   renregistrement   et   des   domaines   A 
Anvers. 

Belgium  :  Soci6t6  Centrale  d' Architecture  de  Belgique. 
Monsieur  A.  Dumont. 


iS      Transactions  oi  the  Toioi  Planninui  C'onfcn'nCL',  Oct.  1910. 

Bexley  Heath  Urban  District  Council. 

W.  P.  Howse,  Surveyor. 

T.  G.  Bayncs,  Clerk  to  ihi-  Council. 

Councillor  A.  H.  Arkle,  J. P.,  Mayor.       C.  Brownridge,  M.Inst.C.E.,  Engt- 
(,'ouncillor  R.  T.  Curphey.  neer  and  Surveyor. 

Councillor  T.  Myers. 

Blackpool  Corporation. 

Alderman  Gilbert  Blundell,  J. P.,  Chairman  Building  Plans  Committee, 
Councillor  Albert  Ellis,  Vicc-Chainnan  Building  Plans  Committee. 
John  Shanks  Brodie,  Borough  .Surveyor. 

Bollington  Urban  District  Council. 
R.   Holland  Owen. 

Bolton-upon-Dearne  Urban  District  Council. 

J.    Ledger   Ilawksworth,   Clerk. 
John  \V.  Wilson,  Architect  and  Surveyor. 

Bournemouth  Town  Council. 

Frederick  ^^'iiliam  Lacey,  F.R.I.B..\.,  M.Inst.C.E.,  Borough  Architect  and 

Borough  Engineer. 
Councillor  William  Eli  Jones,  Chairman  of  the  Roads  and  Town  Planning 

Committee. 
Councillor  Charles  Hunt,  \'ice-Chairman  of  the  Roads  and  Town  Planning 

Committee. 

Bristol  Corporation. 
T.  H.  Yabbicom,  M.Inst.C.E.,  City  Engineer. 

British  Constitution  Association,  20  Tothill  Street,  Westminster. 
Sir  Wm.  Chance,  Bart. 
Mark  H.  Judge,  A.R.I.B.A. 
Charles  ^^  Sale. 

Burnley  Corporation. 

Alderman  W.  Warburton,  Chairman  of  Improvements  Committee. 
G.  H.  Pickles,  Assoc. M.Inst.C.E.,  Borough  Engineer  and  Surveyor. 
Peregrine  Thomas,  Town  Clerk. 

Bushey  (Herts)  Urban  District  Council. 
E.  E.  Ryder,  Survej-or. 

Camberwell  Borough  Council. 
W.  O.xtoby,  M.Inst.C.E.,  Borough  Engineer. 

■  Canada  :   Manitoba  Association  of  Architects,  Winnipeg. 

J.  H.  C.  Russell. 

Canada  :   City  of  Montreal  Corporation. 

Alcide  Chauss(^,  City  .Architect. 


Representatives  of  Corporations,   etc.  19 

Canada  :   Ontario  Association  of  Architects, 
F.   S.   Baker,   F.R.I.B.A.,    President  of  the  Royal  Canadian    Instituli  of 

Architects. 

Canada,  Royal  Architectural  Institute  of. 
Alcide  Chausse,  Hon.  Secretary.       F.  .S.  Baker,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Cardiff  Corporation. 
Councillor  Jabez  A.  Jones,  Chairman  of  Public  Works  Committoo 
William  Harpur,  M.Inst.C.E.,  F.S.I.,  City  Engineer. 

Cardiff,  South  Wales,  and  Monmouthshire  Architects'  Society. 
Cecil  Locke  Wilson,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Carshalton  Urban  District  Council. 
W.  E.  Davis.  W  .  T.  Creswell.  W.  W.  Gale. 

Castleford  Urban  District  Council. 
G.  F.  Pennington,  Architect. 

Chester  Corporation. 
Councillor  W.  H.  Denson,  Deputy  Chairman  of  the  Improvement  Com- 
mittee. 
Councillor  William  Carr,  Chairman  of  the  Housing  Committee. 
W.  Matthews  Jones,  City  Surveyor. 

Chesterfield,  Borough. 
Councillor  Rhodes.  Vincent  Smith. 

Chicago  Architectural  Club. 
Clarence  J.   Brown. 

Clacton  Urban  District  Council. 
Dr.  W.  II.  Slimon,  J. P.,  Chairman. 
Dr.  J.  W.  Cook,  Medical  Officer  of  Health. 

Cleator  Moor  Urban  District  Council. 
Councillor  James  Flynn. 

Cleckheaton  Urban  District  Council. 
Councillor  G.  Whiteley,  J. P. 

Coalville  Urban  District  Council. 
Reuben  Blower. 
Leonard  L.  Baldwin,  .\ssoc. M.Inst.C.E..  Town  Surveyor. 

Coatbridge  Corporation. 
Provost  James  Davidson,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Co-operative  Permanent  Building  Society. 
Arthur  Webb. 

Co-partnership  Tenants,  Limited,  6  Bloomsbury  Square,  W.C. 
J.  F.  L.  Brunner,  M.P.  Geo.  Ramsbothani. 

William  Hutchings.  H.  S.  Stewart. 

Frederick  Litchfield. 

Croydon  Rural  District  Council. 
F.   le  Maitre  Mellows.   Chairman   of   tlie  Council's  Town   Planning  Com- 
mittee. 
Ernest  J.  Gowen.  Clerk  to  the  Council. 


20     Transaclions  of  Ihc  Toivn  JUciniiiiiii  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 

Devon  and  Exeter  Architectural  Society. 
W.  H.  May,  Esq.,  President. 

Dover  Corporation. 
W.  Clifford  Hawko,  Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.,  Surveyor. 

Dublin  (City  of    Corporation. 
Councillor   Coj^hlan    Briscoe. 

Dundee  Corporation. 
Rev.   Dr.   Walter  Walsh,   Convener  of  the   Housing  and  Town   Planning 

Committee. 
James  Thomson,  C.E.,  City  Engineer. 

Dunfermline  City  Council. 
W.  R.  Maxwell,  Borough  Engineer. 

East  Barnet  Valley  Urban  District  Council. 
Arthur  J.  Abbott,  F.A..S.I.,  A. R.S.I. 

Eastbourne  Corporation. 
W.  Chapman  Field,  Building  Surveyor. 

Edinburgh  Corporation. 
The  Right  Hon.  the  Lord  Provost. 

James  A.  Williamson,  A.R.I.B.A.,  City  Superintendent  of  Works. 
Councillor  Cameron. 
Dr.  Thomas  Hunter. 

Edinburgh  Local  Government  Board. 

John  Wilson,  Architectural  Inspector. 

Edmonton  Urban  District  Council. 
Councillor  Frederick  W.  Mason. 

Dr.  Sidney  Cameron  Lawrence,  M.B.,  D.P.H.,  Medical  Officer  of    Health. 
Alfred  Bars  Lismer,  .'\ssoc.M.Inst.C.E.,  Acting  Engineer  and  Surveyor  to 
the  Council. 

Epsom  Urban  District  Council. 
John   Hatchard  Smith,    IvR.I.B.A. 

Erith  Urban  District  Council. 
J.  Kennedy  AUerton,  Clerk  and  Solicitor  to  the  Council. 
Harold  Hind,  Surveyor. 

Eton  Rural  District  Council. 
A.   Gladwell. 

Exeter  City  Council. 
H.  Lloyd  Parry,   Town  C'lcrk. 

Farnham  Urban  District  Council. 
Arthur  George  Mardon,   Chairman. 


Rcprcsoitathes  of  Corporalions,   etc.  21 

Finchley  Urban  District  Council. 

Councillor  Herbert  F.  Nicholls. 

C.  J.  Jenkin,  Surveyor  to  the  Council. 

Fleetwood  Urban  District  Council. 
Arthur  Swarbrick,   Chairman. 
Frederick  W.  Wood,  Clerk. 

France  :  City  of  Paris. 
Louis  Bonnier,  Architecte-vojer-en-Chef  de  la  Ville  de  Paris. 
Conseiller   Municipal   Dausset,    Rapporteur-Gen^>ral  de   Bud(:fcl.. 

France :  La  Ligue  des  Espaces  Libres,  Paris. 
Georges  Benoit-Levy,  Secretary. 

France  :   Soci^td  Centrale  des  Architectes  Francaise,  Paris. 
Julien  Bayard. 

France  :  Soci6t6  des  Architectes  diplomas  par  le  Gouvernement,  Paris. 
Paul  Guadet,  Architecte  du  Gouvernement. 
Albert  Louvct,  Architecte  de  la  Ville  de  Paris. 
Jacques  Maurice  Poupinel,  Tresorier  de  la  Societe. 

Louis  Bonnier,  President  de  la  Societe,  .'Xrchitecte-v^oyer-en-chef  de  la  Ville 
de  Paris. 

France  :  Socidt^  des  Architectes  du  Limousin  Angoumois  et  Perigord. 
A.   Crouzillard,  A.D.G. 

France  :  Society  pour  la  Protection  des  Paysages  de  France,  Paris. 
M.   le  Coinlc  Robert  dr  Souza. 

Fraserburgh  Corporation. 
Councillor  John  Anderson. 

Further  Strand  Improvements  Committee,  7  Pall  Mall,  S.W. 
Mark  H.  jikVj^v,  A.R.I.B.A. 

Garden  City  Association. 
Ebenezer  Howard.  Ewart   E.    Culpin,    Secretaiy. 

George  Heriot's  Trust,  Edinburgh. 
William  Fraser  Dobie,  Esq.,  J. P.,  Governor  of  the  Trust, 
Peter  Macnaughten,  S.S.C.,  Clerk  and  Law  Agent  of  the  Trust. 
John  Anderson,  Esq.,  Superintendent  of  Works  of  the  Trust. 

Germany  :    Bavarian  State  Association  for  Furtherance  of  Dwelling  Houses, 

Bavaria. 
Konsul  Karl  Rau. 

Germany  :    Bund  Deutscher  Architekten  E.V.,  Dresden, 
lierr  Arch.   B.   I).  A.    Be  rlepsch-\'alendas. 

Germany  :    Verband  Deutscher  Architekten  und  Ingenier  Vereine,  Berlin. 

Dr.  Stiibben 


22     Transactions  Of  the  Town  IHanninsj^  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Gillingham  Borough. 
John  L.  Rodfern,  A.R.I.B.A..  Eni^inecr  ;ind  Surveyor. 

Glasgow  Corporation. 
Councillor  John  S.   Galbraith.  Councillor  Allan  M.  Ure. 

Councillor  A.  K.  Chalmers,  Thomas  Nisbet,  Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., 

Medical  Officer  of  Health.  Master  of  Works. 

Councillor  J.  H.  Martin.  John  Lindsay,  Depute  Town  Clerk. 

Councillor  Edward  McConncU.  A.   B.   McDonald,  City  Engineer. 

Glasgow  School  of  Architecture. 
Professor  Eugene  Bourdon,   B.A.,   A.D.F.G.,   Director. 
T.  L.  Watson,  F.R.I.B.A. 
Alexander  N.  Paterson,   M.A.,   F.R.I.B.A. 

Golborne  Urban  District  Council. 
W.  Carter,  Clerk  and  .Surveyor. 

Grays  Thurrock  (Essex)  Urban  District  Council. 
A.  C.  James,  Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.,  Surveyor. 

Great  Berkhampstead  Urban  District  Council. 
Edward  H.  .\dey. 

Great  Crosby  Urban  District  Council. 
Francis   Nicholas   Blundell. 

Grimsby  Rural  District  Council. 
Albert  Hobson,  Engineer  and  Inspector. 

Hanwell  Urban  District  Council. 
Herbert  J.  Baker,  Chairman.  W.  Pywell,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Heaton  Moor  Urban  District  Council. 
Walter  Banks,  Surveyor. 

Hendon  Urban  District  Council. 
Councillor  C.  H.  Page. 
Councillor  H.  J.  Tucker. 
S.  Slater  Grimley,  Engineer  and  .Surveyor  of  the  Council. 

Holland  :   Genootschaap  Architectura  et  Amicitia,  Amsterdam. 
A.  H.  Wegerif  (izn. 

Holland  :   Maatschappij  tot  Bevordering  Bouwkunst,  Amsterdam. 
J.  II.  W.   Lehman,   B.I.,   Engineer,  Architect,  Vice-President. 

Honley  (Yorks)  Urban  District  Council. 
Joseph   Berry,   Architect. 

Horsforth  Urban  District  Council. 
Harry  Raven. 

Ilfracombe  Urban  District  Council. 
O.  M.  Prousc,  Surveyor. 

Indian  Government. 
R.  W.  Murjjhy. 


Representatives   of  Corporations,    etc.  23 

Institution  of  Municipal  Engineers. 
Benjamin  W'vand. 

Institution  of  Municipal  and  County  Engineers,  \\estminster  Chambers, 
1 1  Victoria  Street,  S.W. 

J.  W.  Cockrill,   M.Inst.C.E.,   Borough  Engineer,  Great  Yarmouth. 

J.  A.  Brodie,  M.Eng.W.Sc,  City  Engineer,  Liverpool. 

A.  E.  Collins,  M.Inst.C.E.,  City  Engineer,  Norwich. 

H.  E.  Stilgoe,  M.Inst.C.E..  City  Engineer,  Birmingham. 

Irlam  Urban  District  Council. 
Francis  E.  Jones,  Surveyor. 

Italy  :  Associazione  Artistica  fra  i  Cultori  di  Architettura,  Via  dalle  Muratte  70 
(Palazzo  dei  Sabini). 

Dr.  Thomas  Ashby,  Director  of  the  British  School  at  Rome. 

Italy  :  City  of  Milan. 
Av.  Mario  Cattaneo. 

Italy  :  City  of  Rome. 
Cav.  Rodolfo  Bonfiglietli. 

Italy  :  City  of  Venice. 
Prof.  Dr.  Eugenio  Orsini,  .Secretario  Case  Popolari  Municipio  de  \'enezia. 

Italy  :   Unione  Co-operativo,  Milan. 
Ing.  Cav.  Mario  Rondini.  Aw.  Mario  Cattaneo. 

Junior  Institution  of  Engineers. 
F.  R.   Durham,  A.M. Inst. (\E.  S.   Bylandcr. 

Kensington  (Borough  of). 

Councillor  W.  F.  Craies,  M.A.  Councillor  H.  Freyberg,   F.S.I. 

Councillor  J.  Douglas.  Dr.     J.      E.      Sandilands,      Medical 

A.     R.     Finch,     Assoc. M.Inst.C.E.,  Officer  of  Health. 
Borough  Engineer  and  Surveyor. 

Kettering  Urban  District  Council. 

Councillor  L.  E.  Bradley,  J. P. 
John  Bond,  Clerk  to  the  Council. 
Thomas  R.  Smith,  Surveyor. 

Land  Nationalisation  Society. 
Miss  Isabel  Edwards. 

Leeds  and  Yorkshire  Architectural  Association. 
H.  S.  Chorley.  F.R.I.B.A.  W.  II.  Thorp,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Leeds  Master  Builders'   Association. 
P.   Rhodes,   Skinner  Lane,   Leeds. 

Leek  Urban  District  Council. 

W.  E.  Beacham,  C.E.,  Surveyor. 

Charles  Watson,  J. P.,  Chairman  of  Highways  Committee. 


24     Transucliuus  of  the  Town  Phiiniini:;  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Leicester  Corporation. 
Aldcnnan  Samuel  Patty,  J. P. 

Councillor  John  Loscby,  \ice-Chairnian  Hii;h\vay  and  Sewerage  Commitee. 
Enoch  George  Mawbey,  M.Inst.C.K.,  Borough  Engineer. 

Leigh  (Lanes)  Corporation. 
Akltrnian  W.  Ilorrocks,  J. P. 

Liverpool  Corporation. 
J.     T.      Alexander,     City     Building       J.    T.    Brodie,    M.lnst.C.E.,    City 

Surveyor.  Engineer. 

Llandudno  Urban  District  Council. 
Councillor  Ernest  Bone,  J. P.,   Chairman  of  the  Council. 
Councillor  James  Jones  Marks. 

Long  Eaton  Urban  District  Council. 
F.  C.  \\'.  Dakin,  Chairman. 

The  Maidens  and  Coombe  Urban  District  Council. 
A.  Mursell,  J. P.,  Chairman. 

James  W.  Johnson,  F.C.I.S.,  Clerk  to  the  Council. 
Reginald  H.  Jeffes,  Assoc. M.lnst.C.E.,  Engineer  and  Surveyor. 

Manchester  Corporation 
Alderman  Fildes. 
Councillor  Marr. 
Alderman  J.  R.  Wilson. 
Councillor  E.  Barker. 

T.  de  Courcy  Meade,  M.lnst.C.E.,  City  Surveyor. 
Henry  Price,  F.R.I.B..\.,  City  Architect. 

The  Mansion  House  Council  of  the  Dwellings  of  the  Poor, 
17  Essex  Street,  Strand. 
Arthur  E.  Franklin,  Chairman. 
W.  F.  Craies  (Hon.  Sec). 

Margam  Urban  District  Council. 
Rees  Llewellyn. 

Merthyr  Tydfil  Corporation. 
Councillor  Isaac  Ed\\ards. 

Merton  Urban  District  Council. 
W.  A.  Godin.  G.   Jerram,   Surveyor. 

Metropolitan  Public  Gardens  Association. 
The  Rt.   Hon.  the  Earl  of  Mealh,  Vice-President,  Chairman. 
Basil  Holmes,  C.C.,  Secretary. 

Middlesbrough  Corporation. 
S.    E.    Burgess,    M.Inst.C.Ii.,    Borougli    Engineer   and    Surveyor. 

Middlewich  Urban  District  Council. 
F.  W.  Stocks,  I*"..S.I.,  I'jigineer  and  Surveyor. 


Representatives  of  Corporations,    etc.  25 

Mountain  Ash  Urban  District  Council. 
John  Charles,  Chairman  of  the  Council. 

Nantyglo  and  Blaina  Urban  District  Council. 
James   Mannint;^,    ("hairman.  W.    J.    Davies,    Surveyor. 

National  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Council,  &c. 
Alderman   Thompson,   Chairman.  Councillor  Harold  Shawcross,  C.C. 

Councillor  W.  G.  Wilkins,  J. P.  Henry  R.  Aldridge. 

Nelson. 
Alderman   A.    Smith,   J. P.,    Mayor. 
W.   Shackleton,  Assoc. M. Inst. C.I-^.,   Borough  Engineer. 

Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
Councillor  Stephen  Easten,  Chairman  Estate  and  Property  Committee. 
Councillor  J.   M.   L.  Criddle,  Vice-Chairman. 
Councillor   Chas.    S.    Shortt,    Chairman    Town    Improvement   and    Streets 

Committee. 
F.  H.  Holford,  Esq.,  Land  Steward  and  Surveyor. 

Newport  (Men.)  Corporation. 
C.    F.   Ward,   A.R.I.H.A.,   Architect. 

Newton-in-Makerfield  Urban  District  Council. 
A.   Bowes,  Assoc. M.Inst. C.I'!.,   Surveyor. 

Northampton  Corporation. 
Alfred   Fidkr,   .\ssoc.M.I.C.E.,    Borough   .Surveyor. 

Northern  Counties  Federation  of  Building  Trade  Employers. 
W.   II.   Hope. 

Northfleet  Urban  District  Council. 
Councillor  J.  C.   Ilunlhy.  Councillor  C.  J.   Kean. 

Northwich  Urban  District  Council. 
J.  Arliiur  Cowley,  Clerk  to  the  Council. 

Norwich  Corporation. 
Arthur  E.  Collins,  M.Inst.C.E.,  Engineer. 

Nottingham  Corporation. 
Arthur  Brown,  City  Engineer. 

Plymouth  Corporation. 
Councillor  \V.  Johnson-Meakin,  Chairman  of  Special  Works  Committee. 
James  Paton,  Borough  Surveyor  of  Plymouth. 

Plymouth  Incorporated  Mercantile  Association. 

S.   Burridge.  H.   \'igurs   Harris. 

S.  Carlile  Davis. 


26     Tnuisactions  of  the  Toicn  J^hniiiiiia;  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

PoUokshaws  Corporation. 
Provost  James  MacDoii^all. 

Portugal  :   Sociedade  dos  Architectos  Portuguezes,  Lisbon. 
Iiiliii  Ivlclur,  K.A. 

Prestwich  Urban  District  Council. 
Sydney  H.   Morgan,  Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.,   Surveyor  and  Engineer. 

Rawmarsh  Urban  District  Council. 
Captain  J.   W.   Bellamy,   \'.D. 

Reading  County  Borough. 
John  Bow  en.  Borough  Surveyor. 

Richmond  (Surrey)  Borough  Council. 

Councillor  T.  J.  Carless. 

Councillor  J.  Myring. 

J.  H.  Brierley,  Assoc. M.In^t.C.E.,  Borough  Surveyor. 

Rochdale  Corporation. 
Councillor  Wilson  Dunning,  Mayor,  J. P. 

Rochester  Corporation. 
Wm.   Banks,  Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.,   City  Surveyor. 

Royal  Sanitary  Institute. 
H.   D.    Searles-Wood,    F.R.I.B.A.  A.    Saxon    Snell,    F.R.I.B.A. 

Rugby  Urban  District  Council. 
W.   W.  Shilliloe. 

Ruislip-Northwood  Urban  District  Council. 

W.  L.  Carr,  .Surveyor  and  Inspector  of  Nuisances. 

['.  M.  Elp;ood,  F.R.I.B.A.,  Chairman  of  the  Town  Planning  Committee- 
Rural  Housing  and  Sanitation  Association. 
Miss  Annette  Churton,  Secretary. 

St.  Germans  Rural  District  Council. 
II.   .\.    Ilosking,    P..\.S.l.,   Surveyor. 

St.  Helens  (Isle  of  Wight    Urban  District  Council. 
John  I.  Barton,  Chairman. 

St.  Marylebone  Metropolitan  Borough. 

Rev.  J.  .\.   Beaumont,  M..\.,  Chairman. 

Dr.    Charles   Porter,    Medical   OlTicer  of   Health. 

St.  Pancras  Borough  Council. 
Councillor  Charles  Williams,  Chairman  of  the  Public  Health  Committee. 
Councillor  George  Blount,    Deputy-Chairman  of  the  Public  Health  Com- 
mittee. 


Representatives  of  Corporations,   etc.  27 

Sale  Urban  District  Council, 
j.   W.   Robson. 

Salford  Corporation. 

Councillor  G.   T.   Jackson,   J. P.,   Chairman   of  the   Building  and  Bridges 

Committee. 
Councillor   R.    Lennard,    Deputy-Chairman    of   the    Building   and   Bridges 

Committee. 
F.  W.  Piatt,  Building  Surveyor. 

Sawbridgeworth  Urban  District  Council. 
H.  A.  Roberts. 

Selby  Urban  District  Council. 
Bruce  McGregor  Gray. 

Sevenoaks  Urban  District  Council. 
Samuel  Towlson,   Survrvor  to  the  Council. 
Percy  Darbyshirc,  Clerk. 

Sheffield  Corporation. 
R.  M.  Prescott,  Town  Clerk. 

C.  F.  Wike,  M.Inst.C.E.,  City  Engineer  and  Surveyor. 
Alderman  H.  P.  Marsh,  J. P.,  Chairman  of  the  Improvement  Committee. 
Councillor   William    Irons,    Deputy-Chairman   of    the    Improvement  Com- 
mittee. 

Shoreditch  Borough. 

Councillor  H.  Winkler,  Vice-Chairman  of  Highways  Committee. 
T.  Lancelot  Hustler,  P..\.S.I.,  Borough  Surveyor. 

Society  of  Architects,  Staple  Inn  Buildings,  Holborn. 
C.  McArthur  Butler,  F.S..A.Scot.,  Secretary. 

Sociological  Society,  21  Buckingham  Street,  Strand. 
Professor  Geddes. 

Southampton  Corporation. 

Alderman   C.   J.    Sharp,    Mayor. 

R.  R.  Linthorne,  Town  Clerk. 

J.  A.  Crowther,  Borough  Engineer. 

Southgate  Urban  District  Council. 
William  Carpenter,  J. P. 

Southport. 
Alderman  Griffiths,  Chairman.  Councillor  Brown. 

Alderman  Foggitt.  Councillor  Packer. 

Southport  Corporation. 
Richard  P.   Hirst,   Borough  Surveyor. 

Spain  :   Academia  Provincial  de  Bellas  Artes,  Barcelona. 
Sehor  M.  R.  Codola. 

Spain  :   Asociacion  de  Arquitectos  de  Cataluna,  Barcelona. 
Joaquin  Bassegoda. 


2S     Transactions  of  the  To^cn  l^latmini^  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Spain  :   Asociacion  de  Arquitectos  de  Vizcaya. 

ICmili.ino  Aiiiiin. 

Surveyors'  Institution. 

Leslie  Vigers,  President.  Sir  AkxantlLr  Stenning,  F.R.I.B.A., 

Howard  Martin,  Past  President.  F.S.I.,    Past    President. 

Howard           Cliatfeild           Clarke,  J.  II.   Hanson,  Member  of  Council. 

F.R.I.B.A.,    Chairman    of    Build-  John  Willmot. 

ing  Committee.  B.  Marr  Joimson. 

Sutton  Coldfield  Corporation. 
Councillor  T.  H.  Cartwright,  J. P.,  C.C.,  .Mayor. 
Alderman  J.  T.  Glover,  J. P.,  C.C. 
W.  A.  H.  Clarry,  Borough  Survejor. 
R.  A.  Reay  Nadin,  Town  Clerk. 

Sweden  :   Stockholm  (.City). 
Per  Hallman,  Architect. 

Sweden  :   Svenska  Teknologforeninger  (Stockholm). 
Albert   Lilienberg,   Chief  Engineer,  Town   Planning  Office  of  the  City  of 
Goteborg. 

Switzerland  :   Lausanne  Town. 
Paul  Rossct,  Direcleur  des  Travaux  de  la  Ville  de  Lausanne. 

Switzerland  :   Conseil  Administratif,  Geneva. 
Ed.  Chapuisat. 

Swindon  Corporation. 
Robert  Hilton,  Town  Clerk. 

Swinton  and  Pendlebury  Urban  District  Council. 
Henry  Entwisle. 

Teignmouth  Urban  District  Council. 
Charles  Gettings,  C.E.,  M.R.S.I.,  .Surveyor  and  Water  Engineer. 

Town  Tenants'  League,  Dublin. 
Cogiilan  BriscLie. 

Tunbridge  Wells,  Borough. 
D.  Cooper  Apperley,   ClTainnan   Works  Committee. 

Tynemouth  County  Borough. 
Councillor  William  Hutchinson. 
J.    F.    Smillic,    Borough    Surveyor. 

Uckfield  Rural  District  Council. 
John  Taylor,   M.Inst.C.E.,   Surveyor. 

Wallasey  Urban  District  Council. 
Henry  W.  Robinson,  Chairman  of  Works  Committee. 
Joseph  Boughey,  Vice-Chairman  of  the  Works  Committee 
Walter  IL  Travers,  District  Engineer  and  Surv^eyor. 
Dr.  T.  W.  N.  Barlow,  Medical  Officer  of  Healtli. 


Representatives  of  Corporations,   etc.  29 

Walthamstow  Urban  District  Council. 
Councillor  R.  Daines. 
G.  W.  Holmes,   Enj^ineer. 
C.  Sydney  Watson,  I.L.B.,  Clerk  to  ihe  Council. 

Wandsworth  Borough  Council. 
Alderman  Archibald  D.  Dawnay,  J. P.,   Mayor  of  Wandsworth. 

Warrington  Corporation. 
Alderman  Arthur  Bennett,  Chairman  of  the  Street  Improvement  Committee. 
Augustus  T.  Hallaway,  Deputy  Town  Clerk. 
Councillor  Pemberton. 
Thomas  Longdin,  Borough  .Surveyor. 
A.  M.  Ker,  Deputy  Borough  Surveyor. 

Warrington  Rural  District  Council, 
Councillor  Alfred  Brooks. 

Western  Australian  Institute  of  Architects,  Perth. 
John  Slater,  F.R.I.B.A.  C.  S.  R.  Palmer. 

J.  T.  Hobbs. 

Whickham  Urban  District  Council. 
John  Bryson  Renton,  Surveyor  to  the  Council. 

Willesden  Urban  District  Council. 

County  Alderman  Charles  Pinkham,  J. P.,  Chairman  of  the  Council,  and 

Chairman  of  the  Town  Planning-  Committee. 

Withernsea  Urban  District  Council. 
J.   B.   Kirton,   Surveyor. 

Wolstanton  Urban  District  Council. 
Henry  Walklate,  J. P.,  Chairman.  \V.   Boulton,  J. P. 

W.  F.  Slater,  Surveyor. 

Wolstanton  United  Urban  District  Council. 
J.  H.  Wooliscroft. 

Wolverhampton  Corporation. 
Councillor  John  Grout,  .Mayor. 

Councillor  A.  B.  Bantock,  Chairman  of  the  Public  Works  Committee. 
Councillo.-  A,  E.  Painter. 
George  Green,  Borough  Engineer. 

Wood  Green  Urban  District  Council. 
W.  P.  Harding.  Edward  G.  Cole. 

Yorkshire  Federation  of  Building  Trade  Employers,  14  Park  Row,  Leeds. 
Councillor  W.  G.  England,  J. P.  A.  \V.  Sinclair. 


,:^o     Traiisaclions  oj  llic  To'-a'ii  Plaiiniiig  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


LIST  OF  MEMBERS. 

Aachen,  Der  Oberbiirgermeister  der  Stadl,  Germany. 

Abbey,  Edwin  A.,  R.A.,  LL.D.,  Morgan  Hall,  Fairford,  Gloucestershire. 

Abbev,  Mrs.,  Morgan  Hall,  Fairford,  Gloucestershire. 

Abbott,  Arthur  J.,  Surveyor  East  Harnet  Valley  U.D.C.,  Council  Offices, 

New  Barnet,  N. 
Academia  Provincial  de  Bellas  Artes  de   Barcelona,   Paseo  de   Isabel  H., 

Casa  Lonja,  Barcelona. 
Adams,  Maurice  Bingham,  Edenhurst,  Bedford  Park,  Chiswick,  W. 
Adams,  Percy  Henry,  19  Hanover  Square,  W. 
Adams,  Percy  Tidswell,  Victoria  Arcade,  Colombo,  Ceylon. 
Adams,  Thom-as,  Local  Government  Board,  Whitehall,  S.W. 
Adev,  Edward  Henry,  Surveyor  Great  Berkhampstead  U.D.C.,   135  High 

Stn.M.'t,  Berkhampstead,  Herts. 
Administration  Communale  Ville  d'Anvers,  9  Rue  des  Serments,  Antwerp. 
Adshead,  Professor  Stanley  D.,  The  Universit}',  Liverpool. 
Aickman,  William  Arthur,  34  Gresham  Street,  E.C. 
Aldridge,  Henry  R.,  4  Tavistock  Square,  W'.C. 
.'\lexander,  John  Taylor,  City  Building  Surveyor,  Municipal  Offices,  Dale 

Street,  Liverpool. 
Allen,  George  Pemberton,  Dacre  House,  5  Arundel  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 
Allen,  William,  50  St.  Edward  Street,  Leek,  Staffs. 
Allerton,  J.  Kennedy,  Clerk  and  .Solicitor  Erith  U.D.C.,  Council  Offices, 

Erith,  Kent. 
Aman,  F.  T.,  City  Engineer's  Office,  Liverpool. 
Amann,  C.  E.,  Calle  Nueva  4,  Bilbao. 
Ambler,  Herbert,  29  Cookridge  Street,  Leeds. 
Ambler,  Louis,  Temple  Chambers,  Temple  Avenue,  E.C. 
Ambler,  Thomas,  29  Cookridge  Street,  Leeds. 
Anderson,  Douglas,  62  Constantine  Road,  Hampslead,  N.W. 
Anderson,  John,  30  Mid  Street,  Fraserburgh,  Aberdeenshire. 
.Anderson,    John,    Superintendent    of    Works    of    George    Heriot's    Trust, 

20  York  Place,  Edinburgh. 
Anderson,  Miss  .Adelaide  Mary,  H.M.  Principal  Lady  Inspector  of  Factories, 

96  Chelsea  Gardens,  S.W. 
Andrew,  Walter,  The  Orchard,  Parkstone,  Dorset. 
.Angell,  J.  A.,  Council  Offices,  Beckenham,  Kent. 
Ansell,  William  Henry,  10  New  Square,  Lincoln's  Inn,  W.C. 
Apperly,  D.  Cooper,  Stonewall  Cottage,  Langton,  Tunbridge  Wells. 
.Apperson,  Miss  Mary  Houston,  87  Merton  Hall  Road,  Wimbledon,  S.W. 
.Archibald,  John,  Woodfield,  The  Garden  A^illage,  Church  End,  Finchley,  N. 
-Architekten  Verein  zu  Berlin,  Berlin,  W.  41. 

Aris,  John  Whilton,  "  Lois  Weedon,"  Denbigh  Gardens,  Richmond,  Surrey. 
-Arkle,  .Arthur  Henry,  Town  Hall,  Birkenhead. 
.Arnaud,  Marius,  10  Rue  Puget,  Nice. 

.\shbee,  Charles  Robert,   M.A.  Cantab,  37  Cheync  Walk,  S.W. 
Ashbridge,  Arthur,  17  York  Place,  Portman  Square,  W. 
Ashby,   Dr.   Thomas,    Director  of   the   British    School   at    Rome,    PallazTO 

Odescalchi,  Rome. 


Members.  -^i 

Ashley,  Henry  Victor,  i  The  Wilderness,  Holly  Hill,  Hampstead,  N.W. 

Ashworth,  Clarke,  Golden  Court,  Richmond,  Surrey. 

Asociacion  de  Arquitectos  de  Cataluna,  Calle  dc  Santa  Ana  25,  Barcelona. 

Asociacion  de  Arquitectos  de  Vizcaya,  2  Plaza  Nueva,  Bilbao. 

Atkin-Berry,  William  Henry,  23  Old  Broad  Street,  E.C. 

Atkins,  Alfred,  Nathan's  Buildings,  Wellington. 

Attlee,  Thomas  Simons,  Parliament  Mansions,  Victoria  Street,  Westminster, 

S.W. 
Ayrton,  Maxwell,  3  Verulam  Buildings,  Gray's  Inn,  W.C. 
Ayrton,  Mrs.  Maxwell,  Wispers,  Northwood,  Middlesex. 
Bailey,  Harold,  Culloden,  Coombe,  New  Maiden,  Surrey. 
Baillie,  James  Thomas,  34  Saint  Andrew  Square,  Edinburgh. 
Baird,  William,  29  Bishop's  Mansions,  Fulham,  S.W. 
Baird,  Mrs.  \\^illiam,  29  Bishop's  Mansions,  Fulham,  S.W. 
Baker,  Francis  Spence,  President  Royal  Architectural  Institute  of  Canada, 

Traders'  Bank  Buildings,  Toronto. 
Baker,  Mrs.  F.  S.,  Traders'  Bank  Buildings,  Toronto. 
Baker,  Frederick  G.,  9  Conduit  Street,  W. 
Baker,  Herbert,  Bo.x  4959,  Johannesburg. 
Baker,     Herbert    James,     Chairman     Hanwcll     L'.D.C,     Bydorp     House, 

Cherington  Road,  Han  well,  W. 
Baldwin,  Leonard  L.,  Town  Surveyor,  Coalville,  near  Leicester. 
Banks,  Walter,  Council  Offices,  Heaton  Moor,  Stockport. 
Banks,  William,  City  Surveyor,  Guildhall,  Rochester. 
Bantock,  Albert  Baldwin,  Merridale  House,  Wolverhampton. 
Baring,  Godfrey,  Chairman  Isle  of  Wight  County  Council,  Nubia  House, 

Cowes,  I.W. 
Barker,  Mr.  Councillor  E.,  c/o  Improvement  Clerk,  Town  Hall,  Manchester. 
Barlow,  John  Henry,  Estate  Office,  Bournville,  near  Birmingham. 
Barlow,    Dr.    T.    W.    N.,    Medical    Officer    of    Health    Wallasey    L'.D.C, 

19  North  Drive,  New  Brighton,  Cheshire. 
Barnett,  Mrs.  S.  A.,  St.  Jude's  Cottage,  Spaniards  Road,  Hampstead,  N.W. 
Baroda,  H.H.  Sayajirao  Maharaja  of  Baroda. 
Barrett,  Henry  W.,  67  Graham  Street,  Eaton  Terrace,  S.\\'. 
Barrow,  Ernest  Robert,  Lennox  House,  Norfolk  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 
Bartlett,  George,  Duchy  of  Cornwall  Office,  284  Kennington  Park  Road,  S.E. 
Bartlett,  Herbert  Henry,  56  Victoria  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 
Bartoli,  Carlo,  83  Via  del  Duomo,  Terni,  Italy. 
Barton,  John  I.,  i  St.  Thomas's  Street,  Ryde,  Isle  of  Wight. 
Batley,  Claude,  115  Gowcr  Street,  W.C. 
Batsford,  Harry,  94  High  Holborn,  W.C. 
Batsford,  Herbert  T.,  94  High  Holborn,  W.C. 
Batsford,  Mrs.  Herbert  T.,  94  High  Holborn,  W.C. 
Bayard,  Jean,  8  Rue  du  Bac,  Paris. 
Bayard,  Julian,  8  Rue  du  Bac,  Paris. 
Baynes,  Thomas  Godfrey,  Clerk  Bexley  U.D.(\,  Council  Offices,   Bexley 

Heath,  Kent. 
Beacham,  William  Ernest,  Surveyor  Leek  U.D.C.,  Town  Hall,  Leek. 
Beaumont,  Percv  Munro,  Maldon,  Essex. 

Beaumont,  Rev.  J.  .\.,  St.  John's  Parsonage,  St.  John's  Wood  Road,  N.W. 
Beck,  Frederick  Thomas,  Wulfrun  Chambers,  Darlington  Street,  Wolver- 
hampton. 
Becker,  Richard,  Rheydterstrasse,  M.  Gladbach,  Germany. 
Beckwith,  Henry  Langton,  3  Cook  .Street,  Liverpool. 
Belcher,  Arthur  Herbert,  8  and  9  Martin's  Lane,  Cannon  Street,  E.C. 
Rolcher,  Mrs.  Arthur  H.,  8  and  9  Martin's  Lane,  Cannon  Street,  E.C. 
Belcher,  John,  R.A.,  20  Hanover  Square,  W. 


:,2     Tninsaclions  ol  the  Toun,  Planuing  Coujcrcnce,  Oct.  1910. 

Bellamv.  Captain  James  William.  \  .D-,  Rawmarsh,  Vorks 

Bennct't  Alderman  Arthur,  J. P..  Chairman  of  Warrington  Street  Imi)rovo- 
mont  Committee,  Market  Gate  Chambers,  Warrmgton. 

Benson.  George,  1  Nunthorpe  Avenue.  York. 

Berlepsch-Valendas,  II.  E.  V.,  Planegg.  bei  Munich. 

Berrv,  J.  Norman.  3  Market  Place.  Iluddersfield. 

Berry.  Joseph.  3  Market  Place.  Huddersficld. 

Berry.  Mrs.,  3  Market  Place.  Iluddersfield. 

Beswick.  Harrv.  Newgate  Street,  Chester. 

Beveridge.  William  K..  Letchworth  Hall  Hotel.  Letchworth,  Herts. 

Bevis,  Charles  William.  Elm  Grove  Chambers,  Southsea. 

Bews'her.  Samuel.  J. P..  Mayor  of  Hammersmith.  Colet  Court,  Hammer- 
smith Road,  W. 

Bharoocha,    Sohrab    Framjee.    Markur's    Building,    Apollo    Street,    Fort, 

Bombay. 
Bhownaggree.  N.  M.  M..   it>3  Cromwell  Road,  S.W\ 
Bird.  Hugo  R..  St.  Thomas'  Gate,  Brentwood,  Essex. 
Bird,  William  F.,  Midsomer-Norton,  .Somerset. 

Birkett,  John  Stanwell,  Howard  House,  4  Arundel  Street,  Strand.  W.C. 
Birmingham.  City  of.  three  representatives. 
Blackwood.  William  Blackwood,  41  Donegall  Place,  Belfast. 
Blagburn,  T.,  The  Cot,  .\ppleton  Road,  Hale,  Cheshire. 
Bland,  John  Douglas,  3  Chesterton  Hall  Crescent,  Chesterton,  Cambridge. 
Blizard,  John  Henry,  Lansdowne  House,  Castle  Lane,  Southampton. 
Blom,  Miss  Cecilia,  c/o  Mrs.  Dahl,  30  Greencroft  Gardens,  Hampstead,  N.W. 
Blomfield,  Reginald,  A.R.A.,  i  New  Court,  Temple,  E.C. 
Blomme,  Adrien,  217  Rue  Americaine,  Brussels. 
Blomme,  Henri.  37  Rue  de  la  Princesse,  Antwerp. 
Blount,   Councillor  George,   6   Lady   Margaret   Road,    St.    John's   College 

Park,  N.W. 
Blount,  George  Leo  W.,  39  High  Street,  Salisbury. 
Blow,  Detmar,  3  Pall  Mall  East,  S.W. 
Blower,  Reuben,  Ellistown,  near  Leicester. 
Blundell,     Alderman     Gilbert,     J. P.,     "Lindenlea,"     209     Hornby     Road, 

Blackpool. 
Blundell,  Francis  Nicholas,  Crosby  Hall.  Blundellsands,  Lanes. 
BIyth,  B.  Hall,  Kaimend,  North  Berwick. 
Boddington,  Henry,  J. P.,  Trcpied,  Etaples,  Pas-de-Calais. 
Boddington,  Mrs.  Henry,  Trepied,  Etaples,  Pas-de-Calais. 
Boddington,  Miss  R.  O.,  Trepied,  Etaples,  Pas-de-Calais. 
Boddington,   Henry,  junr.,  c/o  T.  W.   Taylor,   Esq.,   Spring  Haven,   Lea 

Road,  Heaton  Moor,  Stockport. 
Boehmer,  Edward,  11  Spring  Gardens,  S.W. 

Bolton,  .Arthur  Thomas,  Victoria  Mansions,  28  \'ictoria  Street,  S.W. 
Bond,  George  Edward,  St.  Ronans,  Rochester. 
Bond.     John,     Clerk     Kettering     I'.D.C.,     Council     Offices,     Kettering, 

Northants. 
Bone,  Charles  Belfield,  M..\.  Oxon.,  59  St.  Mary's  Mansions,  Paddington,  W. 
Bone,  Councillor  Ernest  E.,  Llandudno,  North  Wales. 
Bonfiglietti,  Cav.  Ing.  Rodolfo,  30  Piazza  d'.\ra  Coeli,  Rome. 
Bonnier,  Louis,  31  Rue  de  Berlin,  P.iris. 
Bonnier,  M.irc,  31   Rue  de  Berlin,  Paris. 

Booth,  Right  Hon.  Charles,  P.C.,  28Campden  House  Court,  Kensington,  W. 
Bottomley,  John  Mitchell,  13  Bond  Street,  Leeds, 
Boughey,  Joseph,  Vice-Chairman  of  Works  Committee,  Wallasey  U.D.C.. 

"  Sherbourne,"  Liscard  Road,  Liscard,  Cheshire. 


Members.  33 

Boulton.    W'.,    J. P.,    Chairman    of    Highways   and    Buildings   Committee, 

Wolstanton  United  U.D.C.,  Dimsdale,  Wolstanton,  Staffs, 
Bourdon,  Professor  Eugene,  Director  the  Glasgow  School  of  Architecture, 

The  School  of  Art,  167  Renfrew  Street,  Glasgow. 
Bouwens  van  der  Boijen,  Richard,  8  Rue  de  Lota,  Paris  16^. 
Bowen,  John,  Borough  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Reading. 
Bowes,  A.,  The  Town  Hall,  Earlestown,  Lanes. 
Box,  Stephen,  Eldon  House,  Eldon  Road,  Eastbourne. 
Box,  Mrs.,  Eldon  House,  Eldon  Road,  Eastbourne. 
Boyton,  James,  ]\LP.,  6  Vere  Street,  W. 

Bradlev,  Councillor  L.  E.,  The  Council  Offices,  Kettering,  Northants. 
Brand,  Walter,  17  New  Street,  Leicester. 
Bratt,  Lionel  G.  J.,  10  Mortimer  Street,  W. 
Brewer,  Cecil  Claude,  2  Gray's  Inn  Square,  W.C. 
Bricrlev,  J.  H.,  Borough  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Richmond.  Surrey. 
Briggs,  John  Priestley,  Effingham  House,  Arundel  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 
Brinckerhoff,  A.  F.,  103  Park  Avenue,  New  York  City,  U.S..\. 
Brinckmann,  Dr.  A.  E.,  Arudtstrasse,  Aachen. 
Briscoe,  Coghlan,  4  Rostrevor  Terrace,  Clontarf,  Dublin. 
Broadbent,    Benjamin,    >LA.,    J. P.,    Deputy-Mayor    of    Huddersfield    and 

Chairman  of  Health  Committee,  Gatesgarth,  Lindley,  Huddersfield. 
Broadbent,  William,  Red  Hall  Chambers,  Guildford  Street,  Leeds. 
Brodie,  Charles  Henry,  77  Park  Lane,  Croydon. 
Brodie,  John  A.,  City  Engineer,  Liverpool. 
Brodie,  John  S.,  Borough  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Blackpool. 
Brodie,  Mrs.  John  S.,  Liverpool. 
Bromley,  Andrew,  Radnor  Chambers,  Folkestone. 
Brown,  Councillor,  6  Rawlinson  Road,  Southport. 
Brooks,  Councillor  Alfred,  Glazebrook,  near  Manchester. 
Brooks,  Councillor  Joseph,  Carrick,  Market  Street,  Altrincham,  Cheshire. 
Brown,  Alexander  Burnett,  Lennox  House,  Norfolk  Street,  Strand,  ^^^C. 
Brown,  Arthur,  City  Engineer,  Guildhall,  Nottingham. 
Brown,  Clarence  J.,  The  Chicago  Architectural  Club,  Chicago,  L'.S.A. 
Brown,  Edwin,  Surveyor,  Burgess  Hill  L.D.C.,  Hurstville,  Burgess  Hill, 

Sussex. 
Brown,  Professor  G.  Baldwin,  ^LA.,  50  George  Square,  Edinburgh. 
Brown,  Mrs.  Baldwin,  50  George  Square.  Edinburgh. 
Brown,  G.  Lawton,  Spencer  Chambers,  Leicester. 
Brown,  William  Lobin  Trant,  332  High  Road,  Kilburn,  N.W. 
Brown,    The    Right    Hon.    William    Slater,    Lord    Provost    of    Edinburgh, 

City  Chambers,  Edinburgh. 
Brownridge,  Charles,  Town  Hall,  Birkenhead. 
Brunfaut,  Jules,  104  Avenue  Moliere,  Brussels. 
Brunner,  John  Fowler  Leece.  ^LP.,  43  Harrington  Gardens,  S.W. 
Bryce,  John,  Burgh  Engineer,  i  Maxwell  Street,  Partick,  N.B. 
Bryson,  A.  S.,  Municipal  Buildings,  Barrhead. 
Buckell,  Sir  Robert,  J. P.,  President  of  the  Auctioneers'  Institute,   i  Broad 

Street,  Oxford. 
Budden,  Harry,  Hunter's  Hill,  Sydney,  N.S.W. 
Bull,  Thomas  H.,  29  Victoria  Park  Road,  N.E. 
Bunney,  Michael,  33  Henrietta  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 
Burden,  Robert  Henry,  333  Oxford  Street,  W. 
Burgess,  Julian  Gulson,  Beaconsfield.  Bucks. 
Burgess,  Samuel  Edwin,  Borough  Engineer,  Middlesbrough. 
Burnham,  Daniel  H.,  Railway  Exchange  Building,  Chicago. 
Burnham,  Mrs.  D.  H.,  Chicago,  U.S.A. 


;,4     Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Hum..  Rt.  Hon.  h'hn,  M.P..  IV.Mcl.nt  Lccal  Government  Board.  While- 
hall.  S.W. 
Hums    Mrs.  John.  ^7  Lavender  (i.ardens.  Battersea,  S.W. 
BurridK^e.  S..  Princess  Mouse.  Princess  Square,  Plymouth. 
Burt,  (ieor^e.  J. P..  37  (irosvenor  Road.  Westminster,  S.\\  . 
Burt    H..  London  Road.   Bur^a-ss  Hill. 

Burton.  A..  Borough  Surveyor,  'loxvn  H.ill.  StoUe-on-'I  rent. 
Butcher.    William   James.    M.R.C'.S.,    O.P.H..    Assistant    County    Medical 

Oflicer  of  Health.  Shire  Hall,  Bedford. 
Butler.    C.    McArthur,    Secretary    the    Society    of    Architects,    28    Bedford 

Square,  W.C. 
Butler.    Kdward.  ("hica^^o,   I'.S.A. 
Butler.  Mrs.  Edward,  CMiicaf,^o,  L  .S.A. 
Bylander,  Sven,  ia  Cockspur  Street,  S.W. 
Caccia,  A.  ^L.  Letchmore  House,  by  Watford,  Herts. 
Cacket't,  James  Thorburn.  Pilgrim  House,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
Cadbury,  George,  The  Manor  House,  Northfield,  Worcestershire. 
Cadbury!  Mrs.  George,  The  Manor  House,  Northfield,  ^^'orcestershire. 
Cadbury,  George,  junr.,  Bournville,  near  Birming^ham. 
Cahill,  Bernard  J.  S.,  620  Henry  Building,  Portland,  Oregon,  U.S.A. 
Caine,  Charles,  Grosvenor  Chambers,  Deansgate,  Manchester. 
Calvert,  Rhodes,  4  Forstcr  Square,  Bradford. 
Camara  Municipal  de  Lisboa,  Lisbon. 

Cameron,  Councillor  R.  M..  53  Great  King  Street,  Edinburgh. 
Campbell,  Alexander  Lome,  60  Castle  Street,  Edinburgh. 
Campbell,  John  A.,  Koniginstrasse  5,  Munich. 
Capper,    Professor    Stewart    Henbest,     M.A.,     R.C.A.,     The     University, 

Manchester. 
Carden,  Alderman,  Tow  11  Hall,   Hrigiiton. 
Carless,  Councillor  T.  J.,  162  Sheen  Road,  Richmond,  Surrey. 
Carnwath,  Dr.  Thomas,  Local  (iovernment  Board,  Whitehall,  S.W. 
Caroe,   William   Douglas,    M.A.Cantab.,    F.S.A..    3   Great  College   Street, 

Westminster,  S.W. 
Caroe,  Mrs.,  3  Great  College  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 
Carpenter,  William,  J. P.,  143  Palmerston  Road,  Bowes  Park,  N. 
Carr,     Councillor     William,     Chairman     Chester     Housing     Committee, 

42  Filkins  Lane,  Chester, 
("arr,    W.    Louis,    Engineer   and    Surveyor     Ruislip,    Northwood    L'.D.C, 

Council  Offices,  Northwood,  Middlesex. 
Cart  de  Lafontaine,  Rev.  Henry,  ^q  Albert  Court,  Kensington  Gore,  W, 
Cart  de  Lafontaine,  Mrs.  Henry,  5  Harrington  Gardens,  .S.  Kensington. 
Cart  de  Lafontaine,  Philip,  5  Harrington  Gardens,  S.W. 
Carter,  William,  Council  Ofilces,  Golborne,  Lanes. 
Cartwright,  Councillor  T.  IL.  J. P.,  CC,  Ma\or  of  Sutton  Coldfield,  Heron 

Lodge,  Wylde  Green. 
Casciani,    Miss   Emmy,    155  Goldluirst  Terrace,   South   H.impstead,    N.W. 
Cash,  Thomas  .\.,  Newfield,  Coventrv. 
Castello,  Manuel  Nunes.  35  Norfolk  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 
Cattaneo,  Aw.  Mario,  \'ia  Soncino  Merati  S,  Milan. 
Cave,  Walter,  S  Old  Burlington  Street,  \\'. 

Caylcy,  Henry,  M.A.Cantab,  Garden  House,  Rothwell,  Kettering,  Norlhants. 
Cayley,  Mrs.,  Garden  House.  Rothwell,  Kettering,  Northants. 
Chalmers.  A.K.,  M.I).,  Medical  Officer  of  Health.  Citv  Chambers.  Glasgow. 
Chance,  Sir  William,  Bart.,  J. P.,  Orchards,  Godalming,  Surrey. 
Chandabhoy,  Shapoorjee  Nusserwanjee,  Markur's  Building,  Apollo  Street, 

Fort,  Bombay. 


Members.  35 

Chapman,  Henry  Ascough,  Prudc'ntial  Buildings,  Park  Row,  Leeds. 

Chappell,  Henrj',  The  Grove,  Newtownards,  Co.  Down. 

Chapuisat,  Edouard,  Secretaire  General  du  Conseil  Administratif,  Geneva. 

("Charles,  Alderman  John,  Chairman  of  Health  Committee,  191  Abbey  Road, 
Barrow-in-Furness. 

Charles,  John  W.,  Brynhaf,  Llanwonno  Road,  Mountain  Ash. 

Charles,  Mrs.,  Bryn  Hay,  Mountain  Ash. 

Charlewood,  Henry  Clement,  President  Northern  Architectural  Association, 
67  Westgate  Road,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

Chart,  Robert  Masters,  Alderman  Surrey  County  Council,  "  St.  Mary's," 
Mitcham,  Surrey. 

Chausse,  Alcide,  1433  St.  Hubert  Street,  Montreal. 

Chevalier,  Pol,  55  Boulevard  de  la  Rochelle,  Bar-le-Duc. 

Ching,  W.  W.,  14  Gray's  Inn  .Square,  W.C. 

Cholmondeley,  Thomas,  136  The  Albany,  Liverpool. 

Chorlev    Harry  Sutton,  I\LA.  Oxon.,  16  Park  Place,  Leeds. 

Christian,  Bertram,  4  Lancaster  Place,  Strand,  W.C. 

Chubb,  Sir  George  Hayter,  Bart.,  128  Queen  Victoria  Street,  E.C. 

Churton,  Miss  Annette,  Secretary  Rural  Housing  Association,  Parliament 
Mansions,  Westminster,  S.W. 

Clapham,  Frederick  Dare,  Norwich  House,  Southampton  Street,  Blooms- 
bury,  W.C. 

Clarke,  G.  Ernest,  119  Grove  Road,  Walthamstow,  Essex. 

Clarke,  H.  Chatfeild,  63  Bishopsgate  Street  Within,  E.C. 

Clarke,  Mrs.  Chatfeild,  63  Bishopsgate  Street  Within,  E.C. 

Clarke,  Max,  Mayor  of  Holborn,  4  Queen  Square,  Bloomsbury,  W.C. 

Clarry,  W.  A.  H.,  Borough  Surveyor,  Sutton  Coldfield. 

Clas,  Alfred  C,  419  Broadway,  Milwaukee,  LT.S.A. 

Clayton,  Charles  Edward,  10  Prince  Albert  Street,  Brighton. 

Clyne,  Arthur,  123^  Union  Street,  Aberdeen. 

Cobb,  Edmund  Farley,  Frindsbury,  Rochester,  Kent. 

Cochrane,  Robert,  LS.O.,  LL.D.,"  17  Highfield  Road,  Dublin. 

Cockrill,  John  William,  Borough  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Great  Yarmouth. 

Cole,  Edward  George,  Glencairn,  Pellatt  Grove,  \\'ood  Green. 

Cole,  Robert  Langton,  23  Throgmorton  Street,  E.C. 

Coleridge,  John  Duke,  10  Davies  Street,  Berkeley  Square,  \\'. 

Collcutt,  Thomas  Edward,  36  Bloomsburj^  Square,  W.C. 

(Collin,  W.  H.,  Local  Government  Board,  Whitehall. 

Collins,  xArthur  Elliston,  Cit}'^  Engineer,  Guildhall,  Norwich. 

Collins,  Edward  George,  35  Heathfield  Road,  Handsworth,  Birmingham. 

Collins,  Richard,  Public  OfTices,  Enfield,  Middlesex. 

Collins,  Stephen,  M.P.,  "  Harborne,"  St.  Anne's  Hill,  ^A'andsworth,  S.\\'. 

Comyn,  Heaton,  8  Ravensbourne  Avenue,  Shortlands,  Kent. 

"  Concrete  and  Constructional  Engineering  "  (Miss  MacGlade,  Representa- 
tive), Dewar  House,  Haymarket,  S.W. 

Conrad,  Albert  Selmar,  Steamship  Buildings,  Tunic  Street,  Adelaide,  South 
Australia. 

Cook,  Dr.  J.  W.,  Medical  Officer  of  Health  Clacton  U.D.C.,  Belgravo 
House,  Carnarvon  Road,  Clacton-on-Sea. 

Copeman,  Henry  John,  Westwood,  Newmarket  Road,  Norwich. 

Corby,  Joseph  Boothroyd,  15  All  Saints  Place,  Stamford. 

Corlette,  Hubert  Christian,  2  New  Square,  Lincoln's  Inn,  W.C. 

Cornes,  James,  Bath  Chambers,  240  High  Holborn,  \\'.C. 

Cornford,  L.  Cope,  Earlsridge,  Woodlands  Road,  Redhill,  Surrey. 

Corn  ford,  Mrs.,  Earlsridge,  Woodlands  Road,  Redhill,  Surrey. 

Corporation  of  the  City  of  Montreal,  City  Hall,  Montreal. 

D  2 


36     Transactious  of  the  Tmcu  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Cory.  Reginald  K..  DiilTrvn.  near  Cardiff. 

Cowley.  J.  Arthur,  Clerk  Northwich  I'.D.C,  Northwich,  Cheshire. 

Cox.  Herbert,    144  Fellowes  Road,  South  Hampstead,  N.W. 

Crace,  John  Dibblee,  F.S..'\.,  15  Gloucester  Place,  Portman  Square,  W. 

Crace!  Miss,  15  Gloucester  Place,  Portman  Square,  W. 

Craies.  William  Keilden,  3  Temple  Gardens,  E.G. 

Cram,  Ralph  Adams.  Boston,  U.S.A. 

Crawshaw,  Herbert.  13  Recent  Street,  Barnsley,  Yorks. 

Creswell.  \V.  T.,  "  Benmohr,"  (\-irshalton  Park  Road,  Carshalton.  Surrey. 

Crickmer.  Courtenay  Melville,  i  Lincoln's  Inn  F"ields,  W.C. 

Criddle,  Councillor  J.    M.   L.,   \ice-Chairman   Estate  and  Property  Com- 
mittee, Town  Hall,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

Crompton,  William  Edward  Vernon,  6  John  Street,  Bedford  Row,  W.C. 

Crossland.  Robert  Edmund,  10  Serjeants'  Inn,  Fleet  Street,  E.C. 

Crossland,  Mrs.,  10  Serjeants'  Inn,  Fleet  Street,  E.C. 

Crothall.  Harry  George,  30  Broadway,  Westminster,  S.W. 

Crouzillard,  Alfred,  9  Avenue  Baudin,  Limoges,  Haute-Vienne,  France. 

Crow,  .Arthur,  The  Firs,  Monkhams  Avenue,  Woodford  Green,  Essex. 

Crowther,  J.  A.,  Borough  Engineer,  Municipal  Offices,  Southampton. 

Cullen,  Alexander,  Brandon  Chambers,  Hamilton,  N.B. 

Culpin,  Ewart  Gladstone,  31  and  32  Birkbeck  Bank  Chambers,   Holborn, 
W.C. 

Cummins,  Joseph,  Chicago,  U.S.A. 

Curphev,  Robert  Thomas,  Town  Hall,  Birkenhead. 

Currey,  Percivall,  37  Norfolk  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 

Dahl,  John  Love  Seaton,  30  Greencroft  Gardens,  South  Hampstead,  N.W. 

Dahl,  Mrs.,  30  Greencroft  Gardens,  South  Hampstead,  N.W. 

Daines,  Councillor  R.,  Chairman  Town   Planning  Committee,   Waltham- 
stow  U.D.C.,  83  Orford  Road,  Walthamstow. 

Dakin,  F.  C.  W.,  Council  Offices,  Long  Eaton,  Derbyshire. 

Dale,  .Arthur,  Assistant  City  Architect,  Guildhall,  Nottingham. 

Daly,  .M.  Segrave,  Ryelands,  Caterham,  Surrey. 

Daly,  Mrs.  Segrave,  Ryelands,  Caterham,  Surrey. 

Darbyshire,  Percy,  Clerk  Sevenoaks  U.D.C.,  Council  Office,  Sevenoaks. 

Dardis,  Alfred  John,  Engineer  and  Surveyor  Risca  U.D.C.,  Risca,  Mon. 

Dausset,  Consciller,  22  Place  Saint-Georges,  Paris. 

Davidge,  William  Robert,  Bank  House,  95  High  Street,  Lewisham,  S.E. 

D;ivid><)n,  James,  Provost  of  Coatbridge,  6  .Academy  Street,  Coatbridge,  N.B. 

Davidson,  James  Watt,  Town  Clerk  Depute,  Town  House,  Aberdeen. 

Davidson,  Mrs.,  Greenhill  House,  Coatbridge,  N.B. 

Davies,     William     John,      Surveyor     Nanty-glo     and      Blaina      U.D.C., 
Maesyffynon,  Blaina. 

Davis,  A.,  49  Euston  Road,  N.W, 

Davis,  .Alderman  John,  Marine  Terrace,  Whitehaven. 

Davis,  S.  Carlile,  Western  Law  Courts,  Plymouth. 

Davis,  W.  E.,  "  Hillcrest,"  Park  Road,  Carshalton,  Surrey. 

Davison,  T.  Raffles,  Kingshaw,  Woldingham,  Surrey. 

Dawber,  Edward  Guy,  22  Buckingham  Street,  Adelphi,  W.C. 

Dawber,  Mrs.  Guy,  118  Maida  A'ale,  W. 

Dawe,  Sydney,  High  Street,  Rickmansworth. 

Dawnay,    Archibald    D.,    J. P.,    Mayor    of    Wandsworth,    Council    House, 
Wandsworth,  S.W. 

Dawson,  Charles  Ford,  Public  Offices,  Barking,  Essex. 

Dawson,  Charles  James,  Wykeham  House,  Barking,  Essex. 

Dawson,  Matthew  James,  151  a  Gloucester  Road,  South  Kensington,  S.W. 

Deas,  Frederick  William,  M.A..  23  Rutland  Square,  Edinburgh. 


Members.  27 

De  Heem,  Paul,  26  Rue  Albert  Grisar,  Antwerp. 

De  Jong,  E.  W.,  3  Charleville  Mansions,  West  Kensington,  W. 

De  Stryker,  Francois,  81  Rue  de  le  Province,  Nord,  Antwerp. 

Denell,  Reuben  Albert,  Oceanic  House,  ia  Cockspur  Street,  S.W. 

Denman,  John  Leopold,  8  Clifton  Terrace,  Brighton 

Denson,  Councillor  \V.  H.,  Deputy-Chairman  Chester  Improvement  Com- 
mittee, Town  Hall,  Chester. 

Dewes,  Walter,  4  Bloomsbury  Place,  W.C. 

Dewhirst,  Councillor  W.,  River  Street,  Colne,  Lanes. 

Dewhurst,  John  Cadwallader,  96  South  Circular  Road,  Kilmainham,  Dublin. 

Dick,  Robert  Burns,  Pilgrim  House,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

Dickinson,  J.  A.   E.,  Comptroller  of  Housing  and  Town  Planning,  Local 
Government  Board,  Whitehall,  S.W. 

Dickinson,  Willoughby  Hyett,  ^LP.,  51  Campden  Hill  Road,  W. 

Dillon,  John,  ^LP.,  2  North  Great  St.  George's  Street,  Dublin. 

Dinwiddy,  Thomas,  The  Manor  House,  Blackheath,  S.E. 

Dircks,  Rudolf,  9  Conduit  Street.  W. 

Dixon,  G.  Norman,  Howe  End,  F"ar  Sawrey,  Windermere. 

Dobie,     William     Eraser,     J. P.,     Governor     of     George     Heriot's     Trust, 
47  Grange  Road,  Edinburgh. 

Dobie,  William  Glen,  The  Temple,  Dale  Street,  Liverpool. 

Doll,  Charles  Fitzroy,  5  Southampton  Street,  Bloomsbury,  W.C. 

Dons,  .Auguste,  Rue  de  la  Loi,  Brussels. 

Dore,  William  C  H.,  Penrose,  Thornhill  Road,  West  Croydon. 

Dorman,  Charles  Henrj',  53  Abington  Street,  Northampton. 

Douglas,  John,  i  Langham  Mansions,  Earl's  Court  Square,  .S.\\'. 

Douglas,    Sholto,    Surveyor    Kenilworth    L'.D.C,    Council    Offices,    Kenil- 
worth. 

Dove,  Frederick  Lionel,  15  Studd  Street,  Islington,  N. 

Dowdall,  Harold  Chaloner,  M.A.,  B.C.L.,  10  Cook  Street,  Liverpool. 

Downing,  Henry  Philip  Burke,  12  Little  College  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 

Downing,  Stanford  E.,  .Secretarv  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  Millbank, 
S.W. 

Drach,  Richard,  Koniginstrasse  5,  Munich. 

Driver,    David    George,    Secretary    .Architectural    Association,     18    Tufton 
Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 

Drobny,  Franz,  Statbaudirektor  Karlsbad,  Bohemia,  Austria. 

Drury,  Edward  Dru,  25  Queen  .Anne's  Gate,  Westminster,  S.W. 

Drysdale,  George,  5  John  Street,  .Adelphi,  W.C. 

Dulake,  W.  T.,  7  Little  College  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 

Dumont,  Albert,  17  Rue  d'Ecosse,  Brussels. 

Dumont,  Madame  .Albert,  17  Rue  d'Ecosse,  Brussels. 

Dunjngton,  .Miss  Lorrie  .A.,  Belgravia  Chambers,  72  \'ictoria  Street,  West- 
minster, S.W. 

Dunn,  Edwin  T.,  37  Great  James  Street,  Bedford  Row,  W.C. 

Dunn,     James     Bow,     President     Edinburgh     .Architectural     .Association, 
45  Hanover  Street,  Edinburgh. 

Dunn,  Mrs.  James  B.,  11  Belgrave  Place,  Edinburgh. 

Dunn,  John  George,  Cornwall  Buildings,  45  Newhall  Street,  Birmingham. 

Dunning,  Wilson.  Mayor  of  Rochdale,  King's  Road,   Rochdale. 

Durham,  Frank  R.,  11  Orsett  Terrace,  W. 

Fasten,  Councillor  Stephen,  Chairman  of  Estate  and  Property  Committee, 
Town  Hall,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

Easton,  William  Cecil,  B.Sc,  14  Blythswood  Square,  Glasgow. 

Eaton,  Frederick  .A.,  Secretary  Roval  .Academy,  Burlington  House,  W. 

Ebbetts,  Walter  James,  Savoy  House,  115  Strand,  W.C. 


38     Tnnisuctions  of  the  Ti>wn  riannina:  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Eberstadt,  Professor  Dr.  KihI,  n.ndltr^trasse  29,  Berlin. 

Ebrard.  Henri.  7  Rue  du  Lycee.  Nice. 

Eccles,  Thomas  Ed},air.  (k)  Castle  Street,  Liverpool. 

Edleston,  Ernest  Harcourt,  Bank  Chambers,  Nantwich,  Cheshire. 

Edwards,  Councillor  Edward,   Penylan   House,  Quakers  Yard,   Treharris, 

Glamorjjanshire. 
Edwards.  Frederick  Ernest  Pearce,  City  Arcliitect,  Town  Hall,  Sheffield. 
Edwards.  Isaac,  Aelyj,'arth,  Penydarren,  Merthyr  Tydfil. 
Edwards.  Miss  Isabel,  58  Cambridge  .Mansions,  Battersea  Park,  S.W. 
Egerton.  William,  12  Queen's  Road,  Erith,  Kent. 
Elder-Duncan,  John  Hudson,  iii  Adelphi  House  Terrace. 
Elgood,  Frank  Minshull,  98  Wimpole  Street,  W. 
Elkington,  C.eori^e,  Norfolk  House,  7  Laurence  Pountney  Hill,  E.C. 
Ellery,    Torrinj^non    Geor.L,'e.    'J'own    Clerk,    Town    Hall,    Adelaide,    South 

Australia. 
Ellis.  Councillor  Albert,  S2  Central  Beach,  Blackpool. 
Kllis,  H.  \V..  57  Chancery  Lane.  W.C. 
Ellis.  Herbert  Moates,  g  Walbrook.  E.C. 

Emerson.  Sir  William.  2  Grosvenor  Mansions,  76  ^'ictoria  Street,  S.W. 
Emerson.  Lady,  2  Grosvenor  ■SL'msions.  76  Victoria  Street,  S.W. 
England,  Councillor  W.  G.,  ^foorland  Court,  Gawber  Road,  Barnsley. 
F2ngland,  J.,  Borough  Engineer,  Wrexham. 

English,  Charles  W'illiam,  Staple  Inn  Buildings,  335  High  Holborn,  W.C. 
Entwisle,    Henry,    Surveyor    Swinton    and    Pcndlebury    I'.D.C,    Council 

Offices,  Swinton,  near  Manchester. 
Evans,  Richardson,  The  Keir,  Wimbledon  Common,  S.W. 
Evans,  Robert,  Junior,  President  Nottingham  Architectural  .Society,  Eldon 

Chambers,  W'heeler  Gate,  Nottingham. 
Faber,  J.  H. 

Falques,  Pedro,  Rambla  Cataluna  102,  Pral.  Barcelona. 
Fara,  Ing.  Cesare,  Sovona,  Italy. 
Farcjuharson,  Horace  Cowley  Neshain,   14  North  Audley  Street,  Grosvenor 

Square,  W. 
Farrow,  Frederic  Richard,  29  New  Bridge  Street,  Ludgate  Circus,  E.C. 
Favarger,  Henri,  F..S.A..  2  Balfour  Place,  Park  Lane,  W. 
Fels,  Joseph,  39  Wilson  Street,  E.C. 
Ferrier,  Claude  W.,  11  Waterloo  Place,  Pall  Mall,  S.W. 
Fidler,  Alfred,  Borough  Engineer  and  Surveyor,  Guildhall,  Northampton. 
Field,  William  Chapman,  Borough  Architect  and  Building  Surveyor,  Town 

Hall,  Eastbourne. 
Fildes,  Alderman,  Oak  Lynn,  South  Downs  Road,  Bowdon,  Cheshire. 
Filene,  Edward  A.,  453  Washington  Street,  Boston,  U.S.A. 
Finch,    Alfred    Robert.    Borough    Engineer    and    Surveyor,    Town    Hall, 

Kensington. 
Firth,  Miss  Corinne,  Neuerwell  14.  Hamburg. 
Fisher,  Alexander,  12  St.  Mary  Abbot's  Place,  Kensington. 
Fleeming,     Thomas     Henry,     President     Wolverhampton     and     District 

Architects'  Association,  10  Queen  Square,  Wolverhampton. 
Fleming,  Owen,  London  County  Council,  Spring  Gardens,  S.W. 
Fletcher,  Banister  Flight,  29  New  Bridge  Street,  E.C. 
Fletcher,  William  Holland  Ballett,  Aldwick  Manor,  Bognor,  Sussex. 
Flockton,  Charles  Burrows,  15  St.  James's  Row,  Sheffield. 
Flower,  Victor  A.,  26  Stanhope  Gardens,  S.W. 
Flynn,  Councillor  James,  Cleator  Moor,  Cumberland. 
Foggitt,  Aide  rman,  42  Scarisbrick  New  Road,  Southport. 
Forb.^ith,  Dr.  Ing.  Emcrich,  V.  Lipot-korut  32,  Budapest. 


Members.  _:g 

Ford,  George  Burdett,  347  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  U.S.A. 

Ford,  George  McLean,  9  Gray's  Inn  Square,  AWC 

Ford;  Solomon,  3  South  Square,  Gray's  Inn,  W.C. 

Forestier,  Monsieur,  c/o  Monsieur  Rey,  119  Rue  de  la  Faisanderie,  Paris. 

Forshaw,  Edward,  9  Market  Place,  Burton-on-Trent. 

Forster,  D.  A.,  Fernlands,  Chertsey,  Surrey. 

Forster,  Frank  Jamieson,  81  Cromwell  Road,  Wimbledon,  S.W. 

Forsyth,  William  Adam,  309  Oxford  Street,  W. 

Fortune,  C.  R.,  City  Surveyor,  Guildhall,  Bath. 

Fouracre,  John  Leighton,  4  Tavistock  Road,  Plymouth. 

Fox,  F.  Douglas,  19  Kensington  Square,  W. 

Franck,  James  Ernest,    11   Pancras  Lane,    E.C. 

Franke,  Julius,  23-25  East  Twenty-Sixth  Street.  New  York  City,  U.S.A. 

Franklin,     Arthur     E.,     J. P.,     Chairman,     Mansion     House     Council     on 

Dwellings  of  the  Poor,  21  Cornhill,  E.C. 
Eraser,  A.  Mearns,  M.D.,  D.P.H.,  Medical  Officer  of  Health,  Town  Hall, 

Portsmouth. 
Eraser,  Percival  Maurice.   13  Old  .Square,   Lincoln's  Inn,  W.C. 
Fread,  Horace  Charles,  Surveyor  Esher  and  the  Dittons  U.D.C.,  Council 

Offices,  Portsmouth  Road,  Thames  Ditton. 
Freemantle,    Francis   E.,   M.B.,    F.R.C.P.,    Hertfordshire  County   Medical 

Officer,  17  Queensberry  Place,  S.W. 
Freyberg,  Herbert,  24  Cromwell  Place,  S.W. 
Fry,  Reginald  Cuthbert,  12  Clifford's  Inn,  Fleet  Street,  E.C. 
Galbraith,  Councillor  John  S.,  2  Doune  Terrace,  Kelvinside,  Glasgow. 
Galbraith,  Mrs.,  2  Doune  Terrace,  Kelvinside,  Glasgow. 
Gale,  W.  W.,  District  Council  Office,  Carshalton,  Surrey, 
(ialer,  Henry,  S2  Victoria  Street,  .S.W. 
Garbutt,  Matthew,  4  Queen  .Square,  Bloomsbury,  W.C. 
Gardner,  Professor  Percy,  LL.D.,  105  Banbury  Road,  Oxford. 
Gardner,  Mrs.,  105  Banbury  Road,  Oxford. 

Geddes,  Professor  Patrick,  Outlook  Tower,  University  Hall,  Edinburgh. 
Geddes,  Mrs.,  Outlook  Tower,  University  Hall,  Edinburgh. 
Gems,  Julius  F.,  4  Lower  Seymour  Street,  Portman  Square,  W. 
George,  Ernest,  A.R.A.,  6  Inverness  Terrace,  ^^^ 
George,  Miss  Margaret,  6  Inverness  Terrace,  W. 
George,  William  Henry,  7  Warrington  Street,  Ashton-under-Lyne. 
Gettings,  Charles  F.,  Surveyor  and  Water  Engineer,  Town  Hall,  Teign- 

mouth. 
Gibb,  Sir  (ieorge,  by  Caesar's  Camp,  Wimbledon  Common,  S.W. 
Gibb,  Thomas,  13  Mount  Street,  Aberdeen. 
Gibb,  Mrs.,  13  Mount  Street,  Aberdeen. 
Gibbs,  Edward  Mitchel,  J. P.,  15  St.  James'  Row,  Sheffield. 
Gibson,  Alfred  S.,  10  Mortimer  Street,  W. 
Gibson,  James  Sivewright,  5  Old  Bond  Street,  W. 
Gibson,  Mrs.,  Woodmuir,  Tooting  Bee  Road,  Streatham,  S.W. 
Gilbert,  Cass,  11  East  Twenty-fourth  Street,  New  York,  U.S.A. 
Gimson,  Sydney  A.,  20  Glebe  Street,  Leicester. 
Gladwell,  Arthur,   Engineer  and  .Surveyor   Eton   R.D.C.,   Council   Offices, 

160  High  Street,  Slough. 
Glover,  Alderman  J.  T.,  J. P.,  C.C,  Canwell,  Sutton  Coldfield. 
Glover,  William,  "  St.  Helens,"  14  Church  Road,  Southbourne,  near  Christ- 
church,  Hants. 
Godin,  W.  A.,  7  High  Path,  Merton,  S.W. 
Goldscheider,    Max,    2    Wellington    Mansions,    York    Street,    Buckingham 

Gate,  S.W. 


4()     Transactions  of  Ihc  Tovn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Gonsakv.  Mrs.  W.  Crichton.  Portobello,  Midlothian,  N.B. 

Gordon.  Alexander,  97  Queen  \  ictoria  Street,  E.C. 

Gotch,  John  Alfred.  F.S.A.,  Bank  Chambers,  Kettering,  Northants. 

Gowen.  Ernest  John,  Clerk  Croydon  R.D.C.,  Katharine  Street,  Croydon. 

tiray,   BriNx-   .VIctiregor.    K.R.S.   Edin.,   Engineer  and  Surveyor,   Council 

bftices.  Selby. 
Cirayson.  Hasiwell.  MA.  Cantab..  31  James  Street.  Liverpool. 
Gravson.  Mrs.  Hastwell,  31  James  Street,  Liverpool. 

Green.    George,    Borough    Engineer   and    Surveyor.    Town    Hall,    Wolver- 
hampton. 
Green,  Mowbray  Aston,  5  Princes  Buildings,   Bath. 
Green,  William  Curtis,  14  Gray's  Inn  Square,  W.C. 
Griftith.  Mrs.  Ellis.  7  Radnor  Place,  Hyde  Park,  W^ 
Griffiths.  Alderman.  loi  Manchester  Road.  Southport. 
Grimley.    S.    Slater,    Engineer    and    Surveyor    Hendon    U.D.C.,    Council 

Offices,  The  Burroughs,  Hendon,  N.W. 
Grimshaw,    Frederick    Henry,    Surveyor    Atherton    L'.D.C.    Town    Hall, 

Atherton.  near  Manchester. 
Grout,  John,  Mayor  of  Wolverhampton,  Town  Hall,  Wolverhampton. 
Gruenberger.  Arthur,  >L'igdaIencnstrasse  62,  Vienna. 
Grubb,  Howard  B.,  2S  Conduit  Street,  W. 
Guadet,   Paul,   240  Boulevard  .Saint-Germain,   Paris. 
Guadet,  Madame,  240  Boulevard  Saint-Germain,  Paris. 
Gunton,  Josiah,  Finsbury  House,  Blomfield  Street,  E.C. 
Gurney,  Miss  Sybella,  The  Weirs  Cottage,  Brockenhurst,  Hants. 
Gutteridge,  Alfred  F.,  Littlecroft,  Northlands  Road,  Southampton. 
Gutteridge,  Mrs.,  Littlecroft,  Northlands  Road,  Southampton. 
Gysclynck,  Monsieur,  Le  College  des  Bourgmestre  et  Echevins,  ()  Rue  des 

Serments,    Antwerp. 
Gyselynck,  Monsieur,  211  Rue  de  la  Province  (Sud),  Antwerp. 
Hack,  Matthew  Starmer,  22  Surrey  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 
Had  wen.  Nool  Waugh,  c/o  E.  Guv  Dawber,  Esq.,  22  Buckingham  Street, 

Strand,  W.C. 
Haldane,  William,  P.O.  Box  30,  Fernie,  British  Columbia. 
Hale,  William  John,  13  St.  James's  Row,  Sheffield. 
Hale,  Mrs.,  13  St.  James'  Row,  Sheffield. 
Hall,  .\mos,  8  St.  Martin's,  Leicester. 

Hall,  Miss  Annie,  The  Bridges,  Upper  Slaughter,  R.S.O.,  Gloucestershire. 
Hall,  E.  Stanley,  54  Bedford  Square,  W.C. 
Hall,  Edwin  Thomas,  54  Bedford  Square,  W.C. 
Hall,  Herbert  Alfred,  13  South  Square,  Gray's  Inn,  W.C. 
Hall,  John  Percy,  6  Victoria  Grove,  Kensington,  W. 
Hall,  Laurence  Kirkpatrick,  38  Victoria  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 
Hall-Jones,  the  Hon    Sir  William,  K.C.M.G.,  High  Commissioner  for  New 

Zealand,  13  Victoria  Street,  S.W. 
Hallaway,  .\ugustus  T.,  Deputy  Town  Clerk,  Town  Hall.  Warrington. 
Hallman,  Per,  Bauamt,  Stockholm. 
Hals,  llar.tid,   12  Lovenskjoldsgade,  (Miristiania. 

Hammond,  Ernest  James,  "  Kenwood,"  Balmoral  Road,  Gillingham,  Kent. 
Hammond.  Mrs.  "  Kenwood,"  Balmoral  Road,  Gillingham,  Kent. 
Hammond,  Ralton  Gardner,  10  Kent  Terrace,  Regent's  Park,  N.W. 
Hamp,  Stanley  Hinge,  36  Bloomsburv  Square,  W.C. 
Hanson,  John  Henry,  11  Cloth  Hall  Street,  Huddersfield. 
Harding,   William  Percy,  Clerk  Wood  Green   U.D.C.,  Town   Hall,   Wood 

Green. 


Members.  41 

Hare,  Henry  Thomas,   Hon.   Sec.   R.I.B.A.,    13  Hart  Street,   Bloomsbury, 

W.C. 
Hare,  Mrs.  Henry  T.,  31  Cumberland  Terrace,  Regent's  Park,  N.W. 
Hare,  Miss,  31  Cumberland  Terrace,  Regent's  Park,  N.W. 
Harpur,  William,  City  Engineer,  City  Hall,  Cardiff. 
Harris,  H.  Vigurs,  Spencer  House,  Plymouth. 
Harris,  Henry  B.,  37  Kensington  Square,  W. 
Hart,  Abraham,  Yorkshire  Buildings,  Wood  Strce*^,  Wakefield. 
Hartley,  Algernon  G.,  8  Carlyle  Square,  Chelsea,  S.W. 
Hartlev,  Thomas  Haighton,  Borough  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Colne,  Lanes. 
Harvev,  Frederick  Milton,  48  Lowestoft  Road,  Gorleston,  Great  Yarmouth. 
Harvey,  George,  17  York  Place,  Portman  Square,  W. 

Harvey,  T.  Edmund,  M.P.,  Toynbee  Hall,  28  Commercial  Street,  White- 
chapel,  E. 
Harvey,  W.  Alex.,  5  Bennett's  Hill,   Birmingham. 
Haslock,  W'illiam  Edwin,  11  Albert  Road,  Middlesbrough. 
Haverfield,  Professor  Francis  John,  LL.D.,  \\'inshields,   Headington  Hill, 

Oxford. 
Haverfield,  Mrs.,  Winshields,  Headington  Hill,  Oxford. 
Hawke,   Willie  Clifford,    Borough   Engineer  Dover,    ^Laison   Dieu   House, 

Dover. 
Hawkswell,  Thomas,  The  Nunnery,  Arthington. 
Hawksuorth,    J.     Ledger,    Clerk    Bolton-upon-Dearne    L'.D.C,     Council 

Offices,  Station  Road,  Bolton-upon-Dearne,  Rotherham. 
Head,  Christopher,  >Livor  of  Chelsea,  7  Wvndham  House,  Sloane  Square, 

S.W. 
Head,  J.  George,  7  L'pper  Baker  Street,  N.W. 
Heathcote,  Charles,  110  Cannon  Street,  E.C. 
Heazell,  Arthur  Ernest,  President  Nottingham  Architectur   1  Society,  Burton 

Buildings,  Parliament  Street,  Nottingham. 
Heazell,  Mrs.,  96  Burlington  Road,  Sherwood,  Nottingham. 
Heazell,  Edward  H.,  Burton  Buildings,  Parliament  Street,  Nottingham. 
Hegemann,  Dr.  W.,  Marchstrasse  g,  Charlottenburg,  Berlin. 
Hegemann,  Frau,  Marchstrasse  9,  Charlottenburg,  Berlin. 
Henard,  Eugene,  58  Rue  Saint-Lazare,  Paris. 
Henderson,   Anketell,    President   Royal   Victorian    Institute   of   Architects, 

57-59  Swanston  Street,  Melbourne. 
Henderson,  John  E.,  The  Lodge,  \A'est  End  Avenue,   Pinner,    Middlesex. 
Hennell,  Alexander  Robert,  8  and  9  Essex  Street,  Strand,  W^C. 
Henry,  James  Maclntyre,  7  South  Charlotte  Street,  Edinburgh. 
Hesketh,    Robert   Lempriere,    Farringford,    St.    Martin's   Avenue,    Epsom, 

Surrey. 
Hewitt,  Edward,  33  Brazennose  Street,  Manchester. 
Hewitt,  Walter  Ernest,  22  Buckingham  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 
Hilton,  Robert,  Town  Clerk,  Town  Hall,  Swindon,  Wilts. 
Hind,  Harold,  Surveyor  Erith  U.D.C.,  Council  Offices,  Erith,  Kent. 
Hindes,  Councillor  E.  Johnson,  24  Station  Road,  Beccles,  Suffolk. 
Hine,  George  Thomas,  35  Parliament  Street,  Westminster,  Suffolk. 
Hirst,  Richard  P.,  Borough  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Southport. 
Hobbs,   Joseph  Talbot,  c/o  Hon.   Secretary  West  Australian    Institute   of 

Architects,  Commercial  Bank  Chambers,  Perth,  W.  Australia. 
Hobhouse,  Right  Hon.  Henry,  15  Bruton  Street,  W. 

Hobson,  Albert,  Engineer  Grimsby  R.D.C.,  198  Legsby  Avenue,  Grimsby. 
Hockings,  Percy  Frank,  Rockhampton,  Queensland. 
Hodge,  Henry,  Vice-Chairman  U.D.C,  St.  Austell,  Cornwall. 
Hodges,  Robert  Francis,  24  Craven  Park,  Harlesden,  N.^^^ 


42     Transaclions  of  the  Totcn  Phnining  Conference,  Oct.  ujio. 

Hodgson,  Henry  Tylston.  Welcombe.  1  lai-|)enden.  Herts. 

Hodgson.  Victor  Tvlston,  6  Gray's  Inn  Square,  W.C. 

Hulden.  Ben.  E.,  iSoo  Railway  Exchange,  Chicago,  L.S.A. 

Holford.   F.  H..  Land  Steward  and  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,   Newcaslk-on- 

Tvni'. 
Holiday,  Henrv,  Oak  Tree  House,  Branch  Hill,  Hampstead,  N.W. 
Holloway,  Ernest  Charles,  42  Lyford  Road,  Wandsworth  Common,  S.W. 
Holloway,  Henrv,  Victoria  Wharf,  Belvedere  Road,  S.E. 
Holmes,' Basil  C.  C.,  .Secretary  Metropolitan  Public  Gardens  Association. 

83  Lancaster  Gate,  W. 
Holmes,    (i.   W..    Engineer    Walthamstow    I'.D.C,    Town     Hall,     W  al- 

thamstow. 
Holtom,  Edward  Gibbs,  58  Henley  Street,  Stratford-on-Avon. 
Homan,  Edgar  H.,  17  Gracechurch  Street,  E.C. 
Ilooley,  Tom  Williamson.  67  Deansgate  Arcade,  Manchester. 
Hooper,  Francis,  Amberley  House,  12  Norfolk  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 
Hooper,  Thomas  Rowland,  Station  Road,  Redhill,  Surrey. 
Hope,  Thomas  Campbell,  Brewery  Street,  Bradford,  Yorks. 
Hope,  W.  H.,  Post  Office  Chambers,  14  Norfolk  Street,  Sunderland. 
}Iorder,  Percy  Morley,  148  New  Bond  Street,  W. 
Hornblowcr,  George,  2  Devonshire  Terrace,  Portland  Place,  W. 
Horner,  Leonard,  8  Aldgate,  E. 

Horrocks,  Alderman  W.,  J. P.,  Beech  Grove,  Leigh,  LaKCS. 
Horsfall,  Thomas  C,  J. P.,  Swanscoe  Park,  near  Macclesfield. 
Horsfall,  Mrs.,  Swanscoe  Park,  near  Macclesfield. 
Horsfield,  Mrs.  Arden,  Portsmouth  Avenue,  Thames  Ditton. 
Horsley,  Gerald  Callcott,  2  Gray's  Inn  Square,  W.C. 
Horsley,  Mrs.  Gerald,  28  Bedford  Gardens,  Kensington,  W. 
Hosking,  Harold.  Landrake,  St.  Germans,  Cornwall. 
Houlder,   Alfred   Lawrence,   Clerk   Southall-Norwood    I'.D.C,    Heathfiold, 

Southall,  Middlesex. 
How,  William  Murthwait,  6  Bloomsbury  Square,  W.C. 
Howard,  Ebenezer,  59  and  60  Chancery  Lane,  W.C. 
Howard,  Edmund,  41  Bedford  Row,  W.C. 
Howell,  William  Roland,  17  Blagrace  Street,  Reading. 
Howkins,  F.,  Grovewood,  Woodstock  Avenue,  Golder's  Green,  N.W. 
Howse,  W.  T.,  .Surveyor  Bexley  L'.D.C,  Council  Offices,  Bexley  Heath, 

Kent. 
Hubbard,  George,  112  Fenchurch  .Street,  E.C. 
Hubbard,  Mrs.  George,  112  Fenchurch  Street,  E.C. 

Hudson,  Edward,  "  Country  Life,"  20  Tavistock  St.,  Covent  Garden.  W.C. 
Hudson,  John,  24  York  Place,  Portman  Square,  W. 
Hulbert,  Maurice  Charles,  Ingleside,  Edge  Hill  Road,  Ealing,  W. 
Humphreys,  James  Charlton,  Albert  Gate  Mansions,  S.W. 
Humphries,  George  Alfred,   A.R.C.A.,   Mostvn  Estate  Office,   Llandudno, 

N.  Wales. 
Humphry,  Francis  John,  Wansfell,  Lovelace  Gardens,  Surbiton. 
Hunt,  Charles,  \ice-Chairman   Bournemouth  Roads  and  Town   Planning 

Committee,  "  Bonham."  Waterloo  Road,  Winton,  Bournemouth. 
Hunt,  Frederick  William  Hugh,  30  York  Place,  Portman  Square,  W. 
Hunt.  Geoffrey  A.,  c/o  Dudley  Newman,  Esq.,  Queen  Anne's  Chambers, 

Westminster,  S.W.  "^ 

Hunt,  John,  30  York  Place,  Portman  Square,  W. 
Hunt,   John   Alfred,   Chairman    Hoddesdon    District   Council,    Hoddesdon. 

Herts. 
Hunt,  John  Don.ild,  Hoddesdon,  Herts. 


Members.  4^, 

Hunt,  Leonard  \incent,  34  Queen  Street,  E  C. 

Hunt,  William  Georg^e,  17A  VicarajT^e  Gate,  Kensington,  \V. 

Hunter,    Sir    Robert,    C.B.,     Chairman    of    National    Trust,     Meadfields, 

Haslemere,  Surrey. 
Hunter,  Thomas,  LL.D.,  Town  Clerk,  City  Chambers,  Edinburgh. 
Huntley,  Councillor  James  C,  20  London  Road,  Northfleet,  Kent. 
Hustler.  Tom  Lancelot,  Borough  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Old  Street,  Shore- 
ditch,  E.G. 

Hutchings,  William,  6  Bloomsbury  Square,  W.C. 
Hutchinson,  Councillor  William,  Tynemouth. 

Hutchinson,  Charles  Edward.  2g  John  Street,  Bedford  Row,  W.C. 
I 'Anson,   Edward  Blakewav,   ^LA.   Cantab.,   ~.\   Laurence  Pountnev   Hill. 
E.G. 

Ibberson,  Herbert  George,  28  Martin's  Lane,  Cannon  .Street,  E.G. 

Inglese,  Ignazio,  Ispettore  .Superiore  del  Genio  Civile,  Genoa. 
Irons,  Councillor  William,   Deputy  Chairman  of  the   Improvement  Com- 
mittee, 78  Norfolk  Road,  Sheffield. 

Isaacs,  Charles  Henry,  34  Dukes  Avenue,  Chiswick,  W. 

Jackson,  Charles  E.,  Broad  Street  House,  E.G. 

Jackson,  Edward  Jeaffreson,  c/o  Bank  of  N.S.W.,  64  Old  Broad  Street,  E.G. 

Jackson,  Frank  Newton,  26  Bedford  Row,  \\'.C. 

Jackson,   Councillor  G.  T.,  J. P.,   Chairman  of  the  Building  and  Bridges 
Committee,  Town  Hall,  .Salford. 

Jackson,  Harry,  39  Newhall  Street,  Birmingham. 

James,  Arthur  Charles,  Urban  District  Council  Offices,  Grays,  Essex. 

James,  Thomas  Egbert  Lidiard,   Lonsdale  Chambers,  27  Chancerv  Lane, 
W.C. 

James,  Mrs.  T.  E.  Lidiard,  Lonsdale  Chambers,  27  Chancery  Lane,  W.C. 

Jamshedji  Aga,  Burjor  S.,  Markur's  Buildings,  Apollo  Street.  Fort,  Bombey. 

Jansen,  Hermann,  Steglitzerstrasse  53,  Berlin,  W.  35. 

Jarratt,  J.  Ernest,  Town  Clerk,  Town  Hall,  Southport. 

Jarvis,  Alfred  Wickham,  10  Queen  Anne's  Gate,  S.W. 

Jaussely,  Leon,  72  Place  Sainte-Jacques,  Paris  (XI\''"). 

Jeffes,    Reginald   H.,    Engineer   and   .Surve3or   the    Maidens   and   Coombe 
U.D.C.,  Council  Offices,  New  Maiden,  Surrey. 

Jemmett,  Arthur  Rutherford,   11  Little  College  Street,  Westminster. 

Jemmett,  Francis  George,  Grand  Hotel,  Charing  Cross,  S.W. 

Jenkin,   Charles  James,   Engineer  and   Survevor  Finchlev   L\D.C.,   Town 
Hall,  Finchley,  N.  '  '       ■ 

Jenkin,  Mrs.  Bernard.  64  Bedford  Gardens,  Campden  Hill,  W. 

Jenkin,  Mrs.  Fleeming,  12  Campden  Hill  Square,  W. 

Jenkins,  Gilbert  H.,  i  Lammas  Park  Road,  Ealing,  W. 

Jenkins,  Mrs.  Gilbert  H.,  i  Lammas  Park  Road,  Ealing,  W. 

Jerram,   G.,    Surveyor   Merton    U.D.C.,   Council   Offices,    Kingston    Road. 
Merton,  .Surrey. 

John,  William  Goscombe,  R.A.,  24  Greville  Road,  St.  John's  Wood,  N.W. 

Johnson,  Bernard  Marr,  5  Great  College  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 

Johnson,  James  William,  Clerk  the  Maidens  and  Coombe  U.D.C.,  Council 
Offices,  New  Maiden,  Surre)'. 

Johnson,  William  Templeton,  26  Rue  du  Luxembourg,  Paris. 

Johnson,  Mrs.  William  Templeton,  26  Rue  du  Luxembourg,  Paris. 

Johnson-Meakin,    Councillor  W.,    Chairman   of   the   Special   Works   Com- 
mittee, 2  Shaftesbury  Villas,  Ford  Park,  Plymouth. 

Jones,  Captain  Adrian,  M.V.O.,  147  Church  Street,  Chelsea. 

Jones,     D.     Roger,     County     Medical    Officer,     County    Council    Office>, 
Newport,  Mon. 

Jones,  David  Jenkin,  Mavor  of  .\beravon.  Green  Meadow  Hotel,  Aberavon. 


44     Transactions  of  the  To-.cn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

loncs    Eliiah    10  Albion  Street.  Hanley.  Stoke-on-Trent. 

Jones!  Francis  K..  Engineer  and  Surveyor  Irlam  U.D.C..  Council  Oftices. 

Irlam,  Lanes. 
Jones,  Francis,  jun..  20  Cooper  Street.  Mancliesler 
loncs   George.  3  and  4  Church  Street.  AbertiUery,  Mon. 
Jones.  George  Sydney,  Stock  Exchange  Building.  113  Pitt  Street,  Sydney, 

Jones.  Jabez  A..  Chairman  of  Cardiff  Works  Comnnltee.  10  Partridge  Road. 

Cardiff.  .       ,    ,    ,        „.  ^ 

Jones,  Ronald  Potter.  7  Stone  Buildings,  Lincoln  s  Inn,  W  .C. 

Jones,  William  Campbell.  32  Bedford  Row,  W.C. 

lones.  William  Eli,  Chairman  Bournemouth  Roads  and  Town  Planning 
Committee,  Cresdeen,  Western  Road.  Bournemouth. 

Jones.  W.  Matthews,  City  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Chester. 

Judge.  James  J.,  15  Hill  Park  Crescent.  Plymouth. 

judge,  Mark  Hayler.  7  Pall  Mall,  S.W. 

Junta  de  Museos  de  Barcelona,  Palacio  dc  Bellas  Artes,  Barcelona. 

Kean.  Councillor  Charles  J.,  26  Springhead  Road,  Northfleet,  Kent. 

Keay.  Lancelot  H.,  Architectural  Department,  Guildhall,  Norwich. 

Keen.  Arthur.  President  Architectural  Association.  4  Raymond  Buildings, 
Gray's  Inn,  W.C. 

Keirle,  Robert,  18  Oakwood  Court,  Kensington,  W. 

Keith.  William  Grant,  9  Conduit  Street.  W. 

Kemp,  William  James,  6  Bloomsbury  Square,  W.C. 

Kemp-Welch,  James,  "  Clantye,"  The  Heath,  Weybridge. 

Kenchington,  Herbert,  14  Great  James  Street,  Bedford  Row,  W^C. 

Kent,  Edward  A.,  1088  Ellicott  Square,  Buffalo,  New  York. 

Keppie,  John,  4  Blythswood  Square,  Glasgow. 

Ker,  A.  M.,  Deputy  Borough  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Warrington. 

Kevs,  Norman  Alexander,  B.A.,  University  of  Toronto,  Canada.  Address 
for  next  six  moutlis:  Kurfiirstcnstrasse  41",  Munich. 

Kevs,  Professor  David  Reid,  M.A.,  University  of  Toronto,  Canada.  Address 
for  next  six  months:  Kurfiirstcnstrasse  41".  Munich. 

King,  Charles,  8  Princess  Square,  Plymouth. 

Kirby,  Edmund,  5  Cook  Street,  Liverpool. 

Kirkpatrick,  John,  "  Normanby  "  Kensington,  Sydney,  N.S.W. 

Kirton,  J.  B.,  Survevor  W'ithernsea  LLD.C,  Exchange  Buildings,  Lowgate, 
Hull. 

Kitchener  of  Khartoum,  Field-Marshal  Viscount,  G.C.B.,  O.M.,  "  Alder- 
brook,"  Cranleigh,  Guildford,  Surrey. 

Kitchin,  Brook  Taylor,  Architect  to  the  Local  Government  Board,  White- 
hall, S.W. 

Klemming,  Wilhelm  Edoard,  Centralbadet,  Drottninggatan  88,  Stockholm. 

Kuc/ynski,  Dr.  R.,  47  Sponholzstrasse,  Schoneberg. 

Kuyck,  Franz  Van,  13  Rue  .\lbert  von  Bary,  Antwerp. 

Lacey,  Frederick  William,  Borough  Surveyor,  Municipal  Buildings, 
Bournemouth. 

Lamb,  Miss  Evelyn  Margaret,  8a  Esmond  Gardens,  Ealing,  \\'. 

Lanchcster,  Henry  Jones,  Southlea,  Lindfield,  Sussex. 

Lanchester,  Henry  Vaughan,  47  Bedford  Square,  W.C. 

Lanchestcr,  Mrs.  U.  V.,  Overmead,  W'eybridge,  Surrev. 

Lander,  Harold  Clapham,  Effingham  House,  Arundel  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 

Lavarack,  IL  U.,  41  Bedford  Row,  W.C. 

Lawrence,  Sidney  Cameron,  M.B.,  D.P.H.,  Medical  Officer  of  Health 
Edmonton  District,  Town  Hall,  Fore  Street,  Edmonton. 

Layl.ind-Barratt,  Sir  Francis,  Bart.,  M.P.,  68  Cadogan  Square.  S.W. 


Members.  45 

Lazarus,  Edgar  M.,  Portland,  Oregon,  U.S.A. 

Lebedeff,  Boris. 

Ledingham,  Alexander,  i  Golden  Square,  Aberdeen. 

Lee,  W.  R.,  Chairman  Barry  U.D.C.,  Council  Offices,  Barry,  Glam. 

Leliman,  J.  H.  W.,  Keizersgracht  559,  Amsterdam. 

Leiiman,  Madame,  Keizersgracht  559,  Amsterdam. 

Lemeunier,  Richard,  Rue  van  Straelen  18,  Antwerp. 

Lemon,  Sir  James,  Lansdowne  House,  Castle  Lane,  Southampton. 

Lennard,  Councillor  R.,  Deputy-Chr.Irman  of  the  Building  and  Bridges 
Committee,  Town  Hall,  Salford. 

Lenoble,  Henri,  60  Quai  des  Orfevres,  Paris. 

Lever,  William  Hesketh,  Thornton  Manor,  Thornton  Hough,  Cheshire. 

Lewis,  Councillor  P.,  Wrexham,  North  Wales. 

Lewis,  Lionel  D.,  Engineer  and  .Surveyor  U.D.  of  Abertillery,  Council 
Offices,  Abertillery,  Mon. 

Ligue  pour  les  Espaces  Libres,  7  Rue  Scribe,  Paris  (IX*^). 

Lilenberg,  Albert,  Forste  Stadsingenjor,  Gottenberg. 

Lindo,  J,  A.,  50  Laan  van  Meerdervoort,  La  Haye. 

Lindsay,  John,  Town  Clerk  Depute,  City  Chambers,  Glasgow. 

Lindsay,  Mrs.  John,  31  Queen  Square,  Regent  Park,  Glasgow. 

Linthorne,  R.  R.,  Town  Clerk,  Municipal  Offices,  Southampton. 

Lismer,  Alfred  Bass,  Acting  Engineer  and  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Fore 
Street,  Edmonton. 

Litchfield,  Frederick,  6  Bloomsbury  Square,  W.C. 

Little,  John  Walter,  The  Cedars,  Tonbridge,  Kent. 

Llewellyn,  Rees,  11  Conduit  Street,  Port  Talbot. 

Lloyd,  Alwyn,  Wyldes,  North  End,  Hampstead. 

Locan,  Charles,  23  Strutt  Street,  Manchester. 

Lofthouse,  Thomas  Ashton,  The  Croft,  Linthorpe,  Middlesbrough. 

Lofthouse,  Miss,  The  Croft,  Linthorpe,  Middlesbrough. 

Longden,  Henry,  3  Berners  Street,  W. 

Longden,  Mrs.,  6  Westbourne  Park  Villas,  W. 

Longdin,  Thomas,  Borough  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Warrington. 

Lorimer,  Robert  Stodart,  A.R.S.A.,  49  Queen  Street,  Edinburgh. 

Loseby,  Councillor  John,  Vice-Chairman  Leicester  Highway  and  Sewerage 
Committee,  46  Princess  Road,  Leicester. 

Louvet,  Albert,  log  Boulevard  de  la  Reine,  Versailles. 

Lovell,  Percy  Wells,  23  Old  Queen  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 

Lucas,  Thomas  Geoffry,  14  Hart  Street,  Bloomsbury,  W.C. 

Luck,  Harold  Rose,  19  Manor  Mansions,  Belsize  Grove,  Hampstead,  N.W. 

Lundelberg,  Kristian  Wilhelm,  93  Valhallavagen  IV,  Stockholm. 

Lundy,  Henry  J.,  17  Suffolk  Street,  Dublin. 

Lutyens,  Edwin  Landseer,  17  Queen  Anne's  Gate,  Westminster,  S.W^. 

Lutyens,  Lady  Emily,  17  Queen  Anne's  Gate,  Westminster,  S.W. 

Lynan,  Charles,  Stoke-upon-Trent. 

Lyttelton,  the  Right  Hon.  Alfred,  ALP.,  16  Great  College  Street,  West- 
minster. 

MacAlister,  Ian,  Secretary  R.I.B.A.,  9  Conduit  Street,  W. 

MacAlister,  Mrs.  Ian,  9  Stafford  House,  Maida  Hill  West,  W. 

McBeath,  R.  J.,  Birnam  House,  Sale,  Cheshire. 

McCarthy,  Thomas  J.,  Central  Chambers,  Coalville,  near  Leicester. 

McCausland,  Conolly  John,  "  Groomsport,"  Park  Hill,  Carshalton,  Surrey. 

McConnell,  Councillor  Edward,  120  Terregles  Avenue,  Pollokshields, 
Glasgow. 

McCurdy,  Charles  Albert,  M.P.,  Morven  House,  36  Steeles  Road,  Haver- 
stock  Hill,  N.W. 

McDonald,  Alexander  Beith,  City  Engineer,  City  Chambers,  Glasgow. 


46     Tnuisuctioiis  of  the  T(nv)i  PUinning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

MacDoujjall.  Provost,  ntltrees.  PolloUshaws,  N.B. 

McKcUar,  John  Campbell.  45  West  Nile  Street,  Glasgow. 

Macken/ie.   .\Uxand(r  (icori^o   Robertson.    13   Waterloo   Place.   Pall    Mall, 

S.W. 
McLean.  W.  II..  .\rilsliiel.  Stcpps,  near  Glasgow. 
Macmillan.  George  A.,  D.Litt.,  27  Queen's  Gate  Gardens.  S.W. 
Macnaughton,  Peter,  Solicitor  and  Law  .Agent  of  George  Heriofs  Trust. 

20  York  Place,  Edinburgh. 
McOuat,  John,   13  Clyde  Street.  Port  Glasgow,  Scotland. 
NLaeda.  ^L^tsuoto,  26  Cathcart  Road,  S.W. 
Makins,    ClilTord    Copeman,    B.A.    Cantab.,    33    Henrietta    Street,    Strand, 

W.C. 
Mallows.  Charles  Edward,  28  Conduit  Street,  W. 
.\Linitoba  .Association  of  Architects,  Winnipeg. 
.\Lanning,   James,    Chairman    Xanty-glo   and    Blaina    U.D.C.,    Coronation 

Street,  Blaina,  Mon. 
March,  Dr.  Ing  Otto,  ALarchstrasse  9,  Charlottenburg. 
>Larch,  Frau  Maria,  Marchstrasse  9,  Charlottenburg. 

Mardon.  Arthur  (ieorge.  Chairman  Farnham  I'.D.C,   l*-arnham,   Surrey. 
Marks,  Frederick  William,  3  Staple  Inn,  Holborn,  W.C. 
Marks,  Councillor  James  Jones,  Llandudno,  North  Wales. 
Marr,    Councillor,    31    East   Avenue,    Burnage    Lane,    Levenshulme,    near 

Manchester. 
Marsh,   Alderman   Harrv  P.,   Chairman   of   the    Improvement   Committee. 

Broom  Grove  House,  Sheffield. 
Marshall,   .\lfred,   Barras  House,   Ollcy,   Yorks. 

Marshall,  Charles  John,  Parliament  Mansions,  Aictoria  .Street,  S.W. 
Marshall,  Mrs.  Robert,  .Sloane  Terrace  Mansions,  S.W. 
Martin,  Councillor  J.  H.,  Cairncraig  House,  Tollcross,  Glasgow. 
Martin,  Howard,  27  Chancery  Lane,  W.C. 
Marwick,  Thomas  Purves,  43  York  Place,  Edinburgh. 
M^son,  Councillor  Frederick  William,  31  Queen  Anne's  Place,   Bush  Hill 

Park,  Enfield,  N. 
Mather,  James,  no  Wellington  Street,  Ottawa,  Canada. 
Mathews,  Henry  Edmund,  64  London  Road,  East  Grinstead,  Sussex. 
Matthews,  Herbert  W.,  81  Piccadilly,  W. 

Mattocks,  R.  II.,  c/o  T.  H.  ^Mawson,  Esq.,  28  Conduit  Street,  W. 
Maule,  Hugh  Patrick  Guarin,  309  Oxford  Street,  W. 
Mawbey,    Enoch  George,    Borough   Engineer  and   Surveyor,    Town    Hall, 

Leicester. 
Mawson,  J.  W.,  28  Conduit  Street,  \A'. 
Mawson,  Thomas  Hay  ton,  28  Conduit  Street,  W. 
Maxwell,    W.    R.,    Burgh    Engineer   and    Surveyor,    Municipal    Buildings, 

Dunfermline,  N.B. 
May,  Edward  John,  21  Hart  Street,  Bloomsbury,  W.C. 
May,  Ernest,  51  Temple  Fortune  Hill,  Garden  Suburb,  Hcndon,  N.W. 
May,  William  Henry.   President  Devon  and  Exeter  Architectural  Society. 

23  Lockyer  Street,  Plymouth. 
Mayell,  A.  Y.,  7h\  Wcstbourne  Grove,  W. 
Maybury,  John  Henry,  25  Booth  Street,  Manchester. 
Meade,  T.  de  Courcy,  City  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Manchester. 
Mears,  Frank  Charles,  Outlook  tower.  University  Hall,  Edinburgh. 
Meath,  the  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of,  K.P.,  83  Lancaster  Gate,  S.W. 
Mellon,  Thomas  John,  6  Sorrento  Terrace,  Dalkev,  co.  Dublin.' 
Mellon,  Mrs.,  6  Sorrento  Terrace,  Dalkey,  co.  Dublin. 
Mellows,   Frank  Le  Maitre,  Chairman  Croydon   R.D.C.,  Town   Planning 

Committee,  Lansdowne  House,  Crovdon. 


Members.  47 

Meredith,  Percy  William,  50  Cannon  Street,  E.G. 

Merriman,  Harold  Ian,  27  Young  Street,  Kensing-ton,  W. 

Middleton,  George  Alexander  Thomas,  19  Craven  Street,  Strand,  W.G. 

Milburn,  William,  3  Park  Terrace,  Sunderland. 

Milne,  Oswald  P.,  16  Great  James  Street,  Bedford  Row,  \\'.C. 

Milnes,  \\'illiam  Herbert,  16  Nevis  Road,  Balham,  S.W. 

Minty,  James  Andrew,  35  Craven  Street,  Charing  Cross,  S.W. 

Mitchell,  George  Bennett,  148  Union  Street,  Aberdeen. 

Mitchell,  John,  Queen  Street,  Auckland,  New  Zealand. 

Mitchell,  Mrs.  John,  Queen  Street,  Auckland,  New  Zealand. 

Mitchell-Withers,  John  Brightmore,  Millgrove,  Millhouses,  Sheffield. 

Mitchell-Withers,  Mrs.,  Millgrove,  Millhouses,  Sheffield. 

Moberly,  .\rlhur  Hamilton,  M.A.  Cantab.,  5  Bedford  Row,  W.C. 

Moenaert,  Raymond  Emile,  i  Rue  \'an  Ork-y,  Brussels. 

Mohring,  Dr.  C.  T.,  Neuerwall  14,  Hamburg. 

Mohring,  Professor  Bruno,  Potsdamerstrasse  109,  Berlin,  W.  35. 

Mohring,  Frau,  Potsdamerstrasse  log,  Berlin,  W.  35. 
Monro,  William  Ernest,  46  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  W.C. 
Monson,  Edward,  Grosvenor  House,  Acton  Vale,  W. 

Monson,  Edward  Charles  Philip,  Finsbury  Pavement  House,  E.C. 
.Moon,  Edward,  6  Onslow  Gardens,  S.W. 

Morgan,   Sydney  H.,    Engineer  and  Surveyor  Prestwich   U.D.C.,   Council 

Offices,  Prestwich,  near  Manchester. 
Morley,  Eric,  14  Park  Drive,  Bradford. 
Morley,    William    James,    269   Swan   Arcade,    Bradford. 
Morrice,  Arthur  George,  134  Trinity  Road,  Upper  Tooting,  S.W. 
Mould,  James  Diggle,  Walmersley  Road,  Bury,  Lanes. 

Muirhead,  Thomas,  B.Sc,  220  St.  Vincent  Street,  Glasgow. 

Muirhead,  William,  35  Queen  Victoria  Street,  E.C. 

Mumford,  Councillor  C.  E.,  Cross  Roads  House,  Folkestone. 

Municipal  Art  Societv  of  New  York,  119  East  Nineteenth  Street,  New  York 

City. 
Murphy,  Robert  William,  70  Guilford  Street,  W.C. 
Murphy,  Sir  Shirley  F.,  Medical  Officer  of  Health  London  County  Council, 

9  Bentinck  Terrace,  Regent's  Park,  N.W. 
Murray,  John,  11  Suffolk  Street,  Pall  Mall,  S.W. 
Mursell,  A.,  Chairman  the  Maidens  and  Coombe   L'.D.C,   "  Lanteglos," 

Woodside  Road,  New  Maiden,  Surrey. 
Musto,  Frederick,  7  Queen  Square,  Leeds. 
Myers,  Legender  William,  Beaconsfield,  Bucks. 
Myers,  Thomas,  Town  Hall,  Birkenhead. 
Myring,    Councillor    J.,    Hatherley    House,    Ennerdale    Road,    Richmond, 

Surrey. 
Nadin,  R.  .\.  Reay,  Town  Clerk,  Council  House,  Sutton  Coldfield. 
Neville,  Hon.  Mr.  Justice  Neville,  Banstead  Place,  Epsom,  Surrey. 
Neville,  Lady,  Banstead  Place,  Epsom,  Surrey. 
Newman,  Francis  Winton,  14  Gray's  Inn  Square,  W.C. 
Newton,  Ernest,  4  Raymond  Buildings,  Gray's  Inn,  W.C. 
Newton,  Mrs.  Ernest,  40  Ladbroke  Square,  \^^ 

Newton,  William  Godfrey,  4  Raymond  Buildings,  Gray's  Inn,  W.C. 
Nicholls,     Councillor    Herbert     F.,     "Fairview,"     Holden     Road,     North 

Finchley,  N. 
Nicholls,  Walter  T.,  St.  Paul's  Road,  Gloucester. 
Nicholson,    .Sir   Charles    Archibald,    Bart.,    M.A.    Oxon.,    2    New    .Square, 

Lincoln's  Inn,  W^C. 
Nicholson,  Miss  Mary  E.,  Briarside  Cottage,  Letchworth,  Herts. 


4S     Transactions  of  the  Tou^n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

N'ield.  Gcorj-t'  Ki  n»>t.  Outer  Temple.  222  Strand,  W.C. 

Nield    Herbert.  .M.P.,  2  Dr.  Johnson's  Buildings,  1  emple,  L.C. 

Nisbet    Thomas,  Master  of  Works,  City  Chambers,  Glasgow. 

Nisbett    Norman  Clayton  Hadlow,  45  Jewry  Street,  Wmchester. 

Niven.  David  Harclay,  C.wydir  Chambers,  104  High  Holborn,  W.C. 

Noel,  Har.)ld.  .U)  Friar  Lane,  Leicester. 

Norman.  S.  H.,  London  Road,  Burgess  Hill. 

Northover,  George,  9  Conduit  Street,  W. 

Oaklev    William,  2q  Cambridge  Terrace,  Hyde  Park,  W. 

Oldrieve.  William  Thomas,  K. S.A.Scot.,  II. M.  Omcc  of  ^^  ork^,  Parliament 

Square,  Edinburgh. 
Oldrieve,  Mrs.  William  T.,  11  Merchiston  Gardens,  Edinburgh. 
Orsoni.  Prof.  Eugenio,  Segretario  deli'  I'fficio  delle  Case  Popolari,  Muni- 

cipio  di  Venezia. 
Osier,  Frank,  5  Verulam  Buildings,  Gray's  Inn,  W.C. 
Owen,  Geoffrey,  Cairo  Street  Chambers,  Warrington. 
Owen,  R.  Holland,  Bleak  House,  Bollington,  near  Macclesfield. 
Oxtoby,  William,  Borough  Engineer,  Town  Hall,  Camberwell,  S.E. 
Packer,  Councillor,  4  Curzon  Road,  Southport. 
Page,  Councillor  C.  H..  12  Brent  Street,  Hcndon,  N.W. 
Page,  Miss  A.  B.,  Sauchieburn,  Stirling,  N.B. 
Page,  William  M.,  South  Terrace,  Kelburne,  Wellington. 
Paget,  Sir  Richard  Arthur  Surtees,  Bart.,  9  King's  Bench  Walk,  Temple, 

E.C. 
Paine,  George  Henry,  62  Moorgate  Street,  E.C. 
Painter,  A.  Eaton,  43  Lichfield  Street,  Wolverhampton. 
Painter,  Frederick  G.,  19  Coleman  Street,  E.C. 

Palmer,  C.  S.  R.,  "  St.  Bernards,"  Longton  Avenue,  Sydenham,  S.E. 
Pardoe,  Joseph  Charles,  Surveyor  Barry  U.D.C.,  Council  Ofifices,  Barry, 

Glam. 
Parker,  Arthur  Southcombe,  34  Bedford  Street,  Plymouth. 
Parker,  Barry,  Crabby  Corner,  Letchworth,  Herts. 
Parker,  Mrs.  Barry,  Crabby  Corner,  Letchworth,  Herts. 
Parker,  Sir  Gilbert,  M.P.,  20  Carlton  House  Terrace,  S.W. 
Parker,  Lady,  20  Carlton  House  Terrace,  S.W. 
Parkes,  E.  Hadden,  68  Goldhurst  Terrace,  N.W. 
Parkinson,  Charles  Edmund  Lancaster,  10 1  Ladbroke  Grove,  W. 
P.irkinson,  Mrs.  C.  E.  L.,  loi  Ladbroke  Grove,  W. 
Parry,    George    Herbert,    Commercial    Bank    Chambers,    Perth,    Western 

Australia. 
Parry,  Hugh  Lloyd,  Town  Clerk,  Exeter. 

Parsons,  Alfred,  A.R.A.,  54  Bedford  Gardens,  Kensington.  W. 
Partridge,  Edward  John,  Bank  Chambers,  Richmond,  Surrey. 
Pascal,  Jean  Louis,   Membre  do  I'lnstitut  de  France,  8  Boulevard  Saint- 
Denis,  Paris. 
Paterson,  .Mexander  Nisbet,  M.A.,  266  St.  Vincent  Street,  Glasgow. 
Patey,    Alderman    Samuel,    J. P.,    Chairman    of    Leicester    Highway    and 

Sewerage  Committee,  6  Newtown  Street,   Leicester. 
Paton,  James,  Borough  Surveyor,  Plymouth. 
Payne,  Edward  Harding,  11  John  Street,  Bedford  Row,  W.C. 
Peach,  Charles  Stanley,  Victoria  Mansions,  28  Victoria  Street,  S.W. 
Pearsall,  Howard  D.,  Glaed  Hame,  Letchworth,  Herts. 
Pearsall,  Mrs.,  Glaed  Hame,  Letchworth,  Herts. 
Pease,  Christopher  York,  92  Norlhgate,  Darlington. 
Peck,  Herbert,  Medical  Officer  of  Health,  Chesterfield. 
Peel,  Frederick  William,  2  Priory  Gardens,  Bedford  Park,  Chiswick,  W 


Members.  49 

Peirce,  Peter,  30  St.  Peterss^ate,  Stockport. 

Pemberton,  Councillor,  14  Fairfield  Road,  Stockton  Heath,  Warrington. 

Pennington,   Councillor,   Wesley  Street,   Castleford,   ^'orks. 

Pepler,  George  L.,  3  Pall  Mall  East,  S.W. 

Perks,  Sydney,  F.S.A.,  The  City  Surveyor,  Guildhall,  E.C. 

Pett,  Harold  Milburn,  28  Stanford  Road,  Brighton. 

Petter,  John,  Church  Street,  Yeovil. 

Phelps,  Rev.  Lancelot  Ridley,  Oriel  College,  Oxford. 

Pick,  Samuel  Perkins,  6  Millstone  Lane,  Leicester. 

Pickles,  G.  H.,  Borough  Engineer,  Town  Hall,  Burnley. 

Pinkham,   Countv  Alderman  Charles,   J. P.,   Chairman  Willesden   I'.D.C., 

7  Winchester  Avenue,  Brondesbury,  X.W  . 
Pirie,  J.  M..  33  Hurlingham  Court,  S.W. 
Pirie,  Mrs.  J.  >L,  33  Hurlingham  Court,  S.W. 
Pite,  Professor  Beresford,  2  York  Gate,  Regent's  Park,  X.W. 
Pite,  William  Alfred,  116  Jermyn  Street,  St.  James's,  .S.W. 
Pitman,  W.  Hayward.  J. P.,  30  and  31  Newgate  Street,  E.C. 
Pitman,  Mrs.,  30  and  31  Newgate  .Street,  E.C. 
Piatt,  Frederick  W.,  Building  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Salford. 
Platts,    W.    Beauchamp,    Secretarv    New   Zealand    Institute   of   Architects, 

P.O.  Box  772,  Wellington. 
Plunkett,  Colonel,  G.T.,  C.B.,  Belvedere  Lodge,  Wimbledon.  S.W. 
Plunkett,  George  Noble,  Count,  B.L.,  F.S.A.,  Director  of  National  Museum 

of  Science  and  Art,  Dublin,  26  L^pper  Fitzwilliam  Street,  Dublin. 
Plunkett,  Countess,  26  Upper  Fitzwilliam  Street,  Dublin. 
Plunkett,  Miss,  26  Upper  Fitzwilliam  Street,  Dublin. 
Pomeroy,  Frederick  William,  A.R.A.,  15  Kensington  Square,  W. 
Poole,  Henr}^  i  Wentworth  Studios,  Manresa  Road,  Chelsea,  .S.W. 
Porter,   Dr.   Charles,   Medical  Ofiicer  of  Health  .St.    Marylebonc   Borough 

Council,  24  .Somerset  Street,  ^^'. 
Porzett,  Dr.  jur  Karl,  Kyffhaiiserstrasse  8,  M.  Gladbach. 
Potter,  Alan,  Hadley  Dene,  Hadley  W'ood,  Barnet. 
Potter,  Francis  John,  39  Bloomsbury  Square,  W.C. 
Poupinel,  Jacques  Maurice,  45  Rue  Boissy  d'Anglas,  Paris. 
Power,  Joseph  William,  Merchants'  Bank  Chambers,  Kingston,  Ontario. 
Pratt,  Hampden  William,  Leighton  House,  168  Fleet  Street,  E.C. 
Pratt,  W.  Dymock,  Long  Row,  Nottingham. 

Prentice,  Andrew  Noble,  Hastings  House,  10  Norfolk  .Street,  Strand,  W.C. 
Prescott,  R.  M.,  Town  Clerk,  Town  Hall,  Sheffield. 
Press,  Thomas,  5  Queen  Street,  Edgware  Road,  W. 
Prestwich,  J.  C,  Leigh,  near  Manchester. 
Prevosti,  Ing.  Mario,  20  S.  .Spirito,  Milan. 
Price,  Henry,  City  Architect,  Town  Hall,  Manchester. 
Protopopow,  Dmitri  \'.,  Moika  24,  St.  Petersburg. 
Prouse,   Oswald  Milton.   Surveyor   Ilfracombe   U.D.C.,   Ilfracombe,    North 

Devon. 
Province    of    Quebec    Association    of    Architects,    5    Beaver    Hall    Square, 

Montreal. 
Pryce,  Thomas  Edward,  10  Gray's  Inn  Square,  W.C. 

Prynne,  George  Halford  Fellowes,  6  Queen  Anne's  Gate,  Westminster,  S.\\'. 
Pywell,  William,  Cumberland  House,  Hanwell,  W. 

Quennell,  Charles  Henrj-  Bourne,  21  Great  Peter  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 
Race,  Arthur,   Borough  Engineer  and   .Surveyor,   Town   Hall,    Barrow-in- 
Furness. 
Ramsay,  Norman  Frederick,  131  Osborne  Road,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
Ramsay,  Mrs.  Norman  F.,  131  Osborne  Road,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

E 


5<J 


Tninsiictions  oi  the  Toicu  Plminiug  Conference,  Oct.  kjio. 


Ramsbotham,  Georj^e,  6  Bloomsburv  Square,  ^y•C. 

Randall,  Joseph,  Warren  Lane  Works,  Woolwich,  S.K. 

Ralhbone,     Edmund.     Produce     KxchanK^e     Buildings,     \ictoria     Street, 

Liverpool. 
Rau.  Karl,  Maxiiniiiaii.strasse.   ui.wv..   Munich. 
Raven,  Harrv,  Council  Offices,  Horsforth,  near  Leeds. 
Reavell,    (ieors,^'    John    Thrift,     II.M.     OtTice    of    Works,     Storey's    Gate, 

Westminster. 
Reckitt.  Miss  Juliet,  20  Dulwieh  Wood  Park,  I  pper  Norwood,  S.E. 
Redfern,  John  Lewis.  Horoui^h  Surveyor,  Council  Offices,  Gillingham,  Kent. 
Redfern.  Mrs..  42  Stuart  Road,  Gillini,^ham,  Kent. 
Rees,  Charles  Gottlob  Frederick,  "  Edina,"  Stanmore,  Middlesex. 
Reid,    the    Hon.    \\'iiiteia\\ ,    American     Ambassador,     Dorchester     House, 

Park  Lane,  W. 
Reid,  Mrs.  Whitelaw,  Dorchester  House,  Park  Lane,  W. 
Reitlinger.  Henry  S.,  192  Queen's  Gate,  S.W. 

Rene-Jean,  Monsieur,  Bibliotheque  J.  Doucet,   19  Rue  Spontini,  Paris. 
Renton,  James  Hall,  Rowfold  Grang^e,  Billingshurst,  Sussex. 
Renton,  John  Bryson,  Surveyor  Whickham  U.D.C.,  Council  Offices,  Whick- 

ham,  Durham. 
Rey,  Adolphe  .\ugustin,  119  Rue  de  la  Faisanderie,  Paris. 
Rey,  Madame,  119  Rue  de  la  Faisanderie,  Paris. 
Reynolds,  Alfred,  Baldock  Road,  Letchworth,  Herts. 
Rhodes,  Councillor,  Chesterfield. 
Rhodes,  Paul,  Skinner  Lane,  Leeds. 

Rice,  Frederick  George,  Morden  Lodge,  125  Tulse  Hill,  S.W. 
Richmond,  Sir  William,  K.C.B.,  R.A.,  Beavor  Lodge,  Hammersmith,  W. 
Richmond,  Lady,  Beavor  Lodge,  Hammersmith,  W. 
Rickards,   Edwin  Alfred,  47  Bedford  Square,  W.C. 
Rickman,  Thomas  Miller,  64  Philbeach  Gardens,  Earl's  Court,  S.W. 
Rider,  Thomas  F.,  C.C.,  Stanstead  House,  Durand  Gardens,  Stockweli,  S.W- 
Ridge,  Lacy  William,  5  Verulam  Buildings,  Gray's  Inn,  W.C. 
Riley,  William  Edward,  Superintending  Architect  of  Metropolitan  Buildings 

and  Architect  of  the  London  County  Council,  Spring  Gardens,  S.W. 
Robartes,  Miss,  Wyldes,  North  End,  Hampstead. 
Roberts,  H.  A.,  Hoestock  Road,  Sawbridgeworth,  Herts. 
Robertson,  Henry  C,  2  The  Broadway,  Church  End,  Finchlcy,  N. 
Robinson,  Charles  Mulford,  Rochester,  New  York. 
Robinson,  Mrs.  Charles  Mulford,  65  South  Washington  Street,  Rochester, 

New  York. 
Robinson,  Miss  Evelyn  Fothergill,  20  Camjjden  Hill  Square,  W. 
Robinson,    William    Henry,    Chairman    of    Works    Committee    Wallasey 

U.D.C.,  Pendrcthen,  Promenade,  Liscard,  Cheshire. 
Robson,  J.  W\,  Sale,  Cheshire. 

Roe,  Richard  Mauleverer,  Bassishaw  House,  70A  Basinghall  Street,  E.G. 
Rondoni,  Cav.  Ing.  Mario,  Via  Borgospesso  21,  Milan. 
Rose,  A.  Winter,  15  Great  George  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 
Rosset,  Paul,  Direction  des  Travaux,  Hotel  de  Ville,  Lausanne. 
Rousell.  A.  J.,  Surveyor  Whitley  and  Monkseaton  U.D.C.,  Council  Offices, 

Whitley  Bay,  Northumberland. 
Rowbotham,  Thomas,  Gilbertstone,  .South  Yardley,  Birmingiiam. 
Rowntree,  Fred,  11  Hammersmith  Terrace,  W. 
Roxburgh,  James  Findlay,  LL.B.,  25  Walker  Street,  Edinburgh. 
Royal  Architectural  Institute  of  Canada,  5  Beaver  Hall  Square,  Montreal. 
Ruddle,  .Man  Wilfred,  6  Long  Causeway,  Peterborough. 
Ruddle,  Miss,  The  Laurels,  Redcliffe  Road,  Nottingham. 


Members.  51 

Runton,  Percy  Tom,  Victoria  Chambers,  Bowlalley  Lane,  Hull. 

Russell,  Francis  Albert  RoUo,  Steep,  Petersfield,  Hants. 

Rust,  John,  City  Architect,  224  Union  Street,  Aberdeen. 

Rust,  Mrs.,  224  Union  Street,  Aberdeen. 

Ryder,  Ernest  Edward,  Council  Offices,  Bushey,  Herts. 

Sachs,  Edwin  O.,  F.R.S.  Edin.,  8  Waterloo  Place,  Pall  Mall,  S.W. 

Sadler,  Frederick,  Surveyor  Acton  U.D.C.,  Municipal  Buildings,  Acton,  W. 

Sale,  Charles  V.,  40  Threadneedle  Street,  E.C. 

Salisbury,   H.,  Ardendene,  Harpenden,   Herts. 

Salmon,  Charles  E.,  67  High  Street,  Reigate,  Surrey. 

Sandilands,  John  Edward,   M.D.,   Medical  Officer  of  Health,  Town   Hall 

Kensington. 
Scatcherd,  Miss,  14  Park  Square,  Regent's  Park,  X.W. 
Schmohl,  Baurat  Robert,  Bismarckstrasse  60,  Essen-Ruhr,  Germany. 
Schmohl,  Frau,  Bismarckstrasse  60,  Essen-Ruhr,  Germany. 
Schobbens,  Joseph,  16  Longue  rue  de  I'Hopital,  Antwerp. 
Schofield,  William  Peel,  15  Park  Row,  Leeds. 
Schultz,  Robert  Weir,  14  Gray's  Inn  Square,  W.C. 
Scott,  James,  48  Dean  Street,  Newcastle-on-Tyne- 
.Scott,  William,  7  Rue  Chateaudun,  Cannes,  France. 

.Scrymgour,  W'illiam  Harrington,  13  Lovell's  Court,  Paternoster  Row,  E.C. 
Searles-Wood,  Herbert  Duncan,  157  Wool  Exchange,  Coleman  Street,  E.C. 
Semenoff,  Waldemar  N.,  55  Parolles  Road,  Highgate,  N. 
Seth-Smith,  William  Howard,  46  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  W.C. 
Seward,  Edwin,  Queen's  Chambers,  Cardiff. 
Shackleton,  W.,  Borough  Engineer,  Town  Hall,  Nelson. 
Shadbolt,  Ernest  IfiU,  Ardeley,  Pirbright,  Surre}'. 
Sharp,  Alderman,  Municipal  Offices,  Southampton. 
Sharp,  Arthur  Dalton,  3  Caroline  Place,  W.C. 
Shawcross,  Councillor  Harold,  Carr  Hill,  Rochdale. 
Shawcross,  Herbert  Tucr,  Foxcombe  Hill,  Oxford. 
Shebbeare,  Henry  V.,  53  Chancery  Lane,  W.C. 
.Shebbeare,  Miss  Celia  M.,  i  The  Crescent,  Surbiton,  Surrey. 
Shelton,  A.  W.,  15  King  Street,  Nottingham. 
Shepherd,  Herbert,  120A  Kensington  Park  Road,  W. 
Sheppard,  W.  Tiller,  Ahody,  Dartry  Road,  Rathmlnes,  Dublin. 
Shillitoe,    W.    W.,    Chairman    of    Plans    Committee    Rugb}^    U.D.C.,    139 

Clifton  Road,  Rugby. 
.Shortt,  Councillor  Charles  S.,  Chairman  Town   Improvement  and  Streets 

Committee,  Town  Hall,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
.Sim,  Edward  Howley,  Mowbray  House,  Norfolk  Street,  Strand. 
Simon,  Frank  Worthington,  Dorset  House,  East  Grinstead,  Sussex. 
Simon,  Mrs.  Frank  W.,  Dorset  House-,  East  Grinstead,  Sussex. 
Simpson,  Gilbert  Murray,  16  Ship  Street,  Brighton. 
Simpson,    John  W.,   Secretarv-General,  3  Verulam  Buildings,  Gray's  Inn. 

W.C. 
Simpson,  Miss  Clare,  12  Bryanston  Street,  W. 

Simpson,  Professor  Frederick  Moore,  3  Brunswick  Place,  Regent's  Park. 
Sinclair,  A.  W.,  Stepney  Road,  Scarborough. 
Skipper,  George  John,  7  London  Street,  Norwich. 
Slater,  John,  B.A.,  46  Berners  Street,  W. 
Slater,  Mrs.,  46  Berners  Street,  W. 
Slater,   W.    F.,    Surveyor    Wolstanton     L'niled     U.D.C.,     Knutton     Road, 

Wolstanton,  Staffs. 
Slatyer,   Charles   Henrv,    Equitable   Building,   350  George  Street,    Sxu'iirv, 

N.S.W. 


SJ      Iransactions  of  the  Toicn  Phniniiii^  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Sliim.n.    Dr.    W.    II..   Chairman   Clacton    I  .D.C..    .\ni,^levitw,   Clacton-on- 

Sea.  ^.     , 

Smalcs,  Edward  Henry,  .\rundil  Howe,  Stakesby,  \Miitby,  ^  orks. 
Smales.  Mrs.,  Arundt-l  llowf.  .Stakesby,  Whitby. 

.Smallman,  Henrv  Richard  Geor^a^  Strong-.  S  Queen  Street,  Cheapside.  E.G. 
Smce,  Frank  Edward,  Byron  House,  82  to  85  Fk^et  Street.  E.G. 
Smethurst.  Samuel,  Goldhurst  House,  Rochdale  Road,  Oldham. 
Smillie.  John  F..  Borouj,'h  Engineer.  Tynemouth. 
Smith,  Aldeinian  A.,  Spring  Cottage  Lodge,  Nelson. 
Smith,  Arnold  Dunbar,  2  Gray's  Inn  Square,  W.G. 
Smith.  Cvril  Wontner.  16  Finsbury  Circus,  E.G. 
.Smith,  John  Hatchard,  76  Watling  Street,  E.G. 
.Smith,  MM.,  Gardoqui  3.  Bilbao. 
Smith,    Professor   Ravenscroft   Elsey,    Rosegarth,    Walden    Road,    Horsell, 

Woking.  Surrey. 
Smith,  Svdney  A.,  c/o  Messrs.  Weathcrall  &  Green.  22  Chancery  Lane,  W.C. 
Smith,  Thomas  R.,  Surveyor  Kettering  I'.D.C.,  Council  Offices,  Kettering. 

Northants. 
Smith,  N'incdit,  Borough  Surveyor,  Chesterfield. 
Smith.  W.  Auger,  21  Colwick  Road,  West  Bridgford,  Nottingham. 
-Snell,  Alfred  Saxon,  22  Southampton  Buildings,  Chancery  Lane,  ^^^C. 
Snell,  Harry.  Penarth,  South  Wales. 

Soames,  Arthur  Wellesley,   ^LP.,    18  Park  Crescent,   Portland   Place.    W. 
Sociedade  dos  Architectos  Portuguezes,  Rua  da  Emenda  26-1,  Lisbon. 
Soenen,  Alphonse,  g  Boulevard  Frere-Orban,  Ghent. 
Solomon,  Lewis,  21  Hamilton  Terrace,  N.W. 
Southall,  Bertram  Norman,  51  Stanford  Avenue,  Brighton. 
Souza,  Gomte  Robert  de,  23  Avenue  du  Bois  de  Boulogne,  Paris. 
Spalding,  Henry  Norman,  Huntsland,   Crawley  Down,  Sussex. 
Spielmann,  ^L'^rion  H.,  F.S.A.,  21  Cadogan  (hardens,  S.W. 
Spiers,  Richard  Phene.  21  Bernard  Street,    Rjssell  Square,  W.C. 
.Spiers,  Walter  Lewis,   Soane  Museum,   13  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  \\'.C. 
.Spurling,  John,  Cambridge  Lodge,  Wanstead,  Essex. 
Spurling,  Mrs.,  Cambridge  Lodge,  Wanstead,  Essex. 
Squire,  John  H.,  (k)  Palace  Court,  W. 

Stahl,  Max  Edward,  Westfield,  Uphill,  Weston-super-Mare. 
Stanton,    Major   E.    A.    (late   Governor   of    Khartoum),    Glenmore    House, 

Wraysbury,  Bucks. 
Statham,  Henry  Heathcote,  i  Camp  View,  Wimbledon  Common,  S.W. 
Statham,  Miss,  1  Camp  View,  Wimbledon  Common,  S.W. 
.Steele,  W.  J.,  City  Engineer,  Town  Hall,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
.Steen,  Sven,  Gothenburg,  Sweden. 
Steen,  Madame,  fiothenburg,  Sweden. 
.Steffeck,  FrauUin,  (ierswaldc,  Uckermarck,  Germany. 
Steijrcr,  Fritz,  Direktor  des  Bayerischen  Handelsbank,  Munich. 
Stennlng,  Sir  .Alexander,  121  Cannon  Street,  E.G. 
Stenning,  Lady,  Hoathly  Hill,  East  Grinstead,  Sussex. 
Stephen,  Noel  S.,  Mollington,  Chester. 

Stevenson,  Frederick  John,  23  Queen  Anne  Street,  Cavendish  Square.  W. 
Stewardson,  Robert  Ernest,  3c  Peking  Road,  Shanghai. 
Stewart,  Douglas  William,  174  West  Green  Road,  South  Tottenham. 
Stewart.  H.  S.,  6  Bloomsbury  Square,  W.C. 
Stewart,  Robert,  24  Sloane  .Square,  S.W. 

Stewart,  William,  Newlyn  House,  4  and  5  .Mdgate  High  Street,  E.C. 
Stewart,  .Mrs.  William,  Newlyn  House,  4  and  5  .Mdgate  High  Street,  E.C. 
Stilgoe,     Henry     E.,     City     Engineer     and     Surveyor,     Council     House, 

Birmingham. 


Members. 


OJ 


Stirling-Maxwell,  Sir  John,  Bart..  Pollok  House,  PoUokshaws,  N.B. 

Stiven,    Ernest   E.,    Boroug^h    Engineer,    Town    Hall,    \\'hitchaven. 

Stocks,  Frederick  William,  Town  Hall,  Middlewich,  Cheshire. 

Stoehr,  Miss,  4  Carlyle  Square,  Chelsea,  S.W. 

Stokes,  Leonard,  President  R.I.B.A.,  2  Great  Smith  Street,  Westminster, 

S.W. 
Stokes,  Mrs.  Leonard,  Littleshaw,  Woldingham,  Surrey. 
Stradal,  Adalbert,  Porzellangasse  33A,  \'ienna    IX. 
Stradal,  Ing.  Theodor,  Stadtverordneter,  Reichenberg,  Austria. 
Strassmann,  Richard,  Jongtstrasse  16,  \'ienna  IV. 
Strauss,  Louis,  116  Boulevard  Leopold,  Antwerp. 

Strong,  Mrs.  S.  Arthur,  British  School  at  Rome,  Palazzo  Odescalchi,  Rome. 
Stijbben,  Dr.  Ing.  Hermann  Joseph,  Gneiststrassc  10,  Grunewald,  Berlin. 
Sullivan,  Leo  Sylvester,  9  Durham  Road,  Cottenham  Park,  Wimbledon,  S.W. 
Sulman,  John,  Mutual  Life  Building,  George  and  Wvnvard  Streets,  Svdnev, 

N.S.W. 
Surveyor,  Merwanjee  Framjee,  19  Craven  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 
Sutcliffe,  George  Lister,  17  Pall  Mall  East,  S.W. 

Sutcliffe,  Hartley,  "  Gowrie,"  Regent  Street,  Elsternwick,  Melbourne. 
Sutton,  Ernest  Richard  Eckett,  Bromley  House,  Nottingham. 
Suzor,  Comte  Paul  de,  21  Eigne  des  Cadets,  St.  Petersburg. 
Swales,  Francis,  26  \\'oodstock  Road,  Bedford  Park,  Chiswick,  W. 
Swarbrick,  Arthur,  Chairman  Fleetwood  L'.D.C,  Town  Hall,   Fleetwood. 

Lanes. 
Sykes,  Arthur,  45  Finsbury  Pavement,  E.C. 
Sykes,  Joseph,  Walker  Street,  Casino,   X.S.W. 

Symons,  W.  H.^  M.D.,  Medical  Officer  of  Health,  Guildhall,  Bath. 
Tait,  Charles  James,  158  Hampstead  Way,  Golder's  Green,  N.W. 
Talvalker,  R.,  18  Tufton  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 

Tanner,  Sir  Henry,  I.S.O.,  H.M.  Office  of  Works,  Storey's  Gate,  S.W. 
Tanner,  Charles,  9  Conduit  Street,  W. 

Tanner,  Henry,  jun.,  Carlton  Chambers,  12  Regent  Street,  S.W. 
Taraporvala,   Viccajee  Ardeshir.    Markur's   Building,    Apollo   Street,    Fort, 

Bombay. 
Tatchell,  Sydney  Joseph,  13  Queen  Anne's  Gate,  S.W. 
Tayler,  Arnold  Seaward,  27  Old  Queen  Street,  Westminster,  S.^^'. 
Tayler,  Herbert  Godfrey,  9  Conduit  Street,  W. 

Taylor,  Andrew  Thomas,  R.C.A.,  L.C.C.,  21  Lyndhurst  Road,  Hampstead. 
Taylor,  John,  Surveyor  L'ckfield  R.D.C.,  Henley  House,  L'ckfield,  .Sussex. 
Taylor,  Sir  John,  K.C.B.,  Moorfield,  Langley  Road,  Surbiton  Hill,  Surrey. 
Telfor,   W.   Davidson,   Borough   Engineer   Buckhaven,    Methil,   and   Inner- 

leven,  Fife,  N.B. 
Tenison,  Arthur  Heron  Ryan,  21  Great  Peter  Street,  Westminster,  .S.W. 
Terry,  Ernest  F.,  Clavadel,  Brighton  Road,  Surbiton,  Surrey. 
Thom,  Miss,  Wyldes,  North  End,  Hampstead. 
Thomas,  Sir  Brumwell,  37  Old  Queen  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 
Thomas,  Miss  M.  B.,  37    Old  Queen  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 
Thomas,  Peregrine,  Town  Clerk,  Town  Hall,  Burnley. 

Thomas,  Miss  Rebecca  C,  St.  Ann's,  Redington  Road,  Hampstead,  N.W. 
Thomas,*  Samuel  Joyce,  i  Dr.  Johnson's  Buildings,  Temple,  E.C. 
Thompson,  Alderman,  16  Queen's  Road,  Richmond. 
Thompson,     Charles     E.,     Chairman     Finance     Committee,      Sunderland 

R.D.C.,   17  John  -Street,  .Sunderland. 
Thompson,     \\'illiam     Whitaker,      Chairman      London      County     CouncJl, 

24  Argyll  Road,  Kensington,  W. 
Thomson,   Hon.    Dugald,  c  o   Messrs.    John   Terry   &:   Co.,    7   Great   Win- 
chester Street,  E.C. 


54     T  ran  sad  ions  of  the  To'-a'n  Phinnini^'  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Thomson.  Jaims,  City  Ens,nnecT.  91  Commercial  Slrett,  Dundee. 

Thornton,  Mrs.  Thomas,  V.mdyke  Hotel,  CVomwell  Road,  S.W. 

Thornycroft,  Hamo.  R..\.,  2.\  Melbury  Road,  Kensin.i,-ton,  \V. 

Thorp,  William  Henry.  Phivnix  Chambers,  South  Parade,  Leeds. 

Thorpe,  Thomas  Harrison,  23  St.  James's  Street,  Derby. 

Tillstone.  Harrv,  I?orou.i,^h  Surveyor,  Town  Hall.   Hri.i,^hton. 

Tompkins.     Henry    W..     The     Paton     Huiidini,^s,     115     Elizabeth     Street, 

.Melbourne. 
Toplev,  S.  Doui,Has.  6  Cheapside,  E.C. 
Totten,  George  OaUlrv,  jun.,  SoS  Seventeenth  Street,  Washington,  D.C., 

u.'s..\. 

Towlson,    Samuel,    Surveyor   Sevenoaks    l'.D.C\,    District    Council    Otticc, 

Sevenoaks. 
Townsend.  Charles  Harrison.  32  Queen's  Road.  St.  John's  Wood,  N.W. 
Travers,  Walter  Henry,  District  Engineer  and  Survejor    Wallasey  U.D.C., 

Public  Offices,  Egremont,  Cheshire. 
Tree,  Philip  Henry,  59  London  Road,  St.  Leonards-on-Sea. 
Trelat,  Gaston.  254  Boulevard  Raspail.  Paris,  i^^. 
Treleavcn,  U.  V.,  228  Station  Road,  Beeston,  Notts. 
Trench,  F.  C,  31  North  John  Street,  Liverpool. 
Triggs,  Bernard  George,  King's  Buildings,  Bombay,  India. 
Triggs,  Harry  Inigo,  Yew  Tree  Cottage,  Liphook,  Hants. 
Troup,  Francis  William,  14  Gray's  Inn  Square,  W' .C. 
Tsuchiya,  Junichi,  7  Blenheim  Road,  St.  John's  Wood,  N.\\'. 
Tubbs,  Percy  Burnell,  68  Aldersgate  Street,  E.C. 
Tubbs,  Mrs.,  68  Aldersgate  Street,  E.C. 
Tuccimei,  Ing.  Paolo,  36  Via  Po.  Rome. 
Tucker,  Councillor  H.  J.,  Rose  Cottage,  Mill  Hill,  N.W. 
Tugwell,  Sydney,  Richmond  Chambers,  Bournemouth. 
Turnbull,  E.  H.,   17-19  Cockspur  Street,  .S.W. 
Tylor,  H.  Bedford,  Estate  Otifice,  Bournville,  Birmingham. 
Underwood,  Edgar  Sefton.  3  Queen  Street,  Cheapside,  E.C. 
Unwin,  Howard,  J. P.,  i  Newton  Grove,  Bedford  Park,  W. 
Unwin,  Raymond,  Wyldes,  North  End,  Hampstead,  N.W. 
Unwin,  Mrs.  Raymond,  Wyldes,  North  End,  Hampstead,  N.W. 
Unwin,  Mrs.  W^illiam,  Wyldes,  North  End,  Hampstead,  N.W'. 
Upcher,  Cecil,  Hingham,  Norfolk. 

Ure,  Allan  M.,  83  Hamilton  Drive,  Hillhead,  Glasgow. 
Usadel,  Fritz,  EUernstrasse  4.  Hanover. 
Vaes,  Henry,  36  Rue  de  Comines,  Brussels. 
Van  Haeften,  W.  C,  Biltstraat  140,  Utrecht,  Holland. 
Van  Kuijck,  F.,  13  Rue  Albert  von  Bary,  Antwerp  . 
Van  Langendonck,  Louis,  15  Avenue  des  Arquebusiers,  Brussels. 
Van  Loghem,  J.  B.,  Nieuwe  Gracht  3,  Haarlem,  Holland. 
Van  Mechelcn,  Alex.,  41  Grand  Place,  .Antwerp. 
Van  Straalen,  J.  .\.,  Junior,  Heerengracht  463,  .Amsterdam. 
Van  Ysendyck,  Maurice,  109  Rue  Berckmans,  Brussels. 
Verrey,   Henri,   i   Avenue  Agassiz,   Lausanne,   Switzerland. 
Vigers,  Leslie  Robert,  4  Frederick's  Place,  E.C. 
^'f'k't.  J-  J-,  Town  Engineer,  Town   Hall,  Co|)enhagen. 
Waddington,    J.imes    C.    Clerk    U.D.C.    of    Padiham.    Council    Ofikes. 

Padiham,  Lanes. 
Wager,  Jasper,  17  Elsham  Road,  Kensington,  W. 
Wager,  Mrs.,  17  Elsham  Road,  Kensington,  W. 
Wakley,   Horace  M.,   11  Adam  Street,  .Adclphi,  W.C. 
W.'dker,  George  Charles,  M.D.,  D.P.H.,  Government  Medical  Ofificer  Gold 

Coast.  West  Africa.  5  Park  A'illas,  Winchmore  Hill,  N. 


Members.  55 

Walklate,    Henry,    J. P.,    Chairman    Wolstanton    United    U.D.C.,    Albert 

Terrace,  Wolstanton,  Staffs. 
Wall,  Thomas,  Blythewood,  \\"orcester  Road,  Sutton,  Surrey. 
Wallace,  Matthew  J.  P.,  181  Upper  Thames  Street,  E.C. 
Wallen,  Frederick,  96  Gower  Street,  W.C. 
Walsh,  Joseph  Frederick,  10  Harrison  Road,  Halifax. 
Walsh,  Councillor  Rev.  Dr.  Walter,  31  Albany  Terrace,  Dundee. 
Warburton,  Mr.  Alderman,  Park  Field,  Burnley. 
Ward,  Charles  Frederick,  Town  Hall,  Newport,  Mon. 
Ward,  William  Henry,  M.A.  Cantab.,  28  Theobald's  Road,  W.C. 
Warner,    J.    Foster,    F..\.I..\.,     1036    Granite    Building,    Rochester,    New 

York. 
Warren,  Edward,  F.S.A.,  20  Bedford  Square,  W.C. 
Warren,  Mrs.  Edward,  20  Bedford  Square,  \\'.C. 
Warren,  Herbert,  32  Bedford  Row,  W.C. 
Warwick,  Septimus,  13  South  Square,  Gray's  Inn,  W.C. 
Waterhouse,  Paul,  M.A.  Oxon.,  .Staple  Inn  Building's,  High  Holborn,  W.C. 
Watkins,  Charles,  The  Oaks,  Oak  Hill,  Woodford  Green,  Essex, 
Watkins,  Mrs.,  The  Oaks,  Oak  Hill,  Woodford  Green,  Essex. 
Watkins,  Hugh,  13  Gray's  Inn  Square,  W.C. 

Watson,  Adam  Francis.  St.  James's  Chambers,  38  Church  Street,  .Shefifield. 
Watson,    C.    Sydney,    LL.D.,    Clerk    Walthamstow    U.D.C.,    Town    Hall, 

W'althamstow. 
Watson,    Charles   J. P.,    Chairman    Highways    Committee,    Leek    U.D.C., 

\\'oodview.  Leek. 
Watson,  Thomas  Henry,  9  Nottingham  Place,  W. 
Watson,  Thomas  Lennox,   166  Bath  Street.  Glasgow. 
Wauters,  Armand,  82  Rue  le  Lorrain,  Brussels. 

Weaver,  Alfred  E.  Remmett,  M.D.,  Council  Offices,  Abertillery,  Mon. 
Weaver,  Laurence,  Country  Life,  20  Tavistock  .Street,  Covent  Garden,  W.C. 
Webb,  Sir  Aston,  C.B.,  R.A.,  19  Queen  Anne's  Gate,  S.W. 
Webb,  Arthur,  22  Red  Lion  .Square,  W.C. 

Webb,  Maurice  E.,  14  St.  Mary  Abbot's  Terrace,  Kensington,  \V. 
Webb,  Mrs.,  14  .St.  Mary  .Abbot's  Terrace,  Kensington,  ^^^ 
Webb,  Philip  E.,  i  Hanover  Terrace,  Ladbroke  Square. 
Webb,  Lad}',  i  Hanover  Terrace,  Ladbroke  Square. 
Webb,  Miss,  i  Hanover  Terrace,  Ladbroke  Square. 
Webb.  William  H.,  Town  Hall,  Wimbledon,  S.\\\ 
Wegerif,  Gzn.  A.  H.,  Beckstraat,  Apeldoorn. 

Welch,  Herbert  Arthur,  20  Golder's  Green  Parade,  Golder's  Green,  N.W. 
Welch,  J.  W.,  Sunnyside,  Warwick  Road,  Hale,  Cheshire. 
Wells,  M.  J.,  Launceston,  Cornwall. 

Westbye,  Johannes  Thorwaldson,   i  Princess  Road,  Hampstead,  N.W. 
Whall,  Christoplier  W.,  19  Shaftesbury  Road,  Ravenscourt  Park,  W. 
Wheatley,  Alfred,  Bramfield,  Burton  Road,  Derby. 
Wheeler,  Frederick,  7  Stone  Buildings,  Lincoln's  Inn,  W.C. 
White,  Alderman  James,  Chapel  -Street,  Colne,  Lanes. 
White,  Edward,  7  Victoria  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 
White,  Frederick  .\nthony,  170  Queen's  Gate,  S.\\'. 
White,  J.  Martin,  i  Cumberland  Place,  Regent's  Park. 
White,  William  Henry,  14A  Cavendish  Place,  Cavendish  Square,  W. 
White,  Mrs.  W.  Henry,  14A  Cavendish  Place,  Cavendish  .Square,  W. 
Whiteley,  George,  J. P.,  The  Elms,  Scholes,  Cleckheaton,  Yorks. 
Whitley,  John  Henry,  M.P.,  Brantwood,  Halifax,  Yorks. 
Whitty,  John  W.,  37  Craven  Terrace,  Lancaster  Gate,  W. 
Whitty,  Mrs.,  37  Craven  Terrace,  Lancaster  Gate,  W. 
Wigglesworth,  Herbert  Hardy,  Gwydir  Chambers,  104  High  Holborn,  W.C. 


3()     Trunsiiclions  oi  the  Toicn  Phinuing  Conference,  Oct.  njio. 

Wikv,  Charlts  F..  I  itv  EnKiiitcr  ;ind  Surveyor,  Town  Hall,  Sheftield. 

Wilkins,  Councillor  \V.  Ci..  J. P..  51)  Ittoxeler  New  Road,  Derby. 

Wilkinson,  Miss  Fanny  R..  The  Morticultural  Colletje,  Swanley,  Kent. 

WillcocUs,  Roi^.r  Esconibe,  c  o  F.  W.  Hansell,  Fsq.,  3  Hare  Court, 
Temple. 

Willett,  William,  Sloane  .Square,  S.W. 

Willev,  Frederick,  Rose  .\cre,  Shinclifle,  near  Durham. 

Williams,  Aneurin,  M.P.,  Wheelside,  Hindhead,  Haslemere,  Surrey. 

Wi!liam>,  Councillor  Charles.  17c)  Hiijrh  Street,  Camden  Town,  N.W. 

Williamson.  James  .\iKl(r>on,  City  Superintendent  of  Works,  City  Cham- 
bers, Edinburj^h. 

Williamson,  Lt"-li.'  i:Hi('l.  ()o  l)ai,Mii;ir  Avenue,  Wembic}   Hill,  Middlesex. 

Willmot,  John,  6  Waterloo  Street,  Birmingham. 

Willmott.  Frnest,  i  Raymond  Buildings,  Gray's  Inn,  W.C. 

Willoughby,  Charles  William,  22  Chancery  Lane,  W.C. 

Wills,  F'rank  Reginald  Gould,  31-32  High  Holborn,  W.C. 

Wills,  Mr.  Councillor,  25  Forester  Avenue,  Bath. 

Wilmot,  J.  Charles,  3  Lower  Merrion  Street,  Dublin. 

Wilson,  A.  \ictor,  11  Merry  Street,  Motherwell,  N.B. 

Wilson,  Arthur  Needham,  28  Martin's  Lane,  Cannon  Street,  E.C. 

Wilson,  Cecil  Locke,  President  of  the  Cardiff,  South  Wales,  and  Mon- 
mouthshire Architects'  Society,  67  Oueen  .Street,  Cardiff. 

Wilson,  Mrs.  Cecil.  67  Queen  Street,  Cardiff. 

Wilson,  J.  C  Clerk  .Sunderland  R.D.(\,   17  .St.  John  Street,  Sunderland. 

Wilson,  Henry  Joseph,  j\LP.,  Osgathorpe  Hills,  Sheffield. 

Wilson,  John  W.,  Goldthorpe,  near  Rotherham,  Yorks. 

Wilson,  John,  Local  Government  Board,  Edinburgh. 

Wilson,  John  Bennie,  President  Glasgow  Institute  of  Architects,  92  Bath 
Street,  Glasgow. 

Wilson,  Mr.  Alderman  J.  R.,  c/o  Improvement  Clerk,  Town  Hall,  Man- 
chester. 

Wimperis,  Edmund,  61  .South  Molton  .Street,  W. 

Windsor,  Frank,  i  High  Street,  Croydon. 

Winkler,  Herman,  76  Pitfield  Street,  Hoxton,  N. 

Wirgman.  T.   Blake. 

Wood,  Douglas,  27  Sackville  Street,  Piccadilly,  W. 

Wood,  Edgar,  78  Cross  Street,  Manchester. 

Wood-  Edward,  Chairman  Building-  Societies  Association,  4  Ludgate  Hill, 
E.C. 

Wood,  Enoch,  315  High  Street,  West  Bromwich. 

Wood,  Frederick  W..  Clerk  Fleetwood  CD.C..  'J'own  Hall,  Fleetwood, 
Lanes. 

Wood,  Joseph  Foster,  9  Westbury  Park,  Durdham  Down,   Bristol. 

Wood,  Mrs.  J.  Foster,  9  Westbury  Park,  Durdham  Down,  Bristol. 

Wood,  Joseph  John,  10  Park  Row,   Leed>. 

Woodroffe,  Walter  Henry,  51  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  W.C. 

Woodward.  William,   13  Southampton  Street,  Strand,  W.C. 

Woolliscroft,  J.  IL,   176  Oxford  Road,  Basford  Park,  Stoke-on-Trent. 

Wornell,  J.,  Garden  Suburb,  Sketty,  Glam. 

Worsley,  James,  Laburnum  Cottage,  Davenham. 

Worthirgton,  .Miss  E.  M.,  41  Ipper  Gloucester  Place,  N.W. 

Worthington.  Percy  Scott,  M.A.  Oxon.,  President  Manchester  .Society  of 
Architects,  46  Brown  Street,  Manchester. 

Worthington,  Mrs.  Percy,  46  Brown  Street,  Manchester. 

Wright,  James  Willi.uii,  Clerk  Farnham  U.D.C,  Council  Offices, 
Farnham,  .Surre\ . 


Members.  ^y 

W'yand,    Benjamin,    Secretary  of  the    Institution   of  Municipal    Engineers, 

39  \'ictoria  Street,  S.W. 
Yabbicom,  Thomas  Henry,  City  Engineer,  63  Queen  Street,  Bristol. 
Yates,  Thomas  Charles,  20  Sloane  Street,  S.W. 
Yeames,  William  Frederick,  R.A.,  4  Campbell  Road,  Hanwell,  N. 
Yeates,  Alfred  Bowman,  18  Maddox  Street,  W. 
Young,  Clyde,  6  Lancaster  Place,  Strand,  \Y.C. 

Young,  George  Penrose  Kennedy,  Perth  Chambers,  42  Tay  Street,  Perth. 
Young,  John,  Burgh  Surveyor,  Town  Buildings,  Ayr,  N.B. 
Young,  Keith  Downes,  17  Southampton  Street,  Bloomsbury,  \V.C. 
Zavitzianos,  Dr.  S.  C,  Corfu. 


^S     I'ransdctions  (ft  ihi'  T(ywn  Phinniiiii-  Conference,  Ocl.  ujio. 


INVrciUKAL  MHirnXG  AT  THE  GUILDHALL. 

TnK  Inauiiural  Mccling  took  place  at  the  Ciuildhall,  which  had  been 
kindiv  phiced  at  the  disposal  oi  the  Conference  by  the  Lord  Mayor  and 
Corporation.  The  Lord  Mayor,  accompanied  by  the  Lady  Mayoress 
and  the  Sheriffs  of  the  City,  were  received  at  the  main  door  by  the  Hon. 
President  (Mr.  John  Burns,  M.P.),  the  President  (Mr.  Leonard  Stokes), 
theChairman  of  the  ExecutiveCommittee(Sir  Aston\\'ebb,  C.  B.,  R.A.), 
the  Secretarv-(ieneral  (Mr.  John  W.  Simpson),  the  Secretary  to  the 
Kxhibition  Committee  (Mr.  Raymond  Unwin),  the  Secretary  to  the 
l':ntcrtainments  Committee  (Sir  A.  Brumwell  Thomas),  the  Secretary 
to  the  Papers  Committee  (Mr.  H.  W  Lanchester),  and  the  Secretary 
!\.1.H..\.  (Mr.  Ian  MacAlister).  The  various  officials  were  presented 
to  his  Lordship  by  the  Hon.  President  and  proceeded  with  him  to 
the  platform.  The  great  hall  was  filled  to  overflowing-,  delegates  being 
present  of  municipal  corporations,  town  and  borough  councils,  urban 
district  councils,  and  of  learned  and  professional  societies,  of  \arious 
countries  on  the  Continent,  in  America,  and  the  Colonies. 

Miss  Barbara  and  Miss  Angela  Stokes,  daughters  of  Mr.  Leonard 
Stokes,  presented  a  bouquet  to  the  Lady  Mayoress,  and  a  gold  com- 
memorative badge  to  Mr.  John  Burns. 

The  Lord  Mayor,  addressing  the  meeting  from  the  Chair,  said  he 
welcomed  the  members  of  the  Conference  to  the  Guildhall  with  the 
heartiest  feelings,  knowing  the  good  work  which  had  been  undertaken 
by  those  who  had  organised  the  Conference. 

The  President,  Mr.  Leonard  Stokes,  asked  the  meeting  to 
co-operate  with  him  in  sending  a  telegraphic  message  to  His  Majesty 
the  King,  under  whose  patronage  the  Conference  was  being  held. 
He  was  sure  they  would  all  like  His  Majesty  to  feel  that  they  were 
thinking  of  him  that  afternoon,  though  he  was  not  able  to  be  with 
them.  The  wording  of  the  telegram  was  as  follows  :  "  Town 
Planning  Conference,  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  assembled 
at  the  Inaugural  Meeting  in  the  Guildhall,  send  assurance  of  devoted 
loyalty  to  their  Patron. — {Sio;ued)  John  Burns,  Hon.  President ; 
Leonard  Stokes,  President;  John  W.  Simpson,  Secretary-General." 
(Applause.)  The  President  went  on  to  state  that  the  Lord  Mayor 
ha\  ing  to  leave  to  attend  the  first  meeting  of  the  King  Edward  Memorial 
Committee,  he  would  ask  the  assembly  to  return  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the 
Lord  Mayor  and  Corporation  for  lending  them  the  Guildhall.  He  was 
■^ure,  also,  that  they  would  like  to  associate  the  Lady  Mayoress  with 
the  vote  of  thanks,  particularly  as  the  Lady  Mayoress's  maiden  name 
was  Pugin — (applause) — and,  as  they  had  shown  by  their  acclamation, 
Pugin  was  a  household  word  with  them  all. 

The  Lord  Mayor,  briefly  responding,  said  that  the  Lady  Mayoress 
was  a  granddaughter  of  Augustus  Welby  Pugin,  and  that  her  father 
was  a  pupil  of  Pugin. 


Inaugural  Meeting  at  the  Guildhall.  5y 

Mr.  Leonard  Stokes,  having  taken  the  chair  after  the  departure 
of  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Sheriffs,  delivered  the  following'  address  :  It  is 
my  privilege  now  as  your  President  to  make  a  few  remarks  before 
calling  upon  Mr.  Burns  to  deliver  his  Inaugural  Address.  To  begin 
with,  I  should  like  to  say  how  much  we  members  of  this  Conference 
have  to  be  thankful  for.  We  are  under  Royal  patronage,  we  have  been 
fortunate  enough  to  secure  the  use  of  this  splendid  old  hall  for  our 
opening  meeting,  and  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Lady  Mayoress  have  shown 
their  interest  in  our  proceedings  by  attending  in  person.  Xext,  we 
have  with  us  our  Hon.  President,  the  Right  Hon.  John  Burns,  ALP., 
President  of  the  Local  Government  Board.  It  is  Mr.  Burns  and  his 
Town  Planning  Act  that  have  made  this  meeting  possible,  and  I  feel 
sure  that  in  his  address  he  will  show  us  how  best  to  take  advantage  of 
this  most  useful  Act  now  that  it  is  in  operation,  for  no  one  could  do  this 
so  well  as  Mr.  Burns.  Again,  owing  to  the  large-minded  policy  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Arts  in  lending  us  their  splendid  Cialleries  in  Bur- 
lington House,  we  have  been  able  to  get  together  an  Exhibition  the 
like  of  which  perhaps  has  never  before  been  seen  in  any  country. 
Lastly,  we  have  behind  us  the  funds,  the  premises,  and  the  experience 
of  the  Roval  Institute  of  British  Architects,  and  a  little  band  of  zealous 
workers  to  whom  we  owe  more  than  anv  words  of  mine  can  adequately 
express.  We  are  also  grateful  to  the  various  foreign  countries  who 
have  responded  so  generously  to  our  demand  for  co-operation,  and  lent 
us  the  plans  of  their  great  schemes,  some  of  which  will  open  the  eyes 
of  many  here  present,  even  perhaps — dare  I  say  so? — those  of  our  Hon. 
President  himself ;  and  we  must  not  forget  either  to  give  a  hearty  wel- 
come to  our  foreign  members  and  to  the  representatives  here  assembled 
of  many  great  corporations  and  important  societies. 

A  glance  at  our  Programme  will  show  the  scope  of  the  work  we 
have  undertaken.  Papers  will  be  read  by  the  greatest  authorities, 
both  English  and  foreign,  on  various  subjects  all  directly  connected 
with  town  planning.  \"isits  will  be  made  to  places  where  already 
an  honest  attempt  has  been  made  to  solve  town-planning  problems  ; 
and  excursions  to  places  of  general  interest  more  or  less  connected 
with  our  subject  and  the  entertainments  usual  on  these  occasions  will 
add  to  the  pleasure  of  our  Conference.  I  think,  however,  that  perhaps 
the  greatest  good  will  come  from  the  Exhibition  of  Plans,  &c.,  which 
will  be  open  to  the  general  public  also  at  Burlington  House,  as  I  hope 
that  we  English  will  not  stand  with  our  hands  folded  whilst  other 
nations  are  doing  so  much. 

Town  planning  must  be  of  interest  to  all  citizens,  but  it  is  particu- 
larly interesting  to  us,  as  we  are  not  only  citizens  but  also  expert 
citizens,  and  it  is  to  us  as  experts  that  this  Conference  appeals  par- 
ticularly, as  we  trust  that  good  may  come  from  it  in  many  ways. 
First,  however,  we  the  expert  citizens  have  to  learn  how  best  to 
deal  with  the  various  complex  matters  connected  w^ith  the  subject, 
and  then  we  have  perhaps  the  harder  task  of  convincing  our  non- 
expert fellow-citizens  that  it  is  to  their  advantage  that  the  improve- 
ments decided  on  should  be  carried  out. 

Of  course,  as  I  expect  Mr.  Burns  knows,  we  architects  think  that 
his  Bill  did  not  go  quite  far  enough,  and  we  should  like  to  have  seen 
some  more  precautions  taken   to  ensure  effective  planning  from   an 


(k)     Tronsoctions  of  the  T(n^'n  Phinnini];  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

;irchitectur;il  stMiulpoint.  Probably,  however,  Mr.  Burns  felt  that  as 
architects  would  ha\c  a  i^ood  deal  to  do  with  the  preparation  of  plans 
under  his  Act.  it  would  be  our  fault  if  these  plans  were  not  all  that 
they  mifi^ht  be.  The  public  arc  be^jinninj;-  to  qrasp  the  fact  that 
buiiding^s  can  be  well  planned  and  well  designed  throughout,  and  so 
give  greater  comfort  and  pleasure  to  their  owners,  without  adding 
to  their  cost  ;  and  w  hat  applies  to  buildings  applies  equally  to  streets 
and  towns.  .\t  present  towns  are  only  popular  with  the  poor,  who 
flock  in  large  numbers  into  them  ;  whilst  the  well-to-do,  or  as  many 
as  are  able,  all  flock  in  the  other  direction.  May  not  this  be  because 
our  towns  are  thoughtlessly  laid  out  and  badly  arranged  as  places  to 
live  in  with  comfort  and  without  injury  to  health?  It  would  be 
obviouslv  to  the  advantage  of  the  owners  of  town  property  if  people 
were  keener  to  live  closer  to  their  work  ;  and  we  argue  that  if  towns 
were  made  more  attractive  and  healthy  in  themselves  people  would 
gladlv  live  in  them  and  so  save  the  time  and  expense  now  involved  in 
getting  to  and  from  their  work,  shopping,  schools,  and  theatres. 
Factories  are  now  built  so  as  to  expedite  production  as  far  as  possible 
and  save  unnecessary  moving  of  material  and  consequent  loss  of  time 
and  labour.  Vet  at  this  moment,  within  a  hundred  yards  or  so  of 
this  spot,  some  hundreds  of  people,  and  dozens  of  motors,  horses,  and 
\ans,  &:c.,  and  pounds  and  pounds'  worth  of  goods  are  all  being  held 
up  in  order  to  allow  to  pass  other  people,  horses  and  vans,  who  have 
just  done  their  turn  at  wasting  time.  Make  it  to  the  advantage 
of  an  .American  syndicate,  and  they  would  soon  "  speed  up  "  all  this. 
\'et  we  bear  it.  Why  is  Paris  always  so  popular?  I  maintain 
that  it  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  well  laid  out.  Humanity 
is  very  sensitive  to  surroundings.  Open  up  vistas,  plant  trees  and 
fountains,  give  us  light  and  air  and  music,  and  you  will  not  recognise 
the  next  generation.  How  this  is  all  to  be  done  may  require  some 
consideration  ;  but  create  a  healthy  demand  and  the  supply  will  follow. 
If  every  town  had  a  regular  improvement  rate  and  a  well-considered 
plan,  which  is  now  provided  for  under  the  Act,  improvements  might 
be  carried  out  quietly  and  regularly,  and  as  opportunity  arose,  and 
without  the  trouble  and  expense  of  going  constantly  to  Parliament. 
A  walk  round  the  Exhibition  will  show  what  other  countries  and 
cities  are  doing,  and  what  others  can  do  I  think  we  can  do  also. 

Architects  know  that  the  lay-out  or  plan  of  a  town  is  the  very 
essence  of  its  success.  Vou  may  place  any  number  of  fine  buildmgs 
in  poorly-arranged  streets  without  producing  a  fine  tow  n.  This,  so 
far,  has  never  been  really  understood  in  England,  where  we  are 
prone  to  be  little  in  our  thoughts  and  methods,  and  to  shut  our 
eyes  to  the  most  obvious  improvements  or  developments,  and  so  long 
as  we  can  wriggle  along  from  one  place  to  another  we  put  off  taking 
the  bull  by  the  horns,  which  would  seem  to  be  the  most  businesslike 
thing  to  do,  if  only  we  really  were  a  businesslike  people.  The  first 
cost  is  also  allowed  too  often  to  govern  our  decision — and  instead 
of  thinking  of  the  best  we  try  only  for  the  cheapest.  As  we  are 
meeting  to-day  in  the  largest  and  richest  city  in  the  world,  I  should 
like  to  ask  the  Corporation  most  carefully  to  consider  the  lay-out 
of  the  great  new  bridge  which  thev  are  about  to  build  across  the 
Thames.      I    know   it   is   intended   to  have   the  bridge   itself  properly 


Inaugural  Meeting  at  the  Guildhall.  6i 

designed  ;  but  the  approaches  to  a  bridge  are  as  important  as  the 
bridge  itself,  and  it  is  these  approaches  which  I  Icar  have  been 
treated  with  more  regard  to  economy  than  to  the  fine  effect  w  hich 
such  a  great  work  demands.  I  know  all  here  present  will  join  in 
asking  that,  before  it  is  too  late,  the  best  expert  ad\ice  on  this  subject 
may  be  obtained. 

Improvements,  to  be  real  improvements,  should  of  course  be 
thought  out  by  the  right  people,  who  should  never  forget  to  keep  at 
least  one  eye  always  on  the  future.  If  the  police,  however,  are  to 
design  improvements,  as  I  understand  has  lately  been  practicallv  the 
case  in  London,  then  the  Chief  Commissioner  should  attend  a  course 
or  two  of  lectures  on  civic  design  and  study  town  planning  under 
competent  direction.  The  proper  regulation  of  traiTic  is  one  thing, 
and  a  most  important  thing,  but  it  is  not  everything,  as  we  can  easih 
see  to  our  cost  by  looking  at  the  recent  Hyde  Park  Corner  impro\  e- 
ment.  Again,  in  making  our  improvements  we  should  look  well  and 
carefully  ahead  ;  improvements  should  form  part  of  a  comprehensive 
scheme,  and  should  not  be  isolated  efforts  which  may  have  to  be 
dealt  with  again  by  our  children. 

To  take  a  simple  example  which  has  happened  to  mv  knowledge. 
Within  the  last  twenty  years  or  so  it  was  decided,  on  the  old  piece- 
meal system,  to  widen  part  of  an  important  London  thoroughfare. 
This  was  done  and  the  frontage  set  back,  including  an  old  public- 
house  at  the  corner  of  a  cross  street,  which  was  rebuilt  as  a  mag- 
nificent hotel.  Later  on,  however,  on  the  piecemeal  system,  the  turn 
of  the  cross  street  came  to  be  widened,  and  again  the  corner  site,  this 
time  with  its  modern  hotel,  had  to  be  acquired  by  the  poor  ratepayer 
before  the  widening  could  be  done.  Want  of  a  comprehensive  scheme 
or  plan  rendered  this  double  expense  una\oidable. 

Another  anomaly  may  be  seen  going  on  at  the  moment  in  West- 
minster. One  end  of  a  street — its  wider  end  too — is  now  being  made 
wider,  as  recommended  by  the  recent  Traffic  Commission,  I  believe  ; 
whilst  at  its  narrower  end  a  huge  building  is  being  erected  to  the 
old  frontage  line,  which  will  thus  effectually  prexent  the  widening  of 
the  street  at  that  end  except  at  enormous  expense.  Of  course,  these 
are  only  small  instances  of  what  has  constantly  happened,  but  it  is 
this  sort  of  thing  that  the  non-expert  mind  can  understand,  and, 
having  understood,  will  be  glad  to  see  stopped. 

We  are  naturally  very  proud  of  our  free  countr\-,  even  with  its 
happy-go-lucky  ways,  but  in  towns  we  really  sadly  \\ant  a  benign 
Despot  to  say,  "  This  thing  is  wanted  and  shall  be  done,"  and  "  That 
thing  will  become  necessary  before  long  and  must  be  provided  for." 
The  Town  Planning  Act  goes  some  way  in  this  direction,  but  only 
in  a  permissive  manner,  and  my  Despot  is  omitted,  and  for  a  good 
many  of  the  mays  I  should  like  to  see  musts.  I  know  I  am  on 
dangerous  ground,  but  if  we  cannot  have  my  Despot,  then  how 
anything  short  of  the  municipalisation  of  the  necessary  land  is  e\  er 
going  to  get  us  out  of  the  difficulty.  I  fail  to  see.  Without  it  we  have 
so  many  conflicting  interests  to  deal  with  ;  with  it  we  should  have 
but  the  common  good  to  think  of.  Without  it  the  expense  is  often 
prohibitive  ;  with  it  this  difficulty  would  largely  disappear.  Without 
it  an  awful  effort  Is  necessary  every  time  a  step  has  to  be  taken  ;  with 


02     Tnnisactions  of  the  To-ccn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  njio. 

it  every  step  wduUI  be  ;i  pleasure.  Ho\ve\er,  the  new  Act  is 
undoubtedly  a  great  step  in  the  right  direction,  and  as  we  have 
Mr.  Burns  here  to  talk  to  us  about  it  I  will  not  detain  you  any  longer, 
Init  will  now  ask  him  to  address  you. 

1  in:  Right  Hon.  Joiix  Birns,  M.P.  :  As  your  Honorary 
I'resicieni.  may  I  be  allowed,  on  behalf  of  the  Prime  Minister 
and  His  Majesty's  Government,  to  welcome  this  large,  distin- 
guished, and  International  Congress  to  this  old  and  beautiful 
hall  in  the  ancient  City  and  County  of  London?  In  so  doing 
mav  I  thank  most  sincerely  the  Royal  Academy  for  their  generous 
assistance  in  providing  what  I  consider  the  most  human  and  useful 
Exhibition  I  have  ever  seen  within  its  walls.  On  previous  occasions 
when  I  have  wandered,  as  Sam  Weller  would  say,  "  permiskusly  " 
in  and  looked  around,  I  have  thought  all  was  vanity  and  vexation 
of  spirit ;  but  this  Exhibition  transcends  in  dignity,  in  display  for  a 
human  and  beneficent  object,  any  exhibition  of  this  character  I  ha\e 
e\er  seen  before,  and  I  wish  to  use  this  opportunity  to  thank  all  the 
Governments,  their  officials,  architects,  engineers,  and  surveyors  who 
have  contributed  to  make  that  Exhibition  the  brilliant  success  I  am 
sure  vou  will  regard  it  when  you  see  it.  But,  Mr.  Chairman,  we 
welcome  the  Conference  to  this  city  and  to  London  because  architects 
want  no  reminding  that  this  is  the  London  that  Wren  beautified 
with  his  fiftv-five  churches,  his  great  Cathedral,  his  Chelsea  and  his 
Greenwich  Hospitals;  and  I  think  as  a  humble  layman  I  may  say 
that  he,  perhaps,  was  in  many  respects  not  only  our  greatest  architect, 
but  also  a  master  builder  of  whom  the  British  race  can  be  reasonably 
proud. 

W'c  welcome  you  to  London  also  because  this  is  the  city  which 
William  Blake,  the  artist  and  the  poet,  idealised  in  his  wonderful 
fantasies  as  a  London,  in  his  own  words,  "  Builded  over  with  Pillars 
of  Gold,  and  there  Jerusalem's  pillars  stood."  I  have  another  reason 
for  quoting  Blake  than  the  beauty  of  those  words  :  his  wife  came  from 
Battcrsea.  We  are  meeting  in  the  London  which  John  Milton  described 
as  "  The  Mansion  House  of  Liberty  " — a  good  political  town-planning 
phrase — and  the  London  which  William  Dunbar  four  hundred  years 
ago  described — note  the  quaintness  of  the  language — "  As  gemme  of 
all  joy,  Jasper  of  Jocunditie,  London  thou  art  the  flour  of  Cities  all." 
It  must  have  been  in  many  ways  a  beautiful  cit}'  to  have  evoked 
Milton's  praise,  Dunbar's  eulogy,  William  Blake's  dreams,  and  the 
(  unning  of  Christopher  Wren's  brain  and  hand.  That  is  the  London 
u  hich  the  poets  saw,  and  of  which  they  wrote.  But  there  is  another 
London.  Here  you  delegates  will  see,  turning  from  the  purely  artistic 
and  architectural  to  the  severely  engineering,  some  magnificent  struc- 
tures worthy  of  the  greatest  men  of  any  country  and  of  all  time.  Vou 
w  ill  sec  Rennie's  great  bridges  :  Waterloo,  so  grand,  so  dignified,  so 
beautiful  in  its  scale  and  in  its  poise  that  Canova,  the  Italian  sculptor, 
said  it  was  worth  coming  from  Rome  to  see  only  a  single  arch.  Vou 
will  also  see  something  without  which  modern  town  planning  cannot 
l)c  effective,  you  will  see  Bazalgette's  beautiful  lunbankment — that, 
architecturally,  artistically,  and  from  the  engineering  point  of  view, 
is  one  of  the  finest  pieces  of  work  in  any  country.  Then  do  not  forget 
to  see  how  our  engineers,  such  as  Binnie  and   Eitzmaurice,  on  the 


Inaugural  Meeting  at  the  Guildhall.  63 

London  County  Council — and  I  was  also  one  of  them — did  their  best 
to  make  even  tunnels  clean  and  decent ;  and,  in  so  far  as  a  tunnel  can 
be  artistic,  Rotherhithe  and  Blackwall  Tunnels  are  good  steps  in  the 
right  direction.  I  must  put  in  a  word  here  for  Robson's  and  Bailey's 
fine  School  Board  schools  ;  and  it  is  only  fair  to  that  distinguished 
architect,  Mr.  Riley,  and  his  splendid  staff,  that  I  should  draw  your 
special  attention  to  the  fire  stations  that  are  being  dotted  over  London. 

Xow  for  the  architects.  If  the  delegates  wish  to  see  London  as 
it  can  only  be  seen  from  an  artistic  and  architectural  point  of  view, 
they  must  get  up  at  sunrise  and  ride  round  either  on  a  bicycle  or 
in  a  motor-car,  going  very  slowly,  and  they  will  be  charmed  with 
a  view  of  London  that  it  is  impossible  to  get  at  any  other  time  of 
the  day  or  night.  In  my  own  time  I  have  seen  this  city,  thanks  to 
the  surveyors,  become  more  beautiful,  increasingly  clean  and  more 
noiseless,  thanks  to  the  architects,  and  it  is  now  a  parish  of  fine 
commercial  palaces  and  banks  that  some  nations  might  do  well  to 
copy  in  some  regards. 

A  word  must  now  be  said  for  the  ratepayer.  The  go\'ernment 
of  the  city  and  county  for  all  its  purposes  amounts  to  _£r25,ooo,ooo 
sterling  per  annum.  The  question  is  :  Is  the  work  done  worth  the 
money?  I  believe  that  the  improving  appearance  of  our  roads, 
streets,  buildings,  and  city  as  a  whole — indeed  it  is  not  a  city,  it 
is  almost  a  civic  province — justifies  the  money  that  is  spent,  for  the 
wisest  form  of  insurance  that  a  big  city  can  make  is  money  spent  in 
the  improvement  and  development  of  the  citizens'  environment. 

May  I  here  sa}'  a  word  to  the  delegates,  especially  to  the  coun- 
cillors? Some  of  these  will  say  :  "  But,  Mr.  Burns,  cannot  we  ha\  e 
too  many  bridges,  too  many  wide  roads,  too  many  beautiful 
buildings?  "  I  do  not  think  that  the  effect  of  good  environment, 
of  fine  buildings  and  pleasant  homes,  upon  the  character,  tempera- 
ment, will,  disposition,  and  energy  of  the  people,  sufficiently  dawns 
upon  the  average  citizen.  And  to  the  foreign  delegates  may  I  say, 
some  of  the  buildings  which  you  will  see — and  I  shall  be  glad  to  be 
your  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend  in  this  matter — embody  the 
traditions  and  best  qualities  of  our  race?  Mr.  President,  it  is 
devotional  exercise  for  a  legislator,  above  all  a  ^Minister,  to  have  the 
privilege  of  walking  every  day  from  a  beautiful  office  by  way  of  the 
New  Scotland  Yard  of  Xorman  Shaw,  through  Westminster  Hall,  to 
the  ancient  House  of  Commons.  You  foreign  delegates  will  share  my 
view  about  the  witchery  of  Westminster  :  the  history  and  the  mystery 
of  its  wonderful  Abbey.  The  spacious  dignity  of  the  glorious  hall 
will  impress  you,  as  it  impressed  me  when  I  was  a  \\'estminster 
apprentice  in  that  locality.  You  have  only  to  see  the  effect  of  such 
environment  on  men,  and,  above  all,  the  historical  associations  of  a 
building  like  this  upon  the  youth — the  boys  and  girls  who  will  be 
town  planners  when  we  are  gone.  It  is  history  in  tabloid  to  find  that 
of  Westminster  Hall  it  can  be  said  that  William  Rufus  put  in  the 
walls,  Richard  II.  the  roof,  Thomas  a  Becket  paid  for  its  repair,  and 
Geoffrey  Chaucer,  father  of  English  poetry,  was  its  clerk  of  works. 
Above  all,  it  is  the  majestic  building  where  "\\'illiam  Wallace  was  tried, 
where  Oliver  Cromwell  was  installed,  and  Charles  I.  was  sentenced  : 
alternately  palace  and  prison.  Parliament  and  justice  seat.      Xowheri' 


64     Transiictions  oi  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  njio. 

in  the  world  can  there  be  seen  a  greater  or  a  more  magnificent  and 
dignified  building  than  the  Westminster  Hall  that  you  have  decided 
to  visit. 

Now  I  come  to  another  feature  that  brings  me  more  to  my  subject. 
\'ou  will  see  in  London,  but  nowhere  else,  four  hundred — note  the 
number — garden  squares  and  crescents,  some  open,  some  closed,  but 
all  accessible  to  the  eye  and  ear — the  happiest,  healthiest,  luckiest 
pieces  of  town  planning  ever  done  by  any  body  of  men  in  any  city. 
These  were  inspired  by  enlightened  self-interest.  (Hear,  hear.) 
Private  owners — here  and  there  an  aesthetic  duke,  a  marquis,  or  an 
carl — have  given  to  London  a  priceless  heritage,  every  square  \ard 
and  blade  of  grass  of  which  private  owners  must  maintain,  and  which 
public  authorities  responsible  for  London's  development  must  do  every- 
thing within  their  poAver  to  secure. 

Environment  has  a  wonderful  effect  upon  character.  You  cannot 
walk  through  dignified  Lincoln's  Inn,  or  walk  with  mighty  Verulam 
in  Gray's  Inn,  or  through  the  Temple — all  delightful  possessions  for  a 
busy  city — without  reflection  ;  and  my  reflection  when  I  walked  through 
them  on  Thursday  last  was  this  :  The  depth  and  breadth  of  English 
law — the  respect  that  it  evokes  in  every  country  of  the  world — is 
in  no  small  measure  due  to  the  spacious  serenity  of  its  Inns  of  Court, 
its  old  halls,  and  the  old-world  dignity  of  its  schools,  colleges, 
and  meeting-places.  (Applause.)  Those  venerable  and  beautiful 
buildings  are  not  mere  structures  of  brick  and  stone  :  cities  are  not 
only  emporiums  for  goods,  centres  of  commerce  and  trade  ;  they  are 
something  more  than  a  mere  cash  i^exiis  ;  they  are  places  where  utility, 
comfort,  and  beauty  can  be  and  ought  to  be  combined,  so  that  the 
passer-by  can,  from  what  he  sees,  feel  something  to  which  his  sense 
of  beauty  and  of  domestic  comfort  can  respond  all  the  better  for 
having  lived  in  and  seen  beautiful  buildings  every  day  of  his  life, 
places  which  by  their  beauty,  their  amenity,  their  grace,  and,  above 
a!l,  their  greenery,  create  a  joy  in  life  which  we  Britons  sometimes 
lack,  and  give  a  spacious  leisure  in  idle  moments,  when  study  wants 
a  respite  and  honest  labour  requires  a  pleasant  rest.  I  conceive  the 
city  of  the  future  as  Ruskin,  Morris,  Wren,  and  Professor  Geddes 
wished  a  city  to  be — that  is,  an  enlarged  hamlet  of  attractive,  healthy 
homes,  with  development  proper  and  adaptable  for  its  growing  needs 
and  trade  and  transit,  harmonising  so  far  as  may  be  possible  w^ith  the 
life  and  characteristics  of  the  people.  It  is  impossible  in  many  cities 
for  homes  to  be  more  than  the  noisy,  squalid  shelters  which  they  too 
often  are.  The  mean  street  produces  the  mean  men,  the  lean  and 
tired  women,  and  the  unclean  children.  It  is  not  an  accident  that  the 
beautiful  manor-house,  the  restful  vicarage,  the  stately  homes  of 
England,  and  the  beautiful  public  schools  and  colleges  have  turned 
out  the  Ruskins,  the  Kingsleys,  the  Morrises,  the  Nelsons,  the  New- 
tons,  and  the  Darwins.  Environment  in  youth  has  an  enormous 
influence  on  the  personal  and  civic  education  of  the  future  citizen. 

Lots  of  people  have  given  various  reasons  why  I  should  be  the  author 
of  the  Town  Planning  Bill,  but  they  are  all  wrong.  I  will  give  you  the 
real  reason.  I  was  a  Westminster  apprentice  :  I  used  to  eat  my 
breakfast  piece  on  Mowlem's  Wharf,  looking  at  Lambeth  Palace  and 
Wren's  restoration  of  .\rchbishop  Juxon's  Library.     For  my  dinner  I 


Inaugural  Meeting  at  the  Guildhall.  65 

used  to  go  to  the  cloistered  precincts  of  Westminster  Abbey,  and  when 
I  had  leisure  I  used  to  play  in  beautiful  Battersea  Park.  That  did 
more  to  produce  the  Town  Planning  Bill  thirty-five  years  afterwards 
than  all  the  criticisms  and  the  meticulous  objections  of  those  gentle- 
men who  think  they  know  more  about  my  Act  than  I  do  myself. 

The  people  of  our  poorer  towns  suffer  not  only  from  lack  of  means, 
they  suffer  from  poverty  of  spirit ;  their  dismal  temper  is  often  caused 
by  their  squalid  environment.  The  cheerful  spirit  is  very  difficult  in 
Tabard  Street  in  the  Borough,  soon  to  be  swept  away  ;  hope  is  not 
eternal  in  Hard  Street,  W'alworth  ;  and  you  do  not  get  much  of  the 
buoyant  temperament  in  Old  Peter  Street,  Westminster.  Every  day 
we  see  children's  characters  spoiled,  their  natures  stunted  by  the 
depressing  circumstances  in  which  they  live,  and  some  of  us  have 
made  up  our  minds  that  the  town  and  district  where  the  money  is  made 
ought  to  be  as  cheerful  as  the  town  where  it  is  too  often  foolishly 
spent.  (Applause.)  Spoiled  lives  in  the  soiled  homes,  in  the  slatternlv 
streets,  are  often  causes  of  dirt,  drink,  degradation,  loafing,  and 
dependence  in  many  of  our  big  cities.  \\'hen  a  slum  vanishes  a  brewery 
falls  and  public-houses  disappear  ! 

To  the  ratepayer  I  have  this  to  sa\-  :  There  is  a  greater  reason 
than  architectural  symmetry,  artistic  appearance,  or  engineering 
precision,  good  though  these  be  in  themselves,  for  town-planning 
schemes  and  good  housing.  Why  do  I  say  that?  Fifty  per  cent, 
of  our  total  pauperism,  more  than  sixty  per  cent,  of  its  total  cost, 
much  of  our  lunacy,  a  great  deal  of  our  crime,  debility,  and  dependence 
are  due  to  sickness.  We  cannot  avoid  disease  unless  we  let  in  the 
sun  and  air  into  our  houses  and  our  streets.  So  long  as  casual  labour 
broods  in  squalid  lairs,  in  sunless  streets,  and  ugly  dw-ellings  are 
its  only  habitation,  we  shall  continue  to  turn  out  nervous  mannikins 
instead  of  enduring  men.  Motherhood,  childhood,  youth,  society,  and 
the  race  demand  the  demolition  of  the  soul-destroying  slum.  They  ask 
for  the  pleasant  town,  the  comfortable  yet  dignified  city;  they  want 
architects,  and  they  will  not  be  happy  till  they  get  them. 

Now  is  this  possible?  I  think  it  is.  See  what  has  been  done. 
In  this  movement  we  are  making  great  strides  in  this  country — with 
all  respect  greater  strides,  considering  our  ancient  diflficulties,  than 
any  other  country  in  the  world  ;  and  we  ought  to,  because  domestic 
architecture  has  long  been  our  pride.  The  architects  have  been  able 
to  provide  good  houses,  pleasant,  comfortable,  and  beautiful,  for  the 
upper  classes.  "  The  stately  homes  of  England,  how  beautiful  thev 
stand  !  "  The  architect  has  done  that  for  them.  The  middle  classes 
have,  in  our  western  suburbs,  been  well  supplied  with  spacious  com- 
fortable homes  which,  if  at  times  not  beautiful,  are  tolerable. 
I  would  ask  every  architect  from  other  parts  of  London  not  only  to 
go  to  the  Hampstead  Garden  Suburb,  Bournville,  and  Port  Sunlight 
— the  owners  and  promoters  of  which  we  are  honoured  by  having 
among  us  this  afternoon — but  to  pay  a  quiet  visit  to  Wadham 
Gardens  and  Elsworthy  Road,  Hampstead,  and  see  some  of  the  most 
beautiful  domestic  architecture  that  can  be  seen  in  anv  part  of  the 
world.  Therefore,  I  say  the  upper  clases  and  the  middle  classes 
are  being  generally  fairly  well  provided  for. 

But  now  the  artisan  leaps  up  to  the  level  of  his  improving  tastes 


U)     Transactions  of  the  Toi^'n  PJunning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

and  says  :  "  I  want  somethingf  better  than  a  hovel  ;  I  want  a  home  ;  I 
want  somethin£j  in  which  my  children  and  my  wife  shall  have  a  better 
environment  than  my  parents."  So  the  artisan  is  now  clamouring^,  and 
securin.ijin  Rournville,  Port  Sunlig^ht,  Hampstead,  Earswick,  Tooting, 
Tottenham,  Ealing,  and  many  other  places,  houses  at  rents  and  of  a 
iharacter  and  beauty  that  were  not  within  the  reach  of  the  average 
artisan  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago. 

But,  friends,  we  have  to  think  of  those  tower  e\en  than  the 
artisan  :  we  have  to  think  of  the  great  mass  of  mankind,  the  hew^ers 
of  wood  and  the  drawers  of  water,  the  skilled,  the  unskilled,  and, 
above  all,  the  casual  labourer ;  and  the  responsibility  rests  upon 
us  in  house  and  town  planning  to  see  that  the  labourer  is  provided  with 
infinitely  better  housing  and  street  accommodation  than  he  now  secures. 

I  now  leave  our  objective,  our  necessity,  and  our  inspiration  to 
utter  a  word  of  warning,  if  I  may.  This  great  town-planning 
movement  must  not  end  in  a  few  large  cities  getting  all  the  talent, 
most  of  the  money,  and  the  best  of  all  the  improvements.  The  East- 
end  wants  West-ending  in  its  reconstruction — that,  and  nothing  less. 
Wigan  has  to  be  taken  in  hand  as  well  as  Westminster,  the  Potteries 
as  Avell  as  London,  and  Bermondsey  needs  it  more  than  Belgravia. 
To  every  one  of  the  40,000  local  authorities,  some  of  whose  mayors, 
aldermen,  and  clerks  are  here  this  afternoon,  I  say  our  Act,  notwith- 
standing some  of  its  defects,  provides  the  media,  the  opportunity,  of 
promptly,  through  the  agency  of  town-planning  schemes,  improving 
their  towns  according  to  their  means.  The  expanding  village  wants 
town  planning  as  much  as  does  the  large  city  ;  the  growing  town 
clamours  for  town  planning  ;  but,  most  of  all,  the  straggling  suburb 
round  the  ever-changing  city  gives  a  stimulus  whose  call  we  ought 
to  have  answered  years  ago.  For  all  these  reasons,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  industrial,  social,  commercial,  and  Imperial  town 
planning  must  go  hand  in  hand  with  better  housing,  wider  roads, 
higher  wages,  and  increasing  sobriety.  (Applause.)  Yes,  that  is 
coming.  I  believe  that  town  planning,  though  very  belated,  is  not 
too  late.  The  planning  of  a  town,  the  growth  of  a  suburb,  the 
gradual  reconstruction  of  a  city,  the  disposition  of  its  roads,  the 
setting  of  its  buildings  are  very  serious  matters  for  all.  If  these 
things  are  done  somewhat  expensively  at  the  beginning,  see  what  a 
lot  of  trouble  and  money  are  saved.  If  they  are  badly  done  through 
lack  of  ideas,  through  lack  of  imagination,  through  timidity  or  the 
craven  fear  of  being  great  that  some  of  our  aediles  and  councillors 
too  often  suffer  from — if  a  city  is  made  from  its  inception  ugly,  mean, 
narrow,  and  tortuous,  you  incur  thereby  for  fifty  or  a  hundred  years 
a  burden  interfering  with  the  growth  and  progress  of  the  city,  and 
you  pay  in  money  vast  sums  which  you  would  avoid  by  being  prescient, 
foresightcd,  daring,  and  imaginative. 

Hitherto  the  mere  owner — I  do  not  here  refer  to  the  intelligent 
and  neighbourly  men  who  planned  our  squares  seventy,  eighty, 
or  a  hundred  years  ago  in  the  West-end  of  London — whose  one 
cry  is  "  Property,  property,  property,"  and  who  is  without  fore- 
sight, short  of  vision,  dull  of  outlook,  has  been  really  wasteful 
because  he  thinks  that  parsimony  is  economy,  and  therefore  has 
narrowed    the    streets,    contracted    the   rooms,     and    looked    upon 


Inaugural  Meeting  at  the  Guildhall.  67 

a  beautiful  vista  as  the  eighth  deadly  sin.  All  this  has  to  be 
altered.  It  Is  no  good  our  pitching  into  Mr.  Jerry  Builder 
too  much.  Mr.  Jerry  Builder  is  creeping  up.  You  have  only 
to  see  the  way  in  which  a  garden  suburb  is  surrounded,  whenever  one 
is  started,  by  builders  who  try  to  live  up  to  the  model  and  exemplar 
which  has  been  planted  in  their  midst.  You  have  only  got  to  poke 
your  head  out  of  a  train,  and  wherever  you  go  you  see  a  range  of 
buildings,  and  you  say,  "  Did  Raymond  Unwin  have  anything  to 
do  with  that?  "  "  Has  Professor  Geddes  been  here?  "  or  "  Has  the 
Royal  Academy  had  a  garden  party  close  by?  "  Garden  cities  and 
garden  suburbs  are  magnificent  in  themselves,  but  they  are  a  hundred 
times  more  useful  because  of  the  inspiration  they  create,  and  the 
example  that  they  are  to  others  to  copy.  The  mere  property  owner 
too  often  unloads  on  the  jerry-builder  or  on  the  architect  much  of  the 
responsibility  he  should  take  upon  himself.  He  has  littered  the  earth 
with  his  squalid  tenements  and  his  ignoble  streets.  The  engineer, 
the  surveyor,  the  medical  officer,  and  now  the  artist  and  the  architect 
are  helping  him  to  a  more  excellent  way.  The  Philistine  is  being 
taught  that  houses,  roads,  bridges,  and  other  utilities  should  be  made, 
and  can  be  made,  without  loss  of  money,  to  harmonise  with  beauty, 
so  that  all  the  senses  will  be  artistically  adjusted  in  our  town,  domestic, 
and  civic  life.  If  this  is  done,  I  believe  the  landlord  and  the  owner  with 
imagination,  instead  of  suffering,  will  benefit;  and  as  for  the  com- 
munity, the  ratepayers  and  the  race,  these  will  benefit  enormously  if 
these  men  take  courage  with  imagination  in  both  hands  and  do  the 
thing  as  the  best  architects  are  now  advising  them. 

With  these  general  objects  which  I  have  outlined  in  view  we  did 
our  best,  with  infinite  trouble  and  much  suffering  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  more  in  the  House  of  Lords,  to  pass  what  is  known 
as  the  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Bill.  I  can  only  say  my  officers 
deserve  all  the  praise  and  credit  which  is  given  to  me  for  the  excellent 
way  in  which  they  worked  over  that  Bill ;  and  we  shall  all  be  pleased 
if,  after  twenty-five  years  of  its  operation,  it  does  much  good,  as  I 
believe  it  Avill,  and,  better  still,  be  a  source  of  great  benefit  in  a 
thousand  other  ways  that  we  did  not  even  see  when  we  drafted  it. 
I  have  been  agreeably  surprised  at  its  reception.  I  bespeak  for  it 
an  indulgent  trial,  and  if  it  can  be  amended  and  improved  it  will  be, 
so  that  your  object  and  ours  will  be  secured.  (Applause.)  What 
is  our  modest  object?  Comfort  in  the  house;  health  in  the  home; 
dignity  in  our  streets  ;  space  in  our  roads  ;  and  a  lessening  of  the 
noises,  the  smoke,  the  smells,  the  advertisements,  the  nuisances  that 
accompany  a  city  that  is  without  a  plan  because  its  rulers  are 
governors  without  ideas  and  its  citizens  without  hopeful  outlook  and 
imagination.  Why  should  we  tackle  this  great  task?  Modern  com- 
munities have  little  to  learn  which  the  ancients  did  not  teach,  and 
teach  very  well,  of  design,  situation,  and  town  planning.  In  planning 
of  cities,  design  of  buildings,  construction  of  roads,  character  of 
streets — bearing  in  mind  their  restricted  ancient  user — the  ancient 
examples  are  very  very  hard  to  beat.  Where,  for  military  or  other 
reasons,  their  streets  were  narrow  and  their  citizens  overcrowded,  com- 
pensations were  given  to  the  citizens  by  large  spaces,  fine  squares, 
quaint,  picturesque,  and  sometimes  very  beautiful  buildings.     Great 

f2 


6S     Triinsiiclions  of  the  Town  Phinning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

catlu'drals  and  fine  squares  gave  distinetion  in  the  Middle  Ages  to 
small  areas  with  narrow  closes  and  crooked  lanes.      But  we  are  con- 
fronted with   a  greater  diHkulty   than   the  ancients   had   to  grapple 
with.      Kgypt,   Greece,   Rome,    Bruges,   Ghent,   and  ancient  Sclinus 
are  all  good  examples  of  what  we  want — that  is,  the  conscious  order- 
ing bv  cities  of  their  social,  economic,  and  civic  growth  expressed  in 
architectural  form  and  by  artistic  appeal  through  the  best  men  to 
the  best  qualities  in  mankind.     We  English  have  been  slow  to  learn 
some  of  the  lessons  that  the  foreigners  are  now  teaching  us.     We  are 
free  from  the  circumvallation  of  conscript  and  military  continents  ; 
therefore  we  ought  to  have  done  better.      Wc  were  freed  at  times 
from  the  cloistered  impulses  of  the  builders  who  produced  wonderful 
cathedrals  on  the  Continent  and  here  also.      At  times  we  Englishmen 
— and  I  am  one  of  them — were  touched  by  a  narrow  utilitarianism, 
depressed  bv  a  mistaken  Puritanism  that  forgot  that  real  Puritanism 
means  not  a  city  of  melancholy  kill-joys  living  in  unlovely  dwellings, 
but   that   real    Puritanism   means   private   simplicity   in    the   citizen, 
with  public  munificence  in  civic  affairs,  and  beauty  and  magnificence 
in  all  his  public  buildings,   gardens,   and  environment,      (.\pplause.) 
Never  forget  that  you  owe  the  preservation  of  the  Raphael  cartoons 
to  Oliver  Cromwell.     But  the  ancients  were  better  off  than  we  are 
in  one  respect,  with  which  I  must  deal  because  it  has  not  been  dealt 
with.      Better  off  were   the  ancients   than   we   mechanical   moderns. 
With  us,  to  quote  the  poet,  "  'Tis  the  day  of  the  chattel  :  web  to 
weave,  corn  to  grind;  Things  are  in  the  saddle,  and  ride  mankind." 
They  are  riding  mankind  too  hard.      Rome,  Florence,   Selinus,  and 
Athens  did  not  have  imposed  upon  them  the  vandal  disabilities  that 
we  now  have  as  a  burden.      Athens,   for  instance,  did  not  have,  as 
London  has,  600  miles  of  railway  on  ugly  viaducts,  creating  culs-de- 
sac  in  mean  and  poor  streets,  with  500  ugly  railway  stations  littered, 
spoiled,  and  ruined  by  vulgar  advertisements.     (Applause.)     No  gas- 
works,  no   7000  public-houses  such  as  we  have  in  London,   nearly 
all  of  them  at  street  corners,  occupying  the  best  places,  which  ought 
only    to   be    occupied    by    banks,    libraries,    post-offices,    and    police 
stations.     But  when  you  get  rid  of  the  7000  public-houses  you  will 
not   want   the   police    stations  !      Further,    we    modern    mechanicals 
labour  under  the  disadvantage  that  we  have  all  the  obstructive  eye- 
sores and  apparatus  of  light,  heat,  smoke,  traction,  and  rapid  com- 
munication which  the  ancients  did  not  have.     But  the  measure  of  our 
difficulty  ought  to  be  the  extent  of  our  inspiration  and  our  determina- 
tion to  grapple  with  these  abominations!     What  do  I  mean?     Go 
up  the  Monument,  stand  and  look  westward,  and  see  what  Cannon 
Street  Railway  Station  hides  of  the  river  and  of  the  city.     I  prayed, 
when    I   was  last  there,    that   it   might   fall,    as   Charing   Cross   fell, 
but  without  hurting  anybody.      May   I  give  the  City  of  London  a 
suggestion?     They  are  going  to  spend  two  and  a  half  millions  on 
a  new  bridge — too  long  delayed — so  as  to  make  St.  Paul's,  Wren's 
masterpiece,  the  central  vista.     Why  do  not  they  kill  two  birds  with 
one  stone,  or  three  if  they  like?     Get  rid  of  Southwark  Bridge,  which, 
because  of  its  incline,  is  inaccessible  to  the  bulk  of  the  people  and 
for  horse  traffic  ;  get  rid  of  Cannon  Street  Station,  which  is  close  by  ; 
put  Cannon  Street  Station  on  the  Surrey  side,  and  let  us  have  a  hand- 


Inaugural  Meeting  at  the  Guildhall.  69 

some  bridge  to  serve  both.  I  am  willing  to  draft  a  plan  to-morrow 
for  this.  Let  me  give  another  instance.  Stand  on  Westminster 
Bridge,  where  Wordsworth  wrote  those  wonderful  lines,  "  Earth  has 
not  anything  to  show  more  fair."  What  stands  between  the  spot 
where  Wordsworth  wrote  those  beautiful  lines  and  that  beautiful 
bridge  worthy  of  Ceesar  or  Sesostris — Waterloo  Bridge?  There  it  is, 
that  rude,  ugly  cast-iron  monster,  known  as  the  Charing  Cross  Rail- 
way Bridge.  Put  it  on  the  Surrey  side,  with  a  fine  fagade  on  the  river, 
and  have  a  new  Waterloo  Bridge — a  replica  of  the  present  one,  but 
three  times  its  width — so  that  people  from  the  West  End  of  London 
can  drive  on  the  new  bridge  straight  to  a  Charing  Cross  transferred 
beautifully  and  happily  and  conveniently  to  the  Surrey  side. 

Look  at  Lambeth  Bridge,  over  which  a  bicycle  cannot  go.  1  am 
wearing  crape  for  the  Bumbles  who  allow  that  monstrosity  to  last 
another  week  !  See  how  some  selfish  Chelsea  artists  made  the  most 
gigantic  blunder  architecturally,  that  I  have  ever  seen  made  in 
London.  Five  or  six  artists  near  Beaufort  Street  were  so  anxious 
(what  dire  events  from  trivial  causes  spring  !)  to  have  the  brown 
sails  of  sailing  barges  outside  their  studio  windows  that  they  success- 
fully prevented  the  London  County  Council  from  carrying  the 
Embankment  from  Battersea  Bridge  right  away  to  Hammersmith. 
They  said,  "  We  want  the  brown  sails  of  the  sailing  barges."  They 
killed  the  Embankment.  There  it  is — cut  off.  Immediately  the 
Embankment  was  killed,  what  came  in  its  place?  Instead  of  a  mag- 
nificent embankment  to  W^andsworth  Bridge,  a  fine  triangular  garden 
in  the  space  recovered  from  the  river,  are  those  four  ugly  tall 
chimneys  of  the  electric  lighting  station,  out  of  scale,  out  of  pro- 
portion, out  of  place.  They  ought  to  have  been  down  at  Barking, 
near  the  sewage  works.    (Applause.) 

May  I  give  another  illustration?  Take  Somerset  House — a 
beautiful  structure.  Go  by  it  on  your  way  home  from  this  meeting. 
You  will  see  next  door  to  it — I  believe  they  were  the  Telephone 
Company's  offices — what  Sam  Weller,  Junior,  would  have  called 
"  The  nasty,  ugly  yaller  building  next  door  ";  and,  what  is  more, 
you  will  see  it  projected  beyond  the  line  of  frontage  of  Sir  William 
Chambers's  dignified  building.  Hankey's  Mansions,  Queen  Anne's 
Gate,  and  many  recent  but  not  decent  aggregations  of  badly  designed 
buildings,  all  prove  the  necessity  of  town  planning  and  its  immediate 
adoption  by  the  County  Councils,  the  Borough  Councils,  and  all  the 
Local  Authorities  throughout  the  kingdom.  They  must  take  this  Act 
in  hand.  The  Local  Government  Board  will  render  every  assistance 
towards  carrying  out  their  wishes. 

Now  I  come,  if  I  may,  to  the  most  serious  thing  I  have  to  say  to 
this  audience.  I  have  given  you  instances  in  which  the  slum  spoils 
human  nature,  how  ugly  towns  grow  into  ugly  cities,  but  may  I  bring 
before  you — because  it  is  my  duty — the  extent  of  damage  that  is  being 
inflicted  upon  rural  England  by  the  indiscriminate  unorganised 
spreading,  without  control,  of  straggling  suburbs?  But  will  you 
first  listen  to  these  facts  as  to  London?  It  seems  incredible,  but  in 
thirty  years  550,000  houses  have  been  built  in  Greater  London ; 
8,500  new  streets  have  been  formed  ;  only  twenty-three  squares  have 
been  created;  while  1,500  miles  of  new  streets  in  thirty  years  have 


70     Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 

Ikch  addtd  to  Greater  London.  This  shows  the  extent  ol  possible 
luturc  harm  resuUin.ij  from  that  unorganised  expansion  which  may 
not  be  true  development.  Hut  now  1  leave  London  and  go  to  the 
countrv.  Kvery  fifteen  years — the  figure  seems  impossible,  but  it 
is  correct — 500,000  acres  are  abstracted  from  the  rural  domain  in 
agricultural  Kngland  for  new  houses,  railways,  factories,  and  work- 
shops. That  is  not  a  bad  toll  for  "  a  dying  race  with  vanishing  trade  and 
disappearing  industries."  Five  hundred  thousand  acres  every  fifteen 
vears  extracted  from  our  rural  domain — an  area  which  represents  the 
county  of  Buckingham,  or  six  and  a  half  times  the  area  of  the  County 
of  London.  No  wonder  that,  with  these  figures  before  us  as  an 
evidence  of  present  neglect  and  past  disorganisation  in  town  planning, 
the  Municipal  Corporations,  at  their  last  annual  gathering,  said  that 
they  estimated  that  in  the  same  thirty  years  fourteen  to  fifteen  millions 
of  monev  have  been  spent  in  undoing  the  errors  and  mistakes  that 
never  should  have  been  committed.  Surely  in  a  country  of  limited 
size,  as  England  is,  we  should  not  have  this  enormous  tract  of  land 
and  houses  added  to  our  cities  and  subtracted  from  the  rural  domain 
unless  we  have  more  organisation  than  we  now  have.  Therefore 
the  problem  in  America,  Germany,  France,  Austria,  as  in  London, 
is  not  so  much  the  large  wealthy  city  and  its  reconstruction,  but  what 
has  to  be  dealt  with  in  the  near  future  is  what  London  emphasises. 
Its  twelve  central  parishes  are  losing  their  population  ;  five  of  its 
central  parishes  have  a  stationary  population,  and  people  are  sw'arm- 
ing  out,  thanks  to  an  excellent  tramway  system  that  was  fifty  years 
too  late,  because  if  such  a  system  had  been  in  existence  then  London 
would  not  have  been  so  lop-sided  in  its  development.  People  are 
swarming  from  the  centre  into  the  suburbs — into  West  Ham, 
\\'althamstow,  Tottenham — taking  London's  burdens  without 
London's  powers.  These  areas  must  promptly  co-operate  with  the 
County  Council  and  the  City  of  London,  working  hand  in  hand  for 
great  causes  for  the  future  of  their  people  in  a  neighbourly  way  ;  or, 
if  they  do  not  do  that,  the  larger  areas  themselves  will  be  driven, 
for  their  own  self-protection,  twenty  or  fifty  years  hence  to  go  outside 
and  deal  less  liberally  with  the  outside  areas  than  they  would  do  if 
those  areas  would  join  the  larger  areas,  in  framing  in  a  fraternal 
spirit  town-planning  schemes  of  roads,  better  houses,  tree-planting, 
and  fine  avenues.  The  great  merit  of  our  Act  is  that,  pending  the 
absorption  by  the  inner  of  the  outer  areas — which  I  do  not  want — by 
conference,  joint  action,  and  in  conjunction  with  private  owners  so 
far  as  roads,  streets,  and  general  laying  out  are  concerned,  both  can 
commence  at  once,  and  in  that  I  shall  be  pleased  to  co-operate  from 
the  Central  Authority. 

One  word  before  I  have  done.  You  will  say,  "  How  is  the  Act 
working,  Mr.  Burns?  "  Well,  it  has  not  been  in  effective  operation 
more  than  six  months.  In  that  time  the  Local  Government  Board 
have  not  moved  except  after  consulting  all  the  competent  authorities 
and  adopting  many  of  the  suggestions  which  engineers,  architects, 
and  local  authorities  have  made  in  the  formation  of  regulations. 
But  already  twenty-six  local  authorities  are  preparing  schemes,  many 
other  authorities  are  considering  the  application  of  by-laws  to  their 
problem,   and  hardly  a  day  passes  by  but  the  Central   Authority   is 


Inaugural  Meeting  at  the  Guildhall.  71 

either  helping  by  information,  seeking  advice,  and  giving  good 
counsel  to  local  authorities  who  are  rapidly  feeling  their  way.  You 
have  only  to  look  at  the  literature  and  bibliography  of  town  planning 
to  see  how  the  subject  is  growing ;  and  if  I  have  been  able  by  this 
Bill  to  stimulate  the  latent  interest  there  was  in  favour  of  better 
housing  and  town  planning,  I  have  been  amply  rewarded  by  every- 
thing I  have  seen  since  this  Bill  became  a  statute. 

Now  a  word  to  the  owners.  Owners  of  land,  as  of  other  things, 
are  a  little  too  susceptible  to  panic  and  ready  to  go  off  at  half-cock. 
But  I  can  only  say  this  :  If  you  do  not  adopt  sensibly  and  in  a  kindly 
and  generous  spirit  the  modest,  kindly  suggestions  in  our  Bill, 
public  opinion  will  com.e  along  if  this  problem  goes  on  unabated,  and 
you  will  be  less  tenderly  dealt  with  in  the  future  than  you  now  are 
in  my  Bill.  I  am  here  to  "  snatch  you  like  brands  from  the  burning," 
I  am  here  "  to  gather  you  in  "  ;  and  I  beg  of  you  owners  and  land- 
lords of  urban  property  to  have  only  one  example  before  you,  and 
that  is  the  kindly,  neighbourly  guidance  and  precedents  that  your 
own  class  a  hundred  years  ago  set  you  in  the  garden  squares  of 
the  West-end  of  London  ;  and  if  you  act  up  to  the  best  traditions 
of  that  precedent — if  noblesse  oblige  characterises  you,  if  you  throw 
out  a  life-line  to  save  your  poor  fellow-creatures  from  the  slums,  the 
mean  street,  and  all  the  abominations  of  the  badly  planned  city,  it 
will  be  "  bread  cast  upon  the  waters  "  which  will  be  returned  to 
you  after  many  days  in  the  grateful  thanks  of  generations  unborn 
for  the  w-ay  in  which  you  responded  to  the  appeal  which  I  now  make. 
(Applause.)  We  are  doing  a  lot  of  things  on  the  lines  of  town 
planning.  Take  our  Bill,  take  the  Road  Board,  the  Develop- 
ment Fund  which  enlightened  public  opinion  will  concentrate  in  one 
department,  and  I  think  great  progress  will  be  made  if  we  have  a 
unification  of  sectional  effort  as  well  as  stimulation  by  the  concentration 
of  the  activities  of  the  local  authorities. 

But  I  am  asked  :  "  What  town  plans  shall  we  adopt,  Mr. 
Burns?  "  I  reply  :  "  Those  of  England — our  own,  but  greatly 
improved."  Let  each  nation,  with  its  own  character,  individuality, 
climate,  and  physical  structure,  go  its  own  way  and  copy  nobody. 
It  is  not  always  the  straight  and  narrow  path  that  leadeth  to  civic 
beauty  and  righteousness.  Go  to  the  Royal  Academy  !  What  is 
the  great  charm  of  that  exhibition?  It  is  that  the  French  differs  from 
the  American,  the  American  differs  from  the  German,  and  all  three 
differ  from  our  own.  That  is  what  we  want.  In  my  judgment,  in 
London  there  is  too  much  Haussmannising  going  on  already  ;  and 
if  we  are  not  careful  we  may  get  too  much  of  Sieges  AUee  type  of  civic 
embellishment,  which  I  do  not  want  to  see  applied  to  London.  Cities 
should  be  as  varied  as  the  people  who  live  in  them,  and  I  would  ask 
you  not  slavishly  to  copy  anyone.  But  someone  will  say  :  "  But, 
Mr.  Burns,  we  want  wide  roads."  Yes;  but  wide  roads  are  not 
much  good  if  they  are  badly  paved,  or  if  traffic  is  driven  to  the  centre 
or  the  sides  because  the  wide  road  is  not  properly  maintained.  Broad 
avenues  are  not  much  good  unless  they  are  well  maintained  in  a 
clean,  tidy,  and  good  order.  Unless  wide  roads  are  subserved  by 
minor  roads  at  their  proper  points,  you  do  not  gain  much.  May  I 
give  you  an  example?     Take  the  rapid  movement  of  London  traffic, 


72     Tnuisaclions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

the  hiw,  tlu-  order  and  discipline  of  the  streets,  thanks  in  no  small 
measure  to  our  wonderful  police  system.  (Applause.)  But,  friends, 
I  have  seen  cities  with  wider  roads  than  London's  that  do  not  have 
the  order  and  the  discipline  of  London,  that  do  not  have  the  neigh- 
bourly spirit  which  is  a  characteristic  of  London  traffic.  I  have  seen 
them  gorged  and  inconvenient  to  the  extent  that  the  roads  were  dis- 
proportionately wide.  Some  continental  cities  show  that  in  details 
which  I  need  not  elaborate. 

My  last  word  on  wide  roads  is  this  :  Breadth  of  boulevard  in  itself 
is  not  enough.  If  we  get  width  in  the  roads  at  the  cost  of  the  health 
of  the  homes  in  the  tenements  behind,  we  not  only  do  not  gain,  but 
we  lose.  If  we  get  beauty  at  the  cost  of  the  women  and  children, 
or  if  we  get  public  amenities  by  overcrowding  and  density  of  popula- 
tion, we  are  not  going  to  gain  much  ;  and  I  see  signs  of  this  coming 
in  London.  We  must  be  very  careful  that  in  our  wide  roads  we  do 
not  litter  the  footpaths  and  the  middle  of  the  roads  with  needless 
kiosks,  posts,  refuges,  and  other  things.  There  is  even  a  danger  in 
space.  I  think  Trafalgar  Square  too  small,  but  I  think  the  Place 
de  la  Concorde,  beautiful  though  it  is,  too  large.  I  believe  there 
are  too  many  trees  in  Toronto  and  not  enough  in  London  or  Berlin. 
What  we  have  to  do  is  to  strike  a  happy  mean,  and  to  get  the 
architects  and  the  artists,  in  co-operation  with  the  engineer  and 
medical  officer,  to  bring  all  their  points  of  view  to  bear  upon  a 
sensible  council  that  will  to  a  great  extent  be  guided  by  the  highest 
artistic  taste. 

I  have  a  suggestion  to  make  to  London  owners.  There  are  scores 
of  beautiful  houses  surrounded  in  London  by  needlessly  high,  dirty, 
and  ugly  walls.  Pull  them  down.  Let  us  have  a  low  dwarf  wall 
and  fine  iron  railings,  such  as  you  see  at  Clissold  Park,  Brockwell 
Park,  Gray's  Inn.  and  Lincoln's  Inn.  Suppose  the  400  squares  in 
London  without  a  wall  had  walls,  what  beauty  London  would  be 
deprived  of  !  I  have  even  a  suggestion  to  make  to  the  Parks  Com- 
mittee of  the  London  County  Council.  Too  often  County  Council 
parks  arc  surrounded  by  fences  you  cannot  see  through,  or  by  need- 
lessly high  privet  and  holly  hedges,  that  prevent  you  getting  from 
the  road,  as  you  ought  to  get,  as  good  a  view  and  as  fine  a  vista  as 
if  you  were  inside.  (Applause.)  In  the  past  Government  Depart- 
ments— post  office,  police  stations,  police  courts,  schools,  and 
museums — have  considered  themselves  independent  and  exempt  from 
the  Building  .-Xct  and  the  lines  of  frontage  to  which  architects  have 
to  adhere  when  their  clients  are  private  owners.  This  must  not  be 
continued  !  (Applause.)  The  Government  itself  must  toe  the  Une 
that  it  prescribes  for  everybody  else.  (Applause.)  Above  all,  let 
Londoners  remember  that  London  has  a  river.  You  would  not  think 
it  if  you  walked  from  London  Bridge  to  the  Surrey  Commercial  Dock 
at  Deptford,  where  you  can  hardly  get  a  single  glimpse  of  that 
beautiful  river.  We  want  our  river  opened  up  more  than  it  is.  In 
that  respect  Paris  teaches  us  a  magnificent  lesson  by  the  disposition 
of  its  quays,  and  the  beauty  of  the  banks  on  the  sides  of  the  canals 
in  Berlin  and  other  continental  cities  show  us  what  we  can  do  with 
our  own  Regent's  Canal. 

I  now  come,  Mr.  President,  to  my  next  point,  which  is  this  :  Some 


k 


Inaugural  Meeting  at  the  Guildhall.  73 

people  say,  "  But  wTiy  should  we  take  the  trouble  in  a  city  like  London 
to  make  it  beautiful  and  attractive?  "  I  will  tell  you.  How  many 
people  realise  that  London  is  now  vying  with  Paris  and  Berlin,  with 
Vienna  and  ancient  Rome  and  Greece  as  a  place  of  attraction?  In  the 
opinion  of  Parisians  and  Berliners,  London  is  becoming  a  dangerous 
rival  from  the  point  of  view  of  attracting  people  from  all  parts  of  the 
earth.  That  is  shown  by  the  growth  of  the  enormous  hotels  which  you 
see  everywhere.  I  admit  that  there  are  one  or  two  of  them  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Russell  Square  that  might  be  in  better  taste — but 
that  by  the  way.  I  mention  this  point  on  purpose  to  emphasise  the 
profitable  side  of  the  beautiful  city.  How  many  people  realise  that 
there  are  80,000  strange  people  who  come  into  the  city  of  London 
every  day,  or  half  a  million  a  week,  consisting  of  Americans, 
Colonials,  Frenchmen,  Germans,  and  all  the  nationalities  of  the  world, 
attracted  by  that  great  building  the  British  Museum,  the  fine  build- 
ings at  South  Kensington,  and  other  great  attractions,  owing  to  what 
the  architects  and  surveyors  are  doing  to  add  to  the  attractiveness,  the 
beauty,  the  dignity,  and  the  noiselessness  of  this  vast  city?  I  mention 
these  figures  in  order  to  get  the  hotelkeeper  on  our  side — to  get  the 
economical  ratepayer  and  all  the  other  people  on  our  side  who  now 
say,  "  If  we  allow  these  artists  and  architects  to  run  loose  they  will 
ruin  us."  It  is  not  true.  Beauty  is  not  only  attractive,  but  it  is  pro- 
fitable :  it  pays  in  the  long  run  ;  it  is  economical.  It  is  what  every 
city  ought  to  strive  after,  and  I  urge  these  points  so  as  to  get  the 
citizen  and  ratepayer  on  our  side.  Other  men  may  say,  "  Mr.  Burns, 
it  is  a  long  process."  No,  it  is  not.  Fifty  or  a  hundred  years  in  the 
life  of  a  nation  is  not  much.  I  picked  up  the  other  day  one  of  Vol- 
taire's writings,  and  this  is  what  he  said  of  Paris  (which  is  now  in 
many  respects  the  most  beautiful  city  in  the  world,  as  it  is  also  the 
soul  and  spirit  of  many  fine  movements)  150  years  ago  :  "  The  centre 
of  Paris  is  obscure  and  hideous.  It  represents  a  period  of  the  most 
shameful  barbarism  ;  only  two  fountains  are  in  good  taste."  Now  it 
has  taken  Paris  150  years  to  reverse  what  Voltaire  said  of  it,  and,  all 
things  considered,  in  the  last  fifty  years  we  have  made  greater  pro- 
gress in  the  improvement  of  London  than  Paris  did  in  a  century.  I 
could  not  help  thinking,  when  coming  out  of  the  Guildhall  the  other 
day,  and  looking  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  how  even  great  archi- 
tectural minds  were  not  always  strictly  right  in  their  view  as  to  the 
necessity  of  other  things  besides  pure  architecture  being  embodied  in 
their  city  and  town  planning  schemes.  It  may  seem  almost  impos- 
sible, but  it  is  the  fact  that  the  great  Christopher  Wren,  w^hen,  after 
the  Fire,  he  drew  up  his  fine  town  plan  of  a  future  London — would 
that  the  Bumbles  had  allowed  him  to  carry  it  out  ! — made  this  condi- 
tion :  "  All  churchyards,  gardens,  and  unnecessary  vacuities  are  to  be 
placed  outside  the  town."  Since  then  we  have  learned  that  archi- 
tecture never  looks  so  well  as  when  surrounded  by  greenery  in  or  near 
a  park  or  a  public  garden,  and  to  that  extent  at  least  we  modern 
Philistines  have  improved  upon  the  great  Christopher  Wren.  But 
he  did  another  thing — one  of  the  greatest  inspirations  that  ever  came 
to  an  architect — he  declared,  when  he  submitted  his  plan,  that  all 
buildings  to  be  erected  should  have  opposite  and  in  front  of  them  a 
strip  of  vacant  land  to  be  converted  into  a  garden  that  was  to  be 


74     Trunsactiotis  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

equal  in  length  tu  the  facade  of  am  building  erected.  What  was  the 
reason  for  that  wise  provision?  Vou  have  only  to  go  down  to  Green- 
wich Hospital  and  see  that  beautiful  edifice,  looking  like  a  Portland 
stone  casket  on  the  southern  side,  and  you  will  see  Island  Gardens  on 
a  piece  of  land  selected  by  Wren  right  opposite  Greenwich  Hospital 
which  would  have  enabled  him  to  carry  out  that  principle.  That  is 
really  a  great  attraction  to  Greenwich  on  the  north  side,  and  you 
cannot  see  Greenwich  in  all  its  beauty  on  the  south  till  you  go 
to  Island  Gardens,  which  Mr.  Goninie  and  myself  did  our  best 
to  retain,  so  that  Wren's  wish  should  be  secured  in  the  centuries 
that  followed  his  death.  I  only  mention  -that  to  bring  my  other 
point  forward,  which  is  this  :  Government  Departments  are  more 
responsive  to  the  architectural  appeal  than  they  used  to  be. 
(.Applause.)  The  Government  have  bought  six  acres  of  land 
opposite  Hampton  Court  so  that  Wolsey's  Palace  and  Wren's 
great  contribution  thereto  should  enjoy  what  Wren  said  all  his  build- 
ings ought  to  have — a  piece  of  land  equal  to  their  length  right  oppo- 
site. To-day  no  Post  Ofhce,  Home  Ofhce,  or  Local  Government  Board 
dare  fly  in  the  face  of  artistic  opinion  and  architectural  suggestion, 
and  project  buildings  beyond  the  ordinary  line  of  frontage  to  the 
extent  that  Government  Departments  did  up  to  ten  years  ago.  You 
architects  ought  to  take  heart  of  grace  from  the  interest  that  there  is 
in  this  Conference.  Vou  ought  also  to  be  encouraged  by  the  fact  that 
increasingly  you  are  influencing  people  in  many  ways  that  you  cannot 
conceive,  and  I  sincerely  trust  that,  encouraged  by  this  success,  you 
will  go  forward  and  persist  in  this  most  important  portion  of  your 
work,  the  enlightenment  of  your  masters  the  public  and  your  masters 
the  ratepayers. 

Friends,  here  is  my  last  appeal.  Architects,  artists,  if  you  had 
your  way  London  would  be  very  beautiful.  If  I  had  my  way  town 
planning  would  be  applied  rigorously  and  at  once.  But  there  is  one 
person  who  stands  between  the  Local  Government  Board,  the  artist, 
the  architect,  the  engineer,  the  surveyor,  and  the  medical  officer, 
and  that  is  the  layman  who  pays  the  rates,  who  contributes  to  your 
taxes.  He  will  have  to  pay  for  all  his  city's  development  and  improve- 
ment. He  is  willing  to  pay,  because  generally  he  endorses  the  view 
I  take  of  this  problem — that  from  the  ratepayer's  point  of  view  it  is 
a  good  investment  that  has  been  too  long  delayed.  Now  how  can 
you  architects  help?  I  believe  the  layman,  the  Philistine,  the  econo- 
mist can  be  converted  if  you  will  take  the  trouble  to  teach  him.  This 
Conference  which  you  have  called  is,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  so, 
the  very  best  thing  the  London  architects  have  ever  done  for  the 
glory  of  their  city  and  the  dignity  of  their  profession.  How  many 
architects  are  there  on  our  25,000  local  authorities  in  England  and 
Wales?  Some  of  you  architects  had  better  join  some  of  the  borough 
councils  and  the  county  councils  and  take  a  direct,  practical,  but  it 
will  have  to  be  a  patient,  hand  in  guiding  the  ratepayer  who  is  willing 
to  listen  to  you  within  reason.  If  you  cannot  do  that,  you  can  speak 
to  the  people  in  their  town  halls  ;  give  them  lantern  lectures  so  as  to 
popularise  fine  houses,  good  gardens,  and  beautiful  streets.  Some 
of  you  will  say,  "  But  the  people  are  not  amenable  to  this  appeal." 
That  is  not  true.      Here  is  a  social  factor  which  is  significant  of  much. 


Inaugural  Meeting  at  the  Guildhall.  75 

and  with  something'  beautiful  behind  it.  In  three  years  250  picture 
theatres  have  been  opened  up  in  the  area  of  the  London  County 
Council.  Go  to  them,  as  I  go  to  them.  Oh,  I  often  have  my  penny- 
worth and  two  pennyworth  in  the  pit  and  gallery.  I  have  been  to 
scores  of  them,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  to  many  of  them  unknown. 
What  are  they  looking  at  in  these  picture  theatres?  Watch  the 
people,  watch  their  faces  ;  hear  what  they  have  to  say.  The  thing 
that  attracts  them  most  is  not  the  comic  that  pleases.  The  vulgar, 
I  am  glad  to  say,  thanks  to  the  County  Council's  policy  of  years  ago, 
repels  them.  But  what  brings  their  spirit  out,  evokes  their  applause, 
and  enlightens  their  countenances,  is  the  sight  of  beautiful  places 
on  the  screen,  which  you  architects,  citizens,  ratepayers,  councillors, 
aldermen  must  bring  home  to  their  very  doors  in  this  London  of  ours. 
You  do  not  know  how  good  the  response  of  the  people  to  this  appeal 
will  be,  and  I  ask  you  architects  in  the  direction  that  I  have  indicated 
to  make  this  appeal  and  see  how  it  will  be  responded  to. 

My  final  word  is  :  plan  the  town  if  you  like,  but  in  doing  it  do  not 
forget  that  you  have  got  to  spread  the  people.  In  the  light  of  some 
continental  experience  this  wants  driving  home.  Plan  the  town,  but 
spread  the  people.  Make  wider  roads,  but  do  not  narrow  the  tene- 
ments behind.  Dignify  the  city  by  all  means,  but  not  at  the  expense 
of  the  health  of  the  home  and  the  family  life  and  the  comfort  of  the 
average  workman  and  citizen.  Remember  that  civic  pride  and  civic 
beauty  must  not  add  to  private  rents  to  any  large  extent.  Make 
your  plan,  if  you  do  plan,  bold  enough,  fair  enough,  and  in  a  neigh- 
bourly way  gather  all  the  straggling  suburbs  into  a  noble  and 
dignified  scheme  of  expansion.  Make  our  cities  and  our  councillors 
respond  to  this  appeal  that  you  architects  and  artists  will  make,  and 
if  you  do  this,  as  I  believe  you  will,  as  a  primary  result  and  direct 
consequence  of  this  Conference,  I  shall  be  more  than  delighted  at 
having  spent  nearly  three  years  of  my  life  in  preparing,  with  my 
devoted  officers,  a  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act  which  has  given 
us  all  the  opportunity  of  relieving  the  future  of  many  of  our  present 
difficulties  and  of  providing  us  with  remedies  for  troubles  that  have 
been  allowed  to  accumulate  too  long.  If  you  do  this  we  all  of  us 
shall  be  rewarded  by  the  betterment  of  our  towns,  the  beautification 
of  our  streets,  the  improvement  of  our  suburbs.  We  shall  have  made 
one  step  forward  to  still  further  elevating,  improving,  and  dignifying 
the  life  of  our  citizens,  who  the  future  demands  shall  live  in  some- 
thing better  than  the  houses  in  which  too  many  of  them  live  to-day,  in 
which  education,  moral  elevation,  happiness  and  geniality  is  impos- 
sible ;  and  I  ask  you  architects,  artists,  engineers,  and  surveyors 
without  the  least  hesitation  to  put  your  shoulders  to  this  task  and 
carry  out  the  duty  that  falls  upon  your  noble  professions ;  and  if  you 
respond  to  this  appeal,  as  I  believe  you  will,  once  more  the  races  of 
the  world  will  be  grateful  to  a  free  country  and  a  great  race  like  the 
English  people  for  putting  our  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Bill  on 
the  Statute  Book  in  the  year  igog.  (Loud  applause.)  Before  I  sit 
down  I  must  read  you  the  following  telegram  which  has  just  been 
received  from  Sir  Arthur  Bigge  : — 

"  I  am  commanded  by  the  King  to  thank  you,  the  Members  of  the 
Town-Planning  Conference,  for  the  expression  of  loyalty  conveyed  in 


76     Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

\  our  telegram,  and  to  assure  you  of  the  interest  His  Majesty  takes  in  the 
deliberations  of  the  Conference." 

Sir  Aston  Webb,  C.B.,  R.A.  :  Ladies  and  gentlemen, — I  am  sure 
vou  would  not  wish  to  go  away  from  this  meeting  without  offering 
your  best  thanks  to  Mr.  Burns  for  the  magnificent  address  that  we 
have  just  listened  to.  (.Applause.)  Vou  will  all  feel  that  he  has 
elevated  this  subject  far  above  the  plane  on  which  we  are  perhaps 
apt  to  look  upon  it,  and  that  we  shall  all  be  proud  to  take  part  in 
the  great  work  that  lies  before  us.     (Great  applause.) 

On  behalf  of  this  Meeting,  Mr.  Burns — Members  of  the  Royal 
Institute  of  British  Architects  and  Members  of  this  Conference — I 
venture  to  give  to  you,  Sir,  our  best  and  most  grateful  thanks  for 
vour  presence  here  to-day  and  for  your  inspiriting  Address.  I  should 
like  to  add  only  this — that  if  Mr.  Burns  requires  any  reward,  the 
one  reward  he  would  like  to  have  would  be  that,  in  the  twenty-five 
years  hence  that  he  has  spoken  of,  he  may  see  some  town-planning 
schemes  so  carried  out  as  to  improve  the  amenities  and  the  habits  of 
our  towns  and  add  to  the  health,  the  comfort,  and  the  happiness  of 
their  citizens.     (Applause.) 

The  proceedings  then  terminated. 


// 


VISITS   AND    EXCURSIONS. 

Letchworth  Garden  City. — Tuesday,  nth  October. 

Ox  Tuesda}',  iith  October,  some  212  members  of  the  Conference 
visited  Letchworth  (Garden  City),  leaving  King's  Cross  at  1.45,  and 
arriving  at  Letchworth  at  2.50.  They  were  met  at  the  station  by  various 
persons  who  kindly  acted  as  guides,  and  were  conducted  to  the  site  of 
the  future  Central  Square  of  the  town,  from  which  a  good  general  view 
of  the  surrounding  districts  and  buildings  can  be  obtained.  Here  Mr. 
Raymond  Unwin  gave  a  short  address,  in  which  he  explained  the  plan  of 
the  town,  referring  to  a  large  map  which  had  been  fixed  up  for  that  pur- 
pose by  the  courtesy  of  the  Estate  OtTice.  He  pointed  out  the  objects 
of  Mr.  Howard's  book,  and  their  adaptation  to  Letchworth,  and 
reminded  his  hearers  that  the  central  part  of  the  town  is  to  be  left 
undeveloped  until  the  public  and  other  important  buildings  are 
required  which  it  is  hoped  will  form  the  Central  Square. 

Most  of  the  party  were  then  driven  round  the  estate.  Some, 
however,  elected  to  visit  the  industrial  area.  Their  number  was 
augmented  by  some  who  unfortunately  could  not  be  accommodated 
in  the  brakes,  owing  to  the  fact  that  about  sixty  members  only 
decided  to  join  the  party  on  the  morning  of  the  expedition,  and  it 
was  found  impossible  to  provide  the  extra  vehicles  at  such  short 
notice.  The  walking  party  was  taken  through  part  of  the  cottage 
area  to  the  factories,  some  of  which,  including  Messrs.  \\\  H.  Smith 
and  Sons'  bookbinding  works,  were  inspected. 

Both  parties  met  at  the  Howard  Hall  and  adjoining  Girls'  Club, 
where  tea  was  served  at  4.15,  after  which  they  returned  to  the 
station  in  time  for  the  4.57  train. 

Owing  to  the  short  time  allowed  for  the  visit,  it  was  found 
impossible  for  those  who  were  dri\ing  to  inspect  any  buildings  as 
some  wished  to  do  ;  but  a  few  members  remained  until  a  later  train 
for  that  purpose.  Some  of  these  drove  to  the  Norton  side  of  the 
estate  to  look  at  cottages,  while  others  chose  to  visit  a  few  private 
houses  near  Letchworth  Corner. 

COURTENAV   CrICKMER. 


Hatfield  House. — Tuesday,   nth  October. 

Hatfield  House  is  not  only  a  fine  house  in  itself,  but  it  is  interest- 
ing as  typical  of  a  remarkable  period  of  house-building.  It  was  built  by 
Robert  Cecil,  Earl  of  Salisbury,  the  second  son  of  the  great  Lord 
Burghlev,  Queen  Elizabeth's  minister.  The  Cecils  were  notable  house- 
builders  in  a  house-building  age.  Lord  Burghley,  the  father,  built 
Burghley  House  by  Stamford  Town,  Theobalds  in  Hertfordshire,  and 
Cecil  House  in  the  Strand.     His  eldest  son,  who  resided  at  Burghley 


78     Transactions  of  the  Tca'ti  Phinnini,^  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

and  founded  the  family  of  the  Exeters,  built  a  f^ne  dower-house  at 
W'othorpe,  "  to  retire  to,"  he  said,  "  when  his  threat  house  of  Burs:hley 
was  a-sweepin£j. "  His  vounger  son,  who  founded  the  family  of  the 
Salisburys,  built  Hatfield  House,  and  another  fine  house  at  Wimbledon. 
Of  these  six  mansions  only  Burghley  and  Hatfield  survive. 

Robert  Kin\  of  Salisbury  inherited  Theobalds  on  the  death  of 
his  father  in  1508.  It  was  a  vast  handsome  pile  of  buildings,  at 
such  a  convenient  distance  from  London  that  shortly  after  James  I. 
came  to  England  he  entered  into  negotiations  with  Robert  Cecil, 
and  cventuallv  made  an  exchange  with  him  ;  he  took  Theobalds  him- 
self, and  gave  Cecil  the  estate  of  Hatfield,  which  had  a  large  old- 
fashioned  house  on  it.  This  house  had  been  built,  it  is  said,  by  a 
Bishop  of  Ely  in  1480,  but  at  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  it 
became  the  property  of  King  Henry  VHI.,  who  used  it  as  a  resi- 
dence, and  it  was  therefore,  in  a  sort,  a  royal  palace.  The  Princess 
p:iizabeth  lived  there  during  the  reign  of  her  sister  Mary,  in  a  kind 
of  honourable  duresse. 

When  the  Earl  of  Salisbury  came  into  possession,  he  was 
dissatisfied  with  the  old  house  and  resolved  to  build  a  new  one ;  in 
course  of  time  he  converted  the  old  house  into  stables,  and  it  is  still  used 
for  that  purpose.  He  determined  that  the  new  house  should  be  well  built 
and  well  situated,  and  in  April  1607  he  came  over  to  Hatfield  with  two 
eminent  lords  of  his  acquaintance — one  of  whom,  the  Earl  of 
Suffolk,  was  himself  a  great  builder — and  in  consultation  with  them 
he  settled  on  the  site.  Building  operations  were  soon  begun,  and  were 
continued  with  so  much  despatch  that  by  the  year  161 1  the  house  was 
ready  for  occupation  ;  and  the  date  161 1  may  be  seen  to-day  in  the  centre 
of  the  south  front. 

That,  very  briefly,  is  the  genesis  of  the  house.  As  to  its  significance 
in  the  long  story  of  the  development  of  the  English  house,  it  may  be 
considered  to  represent  the  full-blown  flower  of  the  early  Renaissance. 
Before  this  time  nearly  all  large  houses  had  been  built  round  one  or  more 
court-yards,  a  fashion  which  originated  in  the  necessity  for  defence,  but 
which  was  continued  in  part,  probably,  for  the  sake  of  architectural 
effect.  But  by  this  time  defence  being  no  longer  necessary  the  old  idea 
was  being  abandoned,  and  Hatfield  does  not  consist  of  a  court,  but 
of  a  main  block  with  two  large  wings.  There  is  no  thought  here 
of  defensive  precautions.  In  the  old  houses,  also,  the  w-indows  were 
usually  small,  likewise  from  motives  of  security.  They  are  small  in  the 
old  house  here.  In  the  new  house  their  size  is  not  restricted,  and  they 
are  employed  not  only  to  give  light  inside  but  also  to  help  the  design  of 
the  exterior.  In  the  old  house  the  treatment  of  the  architectural  features 
is  founded  on  the  traditional  Gothic  of  England.  In  the  new  house 
there  is  not  only  a  classic  symmetry  of  disposition,  but  a  consider- 
able admixture  of  classic  detail — in  the  columns  of  the  arcade  on  the 
south  front,  in  the  doorways,  and  other  similar  features.  At  the 
same  time,  some  of  the  old  traditional  ways  of  design  are  retained, 
and  we  get  that  interesting  mixture  of  Gothic  and  classic  which 
prevailed  in  the  period  of  Elizabeth  and  James  before  the  study  of 
foreign  examples  and  of  text-books  enabled  designers  to  imitate 
more  closely  the  "  regular  "  and  "  correct  "  architecture  of  Italy. 
I'olli  inside  and  out  \c)u  will  see  this  curious  mixture.      You  will  see 


Visits  and  Excursions.  79 

how  the  open  loggia  or  arcade  of  Italy  was  utilised  in  an  English  house, 
and  how  it  has  had  to  be  enclosed  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  our  English 
climate. 

In  addition  to  this  feature  there  is  the  long  gallery,  even  more 
characteristic  of  the  Elizabethan  and  Jacobean  house,  and  there  is 
the  Great  Hall,  a  legacy  from  the  earliest  mediaeval  times.  Origi- 
nally the  Great  Hall  was  the  principal,  almost  the  only  living-room 
in  a  house.  In  the  course  of  years  it  was  supplemented  by  others, 
but  even  when  Hatfield  was  built,  the  hall  was  still  a  living-room, 
and  not,  as  it  was  shortly  to  become,  merely  a  fine  vestibule  leading 
to  the  real  living-rooms. 

Among  the  other  important  rooms  there  are  the  Great  Chamber, 
the  Chapel,  and  the  Library.  These  rooms  are  all  of  them  decorated, 
more  or  less,  in  the  manner  of  their  time.  There  are  panelled  walls, 
intricate  plaster-ceilings,  fine  chimney-pieces,  and  elaborate  wood 
screens.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  year  1835  the  house 
was  very  seriously  damaged  by  fire,  and  that  in  consequence  very 
drastic  renovations  were  necessary.  It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  house  has  been  continuously  occupied,  and  that  continuous 
repairs  have  been  necessary.  The  result  of  these  two  facts  is  that  a 
large  amount  of  the  original  Jacobean  work  has  gone,  and  that  some 
of  the  rooms  are  modern  in  appearance.  Nevertheless,  enough  has 
escaped  to  enable  us  to  form  a  very  good  idea  of  how  a  great  noble 
was  housed  in  the  days  of  James  I. 

J.  Alfred  Gotch,  F.S.A. 

Quite  a  large  company  of  members  of  the  Conference  chose  to 
make  Hatfield  House  their  goal  for  this  afternoon,  and  we  were  glad 
to  notice  that  several  of  our  friends  from  over  the  water  availed 
themselves  of  this  opportunity  to  see  one  of  the  very  finest  examples 
of  the  great  homes  of  England,  and  one,  moreover,  which  has  nothing 
of  the  deserted  air  that  one  finds  in  too  many  of  the  mansions  of 
the  past ;  for  Hatfield  House  is  still  the  home  of  the  descendants  of 
that  illustrious  Cecil  by  whom  it  was  built  in  the  opening  years  of 
the  seventeenth  century. 

On  leaving  the  station,  a  few  steps  brought  us  to  the  entrance 
gates  of  Lord  Salisbury's  demesne,  and,  after  pausing  for  a  few 
moments  to  admire  the  dignified  statue  of  the  late  Marquis,  we  made 
our  way  up  the  winding  drive,  from  which  we  obtained  fine  views 
over  the  surrounding  country,  with  its  leafy  acreage  now  turning 
every  shade  of  red,  gold,  and  brown ;  which  reminded  us  again 
that  no  small  part  of  the  charm  of  these  fine  old  English  homes  lies 
in  their  setting  of  spacious  gardens,  stately  avenues,  and  venerable 
forests. 

Presently  we  arrived  in  the  forecourt  on  the  north  side  of  the 
house,  where  Mr.  J.  A.  Gotch  gave  a  short  and  lucid  account  of 
Hatfield  House  from  its  earliest  inception  to  modern  times  [vide  supral. 
Since  its  erection  the  house  has  been  continuoush  lived  in  by  the  Cecil 
family,  a  fact  which  gives  the  building  a  strong  personal  interest ;  and, 
indeed,  with  no  great  efTort  of  the  imagination  we  could  picture  the 
steward  (who  escorted  the  party)  clad  in  doublet  and  hose,  bearing  the 
boar's  head  into  the  Banqueting  Hall,  while  from  the  Minstrels'  Gallery 


So     Trunsiiclions  of  the  Toicn  Phiiiiiiiii,'  ('(inference,  Oct.  1910. 

came  tlu-  strains  ol  hautboy  and  bass-viol,  mingling:  with  the  checrlul 
revflry  ot  the  feast. 

After  the  members,  witli  Sir  Brumwell  Thomas  as  their  spokes- 
man, had  shown  their  appreciation  of  Mr.  Gotch's  remarks,  the 
party  passed  within  the  building  and  visited  the  Banqueting  Hall,  the 
Chapel,  and  other  state-rooms  on  the  ground  and  first  floors.  For  a 
brief  account  of  the  house  we  cannot  do  better  than  refer  our  readers  to 
the  Conference  Handbook. 

Leaving  the  building  by  way  of  the  cloisters,  a  few  moments 
were  spent  in  admiring  the  south  front,  with  its  well-balanced 
svmmetrv  and  noble  proportions,  and  then,  passing  through  the  west 
formal  garden,  now  ablaze  with  the  splendour  of  the  dying  year, 
we  presentlv  reached  the  charming  brick  Banqueting  Hall  of  the 
original  house,  now  used  as  stables,  though  still  retaining  its 
characteristic  features — the  fine  timber  roof,  massive  doors,  sturdy 
buttresses,  and  leaded  lights  of  varied  design.  From  this  spot  we 
obtained  a  delightful  picture — framed  by  the  entrance  under  the 
media^xal  gatehouse — of  the  quiet  Cieorgian  houses  of  steeply  sloping 
Fore  Street,  and,  spread  out  below,  the  old  tiled  roofs  of  Hatfield. 
Through  the  hospitality  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  W.  Speaight  we  were 
enabled  to  see  their  house,  a  modern  restoration  tastefully  carried  out. 
.After  a  welcome  tea  we  took  a  stroll  through  the  less  known,  but  none 
the  less  charming,  byways  of  the  old  town,  until  a  shower  of  rain  made 
us  turn  our  steps  tow'ards  the  station,  and  we  were  soon  on  our  way 
home,  carrying  with  us  pleasant  memories  of  one  of  England's  stately 
homes — a  beautiful  jewel  in  her  architectural  diadem. 

Harold  I.  Merriman. 

Hampton  Court  Palace. — Tuesday,    nth  October. 

Some  thirty  members  of  the  Conference  visited  Hampton  Court 
Palace  on  nth  October,  and  assembled  in  the  Great  Hall,  w'here  the 
party  was  met  by  Mr.  Ernest  Law  and  Mr.  Chart,  the  resident  architect. 
Mr.  Law,  in  a  brief  address,  outlined  the  history  of  the  Palace,  and  then 
conducted  the  party  through  the  state  apartments,  calling  attention  to 
the  principal  points  of  interest  in  each  room  as  we  passed  through. 
After  inspecting  the  rooms  open  to  the  general  public,  the  party  visited 
the  Chapel  under  the  guidance  of  the  Chaplain,  Mr.  Ingram.  From 
thence  a  hurried  \isit  was  made  to  the  Old  Pond  and  the  Privy  Gardens, 
and  thence  along  the  south  and  east  fronts  through  the  Wildernesse  to 
the  Greyhound  Hotel,  where  tea  was  taken.  A  vote  of  thanks  was  ac- 
corded to  Mr.  Law  for  his  kindness  in  conducting  the  partv  over  the 
Palace.  U.  P.  G.  Malle. 

Bedford  Park,  Chiswick. — Wednesday,  12th  October  igio. 
This  garden  suburb,  commenced  in  1876,  presents  many  points 
of  interest  as  the  pioneer  of  the  town-planning  movement.  Its 
houses  and  buildings,  which  have  often  been  illustrated  in  German 
and  American  publications,  are  chiefly  in  red  brick  with  white  wood- 
work, and  are  of  an  eminently  simple  and  picturesque  character. 
Drawings  of  many  of  them  have  been  published  in  the  Biiitding  News* 

*  The  houses  appeared  in  the  Building  News  for  Dec.  22,  1S76,  Jan.  12,  1877 
(E.  W.  Godwin),  Feb.  23,  1877  (Coe  and  Robinson),  Nov.  9,  16,  23,  and  Dec.  21, 


Visits  and  Excursions.  8l 

The  Church  of  SS.  Michael  and  All  Angels,  designed  by  Mr.  R. 
Norman  Shaw,  R.A.,  is  represented  in  the  National  Collection  of 
Modern  Buildings  for  Permanent  Exhibition  at  the  Victoria  and 
Albert  Museum,  South  Kensington,  Mr,  Shaw  having  presented  the 
contract  plans  of  the  church  to  the  nation.  The  same  architect 
designed  the  Club,  the  "Tabard  Tavern,"  and  the  "Stores." 
On  the  basis  of  Mr.  Shaw's  designs,  as  supplied  by  him  to  a  large 
scale  to  work  to  for  detached,  semi-detached,  and  terraced  houses, 
the  greater  part  of  the  houses  on  the  original  estate  were  erected. 
Only  a  few  examples,  however,  were  built  exactly  as  their  architect 
intended.  The  first  houses  were  from  the  designs  of  Edward  W. 
Godwin.  Mr.  William  Wilson,  who  was  connected  with  the  office 
of  the  late  G.  E.  Street,  was  the  first  resident  architect,  and  his 
place  was  taken  by  Mr.  E.  J.  May,  A\ho  designed  the  vicarage  and 
several  other  houses  built  at  that  time.  The  School  of  Art  in  Bath 
Road,  the  Parish  Hall,  the  completion  of  the  church,  and  the  Chapel  of 
.\11  Souls  were  designed  and  carried  out  by  Mr.  Maurice  B.  Adams,  who 
also  built  some  of  the  studios  and  houses  in  the  Park. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  Conference  visit  the  rendezvous  was  the 
Parish  Hall,  where  the  Vicar,  the  Rev.  J.  Cartmel  Robinson,  took 
the  chair  and  welcomed  the  visitors.  Mr.  Maurice  B.  Adams,  by 
request  of  the  Conference  Committee,  delivered  an  address  on  the 
history  and  ideals  of  Bedford  Park.  The  founder  of  the  colony,  Mr. 
Jonathan  T.  Carr,  was  introduced  to  the  assembly,  and  expressed 
his  opinion,  based  upon  forty  years'  experience  in  building  projects, 
that  the  Town  Planning  Act  would  afford  no  facilities  for  enterprises 
similar  to  Bedford  Park,  and  he  condemned  the  ordinary  by-laws  of 
local  authorities  as  being  detrimental  to  the  building  of  estates  of 
that  character.  The  company  present  included  several  of  the  fore- 
most residents  in  Bedford  Park,  and  at  the  close  of  these  proceedings 
the  visitors  inspected  the  church  and  saw  the  "  Tabard  "  with  its 
sign,  painted  by  Mr.  Tom  Rooke,  and  visited  the  School  of  Art  and 
Polytechnic,  where  Mr.  Ramsay  Murray,  the  Chairman,  received  the 
members  of  the  Conference  and  showed  them  over  the  various 
departments,  exhibiting  examples  of  the  arts  and  crafts  carried  out 
in  the  building.  The  vicarage,  the  house  and  studio  of  Mr.  E.  Blair 
Leighton,  "  Edenhurst  "  (Mr.  Maurice  B.  Adams),  "  Oulart  "  (Mr. 
A.  Waterlow  King,  J. P.),  and  the  house  of  Mr.  H.  O.  Ince  in 
Newton  Grove  were  next  seen.  "  Orchard  Croft  "  (Dr.  Todhunter), 
"  Ascard  "  (Mr.  J.  A.  Spalding),  as  well  as  the  house  of  Mr. 
Howard  Unwin,  fronting  Acton  Green,  were  open  to  the  inspection 
of  the  visitors.  Tea  was  provided  by  the  House  Committee  of  the 
Bedford  Park  Club  in  the  Ladies'  Drawing-room.  The  old  oak 
panelling  and  doors  from  a  City  church,  the  historic  furniture  and 
tapestries,  as  well  as  the  de  Morgan  tile-work  in  the  club-house  fire- 
places, interested  the  visitors,  who  much  admired  the  Gesso  figures 
in    the    ball-room    chimney-piece    from    the    Paris    Exhibition,    and 

1S77  (R.  N.  Shaw),  Jan.  11,  April  ig,  1878,  .April  18  and  Oct.  31,  1879,  Jan.  23  and 
Aug.  30,  1880,  June  17,  1881,  Nov.  3,  1882,  March  16,  1883,  and  May  29,  1885.  The 
Church  was  fully  illustrated  Jan.  17,  24,  and  31,  1879,  font  and  lectern  July  4,  1884, 
pulpit  Sept.  16,  1892,  Chapel  of  All  Souls  June  11,  1909,  Parish  Hall  May  30,  1884, 
the  Club  May  3,  1878,  and  May  29,  1885,  "  Tabard  Tavern  "  and  "  Stores  "  Jan.  2, 
1880,  School  of  Art  Jan.  21  and  Nov.  25,  1881. 

G 


>S2     Triinsactinn<^  of  the  Toii-m  Phnniins:  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

designed  by  the  late  J.  Aldam  Heaton.  A  very  pleasing  incident 
was  afforded  by  the  display  of  a  set  of  capital  chromo-lithographic 
views  of  typical  houses  and  corners  of  Bedford  Park  in  1880,  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Carr  at  that  time  from  water-colour  drawings  painted 
for  the  purpose  by  Mr.  Joseph  Nash,  Mr.  J.  C.  Dollman,  Mr.  Tom 
Rooke,  Mr.  Hamilton  Jackson,  the  late  E.  Hargitt,  and  other 
artists.  The  wet  weather  prevented  the  Conference  from  seeing 
Bedford  Park  to  advantage,  and  the  necessity  of  an  early  return  to 
town  in  order  to  attend  the  banquet  at  the  Hotel  Cecil  curtailed  the 
proceedings.  A  vote  of  thanks  was  accorded  to  Mr.  Howard 
Unwin,  who  received  the  company  on  behalf  of  the  Club  Committee, 
and  everyone  who  came  appeared  to  be  glad  that  they  had  not  been 
kept  away  by  the  inclemency  of  the  weather. 

Maurice  B.  Adams. 


L.C.C.  Hoi  SING  Estate,  White  Hart  Lake. — Wednesday, 
1 2th  October. 

About  no  members  of  the  Conference  drove  in  covered  brakes,  in 
most  inclement  v.eather,  to  the  L.C.C.  Housing  Estate  at  Tottenham. 
Mr.  W.  E.  Riley,  the  Council's  Superintending  Architect,  met  the 
party  and  informed  them  that  the  Chairman  of  the  Housing  Com- 
mittiee,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Boscawen,  had  asked  him  to  convey  his 
regrets  at  not  being  able  to  be  present  to  welcome  the  members.  After 
a  short  speech  from  Mr.  Riley  giving  the  history  of  the  development 
of  the  estate,  the  members  were  shown  in  small  parties  over  the 
estate  by  Mr.  Riley,  Mr.  Burgess  (the  Housing  Manager),  and  other 
officials  of  the  Superintending  Architect's  and  Housing  Manager's 
Departments.  Owing  to  the  late  arrival  of  about  fifty  members  the 
visit  to  the  Millbank  Estate  had  to  be  abandoned  through  failing 
light.  On  a  subsequent  date  several  foreign  members  and  some 
English  members  of  the  Conference  were  conducted  over  the  estate 
at  Millbank.  W.   E.   Riley. 


St.  Pml's,  The  Tower,  and  St.  Bartholomew  the  Great. — 
Wednesday,  12th  October. 

Over  thirty  members  met  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  at  two  o'clock, 
and  were  taken  through  the  building,  including  the  crypt  and  whisper- 
ing gallery,  thoui^h  time  and  the  weather  did  not  permit  of  the  further 
ascent  of  the  dome.  Brakes  afterwards  conveyed  the  party  to  the 
Tower,  where  only  a  short  time  was  available,  and  accordingly  the 
White  Tower  and  the  Beauchamp  Tower  were  the  only  portions 
inspec  te'd.  'ihe  short  afternoon  and  gloomy  weather  necessitated  a 
hurried  departure  for  St.  Bartholomew's,  Smithfield,  where  the 
members  were  met  by  Mr.  .Alfred  W'ebb,  the  Churchwarden,  who  gave 
a  most  interesting  and  lucid  description  of  the  edifice  which  was 
greatly  appreciated  by  all  who  had  the  privilege  of  hearing  it. 
Finally,  the  brakes  .separated,  one  returning  along  Oxford  Street,  and 
the  other  along  the  Strand,  thus  enabling  members  to  alight  at  points 
convenient  to  their  destinations.  Percy  W.  Lovell. 


Jlsits  and  Excursions.  83 

Greenwich  Hospital. — Wednesday,  12th  October. 

Xotwithstanding  the  wretched  conditions  of  the  weather,  thirty- 
three  members  assembled  at  Charing  Cross  Pier  to  make  the  journey 
to  Greenwich  by  steamer.  At  Blackfriars  the  Chairman  of  the  City 
Steamboat  Company,  AFr.  A.  W.  Pickard,  and  Mr.  Dalbey  WilHams, 
Vice-Chairman,  came  on  board  to  welcome  the  party,  and  travelled 
with  them  to  Greenwich. 

On  arrival,  the  visitors  were  met  by  Mr.  Edgar  A.  Hawkins,  of  the 
.Admiralty,  who  conducted  them  over  the  Hospital  buildings.  A  visit 
was  first  paid  to  the  School,  and  from  there  the  members  proceeded  to 
the  Queen's  House,  where  Mr.  Hawkins  had  kindly  arranged  a  very 
fine  and  interesting  series  of  drawings,  many  of  them  the  original 
designs,  and  he  then  gave  a  short  historical  account  of  the  different 
blocks. 

After  leaving  the  Queen's  House,  the  men  of  the  party  proceeded  to 
the  Painted  Hall  and  the  Chapel,  and  were  then  conducted  through 
the  King  Charles  and  Queen  Anne  blocks,  where  the  Museum  and  the 
old  crypt  were  the  centre  of  interest. 

Although  the  visit  was  a  short  one,  an  opportunity  was  afforded 
those  present  of  seeing  nearly  every  part  of  the  Hospital,  and  before 
leaving  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  was  passed  to  Mr.  Hawkins  for  his 
kindness  in  conducting  the  members  round,  and  the  preparations  he 
had  made  for  their  reception. 

The  party  then  proceeded  to  the  Trafalgar  Hotel  for  tea,  after 
which  the  return  journey  was  made  by  boat,  Charing  Cross  being 
reached  soon  after  six  o'clock. 

What  should  have  been,  gi\"en  fair  conditions  of  weather,  a  very 
pleasant  visit,  was  marred  by  the  continuous  rain  and  cold  wind,  and 
on  board  the  boat  most  of  the  members  were  compelled  to  spend  the 
time  below  deck,  where  the  ship's  band  did  their  best  to  enliven  the 
proceedings,  although  their  instruments  also  seemed  to  have  been 
affected  by  the  weather.  F.   Dare  Clapham. 

Hampste\d  Garden  Suburb — Thursday,   13th  October. 

The  party,  numbering  over  200,  was  met  at  Charing  Cross  Station 
on  the  Hampstead  Tube,  at  2.15  p.m.,  by  Mr.  Alwyn  Lloyd,  of  the 
Hampstead  Garden  Suburb,  and  conducted  to  Golders  Green  Station, 
and  from  there  on  foot  to  the  Garden  Suburb,  which  is  about  ten 
minutes'  walk  from  the  station.  Mr.  Raymond  Unwin,  the  architect 
to  the  Hampstead  Garden  Suburb  Trust,  met  the  party  at  Hampstead 
Way  and  conducted  the  members  to  Heath  Gate,  where  a  short  account 
of  the  work  and  origin  of  the  suburb  was  given  by  Mr.  Unwin,  and 
the  various  features  of  the  estate  illustrated  by  means  of  a  large  map. 
Parties  were  then  conducted  vid  Meadway,  Temple  Fortune  Lane, 
and  Hampstead  Way  to  the  shops  and  flats  at  the  main  entrance,  and 
to  the  Club  House  at  Willifield  Green.  The  Orchard  Tenements  for 
old  people  were  visited,  also  the  various  squares,  open  spaces,  and 
groups  of  houses  at  the  centre  of  the  estate.  The  Central  Square  was 
reached  at  about  4.45,  and  the  Church  and  other  buildings  designed 
by  Mr.   Edwin  Lutyens  visited.     At  5  p.m.   tea  was  provided  at  the 


84     Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planninc^  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Institute,  Central  Square,  and  a  meeting:  was  subsequently  held  at 
which  Sir  Robert  Hunler,  one  of  the  Directors  of  the  Hampstead 
Garden  Suburb  Trust,  took  the  chair,  and  Mrs.  S.  A.  Barnett, 
Director  and  Hon.  Mana.fjer  of  the  Trust,  explained  further  the  aims 
of  the  founders  and  the  way  in  which  these  aims  were  being-  realised. 
The  party  left  the  estate  about  six  o'clock  and  proceeded  to  Golders 
Green  en  route  for  town.  Raymond  Unwin. 

Bridgewater  Holse,  St.  James's,  and  Dorchester  House,  Park 
Lane. — Thursday,  13th  October. 

The  members  met  in  the  courtyard  at  Bridgewater  House  at  2.30, 
and  a  delightful  hour  was  spent  in  examining  the  artistic  treasures 
contained  in  the  house.  The  house  itself  is  a  very  fine  specimen  of 
Sir  Charles  Barry's  work,  and  the  pictures  consist  of  works  by 
Raffaelle,  Titian,  Ni<holas  Poussin,  Rembrandt,  \^clazquez,  and  many 
others.  The  kindness  of  Lord  Ellcsmere  in  allowing  the  members  to 
inspect  everything  at  their  own  leisure  was  much  appreciated. 

The  party  then  proceeded  to  Dorchester  House,  where  they  were 
reinforced  by  further  members  of  the  Conference.  They  were  received 
by  Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid  and  had  a  very  enjoyable  time.  His  Excel- 
lency, with  his  usual  generous  hospitality,  kindly  provided  tea,  and 
a  most  excellent  orchestra  contributed  greatly  to  the  afternoon's  enjoy- 
ment. The  marble  staircase  and  fine  suite  of  rooms,  with  their  price- 
less collection  of  pictures  and  furniture,  were  much  admired.  The 
mansion  was  designed  by  Lewis  \'uHiamy,  and  the  pictures  include 
some  famous  works  of  Rubens,  Paul  Potter,  Cuyp,  Claude,  and 
Hobbema.  Septimi'S  Warwick. 

Regent's  Park  and  Avenue  Road  Estate. — Friday,  14th  October. 

Although  only  a  small  party  assembled  for  this  visit,  it  was  quite 
as  interesting  as  any  of  those  held  during  the  week.  The  overcast 
sky  and  cold  wind  prevented  many  from  coming  who  would  otherwise 
have  availed  themselves  of  a  unique  opportunity  of  seeing  one  of  the 
most  delightful  residential  estates  in  the  London  area. 

Starting  from  the  Royal  Institute,  the  first  stop  was  made  in  Port- 
land Place,  the  history  of  which  was  briefly  outlined  in  a  few  words. 
Then  we  were  able  to  see  the  plans  for  the  Portland  Place  improve- 
ment scheme  kindly  lent  by  the  architect,  Mr.  R.  Frank  Atkinson. 
Briefly,  Mr.  Atkinson's  scheme  is  to  make  a  direct  connection  through 
the  gardens  of  Park  Crescent  to  Regent's  Park,  with  a  fine  anhitci- 
tural  setting  of  colonnades  and  sculpture,  the  curve  of  the  crescent 
being  continued  across  Portland  Place,  with  a  columned  screen  and  a 
great  arch  in  the  centre.  This  would  be  a  fine  feature  either  from  the 
Park  or  Portland  Place,  and  would  make  an  approach  to  the  Park  of 
great  magnificence. 

The  drive  was  continued  round  the  west  side  of  the  Park  to  Avenue 
Road,  where  Mr.  Willett  took  us  over  two  of  his  houses,  which  were 
greatly  admired.  To  refer  only  to  matters  under  the  consideration 
of  the  Conference,  the  beauty  of  the  hedges  and  forecourts  was 
particularly  noted,  and  the  exceedingly  able  way  in  which  th(>  proximity 
of  the  Park  was  made  of  value  to  the  general  scheme. 

Proceeding  by  way  of  Eton  Avenue  to  Elsworlhy  Road,  more  houses 


Visits  and  Excursions.  85 

were  visited,  and  Mr.  Willett's  intentions  and  difficulties  were  ex- 
plained by  the  excellent  sketch  plans  of  the  estate  which  he  supplied  to 
each  member  of  the  party.  The  way  in  which  the  forecourts  were 
designed  to  beautify  the  roads  as  well  as  to  screen  the  houses,  the 
variations  in  the  building  line  for  effect,  and  the  judicious  planting  of 
hedges  and  trees  at  the  right  places,  were  all  pointed  out ;  and  we  were 
able  to  see  for  ourselves  how  delightful  a  district  can  be  made  when 
the  foresight  we  call  Town  Planning  is  combined  with  good  archi- 
tecture in  the  buildings.  After  hearing  much  theory  on  the  subject 
this  week,  it  was  extremely  pleasant  to  see  what  has  actually  been 
done,  and  Mr.  Willett's  work,  marked  as  it  is  by  great  qualities  of 
foresight  and  a  faculty  for  seeing  the  possibilities  for  beauty  in  a 
house  or  in  a  street,  has  placed  him  among  the  pioneers  of  Town 
Planning  in  this  country,  and  earned  the  gratitude  of  Londoners. 

After  tea,  Mr.  Willett  kindly  outlined  a  scheme  of  his  for  the  com- 
pulsory acquisition  of  land  without  injustice  to  anyone  concerned,  his 
object  being  to  render  possible  on  a  large  scale  the  operations  of  the 
Town  Planning  Act,  1909.  The  fact  that  its  author  knows  as  much 
about  leases  and  ground  values  as  anyone  in  London  added  greatly  to 
the  interest  shown  in  his  remarks.  Mr.  Willett  advocated  the  leasehold 
system  supplemented  by  Parliamentary  powers,  which  he  asserted 
would  result  in  transferring  the  ownership  of  town  lands  to  the  public 
authorities,  not  only  without  injustice  and  without  loss  but  with 
distinct  advantage  to  present  owners.  He  gave  instances  and  figures 
which  seemed  to  prove  that  within  a  hundred  years  it  would  be  pos- 
sible to  create  a  new  London  in  which  almost  every  street  would  be 
beautiful  and  every  building  designed  by  a  member  of  the  R.LB.A.  ! 

H.   A.   Hall. 

Houses  of  Parllxment  and  Westminster  Hall. 
Friday,  14th  October. 
A  party  of  about  seventy  members  availed  themselves  of  the 
arrangements  made  to  visit  the  Houses  of  Parliament.  Entering  the 
Old  Palace  Yard,  the  party  assembled  in  the  King's  Robing  Room, 
where  a  brief  explanatory  address  was  given  by  Mr.  G.  J.  T.  Reavell, 
of  H.M.  Ollice  of  Works,  the  architect  in  charge  of  the  buildings.  The 
visitors  were  then  conducted  through  the  principal  apartments  by  Mr. 
P.  E.  Ridge,  M.V.O.,  the  Clerk  of  Works,  Mr.  Bradshaw,  the 
Resident  Engineer,  and  members  of  their  staff.  The  visit  included  the 
King's  Robing  Room,  the  House  of  Lords,  the  Royal  Gallery,  the 
Peers'  Robing  Room,  the  House  of  Commons,  the  Commons  Corri- 
dors, Central  Hall,  and  the  Terrace,  and  attention  was  called  to  the 
various  frescoes  and  decorative  pictures,  including  the  six  new  mural 
paintings  recently  presented  and  not  yet  shown  to  the  general  public. 
A  visit  to  St.  Stephen's  Chapel  and  Westminster  Hall  concluded  a 
round  that  appeared  to  be  enjoyed  by  all  present,  the  foreign  members 
being   especially   pleased   with  what  they  had  seen. 

G.  J.  T.  Reavell. 

Westminster  Abbey.— Friday,  14th  October. 
The  Dean  kindly  met  the  party  in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber  and 
gave  an  interesting  description  of  the  Abbey  buildings,  illustrating  his 
remarks  by  a  large  diagram  prepared  for  the  purpose,  showing  the 
dates  of  erection  of  the  various  parts  of  the  structure. 


.S6     Transactions  of  tin'  To7cn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  kjio. 

Till-  Inns  of  CorKi.  —  Friday,  i4tli  October. 

I'pw  arils  of  I  lo  members  of  the  Conference  met  at  2.30  in  front  of 
the  Hall  at  Liinoln's  Inn,  and  were  received  by  Mr.  Douglas  Walter, 
K.C.,  one  of  the  Benchers.  Mr.  Pembroke  S.  Stephens,  K.C.,  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Inn,  was  also  present.  Mr.  Walter  conducted  the 
party  round  the  Inn,  visiting  the  Old  and  New  Halls,  the  Chapel,  the 
Library,  and  the  Old  (iateway,  and  described  the  various  features  of 
mterest. 

Troceeding  to  the  Middle  Temple,  the  members  were  met,  at  3.30, 
bv  .Mr.  J.  Wadling,  the  Surveyor  of  the  Inn,  and  the  Hall  and  Library 
were  inspected. 

The  Temple  Church  was  visited  at  4  o'clock,  and  the  Master  of  the 
Temple,  the  Rev.  H.  C  Woods,  D.D.,  gave  an  interesting  sketch  of 
the  history  of  the  Church. 

The  partv  were  afterwards  conducted  over  the  Inner  Temple  by 
Mr.  Downing,  the  Surveyor,  in  whose  clear  explanation  of  the  build- 
ings the  members  were  much  interested. 

At  5  o'clock  they  proceeded  to  Clifford's  Inn  Hall  at  the  invitation 
of  some  members  of  the  Art  \\'orkers'  Guild.  Tea  was  provided  here 
bv  Mr.  HalscN  Ricardo,  the  Master  of  the  Guild,  and  the  Entertain- 
ments Committee  of  the  Conference.  Mr.  C.  Harrison  Townsend 
made  a  few  remarks  on  the  history  of  the  Inn,  pointing  out  as  a 
matter  of  interest  in  connection  with  Town  Planning  that  the  claims 
arising  out  of  the  Great  Fire  of  1666  were  adjudicated  on  in  the  Hall 
by  Sir  Matthew  Hale  and  his  coadjutors,  and  that  in  all  probability 
the  discussion  on  and  rejection  of  Sir  C.  ^^'rc^'s  plans  for  rebuilding 
the  City  took  place  in  the  Hall. 

The  thanks  of  the  party  are  due  to  the  Benchers  of  the  various  Inns 
for  their  ready  consent  to  the  visit,  notwithstanding  that  it  had  to  be 
arranged  during  the  Long  Vacation,  to  Mr.  Douglas  Walker,  K.C., 
the  Rev.  H.  G.  Woods,  D.D.,  and  the  Surveyors  of  the  Inns  for  their 
services  as  guides  and  lecturers,  and  to  Mr.  Ilalsey  Ricardo  for  his 
hospitality  to  the  party.  C.  Harrison  Townsend. 

BouRNViLLE. — Saturday,    15th  October. 

Twenty-two  members  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference  visited 
Rournville  on  Saturday,  15th  October.  They  were  met  at  New  Street 
Station,  Birmingham,  on  arrival,  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Tylor,  the  present 
architect  to  the  Bournville  \'illage  Trust.  On  arrival  at  Bournville 
they  were  conducted  to  the  girls'  gymnasium,  where  they  were  briefly 
addressed  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Barlow,  secretary  to  the  Bournville  Village 
Trust.  Mr.  Barlow  stated  that  the  village  owed  its  existence  to  Mr. 
George  Cadbury,  Chairman  of  the  firm  of  Cadbury  Bros.,  Ltd.,  and 
represented  the  realisation  of  an  ambition  long  held  by  its  founder, 
who  was  a  housing  reformer  and  town  planner  when  these  movements 
were  in  their  infancy.  The  estate  was  in  the  hands  of  trustees  who 
managed  it  in  the  interests  of  the  nation,  and  the  annual  income  was 
converted  into  fresh  houses  immediately  it  came  in.  The  Trust  aimed 
at  making  each  house  yield  4  per  cent,  upon  its  capital  value,  and 
although  this  result  had  not  been  secured  in  all  cases,  they  were 
approximating  to  it  to  a  greater  extent  every  year. 


]lsits  and  Excursions.  87 

The  visitors  were  then  conducted  over  the  village  by  Mr.  H.  B. 
Tylor  and  his  predecessor,  Mr.  W.  A.  Harvey,  who  was  the  first 
architect  to  the  Bournville  \'illage  Trust,  accompanied  by  guides 
furnished  by  Messrs.  Cadbury  Bros.,  Ltd.,  and  made  a  thorough 
survey  of  the  principal  features  of  interest  to  town  planners.  After- 
wards they  were  entertained  to  tea  in  the  girls'  gymnasium,  where 
Mr.  George  Cadbury  presided.  In  a  brief  address  he  mentioned  his 
great  love  for  trees,  and  said  that  where  it  was  possible  they  had  care- 
fully avoided  cutting  them  down  in  laying  out  the  village  streets.  The 
village  was  not  a  charity  to  the  people  living  in  it ;  they  did  not  think 
it  good  economy  to  charge  any  man  a  less  rental  than  he  ought  to  pay, 
and  they  believed  each  house  ought  to  pay  4  per  cent,  clear.  Mr. 
Cadbury  contrasted  conditions  between  life  in  the  citv  and  in  the 
village,  and  pointed  out  that  whilst  he  could  not  conscientiously  blame 
a  workman  living  in  unfavourable  surroundings  for  being  less  steady 
and  thrifty  than  he  ought  to  be,  he  certainly  should  blame  himself  as 
a  landowner  if  he  allowed  a  dozen  rows  of  such  houses  as  are  too 
frequently  to  be  found  in  our  large  cities  to  be  built  on  land  belong- 
ing to  him.  He  also  pointed  to  the  very  beneficial  effect  of  village  life 
on  the  physique  of  children,  and  expressed  his  great  pleasure  that  the 
delegates  had  been  able  to  pay  this  visit  to  Bournville,  which  was  the 
pioneer  of  many  other  attempts  in  the  direction  of  establishing  garden 
villages  r.nd  cities. 

The  visitors  having  expressed  their  thanks  to  the  firm  for  the 
entertainment  provided,  and  to  those  who  had  conducted  them  round 
the  village,  the  part}-  left  for  the  return  journey  to  London. 


Bath. — Saturday,  15th  October. 

The  Town  Planning  visit  to  Bath  was  a  source  of  great  pleasure  to 
those  who  availed  themselves  of  it.  The  route  planned  out  embraced 
a  very  wide  area,  and  the  drive  around  the  city  gave  the  visitors  a 
good  idea  of  the  amount  of  work  done  in  Bath  during  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  chief  Town  Planning  features  were  of  course  the  laying 
out  of  Queen  Square,  the  Circus,  and  the  Crescent  by  the  two  Woods 
in  the  best  manner  of  the  period,  the  planning  of  Bath  Street  by 
Baldwin,  and  the  scheme  for  the  building  estate  which  originated  with 
Adam,  the  growth  of  the  city  being  shown  as  far  as  Lansdown  and 
Camden  Crescents  on  the  one  side,  and  Sydney  College  on  the  other, 
all  the  work  of  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  while  the  site  of 
the  old  walls  of  the  Roman  and  mediaeval  city  was  pointed  out.  The 
buildings  examined  more  in  detail  were  the  Assembly  Rooms,  with 
their  magnificent  planning,  the  Guildhall  and  its  Banqueting  Chamber, 
the  Abbey,  and  the  Roman  Baths.  The  efforts  of  the  Bath  Corpora- 
tion to  provide  dwellings  for  the  working  classes  above  the  present 
flood  level  of  the  river  were  also  seen  in  the  Dolemeads,  where  the 
City  Surveyor  pointed  out  the  houses  which  had  already  been  carried 
out,  and  explained  the  detail  of  the  accommodation  and  rental.  The 
drive  extended  through  the  Royal  Victoria  Park,  opened  by  Princess 
Victoria  a  short  time  before  she  came  to  the  throne  in  1837,  and 
also  up  Beechen  Cliff  to  a  point  some  350  feet  above  sea  level,  whence 


tiS     Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

a  good  view  is  obtaiiu-d  ol  the  older  part  ol  the  city.     At  the  Roman 
Baths  some  maps,  phuis,  and  photographs  ol  the  city  were  on  view. 

Mowbray  Green. 

Port  Sunlight. — Saturday,  15th  October. 

A  party  left  Euston  Station  at  10  a.m.  and  were  met  on  their 
arrival  at  Bebington  by  Mr.  Paul,  on  behalf  of  Mr,  VV.  H.  Lever,  and 
conveyed  in  carriages  to  the  estate.  The  gymnasia,  the  open-air 
bath,  technical  institute,  church,  cottage  hospital,  &c.,  and  some  of 
the  houses  were  in  turn  inspected,  and  Mr.  Paul  explained  alterations 
in  progress  and  drew  attention  to  a  formal  avenue  which  is  being  laid 
out  on  the  site  of  one  of  the  old  ravines.  Then,  after  viewing  various 
roads  and  avenues,  a  journey  was  made  along  the  new  Chester  Road 
to  give  some  idea  of  the  dilliculties  experienced  in  starting  the  village, 
especially  those  due  to  numerous  ravines,  formerly  arms  of  the  old 
Bromborough  Pool,  and  filled  with  water  at  each  tide.  Subsequently 
the  Bridge  Inn  was  inspected,  and  here  Mr.  Lever  joined  the  party 
and  entertained  them  to  tea. 

Mr.  G.  Hornblower,  of  London,  on  behalf  of  the  R.I.B.A.,  thanked 
Mr.  Lever  for  according  the  members  the  opportunity  of  inspect- 
ing Port  Sunlight  under  such  pleasant  conditions.  He  mentioned 
that  he  had  followed  the  growth  of  the  village  from  its  first 
inception,  and  that  there  were  always  some  new  features  of  interest 
being  added.  He  referred  to  Mr.  Lever  as  the  fons  et  origo  of  this 
particular  department  of  town  planning  so  far  as  this  country  was 
concerned,  and  mentioned  the  service  recently  rendered  by  him  in 
founding  and  endowing  the  Liverpool  School  of  Architecture,  adding 
that,  if  he  might  venture  to  make  a  suggestion  in  connection  with  that 
school,  he  would  say,  "  Not  too  much  Greek  "  ;  for  though  probably 
we  had  all  in  our  time  waxed  enthusiastic  over  the  possibilities  of 
Greek  architecture,  small  houses  at  all  events  conceived  on  Greek 
lines  would  be  hopelessly  out  of  place  in  this  country.  He  regretted 
the  members  would  be  unable  to  see  Thornton  Hough,  the  beautiful 
rural  village  which  Mr.  Lever  had  created  near  his  country  home — 
if  anything  more  charming  than  Port  Sunlight  owing  to  its  grouping 
and  environment. 

Mr.  Lever  said  that  his  great  pleasure  in  life  was  building  and 
town  planning,  and  he  felt  he  had  done  very  little  for  the  good  which 
had  resulted.  He  was  a  little  humiliated  in  national  pride  when  he 
considered  the  long  way  this  country  was  behind  others  in  the  matter 
of  town  planning.  The  two  nations  that  had  achieved  the  most  in 
that  direction  were  Germany  and  the  United  States.  It  was  not  for 
him  to  say  which  stood  first,  but  he  thought  that  perhaps  for  breadth 
of  streets  and  grandeur  of  buildings  the  United  States  led  the  way. 
But  Germany  was  so  much  nearer  to  our  doors,  and  he  felt  that 
country  was  destined  to  have  a  great  influence  on  town  planning  in 
the  United  Kingdom.  In  laying  out  streets  he  liked  a  straight  line 
with  a  vista  at  the  end  of  it,  but  he  did  not  like  all  the  streets  to  be 
in  straight  lines.  Where  such  a  condition  of  things  did  obtain  mono- 
tony was  experienced.  It  was  his  desire  that  those  who  worked 
with  him  in  Port  Sunlight  should  be  well  and  comfortably  housed. 
He   did   not  consider   big   houses   afforded    the   most    comfort,    and 


Visits  and  Excursions.  89 

thoug^ht  that  dwellings  should  be  arranged  on  the  principle  that  the 
household  duties  could  be  carried  out  comfortably  and  with  the  least 
amount  of  labour  and  work.  Whatever  they  might  feel  whilst 
walking  through  the  village  and  seeing  what  had  been  done  for  the 
workers,  it  was  nothing  to  the  influence  the  surroundings  had  had 
upon  the  minds  of  the  young  in  their  midst.  All  the  strangers  from 
a  distance  had  marvelled  at  the  good  behaviour  of  the  children  at 
Port  Sunlight,  and  he  was  extremely  proud  of  the  fact. 

Mr.  Charles  H.  Page,  of  the  Hendon  Urban  District  Council, 
remarked  upon  the  beautifully  planned  hospital  building,  and  stated 
that  those  concerned  in  municipal  government  had  much  to  learn 
from  Port  Sunlight. 

.\t  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Hornblower  the  visitors  were  then 
allowed  to  inspect  some  of  the  cottages. 

George  Hornblower. 


Oxford. — Saturday,  T5th  October. 

The  morning  was  fortunately  fine,  and  a  party  of  between  fifty  and 
sixty  members  assembled  at  Paddington  Station.  A  large  proportion 
of  the  number  was  continental,  Germany  and  Belgium  being  especially 
well  represented.  On  arrival  at  Oxford  the  party  was  joined  by  a 
valuable  contingent  of  residents,  who  were  kind  enough  to  act  as 
auxiliary  pilots,  and  a  total  of  sixty-one  started,  in  the  brakes  pro- 
vided, for  the  Sheldonian  Theatre.  Upon  arrival  at  the  theatre  the 
members  were  met  and  welcomed  by  the  pro-Vice-Chancellor,  Dr.  T. 
Herbert  Warren,  President  of  Magdalen  College. 

Dr.  W^arren,  in  addressing  the  gathering,  said  the  members  of  the 
Conference  had  come,  as  many  of  them  were  aware,  at  a  very  bus) 
time,  the  opening  day  of  Term,  and  the  \'ice-Chancellor  (Dr. 
Heberden,  Principal  of  Brasenose)  was  not  able  to  receive  them 
personally,  as  he  was  engaged  in  University  business ;  but  he  had 
commissioned  him  as  pro-Vice-Chancellor,  and  as  recent  Vice-Chan- 
cellor,  to  express  to  them  on  behalf  of  the  University  of  Oxford  their 
warm  welcome.  They  were  delighted  to  see  the  mem.bers  of  the  Con- 
ference in  Oxford.  There  were  few  places  where  more  interest  was 
taken  in  the  cause  which  had  brought  them  together,  and  which  indeed 
had  brought  many  of  them  to  England  from  foreign  countries,  and  no 
place  where  the  progress  and  results  of  their  Conference  had  been 
watched  more  attentively.  This  was  so  for  two  reasons.  They,  as 
students,  had  come  to  a  Conference  both  to  teach  and  to  learn,  and 
Oxford  was  desirous  of  meeting  them  in  the  same  spirit.  In  Oxford 
thev  were  very  anxious  to  learn  about  town  planning,  both  in  theory 
and  in  practice.  They  were  not  altogether  strangers  to  the  topic.  Town 
planning  was,  as  they  knew,  much  considered  by  the  Greeks.  As 
Aristotle  tells  us  in  "The  Politics,"  HIppodamus  of  Miletus,  the 
famous  philosopher  and  savant,  invented  town  planning,  and  was  em- 
ployed by  Pericles,  the  great  statesman  of  Athens  in  her  best  days,  to 
improve  the  planning  of  that  famous  city.  He  thought  they  might 
claim  that,  partly  by  arrangement  and  partly  by  good  fortune,  Oxford 
suggested  not  a  few  lessons  in  town  planning.  Oxford  was  not  only 
the  seat  of  an  historic  University,  but  was  also  an  historic  and  important 


()o     Trunsact'ions  of  the  Tcwii  Plainiing  Conference,  Oct.  i()io. 

city.  Ihc  iclt;i  oi  the  ^^ardcii  city  was,  he  supposed,  one  of  the  most 
attractive  and  suj,'^j,'^estive  ideas  in  town  phmning.  Oxford,  and  Cam- 
bridge  too,  might  claim  to  have  been  always  garden  cities.  The  scheme 
of  manv  of  the  colleges,  with  their  courts  or  quadrangles  adopted  for  a 
common  life,  had  again  much  to  suggest,  and  they  thought  they  were 
peculiarlv  fortunate  in  possessing,  at  any  rate,  two  or  three  wide  and 
spacious  and  happily  arranged  avenues — the  famous  High  Street, 
whose  "  streamlike  winding  "  the  poets  had  celebrated  ;  the  Broad 
Street,  and  St.  Giles's.  It  was  worth  noting,  perhaps,  that  the 
spaciousness  of  St.  Giles's  had  been  procured  by  the  destruction  of 
smaller  streets  and  collections  of  houses  with  which  in  ancient  days  it 
was  blocked.     That  was  a  suggestion  for  town  planning. 

The  visitors  then  proceeded  to  the  Di\  inity  School,  the  Convocation 
House,  and  the  Bodleian  Library,  being  greeted,  and  addressed  for  a 
few  minutes,  in  the  picture  gallery  of  the  last-named  building  by  Mr. 
Madan,  Sub-Librarian.  It  was  then  found  ad\  isable  to  split  the 
partv,  and,  while  one  half  first  visited  St.  John's  College,  the  other 
went  first  to  Wadham,  both  colleges  being  visited  by  the  respective 
groups  in  rotation.  At  St.  John's  College  the  President,  Dr.  James, 
received  the  visitors  most  kindly,  and  showed  them  not  only  Laud's 
famous  library  and  the  chapel  but  also  his  own  house,  the  President's 
lodgings,  where  are  the  beautiful  panelled  Long  Gallery,  and  the 
drawing-room  with  its  remarkable  chimneypiece. 

At  Wadham  College  the  Warden,  Dr.  Wright  Henderson,  re- 
ceived us,  and,  after  seeing  the  dining  hall,  with  its  portraits  of  Sir 
Christopher  Wren  and  Admiral  Blake,  the  chapel,  and  the  beautiful 
college  gardens,  we  were  admitted  through  the  Warden's  house  to  his 
charming  private  garden. 

The  whole  party  reassembled  at  Christ  Church,  where  the  hall  and 
the  cathedral,  the  cloisters  and  Chapter  House  were  inspected.  In 
the  cathedral  great  admiration  was  expressed  for  the  intermixture  of  ^ 
Xorman  arcades  and  fifteenth-century  vaulting,  and  particular  interest 
was  taken  in  the  various  examples  of  glass  by  William  Morris  and 
Burne  Jones. 

.After  luncheon  at  the  Randolph  Hotel  a  general  visit  was  made  to 
Xew  College,  where  the  Warden,  Dr.  Spooner,  received  us,  and  con- 
ducted us  to  the  cloisters,  the  chapel  (with  its  admirable  glass),  and  the 
gardens,  where  our  foreign  members  were  greatly  interested  by  the 
remains  of  the  old  city  walls  which  enclose  them.  The  party  then  again 
divided,  and  visited  All  Souls'  and  Merton  Colleges,  being  welcomed 
and  conducted  at  the  former  by  the  Warden,  Sir  William  Anson.  The 
final  reassembly  was  at  Magdalen,  where  the  whole  party  was  received 
by  the  President,  Dr.  Warren,  and,  after  visiting  the  chapel,  the 
cloisters,  the  gardens,  and  walks,  collected  in  the  dining  hall,  where  tea 
was  served  and  where  the  President  made  a  short  congratulatory 
speech.  Professor  Rud.  Eberstadt  and  one  of  the  Belgian  members 
then  spoke  in  succession,  offering  the  thanks  of  the  party  to  the  Presi- 
dent for  his  kind  reception  in  his  college,  and  to  Mr.  Edward  Warren  for 
his  services  as  conductor  of  the  visit.  The  return  along  the  inimitable 
old  High  .Street  to  the  station  was  made  under  a  cloudless  sky,  and  in 
the  warm  glow  of  a  splendid  sunset.  To  judge  by  the  obvious  pleasure 
and  enthusiastic  interest  of  the  strangers  the  visit  was  highly  successful. 


Visits  and  Excursions.  91 

It  was  a  hardish  day's  work,  especially  lor  those  who  had  volunteered 
to  "  shepherd  "  the  party,  and  \\  ho  had  incessant  questions  to  answer. 

Edward  Warren,  F.S.A. 

Cambridge. — Saturday,   15th  October. 

On  Saturday  a  party  of  about  thirty  visited  Cambridge — the  oldest 
"  Garden  City  "  in  Kng-land. 

The  \'ice-Chancellor  of  the  University  met  us  in  the  Senate  House, 
and  after  shortly  explaining  the  history  and  purpose  of  the  building, 
he  took  us  over  his  own  College,  St.  John's,  where  the  Combination 
Room  was  particularly  admired. 

Queen's  College  was  then  visited  under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  Gray, 
the  Bursar,  who,  with  the  aid  of  a  plan  of  the  College  showing  the 
various  dates  of  the  different  buildings,  related  the  history  of  the 
College  from  its  foundation.  The  gallery  in  the  Master's  Lodge  is 
especially  worthy  of  note. 

We  then  crossed  the  road  to  Pembroke,  where  we  lunched  with 
the  Fellows  of  the  College  in  the  hall,  and  afterwards,  under  their 
guidance,  made  a  tour  of  the  College  buildings.  The  chapel,  Wren's 
earliest  work,  is  interesting  on  that  account. 

Mr.  Corbett,  the  Junior  Bursar  of  King's,  then  took  us  over  his 
College,  and  to  those  who  had  never  been  to  Cambridge  before,  the 
Chapel  was  somewhat  of  a  revelation. 

Alter  leaving  King's  we  crossed  the  river  over  Clare  Bridge,  and 
walked  along  "  the  Backs  "  to  Trinity,  where  the  Master  (Dr.  Butler) 
and  Fellows  of  the  College,  after  showing  us  the  library  and  other 
buildings,  entertained  us  to  tea  in  the  College  Hall. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  comment  upon  the  day's  visit  was 
made  by  one  of  the  foreign  members  of  the  Conference,  who,  on 
entering  the  Great  Court  of  Trinity  was  heard  to  exclaim,  "  Now  I 
understand  where  you  English  get  your  great  men.  These  are  not 
schools;  these  are  palaces  for  kings!"  Therein  perhaps  lies  the 
secret  of  a  University  training,  and  the  English  architects  present 
heard  with  interest  that  at  last  the  University  had  started  an  archi- 
tectural course,  to  be  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  ordinary  B.A. 
degree. 

Judging  by  the  interest  the  various  College  Authorities  displayed 
in  the  visit  of  the  Town  Planning-  Conference,  the  great  trouble  they 
took  to  make  the  visit  a  success,  and  their  kindness  in  showing  us 
the  principal  features  of  their  Colleges  (architectural  and  otherwise), 
those  architects  who  in  the  future  commence  their  studies  at  Cam- 
bridge will  be  in  good  hands,  and  amongst  men  who,  although  laymen, 
realise  the  value  of  the  art  of  .\rchitecture. 

Maurice  E.  Webb. 


92     Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  i<)io. 


THE    BANgUET. 

The  Banquet  of  the  Conference,  which  was  combined  with  the 
Annual  Dinner  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  took  place 
at  the  Hotel  Cecil  on  Wednesday,  12th  October,  the  President,  Mr. 
Leonard  Stokes,  in  the  chair.  The  function  was  graced  with  the  pre- 
sence of  several  ladies.  Seated  at  the  high  table  on  the  President's 
right  were  the  Hon.  President  of  the  Conference  (the  Right  Hon.  John 
Burns,  M.P.),  Mrs.  Leonard  Stokes,  Sir  Aston  Webb,  C.B.,  R.A., 
Mrs.  D.  H.  Burnham,  the  Hon.  Sir  Schomberg  McDonnell,  K.C.B., 
C.V.O.,  Mr.  T.  E.  CoUcutt,  Sir  Robert  Morant,  K.C.B.,  Mr.  H.  W. 
Lever,  Herr  Dr.  Stiibben,  Mr.  Thomas  Brock,  R.A.,  M.  Louis  Bonnier, 
Architecte-en-chef  de  la  Villa  de  Paris,  Mr.  John  W.  Simpson,  Secre- 
tary-General of  the  Conference,  Mr.  Leslie  Vigers,  President  of  the 
Surveyors'  Institution,  Mr.  Andrew  C.  Gow,  R.A.,  M.  E.  Henard, 
A.D.G.,  Mr.  E.  A.  Abbey,  R.A.,  Mr.  F.  Higgs,  President  of  the  Insti- 
tute of  Builders,  Mr.  George  Clausen,  R.A.,  Mr.  F.  G.  Painter,  Chair- 
man of  the  City  Lands  Commission,  Mr.  Hamo  Thornycroft,  R.A.  On 
the  President's  left  were  the  Right  Hon.  Lord  Redesdale,  G.C.V.O., 
Sir  L.  Alma-Tadema,  O.M.,  R.A.,  Lady  Webb,  Mr.  D.  H.  Burnham, 
Chairman  of  the  American  Commission  of  Fine  Arts,  Sir  Gilbert 
Parker,  M.P.,  Sir  J.  Linton,  P.R.I.,  Sir  William  Emerson,  Sir  George 
Frampton,  R.A.,  Mr.  Henry  T.  Butlin,  President  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Surgeons,  Sir  Edward  Busk,  Mr.  Ernest  George,  A.R.A.,  Sir 
(ieorge  Gibb,  Sir  R.  Paget,  Bart.,  Mr.  J.  W.  Waterhouse,  R.A., 
the  Lord  Provost  of  Edinburgh,  Mr.  Marcus  Stone,  R.A.,  Mr.  E. 
Croft,  R.A.,  Professor  Rud.  Eberstadt,  Mr.  J.  Seymour  Lucas,  R.A., 
Mr.  T.  C.  Horsfall,  J. P.,  Mr.  Leonard  Horner,  President  of  the 
London  Master  Builders'  Association.  Presiding  at  the  lower  tables 
were  Mr.  Henry  T.  Hare,  Hon.  Sec.  R.I.B.A.,  Mr.  E.  Guy  Dawber, 
Vice-President,  Mr.  A.  W.  S.  Cross,  Vice-President,  Mr.  J,  A.  Gotch, 
Mr.  E.  L.  Lutyens,  Mr.  Edwin  T.  Hall,  Mr.  H.  V.  Lanchester,  Pro- 
fessor Beresford  Pite. 

The  President,  giving  the  toast  of  "  The  King,"  said  :  It  is  the 
universal  custom  in  all  countries  on  an  occasion  like  this  to  drink  to 
the  health  of  those  we  esteem  and  the  success  of  the  project  we  have 
most  at  heart ;  and  the  first  toast  is  always  that  of  the  Sovereign.  I 
know  that  there  are  a  number  of  gentlemen  here  representing  foreign 
countries,  but  I  am  sure  they  will  join  with  us  in  drinking  to  the 
health  of  King  George.  And  for  two  reasons  :  first  of  all,  because 
he  is  our  Patron ;  and,  secondly,  because  he  is  his  father's  son. 
Edward  \TI.  was  known,  respected,  and  loved  throughout  the  entire 
world,  and  when  his  son,  King  George  V.,  is  equally  well  known,  I 
feel  sure  he  will  be  equally  well  loved  and  respected. 

The  toast  was  drunk  with  enthusiasm. 

The  President :  I  now  have  to  propose  the  health  of  "  The  Queen, 


The  Banquet. 


93 


R.OYAL  INSTITUTE 

OF 

BB.1TISH   ARCHITBCTS 


<^ow)D^ODDt£  Con/ereDce 
m'Atdober/D/O 


f'Tf-C-rr^rflhai  dk/ 


^tcrfxvl 


FRONT    OF    MENU-CARD. 

Designed  by  H.  McGregor  Wood,  Liverpool  School  of  Architecture. 


94     Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  other  Members  of  the  Royal  Family." 
We  have  lontj  known  the  Queen  as  a  good  wife  and  mother,  and  as 
such  she  has  reii,mcd  in  our  hearts  for  many  years.  The  Prince  of 
Wales  we  look  to  with  confidence  to  follow  the  high  standard  set  by 
his  forefathers;  and  for  the  Queen  Alexandra  we  have  the  deepest 
sympathy. 

The  toast  was  duly  honoured. 

The  Right  Hon.  John  Burns,  M.P.  :  The  pleasant  task  falls  to  my 
lot  this  evening,  as  President  of  the  Local  Government   Hoard,   to 


TOWN  •  PLANNING  •  CONGRESS' 


r.ACK    OK    MINU-CAKD. 

Designed  by  H.  Bradshavv,  Liverpool  School  of  Architecture. 

propose  the  toast  of  "  The  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects  and 
the  Town  Planning  Conference."  In  proposing  the  first  portion  of 
that  toast,  may  I  say  to  this  distinguished  and  representative  audience 
that  this  is  the  first  time  in  my  private  or  official  career,  either  as  a 
member  of  the  County  Council,  a  member  of  Parliament,  or  as  a 
Minister,  that  I  have  officially  come  into  contact  with  the  distinguished 
and  great  profession  which  you  gentlemen  adorn  ?  But  I  have  met 
your  President,  Mr.  Stokes,  before.  It  was  twenty  years  ago  when 
we  met — 'twas  in  a  crowd,  and  in  a  square.  I  had  been  allured  and 
attracted  by  a  choice  soul,  a  great  spirit,  and  a  bold  artist,  William 


The  Banquet.  95 

Morris — (applause) — to  take  part  in  some  very  human  proceedings 
which  were  not,  perhaps,  as  artistic  and  precise  as  many  people  would 
have  declared  at  the  time  ;  but  we  went  to  that  particular  square  that 
shall  be  nameless,  allured  by  a  great  artist.  Even  then  mv  instincts 
were  architectural,  not  to  say  artistic  ;  because  we  had,  I  think,  the 
greatest  picture  gallery  in  the  world  on  the  north  ;  we  had  religious 
surroundings  in  the  shape  of  a  beautiful  church  on  the  east ;  the  Union 
Club  was  on  our  west ;  and  even  then,  inclined  to  town  planning,  I 
was  mapping  out  in  imagination  the  line  of  the  new  Mall  and  proces- 
sional road,  and  was  looking  for  a  seat  in  Spring  Gardens,  which,  I 
am  glad  to  say,  I  got  three  years  afterwards.  It  was  then  that  I  met 
your  President.  He  had  a  wand  of  office  that  suggested  more  the 
majesty  of  the  law  than  the  dignity  of  art.  He  was  a  special  constable 
— and  I  was  a  potential  defendant.  But  my  artistic  associations  of 
that  day  were  not  alone  with  William  Morris  and  the  President.  A 
man  equally  great  to  the  two  that  I  have  mentioned — namely, 
John  Ruskin,  whose  views  we  are  beginning,  as  London  grows, 
to  appreciate  in  their  spirit  and  application  more  than  when  he  uttered 
them  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago — was  so  impressed  with  the  artistic  sur- 
roundings of  William  Morris  and  myself  that  he  offered  himself  to  be 
a  witness  on  that  occasion.  Well,  I  think,  Mr.  President,  having 
started  my  public  career  under  artistic  and  architectural  associations 
of  that  character,  I  had  a  right,  apart  from  being  President  of  the 
Local  Government  Board,  to  come  to  your  distinguished  Conference 
at  the  Guildhall  on  Monday  last,  and  to  take  part  with  you  in  stimu- 
lating a  movement,  and  in  so  doing  reviving  a  great  deal  that  was 
good  in  civic  art  and  architecture  of  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and 
sixteenth  centuries  to  an  extent  that  can  only  be  appreciated  as  time 
goes  on.  I  have  one  fault  only  to  find  with  the  architects.  The 
architects  have,  in  m}-  judgment,  been  too  long,  not  on  a  pedestal, 
but  in  an  elevated  position  above  the  crowd.  It  is  time  you  got  down 
off  that  pedestal  and  mixed  with  the  people,  who  are,  in  many  respects, 
your  paymasters.  As  cities  grow,  as  the  population  urbanises,  as  the 
townward  trend  Increases,  it  stands  to  reason  that  in  a  city  like 
London,  with  5,000,000  to-day — and  some  day  we  shall  have  a  Greater 
London  of  9,000,000  or  10,000,000 — we  should  not  allow  the  civic, 
artistic,  social,  and  architectural  to  be  interfered  with  by  outside 
bodies  who  lack  London's  means,  and  who  necessarily  cannot  have 
metropolitan  imagination  in  carrying  out  big  ideas.  If  London  and 
our  other  towns  are  to  be  the  great  and  beautiful  things  that  they 
ought  to  be — if  London  is  to  have  some  of  the  glory  of  Greece  and 
some  of  the  beauty  of  Rome,  plus  our  homely  British  virtues  of  a 
domestic  character,  it  stands  to  reason  that  money  will  be  needed. 
Seventv-five  per  cent,  of  the  people  of  England  and  Wales  are  living 
now  in  urban  counties,  as  against  25  per  cent,  only  fifty  or  sixty  years 
ago.  What  does  that  mean?  It  means  that  the  engineer,  the  sur- 
veyor, the  medical  officer,  the  artist,  and  the  architect  will  have  to  be 
called  upon  by  these  great  communities  for  increasingly  large  and 
beautiful  but  expensive  schemes  ;  and  my  suggestion  to  you  is  that  the 
architects,  having  begun  so  well  by  inaugurating  this  Conference,  will 
continue  that  work  by  all  reasonable  means  within  their  power.  \  ou 
artists  and  architects,  as  befits  your  profession  in  its  proper  place, 


(^6     Transactions  of  ihc  To7vn  l^Iannini,'  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

show  too  much  reticence  and  reserve  so  far  as  the  outside  public  are 
concerned.  'Ihis  should  not  be.  Modesty  was  only  made  for  those 
who  have  no  beauty.  (Laughter.)  Now  I  want,  if  I  may,  to  ask  you 
to  abandon  that  reticence,  to  put  aside  that  false  modesty,  and  to  see 
that  If  architecture  is  to  be  spread  as  it  should  be,  you  must  invoke 
the  aid  of  the  populace,  the  ratepayer,  the  citizen,  the  councillor,  and 
the  alderman.  In  London  we  owe  much  to  you.  Over  a  long  succes- 
sion of  years — over  several  centuries — the  architectural  profession 
has  given  of  its  best  to  rectify  municipal  blunders  and  social  mistakes, 
and  for  this  vou  deserve  every  praise  and  credit.  The  chain  of  archi- 
tectural abilitv  and  genius  still  goes  on.  Here  and  there,  now  and 
then,  the  links  may  be  smaller  than  their  predecessors,  but  on  the 
average  there  is  a  very  high  level  still  attained,  and  no  one  can  look 
at  the  London  of  to-day  as  compared  with  the  London  which  I  saw 
as  an  apprentice  lad,  I  am  sorry  to  say  nearly  forty  years  ago,  who 
will  not  cheerfully  admit — as  foreign  artists  admit  quite  generally — 
that  there  is  an  enormous  improvement  coming  over  the  architecture 
of  this  dear  old  London  of  ours.  (Applause.)  Your  Royal  Institute, 
the  Academy,  the  polytechnics,  even  the  elementary  schools  and 
technical  industrial  training  schools,  are  to  a  large  extent  responsible 
for  that  healthy  change.  Your  unequalled  art  and  architectural 
journals  also  have  contributed  to  this  beneficent  change. 

May  I  here  ask  the  architects  to  remember  the  tremendous  re- 
sponsibility that  they  exercise  towards  the  great  army  of  men  to 
whom  they  give  their  plans  and  designs  to  carry  out?  I  never  forget 
this,  because  I  myself  am  a  craftsman  ;  and  apart  from  the  bricklayer, 
the  mason,  the  carpenter,  the  painter,  and  the  plumber,  you  hand  your 
plans  first  to  the  builder  and  to  the  contractor,  and  the  local  authori- 
ties under  your  guidance  carry  out  more  and  more  work.  Then  there 
are  the  clerks  of  works,  a  type  of  man  I  believe  unequalled,  certainly 
not  excelled,  in  any  country  in  the  world.  (Applause.)  Now  in 
London  there  are  2,500  architects,  but  there  are  150,000  men  engaged 
in  the  building  trade  in  this  city  !  Why  do  I  mention  this  army  of 
men?  Because,  under  the  altered  conditions  of  life,  there  is  no  longer 
the  apprenticeship  system  under  which  a  boy  worked  up  from  the 
elementary  school  through  his  apprenticeship  until  he  became  a 
journeyman  ;  and  surely  you  architects  should  remember  that  to  the 
extent  that  the  apprenticeship  system  declines  so  is  it  increasingly 
necessary  that  in  other  ways,  whether  it  be  by  night-schools,  poly- 
technics, or  technical  schools,  you  should  see  that  in  the  carrying  out 
of  your  great  schemes  the  bricklayer  does  not  lose  the  power  to  keep 
to  the  fine  line.  Some  people  talk  about  the  decline  of  workmanship. 
I  do  not  believe  in  it.  I  believe  that  bricks  are  better  laid,  so  far  as 
precision,  square,  and  angle  are  concerned,  than  they  ever  were  ;  I 
believe  the  bricklayer  to-day  who  does  the  good  work  that  one  can  see 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Sloane  Street  is,  judged  by  precision  of  work, 
abetter  bri(M<laycr  than  the  bricklayer  who  built  Merton  College  towers 
in  Oxford  four  hundred  years  ago.  The  men's  instincts  are  good,  but 
if  the  apprenticeship  system  is  to  decay  it  is  for  you  architects  and  for 
public  bodies  to  take  steps  to  see  that  this  fine  army  of  150,000  men 
is  stimulated  and  encouraged  to  keep  up  its  high  position  and  the 
great  responsibility  that  rests  upon  them  as  craftsmen. 


I 


The  Banquet.  97 

VVhat  am  I  to  say  about  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  the 
second  part  of  the  toast?  It  would  be  ungracious  on  my  part  for  me 
not  to  say  what  I  do  say,  that  your  worthy  President  deserves  the 
grateful  thanks  of  everybody  for  his  work  in  connection  with  the  Con- 
ference and  the  Exhibition.  (Applause.)  But  last,  and  by  no  means 
least,  Mr.  Simpson — (loud  applause) — deserves  the  praise  of  all 
London  for  gathering  around  him  such  an  earnest  band  of  devoted 
workers,  students,  and  helpers,  who  have  made  this  Architectural 
Conference  and  Exhibition  in  London  one  of  the  most  brilliant  public 
functions  that  I  have  ever  witnessed  in  the  course  of  my  thirty  years 
of  public  life.  Having  said  that,  I  want  to  point  the  moral  and  adorn 
the  tale  of  a  controversy  which  is  of  vital  importance  to  London. 
I  am  bold  enough,  having  the  artistic  temperament,  to  suggest  that  in 
the  new  St.  Paul's  Bridge,  the  City  Corporation,  Parliament,  the 
London  County  Council,  and  all  the  authorities  concerned  would  be 
well  advised  if,  before  they  finally  settle  their  plans  for  the  new  bridge, 
they  would  listen,  not  only  to  the  engineer,  but  to  the  architect  and 
the  artist  as  well  as  to  the  policeman,  as  to  where,  how,  and  when  that 
particular  bridge  should  be  built.  I  believe  you  architects  have 
approached  the  City  Corporation,  and  I  am  informed  that  you  are 
not  so  well  pleased  with  your  reception  as  you  would  like  to  be.  I 
w^ant  to  put  these  facts  in  the  most  candid  and  friendliest  of  ways  to 
the  City  Corporation,  who  in  many  respects  have  done  well  archi- 
tecturally, and  to  whom  on  behalf  of  the  poorer  people  of  this  vast 
city  I  say  that  London  is  extremely  indebted  for  the  widening  of 
Blackfriars  Bridge,  for  letting  the  tramways  over  the  bridges  and 
down  the  Embankment,  and  for  doing  a  popular  and  a  necessary 
thing  in  a  bold  and  generous  way,  every  penny  of  the  cost  of  which 
they  have,  to  their  credit,  paid  out  of  their  own  corporate  funds. 
Having  said  that,  I  would  venture  to  ask  the  city  to  remember  that  if 
their  scheme  is  carried  out  there  will  be  four  bridges — London  Bridge, 
Cannon  Street  Railway  Bridge,  Southwark  Bridge,  and  the  new 
St.  Paul's  Bridge— in  only  800  yards  of  river  frontage.  What  will  that 
mean?  If  you  stand  on  Blackfriars  now — and  Blackfriars  Bridge  is 
a  fine  bridge,  though  I  wish  you  would  not  paint  the  top  parapet  with 
oxide  of  lead,  but  rather  have  a  nice  French  grey — if  you  stand  on 
Blackfriars  Bridge  you  cannot  see  London  Bridge  or  the  Tower 
Bridge  because  the  Chatham  and  Dover  Railway  Bridge  by  Black- 
friars completely  obstructs  the  view.  Stand  on  London  Bridge — that 
magnificent  structure — look  westward,  and  you  cannot  see  Black- 
friars Bridge  or  Cannon  Street  because  Southwark  is  stuck  behind. 
It  does  seem  to  me  that  we  ought  not  to  have  four  bridges  in  about 
800  yards  of  river  frontage,  when,  if  the  City  Corporation  took  the 
architects  and  artists  and  engineers  into  their  secret,  we  might  have 
one  of  the  most  magnificent  bridges  called  the  St.  Paul's  Bridge — a 
100-  or  120-foot  bridge  rather  on  the  lines  of  the  Pont  Alexandre  III. 
at  Paris,  with  three  graceful,  beautiful  arches,  and  a  low  parapet  ; 
and  this  could  be  done  for  a  sum  which  would  not  be  much  more  than 
the  Bridge  House  Estates  would  yield.  My  suggestion  to  the  City 
Corporation  is  :  Do  not  be  offended  because  the  London  County 
Council  cannot  agree  with  you  as  to  the  plan  or  as  to  the  contribution. 
May  I  say  to  both  of  them— they  are  near  enough  to  the  neighbours  : 

H 


Q<S     Transdclions  of  the  Toicu  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

t'.icy  ouijlit  to  be  ckccnt  tnoui^h  to  be  tiiends?  (Applause.)  If  ihey 
«;omc  toijether  aiui  biinj^  forward  a  bold  .schcinc  which  the  artistic 
temperament  and  tlie  architectural  skill  of  this  city  can  approve,  I  am 
sure  that  the  difference  between  their  present  plan  and  what  ought  to 
be  done  will  be  willingly  sanctioned  by  the  ratepayers  both  of  the 
city  and  countv  of  London,  who  ought  to  contribute  to  such  a  work 
in  the  haiKlsomest  and  most  generous  way.  I  make  that  suggestion 
with  a  further  hint — that  if  they  will  ask  the  Lord  Mayor  and  the 
Chairman  of  the  London  County  Council  and  the  officers  of  both 
bodies  to  come  to  the  Local  Government  Board,  I  will  see  that  there 
is  a  room  large  enough  to  contain  them,  and  I  will  take  good  care  to 
lock  them  in,  and  if  I  can  get  a  decision  in  tlie  right  direction  before 
they  separate,  I  am  sure  you  will  be  grateful,  and  that  a  hundred 
years  hence  London  will  bless  such  a  decision  come  to  through  the 
friendly  co-operation  of  two  great  public  bodies. 

Now,  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference  I  have  to  say  this  :  It  has 
been  a  brilliant  success.  It  was  your  suggestion  to  me,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, that  lots  of  housing  reformers  and  town  planners  would  say  : 
"  At  a  Town  Planning  Conference  you  will  be  expected  to  talk  about 
vour  Bill."  Certainly  not.  This  is  an  International  Congress;  this 
is  a  representative  Congress,  where  broad  ideas  ought  to  be  inter- 
changed, and  on  the  broadest  lines.  I  did  my  best  to  take  a  hill-top 
view — if  you  like,  a  Mount  Pisgah  view — and  with  a  name  like  mine 
I  had  more  or  less  to  point  out  poetically  the  promised  land  across  the 
river.  I  know  I  disappointed  some  housing  reformers  and  some  town 
planners  by  not  responding  to  their  wish.  But  this  I  have  to  say  as 
an  apology,  not  as  an  excuse.  If  any  architect  or  housing  reformer 
or  town  planner  wants  to  deal  with  any  detail  in  the  Act  or  the  Regu- 
lations let  him  come  do\\'n  to  the  Local  Government  Board  and  talk 
over  these  interesting  but  relatively  unimportant  details  with  me,  and 
we  will  see  if  we  cannot  straighten  the  crooked  path  of  the  housing 
reformer  and  the  town  planner.  But  your  Conference — general, 
international,  representative — had  a  right  to  be  treated  in  a  broad 
and  general  way.  My  last  sentence  is  this  :  We  have  on  Westminster 
Bridge  a  statue  of  Boadicea  on  one  side,  and  I  am  going  to  make 
this  suggestion  :  There  is  a  pedestal  on  the  other  side  waiting  for 
another  statue  ;  wliy  not  have  another  lady — a  modern  lady,  Florence 
Nightingale — on  the  other  pedestal  opposite  St.  Thomas's  Hospital, 
where  every  nurse  and  doctor  could  see  the  statue  of  the  benign 
figure  she  was,  and  where  every  one  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Guards 
going  to  the  barracks,  to  Waterloo,  and  to  Aldershot  would  be  able 
to  look  ^t  the  statue  of  a  distinguished  figure  to  whom  the  soldiers 
owe  so  much?  It  would  blend  beautifully  with  the  fine  County  Hall 
which  is  now  arising  on  the  Surrey  side,  and  which  we  sincerely 
hope  will  be  as  beautiful  in  final  execution  as  the  designs  shovi^ed  them- 
selves to  be  when  they  were  presented  to  us  some  three  years  ago. 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Stokes,  I  have  had  a  happy  week.  I  have  been 
with  you  every  day.  I  Iiave  enjoyed  your  company  very  much.  I 
hope  to  be  with  you  until  the  conclusion  of  the  proceedings  on  Satur- 
day next ;  and,  so  far  as  I  can  speak  for  my  colleajjues,  especially 
the  Prime  Minister,  Lord  Crewe,  and  Lord  Bcauchamp,  who  In  the 
House  of  Lords  helped  with  the  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Bill,  I 


The  Banquet.  99 

can  assure  you  as  architects  tliat  you  are  appealing  to  sympathetic 
ears  and  hearts  and  minds,  and  that  everything  that  can  be  done  to 
improve  housing  and  to  develop  town  planning  on  bold  and  original, 
even  if  on  costly,  lines  will  be  done  by  the  Department  of  which  I 
have  the  honour  to  be  chief. 

I  thank  you  for  allowing  me  to  propose  the  toast  of  "  The  Royal 
Institute  of  British  Architects."  We  cannot  do  without  you ;  but  for 
you  we  should  be  cave-dwellers  and  troglodytes.  You  have  made  our 
streets  more  pleasant  than  they  would  have  been  without  you.  You 
are  giving  increasingly  of  your  time  to  the  improvement  of  the 
character  and  the  attractiveness  of  the  humblest  homes  by  virtue  of 
your  skill  and  craftsmanship  ;  and  on  behalf  of  the  great  community 
whom  I  have  the  honour  to  represent,  we  thank  you  for  your  ancient 
past,  your  beneficial  present,  and  your  most  hopeful  future,  which  I 
believe  is  assured  if  every  three  or  four  years  you  have  fine  conferences 
and  exhibitions  like  those  which  you  have  given  to  London  this  week. 

The  President  :  I  know  this  assembly  will  sympathise  with  me  in 
my  difficulty  in  following  a  great  speaker  like  Mr.  Burns.  As  I  said 
at  the  Guildhall,  it  is  Mr.  Burns  who  has  made  this  Conference  pos- 
sible, and  I  should  like  to  add  that  it  is  Mr.  Burns  who  has  made  it 
a  success.  His  speech  at  the  Guildhall  and  his  speech  again  to-night 
have  been  most  invigorating  and  inspiring.  We  have  several  dis- 
tinguished speakers  to  follow,  and  I  will  not  detain  you  ;  but  I  should 
like  to  say  a  word  on  a  point  that  Mr.  I^urns  touched  upon.  He  has 
been  good  enough  to  mention  me  as  having  done  a  great  deal  for  this 
Conference.  That  is  perhaps  the  one  mistake  he  made  in  his  speech. 
I  ought  to  tell  you  that  the  thanks  of  all  present  and  of  all  the 
members  of  the  Conference  are  in  the  first  place  due  to  Mr.  Simpson 
— (loud  and  prolonged  applause) — for  the  enormous  amount  of  time 
and  trouble  and  thought  he  has  given  to  this  matter.  After  Mr. 
Simpson  comes  Mr.  Raymond  Unwin,  on  whose  shoulders  has  fallen 
almost  entirely  the  labour  of  getting  together  the  Exhibition  at  Bur- 
lington House  which  is  such  a  distinguished  success.  I  should  like 
also  to  acknowledge  the  very  great  debt  we  owe  to  the  Royal  Academy 
for  lending  us  their  Galleries.  I  thank  Mr.  Burns  very  heartily  on 
your  behalf  for  the  kind  way  in  which  he  has  proposed  this  toast. 

The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Redesdale,  G.C.V.O.  :  The  toast  which  I 
have  to  give  you  to-night  is  that  of  "  Art,  Literature,  and  Science." 
Your  President  warned  me  when  he  asked  me  to  propose  this  toast 
that  I  should  be  brief.  It  was  a  wise  and  salutary  warning,  for  I 
shudder  to  think  of  the  platitudes  and  commonplaces  I  might  other- 
wise have  showered  upon  you.  There  is,  however,  one  thing  that 
you  will  perhaps  allow  me  to  do,  and  that  is  to  congratulate  you  upon 
the  success  of  the  brilliant  Exhibition  which  we  have  witnessed  this 
week  at  the  Galleries  of  Burlington  House.  I  do  not  think  that  in  the 
whole  course  of  a  long  life  I  have  ever  attended  any  show  which  was 
more  pregnant  in  every  sense  of  the  word  than  that  Exhibition.  It 
has  been  a  revelation  to  many  people.  I  was  there  yesterday,  spend- 
ing a  long  and  very  interesting  morning.  There  were  a  great  number 
of  foreigners  present,  and  it  was  most  satisfactory  to  notice  that  every 
one  of  them  was  enthusiastic  in  praise  of  it,  that  they  were  enjoying 
it  to  the  very  fullest  of  their  powers.     It  is  well.  Gentlemen,  that  you 

H  2 


loo  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

should  honour  iirt,  for  you  arc  indeed  yourselves  artists,  and  some- 
times I  think  that  the  form  of  art  which  you  have  adopted  is  the  one 
that  is  the  most  beneficent  of  all  to  the  rest  of  mankind.  It  is  only 
within  a  qomparativtly  few  years  that  the  world  has  realised  to  the 
full  the  civilising  and  educational  power  of  exhibitions  of  works  of  the 
finest  art.  We  all  admit  this,  and  I  think  nobody  admits  it  more 
than  the  class  to  which  for  so  many  centuries  such  exhibitions  were 
all  but  closed,  but  who  now  flock  to  them  as  a  relief  from  the  rest  of 
their  sombre  lives.  It  must  be  a  great  boon  to  a  man  who  has  spent 
six  hard  days  in  the  horrors  of  the  London  slums,  with  their  dirt, 
their  miasma,  their  miserable  surroundings,  to  find  himself  in  a 
gallery  surrounded  by  works  of  the  W'orld's  greatest  artists.  Evi- 
dently the  mechanic  can  refresh  his  mind  in  that  way  as  he  can  in  no 
other.  But  there  is  a  terrible  price  to  be  paid  for  it.  I  often  think 
that  the  going  back  to  such  a  home  as  his  must  accentuate  his 
miseries  tenfold  in  contrast  w-ith  the  enjoyment  of  the  previous  few 
hours.  This  is  where  the  architect  steps  in.  He  proposes  that  there 
shall  no  longer  be  these  violent  contrasts.  Your  great  Exhibition  of 
this  week  must  bear  fruit,  for  we  have,  in  the  presence  here  of  some 
of  the  greatest  talents  that  the  United  States  and  the  rest  of  the  world 
have  brought  forth,  an  earnest  that  your  work  will  not  remain  barren. 
Your  object  is  that  when  a  man  goes  home  from  his  work  or  from 
his  enjoyment  he  shall  go  home  to  something  which  is  healthy,  which 
is  clean,  which  is,  as  far  as  it  may  be,  attractive,  and  which  will  no 
longer  make  him  look  back  with  regret  upon  the  happy  hours  he  has 
spent  in  the  fields  or  in  some  great  gallery.  To  sweep  away  the 
slums ;  to  sweep  away  all  the  iniquities  by  which  these  men's  lives 
are  surrounded  ;  to  sweep  away  the  poisonous  atmosphere  of  the  dens 
of  infamy  which  are  hotbeds  of  vice,  disease,  and  crime,  and  give 
men  something  to  raise  them  to  the  proper  dignity  they  should  occupy 
in  the  world,  and  make  them  better  citizens,  better  men,  and  of 
greater  credit  to  mankind.  Those  are  the  objects  you  have  at  heart. 
The  older  amongst  us  may  not  live  to  see  the  days  when  your  hopes 
will  be  realised,  but  I  believe  they  will  be  realised.  It  is  impossible 
to  look  upon  the  models  shown  this  week  at  Burlington  House  without 
feeling  that  there  are  many  thoughtful  minds,  many  poetical  minds, 
many  artistic  minds  which  are  at  work  upon  this  great  subject,  and 
that  you  are  determined  that,  although  at  the  present  moment  it  may 
be  possible  for  a  man  to  spend  a  few  brief  hours  enjoying  the  poetry 
of  life  among  the  works  of  tlie  greatest  masters,  in  the  coming  day 
he  shall  not  be  sent  back  to  the  prose  of  its  deepest  degradation.  I 
have  been  privileged  to  couple  with  the  toast  of  "  Art  "  the  name  of 
my  old  friend.  Sir  Lawrence  Alma-Tadema.  For  more  years  than  he 
or  I  would  care  to  recollect — for  we  are  contemporaries — has  his  busy 
brush  charmed  the  world  of  England  as  it  had  already  charmed  that 
of  his  own  native  country — and  who  is  more  worthy  of  being  honoured 
by  you  architects  than  Sir  Lawrence  Alma-Tadema?  What  great 
painter  has  there  been  in  the  past,  what  great  painter  is  there  in  the 
present,  who  has  been  so  entirely  in  sympathy  with  the  architectural 
arts  as  himself?  Certainly  there  has  been  no  man  since  the  world 
began  who  has  been  more  capable  of  rendering,  at  any  rate  one  of, 
the  great  materials  which  you  use  in  the  adornment  of  your  buildings 


The  Banquet.  loi 

than  Sir  Lawrence  Alma-Tadema,  for  he  is  the  prince  of  the  painters 
of  classical  architecture.  With  the  toast  of  "  Literature  "  I  am  per- 
mitted to  couple  the  name  of  another  old  friend  of  mine,  a  gentleman 
whose  name  is  well  known  all  over  the  world  as  one  of  the  most 
learned  chiefs  of  the  great  British  Museum  that  there  is  no  need  for 
me  to  sing  his  praises.  The  only  doubt  I  had  in  my  mind  was  which 
of  the  three  great  subjects  that  I  have  to  bring  before  you  I  should 
connect  his  name  with.  Should  it  be  Art?  should  it  be  Literature? 
should  it  be  Science? — for  he  is  equally  known  in  all  three.  I  there- 
fore couple  with  "  Literature  "  the  name  of  Mr.  Sidney  Colvin,  and 
with  "  Science  "  I  would  couple  the  name  of  Professor  Eberstadt. 

Sir  Lawrence  Alma-Tadema,  O.M.,  R.A.  :  I  had  thought  that 
when  I  was  to  answer  to  this  toast  I  was  merely  to  speak  of  the  art 
of  painting.  But  I  understand  the  toast  is  more  general,  and  that  I 
have  to  answer  for  the  three  graces — the  triplets  of  taste  :  for  archi- 
tecture, sculpture,  and  painting  arc  so  nearly  related  that  they  must 
be  indeed  sisters — or,  if  it  were  possible,  more  than  sisters.  As  a 
painter,  I  am  accustomed  to  see  pictures  everywhere,  and  it  was  a 
great  pleasure  to  me  last  Monday  to  hear  the  right  honourable  gentle- 
man our  Honorary  President  say  that  in  his  earlier  days  his  feelings 
were  stirred  and  he  felt  the  happier  for  having  to  pass  so  close  to  the 
beauties  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  and  Westminster  Abbey  every 
day,  and  he  made  me  really  envious  when  he  told  us  that  he  used  to 
have  his  breakfast  and  his  dinner  in  the  cloisters,  in  the  shadows  of 
the  Abbey,  that  wonderful  building.  Those  words  of  his  reminded 
me  that  the  plastic  arts  are  the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  helpful, 
and  I  am  glad  to  see  that  so  much  is  being  done  in  our  days  for  plastic 
development  in  education.  Literature  with  all  its  beauties  cannot 
produce  a  clear  picture  in  the  mind  of  the  form  or  colour  of  a  thing 
which  has  never  been  seen  before,  but  the  plastic  arts  speak  a  lan- 
guage which  is  universal.  Art  is  understood  by  the  black  and  the 
yellow  and  the  white  man — by  every  nation  in  the  world  ;  and  every 
nation  in  the  world  expresses  itself  in  art,  for  without  art  civilisation 
could  be  nothing.  Art  is  the  great  mother,  the  great  charm  of  life. 
Nothing  exists  without  art,  and  the  more  we  can  do  for  the  education 
of  the  people  through  the  plastic  arts  the  better  it  will  be  for  the 
nations.  Therefore,  we  have  had  a  Congress  of  architects  and  town 
planners,  and  I  am  sure  they  will  not  forget  the  painters  and  sculptors 
who  decorate  the  walls  of  our  public  buildings  and  schools. 

Mr.  Sidney  Colvin,  D.Litt.Oxon.,  responding  for  "  Literature  "  : 
Town  planning,  I  take  it,  is  the  main  point  and  central  interest  of 
your  present  anniversary  meeting.  Xow  it  so  happens  that  the  great 
institution  of  Literature,  Art,  and  Archaeology  which  I  have  the 
honour  to  serve  is  at  this  moment  specially  interested  in  a  question  of 
town  planning  at  its  doors.  A  distinguished  member  of  your  Insti- 
tute, not  here  to-night,  has  designed  a  new  addition  to  our  building 
on  the  north  side,  which,  in  the  eyes  of  all  competent  judges,  is,  I 
think,  a  credit  to  your  profession  and  a  great  and  dignified  ornament 
to  the  quarter  of  London  where  the  Museum  stands.  In  connection 
with  this  new  building,  a  great  London  landlord  and  neighbour  of 
ours,  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  has  carried  out  on  his  own  account  a  very 
remarkable  piece  of  town  planning.     He  has  swept  away  a  number  of 


u>2   Transactions  oj  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

streets  and  terraces  north  of  our  new  faq-adc,  and  has  disclosed  a  fine 
view  towards  it,  down  a  broad  new  avenue  opening  out  into  a 
crescent.  And,  dare  I  add,  that,  while  gratefully  admiring  this  bold 
new  improvement  of  our  quarter,  of  which  we  as  yet  know  only  the 
ground  plan,  we  arc  not  quite  free  from  misgivings  as  to  what  the 
design  of  the  buildings  to  be  erected  on  it  may  be,  and  dare  I  express 
the  hope  that  they  will  at  least  be  in  harmony  with  the  refined 
Georgian  traditions  of  the  district,  and  not  include  such  exotic  experi- 
ments as  we  have  lately  seen  changing  the  character  of  a  neighbour- 
ing square?  Turning  to  the  special  art  for  which  I  am  called  upon 
to  answer,  the  art  of  literature,  I  was  surprised  to-day  when  a  friend 
to  whom  I  mentioned  my  engagement  for  this  evening  asked,  "  What 
has  literature  to  do  with  town  planning?  "  Why,  the  answer  is, 
literature  has  to  do  with  everything.  There  is  no  activity,  or  pursuit, 
no  business  or  pleasure,  no  occupation  or  ambition  of  man  with  which 
literature  has  not  tfie  power,  and  may  not  have  the  call,  to  deal. 
Least  of  all  need  it  stand  aloof  from  a  pursuit  so  vitally  concerned 
both  with  the  health  and  welfare  of  multitudes  and  the  contentment 
and  refinement  of  individual  lives  as  the  pursuit  of  town  planning. 
Think,  gentlemen,  how  vast  a  difference  it  would  have  made  in  the 
aspect  of  our  country,  and  the  happiness  of  our  people,  if,  instead  of 
taking  up  this  pursuit  in  earnest  only  now,  W'e  had  taken  it  up  w^ith 
deliberation  and  foresight  fifty,  sixty,  or  maybe  a  hundred  years  ago. 
The  nineteenth  century,  as  a  previous  speaker  said,  has  been  an 
age  of  nothing  so  much  as  of  urban  concentration — of  the  massing 
together  of  vast  multitudes  of  our  population  in  towns.  I  am  afraid 
the  word  should  rather  be  urban  coagulation,  for  it  has  taken  place 
for  the  most  part  without  plan,  without  system,  without  forethought, 
and  consequently  without  regard  to  conditions  of  health,  of  beauty, 
of  cleanliness,  or  of  order.  We  have  seen  towns  spreading  with  the 
swiftness  of  a  plague  or  a  fire,  and  with  results  almost  as  disastrous 
both  to  the  face  of  Nature  and  to  the  lives  of  populations.  How 
different  might  all  this  be  if  we  were  able  to  start  fresh  !  Gentlemen, 
you  begin  late.  Your  efforts  for  the  future  must  need  be  greatly 
hampered  and  discouraged  by  all  that  has  been  misdone  in  the  past. 
But  literature  will  look  forward  to  your  efforts,  and  found  on  them 
great  hopes  for  mankind  and  fine  achievements  to  praise  and  cele- 
brate. Not  that  literature  has  all  to  gain  by  the  abolition  of  filth  and 
squalor  and  the  festering  degradation  of  slums  and  of  human  exist- 
ence as  it  often  is  under  present  town  conditions.  Literature  has  two 
ways  of  looking  at  these  things.  Looking  at  them  in  one  way,  you 
find  a  Ruskin  or  a  Islorris  lamenting  and  denouncing  the  defilement 
of  ancient  beauty  and  the  disturbance  of  familiar  scenes  of  verdure 
and  of  peace.  Or  you  may  remember  the  words  of  Matthew  Arnold, 
looking  down  on  Oxford  from  the  Berkshire  hills  : — 

"  .And  that  sweet  city  with  her  dreaminfj  spires, 
She  needs  not  June  for  beauty's  heightening, 
Lovely  all  times  she  lies,  lovely  to-night." 

You  may  remember  these  lines  and  wonder  whether  the  poet  could 
have  written  them  now  if  there  had  come  into  his  view  the  new,  mean, 
straggling  suburbs  stretching  over  the  fields  from  his  beloved  city. 
But,  looking  at  these  matters  from  another  point  of  view,  literature, 
like  the  other  fine  arts,  knows  how  to  extract  beauty,  or  if  not  beauty, 


The  Banquet.  103 

at  least  effects  of  power  and  of  imaginative  appeal,  from  things  in 
themselves  hideous  or  squalid  or  distressing.  Thinking  only  of  our 
own  most  recent  literature,  I  remember  a  marvellous  effect  of  London 
slum  squalor  in  winter,  heightened  to  horror  by  the  action  that  passes 
there,  in  Mr.  de  Morgan's  novel  of  It  can  never  happen  again.  Or 
do  you  think  that  Mr.  Arnold  Bennett  could  have  got  so  vivid  and 
biting  an  effect  in  telling  all  the  small  events  in  the  daily  domestic 
lives  spent  in  the  Staffordshire  five  towns  if  he  had  not  for  background 
the  grimy  chaos  of  those  towns  themselves — such  a  chaos  as  vou 
town  planners  would  never  have  dreamed  of  allowing  and  now  long 
to  sweep  away?  But,  gentlemen,  literature,  alas!  will  have  long 
enough  to  wait  before  aspects  of  this  kind  disappear  from  the  face  of 
England.  Neither,  if  the  time  for  their  disappearance  ever  comes,  will 
literature  too  much  lament  their  passing,  but  will  turn  her  thoughts 
to  the  celebration  of  happier,  sunnier,  better  ordered  lives,  and  will 
love  to  celebrate  the  victories  of  those  who  labour  to  such  an  end. 
In  the  meantime,  she  thanks  you  in  my  unworthv  name  for  the 
manner  in  which  this  toast  has  been  proposed  by  Lord  Redesdale 
and  welcomed  by  this  company. 

Professor  Dr.  Rud.  Eberstadt,  responding  for  "  Science,"  said  : 
What  is  our  conception  of  science?  In  the  prosperous  family  of 
civilisation  there  are  two  sisters  taxed  very  differently.  The  one 
called  Science  is  a  quarrelsome,  overbearing,  bespectacled  spinster, 
standing  in  everyone's  estimation  far  behind  her  beautiful,  charming 
sister,  a  favourite  with  everybody,  whose  name  is  Art.  And  this 
graceful,  handsome  creature  has  found  here,  moreover,  an  advocate 
of  world-wide  reputation.  This  is  unjust.  What  shall  I  say  of  my 
poor  protegee,  neglected  by  nature? 

Let  me  see  if  I  can  better  my  position  a  little.  Step  back  a 
few  centuries,  back  to  that  period  of  utter  darkness,  the  Middle 
.Vges.  I  confess,  though,  that  my  own  studies  belong  to  a 
large  extent  to  this  dark  age,  and  the  little  light  that  I  have 
been  able  to  contribute  towards  the  art  of  town  building, 
strange  to  say,  I  have  taken  from  the  darkness  of  the  Middle 
-Ages.  Now,  if  we  turn  up  a  statute  book  of  the  mediaeval  craft  guilds, 
what  do  we  read?  They  style  their  profession  as  ars  et  scientia — - 
.Art  and  Science.  Those  men  who  created  the  wonders  of  our  German 
towns,  our  Gothic  cathedrals,  and  filled  those  places  of  worship — 
for  in  those  unluck\-  days  there  existed  no  museums — with  unrivalled 
masterpieces  for  the  Divine  service  and  the  edification  of  man,  they 
called  their  work  Art  and  Science  ;  and  certainly  Gothic  architecture  in 
the  first  place  was  a  science — i.e.  of  mathematics.  But  even  the 
simple  craftsman — the  weaver,  the  clothworker,  the  draper,  the  joiner 
— spoke  of  his  profession  as  art  and  science.  They  were  identical. 
Still,  if  we  go  some  centuries  further  back,  to  those  brighter  days 
lit  up  by  the  sunshine  of  antiquity,  and  if  we  turn — say,  for  instance, 
to  that  science  that  we  in  Germany  are  blessed  with,  but  which  you 
English  have  excluded  from  your  island — I  mean  Roman  law  : 
what  says  the  great  and  elegant,  the  most  reverend  authority, 
dear  old  Celsius,  in  the  first  book  of  the  Digests  :  ius  est  ars  honi 
et  aequi — law  is  tlie  art  of  tlie  good  and  the  just.  So  the  lawyer  of 
Rome,  too,  felt  himself  an  artist,  which' he  certainly  does  not  do  in 
our  days,  not  even  in  Germany. 


i()4  Transuclions  of  the  To^i'ii  rhnniini;  Conjercmt,  Oct.  1910. 

Hut  \vli;it  about  town  planning?  Is  it  an  art  or  a  science?  Oh, 
I  know  your  answer  !  Vou  are  artists,  and  you  have  the  majority  ; 
you  arc  masters  of  the  house  ;  we  arc  merely  guests.  But  stop,  we 
may  still  prove  a  co-partnership.  A  little  step  further  back  to  the 
davs  of  Greece.  The  old  Greeks  built  their  towns  having  as  nucleus 
a  castle  upon  the  hill — an  "  acropolis  " — as  a  place  of  common 
refuge,  and,  which  was  identical,  of  common  consecration  to  the  gods. 
What  was  built  round  the  castle,  the  civic  town,  for  centuries  was 
developed  w-ithout  system.  One  day  a  man  stepped  forth,  called 
Hippodamos,  a  Pythagorean,  and  consequently  learned  in  mathe- 
matics, and  a  philosopher  and  an  architect.  He  first  opposed  a 
scientific  system  of  town  planning  to  the  old  practice — as  Aristotle 
tells  us  Kara  rov  vscorspov  Tpoirov — the  new  method  opposed  to  the 
old  practice.  He  planned  the  town  according  to  the  rectangular 
system,  and  he  divided  the  land — let  me  see,  it  must  have  been  some- 
thing like  Hampstead  Garden  Suburb — so  you  know  it  all,  and 
I  need  not  describe  it.  Towns,  it  must  be  said,  had  been  planned 
before  Hippodamos — in  Babylon,  Assyria,  Egypt — by  the  absolute 
will  of  princes.  But  now  in  Athens  a  science  of  town  building 
was  inaugurated  by  Hippodamos.  This  science  has  been  in  abeyance 
for  centuries  ;  it  was  revived  when  two  dominating  powers  met  again — 
science  and  the  absolute  will  of  a  prince  in  this  much  studied,  and 
still  more  copied,  town  building  of  the  eighteenth  century.  So  you 
see  Science  has  some  claim  in  town  building,  as  in  Art  generally. 
Now,  if  the  old  masters  took  Art  and  Science  to  be  identical,  there 
must  be  something  common  to  both.  And  if  we  in  our  days  keep 
them  separate  and  distinguish  them,  there  must  be  a  difference 
between  them.  I  should  try  to  define  it  thus  :  Art  is  w^hat  you  must 
feel ;  Science  is  what  you  may  teach.  Whatever  is  truly  artistic  you 
must  feel  in  your  heart ;  it  must  start  from  the  heart  and  go  to  the 
heart,  or  el.se  it  is  not  genuine.  And  whatever  is  true  science  it  must 
be  teachable ;  it  must  be  capable  of  being  imparted  to  our  fellow-men, 
or  else  it  is  not  science.  The  task  of  the  teacher,  however,  is  three- 
fold :  he  has  to  investigate,  to  verify,  to  formulate.  First,  we  have 
to  investigate,  to  gather,  search,  and  research  the  facts ;  then  our 
duty  is  to  control,  to  dispose,  to  describe.  Our  last  step  is  to  formu- 
late. And  in  this  great  task  of  formulating,  of  giving  the  form  of 
teachable  knowledge  and  of  general  intelligible  law  to  our  investi- 
gation— in  this  work  the  true  teacher  is  and  must  be  an  artist. 

We  pride  ourselves  on  being  a  scientific  age.  I  am  not  quite  sure  if 
our  successors  will  not  contest  this  title.  Perhaps  we  ought  rather  to 
be  called  a  technical  age.  As  is  the  consequence  of  all  technical 
education,  we  are  one-sided,  we  are  one-handed,  we  are  specialists. 
But  out  of  this  specialism  arises  the  deep,  ardent  desire  to  be  artists 
again.  You  have  well  observed  this  tendency.  You  have  caught  it ; 
but  do  not  make  it  absolute.  Turn  back  to  the  old  masters,  certainly  ; 
I  have  done  so  too — but  not  to  copy  them,  not  to  reproduce  old  forms. 
The  best  you  can  learn  from  them  is  :  the  combination  of  Art  and 
Science.  Let  it  be  so  in  town  planning.  Go,  then,  to  your  work  ;  but 
knowledge  must  guide  you,  knowledge  must  hold  out  the  light ;  know- 
ledge must  clear  the  way  ;  and  before  all,  direct  your  work  to  the 
proper  end  :  the  true  benefit  of  our  people. 

There  is  one  royal  and  noble  art — the  art  of  architecture ;  for  it 


The  Banquet.  105 

has  to  build  the  house  of  God  and  the  house  of  man.  In  this  work 
may  you  unite  for  ever,  as  our  old  masters  did,  the  greatest  powers 
that  have  been  entrusted  toman.  Art  and  Science. 

Sir  Aston  \\'ebb,  C.B.,  R.A.  :  I  have  the  great  privilege  of  pro- 
posing to-night  the  toast  of  "  Our  Guests."  You  will  all  agree  with 
me  that  without  our  guests  we  should  have  had  no  Conference  here 
in  London  ;  and  without  our  guests  we  should  have  had  no  Exhibi- 
tion, for  they  are  largely  the  exhibitors  in  that  Exhibition  which  has 
been  so  kindly  spoken  of  to-night.  It  is  no  exaggeration  of  language 
to  say  that  our  guests  have  come  from  all  over  the  world,  from  north 
and  south,  from  east  and  west,  and  they  have  come  bringing  their 
sheaves  with  them,  sheaves  of  plans  which  you  will  see  at  the  Royal 
Academy,  and  sheaves  of  Papers  which  we  have  been  delighted  to 
hear  read  at  the  Galleries  day  by  day.  What  they  bring  to  us  is  an 
instruction  and  delight,  and  though  Mr.  Burns  does  not  seem  to 
recommend  modesty  to  us,  we  cannot  so  quickly  throw  off  that 
quality  which  up  to  now  we  have  rather  been  pleased  to  possess,  and 
we  gladly  say  that  our  guests  have  a  very  great  deal  to  teach  us  in 
this  matter  of  town  planning.  We  are  afraid  that  we  may  not  have 
as  much  to  show  them  as  they  have  to  show  us.  But  what  we  can 
say  is  that  all  we  have  they  shall  see,  that  what  we  lack  in  that  way 
we  hope  to  make  up  for  by  a  hearty  welcome  to  them  all.  We  are 
very  proud  to  see  them  here.  We  thank  them  very  much  for  coming, 
and  we  understand  very  fully  the  great  personal  trouble  that  it  must 
have  been  to  many  of  them  to  be  here  with  us  to-night.  France  and 
Germany  are  largely  represented  here,  and  in  our  Exhibition  we 
have  M.  Bonnier  and  M.  Bayard  ;  we  have  Dr.  Eberstadt,  w^hom  we 
had  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  just  now  ;  we  have  Dr.  Stiibben  and 
Dr.  March.  From  Italy  I  can  only  mention  one  or  two  names  :  we 
have  Cav.  Ing.  M.  Rondini  and  Cav.  Ing.  Rodolfo  R.  Bonfiglietti ; 
from  Belgium  we  have  Monsieur  J.  Schobbens,  Dr.  P.  de  Heem, 
Monsieur  F.  Van  Kuijck,  and  Monsieur  M.  Lemeunier  ;  from  America 
we  have  Mr.  Edward  Kent,  who  is  representing  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Architects,  and  we  have  Mr.  Daniel  H.  Burnham,  who  has 
sent  us  a  magnificent  series  of  drawings  which  are  an  education  to 
all  of  us.  From  Australia  we  have  Sir  George  Reid.  He  is  in  the 
delightful  position  of  representing  a  country  which  is  actually  going 
to  produce  a  brand-new  capital  quite  from  the  beginning,  and  we 
town  planners  are  looking  forward  with  the  greatest  interest  to  see 
what  Australia  will  produce  in  the  way  of  a  capital.  We  have  from 
Canada  Mr.  Baker,  representing  the  Royal  Architectural  Institute  of 
Canada,  who,  as  we  all  know,  have  an  almost  unlimited  oppor- 
tunity of  town  planning  which  we  in  England  envy  greatly,  for  in 
all  our  efforts  we  must  necessarily  be  very  much  guided  and  bound 
by  what  exists.  It  is  quite  certain,  however,  from  one  of  the  Papers 
we  heard  to-day  that  the  town  planners  of  England  do  not  intend  to 
wipe  away  or  sweep  out  all  the  ancient  monuments  that  we  have  nor 
the  natural  beauties  which  at  present  exist.  The  object  of  our  town 
plans  will  be,  I  am  quite  sure,  to  preserve  these,  and,  as  Professor 
Baldwin  Brown  has  said,  to  make  them  centres  of  attraction  in  the 
plans  which  are  produced.  We  have  also  a  representative  from 
New  Zealand,  and  almost  every  other  country.  Coming  nearer 
home  we  have  our  Honorary  President,  the  President  of  the  Local 


i()6  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Govcrnimnt  Hoard,  to  whom  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  express  fully 
our  thanks.  We  h:i\e  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education,  Sir 
Robert  Morant,  and  we  certainly  feel  that  the  Board  of  Education 
will  take  an  interest  in  this  matter,  for,  as  Mr.  Burns  has  told  us, 
architecture  is  one  of  the  g^rcat  educational  instruments.  We  have 
the  Office  of  Works  represented  by  the  Hon.  Sir  Schomberg 
McDonnell,  and  the  OHicc  of  Works  is  largely  interested  in  all  these 
matters.  We  have  Lord  Redcsdale,  who  at  one  time  himself  adorned 
the  same  post.  Then  we  have  many  members  of  the  Royal  Academy, 
to  whom  we  owe  our  grateful  thanks,  for  were  it  not  for  them  we 
should  not  ha\e  been  able  to  have  this  Exhibition.  We  have  the 
Keeper  of  the  Royal  Academy,  to  whom  we  all  owe  much,  and  the 
Secretary,  to  whom  we  owe  more  than  we  can  say  ;  he  has  been  help- 
ful to  us  from  the  very  commencement,  as  Mr.  Raymond  Unwin  will 
testify.  We  have  nearly  all  the  towns  of  England  and  Scotland 
represented  ;  but  I  would  especially  mention  Edinburgh,  for  we  have 
the  Lord  Provost  amongst  us,  and  those  who  have  been  to  our  Exhi- 
bition will  be  interested  in  those  delightful  plans  of  Edinburgh  which 
have  been  so  well  arranged  by  Professor  Geddes.  But,  gentlemen, 
as  you  will  wish  to  hear  our  guests  rather  than  me  I  will  say  nothing 
more,  except  to  couple  with  this  toast  the  name  of  M.  Louis  Bonnier, 
to  whom  we  owe  the  plans  of  Paris  which  occupy  one  of  our  rooms, 
and  which  are  of  absorbing  interest  to  all  w'ho  have  time  to  study 
them.  I  also  propose  to  couple  with  the  toast  Mr.  Burnham,  and  in 
saying  that  I  would  like  to  acknowledge  the  courtesy  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  who  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Whitelaw  Rcid  was 
good  enough  to  allow  us  to  have  the  Washington  drawings  which 
are  one  of  the  great  beauties  of  our  Exhibition.  I  will  also  call  upon 
Mr.  Leslie  \'igers  to  respond.  He  is  the  distinguished  President  of 
the  Surveyors'  Institution,  another  body  which  is  largely  interested 
in  town  planning. 

Mr.  Daxikl  H.  Blrxham  (Chicago)  :  I  deeply  appreciate  the 
honour  of  responding  to  the  toast  so  eloquently  proposed  by  the 
distinguished  gentleman  who  has  just  taken  his  seat.  I  presume 
that  this  honour  is  not  conferred  upon  me  personally,  but  because  I 
am  an  American,  and  my  country  may  be  said  to  represent  the  cosmo- 
politan blood  of  other  nations  ;  so  that  in  a  sense  my  response  is 
intended  undoubtedly  to  be  that  of  Germany,  of  Italy,  and  of  many 
other  nations,  all  of  whom  are  of  us  as  they  are  at  home.  The  history 
of  the  present  movement  of  town  planning  is  very  short ;  it  goes  back 
less  than  ten  years.  Of  course  preceding  that  there  had  been  town 
planning  epochs ;  principally  that  in  France,  followed  by  those  in 
Austria  and  Italy  ;  but  that  of  to-day  is  not  more  than  ten  years  old. 
During  the  last  ten  years  there  has  been  manifested,  at  first  fitfully 
here  and  there,  but  soon  more  constantly  over  large  sections  of  the 
civilised  world,  an  intense  interest  in  town  planning.  The  work, 
however,  up  to  the  present  time  has  been  done  in  a  disjointed  manner, 
because  the  best  that  any  one  nation  can  do  for  itself  cannot  be  equal 
to  that  done  by  them  all  working  together  and  interchanging  their 
ideas  ;  and  those  who  have  been  the  most  deeply  engaged  in  this 
work,  and  most  earnest  in  the  prosecution  of  it,  have  constantly  felt 
that  they  need  a  sort  of  university  w  hich  thev  mav  attend  ;  and  it  does 


The  Banquet.  107 

not  surprise  us  that  London  has  become  such  a  university.  England 
may  be  slow — she  is  as  compared  with  us  in  alertness,  in  quickness 
to  take  hold — but  we  all  know  the  old  story  that  when  she  does  it 
is  like  the  roar  of  a  lion,  the  rest  of  the  voices  in  the  forest  are  no 
longer  heard.  So  we  come  to  London  as  guests  ;  and  what  do  you 
offer  us?  Food  and  wine,  flowers,  the  faces  of  fair  women  and  noble 
men.  You  throw  open  to  us  all  that  you  can  think  of  that  might 
interest  us — and  you  have  interested  us.  But  you  do  much  more 
than  that.  Your  hospitality  is  of  the  kind  which  affords  the  greatest 
opportunity  that  could  now  fall  to  the  lot  of  those  who  are  interested 
in  the  study  of  town  planning — the  opportunity  to  meet  and  to  see 
the  best  work  of  others.  You  have  that  work  in  magnificent  rooms, 
and  I  must  say  here,  most  superbly  hung  and  arranged,  and  now  we 
can  look  into  each  other's  eyes,  and  we  can  hear  each  other's  voices, 
and  we  can  get  the  true  meaning  of  the  other  man's  thought.  This 
enriches  us  beyond  measure.  Xo  man  can  go  away  from  this  Con- 
ference without  carrying  sheaves  more  valuable  than  those  he 
brought.  He  will  go  home  with  humility — the  necessary  foundation 
for  an  artist ;  his  work  will  be  more  humbly  done,  perhaps,  but  there 
will  be  more  power  to  realise  his  purpose.  It  is  an  occasion  where 
we  are  guests  in  an  epoch.  What  is  happening  here  is  no  light 
matter.  Men  have  been  struggling  towards  this  point  since  the 
dawn  of  history.  All  history  is  filled  with  preluding  attempts  here 
and  there— of  Nero,  of  Constantine,  of  Augustus,  of  Pericles,  of 
Louis  Napoleon,  all  having  some  effect  locally  and  for  a  time,  but 
then  passing  away.  That  is  not  the  case  now.  Men  have  come 
shoulder  to  shoulder  up  to  a  certain  level,  and  now  stand  on  a  certain 
platform  of  human  advancement  never  before  reached,  and  they  are 
not  going  to  recede.  This  city  planning  means  something  far  deeper 
than  the  mere  shaping  of  streets.  It  means  that  men  have  come  to 
realise  a  universal  thought.  This  town  planning  has  spread  all  over 
the  w^orld.  In  America  there  are  hundreds  of  city  planning  commis- 
sions, in  Germany  there  are  hundreds  of  them — I  have  been  told 
there  are  two  thousand.  We  hear  of  them  in  Japan,  in  Australia. 
The  idea  has  become  universal,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  think  of  it  as 
an  ephemeral  thing  ;  it  means  that  the  nations  have  come  together 
in  a  line  up  to  a  certain  stage  of  advancement.  I  thank  you  very 
much  in  the  name  of  the  guests  for  this  great  opportunity.  I  feel 
that  when  we  come  to  leave  our  work  to  our  surrogate,  or  speak  to 
our  sons  perhaps  for  the  last  tim.e,  many  of  us  will  say,  "  The 
proudest  moment  of  my  life  was  in  London  at  the  Town  Planning 
Conference  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects."   (Applause.) 

M.  LoLis  BoNxiER  :  Mesdames  et  Messieurs,  je  ne  sais  pourquoi 
mon  ami  Simpson,  notre  aimable  secretaire-general,  qui  parle 
admirablement  le  francais,  desire  que  ce  soit  moi  qui  vous  lise  deux 
telegrammes  qu'il  vient  de  recevoir  de  France.  Je  pense  que  c'est 
parce  que,  aussi  modeste  qu'aimable,  il  veut  bien  etre  a  la  peine,  mais 
ne  tient  pas  a  etre  a  I'honneur. 

\'oici  ces  telegrammes  : 

"  Stokes,  President  I'lnstitut  Royal  des  Architectes  Britanniques,  Hotel 
Cecil,  Londres. — Regrettant  ne  pouvoir  assister  banquet  ce  soir.     Envoie 


j()8  Trctnsiictions  of  the  Ti^vn  Phiiniing  Conference,  Oct,  1910. 

pour  vous  et  collogues  expression  vivc  sympathie  et  compliments. — 
Dausset,  nncien  Pr(5sidcnt  Conscil  Municipal." 

L'autre,  portant  les  mt-mes  voeux,  6mane  dc  Charles  Normand,  le 
President-fondatcur  de  la  Societc  des  Amis  des  Monuments  parisiens  : 
"  Pr<?sident    Town     Planning    Conference,     Hdtel     Cecil,     Londres.— 
Prevenu  trop  tard.     Millo  regrets.— Prt^sident  Monuments  parisiens. 

Charles  Normand." 

Mesdamcs  et  Messieurs,  jc  suis  particulit;rement  honorc  d'avoir  etd 
deslgne  pour  exprimer  a  nos  h6tes  toute  notre  reconnaissance  pour 
le  tr^s  cordial  accueil  qu'ils  nous  ont  fait  pendant  cette  scmaine.  Si 
nous  sommes  vcnus,  si  nombreux,  de  tous  les  coins  du  monde, 
rc'pondre  a  votre  appel,  c'est  que  nous  connaissions  depuis  longtemps 
la  large  hospitalite  anglaise  et,  plus  encore,  la  manifere  aimable  dont 
le  Comite  des  Dames  sait  donner  a  vos  receptions  un  caract^re 
familial  et  nous  rappcler  un  instant  nos  foyers  lointains.  C'est  aussi 
que,  chez  toutes  les  nations  civilisees,  on  a  senti  la  necessity  d'une 
culture  attentive  du  bien-etre  pour  I'individu,  pour  la  maison,  pour 
la  ville,  pour  le  pays  lui-meme.  Le  Royal  Institute  of  British 
Architects  a  compris,  a  son  tour,  qu'il  y  avait  mieux  k  faire 
encore,  que  ces  tendances  dispersees  avaient  besoin,  pour  leur 
developpement  propre,  de  groupement,  de  comparaison,  de  critique, 
d'emulation.  Ce  sera  son  honneur  d'avoir  realise  brillamment  cette 
excellente  oeuvre  sociale.  Gntce  a  vous,  nous  retournons  dans  nos 
foyers  avec  une  ardeur  nouvelle,  pleins  d'idees,  ayant  recueilli  a 
Londres  des  faits  probants,  des  idees  fecondes,  des  formules 
heureuses,  comme  celle  de  Alonsieur  le  President  du  Local  Govern- 
ment Board,  John  Burns,  montrant  la  force  et  la  beaute  des  organi- 
sations justes,  laborieuses  et  pacifiques,  et  reclamant  "  le  citoyen 
simple  dans  la  cite  magnifique. "  Et,  elargissant,  a  mon  tour,  une 
formule  que  vous  connaissez,  laissez-moi  croire  fermement  que,  dans 
cette  competition  nouvelle  pour  la  sante  physique  et  morale  des  foules, 
"  Every  man  will  do  his  duty."  Je  bois  a  I'lnstitut  Royal  des 
Architectes  Britanniques  et  a  son  tres  honore  President. 

Mr.  Leslie  Vigers  (President  of  the  Surveyors'  Institution)  :  It 
gives  me  very  great  pleasure  to  respond  to  the  toast  of  "  The 
Guests  "  on  behalf  of  the  sister  institution  which  I  represent.  The 
members  of  your  Institute  and  mine  are  very  closely  associated. 
Many  of  us  are  members  of  both  institutions.  Members  of  your 
Institute  are  at  times  grateful  for  the  assistance  of  members  of  my 
Institute,  and  we,  as  members  of  the  Surveyors'  Institution,  offer  our 
hearty  congratulations  to  you  upon  the  success  of  this  great  Confer- 
ence. Our  Institution  is  much  interested  in  the  question  of  planning 
of  towns,  and  we  look  forward  to  the  great  success  of  the  Town 
Planning  Act  in  many  cases.  Personally,  I  now  look  forward  to 
being  able  to  develop  a  large  tract  of  land  which  has  been  held  up  for 
the  last  three  years  owing  to  disagreement  between  various  authori- 
ties, but  I  hope  in  the  near  future,  with  the  assistance  of  the  right 
honourable  gentleman  the  President  of  the  Local  Government  Board, 
to  be  able  to  persuade  these  local  authorities  to  accept  a  plan  for 
laying  out  the  estate,  a  result  which  at  present  we  have  been  unable 
to  attain. 

The  guests  separated  at  about  11.15. 


TkoK.   S.  D.  AUsHKAD,  K.K.l.U.A.        :.,,..   J..  A.  Rl(  KAKDS,  F.R.I.B.A.         Prof.    C.  H.  Reii.i.v,  a.r.i.h.a. 


Pkoikssok  Patrick  Gkddes.       Prof.  G.  Baldwin  Brown,  m.a. 

HON.  A.R.l.B.A. 


Mr.  W.  E.  Riley,  f.r.i.b.a. 

M.INST  C.E. 


Mr.   .\KTiiiR  rR(,w,  F.R.i.ii.A.  Mi;,  l.  Cope  Coknford. 


Mr.  T.  H.  Mauson, 

HON.   A.R.l.B.A. 


SOME   READERS   OF   P. 


Town  Planning  Confekence,  London,  1910. 


Mr.  G.  L.   Pepler. 


Mr.  W.  H.  McLean, 
assoc.  m.  inst.c.e. 


Col.  G.  T.  Plunkett,  c.b. 


Professor  Rud.  Eberstadt,         Prof.  Percy  Gardner,  ll.d. 
Berlin. 


Dr.  a.  E.  Brinckmann, 
Aachen. 


Mr.  C.  H.  B.  Quennell, 
f.r.i.b.a. 


Mr.  H.  Chaloner  Dowdall, 

B.  C.L. 


Mr.  Ba.sil  Holmes,  C.C. 


AT   THE   CONFERENCE. 


♦ 


PART   II. 

PAPERS    AND    DISCUSSIONS. 


SECTION    I.— CITIES    OF   THE    PAST. 

(i)  The    Plaxxixg    of    Hellenistic    Cities.      By    Professor    Percy 
Gardner,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 

(2)  Town   Planning  in  the   Roman  World.      By   Professor   F.    J. 

Haverfield,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 

(3)  Rome.     By  Dr.  Thomas  Ashby,  Director  of  the  British  School  at 

Rome. 

(4)  Entwicklung    des    Stadtebau-Ideals    seit    der    Renaissance. 

Von  Dr.  A.  E.  Brinckmann  (Aachen).     With  Translation. 

Discussion. 


PAPERS    AND    DISCUSSIONS 


CITIES   OF   THE    PAST. 

The  Chairman  (Professor  Reginald  Blorafield,  A.R.A.,  F.R.I.B.A.)  : 
We  have  met  to-day  to  begin  the  serious  business  of  the  Town 
Planning  Conference.  If  you  have  consulted  the  Programme  of  the 
Conference  you  will  see  that  it  has  been  arranged  not  only  on  very 
exhaustive  lines,  but  also  on  a  certain  logical  scheme.  To-day  we  are 
to  hear  about  Town  Planning  in  the  Past,  to-morrow  we  shall  hear 
about  it  in  the  Cities  of  the  Present,  and  on  the  two  following  days  in 
the  Cities  of  the  Future.  We  are  fortunate  to-day  in  having  secured 
four  distinguished  scholars  to  address  us  on  the  Cities  of  the  Past. 
Professor  Percy  Gardner  is,  of  course,  well  known  as  an  authority  on 
Greek  art ;  Dr.  Haverfield  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  of  our  Oxford 
historians;  Dr.  Ashby  is  the  head  of  the  British  School  at  Rome,  and 
Dr.  Brinckmann  is  the  well-known  scholar  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  In 
regard  to  our  proceedings,  we  propose  to  have  the  four  Papers  read 
consecutively,  and  after  that  we  shall  be  very  glad  to  have  discussion. 

(i)    THE  PLANNING  OF  HELLENISTIC  CITIES. 
By  Professor  Percy  Gardner,  Litt.D.,  F.S.A. 

I  THINK  the  plan  of  this  Conference,  which  begins  with  a  survey  of  the 
history  of  past  cities,  a  wise  and  a  scientific  one.  Though  conditions 
change  rapidly,  human  nature  changes  but  slowly.  And  it  is  certain 
that  recent  archaeological  discovery  has  proved  to  us  that  the  Greeks 
were  more  modern  than  we  supposed.  At  Cnossus,  in  Crete,  Mr.  Evans 
has  found  beneath  a  palace  of  the  second  millennium  B.C.  a  system  of 
drainage  more  advanced  than  is  the  drainage  of  Crete  to-day.  And  the 
Hellenistic  age  of  Greece,  the  third  and  second  centuries  B.C.,  the  age 
about  which  I  have  been  asked  to  speak,  was  an  age  of  extraordinary 
enterprise  and  expansion,  an  age  when  travel  and  exploration,  pro- 
gress in  science,  revolutions  in  religion  and  philosophy,  much  that  is 
most  modern  in  the  modern  world,  had  full  course.  If  Euclid  and 
Archimedes,  Zeno  and  Epicurus,  Theocritus  and  Menander,  Deino- 
crates  and  Pythius  came  to  life,  they  would  fit  into  the  modern  world 
far  more  easily  than  would  our  own  heroes  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Architecture  and  the  planning  of  cities  went  through,  in  the  ancient 
world,  the  same  two  phases  through  which  they  have  gone  in  the 
modern  world.     The  old  cities  of  Greece,  in  the  age  before  Alexander 


The  Plaiiiiiiig  of  HeUenisiic  Cities.  113 

the  Great,  consisted  of  narrow,  winding-  streets  bordered  by  poor 
houses.  The  central  and  important  sites  were  occupied  by  the  temples 
of  the  gods,  the  senate  house  and  the  town  hall,  the  market-place 
and  the  gymnasium.  The  public  buildings  were  large  and  splendid, 
the  private  houses  were  shelters  for  the  night.  Demosthenes,  in  one 
of  his  speeches,  says  :  "  While  for  the  State  the  heroes  of  old  erected 
such  buildings  and  set  up  such  works  of  art  as  posterity  has  never 
been  able  to  surpass,  yet  in  private  life  they  were  so  simple  and 
moderate  that  if  anyone  looks  at  the  house  of  Aristides  or  Miltiades 
he  will  see  that  it  is  not  more  splendid  than  its  neighbours."  In  these 
early  cities  water  was  fetched  from  wells  or  springs,  refuse  was 
thrown  into  the  streets,  there  was  no  lighting  and  no  pavement ;  men 
who  went  out  to  dinner  plunged  through  mud  and  refuse  by  the  light 
of  a  torch,  through  narrow  alleys,  up  and  down  steep  inclines. 

But  on  the  Ionian  coast  of  Asia  Minor  cities  were  more  orderly 
and  stately.  Herodotus  tells  us  that  the  very  ancient  city  of  Babylon 
was  foursquare,  the  river  Euphrates  running  through  the  midst,  and 
the  streets  all  running  straight,  parallel  or  at  right  angles  to  one 
another.  Something  of  this  order  and  symmetry  characterised  the 
Greek  towns  of  the  coast.  While  the  agora  or  market-place  in  the  old 
cities  of  Hellas  was  merely  an  irregular  open  space  where  streets  met, 
an  Ionian  agora  was  square,  with  porticoes  round  it,  and  lying  in  the 
heart  of  the  city.  Therefore  we  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  when, 
towards  the  end  of  the  fifth  century  b.c,  the  Greeks  seriously  took 
up  the  matter  of  town  planning,  the  architect  they  employed  was  an 
Ionian,  Hippodamus  of  Miletus.  Three  great  cities  founded  at  this 
time  were  laid  out  by  him — Piraeus,  the  port  of  Athens  ;  Thurii,  in 
Italy  ;  and  Rhodes,  destined  to  play  a  great  part  in  history.  All  these 
towns  were  planned  with  streets  at  right  angles  to  one  another,  and 
the  convenience  of  the  inhabitants  was  the  principal  consideration  ;  as 
the  sites  were  new  it  was  not  necessary  to  consider  either  the  sacred- 
ness  of  certain  spots  which  the  gods  would  not  surrender,  or  the  vested 
rights  of  Individuals. 

But  it  was  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great  and  his  immediate 
successors  which  was  the  great  age  of  city  founding.  It  was  the 
policy  of  the  Macedonian  conqueror  to  secure  the  countries  which  he 
conquered  by  erecting  or  refounding  cities  at  the  most  Important 
spots,  and  settling  in  them  colonies  of  Greeks  and  Macedonians. 
Within  a  century  or  so  there  sprang  up,  mostly  in  Asia,  a  number  of 
cities  destined  to  become  populous  and  wealthy,  and  to  play  a  great 
part  in  history — Alexandria,  Antioch,  Seleucia  on  the  Tigris,  Per- 
gamon,  Laodicea,  and  many  others  as  far  east  as  Candahar.  A  few 
of  these  cities  have  become  known  to  us  of  late  through  excavation, 
and  it  may  be  of  some  use  to  spend  a  little  while  in  studying  their  plan 
and  arrangements. 

We  will  begin  by  briefly  examining  one  of  the  most  magnificent 
sites  of  the  ancient  world,  that  of  Pergamon.  This  site  has  been 
carefully  excavated  for  many  years  past  by  the  German  Archaeological 
Institute,  under  the  general  superintendence  of  Dr.  Conze ;  and  the 
skilful  restorations  of  M.  Pontremoli  enable  us  to  grasp  the  plan  of 
the  city  as  a  whole.  His  restorations  do  not  reach  the  most  recent 
excavations,  but  they  suflfice  for  our  purpose. 

I 


1  14  Transactions  of  the  To'-a'n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  lyio. 

A  Greek  city,  even  in  the  Hellenistic  age,  consists  of  four  parts. 
First,  the  arrangements  for  defence.  It  was  necessary  to  surround  it 
with  a  wall  and  towers.  Even  when,  in  the  age  of  the  Roman  peace, 
it  became  a  custom  to  build  outside  the  barrier  of  the  walls,  these  were 
still  maintained,  as  in  the  case  of  modern  ironclads,  to  protect  the 
most  vulnerable  parts,  .^nd  above  the  city  rose  almost  always  an 
.Acropolis,  at  once  the  dwelling-place  of  king  or  tyrant,  an  arsenal 
and  place  of  arms,  and  the  oldest  seat  of  the  city  deities.  Second,  we 
must  place  the  abodes  of  the  gods  in  the  Acropolis,  or  the  lower  city, 
with  the  sacred  precincts  which  surrounded  them.  Third,  there  is  the 
market-place,  with  the  porticoes  or  public  buildings  which  surrounded 
it.  Fourth,  we  have  the  houses  of  the  inhabitants.  Naturally  we 
place  this  last  feature  at  the  end,  in  Greek  fashion  ;  a  modern  mind 
would  probably  place  it  first. 

Let  us  now  consider  a  bird's-eye  view  of  Pcrgamon.  On  tlie  left  is 
a  building  called  the  Trajaneum,  and  erected  by  the  Emperor  Trajan, 
but  the  spot  where  it  stands  had  held  the  palace  of  the  Attalid  Kings 
of  Pergamon.  It  is  the  highest  point  of  the  Acropolis,  i,ioo  feet 
above  the  sea,  completely  dominating  the  lower  town.  Beside  the 
palace  of  the  kings  stood  a  great  library  (in  this  point  Pcrgamon 
is  unique),  containing  hundreds  of  thousands  of  books — that  is, 
manuscripts — and  a  number  of  excellent  works  of  sculpture,  the  dis- 
covery of  some  of  which  has  rewarded  the  excavators.  Next  comes 
the  precinct  of  the  original  goddess  of  the  city,  Athena  Polias.  Into 
the  side  of  the  hill  at  this  point  is  fitted,  in  the  admirable  Greek 
fashion,  the  auditorium  of  a  vast  theatre.  Further  to  the  right  are  the 
foundations  of  a  vast  altar  of  Zeus  Soter,  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
discoveries  of  our  day,  the  great  sculptured  friezes  of  which  may  be 
seen  now  at  Berlin.  Lower,  on  a  terrace  of  the  hill,  is  the  market- 
place, close  to  which  lie  the  older  streets  of  the  city,  and  further  down 
still,  in  the  plain,  are  the  streets  of  the  Hellenistic  and  Roman  Ages, 
laid  out  in  regular  pattern. 

Dr.  Conze  has  made  an  interesting  parallel  between  the  plan  of 
Pergamon  and  that  of  Edinburgh.  To  the  Acropolis  corresponds  the 
Castle  Hill,  though  the  library  and  the  splendid  temple  of  Athena  have 
no  parallel  on  the  rugged  Scottish  rock.  To  the  Agora  corresponds 
the  open  place  at  the  foot  of  the  Castle  Hill.  Old  Edinburgh,  with  its 
narrow  and  dirty  streets  and  its  squalid  houses,  and  new  Edinburgh, 
with  straight  and  broad  ways,  flanked  by  buildings  of  pretentious 
architecture,  correspond  to  the  two  parts  of  the  city  of  Pergamon, 
the  pre-Alexandrine  and  the  post-Alexandrine. 

Since,  however,  these  plans  of  Pergamon  do  not  give  us  any  notion 
of  the  arrangement  of  the  dwelling-houses,  let  us  turn  to  another  site. 
Of  all  Greek  cities  which  have  been  excavated  the  most  regular  in 
arrangement,  the  most  typical  of  Hellenistic  ways  of  city  building,  is 
the  Ionian  town  of  Priene,  excavated  by  Messrs.  Wiegand  and 
Schrader,  by  whose  courtesy  I  am  enabled  to  use  some  photographs.* 

A  photograph  will  give  an  adequate  notion  of  the  position  of  the 

city.     Included  within  the  line  of  walls  were  three  parts.     First,  the 

Acropolis,  perched  on  the  lofty  hill  to  the  left,  and  approached  only 

by  steep  paths.     On  the  slope  is  a  terrace  mainly  occupied  by  the 

*   Prir)ir,  1904.     Published  by  G.  Reimer,  Berlin. 


d  by  kind  p«tni«iQn  of  Me.iri.  T. 


n 


The  Planning  of  Hellenistic  Cities.  115 

temple  of  Demeter.  A  little  lower  is  the  shrine  of  Athena  Polias,  the 
dedication  of  which  by  Alexander  the  Great  is  preserved  in  an  inscrip- 
tion in  the  British  Museum.  Immediately  beneath  this  temple  is  the 
market-place,  with  long  colonnades  and  official  buildings ;  around 
temple  and  market  are  the  streets  of  the  city,  laid  out  in  regular 
fashion,  and  with  almost  mathematical  precision,  so  far  as  the  slope 
of  the  ground  allows.  Lower  still  is  the  gymnasium  and  stadium  near 
the  walls.  The  city  is  not  large — the  inhabited  part  is  about  half  as 
large  as  Pompeii ;  the  plan  of  it  is  marvellously  well  preserved. 

This  plan  may  well  surprise  all  to  whom  it  is  new.  The  market- 
place lies  foursquare  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  and  about  it  the  whole 
town  is  cut  up  into  square  blocks  of  uniform  size  by  straight  streets, 
which  cross  each  other  at  right  angles  and  run  through  the  town  from 
wall  to  wall.  Surely  no  American  city  was  ever  planned  on  a  more 
regular  scheme.  The  regularity  helped  the  excavators,  who,  without 
excavating  the  whole,  were  able  by  measurement  to  tell  where  exactly 
to  dig  a  trial  pit  so  as  to  find  the  points  where  the  ways  crossed. 
"  Just  as  in  a  great  house,"  writes  Dr.  Wiegand,  "  porticoes,  halls, 
and  chambers  lie  round  the  central  court,  so  around  the  great  peri- 
style of  the  Agora  are  grouped  temples,  public  buildings,  and  private 
dwellings.  From  the  Agora  go  out  in  all  directions  the  ways  of  com- 
munication. The  broad  terrace,  artificially  formed,  on  which  it  lies, 
is  just  half-way  between  the  highest  occupied  spot,  the  Temple  of 
Demeter,  130  metres  above  the  sea,  and  the  stadium,  30  metres  above 
the  sea.  Its  dimensions  are  noble,  and  well  proportioned  to  the  size 
of  the  city.  The  greatest  length,  including  the  Temple  of  Aesculapius, 
which  belongs  to  it,  is  12S  metres,  its  greatest  breadth  95  metres 
(422  by  313  feet),  which  dimensions  are  almost  exactly  the  fifth  part 
of  the  greatest  length  and  breadth  of  the  city. 

"As  in  old  Italian  cities  we  find  a  street  traversing  the  site  from 
north  to  south,  with  another  passing  from  east  to  west  and  crossing 
it  at  right  angles  (cardo  and  decumanus),  so  is  it  at  Priene.  The 
centre  was  the  altar  in  the  midst  of  the  Agora.  Through  its  middle 
runs  the  line  of  the  eighth  of  the  sixteen  steep  roads  of  Priene,  later 
interrupted  by  the  north  portico  of  the  market.  The  street  leading  to 
the  west  gate  crosses  this.  It  held  the  same  position  at  Priene  as  was 
occupied  in  Alexandria  by  the  Canobic  street ;  and,  like  most  of  the 
streets  of  Alexandria,  it  has  a  width  of  about  7  metres  (23  feet). 

"  Altogether  there  were  about  eighty  blocks  or  insulae  for  inhabi- 
tants in  Priene.  As  a  rule  they  are  divided  into  four  sites  for  houses 
of  80  feet  by  60,  an  extent  somewhat  greater  than  that  occupied  by 
the  older  houses  of  Pompeii.  But  it  is  not  rare  to  find  houses  which 
occupy  only  the  eighth  of  a  block.  If  one  reckons  only 'five  houses  to 
each  block,  there  would  be  in  the  whole  city  about  400  houses." 

I  must  confess  that  this  extreme  uniformity  of  arrangement  almost 
takes  away  my  breath.  Were,  then,  all  the  inhabitants  of  Priene  well- 
to-do?  Was  there  no  poor  quarter?  I  think  we  must  remember  that 
a  considerable  part  of  the  site  is  still  unexcavated  ;  and  that  to  draw 
too  rigid  conclusions  from  what  we  have  ascertained  might  be  pre- 
mature. 

Ancient  authorities  discussed  the  advantages  of  the  regular 
arrangement  of  streets  in  a  town  from  the  hygienic  point  of  view. 
The  physician  Oribasius  maintained  that  when  roads  were  straight 

I  2 


iiC)  Triinsaclions  of  the  Toi^'ii  Phiiniin<^Cunfi'n'iuc,  Oil.  Kjio. 

iiir  llowed  faster  tliroui^li  a  city,  and  most  freely  of  all  when  the  roads 
were  set  to  the  four  points  of  the  compass.  The  great  architect 
Vitruvius,  on  the  other  hand,  thought  the  free  entrance  of  winds  into 
a  town  a  thing  which  it  was  desirable  to  check.  Our  own  ancestors 
built  rather  on  the  principles  of  Vitruvius  ;  we,  on  those  of  Oribasius. 
There  is  something  to  be  said  on  both  sides  ;  but  evidently  this  is  too 
difficult  a  question  for  me  to  discuss  here. 

Let  us  briefly  consider  in  succession  the  public  and  the  private 
buildings  of  this  remarkable  town  of  Priene. 

The  agora  is  traversed  by  the  broad  street  leading  to  the  west 
gate.  On  both  sides  of  this  street  are  the  bases  of  numerous  statues 
and  memorials  ;  some  further  memorials  are  set  up  in  the  space,  of 


illllllXI  I  I  I  I  I  I 


.■Ui-sia!s;=J 


•  rrm 


A  c  o  a  A 


Fig.  3. — Agoua  of  Priene. 

which  the  city  altar  is  the  centre.  The  east  side  is  occupied  by  a 
temple  of  Aesculapius  and  his  altar  flanked  by  two  porticoes,  in  which, 
as  we  may  suppose,  the  sick  people  who  came  to  consult  the  god  of 
medicine  slept,  in  the  hope  of  receiving  some  healing  dream.  North 
and  .south  of  these  porticoes  are  lines  of  shops,  opening  not  towards 
the  temple,  but  outwards  on  to  the  streets.  On  the  west  of  the  agora 
we  have  what  is  a  main  feature  of  most  Greek  market-places,  a  long 
line  of  shops,  with  openings  on  to  a  colonnade  of  the  agora.  On  the 
south  we  have  a  main  entry  leading  into  a  broad  colonnade.  .'\t  the 
south-east  corner  is  an  interesting  range  of  shops.  These  are  two 
stories  in  height  as  seen  from  the  south,  but,  owing  to  the  slope  of  the 
ground,  only  the  upper  story  rises  above  the  level  of  the  agora.  This 
upper  story  has  almost  disappeared  ;  but  we  cannot  doubt  that  it  con- 
sisted of  a  row  of  shops  with  doors  opening  on  to  the  agora.     The 


llic  Planning  of  Hellenistic  Cities. 


117 


chambers  under  these  shops,  on  the  other  hand,  had  doors  opening 
only  into  the  street  below.  The  wares  sold  in  the  shops  were  brought 
by  waggons  to  the  lower  chambers,  there  stored,  and  thence  brought 
up  to  the  upper  chambers  to  be  displayed  to  the  customers  loitering 
in  the  market-place.  A  better  preserved  line  of  shops  with  cellars 
bordering  an  agora,  and  in  this  case  three  stories  high,  exists  at 
JEgse,  in  Asia  Minor.  It  is  a  piece  of  remarkable  good  fortune 
which  has  kept  for  us  in  such  good  preservation  this  relic  of  the 
market-place  of  JEg^. 

Beside  the   main   agora,    at   Priene   as  at  Tralles  and  elsewhere. 


lay  a  smaller  market-place  especially  devoted  to  the  trade  in  meat 
and  fish — the  retail  trade,  of  course.  The  use  is  proved  by  the  marble 
tables  resting  on  bases  which  served,  as  they  serve  to  this  day,  as 
counters  in  such  shops.  I  may  add  that  at  Oxford  we  manage  to 
confine  the  butchers'  and  fishmongers'  shops  in  some  degree  to  the 
market-place. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  agora  of  Priene  are  some  very  interest- 
ing buildings.  Most  of  the  side  is  occupied  by  a  portico  of  enormous 
size,  given  to  the  city  by  King  Orophernes  of  Cappadocia  in  the 
second  century  B.C.  One  may  note  in  passing  how  commonly  Greek 
cities  owe  their  public  buildings  to  the  liberality  of  wealthy  indi- 
viduals. The  stoa  was  sometimes  the  scene  of  great  banquets  :  we 
learn  from  an  inscription  that  one  Zosimus,  on  being  appointed  to 

*  Alterth/imer  von  Aegae.     By  R.  Bohn. 


1 18     Trunsiiclions  of  the  Toii.'n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

the  empty  dignity  of  Stephancphorus,  gave  a  dinner  to  all  the 
citizens  of  Priene  and  to  the  strangers  residing  in  the  ctiy.  It  must 
have  been  a  feast,  indeed.  This  stoa  is  called  in  inscriptions  sacred, 
so  that  it  would  seem  to  have  been  used  in  the  sacred  ceremonies  of 
the  town. 

Beside  it  stood  two  other  buildings  of  public  use,  the  Prytaneum, 
or  town  hall,  and  the  Ecclesiasterion,  or  house  of  assembly.  The 
Prvtaneum  was  almost  in  the  form  of  an  ordinary  house,  with  an 
altar  in  the  midst,  where  took  place  the  sacred  rites  belonging  to 
the  city,  and  where  the  magistrates  at  solemn  functions  entertained 
public  guests.     The  House  of  Assembly,  which  was  square  in  form, 


L 


ATHEr-JA     -STRA-SvSr. 


nokd-hallc    dcr    aqora 
Fig.  3.  — House  of  Assembly:  Reconstruction. 


with  tiers  of  seats  rising  in  the  manner  of  a  theatre,  was  the  place 
where  the  citizens  met  to  pass  decrees  and  to  exercise  such  func- 
tions (a  mere  show  of  autonomy)  as  the  real  rulers  of  the  country, 
whether  Greek  kings  or  the  Roman  Senate,  left  to  them. 

We  may  compare  the  agora  of  Priene  with  the  better-preserved 
agora,  or  forum,  of  Pompeii;  for  after  all  Pompeii  will  always  be 
the  site  which  most  vividly  revives  for  us  the  life  of  the  ancient 
world — the  great  gift  of  history  to  the  archaeologist.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  regard  Pompeii  as  mainly  Roman.  The  earlier  parts  of  the  city 
belong  even  to  the  time  before  Alexander  the  Great;  and  the 
mfluence  of  the  Greek  cities  which  surrounded  Pompeii,  Naples, 
Nola,  Cumae,  Paestum,  swayed  it  until  the  settlement  of  the  Roman 
colony   in   the   time  of   Sulla.      The   Pompeian   agora  was  not  only 


The  Planning  of  Hellenistic  Cities.  119 

planned,  but  surrounded  with  a  portico,  as  early  as  the  second 
century  B.C.  In  shape  it  is  oblong,  not  square  like  the  agora  of 
Priene  :  Vitruvius  tells  us  that  the  oblong  shape  of  the  Italian 
market-places  arose  from  the  custom  of  having  gladiatorial  shows  in 
them.  It  is  partly  enclosed  by  a  portico  of  two  stories,  the  upper  of 
which  seems  to  have  been  used  to  furnish  seats  to  the  wealthier 
of  the  spectators  of  the  games,  before  those  games  were  transferred 
to  the  great  theatre.  The  public  buildings  grouped  round  the  Pom- 
peian  forum  were  many  and  extensive.  There  was  a  basilica,  a  sort 
of  extension  of  the  forum,  and  temples  of  Apollo  and  Zeus.  There  was 
a  provision  market,  a  sanctuary  of  the  city  deities,  a  special  market 
for  clothing,  a  voting-place,  and  the  oflfices  of  the  authorities  of  the 
city.  The  whole  must  have  been  humming  like  a  hive,  with  stalls 
set  out  in  the  open  space  and  all  the  outdoor  life  of  the  city  pouring 
by  in  a  torrent. 

In  Priene  the  market-place  was  not  the  only  centre  of  life. 
Indeed,  the  buying  and  selling  there  was  mostly  the  affair  of 
country  people  who  came  in  with  their  wares  and  the  slaves  of  the 
citizens.  Respectable  women  would  scarcely  be  seen  there ;  and  in 
the  life  of  the  well-to-do  men  centres  of  at  least  equal  importance 
were  the  theatre  and  the  gymnasium.  In  the  baths  and  gymnasia 
every  Greek  freeman  spent  his  afternoon — running,  wrestling,  playing 
ball,  talking ;  and  they  crowded  the  theatre  not  as  we  do,  in  the 
evening,  but  for  whole  days  at  the  festivals,  when  plays  were 
mounted.  The  women,  it  is  to  be  feared,  had  a  comparatively  dull 
life.  The  baths  and  gymnasia  were  not  for  them,  and  they  were 
admitted  sparingly  to  the  theatre.  Only  on  the  occasions  of  religious 
festivals  did  they  have  a  chance  of  walking  abroad  and  showing 
their  finery. 

After  the  public  buildings  of  Priene  we  come  to  the  private 
houses.  The  Greeks,  being  essentially  city-dwellers  and  not  having  the 
English  passion  for  mixing  town  and  country,  had  no  large  gardens, 
at  most  a  few  trees  or  shrubs  in  a  little  court.  Yet  the  houses  at 
Priene  occupied  usually  a  space  of  80  feet  by  60  feet.  So  large  a 
spread  was  the  result  of  Greek  notions  as  to  planning  a  house.  It 
always,  except  in  case  of  very  poor  inhabitants,  centred  about  a 
courtyard.  Light  and  air  did  not  come  into  it  by  windows  on  the 
street,  to  which  it  commonly  presented  a  blank  wall,  but  through 
the  central  opening.  The  ground  plans  of  one  or  two  existing 
houses  will  show  this  clearly.  First  I  exhibit  a  plan  which  Dr. 
Wiegand  regards  as  typical  at  Priene.  The  entrance  from  the  street 
is  by  a  long  and  narrow  passage  (to  the  left),  through  which  one 
emerges  into  the  court  open  to  the  sky,  and  forming  the  centre  out 
of  which  the  rooms  open.  The  most  important  block  by  far  is 
that  to  the  north,  that  is,  opening  towards  the  south,  consisting  of 
a  forehall  separated  from  the  court  by  two  pillars,  a  room  behind 
it  about  23  feet  square,  and  two  other  chambers  opening  out  to 
the  left.  In  some  houses  we  are  told  that  the  forehall  served  as  a 
kitchen  and  the  room  beside  it  as  an  eating-room.  This  is 
surprising,  for  Vitruvius  dwells  much  on  the  forehall  facing  the 
south  as  the  place  most  favourably  situate  for  sun  and  air ;  we 
should  have  expected  the  smell  of  cooking  to  be  banished  to  some 


I2()   Tronsactinns  Of  the  Totcn  Plauninij;  Confcrcucc,  Oct.  \qio. 

remoter  place.  'J'lie  other  rooms  on  the  lelt  no  doubt  served  for 
the  slaves  and  domestic  purposes  :  the  room  of  the  porter  is  near 
the  door.  There  was  in  all  jirobability  a  second  story,  to  which 
one  ascended  by  a  staircase  in  the  narrow  passage  next  to  the 
diningf-room. 

Beside  this  plan  we  may  place  one  oi  a  somewhat  larg-er  house, 
that  called  the  house  of  Dionysus  at  Delos.  Here  the  entrance  from 
the  street  leads  into  a  more  stately  court,  the  open  part  of  which  is 
surrounded  by  corridors  supported  on  ten  pillars.  The  rooms  here 
arc  larijcr :    the   special   purpose  of  each   is   not  easy   to  determine. 


»  CorfMpon<l»nc«  H«it4nEQ:.< 


r25»         --        g         2, 
Fig.  6.— House  at  Df.los.* 


Close  to  the  street  door  is  a  staircase  leading-  up  to  a  second  floor, 
which,  like  the  ground  floor,  must  have  received  light  and  air  from 
the  court. 

A  few  words  must  be  said  in  regard  to  paving,  water  supply,  and 
drainage.  Usually  the  paving  is  very  solid,  consisting  of  blocks 
of  limestone  or  other  local  stone.  In  Asia  the  pavement,  alike  of 
the  streets  and  the  side-paths,  seems  to  have  been  carried  out  by 
the  State;  but  in  Italy,  as  at  Pompeii,  the  paving  of  the  footways 
seems  to  have  been  left  to  the  owners  of  adjacent  houses,  as  it  is 
very  irregular.  Yet  the  streets  at  Pompeii  present,  as  we  know, 
a  very  neat  appearance,  with  their  grooves  made  for  the  wheels  of 
carriages,  their  stepping-stones  for  crossing  the  road  in  wet 
weather,  their  water-troughs  at  intervals. 

*  From  the  Bulletin  de  Corresp.  helU'nique,  1906. 


The  Planning  oj  HcUenislic  Cities.  121 

The  Greeks,  both  in  early  and  later  thnes,  were  careful  to 
obtain  for  th.eir  cities  a  good  supply  of  water.  On  all  early  sites 
we  find  extensive  cisterns  for  rain-water ;  but  these  were  only  for 
a  supplement  to  spring-  water,  or  for  use  as  a  last  resource  in  case 
of  siege.  In  supplying  water  the  Greek  usage  differs  notably  from 
the  Roman,  and  the  difference  is  very  characteristic  and  suggestive. 
The  Roman  brought  water  by  great  aqueducts,  striding  across 
valleys  and  ravines  ;  he  made  his  way  straight  to  his  end,  without 
troubling  himself  about  natural  impediments.  The  Greek,  more 
subtle  and  less  determined,  adapted  himself  more  to  the  conditions. 
We  have  long  known  of  the  wondrous  underground  conduit  of 
Eupalinus,  whereby  in  the  time  of  Polycrates  the  Tyrant  water  was 
brought  from  the  hills  to  the  city  of  Samos.  At  Pergamon  there 
was  a  water  conduit  even  more  remarkable.  From  the  heights  of 
the  Madaras  Dagh,  1,700  feet  above  the  sea,  the  water  of  springs 
was  conveyed  by  leaden  pipes  a  foot  in  diameter,  partly  through 
tunnels  and  partly  in  a  covered  course  on  the  hillside,  to  the  Acro- 
polis and  the  lower  city,  where  it  rose  in  many  sparkling  fountains. 
As  in  its  course  it  had  to  traverse  the  plain,  it  was  really  an  enor- 
mous syphon  ;  and  it  is  wonderful  how  the  pipes  could  resist  the 
pressure.  At  Priene  the  water  was  brought  from  a  similar  height  in 
earthenware  pipes  and  distributed  all  over  the  city. 

There  were  few  houses  so  poor  as  not  to  have  at  least  one  water- 
pipe.  A  house  at  Pompeii — that  of  the  Vettii — has  no  less  than 
sixteen  separate  jets.  It  is  evident  that  a  hidden  water  supply  has 
great  advantages  over  one  which  is  visible.  The  Goths,  in  a.d.  537, 
cut  the  aqueducts  of  Rome ;  but  a  supply  lying  deeper  in  the 
ground  might  well  escape  the  knowledge  of  at  all  events  barbarous 
enemies. 

With  so  abundant  a  water  supply  the  drainage  of  Hellenistic 
cities,  usually  lying  on  a  slope,  cannot  have  been  difficult.  I  do  not 
think  that  the  system  of  drainage  of  any  ancient  cit}^  not  even  of 
Pompeii,  has  been  fully  made  out.  Mau  observes  that  for  private 
houses  cesspools  were  more  usual  than  an  outlet  into  main  drains, 
which  were  used  chiefly  to  carry  away  surface  water. 

Some  Hellenistic  cities  which  were  noted  for  the  regularity  of 
their  construction  have  not  been  excavated ;  and  we  have  only  the 
testimony  of  writers  such  as  Strabo  and  Libanius.  Nicaea,  for 
example,  was  built  foursquare.  In  the  midst  was  a  gymnasium, 
from  a  stone  in  which,  the  four  main  gates — north,  south,  east,  and 
west — were  all  visible.  As  to  Antioch  we  are  told  marvellous 
things.  There  the  great  street  from  cast  to  west  and  the  streets 
which  crossed  it  at  right  angles  were  bordered  by  colonnades,  in 
which  foot  passengers  could  walk  for  miles  sheltered  from  sun  and 
rain.  The  cloistered  walks  in  Paris  and  Bologna  must  be,  in  com- 
parison, very  partial  affairs.  Antioch  also  was  renowned  for  its 
park,  the  suburb  of  Daphne,  where  the  periodical  gam^es  took  place, 
and  which  had,  as  Strabo  tells  us,  a  circumference  of  ten  miles. 
But  the  greatness  of  Antioch  belongs  mostly  to  Romaji  times  : 
Seleucus,  who  founded  the  city,  built  but  one  of  its  four  quarters  in 
the  orderly  and  regular  fashion  which  marked  the  foundations  of 
the  third  centurv  B.C. 


122   Transacfions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  iQto. 

'"        The  course  of  the  ancient  world  is  in  many  ways  parallel  to  that 
of  the  modern  world.     As  with  us,  so  among  the  Greeks,  there  was 
a  contrast   between   the  old  cities  with   their   narrow  and  crooked 
streets  and  the  new  cities  with  their  unity  of  plan  and  search  for  con- 
venience.     But    there    are    also   contrasts.      In    Hellenistic   cities    a 
great  part  of  the  whole  area,  and  the  central  part,  was  taken  up  by 
the  market-place,  the  town  hall,  and  especially  by  the  spaces  given 
up  to  religion,  and  containing,  not  temples  only^  but  porticoes  and 
open  spaces,   and  by  the  great  gymnasia  and  exercising  grounds. 
A  Greek  lived  but  little  in  his  private  house ;    he  passed  the  day 
in  public  places.     The  accommodation  of  the  slaves,   and  even  of 
the   shopkeepers,   was   usually   narrow   and    uncomfortable.      To   us 
moderns,  with  our  marked  individualism,   the  private  house  is  the 
centre.     Our  churches  occupy  but  little  space ;  the  town  hall  belongs 
to  the  fathers  of  the  city,  though,  of  course,  it  may  have  other  uses. 
The  place  of  the  Greek  public  gymnasia  and  stadia  is  taken  among 
us  by  the  playing  fields  in  which  football,  cricket,  and  tennis  take 
place ;  though  one  fears  that  the  number  of  those  among  us  who  go 
through  this  admirable  physical  drill  is  far  smaller  than  the  number 
of  the  Greeks  who  took  part  in  gymnastics ;  and  one  also  fears  that 
it  is  diminishing  rather  than  increasing.  The  most  striking  features  of 
a  well-planned  modern  town — the  open  spaces  with  lawns  and  trees 
and  flowers,  and  the  large  private  gardens — were  almost  unknown  in 
Greece,   and,   indeed,  they  are  still  comparatively  rare  in  the  cities 
of  the  Continent,  the  limited  space  w'ithin  the  fortifications  leaving 
little  room  for  such  luxuries.     We  try  to  mix  town  and  country  ;  the 
Greek  idea  was  to  produce  a  well-planned  and  self-complete  town- 
ship, enclosed  by  a  wall  and  set  in  the  midst  of  fields  and  woods. 


12: 


(2)    TOWN  PLANNING  IN  THE  ROMAN  WORLD. 
By  Professor  F.  Haverfield,  LL.  D.,  D.Lltt.,  F.S.A. 

The  science — or,  as  I  would  rather  call  it,  the  art — of  town  planning 
is  one  of  the  intermittent  sciences.  It  comes  into  activity  only  in 
certain  ages  and  under  certain  circumstances.  Towns  are,  no  doubt, 
planned  in  all  ages.  But  instances  of  extensive  and  systematic  plan- 
ning are  rare.  The  chances  which  have  presented  themselves  to 
builders,  such  chances  as  Wood  seized  at  Bath  in  1735  or  Grainger 
at  Newcastle  100  years  later,  or  Craig  in  Edinburgh  during  the 
eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth  centuries,  have  generally  been  isolated 
and  individual.  But  in  certain  ages  and  circumstances  whole  towns 
spring  up  in  one  movement,  large  urban  areas  are  created  all  at  once. 
Then  some  system  is  naturally  and  necessarily  invented  to  govern 
their  laying  out.  One  of  these  ages  is  our  own.  Another  may  be 
sought  in  the  history  of  early  Chinese  towns  in  Central  Asia.  A  third 
came  with  the  expansion  of  the  Greek  race  under  Alexander,  and  in 
the  so-called  Hellenistic  period — that  is,  in  the  fourth  and  third  cen- 
turies B.C.  With  another,  the  Roman,  I  have  now  to  deal.  I  shall 
discuss,  first  its  character,  secondly  its  survivals  in  later  Europe,  and 
thirdly  its  lessons  (if  any)  for  us  moderns. 

I.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  Romans,  as  of  the  Greeks  before 
them,  to  send  out  emigrants  in  compact  bodies,  fit  to  establish  a 
town,  such  as  towns  then  were — that  is,  small  fortified  groups  of 
houses  covering  seldom  less  than  thirty  to  forty  acres  and  seldom 
more  than  two  hundred  acres,  and  possessing  municipal  life  and 
government.  Whenever,  therefore,  Rome  sent  out  such  a  colonia, 
the  result  generally  was  the  birth,  full-grown,  of  a  new  town,  or  the 
entire  reconstruction  of  a  half-dead  one.  During  the  earlier  Roman 
period — that  of  the  Republic — the  practice  of  sending  out  coloniae 
was  followed  with  varying  energy  :  our  ancient  authorities  testify 
to  about  eighty  such  foundations  in  three  or  four  hundred  years, 
and  not  all  these  were  new  towns  :  in  some  instances  the  colonists 
were  put  in  to  replenish  older  foundations  or  to  restrain  disloyalty. 
Under  the  Empire  it  w-as  otherwise.  The  great  gift  of  the  Roman 
Empire  to  Western  Europe  was  town  life,  and  during  the  Roman 
Empire  the  creation  of  new  towns  went  on  apace.  The  precise 
methods  and  processes  by  which  these  towns  came  into  existence 
need  not  here  detain  us.  They  are  various  and  complex,  and  they 
lie  outside  our  subject.  But  one  central  fact  is  plain  :  that  all  these 
towns  assumed  a  definite  form.  Ancient  life,  I  think,  differed  from 
modern  in  nothing  so  much  as  in  its  preferences  for  set  and  almost 
crystallised  forms  within  which  to  express  itself.  This  is  specially 
seen  in  the  form  given  to  the  town.  It  was  an  old  form — the 
familiar  rectangular  street  plan.  That,  I  think,  is  the  town  plan 
which  in   all  ages,   till  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago,   men  either  in- 


124  Trunsaciions  oj  the  Toicu  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


vented  or  instinctively  borrowed  for  their  systematic  town  planning. 
We  meet  it  in  early  China  [fig.  i],  and  in  Greece  from  the  fourth 
century  B.C.,  and  in  medianal  England,  and  in  many  modern  towns 
across  the  seas.  The  square  and  straight  lines  are  indeed  the  sim- 
plest marks  which  divide  man  civilised  from  the  barbarian.  It  has 
remained  for  the  Teutonic  spirit  in  these  last  days  to  connect  civilisa- 
tion w  ith  a  curve. 

PLAN  OF  THE  RUINS  or  the  TOWN   of  KHARA-KHOTO 

~  Sc^lc  '  'ZOO  or   I  Inch.  3S0  fMt 


|~^  Ruins  of  Mosque 


OSuburgan  0 

Fio.  I.— A  Chinese  Colony  in  Central  Asia  (Eleventh  or  Twelfth  Century  a.d.). 
From  a  paper  by  Col.  Kosloff,  Geographical  Journal,  Sept.  1910. 

Roman  law  tells  us  little  about  any  control  of  city  magistrates 
over  the  town-plan,  beyond  the  normal  administrative  control  of  water, 
.sewerage,  &c.  One  clause,  indeed,  appears  repeatedly  in  town  char- 
ters— that  no  owner  might  pull  down  a  house  or  let  it  fall  save 
with  consent  of  the  town  council,  unless  he  was  going  to  build 
at  least  as  good  a  one  in  its  place.  Otherwise  the  control  seems  to 
have  been  limited  to  the  first  start.  The  place  was  rigidly  planned 
according  to  the  set  form,  and  by  tliat  it  had  more  or  less  to  abide. 
Once,  indeed,  an  Imperial  edict  ordained  that  if  a  site  owner  did  not 
build  on  his  site,  but  held  it  up  or  neglected  it,  anyone  else  might  peg 


Tou'/j  Planning  in  the  Roman    ]Vorld. 


125 


out  a  claim  there.  But  that  was  in  Rome  after  a  great  fire,  and, 
however  valuable  a  precedent  for  modern  architects,  was  entirely 
exceptional. 

But,  if  books  tell  us  little,  archaeolog-ical  remains  testify  abundantly 
to  the  character  of  this  Roman  town  plan.  It  was  not,  indeed,  uni- 
versal. Not  all  Roman  towns  show  the  chessboard.  Pompeii,  as  you 
will  remember,  is  rather  irregular  :  it  was  also  irregular  in  its  his- 
tory, for  it  consisted  of  a  colonia  grafted  on  to  an  older  town. 
Perhaps,  when  its  excavation  is  complete,  we  may  be  able  to  dis- 
tinguish by  the  town  plan  which  part  is  of  which  origin.  But  many 
towns  which  once  were  coloniae,  especially  in  North  Italy,  show  old 
street  lines  surviving  to-day,  in  which  the  chessboard  is  plain  enough. 
Turin  is  a  well-known  instance  :  there,  later  builders  have  retained 
and  developed  the  original  plan.  A  still  more  curious  example  is 
Florence.      It  began  as  a  Roman  colonia,   superseding  the  ancient 


Scale 


O  JO       100  200  3QO  4OOIV1 


Fig.  2. — Florence  (the  Centro  shaded.) 


Fiesole  on  the  hill  above  it.  Here,  strangely  enough,  ancient  and 
modern  Italian  have  independently  coincided  in  chessboard  planning. 
The  original  town  was,  no  doubt,  laid  out  on  the  chessboard  plan. 
In  the  middle  ages,  as  a  map  of  1427  shows,  this  plan  was  trace- 
able though  the  streets  had  become  narrowed  and  encroached  upon, 
and  even  blocked.  But  in  these  last  days  the  Centro  of  Florence  has 
been  Haussmanised,  and  the  town  has  been  returned— quite  uncon- 
sciously, but  quite  naturally — to  its  original  fashion. 

Again,   at  Timgad,   in  Roman  Africa,  the  French  have  in  large 
part  excavated  the  ruins  of  a  Roman  municipality.     It  began  about 


12()  T  ran  sad  ions  of  the  Tou^n  Planning  Conference,  Ocl.  icjio. 

A.D.  lOO  as  a  coloiiia  of  time-expired  soldiers,  their  wives,  and  belong- 
ings. The  original  town  can  still  be  discerned— a  walled  area  of  rather 
over  thirty  acres,  divided  up  into  small  square  blocks  of  houses,  much 
like  the  original  Florentia.  It  is  strictly  chessboard.  But  when  the 
town  grew  beyond  the  thirty  acres  this  plan  seems  not  to  have  been 
rigidly  followed — so  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the  hitherto  excava- 
tions—but the  streets  ran  at  their  own  sweet  will,  just  as  in  any 
English  town  of  yesterday. 

Timgad  [fig.  3]  is  a  good  example  from  which  to  learn  the  internal 
arrangements  of  this  Roman  town-plan.  Observe  first  a  central 
market-place,  Forum — not  an  open  space  in  our  sense  of  the  phrase,  but 
an  unroofed  yard  enclosed  by  colonnades,  with  the  public  buildings, 
shops,  temple,  town  hall  round  it.     Near  are  baths— apparently  there 


Parta  d>  I  Oueil 


i0HSQHHSH000E 
iaHQDEHHBBSHHS 
:0SaBHHSSH00H 
iSEHHBBHBBBSH 
iBHSBlBHBBBBBB] 
00@BB0 


1000 

;00H 
1000 


Forum 


:00SB]. 
10000] 


BJISBBBi 
BB0B0; 

000001 

3B00HBi 


Fig.  3. — ^Timgad  (Roman  Africa). 
After  a  Plan  by  Prof.  Cagnat.    Scale  about  i :  6,000. 


were  at  Timgad  several  establishments — meat  market,  theatre,  &c. 
Outside  the  old  town  on  a  hill  is  the  Capitol — copied  from  Rome,  very 
possibly  set  up  when  the  colonia  was  first  planted,  and  later  sur- 
rounded by  the  growth  of  the  new  town.  Of  attempts  at  architectural 
effects  we  can  detect  little.  There  were  one  or  two  arches  ;  the  streets 
were  colonnaded,  like  Bologna  to-day  ;  the  buildings  of  the  Capitol 
must  have  overhung  the  town  effectively.  But  of  other  conscious 
planning  for  architectural  effect  we  have  no  trace. 

Timgad  was  in  a  highly  civilised  province,  and  it  owed  its  founda- 
tion to  a  direct  plantation  of  Roman  citizens.  Let  us  see  how  the 
Roman  town-plan  was  carried  out  in  more  distant  and  less  civilised 
regions,  and  under  circumstances  involving  no  such  direct  plantation 
of  men.  Britain  supplies  us  with  two  good  examples.  At  Silchester 
we  have  a  walled  town  of  about  lOo  acres  in  area,  of  which  the  interior 


Town  PUinnini{  in  the  Roman  World. 


127 


Is  laid  out  in  streets  of  a  rectang-ular  or  chessboard  plan  [fig-,  4] .  In 
the  centre,  contained  in  one  of  the  rectangular  blocks,  are  the  Forum 
and  Basilica — town  hall,  magistrate's  offices,  and  market-place  with 
shops.  Elsewhere  are  other  public  buildings,  temples  and  baths,  and 
even  (as  it  seems)  an  hotel ;  but  all  are  so  placed  as  to  offer  neither 
open  spaces  in  the  form  of  public  squares  nor  architectural  effects. 
The  blocks  vary  somewhat  in  size  :  some  are  about  an  acre  in  extent, 
others  rather  more  than  an  acre  and  a  half,  and  others  again  still 
larger,  but  a  kind  of  symmetry  pervades  the  whole  plan.  If,  however, 
the  streets  are  symmetrical,  the  houses  are  not.  Some  respect  the  align- 
ment of  the  roads  ;  a  few  encroach  on  it ;  not  a  few  stand,  each  in  its 
own  garden,  facing  each  its  own  way  as  its  builder  or  proprietor  chose 
[fig.  5].  Moreover,  the  houses  themselves  are  not  town-houses.  Their 
plans  and  internal  arrangements  forbid  their  being  planted  in  con- 


AwpHi  -  ', 

THEATRE    ; 


ii  ii        ;'^'^^~>Vp 

=;  .1  Forum  i  | !  \.-sz:.-i  ^i.-.-.-z- 

',' iLli        ii        T 


Postern 


J  I I 

^  r 

n  I 


rdi-----i-.-:;jD         *y    Gate 
EMPLES'!° 


Scale     of    Feet. 

500  lOOO 

J.  I  I  I  I  I 


Fig.  4. — SiLCHESTER  :  General  Outline. 

tinuous  rows,  and  they  remind  us  rather  of  an  English  village  with 
its  Irregular,  independent  cottages,  than  of  any  town,  ancient  or 
modern.  Obviously  we  have  here  two  somewhat  discordant  elements. 
The  street-plan  Is  substantially  Roman  and  proper  to  a  town ;  so,  too, 
are  the  Forum  and  the  chief  public  buildings.  The  private  houses  are 
neither  Roman  nor  urban  ;  they  probably  represent  Celtic  house-types, 
modified,  no  doubt.  In  many  points  by  Roman  Influences,  but  In  origin 
non-Roman,  and  they  are  rural  houses  Incapable  of  being  co-ordinated 
into  the  streets  of  a  real  town.  Two  civilisations  have  met  here,  the 
Roman  or  Italian  town  and  the  rural  system  of  the  Celt ;  the  two 
co-exist.  Imperfectly  harmonised. 

The  same  feature  can  be  seen  in  another  Romano-British  town, 
Caerwent   (\'enta   Silurum)    between   Chepstow    and     Newport,    in 


128  Transactions  of  the  Town  riannin^L^  Conference,  Oct.  lyio. 


Li- — II  n 


Fic.  5. — Detailed  Plan  of  Part  of  Silchester. 

(From  the  Plan  issued  by  the  Society  of  Antiquaries.) 

A A :  Line  of  modern  lane, 


"^^  IWN  PLANNrSG  IN  THE  ROMAN"  WORLD.     [Propessok  HAVERFIEIjD.] 


TOWN  I'Ji.ANN-Ixa  (■ONFEBENCE.' 


PUAN        OF        CaERWENT     ™™  "■*'"--■■'■- -■>««->>,.-■"„,„ 


toFKMOR  aAVRHFIRLD, 


c 


r^- 


Town  Planning  in  the  Roman  World.  129 

Monmouthshire.  It  is  a  smaller  town  than  Silchester — less,  indeed, 
than  half  its  size.  Ground  was  probably  more  valuable ;  certainly  tho 
houses  are  closer  packed,  the  gardens  more  restricted,  the  tendency 
to  encroach  on  the  street  frontages  more  obvious.  But  the  general 
type  is  the  same  [fig.  6].  The  streets,  in  general,  run  at  right  angles  ; 
the  rectangular  blocks  which  they  enclose  average  about  an  acre  and  a 
quarter  or  an  acre  and  a  half ;  the  public  buildings  are  of  urban  and  of 
Roman  fashion.  On  the  other  hand,  the  private  houses  show  much 
the  same  rural,  and  probably  Celtic,  type  as  those  of  Silchester.  In 
the  one  place,  as  in  the  other,  the  site  has  been  laid  out  under  one 
influence  and  developed  under  another.  Town  planning,  it  is  plain, 
does  not  always  mean  a  town  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term. 

II.  I  pass  on  to  the  further  question  of  the  influence  of  this  Roman 
town  planning  upon  the  cities  of  the  later  post-Roman  age.  We  have 
seen  that  the  Roman  system  prevailed  both  in  highly  civilised  regions 
and  in  others  that  were  less  civilised.  What  has  been  its  legacy  to 
modern  or  to  mediaeval  Europe?  It  has,  of  course,  helped  the  growth 
of  towns — which  are  one  of  the  great  gifts  of  Rome  to  the  world. 
But  there  is  perhaps  more  to  be  said  than  this  broad  generalisation. 
In  England  we  are  wont  to  find  a  Roman  origin  for  all  our  mediaeval 
towns  which  show  any  approach  to  a  rectangular  plan.  Even  a  Carfax 
of  four  roads  meeting  at  right  angles  is  enough  to  start  speculations 
in  this  direction.  I  think  we  go  a  great  deal  too  far.  It  is  quite 
possible  for  roads  to  cross  at  right  angles  without  being  Roman  :  the 
rectangular  street  plan  itself  was  used  occasionally  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  the  evidence  of  foreign  towns  shows  that  it  is  easy  and 
indeed  ordinary  for  an  old  street-plan  to  have  disappeared  though 
the  site  has  been  continuously  inhabited. 

Rome  is  a  striking  instance.  Modern  Rome  uses  to-day  hardly 
a  single  street  which  has  come  down  to  it  from  the  Roman  period. 
The  Eternal  City  has,  indeed,  suffered  one  or  two  interruptions  of  its 
eternity,  and  it  has  moved  away  from  its  original  site  to  adjoining 
areas.  Still  more  striking  is  the  disappearance  of  the  ancient  street- 
plan  from  the  later  streetage  of  smaller  Italian  cities  of  Roman  origin. 
In  some  cases,  however,  there  has  been  no  less  striking  survival. 
Turin  is  well  known  to  have  retained  the  old  '  chessboard  '  plan  and 
to  have  adapted  its  more  modern  growths  thereto;  Florence  also 
shows  a  curious  and  remarkable  example ;  of  both  of  these  I  have 
already  spoken. 

If  we  pass  to  the  provinces,  it  may  be  worth  noting  an  instance — 
perhaps  the  single  instance  in  that  part  of  Europe — at  Belgrade,  once 
the  Roman  municipality  of  Singidunum  and  always  an  important 
strategic  site.  Here  on  the  high  promontory  which  looks  out  over 
the  lowlands  of  the  Danube  and  Save,  is  the  "  old  town  "  of  the  Ser- 
vian capital,  and  this  old  town,  grouped  round  the  old  market-square, 
shows  the  rectangular  streetage  which  I  think  we  may  safely  connect 
with  its  Roman  days.  For  once,  the  wave  of  barbarism,  even  the 
last  and  longest  wave  of  Mahometanism,  has  failed  wholly  to  efface. 
But,  as  I  have  said,  it  is  probably  the  only  instance  in  the  Balkan  and 
Danubian  lands. 

Nor  are  examples  much  commoner  in  the  west,  in  the  land  of  the 
Rhine  and  in  Gaul.     Faint  traces  of  the  old  streetage  may  indeed  be 

K 


130  Transcicliiiiis  of  the  Tou'ii  Planning  Co}}fcn'ncc,  Oct.  lyio. 

discovered  in  modern  Cologne.  The  present  Hohe  Strasse,  which 
runs  north  and  south  from  the  Roman  north  gate  (a  httle  west 
of  the  Cathedral)  to  the  Hohepforte  and  thence  towards  Bonn,  and 
the  Breite  Strasse,  which  runs  east  and  west  at  right  angles  to  the 
Hohe  Strasse,  follow  pretty  certainly  the  lines  of  ancient  streets;  and 
two  or  three  other  existing  streets  may  be  conjectured  to  represent 
more  or  less  of  old  lines.  But  the  whole  of  the  older  city  bears  the 
mark  of  the  Middle  Ages,  not  of  the  Romans.  Cologne  was  esta- 
blished as  a  Roman  site  a  little  (it  may  be)  before  the  opening  of  the 
Christian  era;  it  received  municipal  rank  (as  a  colonia)  in  a.d.  50, 
and  it  has  lived  a  continuous  life  with  a  scarcely  changed  name  ever 
since.     But  the  Teuton  has  superseded  the  Roman  in  it. 

At  Trier  the  Roman  streetage  has  even  more  utterly  vanished. 
We  know  the  lines  which  it  followed.  In  1904,  during  the  "  Kanalisa- 
tion  "  of  the  modern  city,  the  archaeologists,  the  contractors,  the 
Provincial  Administration,  and  the  Kultusminister  combined  to  carry 
out  an  effective  observation  of  all  the  ancient  streets  crossed  by  the  con- 
tractors' trenches.  The  result  was  a  plan  of  the  streets  of  Roman  Trier 
which,  if  it  does  notco\er  the  whole  intramural  area,  is  yet  singularly 
perfect  and  interesting  in  itself,  and  a  striking  monument  to  German 
skill  and  foresight  and  German  care  for  German  history  [fig.  7]. 
Roman  Trier  was  divided  by  its  streets  into  rectangular  blocks,  which 
(as  elsewhere)  vary  rather  in  shape  and  size ;  many  are  nearly  square 
and  cover  about  two  and  a  half  acres  each,  while  others  are  oblong 
and  larger.  But  of  this  old  "  chessboard  "  hardly  a  trace  remains 
above  ground  to-day.  The  Saar  Strasse,  which  runs  out  to  the  Roman 
south  gate,  and  the  Feld  Strasse,  which  runs  more  or  less  parallel  to 
it,  seem  to  oxerlie  the  older  streets  ;  elsewhere  in  Trier  the  Roman 
thoroughfares  have  vanished,  though  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  build- 
ings stand  imposing  and  numerous. 

So,  again,  in  our  English  Lincoln,  once  a  Roman  colonia,  granted 
municipal  rank  about  a.d.  75,  and  laid  out — as  its  rectangular  outline 
indicates — in  the  usual  "  chessboard  "  fashion.  We  know  the  position 
of  its  four  gates  ;  of  one,  indeed,  the  arch  survives.  But  only  one 
street  reproduces  the  Roman  thoroughfares.  The  Roman  road  from 
the  Humber  Ferry,  many  miles  north  of  Lincoln,  comes  to-day,  as 
it  has  come  for  over  eighteen  centuries,  through  the  Newport  arch, 
traverses  the  upper  and  lower  towns,  and  passes  on  southwards 
towards  London.  That  long  straight  roadway  has  given  a  certain 
character  to  the  place.  But  the  place  itself  is  as  English  as  Cologne 
and  Trier  are  German. 

in.  Let  me  now  attempt  to  sum  up  a  few  contrasts  between  this 
Roman  town  planning  and  that  which  has  developed  among  ourselves 
in  the  last  few  years.  In  the  first  place,  great  differences  exist 
between  the  two.  The  Roman  planning  seems  to  have  been  used  when 
new  towns  or  whole  new  quarters  sprang  up  at  once  ;  we  find  ourselves 
not  only  pro\iding  for  new  growths,  but  quite  as  often  seeking 
to  adapt  and  reshape  old  ones.  The  Roman  planning  applied  only  to 
small  areas  ;  150  or  200  acres  was  for  them  a  fairly  large  extent,  and 
the  problems  presented  by  towns  like  Buenos  Ayres  or  Chicago — to 
note  two  modern  examples  planned  h  V dchiquier — were  unknown  to 
them  ;  houses,  for  instance,  had  in  Roman  cities  their  own  gardens 


I'o'ivii  PUnining  in  the  Roman    W'urUi. 


131 


Fig.  7. — Augusta  Treverorum,  Trier. 
rrcm  Pl.in  by  Dr.  Graevtn. 


K  2 


1^2 


Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


and  "  lungs  "  were  not  needed.  Again,  the  Roman  planning  aimed 
at  no  architectural  effects,  no  places,  crescents,  circuses,  avenues, 
vistas,  save  an  occasional  arch  across  a  main  street.  At  Orange 
(Arausio),  on  the  Lower  Rhone,  for  example,  the  main  Roman  street 
encountered  at  its  north  end  a  fine  triumphal  arch  commemorating 
some  victory  of  Romans  over  uncivilised  Gauls.  At  its  south  end  is 
a  still  more  massive  and  interesting  building,  the  theatre.  But  the 
outside  of  this  theatre  must  have  had,  as  it  has  now,  a  plain  and 
severe  fa9ade,  as  striking  for  its  height  and  massiveness  as  any 
Roman  ruin  in  Gaul,  but  making  no  effort  at  architectural  effect,  such 
as  the  fa9ade  of  a  modern  theatre  usually  attempts  even  in  a  small 
town.  Lastly,  Rome  had  no  chemistry  or  chemical  industries.  The 
want  is  probably  more  to  blame  for  the  fall  of  the  Empire  than  any 
other  single  cause — as  a  great  German  chemist  has  well  observed. 
But  it  saved  the  towns  of  the  Empire  from  various  actual  nuisances. 
There  was  no  necessity  to  group  the  manufacturing  quarters  or  to 
fight  with  smoke  and  polluted  streams,  nor  did  the  towns  assume  the 
size  which  befits  a  modern  industrial  city  with  extensive  factories  of 
whatever  sort. 

But  if  the  Roman  town  planning  had  to  contend  with  troubles 
very  different  from  those  of  to-day,  it  contrasts  also  with  our  efforts 
in  another  way.  It  was  based  on  a  system  :  it  had  definite  rules  and 
definite  aspirations.  Our  efforts  are  apt  at  present  to  lack  system. 
Too  often  they  are  opportunist  schemes  meeting  special  needs,  such 
as  those  implied  in  the  (sometimes  commercial)  term  Garden  City.  Or 
they  are  individualist  schemes,  embodying  the  ideas  of  special  archi- 
tects or  designers.  Perhaps,  even  though  ancient  and  modern  city 
life  are  so  diverse,  it  may  do  our  modern  workers  no  harm  to  con- 
template for  a  little  a  system  of  town  planning  which  really  was  a 
svstem. 


133 


(3)  ROME. 
By  Dr.  Thomas  Ashby,  Director  of  the  British  School  at  Rome. 

The  natural  topography  of  the  site  of  Rome  and  the  circumstances  of 
the  growth  of  the  city  alike  rendered  any  systematic  scheme  of  planning 
a  very  difftcult  one  to  adopt.  The  main  lines  of  the  streets  were  fixed 
from  very  early  days  by  considerations  of  an  entirely  different  nature. 
Therefore,  in  order  ^  to  gain  a  clear  idea  of  the  topography  of  Rome, 
it  will  be  best  to  follow,  in  its  main  outlines,  the  history  of  its  gradual 
development.^  The  Palatine  hill,  the  nucleus  of  the  city,  was  no  doubt 
occupied  by  the  original  settlers  owing  to  the  natural  advantages  of 
its  position.  It  was  almost  entirely  surrounded  by  abrupt  cliffs  rising 
from  deep  valleys,  swampy  at  the  bottom,  and  frequently  flooded  by 
the  Tiber,  and  was  only  connected  at  a  single  point  with  the  table- 
land on  the  north  by  the  ridge  of  the  Velia,  on  which  the  Arch  of 
Titus  now  stands,  at  its  north-east  corner.  The  hill,  with  its  two 
summits,  Palatium  and  Cermalus  (though  the  former  name  was  in 
practice  extended  over  the  whole  hill),  is  roughly  rectangular  in  shape, 
and  was  hence  called  Roma  Quadrata.  Its  original  area  was  some 
twenty-five  acres.  The  cliffs  were  originally  far  more  formidable 
than  now,  with  deeper  valleys  beneath  them ;  under  the  Janus 
Quadrifrons,  in  the  Velabrum,  the  original  level  must  be  some 
30  feet  under  that  of  later  times.  (An  idea  of  the  original  character 
of  the  site  can  best  be  gained  by  a  visit  to  Veii.)  The  cliffs  were 
scarped,  and  a  shelf  cut  some  40  feet  below  their  summit ;  upon  this  a 
wall  of  brown  tufa  blocks,  quarried  from  the  hill  itself,  was  built  to 
the  height  of  two  Roman  feet,  and  considerable  remains  of  this  wall 
still  exist  on  the  west  and  south  sides  of  the  hill  [fig.  2].  It  has  been 
objected  that,  owing  to  the  use  of  the  foot  of  iif  English  inches,  and 
the  general  similarity  to  the  "  Servian  "  wall,  this  wall  cannot  be  of 
greater  antiquity  than  the  latter.  If  this  objection  holds  good,  we 
must  suppose  it  to  be  the  fortification  of  an  internal  citadel.  There 
are,  indeed,  scanty  traces  of  an  earlier  wall  of  thinner  grey  tufa 
blocks  (capellaccio,  much  used  in  the  earlier  buildings  of  Rome), 
perhaps  attributable  to  the  sixth,  or,  at  any  rate,  to  the  fifth 
century  b.c.  The  line  of  the  pomerium,  or  symbolic  boundary  of  the 
city,  still  followed  by  the  Luperci  in  the  time  of  Tacitus,  ran  outside 
the  wall  at  the  base  of  the  cliffs. 

The  first  extension  of  this  settlement,  towards  the  east  and  south, 

'  This,  and  several  other  paragraphs,  have  been  taken  (by  permission)  from 
an  article  on  the  "  Topography  of  Rome  "  in  the  Companion  to  Latin  Studies,  edited 
by  Dr.  J.  E.  Sandys  for  the  Syndics  of  the  Cambridge  University  Press. 

'  An  excellent  idea  of  the  original  condition  of  the  site  may  be  had  from  our 
Fig.  I,  which  is  Fig.  i  of  Professor  Lanciani's  Ruins  and  Excavations  of  Ancient 
Rome,  reproduced  here  by  the  kind  permission  of  the  author,  and  of  the  publishers, 
Macmillan  and  Co. 


i;,4   Trmisuclioiis  of  Ihc  Toani  ]''hiiiuing  Conference,  Oct.  i()io. 


^ 

t; 

^ 

^ 

1^ 

"!; 

^ 

Rome. 


ij.-) 


formed  the  Septimontium,  including  the  two  summits  of  the  Palatine, 
the  Veha,  the  Fagutal,  Oppius  and  Cispius  (these  three  all  parts  of 
the  Esquiline),  and  (perhaps)  the  Caelius. 

The  prehistoric  cemetery  discovered  near  the  temple  of  Antoninus 
and  Faustina  in  1902  lay  outside  the  Septimontium,  and  appears  to 


Fig.   2. — The  Wall  of  "Roma  (Jiadi;  \  i  \,  "    I'aiviim. 

belong-  to  it  rather  than  to  the  original  settlement  on  the  Palatine. 
For  the  period,  during  which  interments  took  place,  probably  ranged 
from  the  eighth  to  the  sixth  century  B.C.  ;  and  it  is  to  the  middle  of 
the  sixth  century  B.C.  that  tradition  assigns  the  construction  of  the 
Cloaca  Maxima  by  the  Tarquins,  before  which  it  is  impossible  that 
the    Forum    can    have    been    used    as    a    market-place.       Professor 


Fig.  3. 


;;  a/icr  CrBoutaUiC. 


Lanciani  has  well  pointed  out  that  the  three  main  cloaca?  of  ancient 
Rome — the  Cloaca  Maxima,  that  of  the  Campus  Martius,  and  that 
of  the  valley  of  the  Circus  Maximus — are  in  origin  simply  streams, 
which  have  been  first  regulated  and  then  roofed  over.  The  irregular 
course  of  the  first  of  these  indicates  this  fact  clearly.^     The  inclusion 

'   Compare  Fig.  14  of  the  same  work  (here  rcproducrd  as  our  Fig.  3). 


i;,6  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

of  the  temple  of  Janus  within  the  city  boundary  must  have  been  a 
consequence  of  the  fusion  of  a  Sabine  settlement  on  the  Quirinal  with 
the  orig-inal  community,  and  the  selection  by  the  united  body  of  the 
Capitol  as  their  citadel  {arx)  and  the  seat  of  the  tewphim  lovis  Optimi 
Maxinii. 

The  Viminal  (between  the  Quirinal  and  the  Esquiline)  and  the 
Caelian  (or  the  remaining  portion  of  it)  no  doubt  became  parts  of  the 
city,  either  simultaneously  with,  or  not  long  after,  the  changes  just 
dealt  with,  and  the  result  was  the  city  of  the  four  regions,  Suburana, 
Esquilina,  CoUina,  and  Palatina. 

The  next  stage  in  the  development  of  the  city  is  marked  by  the 
*'  Servian  "  wall,  which,  on  the  west  and  east,  coincided  with  the 
pomcrium,  while  on  the  north  and  north-east  it  included  a  great 
portion  of  the  table-land  from  which  the  Quirinal,  Viminal,  and 
Esquiline  originate,  and  on  the  south  it  took  in  the  Aventine,  which 


Fig.  4. — Servian  Wall  on  the  S.W.  Side  of  the  Aventine. 


remained  outside  the  pomcrium  until  the  time  of  Claudius.  It  thus 
enclosed  what  came  to  be  known,  at  any  rate  in  the  time  of  Cicero, 
as  the  seven  hills  of  Rome — the  Palatine,  Capitoline,  Aventine, 
Caelia.T,  Esquiline,  \'iminal,  and  Quirinal. 

The  "  Servian  "  line  of  fortifications  was  laid  out  with  consider- 
able skill,  following,  where  possible,  the  edge  of  the  cliffs  of  the  various 
hills,  the  wall  being  there  constructed  on  the  same  system  as  that  of 
the  Palatine,  with  blocks  of  similar  size  [fig.  4].  Where  it  had  to 
cross  the  table-land,  from  which  the  Quirinal,  Viminal,  and  Esquiline 
originate,  it  was  necessary  (for  a  length  of  nearly  a  mile)  to  adopt  a 
more  complicated  system  of  defence.  A  ditch,  30  Roman  feet  deep 
and  100  wide,  was  dug,  and  the  earth  thrown  up  on  the  city  side; 
this  was  supported  by  a  massive  wall  on  the  top  of  the  ditch,  and 
sometimes  at  the  back  by  a  smaller  wall.  The  whole  was  known  as 
the  agger ;  and  several  weak  points  of  the  circuit  were  strengthened 
in  the  same  way.  The  river  banks  were  also  fortified.  The  date  of 
the  construction  of  these  walls  has  been  much  discussed,  and  is  by 
some,  and  probably  the  best,  authorities  (without  denying  that  pre- 


Rome.  137 

vious  defences  existed)  assigned  to  the  period  immediately  following 
the  Gallic  invasion  of  390  b.c. 

The  outpost  on  the  right  bank,  at  the  summit  of  the  Janiculum, 
may  have  existed  as  early  as  the  city  of  the  Septimontium.  It  was 
connected  with  the  city  by  the  Pons  Sublicius,  the  antiquity  of  which 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  was  constructed  entirely  of  wood,  without 
the  use  of  metal  nails,  and  that  the  use  of  metal  was  forbidden  in 
subsequent  repairs  down  to  historic  times.  It  was,  however,  the 
"  Servian  "  city  which  first  came  down  to  the  Tiber  and  began  to 
make  full  use  of  it  as  a  water-way.  The  establishment  of  the  Forum 
Boarium  and  the  erection  of  temples  and  other  buildings  in  it  pre- 
suppose the  existence  of  the  Cloaca  Maxima  and  the  Cloaca  of  the 
valley  of  the  Circus  Maximus. 

The  area  enclosed  within  the  "  Servian  "  wall  was,  no  doubt,  at 
first  larger  than  was  actually  required  for  habitation  (this  must  have 
been  the  case,  indeed,  in  almost  all  the  early  cities  of  Italy),  and  for 
some  time  after  its  erection  w-e  hear  little  of  the  construction  of  public 
buildings,  except  of  temples.  The  commercial  quarters  by  the  Tiber, 
on  the  other  hand,  soon  spread  both  up  and  down  stream,  beyond 
the  small  stretch  of  the  left  bank  which  was  enclosed  by  the  city  wall. 
The  Forum  Boarium,  or  cattle-market,  had  found  room  within  the 
city,  but  the  Forum  Holitorium,  or  vegetable  market,  and  the 
emporium  grew  up  outside  it. 

The  lines  of  the  streets  were,  in  the  main,  dictated  (i)  by  the 
natural  features  of  the  site,  with  its  seven  hills  and  their  intermediate 
valleys,  and  (2)  by  the  position  of  the  gates  in  the  Servian  wall,  from 
which  issued  the  roads  upon  which  the  supremacy  of  Rome  depended. 
When  the  city  later  on  outgrew  its  boundaries  and  issued  beyond  the 
Servian  walls,  the  main  lines  of  streets  were  already  laid  down  by  these 
military  roads.  A  new  epoch  was  opened  by  the  censorship  of  Appius 
Claudius  Caecus  (312  b.c),  the  constructor  of  the  first  military  high 
road  and  of  the  first  aqueduct,  the  latter  mainly  for  the  benefit  of  the 
quarters  by  the  Tiber.  The  second  aqueduct,  the  Anio  \'etus,  dates 
from  272 — 269  B.C.  It  was  followed  at  a  long  interval  by  the  Aqua 
Marcia  (144 — 140  B.C.) ;  this  tapped  some  very  fine  springs  in  the 
upper  Anio  valley,  which  are  still  in  use  as  one  of  the  main  supplies 
of  modern  Rome.  The  early  years  of  the  second  century  B.C.  were 
remarkable  for  a  further  increase  of  building  activity,  which  was 
rendered  possible  by  the  successful  issue  of  the  second  Punic  war, 
and  in  which  the  censors  of  179 — 174  B.C.  were  especially  prominent. 
The  spread  of  Greek  culture  made  itself  felt,  such  words  as  emporium 
and  basilica  found  their  way  into  the  language,  and  columns  of  foreign 
marble  began  to  be  used.  We  hear  too,  for  the  first  time,  of  per- 
manent buildings  in  the  Circus  Maximus.  The  city  as  a  whole, 
however,  seems  to  have  grown  up  quite  unsystematically ;  it  had 
narrow  and  ill-built  streets,  and  the  central  portion,  between  the  hills 
and  the  river,  was  cramped  and  overcrowded,  though  it  had  already 
overflowed  into  the  Campus  Martius.  This  area,  however,  which 
had  originally  served  for  military  purposes  and  for  recreation,  was 
mainly  occupied  by  public  buildings. 

Julius  Caesar  was  the  first  to  grapple  with  the  problem.  He 
realised  the  necessity  of  improving  the  communications  between  the 


ijS   Trausact'i())is  of  Ihc  Toii')}  Phinniiiij;  Conference,  Oct.  kjio. 

Forum  Romanuni  and  tlie  northern  portion  of  the  city,  and  the 
changes  which  he  made  in  the  Forum  and  the  buildings  of  the  new 
Forum  Juhum  were  directed  to  this  end.  These  changes  were 
difficult  and  costly.  In  a  letter  written  in  the  summer  of  54  B.C., 
Cicero  says  :  *'  Caesar's  friends  (I  refer  to  myself  and  Oppius)  have 
felt  no  hesitation  in  spending  ;£j"6oo,ooo  in  extending  the  Forum.  The 
owners  of  the  property  would  not  consider  any  smaller  proposition. 
We  are  hoping  besides  to  accomplish  another  large  undertaking. 
We  are  building  in  the  Campus  Martius  a  covered  voting  hall,  which 
will  be  about  a  mile  in  circumference."  It  was  in  his  time  also  that 
the  bed  of  the  Tiber  was  for  the  first  time  regulated  and  stone  cippi 
erected  along  its  banks  (54  n.c).  He  formed,  indeed,  a  project  of 
diverting  its  course  just  above  the  city,  with  a  view  to  a  considerable 
enlargement  of  the  Campus  Martius,  a  project  which  has  several  times 
since  come  to  the  fore,  once  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century 
and  again  in  1879.  Pompey,  at  the  same  time,  erected  the  first 
important  group  of  public  buildings  in  the  Campus  Martius — his 
theatre  and  the  porticoes  connected  with  it. 

Augustus  continued  on  the  same  lines,  completing  the  plans  which 
Caesar  had  begun,  erecting  a  temple  in  his  honour  at  the  south-east 
end  of  the  Forum,  and  himself  adding  another  Forum  on  the  north- 
east of  that  of  Ca?sar.  In  other  parts  of  the  city,  and  especially  in 
the  Campus  Martius,  where  three  large  groups  of  public  buildings  are 
due  to  him,  his  activity,  partly  on  lines  marked  out  by  Ceesar  and 
partly  in  other  directions,  was  most  remarkable  ;  in  this  activity  his 
son-in-law,  Agrippa,  had,  a  considerable  share ;  and  his  recorded 
boast,  that  he  found  the  city  of  brick  and  left  it  of  marble  (though  it 
seems  to  those  who  see  the  ruins  of  Rome  in  their  present  condition 
to  be  quite  untrue),  had  its  meaning  at  the  time.  In  the  Monumentum 
Ancyranum,  ^  the  official  record  of  his  doings  during  his  reign,  the  ori- 
ginal of  which  stood  outside  his  mausoleum,  while  copies  were  placed 
on  the  walls  of  his  temples  in  the  various  provinces  of  the  Empire,  he 
states  that  he  restored  eighty-two  temples,  besides  those  which  he  built 
himself,  the  most  magnificent  among  the  latter  being  the  temple  of 
Apollo  on  the  Palatine.  To  him  are  also  due  many  general  regulatory 
measures — the  division  of  the  city  into  fourteen  regions,  in  which  the 
"  Servian  "  wall  (now  definitely  abandoned  as  a  boundary)  and  the 
high  roads  issuing  from  its  gates  were  in  the  main  used  as  a  basis, 
eight  being  predominantly  intra-mural  and  five  extra-mural,  while 
the  fourteenth  lay  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Tiber,  and  included  the 
island.  In  tliis  connection  he  established  the  vigiles,  who  served  as 
police  and  fire  brigade,  and  were  divided  into  seven  cohorts,,  i.e.  one 
cohort  to  every  two  regions.  The  regions  themselves  were  divided 
into  vici,  or  quarters.  He  also  carried  out  a  second  delimitation  of 
the  river  banks.  Whether  it  is  from  his  reign  that  the  actual  embank- 
ment of  the  Tiber  dates,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing.  Certainly 
the  ancient  system,  as  seen  at  tlie  Pons  .'\elius  (Ponte  S.  Angelo), 
had  some  advantages  over  the  modern  ;  the  walls  were  arranged  in 
steps,  which  gave  three  different  widths  to  the  river  at  different 
periods  of  the  year,  the  flood  arches  of  the  l)ridgc  (destroyed  in  the 

'  The  name  was  given  because  the  best  preserved   cojiy  now  in  existence  is 
that  on  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  Augustus  at  Ancyra. 


Rome. 


139 


construction  of  the  new  embankment),  one  of  which  is  seen  in  fig.  5, 
coming  into  use  as  required.  This  secured  a  faster  flow  in  dry 
weather,  and  prevented  the  silting  up  which  now  so  often  occurs.  He 
also  considerably  increased  the  water  supply  of  Rome.  The  first 
public  baths,  the  thermae  of  Agrippa,  were  constructed  in  his  time. 

The  next  great  epoch  of  change  in  Rome  is  the  latter  part  of  the 
reign  of  Xero.  The  degree  of  his  responsibility  for  the  fire  of  63  a.d. 
will  never  be  known.  A  recent  book  on  the  subject  makes  the 
interesting  observation  that  Nero,  supposing  him  to  have  caused  the 
fire,  was  calculating  on  the  west-south-west  breeze,  which  rarely  fails 
on  a  summer  afternoon,  but  that  the  wind  must  have  changed  to 
scirocco  (south-east),  inasmuch  as  the  flames  ran  north-west  along  the 
whole  length  of  the  circus,  instead  of  taking  an  east-north-east  direc- 


j ,  -  .  in 


;;:  ;;,•  1  ">•"»  "''« 


Fig.  5. — PoNTE  S.  Ancelo  before  the  Completion  of  the  Modern  Embankment. 

tion.'  He  certainly  took  advantage  of  it  to  appropriate  the  district 
between  the  Palatine  and  Esquiline  for  his  Golden  House  (the  site  of 
which  was  ostentatiously  devoted  to  public  buildings  by  his  succes- 
sors), destroying  even  the  temple  of  Claudius,  which  Agrippina  had 
erected  on  a  large  platform  on  the  north  extremity  of  the  Caelian,  in 
order  to  construct  a  great  fountain  there ;  the  temple  was,  however, 
restored  by  \'espasian.  But  Nero  also  compelled  private  proprietors 
to  reconstruct  their  houses  in  a  more  substantial  way,  and  to  allow 
greater  width  for  the  streets.  He  himself  constructed  public  thermae 
in  the  Campus  Martius. 

Vespasian,  the  founder  of  a  new  dynasty,  rebuilt  much  of  what 
had  suffered  destruction  during  the  tumults  which  preceded  his 
accession,  and,  above  all,  the  Capitol ;  he  also  added  a  new  Forum, 

'  Hiilsen,  however,  rightly  observes  that  he  could  hardily  have  chosen  a  worse 
time  than  that  at  which  it  actually  occurred  (the  night  of  July  18  to  19).  There 
was  a  full  moon  on  the  previous  night,  and  his  emissaries  would  have  run  great 
risk  of  detection.  Hiilsen  therefore  concludes  that  the  fire  had  an  accidental 
origin. 


140  Transactions  oj  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

with  a  temple  of  Peace  in  the  centre;  he  erected  the  Colosseum  on 
the  site  of  a  great  lake  in  the  gardens  of  the  Golden  House  ;  and,  as 
censor,  carried  out  a  new  survey  of  the  city.  The  results  of  this 
were  probably  recorded  in  an  earlier  form  of  the  marble  plan  of  Rome, 
which,  in  its  present  shape,  dates  from  the  time  of  Septimius  Severus 
and  Caracalla.  On  the  back  of  some  of  the  slabs,  on  which  this  plan 
is  cut,  portions  of  a  plan,  roughly  sketched  in  red,  with  the  buildings 


Fig.  6.— Column  of  Trajan  and  Basilica  Ulpia. 

partly  in  elevation,  have  been  found,   and  this  ma\'  be  attributed  to 
Vespasian. 

The  short  reign  of  Titus  was  marked  by  the  completion  of  the 
Colosseum  and  of  the  thermae  which  bear  his  name,  and  by  another 
great  fire,  which  did  considerable  damage  in  the  Campus  Martius. 
To  the  Flavian  emperors,  but  in  the  main  to  Domitian,  is  due  the 
central  part  of  the  imperial  residence  on  the  Palatine,  which  had  been 
destroyed  by  the  fire  of  64  a.d.  Domitian  also  began  the  erection 
of  a  new  Forum,  completed  by  his  successor  Nerva,  the  Forum 
Transitorium,  which  secured  better  communication  between  the 
Forum  Romanum  and  the  eastern  portions  of  the  city. 


Rome. 


141 


I 


Trajan's  most  important  achievement  in  Rome  was  the  construc- 
tion of  his  immense  Forum,  which  finally  solved  the  problem  of  easy 
communication  between  the  centre  of  Rome  and  the  Campus  Martius. 
It  is  not  easy  to  see  why  this  solution  had  not  been  adopted  by  any  of 
his  predecessors.  The  discoveries  of  1812-14  and  those  of  1906  have 
shown  that  where  the  column  of  Trajan  [fig.  6]  stands,  and  also  on  the 
site  of  the  north-eastern  hemicycle  of  his  Forum,  there  had  previously 
been  other  buildings  at  lower  levels  and  a  different  orientation  ;  and 
the  reference  of  the  inscription  on  the  column  must  be,  not  to  the 
original  height  of  the  hill  at  the  point  where  it  stands  (for  we  can  no 
longer  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  ridge  connecting  the  Capitol  and 
the  Quirinal),  but  to  the  greatest  height  to  which  the  hillside  was  cut 
back. 

The  reign  of  Hadrian  marks  another  period  of  activity  in  building 
(a  very  large  proportion  of  the  brick-stamps  known  to  us  belong  to 
this  period),  and  to  him  are  due  three  of  the  most  remarkable  edifices 
of  Rome — the  double  temple  of  \'enus  and  Rome  (which  occupied  the 


Fig.  7. — ^Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome  on  the  Velia — the  Arch  of  Titus  to  the  Left. 


whole  summit  of  the  Velia)  [fig.  7],  the  Pantheon  in  its  present  form, 
and  the  great  Mausoleum,  which  he  built  for  himself,  with  the  bridge 
leading  to  it.  The  Antonine  Emperors  confined  themselves  to  the 
construction  of  a  group  of  buildings  in  the  Campus  Martius  (of  which 
the  column  of  Marcus  Aurelius  was  the  most  prominent  feature),  and 
to  the  erection  of  the  temple  of  Faustina ;  but  the  fire  of  Commodus 
in  191  .'\.D.,  by  which  the  Forum  was  especially  affected,  gave 
Septimius  Severus  an  opportunity  of  displaying  considerable  mag- 
nificence in  restoration.  The  temple  and  atrium  of  Vesta  in  par- 
ticular owe  their  present  form  to  his  wife  Julia  Domna,  and  the  Forum 
Pacis  was  restored  by  him.  The  marble  plan  of  Rome,  on  the  scale 
of  I  to  250,  which  had  very  possibly  been  damaged  by  the  fire,  was 
recut,  no  doubt  after  a  new  survey,  and  it  is  the  fragments  of  this 
which  have  come  down  to  us.  It  was  affixed  to  the  north-east  wall 
of  a  building  which  commonly  bears  the  name  of  Templum  Sacrae 
Urbis,  but  which  was  probably  a  library  connected  with  the  Forum 
Pacis.     He  also  erected   a  huge .  palace  on   the   Palatine,    with   an 


\^2   Transaclions  of  Ihc  Toivn  PhinniiiL^  Conference,  Oct.  Kjio. 

ornamental  fa9ade,  the  Septizonium,  intended  to  strike  the  eye  of 
the  traveller  from  the  South.  Still  more  remarkable  were  Caracalla's 
huge  thermae  by  the  Via  Appia,  massive  remains  of  which  still  exist. 
The  troublous  times  between  235  and  284  allowed  of  little  building 
activity,  except  for  the  hasty  construction  of  the  enceinte  of  Aurelian 
and  Probus  (270 — 282).  These  walls  seem  in  the  main  to  have 
followed  the  boundary  of  the  regions  (and  the  octroi  line),  though  they 
took  great  advantage  of  existing  buildings,  which  were  indeed  made 
use  of  to  about  one-third  of  the  total  length  of  the  enceinte  [fig.  8].  In 
one  case  the  work  was  so  hastily  done  that  the  statues  were  not  even 
removed  from  the  niches  of  a  nymphaeum  incorporated  in  the  wall. 


Fig.  8. — Akch  of  Aqua  Marci.\,  built  by  Augustus,  incciki'okatid  in    uii    Ai  kluan   Wall 
AS  THE  Porta  Tiburtina  (Porta  S.  Lorenzo). 


On  the  right  bank  the  defences  merely  consisted  of  two  walls  ascend- 
ing from  the  Tiber  to  the  summit  of  the  Janiculum.  The  walls  are 
of  brickwork,  with  an  internal  gallery  and  towers  at  frequent  intervals. 
They  have,  of  course,  dictated  in  large  measure  the  subsequent 
topography  of  the  city.  In  283  occurred  the  great  fire  of  Carinus, 
which  affected  the  Forum  especially,  and  gave  Diocletian  an  oppor- 
tunity for  executing  extensive  restorations,  notably  that  of  the  Curia 
[fig.  9].  But  his  most  important  buildings  were  the  colossal  thermae, 
larger  even  than  those  of  Caracalla,  though  far  less  impressive,  their 
remains  having  been  largely  destroyed  in  modern  times.  His  suc- 
cessor Maxcnlius  continued  the  embellishment  of  the  Forum, 
beginning  in  306  the  immense  basilica,  which  was  completed  by 
Constantine  and  generally  bears  the  latter 's  name  [fig.  10].  The 
round  heroon  of  his  son  Romulus  is  remarkable  for  the  skilful  use  of 
an  awkward  site. 


Rome. 


14: 


\\'ith  Maxentius'  successor,  Constantine,  begins  the  period  of 
the  official  recog-nition  of  Christianity ;  and  Constantine  himself 
erected  the  earliest  and  most  important  of  the  Christian  basilicas, 
some  of  them  on  the  sites  of  the  tombs  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the 
martyrs  who  had  died  for  the  faith.  This  point  is  one  of  importance 
for  the  mediaeval  topography  of  Rome,  inasmuch  as  the  roads  leading 
to  these  churches  (which,  if  erected  on  the  site  of  a  tomb,  were 
situated  upon  a  high  road,  according  to  the  Roman  custom,  as  is  the 
case  with  the  tomb  of  St.  Paul  on  the  road  to  Ostia)  remained  open 
throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  The  rest  of  the  upper  portions  of  the 
citv  of  Rome   were  deserted   after  the  Barbarian  invasions    and  the 


destruction  of  the  aqueducts  on  which  they  depended  for  their  water 
supply,  and  mediaeval  Rome  occupied  only  the  lower  portions  of  the 
ancient  city,  the  hills  being  dotted  with  isolated  churches  and  con- 
vents, but  otherwise  given  up  to  cultivation.  Though  the  Tiber  was 
still  the  receptacle  of  the  drainage  of  the  city,  its  water  was  freely 
drunk,  fgr  even  the  Aqua  \'irgo  was  not  restored  until  the  sixteenth 
century. 

This  state  of  things  is  still  shown  in  the  Renaissance  plans  and 
bird's-eye  views  of  Rome,  a  selection  of  which  I  exhibited  in  the  Royal 
Academy  Galleries.  The  transformations  which  Sixtus  V.  wrought 
in  the  course  of  his  short  pontificate  (1585-90)  were  very  noteworthy  : 
and  it  is  instructive  to  compare  the  plans  of  Rome  before  ^  and  after  his 

'  The  best  example  is  that  pubUshed  by  Father  Ehrle,  La  Pianta  di  Roma  Dii 
Perac-Lafrery  del  1577,  from  a  unique  engraving,  in  four  sheets,  in  the  British 
Museum. 


144  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

time.i  To  him  were  due  many  important  buildings  and  the  re-erection 
of  several  obelisks,  so  placed  as  to  form  a  striking  termination  to  a 
street,  as  well  as  the  adornment  of  a  piazza.  His  chief  work  in  this 
direction  was  the  creation  of  the  street,  part  of  which  still  bears  his 
name,  from  the  Pincian  to  the  Lateran.  But  even  after  his  day  the 
hills,  though  the  construction  of  the  Acqua  Felice  gave  them  once 
more  a  good  water  supply,  were  still  free  of  buildings  for  the 
most  part,  and  largely  occupied  by  villas  and  gardens,  and  this  was 
the  case  until  after  1870.  It  was  only  then  that  the  upper  parts  of  the 
city  began  to  be  once  more  inhabited,  and  even  at  the  present  day  the 
south-west  portion  of  the  area  within  the  Aurelian  walls  gave  till  a  few 
months  ago  an  excellent  idea  of  the  quiet  and  peaceful  beauty  the 
disappearance  of  which  those  who  have  known  Rome  for  forty  or  fifty 
years  cannot  help  viewing  with  some  measure  of  regret.     To  the 


'^^*^^^^^f^¥^.  -  ->^^  *; 


Fig.  10. — Basilica  of  Constantine  from  the  Palatine. 

exigencies  of  modern  life  and  the  needs  of  a  modern  capital  such 
feelings  must  give  way ;  but  it  has  often  seemed  that,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Passeggiata  Archeologica,  much  has  been  sacrificed  that  might 
without  detriment  have  been  spared.  In  regard  to  this  question, 
an  excellent  report,  drawn  up  by  Signor  Gustavo  Giovannoni,  Pre- 
sident of  the  Associazione  Artistica  fra  i  Cultori  di  Architettura  (of 
which  I  have  the  honour  to  be  a  member,  and  which  I  have  been 
asked  to  represent  at  this  Conference),  states  the  points  very  clearly. 
The  idea  that  the  region  extending  on  both  sides  of  the  Via  Appia  and 
bounded  by  the  Aurelian  walls  should  be  converted  into  a  public  park 
and  protected  from  the  invasion  of  the  modern  city,  was  an  excellent 
one  :  the  project  had  been  before  the  public  since  1887,  and  when  it 
was  definitely  passed  into  law  it  seemed  the  long-delayed  fulfilment 
of  a  wish  that  one  had  almost  thought  might  never  be  realised.  All 
the  more  bitter  was  the  disappointment  at  the  method  in  which  the 
work  was  carried  out.  The  Royal  Commission,  acting  as  an  autono- 
mous body,  set  before  itself  as  the  ideal  the  construction,  in  a  space 

'  An  example  of  the  latter  is  the  plan  engraved  by  J.  Harris  and  published  by 
J.  Senex  (D.  N.  B.  xxv.  14  ;  li.  244)  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century 
(reproduced  as  plate).  It  has  the  East  uppermost,  and  is  probably  derived 
from  the  plan  of  G.  B.  Falda  (1676),  though  in  some  respects  it  is  independent. 


r 


Rome  rm.  Thomw  Ashbyl 


y\M:vv  MAi'P  or   ROME  shewj^^^^t.s  TxTTznt  \x5~M?^'^srrri.  vTmv  "  ■ 


1 


Rome.  145 

hardly  as  much  as  150  yards  in  width  between  the  Aventine  -and  the 
CaeHan,  of  an  avenue  over  60  yards  in  width,  at  first  perfectly  straight 
and  then  dividing  into  three  or  four  branches  to  reach  the  various 
gates  of  the  Aurelian  walls — and  this  in  a  district  practically  unin- 
habited, where  the  demands  of  the  traffic  (even  that  which  will  be 
created  when  the  new  extramural  quarters  on  this  side  of  Rome  come 
to  be  built)  can  never  justify  the  formation  of  such  enormous  arteries. 
In  obedience  to  this  conception,  the  floor  of  the  valley  was  levelled 
absolutely  :  many  groups  of  trees  and  various  buildings  of  interest 
(nothing  of  primary  importance,  one  must  admit)  were  sacrificed, 
while  others  w^ere  endangered,  and,  what  was  worse,  the  whole  quarter 
entirely  lost  that  old-world  air  to  which  I  have  just  alluded.  It  is  also 
clear  that  the  construction  of  such  an  avenue  would  render  the  proper 
archaeological  investigation  of  the  subsoil  a  practical  impossibility 
(let  it  be  remembered  that  the  ancient  Via  Appia  was  only  14  feet 
wide) ;  this  was  not,  indeed,  contemplated  by  the  Commission,  so  that 
the  name  of  the  Passeggiata  Archeologica  seemed  to  be  a  mockery. 
It  will  surely,  too,  be  conceded  that  the  "  isolation  "  of  an  edifice 
like  the  Baths  of  Caracalla  is  entirely  wrong  in  conception ;  as  the 
report  points  out,  it  fails  of  its  purpose  in  rendering  it  far  less,  and  not 
more,  imposing  than  it  was  when  seen  from  a  narrow  road,  with  high 
walls  on  each  side. 

The  work  was  carried  on  in  this  spirit  until  the  bifurcation  of  the 
Via  Appia  and  the  Via  Latina  was  almost  reached  ;  but  public  opinion 
in  Italy  and  abroad  was  by  no  means  satisfied  with  the  state  of  things. 
Protests  became  louder  and  louder,  Commendatore  Boni  resigning  his 
seat  on  the  Commission,  and  there  is  now  every  reason  to  hope  that 
there  will  be  a  radical  change  of  plan.  Much  has  been  done  that 
cannot  be  undone  in  the  few  months  of  feverish  activity  in  demolition 
which  the  Commission  at  first  displayed  ;  but  Commendatore  Lanciani, 
who  took  Commendatore  Boni's  place,  did  not  do  so  without  sufficient 
guarantees  that  the  work  should  be  carried  on  in  a  different  spirit ; 
and  the  execution  of  the  work  has  been  entrusted  to  him.  There  has 
been  too  much  of  a  cult  of  the  straight  line  and  the  right  angle,  not 
only  in  Rome  since  1870,  but  in  most  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  I 
take  it  that  one  of  the  objects  of  the  present  Conference  is  to  spread 
a  different  gospel  among  the  nations. 


14^)  Transaclions  of  the  Toicn  Planniiiij;  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(4)     l-NIWIC  KIA'NG  DES  STADTEBAU-IDEALS 
SVAT  DHR  RENAISSANCE. 

\'on  Dr.  A.   !■].   Hrim  k.mann",  Aachen. 

DiK  luljicnckii  ALKsfuhiunycn  durfcn  nur  als  cine  ganz  knappe  Skizzc 
cines  Thcmas  betrachtet  werden,  dessen  Bcarbcitung-  mich  seit 
mehrcrcn  Jahrcn  interessiert  und  zu  dem  ich  vcrschiedene  Einzel- 
studien  veroffcntlicht  habc,  ohne  bci  der  Grosse  dieses  Themas  auch 
n'.ir  in  Aussicht  stellcn  zu  konncn,   eine  zusammenhangende,  einge- 


AbB.     I. — I'lAZZA    DELLA    SiGNORIA    VOnJI'LORFN/. 

hende  Geschichte  der  neueren  Sladtbaukunst  in  absehbarer  Zeit 
erscheinen  zu  lassen.  Ohne  eine  Einleitung-  darf  ich  darum  gleich  in 
medias  res  i^ehen. 

Der  friilimittelalterUchc  StadtpUitz  ist  eine  wirtscliaflHchc  und 
.•■oziale  Xotwendi^keit  fiir  die  Bewohner  der  Stadt,  cr  wird  aber 
noch  nicht  als  ein  einheitliches,  architektonisches  Gebilde  aufgefasst.^ 

'  Dies  geschiht  zuerst  wieder  in  den  spatgotischen  Neugriindungen  des 
XIII.-XIV.  Jalirhundert  in  Siidfrankreicli,  in  Dcutschland  ostlich  der  Elbe  bis 
ins  heiitige  Kussland,  unterdcutschen  Einllussin  Bohmen,  Ungarn,  u.s.w.  Vergl. 
des  Verfassers  Abhandlung  in  Deutsche  Baitzcitung,  1910  "  Spatniittelalterliche 
Stadfanla;'en  in  Siidfrankreicli." 


EntiKUcklmii,'  dcs  Stadtchau-Idcals  scit  dcr  Renaissance.     147 

Der  Xachdruck  liegt  auf  den  einzelnen  platzumgebenden  Gcbauden, 
der  Kathedrale,  dem  Palazzo  publico,  den  festen  Paliisten  des  Adels, 
nicht  auf  ihrer  einheitlichen  \'erbindung.  Ebenso  erscheint  die 
ganze  Stadt  nur  cine  Ansammlung  einzelner  Bauten,  einzelner 
kleiner  Kastelle.     Strassen  und  Pliitze  sind  unbebaute  Reste. 

Erst  allmahlich  erhalten  Strasse  und  Platz  ein  eignes  Leben,  der 
Grundriss  kliirt  sich.  Die  Piazza  della  Signoria  von  Florenz 
[Abb.  i]  wurde  nach  und  nach  durch  Abbruch  der  Hauser  von 
Adelsg-eschlechtern,  die  in  den  Besitz  der  Stadt  toils  durch  \'erkauf, 
teils  durch  X'ertreibung-  der  Besitzer  g^ekommen  waren,  erweitert 
und  zu  grosserer  Reg'elmiissigkeit  ausg"estaltet,  nachdem  urn  1300 
der  Stadtpalast  erbaut  worden  war.  \'ollendet  wurde  der  architekt- 
onische   Ausbau   des   Platzes  nie,   obgleich  selbst   Michelangelo   auf 


Abb.  2. — Piazza  in  Livorno. 


Ersuchen  Cosimos  I  urn  \"orschlage  fiir  solchen  .Ausbau  diesem  riet, 
das  Motiv  der  Loggia  des  Orcagna  um  den  ganzen  Platz  herumzu- 
fiihren.  Das  ware  ganz  im  Sinn  der  Renaissance  gewesen, 
denn  diese  strebte  nach  Einheit  des  Raumes  und  so  nach  Einheit- 
lichkeit  der  Wandungen,  in  die  die  einzelnen  Gebaude  einbezogen 
werden.  Sie  verlangt  klare  Ruhe  iibersichtlicher  Form  im  Gegensatz 
zur  Unruhe  und  Gesetzlosigkeit  der  mittelalterlichen  Stadt.  Die 
Stadtanlage  als  kiinstlerische  Einheit  zu  entwickeln,  wie  es  einst 
auch  der  perikleische  Stadtebau  anstrebte,  ist  Ziel  der  Renaissance.* 
Ein  Beispiel  einer  ausgefiihrten  Stadt  mit  regelmassigen,  recht- 
vvinklig  sich  schneidenden  Strassenziigen  ist  Livorno  aus  dem  X\'I 
Jahrhundert,  das  Meisterwerk  mediceischer  Dynastie.  Der 
rechteckige  Hauptplatz  [Abb.  2]  hat  ringsumlaufende  Arkadengange, 
die  sich  auch  der  Fassade  der  Kirche  vorlagern.  Das  Ideal  der 
Zeit  lassen  die  theoretischen  Konstruktionen  deutlich  erkcnnen,  die 
schopferische  Idee  eilt  der  langsamen  .Ausfiihrung  voran.  Der 
friihste  Entwurf,  vielleicht  von  Fra  Giocondo,  ist  um   1500  gezeich- 

•  Ueber  die  italienischen  Theoretiker  der  Renaissance  vergl.  des  Verfassers 
Platz  und   Monument,  Berlin  1908,  Kap.  III. 

L  2 


14S  Tnnisactious  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

net.'  Wcltere  Idcalentwiirfc  finden  sich  erst  spater,  der  des  Vasari 
il  Giovane-  und  dcs  Scamozzi  in  seiner  "Idea  dell'  Architet- 
tura  universale"  von  1615  [Abb.  3]  sind  die  wichtif,-sten.  Sie 
bilden  elnc  regelmassig^e  Anlag:e  in  zcntraler  oder  achsialer  Grup- 
pierun^^   mit   rcgelmiissij^em,    arkadenumgebenen    Hauptplatz.       Die 


Abb.  3. — CittX  Ideale  nach  Scamozzi. 

Strassenkreuzungen  sind  einige  Male  zu  Platzen  erweitert.  Die 
bedeutenden  Monumentalgebaude  ordnen  sich  glatt  in  die  Flucht 
der  Strassen  ein. 

Hier  ist  die  Auffassung-  der  Spatrenaissance  und  des  Barock  prin- 
zipiell  eine  andre.  Rom  wird  der  Geburtsort  der  neueren  Stadt- 
baukunst.       Man   will   eine   hervorragende   bauliche    Leistung    auch 

'   Siehe  H.  v.  Geymuller,  Lcs  Du  Cerceau,  Paris-London  1887. 
*  Florenz  Uffizien  Handzcichnungen  4529-94  aus  dem  Jahr  1598. 


TV  f 


e/z  e 


twrf \ \ 


Abb.  4.— Situation  des  Palazzo  Farnese,  Rom. 


>50 


Transaclioiis  ol  the  Toicn  Plaiinin^^  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


noch  (lurcli  ilirc  lu'soiulrc  Silualion   n;irh   Mo-li.hki-it    stfioem.      Die 
volk-ndctf     Lai^f    (Ics    \  oriiflinHii     Sladtiialastcs    zcij-t     (k-r     i'alazzo 


Abb.  5.  — I'kojlkt  Carlo  Fontanas  iuk  Ausgkstaltuno  des  PiiTERSPLATZES. 

b\iriu-sf  in  Rom    [Abb.   4I.      lireitc,  scnkrecht  auf  das  Portal  zufuh- 
rende    Strassc,     proporlionicrtcr     \'orplatz.      Der    Blick    zu    beiden 


Entii'ickhing  dcs  Stiidtehau-Iclc'cds  seit  dcr  Rciuiissaiice.      151 

Selten  des  Palasles  wcitergefuhrt  (lurch  archilcktonisch  hervorgeho- 
bene  Abschliisse  :  man  hat  nicht  nur  ein  Fliichenbild,  sondern  cm- 
pfindet  so  den  Palast  als  Kubus.  Die  ]virchc  Santa  Maria  della 
Pace  in  Rom  stosst  mit  ihrem  Vorbau  weit  in  ihren  \'orplatz  hinein, 
beherrscht  ihn  und  erfiillt  ihn  mit  Leben.  Die  grosste  Leistung- 
war   die   Anlage   des    Petersphitzes,    die    Bernini    1656-67    ausfiihrte. 


Abb.  6. — Portici  degli  Uffizi  in  Florenz. 

Ich  habe  in  meinem  Buch  "  Platz  und  Monument  "  diese  Anlage 
eingehend  gewurdigt  und  dort  auch  ein  Projekt  Carlo  Fontanas 
[Abb.  5]  von  1694  abg-ebildet,  in  dcm  sich  die  Gestaltungskraft  des 
spateren  Barocks  in  hochster  Anspannung  und  der  vollen  Grossar- 
tigkeit  ihrer  Gesinnung  zeigt  :  Ausnutzung  der  Wirkung  des  Ganzen 
bis  zur  Engelsburg.  Mit  der  genialen  Piazza  posteriore,  einge- 
schnitten  in  das  stark  ansteigende  'J'errain,  ware  die  Ansicht  des  zen- 
tralen  Kuppelbaues  gerettet,  in  dem  Michelangelo  die  Sehnsucht  der 
Renaissance  erluUte. 


152   Transactions  of  the  Town  Planuiug  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

\'on  der  Umwertung  des  Einzelgebaudes  im  Stadtganzen  kommt 
es  zu  elncr  Umbildung:  der  gcsamten  Stadt.  Es  werden  eindring- 
lichcre  Bczichungcn  der  einzelnen  Teile  zu  einander  gesucht,  die 
Stadt  wird  zu  eineni  in  sich  Icbendigcn  Organismus.  Wiihrend  ein 
Projckt  zum  Neubau  des  vatikanischen  Stadttcils  unter  Niccolaus  V. 
(H47-55)  <^'''^''  parallele  Strassen  auf  den  Platz  vor  S.  Pietro  gegen 
verschiedcne  Zielpunkte  auslaufen  lassen  wollte,  konzentriert  der 
Barock    die    ganze    Kralt    auf    cinen  einzigen  Punkt,  indeni  er  die 


Abb.  7. — Idealstadt  nach  Perret  de  Chamberv. 


Strassen  aus  verschiedcnen  Richtungen  gegen  ihn  zusammenfiihrt. 
Die  drei  Strassen  zur  Piazza  und  Porta  del  Popolo,  zum  Teil  schon  im 
alten  Rom  bestehend,  sind  in  ihrer  heutigen  Gradlinigkeit  doch  erst 
Korrekturen  des  Barock.  Zielpunkt  ist  der  Obelisk  auf  dem  Platz.  Die 
Strassen  sucht  man  so  zu  legen,  dass  sie  in  beiden  Richtungen  auf  ein 
bedeutendes  Gebiiude  u.s.w.  zufuhren.  Die  Via  S.  Giovanni  in 
Laterano,  von  Sixtus  V.  angclegt,  verbindet  Lateranspalast  und  Colos- 
seum ;  gegen  das  eine  Itnde  der  Via  Merulana  erscheinen  Fassadc  und 
Campanile  von  Santa  Maria  Maggiore,  an  dem  andern  der  Obelisk  auf 
dem  Lateransplatz.     Strassenkrcuzungen  sind  oft  durch  die  Schonheit 


Entwicklung  des  St'ddtehau-I deals  seit  dcr  Renaissance.     153 

ihrer  Ausblicke  ausgezeichnet,  so  die  Kreuzung  der  \'ia  Sistina  (von 
Sixtus  V.)  und  Strada  Pia  (jetzt  Ouirinale). 

Der  Einfluss  Roms  ist  ungeheuer.  Ohne  die  Anstrengungen 
dieser  Stadt  ist  der  neuere  Stadtebau  undenkbar.  Aehnliche  Gesichts- 
punkte  wie  in  Rom  werden  mehr  oder  weniger  energisch  auch  fiir 
andre  Stadte  massgebend.  Durch  die  von  Vasari  angelegten  Uffizien 
erhiilt  der  Palazzo  \'ecchio  der  Piazza  della  Signoria  von  Florenz 
eine  ganz  neue  Erscheinung  [Abb.  6].  Wren  benutzt  fiir  sein  Pro- 
jekt  des  Platzes  fiir  die  Pauls  Kathedrale  von  London  Motive,  wie 
sic  die  kleine  Kirche  Santa  Maria  della  Pace,  die  Petersplatzprojekte^ 
zeigen. 

Die    Entwicklung    der    stadtebaulichen    Gedanken,    die    in    Rom 


Abb.  8. — Place  Royale  von  Nancy. 


geboren  wurden,  iibernimt  Frankreich,  an  erster  Stelle  Paris  unter 
einem  Konigtum,  das  in  der  Stadtbaukunst  den  hochsten  reprae- 
sentativen  Ausdruck  seiner  Macht  sah.  Gleicht  die  bauliche  An- 
strengung  Roms  einer  gewalligen  Explosion  von  Energien,  so 
beruhigt  Frankreich  die  starken  Kontraste,  verfeinert  die  Beziehun- 
gen.  Der  Gedanke,  die  Stadt  als  einheitliches  Kunstwerk  aufzu- 
fassen,  war  bcreits  in  Frankreich  aufgenommen  worden,  und  wenn 
wir  in  Vitry-le-Francois  (1545)  eine  Anlage  ganz  nach  den  Prin- 
zipien  der  italienischen  Renaissance  finden,  so  batten  franzosische 
Theoretiker  noch  andre  Formen  konstruiert.  Bernard  Palissy  (15 lo- 
go), jencr  staunenswerte  Hugenotte,  in  dem  sich  nationaler  Realismus 
mit  seltsamer  Phantastik  paarte,  erfand  eine  ville  forteresse,  deren 

'  Siehe   iiber   diese  Konkurrenzprojekte,  von  denen  das  des  Bernini  siegte, 
Letarouilly,  Le  Vatican,  Paris  1882. 


154  Transactions  of  the  Totvn  Plannins[  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

\'i)rbiki  ihni  das  Gehause  ciner  Purpursihncckc  liefcrtc.^     Perret  de 
(."hainbt'rv    Uoinponiertf   cine    Form,    dir  j^radL'   das,    was   die    italitn- 


rggi^ 


Abb,  9  — I'rojf.kt  fOr  eixe  I'lace  Louis  XV.  von  Rousset. 


ische  Renaissance  anstrebte,  die  Gesclilussenlieit  g'eordiieter  Strassen- 
fiihrung-en  und  Platze,  aufgab  und  mit  den  einzelnen  Bauten  ein 
Fljichenmuster  zusammenstellte  [Abb.   7].       Die    Anregung-    hierfiir 

'  Beschreihung  \n  Les  QLiivres  de  B.  Palissy,  puhl.  par  Anatolc  France,  Paris 
1880,  p.  150. 


Entivichhiug  des  Stcidtchaii-IdcaJs  seit  der  Renaissance.      155 

enlnahm  der  fJartenkunst.  "^  Solche  Konstruktionen  blieben  aber 
ohne  praktische  Bewertung". 

Der  Typus  des  Stadtplatzes  wurde  um  1700  in  Paris  in  der  Place 
des  Victoires  und  in  der  Phice  Vendome  (einst  Louis  le  Grand) 
geschaflen.  Er  erscheint  als  \'ereinig"ung-  des  Zentralplatzes 
der  Renaissance,  der  durch  das  in  der  Mitte  stehende  Monument 
betont  wird,  und  des  romischen,  baroc-ken  X'orplatzes,  als  point  de 
vice  die  Fassade  des  Kapuziner  Klosters  nehmend.  Die  Platz- 
fassaden  sind  einheitlich  durch^ebildet  und  im  \'erhaltnis  zur 
Platzfliiche  nicht  hoch.  Als  prachtvolles  Beispiel  fiir  das  Ausbalan- 
cieren  der  Baumassen  gegeneinander,  fiir  das  Gefiihl  der  franzo- 
sischen  Architekten  dem  Rhythmus  des  Raumes  gegenuber  erscheint 
die  Place  Royale  von  Nancy  [Abb.  8] ,  die  von  alien  franzosischen 
Platzen  am  besten  erhalten  ist,  nachdem  die  Revolution  und  spatere 
Korrekturen  sehr  viel  zerstort  haben.  Die  Bewegung-  des  rechtecki- 
g-en  Platzes  sammelt  sich  durch  das  Ansteig'en  der  Kontur  der 
platzumschliessenden  Architekturen  vom  Triumpftor  aus  geg'en  das 
H6tel-de-\'ille,  es  zum  herrschenden  Bau  erhebend,  g-leichzeitig-  aber 
flutet  sie  zurijck  g'egen  die  Carri^re,  da  der  Ausgang-  zu  dieser  monu- 
mental verstarkt  ist.  Der  Einblick  durch  dies  l^or  geg'en  den  Platz 
ist  ohne  die  hinreissende  Beweg^ung  Roms,  der  Platz  selbst  ist  nicht 
nur  \'orplatz  fiir  das  Hotel-de-Ville,  sondern  ein  Saal  zu  festlichen 
Aufenthalt.  Die  zentrale,  geschlossene  Platzform  der  Renaissance 
ist  in  sich  lebendig'er  geworden  im  Spiel  von  Beweg'ung,  Aufenthalt 
und  Geg'enbeweg'ung". 

Selbst  ein  Sternplatz  wird  in  dieser  Weise  architektonisch  durchg"e- 
bildet.  Indem  Rousset  bei  seinem  Projekt  fiir  eine  Place  Louis  XV, 
vom  Jahr  1748  [Abb.  9]  sechs  von  den  zehn  auf  dem  Platz  zusammen- 
laufenden  Strassen  mit  eincr  zusammenhang"enden  Portalarchitektur 
iiberbaut,  g-iebt  er  dem  Platzraum  nach  zwei  Seiten  festen  Halt,  ohne 
ihm  den  Charaicter  des  guten  Stadtplatzes  zu  nehmen,  der  die  aufge- 
brochene  Bltite  der  Strassen  ist.  Fontanenanlagen  geg'eniiber  den 
freimiindenden  Strassen  fangen  die  Beweg'ung-  derselben  ab.  Das 
schlanke  Monument  in  der  Mit'.e  erscheint  als  point  de  vtie  aller  vier 
graden  Strassen. 

Die  franzosische  Stadtbaukunst  zeigt  der  romischen  gegeniiber  die 
gleiche  Beruhigung  wie  der  einzelne  Platz,  zudem  ist  sie  hochste 
Oekonomie.  Die  Bedeutung  der  franzosischen  Gartenkunst  fur  die 
Stadtplannung  ist  ausserordentlich,  die  Architekten  der  Zeit  weisen 
auf  sie  als  Vorbild  des  ofteren  hin  :  "  Quiconque  sgait  bien  dessiner 
un  pare,  tracera  sans  peine  le  plan  en  conformite  duquel  une  ville 
doit  etre  batie  relativement  a  son  ctendue  et  k  sa  situation."  Es 
wird  ferner  gesagt,-  dass  die  Schonheit  einer  Stadt  nicht  von  der 
Zahl,  sondern  von  der  Placierung  der  hervorragenden  Baulichkeiten 
r.bhange,  und  dass  man  mit  wenigen  aber  gut  gestellten  Baulichkeiten 
den  Gesamteindruck  einer  Stadt  ausserordentlich  heben  konne. 

Die  Strassenanlage  um  das  Odeon  in  Paris  zeigen  solche  Aus- 
nutzung  eines  Monumentalbaus,  dessen  Yorplatz  zu  ihm  und  den 
Strassen   im   gliicklichsten   \"erhaltnis   steht.      Ebenso   schon   ist  die 

'  Siehe  des  Verf.  "Franzosische  Idealstadte  um  1600  und  1800"  in  Der 
Stddtebau,  Jalirg.  1909. 

*  Vergl.  dariibcr  Platz  und  Monument,  Abschnitt  30.  j 


Entwicklung  des  Stddtehau-I deals  seit  der  Renaissance.     157 

ansteigende  und  slch  g'eg'en  den  hohen  Portalbau  des  Luxembourg" 
erweiternde  Rue  de  Tournon. 

Bel  jetzt  enstehenden  Neuanlag-en  g"anzer  Stadte  wie  Rochefort, 
Neubreisach,  Saarlouis  ist  zu  bendenken,  dass  sie  Festung-stadte  sind. 
Ueber  sie  berichten  ausfiihrlich  Belidor  ^  und  Levirloys  ^  [Abb.  10]. 
Als  ihren  Erfinder  kann  man  den  grossen  Festungsbauer  Vauban 
ansprechen.  Die  Mitte  nimmt  eine  Place  d'Armes  ein,  korrekte  leicht 
iibersehbare  Strassen  laufen  womoglich  radial  von  dieser  gegen  die 
Umwallung-  aus.  Dass  selbst  eine  so  einfache  Form  kiinstlerisch  aus- 
zugestalten  ist,  ze'igt  zum  Beispiel  die  Stadterweiterung-  von  Nancy. 

In  Deutschland  finden  wir  in  Freudenstadt  im  Schwarzwald,  das 
1599  von  einem  Italienisch  gebildeten,  deutschen  Archltekten  angelegt 
wurde,  eine  Form,  die  ganz  den  italienischen  Renaissanceanlagen 
gleicht.  Der  quadrate  Mittelplatz  ist  von  Arkaden  umgeben,  in  einer 
Ecke  liegt  mit  zwei  rechtwinklig  gegeneinanderstossenden  Fliigeln 
das  Rathaus,  in  der  andren  die  ebenso  gestaltete  Kirche.  Vier  Haupt- 
strassen  gehen  senkrecht  von  den  Seitenmitten  des  Marktes  aus, 
weitere  Strassen  laufen  parallel  zu  den  Marktseiten.  Die  fruhen 
Griindung'en  dieser  Zeit  wie  Mannheim,  Hanau,  meist  fiir  franzosische 
Refugles  angelegt,  iibernehmen  nur  das  regelmassige  Schema,  ohne 
dass  dieses  jener  feine  Geist  der  franzosischen  Architektur  durch- 
dringt.  Doch  bilden  sich  auch  solche  Anlagen  kiinstlerisch  durch, 
zumal  wenn  sich  ihnen  die  Gunst  der  regierenden  Fiirsten  erhielt. 
Hierfiir  ist  Erlangen  anzufiihren.  Mit  einfachsten  Mitteln  sind  hier 
grosse  Feinheiten  geschaffen.  Aufmerksam  machen  mochte  ich 
besonders  auf  die  geschickte  Verbindung  zweier  Stadtteile  aus  ver- 
schiedener  Zeit  durch  die  Altstadter  Kirche,  dann  auf  die  Markierung 
und  so  Festigung  der  Strassenecken  durch  sogenannte  Richthauser, 
die  dem  Strassenlauf  einen  besonderen  Rhythmus  geben.  Die 
Strassen  nehmen  als  Zielpunkt  (point  de  vue)  mit  besonderer  Vor- 
liebe  die  barocken  Kirchtiirme,  oder  auch  das  vorspringende  Risalit 
eines  bedeutenden  Baues.  Ein  weiteres  Beispiel  hierfiir  aus  Potsdam 
bei  Berlin  und  endlich  eines  aus  Berlin  selbst. 

Neben  der  gebrauchlicheren  Rechteckanlage  finden  sich  auch 
zentrale  Gruppierungen  ganzer  Stadte ;  so  ist  Neustrelitz  in  Mecklen- 
burg um  einen  Marktplatz  angelegt,  Karlsruhe,  das  Herrn  Ray- 
mond Unwin  so  entziickte,  dass  er  seinem  bedeutenden  Buch  iiber 
Stadtebau  eine  Anzahl  Ansichten  aus  dieser  Stadt  beigab,  hat  als 
Mittelpunkt  das  Schloss,  von  dem  Strassen  durch  Stadt  und  Park 
strahlenformig  auslaufen. 

Der  geringeren  Bedeutung  der  einzelnen  deutschen  Residenten 
dem  machtigen  franzosischen  Konlgtum  gegeniiber  entsprechen  auch 
ihre  stadtebaulichen  Leistungen.  Im  Kleinen  aber  werden  hier  sehr 
bemerkenswerte,  architektonische  Feinheiten  geschaffen.  So  steigern 
die  kleinen  Hauschen  am  Markt  von  Ludwigsburg  ausserordentlich 
die  optische  Wirkung  der  Kirche,  die  weit  iiber  die  wirklichen  Mass- 
verhaltnisse  hinauswachst. 

Grossere  Entwiirfe  gehen  vielfach  auf  Franzosen  oder  doch 
franzosisch  geschulte  Architekten  zuriick,  so  der  Entwurf  zur  Aus- 

'  La  Science  des  Ingenienrs,  Paris  1729. 
*  Dictionnaire  d' Architecture,  Paris  1770. 


158   Transactions  of  the  Toicn  I^lnnnim^  Conference,  Oct.  i()io. 

gestaltunj^if  des  Berliner  Cienclarnieiimarktcs  von  Bourdet  1774  [Abb. 
11].^  Ausj^eliihrt  wurdc  spiitcr  eine  viel  einfachcre  Umrahmun^  des 
Platzes  durch  cinzelne  Hauser,  der  Nachdruck  aber  auf  die  kostliche 
Bautengruppe  des  deutschen  und  franzosisrhen  Domes  und  des 
Schinkelschen  Schauspielhauses  gelegt. 

Durch  feines  Abwiii^en  der  um^ehenden  Bauten  entstand  eine  der 
wundervollsten  Platzg-ruppen  am  Opernhaus  in  Berlin  [Abb.  12J.  Sie 
besteht  aus  zwei  sich  gfegenseitig^  durchdringenden  Platzen,  die  das 
Finale  der  Lindenallec  und  das  \'orspicl  zu  den  Bauten  des  Zeug-- 
hauses  und  Schlosses  sjebcn.  Leider  sind  sie  heut  nicht  mehr  in  ihrer 
urspriing-lichen  Gcstalt  erlialten.  Die  Wirkuni^  all  dieser  Anlagen 
wird  noch  durch  die  Farben  der  Luft  und  des  Lichtes  gesteigert,  die 
nicht  zufallige  sind,  sondern  auf  die  die  damaligen  Architekten 
Bedacht  nahmen. 


fffiMi. 


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rr  I  i 


L... 


^jj:^;.  :a*" 


Abb.     II.  —  PROJEKT    FCR    den    GeNDARMENMAKKT    in     Bl  KLIN    VON     KorRDET. 

Fiir  die  Strasse  wvinscht  man  ruhige  Gleichmiissigkeit  und  Klar- 
heit,  Breite  und  (iradlinigkeit,  womoglich  Uebereinstimmung  der  ein- 
zelnen  Hauser.  Die  Theaterstrasse  in  Wiirzburg  mit  Hausern  des 
grossen  Barockarchitekten  J.  B.  Neumann  bietet  ein  schones  Beispiel. 
Die  Ecklosung  einer  Strassenkreuzung  wird  besonders  ausgestaltet, 
aber  ohne  den  Aufwand,  den  unsere  modernen  Strassen  zeigen.  Ich 
fiihre  dafiir  die  Kreuzung  der  Rampischen  und  Salzstrasse  in  Dres- 
den an. 

Nach  1800  iiberall  Erstarrung  zum  Schema  !  Die  Form  bleibt,  der 
belebende  Geist  mit  seinen  Eigenw  illigkeiten  schwindet.  So  er- 
scheinen  die  gleichmassigen  Hiiuser  am  Maximiliansplatz  in  Munchen, 
die  allerdings  friiher  unten  offenc  Arkaden  batten,  fast  ode. 
Dazu  verschwindet  immer  mehr  das  Gefiihl   fiir   Relationen.       Der 


'  Vergl.  des   Verf.    "  Bauentwiirfe  fiir   die   Fricdrichstadt   von  Berlin  gegen 
Ausgang  des  XVIII.  Jalirhundcrts  "  in  Deutsche  Bmizeituug,  1910. 


Enhi'ichhing  dcs  Stadlcbau-ldcaU  seit  dcr  Renaissance.    159 


t,  fj  ft  '>  ■i  :  cu 

(» ft  f» »  3  ^  ''  S'  •-■' " 

o  «  v*  o  i>  ■>  '^  '^  " 

O    ^  CI     r.  pV;;^^^ 

<>       fl  ■}      ">  f          '               , 


® 


i6o  Transactions  of  the  Toii'n  Planniug  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Plraz  an  dcr  Miinchcner  Univcrsitiit  am  Endc  der  Ludwigstrassc  ist 
nicht  uiif^-cscliickt  in  seincm  Cirundriss,  nbcr  die  Raiitcn,  die  ihn 
umgcbcn,  ubcrsctzen  scincn  Grundriss  nicht  ins  Riiumliche,  sondern 
fallen  zu  einzelnen  Blocken  auscinander.  Das  Siegestor,  das  allcs 
bcherrschen  soUtc,  stcht  nebcn  dicsen  wie  ein  Spiclzeug  [Abb.  13].^ 

Dcr  modcrne  dcutsche  Stiidtebau  mochte  nach  dem  Tiefstand  des 
ig.  Jahrhundcrts  Bclehrung  bei  der  \^ergangenheit  suchen.  Eine 
uns  Deutschcn  eigcntiimliche,  romantische  Gesinnung  liess  ihn 
die  hohe  Stadtbaukunst  des  18.  Jahrhundcrts  iibcrsehen,  er  wandte 
sich  in  alte  Stadtchen  wie  Niirnberg,  Rothenburg.  Frankreich  hat 
diesen  Scitcnsprung — denn  auch  wir  kommcn  mehr  und  mehr  davon 
ab — ebcnsowcnig  wie  Italien  gemacht,  aber  ihre  Plannungen  sind  oft 


Abb.   13. 

Icblos,  akademisch,  die  Bezlehungen  zwischen  Grundriss  und  Aufbau 
fehlen.  Ich  glaube,  dass  fiir  alle  das  Studium  der  Stadtbaukunst  des 
18.  Jahrhundcrts  eine  gute  Uebung  ware,  wcnn  diese  auch  nie  Vorbild 
sein  kann,  sein  darf. 

Die  Fortsetzung  des  Stiidtebaus  jencs  Jahrhundcrts  finden  wir  in 
Amerika,  in  den  Entwiirfen  fiir  cinen  Gencralbebauungsplan  von 
Chikago  untcr  dcr  Fiihrung  Daniel  H.  Burnhams.  Trotz  baulicher 
Bcdenken  im  einzelnen  crfasst  vor  diesen  Blilttcrn  den  Bctrachter 
hochstes  Erstau.nen  iiber  den  Willcn  einer  Stadt.  Hier  nicht  mehr 
die  Stadt  auf  den  Willen  eines  Souverainen  hin  entstehend,  sondern 
rein  demokratischcs  Produkt  !  Denn  das  Gemeinwesen  ist  es, 
welches  hcut  die  Rollc  der  Stiidte  griindenden  Fiirstcn  des  18.  Jahr- 
hundcrts zu  ubcrnchmcn  hat,  indem  es  Bodenpolitik  treibt  und  durch 
Anordnungen,  frei  zur  Verfiigung  gestclltc  Entwiirfe,  vorbildlichc 
Bauten  die  gesamte  Bautiitigkeit  bchcrrscht  :  "  Usui  civium,  decori 
urbium." 

'  Uber  die  Kunstlerische  Entwickhing  des  deutschen  Stadtebaus  vergl.  des 
Verf.  Deutsche  Stadthau  kiinst  in  dcr  Vcrgangcnheit.  Mit  n6^Abbildungen. 
Frankfurt,  191 1. 


i6i 


[Translation  of  Dr.   Brinckmann's  Paper.] 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  IDEAL  IN  TOWN 
PLANNING    SINCE    THE    RENAISSANCE. 

Thi£  Paper  I  am  about  to  read  should  be  considered  as  the  mere  outline 
of  a  scheme  which  I  have  been  occupied  in  elaborating-  for  some  years. 
I  have  published  several  monographs  on  the  subject,  without,  how- 
ever, in  view  of  its  magnitude,  being  able  to  say  when  I  shall  be  in 
a  position  to  complete  a  consecutive  history  of  modern  town-planning. 

The  early  mediaeval  township  was  economically  and  socially  a 
necessity  for  its  inhabitants,  but  it  had  not  yet  come  to  be  considered 
in  the  light  of  a  uniform  architectonic  whole. ^  Attention  is  centred 
on  individual  buildings  in  the  squares,  i.e.  the  Cathedral,  the 
Court  of  Justice,  the  palatial  strongholds  of  the  nobility,  but  the 
question  of  harmonious  unity  was  not  considered.  As  a  result  the 
town  as  a  whole  appears  merely  as  an  agglomeration  of  single  build- 
ings and  separate  small  castles.  The  streets  and  the  squares  are 
merely  vacant  spaces. 

It  is  only  gradually  that  street  and  square  acquire  a  character  of 
their  own  and  that  the  plan  becomes  clear.  It  was  little  by  little  that 
the  Piazza  della  Signoria  in  Florence  [fig.  i,  p.  146]  was  enlarged, 
in  consequence  of  the  demolition  of  houses  of  the  nobility  which  had 
come  into  the  possession  of  the  town,  partly  by  purchase,  partly  by 
ejectment  of  the  rightful  owners.  This,  and  the  building  of  the  Town 
Hall  in  1300,  g^ave  the  Piazza  an  appearance  of  greater  regularity. 
The  architectural  improvement  of  the  square  was  never  completed, 
although  Cosimo  I.  consulted  Michelangelo  with  regard  to  its  develop- 
ment, and  was  advised  by  him  to  continue  Orcagna's  design  of  the 
Loggia  round  the  entire  square.  This  would  have  been  In  complete 
accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance,  because  the  aim  of  this 
style  was  unity  in  space,  and  consequently  unity  In  the  areas  within 
which  the  various  buildings  were  to  be  erected.  The  Renaissance 
demanded  a  quiet,  straightforward  scheme,  as  opposed  to  the  restless 
and  unsystematic  planning  of  the  mediaeval  town.  The  aim  of  this 
period  was  to  plan  the  town  as  an  artistic  whole,  just  as  It  was  during 
the  period  of  Perlclean  influence.-  Leghorn  is  an  example  of  a  town 
laid  out  In  regular  lines  of  streets  inlersecting  one  another  at  right 
angles  ;  It  dates  from  the  sixteenth  century  and  represents  the  master- 
piece of  the  De  Medici  d\  nasty.  The  rectangular  principal  square 
[fig.  2,  p.  147]  is  surrounded  by  arcades,  which  are  also  placed  In 
front  of  the  church.  The  ideal  of  the  period  can  be  plainly  recognised 
in  the  style  of  construction,  and  the  creative  idea  is  the  forerunner  of 
its  slower  realisation.      The  earliest  plan  was  probably  drawn  by  Fra 

This  first  occurred  in  the  late  Gothic  designs  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries,  in  southern  France,  in  Germany  east  of  the  Elbe  as  far  as  modern  Russia, 
and,  under  German  influence,  in  Bohemia.  Comp.  the  author's  article  in  "  Deutsche 
Bauzeitung,"  1910  :  '^  Late  Mediajval  Town  Planning  in  Southern  France." 

"  For  I  he  Italian  theorists  of  the  Renaissance,  comp.  the  author's  "  Platz  und 
Monument,"  Berlin,  1908,  chapter  iii. 

M 


i62   Transiiciions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  H)\o. 

(iiocoiulo,'  about  1500.  It  is  only  later  tliat  we  tincl  other  itleal 
designs,  those  by  X'asari  ii  (iiovani  -  and  Scaniozzi  in  his  "  Idea 
deir  Architettura  universale  "  of  1615  [fig.  3,  p.  148J  being  the  most 
important.  They  are  designed  on  a  uniform  plan  of  central  lines,  witii 
a  regular  main  square  surrounded  by  arcades.  The  junctions  of 
streets  are  sometimes  widened  into  squares.  The  chief  memorial 
buildings  merely  follow  the  ordinary  building  lines  of  the  streets. 

In  this  respect  the  ideas  of  the  Late  Renaissance  and  of  the 
Baroque  differed  in  principle.  Rome  is  tlie  birthplace  of  the  modern 
art  of  town  planning.  The  object  is  to  increase  as  much  as  possible 
the  effect  of  a  handsome  building  by  turning  to  advantage  its  speiial 
position.  The  Palazzo  Farnese  in  Rome  [fig.  4,  p.  149]  is  an  instance 
of  an  ideal  position  for  a  town  mansion,  with  a  wide  street  leading 
straight  up  to  the  entrance,  and  a  well-proportioned  square  in  front 
of  it.  The  view  on  both  sides  of  the  building  ends  in  conspicuous 
architecture  :  the  palace  gives  the  effect  of  an  imposing  square  block 
and  is  not  merely  superficial.  The  church  of  Santa  Maria  della  Face 
in  Rome  projects  with  its  porch  well  into  the  square  in  front  of  it, 
which  it  towers  over  and  animates.  The  greatest  architectural 
achievement  was  the  colonnade  of  St.  Peter's,  carried  out  by  Bernini 
from  1656  to  1657.  I  dealt  with  this  work  fully  in  my  book  entitled 
"  Platz  und  Monument,"  where  I  have  also  shown  a  design  by  Carlo 
Fontana  of  1694  [fig.  5,  p.  150] ,  in  which  the  architectural  \  igour  and 
the  magnificent  conception  of  the  Late  Baroque  style  is  fully  brought 
<jut,  making  the  most  of  the  eflect  of  the  whole  as  far  as  the  "  Castello 
S.  Angelo. "  If  the  ingenious  Piazza  Posteriore  had  been  sunk  into 
the  rapidly  rising  ground,  the  view  of  the  central  dome  would  ha\e 
l)een  preserved  by  which  Michelangelo  realised  the  dreams  of  tlie 
Renaissance. 

Change  of  value  of  detached  buildings  in  the  plan  of  a  town,  as  a 
whole,  results  in  transforming  the  entire  city.  Closer  connection 
between  the  isolated  parts  is  sought,  and  the  town  exhibits  organisa- 
tion and  organic  life.  Whilst  a  scheme  for  the  remodelling  of  the 
X'atican  Quarter,  prepared  under  Nicholas  \'.  (1447-55),  would  have 
let  three  parallel  streets  in  the  square  in  front  of  St.  Peter's  diverge 
in  different  directions,  the  Baroque  concentrates  the  whole  force  on 
one  point,  by  bringing  the  thoroughfares  together  from  different 
directions.  The  three  streets  leading  to  the  Piazza  and  Porta  del 
Popolo,  parts  of  which  already  existed  in  old  Rome,  are,  in  their 
present  rectilinear  condition,  corrections  of  the  Baroque  style.  The 
■'  point  de  vue  "  is  the  Obelisk  in  the  square.  The  idea  is  to  arrange 
the  streets  in  such  manner  that  they  lead  in  both  directions  to  some 
important  building.  The  \'ia  S.  Giovanni  in  Laterano,  made  by 
.Sixtus  v.,  connects  the  Lateran  Palace  with  the  Colosseum.  At  one 
end  of  the  \'ia  Merulana  we  find  the  facade  and  campanile  of  Santa 
Maria  Maggiore,  and  at  the  other  the  Obelisk  in  the  Lateran  Square. 
Street  crossings  are  often  distinguished  by  the  magnificence  of  the 
view  they  afford,  as,  for  instance,  the  intersection  of  the  \'ia  Sistina 
(by  Sixtus  y.)  and  the  Strada  Pia  (now  the  Ouirinal). 

The  influence  of   Rome   is   immense.      If  it  liad    not  been  for  the 

'  See  H.   V.   Geymiiller  "  I.es  du  Cerceau,"  Paris-London,   1.S87. 
2  Sketches  in  the  Uflizi,  Florence,  4529-94  of  the  year  1598. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Ideal  of  Toivn  Planning.  163 

efforts  of  that  city  modern  town-planning  would  be  inconceivable. 
Similar  aims  to  those  in  Rome  are  taken  up  more  or  less  energ^etically 
as  models  for  other  towns.  The  construction  of  the  Uffizi  by  \'asari 
gave  the  Palazzo  \'ecchio  in  the  Piazza  della  Signoria  in  Florence 
an  entirely  altered  appearance  [fig-.  6,  p.  151]-  ^^'ren  used  for  his 
plan  of  the  square  in  front  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  London  designs 
similar  to  those  of  the  little  church  of  S.  Maria  della  Pace  and  the 
square  of  St.  Peter's.^ 

The  development  of  ideas  on  town  planning,  conceived  in  Rome, 
was  taken  up  by  France,  and  above  all  by  Paris,  under  a  monarchy 
which  looked  upon  the  architecture  of  its  towns  as  the  highest  expres- 
sion of  its  power.  If  the  architectural  efforts  of  Rome  were  like  a 
violent  explosion  of  energy,  France,  on  the  other  hand,  helped  to  level 
the  strong  contrasts  and  refined  the  harmonies.  The  idea  of  con- 
sidering a  city  as  a  uniform  work  of  art  had  already  been  adopted  in 
France,  and  even  though  we  find  a  plan  exactly  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  of  the  Italian  Renaissance  at  \'itry-le-Francois  (1545), 
French  theorists  would  have  produced  different  designs. 

Bernard  Palissy  (1510-90),  that  extraordinary  Huguenot  in  whom 
national  realism  and  rare  imagination  were  united,  invented  a  "  ville 
forteresse,"  drawing  his  inspiration  from  the  shell  of  a  mollusc  called 
the  purple-fish.-  Perret  de  Chambery  designed  a  plan  which  pre- 
cisely carried  out  that  which  the  Italian  Renaissance  was  aiming  at, 
i.e.  the  enclosure  of  regular  streets  and  squares,  and  which  made  a 
design  composed  of  the  separate  buildings  [fig.  7,  p.  152].  The 
laying-out  of  gardens  suggested  this  model. ^  Such  designs,  however, 
were  of  no  practical  value. 

The  typical  town  square  originated  about  1700  in  the  Place  des 
\'ictoires  and  the  Place  \'end6me  (formerly  Place  Louis  le  Grand)  in 
Paris.  It  is  a  combination  of  the  central  square  of  the  Renaissance, 
which  is  emphasised  by  the  monument  in  the  middle,  and  of  the 
Roman  Baroque  front  square,  having  as  its  "  point  de  vue  "  the 
facade  of  the  Capucine  Monastery.  The  facades  in  the  square  are 
harmoniously  treated,  and,  in  proportion  to  the  area  of  the  square, 
are  fairly  low.  \\"e  find  a  splendid  example  of  the  sense  of  proportion 
of  separate  buildings  to  one  another,  and  of  the  feeling  of  French 
architects  for  harmony  as  regards  amount  of  space,  in  the  Place 
Royale  at  Xancy  [fig.  8,  p.  153] ,  which  is  the  best-preserved  example 
of  all  the  French  "  places  "  or  squares,  the  Revolution  and  later 
alterations  having  been  responsible  for  a  good  deal  of  destruction. 
The  movement  of  this  rectangular  square  is  concentrated  through  the 
rising  outline  of  the  surrounding  architectural  masses  from  the  Arc 
de  Triomphe  towards  the  H6tel-de-Ville,  making  it  the  dominating 
feature  ;  at  the  same  time,  however,  the  movement  flows  back  towards 
the  Carriere,  as  the  outlet  to  it  is  marked  by  monuments.  The  view 
through  this  arch,  into  the  square,  lacks  the  powerful  movement 
of  Rome,  and  the  square  itself  is  not  only   a  square  in  front  of  the 

In  reference  to  these  competitive  designs,  in  which  Bernini  was  successful, 
see   Letarouilly,  "  Le  Vatican,"   Paris.    1882. 

Description  in  "  Les  CEuvres  de  B.  Palissy,  public  par  Anatole  France,"  Paris. 
iS8o,  p.  150. 

See  the  author's  "  French  Ideal  Cities  about  1600  and  iSoo  "  in  "  Dir 
Stiidtebau,"  1909. 


i(j4   'rransactions  of  Ihc  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

H6tcl-de-\'illc,  but  also  a  reccplion  place  for  festive  gathciini^s.  The 
central,  closed-in  square  of  the  Renaissance  has  become  li\elier  in 
itself  in  the  play  of  motion,  inaction,  and  counter-motion. 

A  star-shaped  square,  even,  may  be  perfectly  built  in  this  manner. 
Bv  arching-  over  six  of  the  ten  streets  conxerg^ing:  towards  the  square, 
in  his  scheme  for  a  Place  Louis  X\'.,  in  1  74.S  [fig-.  9,  p.  154],  Rousset 
gives  definite  streng^th  to  two  sides  of  the  architecture  of  the  spot, 
without  depriving  it  of  the  essentials  of  a  good  town  square,  which 
should  be  the  culminating  point  of  the  streets.  Fountains  placed 
o])p()site  the  street-ends  not  arched  over  divert  their  movement.  The 
tall  monument  in  the  centre  is  the  "  point  de  \  ue  "  of  all  four  streets. 

I-rcnch  town  planning,  compared  with  Roman,  conveys  the  same 
idea  of  repose  as  the  isolated  square,  and,  besides,  it  is  most  econo- 
mical. The  influence  of  French  landscape  gardening  on  town  planning 
was  extraordinary,  and  the  architects  of  the  time  often  refer  to  it  as 
an  example  worthy  of  emulation  :  "  He  who  is  capable  of  designing 
a  park  will  easily  draw  the  plan  in  conformity  with  which  a  town 
must  be  built  with  due  regard  to  its  size  and  situation."  It  was 
furilicr  observed  '  that  the  beauty  of  a  city  does  not  depend  upon  the 
number  but  upon  the  position  of  the  principal  buildings,  and  that  a 
few  well-placed  edifices  may  enhance  immensel\-  the  general  aspect 
of  a  town. 

The  position  of  the  streets  round  the  Odeon  in  Paris  shows  an 
edifice  which  has  been  taken  advantage  of  in  this  way,  and  the  perfect 
proportion  of  its  entrance  to  the  building  and  to  the  streets.  Equally 
fine  is  the  Rue  de  Tournon,  rising  and  widening  towards  tiie  high 
gate  of  the  Luxembourg. 

In  the  case  of  whole  towns  which  are  being  laid  out  now,  such  as 
Rochefort,  Neubreisach,  Saarlouis,  it  should  be  remembered  that  they 
are  fortified  towns.  Belidor  -  and  Levirloys  ■''  [fig.  10,  p.  156]  have 
written  very  fully  on  the  subject.  \'auban,  the  great  engineer,  may 
be  referred  to  as  their  deviser.  In  the  centre  is  a  "  Place  d'Armes  "  ; 
regular  streets,  easy  to  survey,  run  when  possible  radially  from  the 
"  place  "  to  the  "  enceinte."  The  extension  of  the  town  of  Nancy 
shows  that  even  so  simple  a  plan  can  be  treated  artistically. 

In  Germany,  in  the  town  of  Freudenstadt,  in  the  Black  Forest, 
which  was  built  in  1599  by  a  German  architect  with  Italian  training, 
we  have  a  plan  which  is  exactly  the  same  as  the  Italian  Renaissance 
designs.  The  square  space  in  the  centre  is  surrounded  b\'  houses 
with  arcades;  in  one  corner  stands  the  Town  Hall,  with  two  wings  at 
right  angles  to  each  other,  and  at  the  other  the  church,  with  two 
naves  similarly  designed.  Four  main  streets  run  vertically  from  the 
lateral  centres  of  the  market,  and  other  streets  run  parallel  with  the 
sides  of  the  market-place.  The  towns  planned  at  the  beginning  of 
this  period,  like  Mannheim  and  Hanau,  wliith  were  mainly  built  for 
French  refugees,  follow  the  regular  design  only,  without  bearing  the 
impress  of  the  refined  sense  of  the  French  architects.  Nevertheless, 
sometimes  we  find  artistic  productions  of  this  type  too,  especially  if 
they  received  the  patronage  of  the  ruling  princes.      Erlangen  is  a  case 

'   Coinp.   "  Platz  inul  .Monument,"  para}^ia])Ii  30. 
-   I,;i  .Science  des  Inj^t'-niriirs,   Paris,   I72<). 
•"    Dictionnniro  d'Aicliilicturo,   Paris,    1770. 


The  Evolution  of  the  Ideal  of  Toivn  Planning.  165 

in  point.  Here  we  find  many  refinements  obtained  by  the  simplest 
means.  I  should  like  to  draw  your  particular  attention  to  the  clever 
union  of  two  town  quarters  of  different  periods  by  the  Altstadter 
church,  and  then  to  the  boundaries  and  compactness  of  the  streets 
produced  by  so-called  common  halls,  which  harmonise  with  the  direc- 
tion of  the  street.  The  streets  are  particularly  inclined  to  take  old 
church-steeples,  or  else  the  projecting-  building--line  of  some  important 
edifice,  as  their  "  point  de  vue. "  ^^'e  have  another  example  of  this 
in  Potsdam,   near  Berlin,  and  also  one  in  Berlin  itself. 

Next  to  the  more  common  rectangular  plans  we  find  also  instances 
of  whole  towns  g^rouped  round  one  centre,  as,  for  instance,  Xcustre- 
litz,  in  Mecklenburg,  which  is  built  round  a  market-place.  Karlsruhe, 
which  charmed  Mr.  Raymond  Unwin  so  much  that  he  reproduced  a 
number  of  views  of  the  town  in  his  important  work  on  town  planning, 
has  the  palace  for  its  central  point,  from  which  streets  radiate  through 
the  town  and  the  park. 

Their  town-planning  achievements  are  in  accordance  with  the 
lesser  importance  of  the  individual  German  Royal  residents  as  com- 
pared with  the  powerful  kingship  of  France.  On  a  small  scale,  how- 
ever, we  find  here  very  remarkable  architectural  refinements.  For 
instance,  the  small  houses  in  the  market-place  at  Ludwigsburg  won- 
derfully enhance  the  optical  effect  of  the  church,  which  appears  \ery 
much  larger  than  its  actual  size. 

The  larger  designs  were  frequently  originated  by  Frenchmen,  or 
at  any  rate,  architects  with  French  training,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
scheme  for  elaborating  the  Berlin  Gendarmenmarkt  by  Bourdet  in 
1774  [fig.  II,  p.  158]."^  A  much  simpler  scheme  was  carried  out  later 
on  by  building  separate  houses  round  the  square,  and  emphasis 
was  laid  on  the  delightful  group  of  buildings  formed  by  the  German 
and  French  Cathedral  and  by  the  theatre  designed  by  Schinkel. 

One  of  the  most  charming  effects  in  grouping  was  obtained  bv  pro- 
portioning the  buildings  surrounding  the  Opera  House  in  Berlin 
[fig.  12,  p.  159].  They  consist  of  two  squares  which  merge  into  each 
other  as  it  were,  forming  the  end  of  the  Lindenallee,  and  leading  up 
to  the  Arsenal  and  to  the  Castle.  Unfortunately,  they  are  now  no 
longer  in  their  original  condition.  The  effect  of  these  plans  is  fur- 
ther enhanced  by  the  atmospheric  colouring,  which  is  not  mereh 
accidental,  but  which  the  architects  of  that  time  took  into  considera- 
tion. 

What  is  desirable  in  streets  is  sober  uniformity  and  plainness, 
width  and  rectilinearity,  and,  where  possible,  harmony  between  the 
houses.  The  Theaterstrasse  in  Wiirzburg,  with  houses  by  J.  B. 
Xeumann,  the  great  architect  of  the  Baroque  school,  is  a  beautiful 
example.  The  corners  at  street  crossings  are  treated  with  special 
care  without  the  elaboration  which  our  modern  streets  show.  I  may 
mention  in  support  of  this  the  intersection  of  the  Rampischen  and 
Salzstrasse  in  Dresden. 

After  1800  everything  was  petrified  into  fixed  academical  lines. 
The  form  remains,  but  the  life-giving  spirit,  with  its  arbitrariness, 
disappears.        Therefore  the   impression  produced  by    the    uniformly 

See  the  author's  "  Plans  for  the  Friedrichstadt  of  Berlin,  towards  the  enil 
of  the  eighteenth  century,"  in  the  "  Deutsche  Bauzeitung,"  1000. 


i66  Trausactions  of  the  Toii')!  PUtnuing  Conference,  Oct.  Kjio. 

built  houses  in  tlie  Maximilianplantz  in  Muiiirh,  which  lormcrh  ,  how- 
ever, had  open  arcades  below,  is  ahnost  dcsohite.  'Ihe  sense  of  con- 
trasts, and  proportions  too,  vanishes  more  and  more.  The  plan  of 
the  square  in  which  the  University  of  Munich  stands  at  the  end  of 
the  Ludwijjstrasse,  is  by  no  means  unhappy,  though  the  buildingjs  sur- 
roundini,-^  the  square  do  not  express  the  plan  in  concrete  form,  but 
divide  thenisehes  up  into  separate  blocks.  The  "  Sicij-estor,"  which 
by  rights  should  tower  o\er  tliem  all,  has  the  appearance  of  a  toy 
by  their  side   [fig.  13,  p.  160]. 

Modern  German  town-planners  should  seek  inspiration  from  the 
past,  after  the  stagnation  of  the  nineteenth  century.  A  certain  ro- 
mantic temperament,  however,  peculiar  to  us  Germans,  led  us  to 
o\erlook  the  noble  architecture  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  we 
turned  towards  small  old  towns  like  Xiirnberg  and  Rothenburg. 
Neither  France  nor  Italy  digressed  in  this  way  (and  we  are  doing  so 
less  and  less),  but  their  planning  is  often  lifeless  and  academical,  and 
the  necessar}-  harmony  between  the  ground  plan  and  the  building  is 
wanting.  I  believe  that  the  study  of  town  planning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  would  be  good  practice  for  ever\one,  although  it  cannot — 
and,  in  fact,  must  not — be  used  as  a  model.  We  find  the  town 
planning  of  that  century  continued  in  America,  embodied  in  a  general 
building  plan  for  Chicago  under  the  superintendence  of  Daniel 
H.  Burnham.  Whatever  doubt  the  reader  may  entertain  as  to  the 
details  of  construction,  what  surprises  him  most  in  looking  over 
these  designs  is  what  might  be  termed  the  "  energ\-  or  will  of  a 
town."  There  is  no  longer  any  question  of  a  town  being  founded 
by  the  fiat  of  a  Sovereign  ;  now  it  is  a  purely  democratic  creation. 
For,  indeed,  it  is  the  community  which  nowadays  plays  the  part  of 
the  princes  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  founding  cities,  and  which 
controls  the  whole  activity  of  the  building  world,  by  interesting 
itself  in  properties,  by  showing  model  designs,  and  by  ha^■ing  model 
dwellings  erected,  so  that  we  may  well  say  "  Usui  ci\ium,  decori 
urbium. " 


THF   FOUXDATIOX   OF    FREXCH    AXD   EXGLISH    GOTHIC 
TOWXS  IX   THE   SOUTH  OF   FRAXCF.' 

If  wc  wish  to  have  a  basis  on  which  to  study,  with  their  numerous 
contrasts,  the  systems  of  town  planning  adopted  in  the  late  mediaeval 
epoch  and  included  within  the  evolutionary  period  of  (lOthic  architec- 
ture, we  must  first  form  a  picture  of  the  lay-out  of  a  city  during  the 
first  ten  centuries  of  the  Christian  era.  We  can  still  restore  such  a 
picture  by  comparing  the  plan  of  a  modern  town  with  the  plan  of  old 
cities  still  extant.  Changes  that  have  occurred  in  the  course  of  many 
centuries    have     failed     to    obliterate     their     fundamental     character, 

'  From  a  lecture  delivered  by  Dr.  Brinckmann,  author  of  the  preceding;  paper, 
at  an  informal  meeting  on  Tuesday  evening,  October  u,  when  a  numerous  series  of 
illustrations,  somr^  of  which  are  reproduced  in  the  following  pages,  were  shown 
bv  the  author. 


llie  Foundation  of  French  and  English  Gothic  To-ccns.       167 

as  shown,  for  instance,  in  the  case  of  Strassburg,  Orleans,  and  many 
other  towns,  where  the  Roman  castrum  or  camp  is  still  recognisable 
in  the  "  old  town."  The  transformation,  as  it  were,  of  the  plan  into 
the  town  to  be  erected  upon  it  must,  of  course,  be  done  with  the  aid 
of  old  buildings,  or  of  their  reconstruction  from  more  recent  edifices, 
in  order  to  enable  a  comparison  to  be  drawn  between  the  erection  of 
monumental  buildings  and  of  primitive  dwellings.  In  this  connection 
valuable  information  is  furnished  by  contemporary  written  records  and 
various  data  scattered  here  and  there.  It  would  also  be  necessary  to 
consult  the  miniature  paintings,  although  such  an  investigation  re- 
quires the  trained  eye  of  the  expert.  The  reconstruction,  if  it  is  to 
convey  any  living  image,  should  be  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
political  and  social  conditions  of  the  time  as  revealed  by  historical 
research. 


Fig.  I. — Carcassonne. 

After  Southern  Gaul,  under  the  Roman  domination,  had  developed 
a  vigorous  town  life,  we  observe,  about  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  of 
our  era,  not  only  a  new  style  and  a  new  departure  in  town  building, 
but  also  evidence  of  a  very  marked  return  to  urban  polity.  This  was 
the  result,  in  the  first  place,  of  new  social  conditions,  of  the  develop- 
ment of  temporal  and  ecclesiastical  feudalism;  and,  in  the  second 
place,  of  the  great  upheaval  of  nations.  Goths,  Saracens,  and  Nor- 
mans appeared  in  turn  on  this  great  stage.  It  was  these  very  cities 
that  attracted  the  plunderers,  and  whatever  had  not  struck  deep  root 
into  the  soil  was  swept  away.  It  was  but  seldom  that  these  destroy- 
ing hosts  turned  a  town  into  a  base  of  operations,  as  the  Visigoths 
built  Carcassonne,  the  old  settlement,  close  to  the  Roman  citadel  of 
Carcaso.  Severed  from  the  living  world,  sprung  as  it  were  from  the 
bosom  of  the  mountain,  we  see  the  city  of  Carcassonne  standing  like 
a  vision  of  the  mediaeval  burgh.     Fig.  i  shows  the  north-western  side 


i6S  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  i<,;io. 


The  Foundation  of  French  and  English  Gothic  Toix-uis.     169 

seen  laterally.  It  is  only  on  the  north-eastern  side  that  the  Visigothic 
wall  is  still  extant.  The  double  enceinte  was  not  completed  until  the 
thirteenth  century.  The  tower  of  Vieulas  further  indicates  how,  in- 
organically and  for  the  sole  purpose  of  producing  a  general  impres- 
sion, the  restoration  of  this  wall  was  carried  out.  The  arrangement  is 
easily  understood  from  the  plan  [fig.  2],  viz.  a  double  belt  of  walls 
protected  by  towers,  large  gates  on  the  east  and  west  only,  and  very 
small  lateral  entrances  on  the  northern  and  southern  sides.  Against 
the  wall  stands  the  castle,  dating  from  the  thirteenth  century,  and, 
also  close  to  the  wall,  the  church,  a  Roman  edifice,  to  which  later  on 
was  added  a  splendid  Gothic  choir. 

When  the  chaotic  condition  of  affairs  had  slowly  settled  down  and 


Fig.  3. — Alb  I. 


some  order  was  established,  new  life  was  infused  into  the  conception 
of  town  planning.  Economic  and  legal  privileges  gave  prominence  to 
the  urban  population  and  raised  its  status  in  the  social  system.  The 
constantly  increasing  necessity  for  union  apparent  in  the  Middle  Ages 
instinctively  forced  the  people  into  closer  association. 

Religiously  and  socially  this  tendency  received  the  support  of  the 
ecclesiastical  and  secular  bodies,  of  the  monasteries,  and  of  chivalry. 
The  consciousness  of  uidle  place  pour  I'homme  isole  urged  the  indi- 
vidual to  join  the  group,  and  the  stronger  the  group  became  the  more 
the  individual  felt  his  weakness.  Such  a  state  of  things  did  not  come 
to  an  end  until  the  Renaissance.  This  instinctively  felt  need  of  com- 
bination   whenever    dissensions     arose    led    to    the    foundation    and 


170  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

population  ol  new  towns,  and  from  it  sprang  tliat  municipal  life  the 
external  expression  of  which  was  the  Ciothic  style. 

Before  ;irri\ini4  at  the  new  town  stage,  howc\er,  we  observe 
preparatory  tentati\e  forms,  which  in  historical  evolution  may  be 
regarded  as  attempts  to  embody  an  idea  for  which  the  resources  at 
hand  were  still  inadequate.  There  is  a  want  of  self-reliance,  a 
timidity  in  producing:  an\thing  fresh.  New  departures  in  the  plan- 
ning:  of  towns  seek  support  in  the  old  cities,  monasteries,  and  burghs 
that  already  exist. 

Close  to  Xarbonne  appears  the  Bourg  St.  Paul,  which  dates  from 
800.  In  the  north-west,  at  the  foot  of  the  Burgh  of  Carcassonne,  the 
Faubourg  (Faux-bourg,  i.e.  a  small  inferior  town)  of  Barba- 
cane  makes  its  appearance.      The  relations  between  these  suburbs  and 


Fig.  4. — Plam  of  Cordes. 


the  metropolis   were  generally   unfriendl}',    for   the   old   town   looked 
down  upon  these  humble  settlements. 

Yet  it  sometimes  happened  also  that  an  old  town  gradually 
absorbed  its  suburbs,  and  had  thus  to  extend  its  enceinte  of  walls, 
until  it  finally  came  to  constitute  the  centre  only  of  the  new  town,  as, 
for  instance,  at  La  Reole,  where  old  walls  of  various  periods  have  been 
preserved.  The  fact,  however,  is  not  often  so  clearly  illustrated  as  in 
that  case.  Albi  developed  in  a  similar  way,  as  a  glance  at  this  street 
of  the  old  town  shows  [fig.  3].  The  wonderful  cathedral  and  the 
episcopal  castle  on  the  river  Tarn  form  the  core  of  the  town.  The 
houses,  naturally  always  in  course  of  reconstruction,  extend  close  to 
the  sloping  side  of  the  hill,  where  they  are  hemmed  in  by  retaining 
walls.  These  structures,  however,  lack  that  loftiness  and  dignit\ 
which  give  to  the  work  the  impress  of  its  ideal  and  material  worth. 
The  striving  after  association  had  to  find  expression  in  some  general 


The  Foiiiidalion  of  French  cduI  EnglisJi  Gothic  Toivns.      171 

transient  conception  which  would  develop  and  transform  it  into  a 
real  creation.  Hitherto  no  conscious  unity  had  emerged  from  the 
multiplicity  apparent  everywhere. 

Only  at  the  moment  when  the  towns  assumed  any  importance  for 
the  ruling  political  factors  did  the  art  of  town  planning  in  the  South 
of  France  receive  the  requisite  impulse.  This  took  place  when  the 
nobility  recognised  the  advantage  conferred  upon  them  bv  fortified 
towns.  The  shifting  of  political  power  in  Southern  France  accounts 
for  these  changes,  and  they  may  be  briefly  stated  as  follows  : — 

In  1 152,  by  the  marriage  of  Henry  H.  of  Anjou-Plantagenet  with 
Eleanor,  Poitou,  Guyenne,  and  Gascony,  i.e.  the  western  portion  of 
Southern  France,  passed  to  the  English  Crown.  In  1229,  after  the 
Albigensian  war,  the  French  Monarchy,  under  Louis  IX.,  acquired 
the  sovereignty  of  the  county  of  Toulouse,  and  after  the  death  of 
Alphonso  of  Toulouse  took  complete  possession  of  that  county.  The 
circumstance  of  vicinity  soon  involved  the  bellicose  English  and 
French  in  a  struggle  for  supremacy  in  the  South  of  France,  during 
which  the  towns  at  once  gained  importance.  First  of  all  the  main- 
tenance of  friendly  relations  secured  them  protection  in  the  open 
country,  where  a  military  leader,  victorious  one  day,  might 
have  to  seek  safety  in  flight  the  next.  'Jliey  played  here  the 
same  part  as  the  towers  in  a  fortress  like  Carcassonne  :  they  were 
bases  for  military  operations.  If  the  great  suzerains,  like  the  Counts 
of  Toulouse,  wished  to  retain  their  independence,  they  had  no 
alternative  but  to  cultivate  diplomatic  relations  with  the  towns. 

The  attention  paid  to  towns  resulted  in  the  foundation  of  new  ones 
altogether.  A  factor  of  an  economic  character  became  identified 
with  this  politico-military  view  :  a  town,  with  its  contributions  and 
services,  became  for  the  founder  who  extended  his  protection  to  it  a 
profitable  investment.  These  foundations  were  called  in  France 
"  villes-neuves  "  or  "  bastides. " 

The  founders  of  these  new  towns  came  from  three  different 
quarters.  Sometimes  it  was  the  French  Crown  that  sowed  the  first 
seeds  of  the  conception  of  unity.  At  another  time  it  was  the  kings 
of  England,  whom  we  find  erecting  a  wall  with  bastides  before  Bor- 
deaux, which  had  supplanted  Bazas.  Finally,  the  third  class  ol 
town-founders  is  to  be  found  in  the  great  suzerains,  who  sought  by 
this  method  to  secure  their  power  against  the  Crown,  against  the 
small  territorial  lords,  the  ecclesiastical  princes,  and  the  monasteries. 
These  creations  of  towns  give  us  the  Gothic  architects'  idea  of 
town  planning. 

In  the  plan  of  Cordes  [fig.  4]  we  have  a  predominant  main  street, 
running  almost  in  a  straight  line  across  the  whole  town  and  connect- 
ing the  principal  gates.  There  is  the  rectangular  market-place,  with 
a  perpendicular  street  cutting  through  the  town.  The  tendency  is 
clearly  towards  symmetry,  nay  regularity  ;  all  irregularities  are  ex- 
plained by  the  position.  A  view  of  Cordes  on  the  top  of  the  hill  is 
shown  in  fig.  5.  So  soon  as  the  town,  for  economic  and  commercial 
reasons,  sought  the  plain,  the  plan  became  perfectly  regular.  I  have 
visited  about  thirty  similar  "  villes-neuves,"  and  show  views  of  the 
following  : — 

Ste.  Foy  la  Grande,  founded  by  Alphonso  of  Poitiers,  one  of  the 


■2   Transactions  of  the  Town  Plannim::  Conference,  Oct.  iqio. 


The  Foundation  of  French  and  English  Gothic  To'wns.     173 

great  territorial  barons.     The  view   [fig-.  6]  is  from  an  old  engraving-. 
Much  of  it  has  now  disappeared. 

Sauveterre-de-Guienne  [fig.  7],  built  by  Edward  I.,  King  of  Eng- 
land. The  distinguishing  features  are  the  streets  crossing  at  right 
angles,   the  rectangular  market-place    (.4)  in  the  centre  mostly  sur- 


FiG.  6. — Saixte-Foy  la  Grande. 

rounded  by  arcades  at  the  side,  the  town  hall  (B),  and,  on  a  piece  of 
angular  ground,  the  cathedral  (C). 

Monsegur  [fig.  8],  clinging,  so  to  speak,  to  the  hill,  forms  a  curve 
in  the  middle. 

On  the  map,  fig.   9,   I  have  indicated  some  "  villes-neuves,"  the 
white  squares  denoting  constructions  which  are  not  yet  quite  regular, 


174  Traiisiictiotis  of  Ihc  Toicii  ]^liiii)ii)i^Co)ifcrcin'c,  Oct.  ii"»io. 


A.  Glace  et  halle.  F.    Porte  Saubotte  ou  de  Libourne. 

B.  Hotel  deViUc.  C.   Porte  de  St.-Roraain. 

C.  Eglisc.  O.   Poternes. 

D.  Porte  de  St.  Leges  ou  de  Sainte  Fov.  P.    Puits  de  Ci\Tac. 
H.  Porte  de  la  Tout  ou  de  la  Reole. 

Fig.    7. — Sauveterre-de-Guienne. 


^0^'^^ 


iL^' 


,.-:«^' 


0    ^    iO  100 


Fig.  8. — Monsi'.gur. 


The  Foundation  of  French  and  Englisli  Gothic  Towns.     175 


\"n  i.!:s-N  ^r\T.s  "  in  the  Garonnt   Basis'. 


Fig,  10. — Market-place  of  Libourne. 


J  70   Transactions  of  tlw  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

iind  the  black  squares  some  that  are  regular.  Most  of  them  are  within 
the  Ciaronne  Basin.  An  interesting;  example  is  the  market-place  of 
Libourne   [fig.   10],  showing  the  town  hall. 


jULS-MORTES. 


Aigues-Mortes,  on  the  Mediterranean,  was  built  by  St.  Louis  in 
1240,  The  walls  have  a  total  length  of  1,700  metres,  and  a  height  of 
from  9  to  10  metres.      Fig.  11  shows  the  southern  side  from  the  sea. 


Fig.  12. — ^MoNi. 


.  INL.     lis    Comic     liKIDi.l  . 


Fig.  12  shows  the  delicate  silhouette  of  the  Gothic  bridge  of  Mon- 
tauban. 


»77 


DISCUSSION. 

Professor  Reginald  Blomfield,  A.R.A.,  in  the  Chair. 

The  Chairman  :  We  have  heard  some  most  interesting  Papers, 
and  if  we  can  carry  away  the  compressed  learning  that  is  contained 
in  them,  I  am  sure  we  shall  be  all  the  better  for  it.  In  Professor 
Gardner's  Paper,  the  point  that  struck  me  was  the  extraordinary 
modernness  of  many  of  the  plans  shown — the  rectangularitv  of  the 
streets  and  the  actual  dimensions  of  the  buildings.  For  example,  we 
were  told  that  the  market-place  of  Priene  was  422  feet  by  313  feet, 
which  is  very  nearly  the  size  of  the  big  square  at  Rheims.  Then  he 
mentioned  a  question  that  w-as  discussed  as  to  the  right  way  to  bring 
streets  into  the  city.  That  question  is  one  of  very  considerable  im- 
portance at  the  present  day  ;  M.  Augustin  Rev  has  made  some  very 
interesting  calculations  on  that  subject.  There  is  only  one  remark  in 
Professor  Gardner's  Paper  that  I  think  some  of  us  may  take  exception 
to,  and  that  was  that  the  Greek  cities  before  the  fifth  century  some- 
what resembled  French  cities  before  the  time  of  Xapoleon  I.  Now 
many  of  us  think  that  all  the  finest  work  in  France  had  been  done 
before  the  time  of  Napoleon.  Dr.  Haverfield  gave  us  a  most  remark- 
able account  of  ancient  city  squares  and  their  development  at  Florence, 
■fimgad,  Trier,  and  Silchester,  and  I  thought  he  was  going  to  allow 
us  to  call  Silchester  a  garden  city,  but  he  expressly  forbade  us  to  do  so 
at  the  end.  There  was  one  remark  in  his  Paper  which  struck  me  as 
admirable,  and  that  was  his  reference  to  the  straight  line  and  the  square 
as  the  distinguishing  mark  of  the  civilised  man  as  opposed  to  the  bar- 
barian. I  think  we  all  may  take  that  as  a  motto  for  this  Town  Planning 
Conference.  I  notice  that  Dr.  Ashby  disagrees  with  him,  and  I  under- 
stood him  to  say  that  meandering  lines  are  preferable  ;  but  I  think  he 
will  find  the  principles  of  great  architecture  against  him.  .4  propos  of 
the  account  of  Rome  that  Dr.  Ashby  gave  us,  I  hope  he  will  put  some  of 
his  students  on  to  the  study  of  the  use  of  the  vista  and  the  axis  line 
by  the  architects  of  Imperial  Rome.  It  is  a  very  important  subject, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  what  they  did  was  done  very  deliberately 
indeed,  and  that  the  matter  ought  to  be  carefullv  studied.  Dr. 
Brinckmann  gave  us  an  extremely  valuable  essay  on  the  growth  of 
town  planning  from  its  earliest  da}  s  right  down  to  Chicago,  It  was 
an  admirable  survey,  and  the  only  thing  I  regretted  was  that,  probably 
owing  to  the  limits  of  time,  he  was  not  able  to  trace  out  for  us  the 
great  development  of  town  planning  in  France — because  France  is, 
after  all,  the  country  that  we  all  look  to  for  the  model  of  monumental 
town  planning.  A'ou  will  be  very  glad  to  hear  that  Professor  Lanciani 
is  amongst  us,  and  I  shall  ask  him  to  open  the  discussion. 

Professor  Lanciani,  D.C.L.  Oxon.  :  The  eminent  speakers  who 
have  preceded  me  have  spoken  of  trepidation.  Well,  I  do  not  know 
what  I  should  call  my  present  state  of  feelings,  having  happened  to 

N 


178     Transacliousofthc  Toicu  rianuini^  Conference,  Oct.  icjiu. 

come  to  London  by  accident  only  yesterday,  to  -o  away  in  a  day  or  two 
^nd  being  quite  unprepared  to  take  part  in  any  discussion.  1  should 
like  to  put  before  vou  two  or  three  observations  which  have  come 
spontaneously  into  mv  mind  while  listening  to  the  Papers.  Ihe  hrst 
is  that  no  allusion  has  been  made  to  the  wonderful  skill  with  which 
prehistoric  stations  were  planned.  I  am  fresh  from  the  Musee 
de  Saint-Germain,  where  I  have  seen  so  much  of  prehistoric  man 
that  he  has  risen  considerablv  in  my  estimation.  But  besides  the 
memoranda  that  thev  have  left  carved  on  the  shoulder-blade  of  the 
reindeer  and  so  on,  I  speak  especially  of  their  living  settle- 
ments. There  is  no  Greek  or  Roman  or  modern  town  that  can 
approach  one  of  these  prehistoric  settlements,  which  are  known  by 
the  name  of  terramare,  in  the  perfect  exactness  by  which,  foot 
bv  foot,  the  ground  has  been  measured.  The  shape  of  the  settle- 
ment as  vou  know,  is  not  a  square  nor  an  oblong,  but  a  trapezoid, 
because  the-  needed  a  sharp  angle  to  oppose  to  the  stream  coming 
down  from"  the  mountain  so  as  to  have  the  water  divide  itself 
into  almost  equal  quantities  and  surround  their  ditch.  Generally, 
these  establishments  were  about  400  metres  long  by  300  wide,  and 
divided  into  squares  much  more  exactly  than  any  Greek  city  or  any 
Roman  city  has  ever  been.  I  wish  I  could  have  brought  with  me  the 
plan  of  the  terramara  de  Fontanellato,  so  that  you  could  compare  by 
this  plan  what  prehistoric  men  did  before  there  was  any  important 
Greek  civilisation  or  anv  important  Roman  civilisation  in  Italy.  You 
would  see  how  much  nearer  they  came  to  perfection  than  we  could 
expect  at  those  remote  times.  The  second  observation  I  am  going  to 
make  is  in  regard  to  Dr.  Haverf^eld's  Paper,  and  it  is  that  we  are  now 
excavating  in  Italv  a  city  which  will  be  an  object-lesson  of  town 
planning  in  ancient  times,  far  more  than  we  can  hope  from  Pompeii 
even  if  Pompeii  should  be  completely  excavated,  and  that  is  the  city 
of  Ostia,  which  is  being  excavated  at  the  rate  of  four  or  l^ve  acres 
per  annum— rather  too  little  for  our  impatience  to  know  about  these 
subjects.  But  what  has  been  uncovered  up  to  the  present  day  of 
Ostia  shows  us  a  city  under  these  conditions.  It  had  been  growing 
little  bv  little  without  any  fixed  plan,  following  the  progress,  or 
perhaps  I  should  say  the  retreat,  of  the  city.  It  is  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Tiber,  and  the  Tiber  carries  about  800,000,000  cubic  feet  of 
material  to  the  city,  and  therefore  the  sea  recedes.  The  town  built  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Tiber  naturally  followed  the  retreat  of  the  land 
irregularly  ;  but  at  an  important  period,  which  we  can  fix  as  being 
between  the  years  123  and  126  a.d.,  the  whole  city,  or  at  least  the  part 
that  we  are  discovering  now,  was  rebuilt  by  one  man  under  one  influ- 
ence, and  by  a  man  whom  we  might  almost  call  a  builder  of  an 
American  modern  city,  for  he  was  absolutely  devoted  to  right  angles, 
and  who,  besides  building  the  city  on  his  own  plan,  raised  it  so 
that  the  private  buildings  and  the  public  buildings  should  not  suffer 
any  longer  from  infiltration  of  the  water  of  the  Tiber.  I  will  give  you 
an  idea  of  the  importance  of  these  excavations  by  noting  only  one  fact. 
The  main  street,  the  high  street,  of  Ostia,  when  completely  un- 
covered, will  be  a  perfect  avenue,  a  perfect  straight  line,  mostly 
surrounded  with  porticoes  on  either  side,  and  about  1500  yards  long. 


Cities  of  the  Past.  lyg 

No  such  street  is  to  be  found  even  in  Rome,  in  the  capital  of  the 
Empire.  My  last  observation  has  reference  to  what  Dr.  Ashby  has 
been  teUing  us  about  the  new  archaeological  park  in  Rome,  and  the 
share  of  responsibility  which  I  consented  to  take  in  that  vast  enter- 
prise. This  park  will  be  about  300  acres  in  extent,  and,  as  you  know, 
comprises  the  Forum,  the  Palatine,  the  Capitol,  and  part  of  the 
Baths  of  Caracalla  as  far  as  the  walls  of  Rome.  I  can  only  say  that 
I  should  ne\  er  have  undertaken  this  task  if  I  was  not  sure  that  we 
should  succeed,  and  that  we  were  not  too  late  to  mend  whatever 
mistakes  have  been  made  before.  I  hope  that  many  among  you  will 
be  present  next  year  on  the  21st  day  of  April  (the  birthday  of  Rome) 
at  the  inauguration  of  the  first  section  of  this  beautiful  park. 

Mr.  T.  C.  HoRSFALL  :  Before  Professor  Lanciani  leaves  the  room, 
may  we  ask  him  in  what  publication  we  can  get  the  fullest  account  of 
the  excavation  of  Ostia  ? 

Professor  Lanxiaxi  :  The  account  of  the  excavation  of  Ostia  is 
published  monthly  by  Professor  V'aglieri,  who  is  directing  the  works. 
These  monthly  reports  are  beautifuUv  illustrated  with  plans  and  photo- 
graphs, and  it  is  proposed  to  begin  to  put  together  these  scattered 
notices  that  have  appeared  up  to  the  present  time  in  the  Notizie  degli 
Scavi,  published  monthly  by  the  Italian  Department  of  Fine  Arts. 

Colonel  Pllnkett,  C.B.  :  Professor  Gardner  in  his  most 
interesting  Paper  said  that  in  Pompeii — I  take  it  that  he  meant 
merely  as  a  sample  of  other  ancient  Greek  cities  in  Italy — there  were 
no  working-class  quarters. 

Professor  Gardner  :  In  Praini,  not  Pompeii. 

Colonel  Pllnkett  :  I  think  in  that  respect  they  are  very  much 
alike.  I  am,  of  course,  only  speaking  very  generally  and  at  this  hour 
very  hurriedly.  It  may  be  absurd  of  me,  knowing  little  of  the  subject, 
to  venture  a  theory,  but  I  would  suggest  that  in  those  old  cities  there 
were  no  working-class  quarters.  There  must  have  been  artisans 
and  town  labourers  in  every  city,  but  what  I  suggest  is  that  they 
lived,  as  you  see  at  Naples  now,  round  the  insulfe.  These  little 
shops  that  we  see  are  grouped  round  the  insulae  of  the  better 
houses,  and  in  them  the  little  traders  and  artisans  and  their  families 
would  be  living  as  we  see  in  the  "  bassi  "  of  Naples  now,  with  matting 
or  curtains  in  front  and  all  refuse  thrown  out  into  the  street.  In  that 
way  probably  the  working  classes,  whether  slaves  or  freedmen,  lived, 
and  that  is  why  in  these  ancient  cities  we  find  no  working-class 
quarters. 

Professor  Gardner  :  I  have  not  gone  into  that  question.  I  can 
only  say  that  according  to  the  plan  of  Praini  the  houses  seem  to  have 
been  built  in  a  big  way  in  these  squares,  and  I  could  not  see  how  they 
could  be  adapted  to  the  working  classes. 

Mr.  John  Mitchell  (Auckland) :  Ma}-  I  say  a  word  or  two  from 
the  point  of  view  of  one  from  New  Zealand?  I  feel  a  certain  sense 
of  fear  in  speaking  at  all,  but  I  thought  it  might  interest  members 
to  have  one  or  two  impressions  with  regard  to  our  experience  in  New 
Zealand.  I  should  like  to  ask  Professor  Gardner  whether,  in  sending 
out  the  colonists  he  referred  to,  it  was  customary  to  give  instructions 
as  to  the  kind  of  site  to  be  chosen.      Presumably  it  was  in  the  minds 

N    2 


iSt)  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  PUuuiini;;  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

oi  the  classic  autlioritios  what  kind  of  city  or  town  thc\  were  to  build 
knowing"  their  requirements.  But  the  question  of  site  is  of  immense 
importance.  We  have  in  Auckland  City  one  of  the  loveliest  spots 
in  the  world.  That  is  generally  admitted.  Auckland  is  hilly  ;  Christ- 
church,  another  town  of  New  Zealand,  is  singularly  flat.  Welling- 
ton, again,  is  very  hilly.  Now  it  is  quite  clear  that  if  you  take  the 
.Vmerican  type — Washington,  for  example — where  the  laying  oiit  of 
towns  in  regular  forms,  squares,  or  parallelograms  is  the  rule,  the 
whole  question  appears  to  be  largely  governed  by  the  configuration 
of  the  site.  Roman  cities  were  very  small.  Our  colonial  cities,  at  any 
rate,  are  expanding  very  rapidly,  and  this  question  of  the  selection 
of  a  site  for  a  city  will  become,  if  it  has  not  already  become,  an 
extremely  important  one  in  Australasia.  The  choosing  of  the 
site  of  Auckland  probably  was  quite  fortuitous,  and  had  reference 
to  commercial  interests.  There  is  mention  in  the  Papers  of  the  need 
of  provision  for  defence,  and  I  should  like  to  refer  to  the  Maori  town, 
which  is  of  a  regular  form  built  almost  entirely  for  the  purpose  of 
defence.  That  is  an  example  of  an  almost  prehistoric  people  and  the 
kind  of  w-isdom  that  has  been  referred  to. 

The  Chairman  :  The  last  speaker  has  raised  a  very  interesting 
point,  but  the  limit  of  time  does  not  allow  it  to  be  discussed.  I  think 
there  is  nothing  more  to  be  done  except  for  me  to  move  a  vote  of 
thanks  to  those  gentlemen  who  have  come  and  addressed  us  to-day. 
The  Town  Planning  Conference  is,  of  course,  very  practical,  but  we 
can  none  of  us  afford  to  neglect  the  study  of  history  and  scholarship, 
and  it  has  always  been  the  practice  of  the  Institute  to  encourage  this 
study. 

A  vote  of  thanks  to  the  lecturers  was  accorded  bv  acclamation. 


Discission  at  the  Overflow  Meeting. 
The  Lord  Provost  of  Edinburgh  in  the  Chair. 

Mr.  John  S.  Brodie  (Borough  Surveyor,  Blackpool)  :  It  is  notice- 
able in  all  the  plans  we  have  had  put  before  us  this  morning  that  there 
w-as  not,  in  the  modern  acceptation  of  the  term,  any  town  planning  at 
all,  but  rather  camp  planning,  if  one  may  be  allowed  to  say  so.  People 
in  those  days  lived,  not  in  towns  strictly  speaking,  but  rather  in 
defended  camps,  and  therefore  the  limitations  they  had  to  work 
under  were  very  great.  It  may,  of  course,  occur  to  some  of  us 
that  there  is  a  very  great  similarity  in  these  plans,  and  that  all  the 
planning  was  of  a  very  defective  kind — a  great  deal  of  cooping  of 
people  together,  and  far  too  much  shutting  out  of  fresh  air  by  means 
of  defensive  works,  high  bastions,  and  so  on.  But  we  have  to 
remember    that   while   they   wished   to   admit   fresh   air,    thev   wished 


1 


Cities  of  the  Past.  i8i 

still  more  to  keep  out  arrows,  bolts,  and  other  missiles.  The 
illustrations  which  have  been  broug-ht  before  us  have  been  very 
interesting  indeed,  especially  so  those  of  our  German  friend.  Dr. 
Brinckmann,  and  it  gives  me  very  great  pleasure  indeed  to  propose  a 
hearty  vote  of  thanks  for  the  Papers. 

PVofessor  D.  Reid  Keys,  M.A.  (University  of  Toronto,  Canada)  : 
Might  I,  as  a  layman  who  is  not  an  architect,  second  this  vote  of 
thanks  ;  and  may  I  also  speak  as  a  Colonist?  We  have  heard  a  good 
deal  about  colonies  this  morning,  and  it  may  interest  you  to  learn 
that  in  Ontario  wc  have  two  towns  which  are  not  laid  out  on  the 
characteristic  chequer-board  principle  of  American  town  planning. 
In  America,  as  you  know,  we  have  none  of  the  difficulties  arising  from 
the  fact  that  our  towns  were  originally  walled  in  ;  on  the  other  hand, 
we  do  not  possess  the  advantage  which  sometimes  has  arisen  from 
this  fact,  for  such  protective  walls  have  usually  been  a  great  help  in 
modern  town  planning  :  witness  the  beautiful  Ringstrasse,  formed  on 
the  former  ramparts  of  \'ienna.  I  may  add,  in  compliment  to  the 
Chairman,  that  it  was  a  Scotsman,  John  (jalt,  the  novelist,  who 
planned  these  towns — cities  as  they  are  called  in  Canada — and  both  of 
them  were  laid  out  on  the  principle  of  the  fan,  as  in  Carlsruhe,  which 
is,  to  my  mind,  very  much  more  practical  than  that  of  the  square. 
This  principle  the  Guild  of  Civic  Art  has  for  years  been  advocating 
for  introduction  into  our  own  cit}  of  Toronto,  where  it  is  highly 
necessary  and  entirely  absent. 

Mr.  Matt.  Garbutt  :  The  first  speaker  dealt  with  the  origin  of 
the  chequer-board  plan  and  the  reason  for  its  adoption.  The  reason 
why  it  persisted  would  appear  to  be  an  equally  practical  one — first  of 
all,  it  was  a  matter  of  expense.  They  had  to  enclose  the  space  people 
lived  in  with  walls,  and  the  largest  space  that  can  be  enclosed  with  a 
given  amount  of  straight  wall  is  a  square.  In  days  when  they  did  not 
possess  theodolites  and  that  sort  of  thing,  it  was  much  easier  to  set 
out  straight  lines  at  right  angles  with  each  other  than  in  any  other 
way,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  that  was  the  chief  reason  why 
those  chequer-board  plans  were  adopted  in  early  settlements.  The 
merely  utilitarian  idea  is  (or  was)  equally  dominant  in  America.  If 
you  wish  to  put  people  in  pigeon-holes  and  docket  them,  the  easiest 
way  is  to  put  them  in  squares  ;  you  can  get  more  people  into  a  given 
space  in  that  way  than  in  any  other.  Whether  it  leads  to  beauty  is 
another  matter.  The  square  system  has,  of  cour.se,  been  used  all 
over  the  world,  and  possibly  it  started  on  the  table-lands  of  Asia. 
Certainly  in  ancient  times,  wherever  there  was  a  fiat  site,  that  plan  of 
town  was  almost  invariably  adopted ;  and  in  nearly  every  case 
whenever  a  nation  was  a  good  fighting  nation  that  was  the  plan 
adopted.  Where  military  considerations  were  not  thought  of,  a 
haphazard  plan  was  evolved.  A  few  isolated  houses  became  a  little 
village,  and  this  grew  up  just  as  our  own  villages  do  in  this  country, 
simply  following  the  lines  of  communication  and  without  any  inten- 
tional plan.  For  my  own  part,  I  do  not  think  a  rigid  adherence  to 
a  rectangular  plan  tends  to  the  beauty  of  our  cities.  Within  limits 
it  is  sometimes  useful,  but  in  our  own  days  we  are,  fortunately,  not 
tightly  tied  down  bv  considerations  of  mere  defence. 


iS2      Transactions  of  the  To'-iCti  l^Ianuing  Conference,  Oct.  iijio. 

Councillor  R.  M.  Cameron  (Edinburgh)  :  I  have  thoroughly 
appreciated  the  lectures  we  have  heard  and  the  plans  exhibited  upon 
the  screen.  What  appealed  to  me  in  each  case  was  the  directness  of 
purpose  of  the  ancients  in  their  plans.  I  am  inclined  to  think  we  have 
given  them  a  great  deal  too  much  credit  for  real  science  or  art  in  such 
planning,  and  I  suspect  that  their  scheme  of  planning  roads,  &c.,  arose 
out  ot  a  keen  and  direct  appreciation  of  something  adaptable  to  their 
circumstances.  If  we  follow  that  line  of  thought,  we  shall  see  the 
strong  hand  of  the  pioneer  in  those  Greek  towns,  just  as  we  see  the 
strong  hand  of  the  colonist  in  Canada  or  South  Africa.  The  strong 
man  is  generally  the  pioneer ;  he  takes  land  and  he  develops  it,  and 
as  he  develops  it  he  develops  round  it  forms  of  defence — a  general 
plan  ot  defence — afterwards  connecting  this  with  parts  outside  the 
ground  that  he  first  settled  on.  But  I  do  not  think  that  he  was,  as  it 
were,  academically  looking  at  a  chequer-board.  He  drew  straight 
lines  for  the  purpose  of  supervision,  for  quick  movement  from  one 
flank  of  his  ground  to  another,  and  his  plan  evolved  from  that.  I 
belong  to  a  mediaeval  city,  and  one  is  pleased  to  remember  that  it  has 
a  prototype  in  Greece.  ^Ye  are  here  for  the  purpose  of  learning  all  we 
can,  and  of  taking  it  to  our  capital  in  the  North,  and  of  emulating 
these  charming  cities  on  the  slopes  of  the  Grecian  mountains.  As  the 
lecturer  spoke,  what  struck  me  was  this  :  I  would  not  bother  very 
much  about  what  was  at  the  back  of  the  head  of  the  ancient  town- 
planner  ;  but  I  would  like  to  have  a  notion  of  what  one  of  these  great 
minds  would  have  done  to-day  if  he  had  been  set  the  problem  that  we 
have  before  us,  because  he  had  a  clear-cut  mind  and  a  straight  pur- 
pose. But  I  do  not  think  we  ought  to  copy  in  a  hard-and-fast  manner 
plans  either  of  ancient  or  of  mediaeval  times.  We  must  rather  get  to 
the  bedrock  of  what  will  suit  our  circumstances  and  our  times.  We 
are  now  free  from  the  necessity  which  governed  the  work  of  the  first 
town-planner — the  question  of  safety  ;  at  least,  we  suppose  we  are, 
in  our  country,  past  the  age  of  attack.  Then  we  have  what  the 
ancients  had  not — modern  engineering ;  and  above  all  things  we  have 
rapid  transit.  We  do  not  huddle  together  now  for  safety,  nor  do  we 
huddle  together  for  lack  of  time.  In  a  modern  city  we  are  closer 
together,  though  we  are  five  to  ten  miles  apart,  than  they  were  in  an 
ancient  city  of  much  smaller  size.  In  the  time  that  the  ancients  took 
to  walk  down  to  the  market-place  we  can  travel  six  miles  out  to  the 
fields  and  the  trees.  I  wish  some  of  the  speakers  could  have  given  us 
an  indication — but  I  suppose  that  is  impossible — of  what  the  mind 
that  designed  or  laid  out  these  ancient  cities  would,  in  our  circum- 
stances, with  our  facilities  of  travel,  with  our  sanitary  and  mechanical 
engineering,  and  with  above  all  no  fear  of  attack,  have  done,  for  it 
would  be  a  very  interesting  problem  for  us  to  think  over  when  we  go 
home  how  we  should  build  a  modern  city. 

Councillor  John  S.  (iALBRAiiH  (Cilasgow)  :  With  regard  to  what 
the  last  speaker  said,  I  am  sure  before  the  Conference  is  over  we  shall 
have  a  great  many  suggestions  as  to  how  we  are  to  adapt  town 
planning  to  the  circumstances  of  our  large  cities.  For  instance,  the 
rity  I  come  from — Glasgow — is  hemmed  round  and  round  by  burghs 
which  will  not  come  into  Glasgow,  and  who  prevent  town  planning 


Cities  oj  the  Past. 


i8. 


or  proper  future  development.  I  should  like  now  to  perform  the  very 
pleasant  duty  of  proposing  a  very  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Lord 
Provost  of  Edinburgh  for  the  manner  in  which  he  has  presided  over 
this  Conference  this  morning. 

The  resolution  was  carried  by  acclamation. 

The  Chairman  expressed  his  thanks,  and  put  the  vote  of  thanks 
to  the  lecturers,  which  was  carried  with  acclamation. 


Rue   du   Jerzual,   L'inan". 


PART    II.    (continued). 


SECTION    11— CITIES    OF    THE    PRESENT. 

(i)  Town  IM.anmm.;  and  thk  Pkksikv  \i  ion  ok  Ancu'nt  I-'icaukks. 
By   Professor  Baldwin  Brown,   >r.A.,   Hon.   .X.R.l.B.A. 

(j)  Cities  of  the  Preskni  as  Representative  oe  a  Transition 
Period  oe  Urban  Development.  By  Charles  Mulford 
Robinson,  Rochester,  N.V.,  U.S..\. 

(3)  Notice   sir    i.es   .\kchitectires   Obligatoires   dans   ia   \ii.ee 

DE  Paris.  By  Louis  Bonnier,  Architecte-voyer-en-chel  cie  la 
X'ille  de  Paris,  President  de  la  Societe  des  Architectes 
diplomes  par  le  Cunivernement.     (With  luigllsh  Translation.) 

(4)  Cause  and  Keeect  in  the  Modern  Citv.      Bv  H.  \'.  Lanchester, 

F.RT.B.A. 

Discission. 


i87 


(i)  TOWN  PLANMNG  AND  THE  PRESERVATION 
OF  ANCIENT  FEATURES. 

By  Professor  G.  Baldwin-  Brown,  M.A.,  Hon.  A. R.I. B. A. 

The  present  Paper  makes  no  claim  to  novelty  in  theme  or  treatment, 
and  its  main  contention  would  probably  command  at  any  rate  a  verbal 
assent  among  the  intelligent  public  as  a  whole.  The  aim  in  view  is 
the  reinforcement,  by  arguments  suited  to  the  occasion,  of  the  old 
principle  that  in  the  laying-out  and  alteration  of  our  towns  utilitarian 
considerations  should  not  override  the  claims  of  beauty  and  of  historic 
association ;  that  zeal  for  city  improvement  and  extension  should  be 
tempered  with  a  conservative  care  for  older  moments  and  for 
those  natural  features  which  give  individuality  and  charm  to  civic  and 
suburban  sites. 

The  present  Paper  makes  no  claim  to  novelty  in  theme  or  treat- 
ment, and  its  main  contention  would  probably  command  at  any  rate  a 
verbal  assent  among  the  intelligent  public  as  a  whole.  The  aim  in  view 
is  the  reinforcement,  by  arguments  suited  to  the  occasion,  of  the  old 
from  dangers  that  threaten  them  from  more  than  one  quarter  is  an 
obligation  we  shall  do  well  to  take  to  heart,  for  in  their  interests  we 
have  not  merely  to  contend  with  the  speculative  builder  who  makes 
havoc  in  the  suburbs,  but  also  to  exercise  control  over  the  well- 
meaning  municipal  administrator,  whose  sense  of  responsibilitv  is 
keen  though  his  outlook  may  be  limited,  while  we  must  at  the 
same  time  watch  the  proceedings  of  the  enlightened  town-planning 
enthusiast,  whose  zeal  may  occasionally  lead  him  into  some  of  the 
faults  of  the  doctrinaire. 

With  the  speculative  builder  we  need  hardly  concern  ourselves 
here,  for  this  Conference  should  certainly  result  in  limiting  to  a  great 
extent  his  powers  for  evil.  On  the  outskirts  of  our  towns,  the  chosen 
scene  of  his  operations,  the  harm  he  has  done  to  natural  beauty  is 
greater  in  Scotland  and  in  parts  of  the  Continent  than  in  England. 
In  England  his  modest  structures  of  a  couple  of  stories  and  an  attic 
do  not  bulk  largely  in  the  landscape,  and  he  will  at  times  unwittingly 
create  quite  a  neat  little  garden  suburb,  that  might  be  advertised  up 
into  public  repute.  In  Scotland,  on  the  contrary,  where  he  expresses 
himself  in  huge  blocks  of  tenements,  he  has  proved  himself  a  public 
enemy  of  a  far  more  serious  kind.  Deplorable  injury  has  been  in- 
flicted in  this  way  on  the  outskirts  of  the  Scottish  metropolis,  espe- 
cially on  that  side  where  the  Old  Dalkeith  Road  stretches  southwards 
along  a  ridge  that  a  few  years  ago  commanded  an  uninterrupted  \  iew 
of  Arthur's  Seat.  This  road  has  now  been  lined  with  continuous  rows 
of  uninteresting  flatted  tenements  which  completely  obstruct  th; 
prospect,  whereas  a  little  taste  and  ingenuity  in  arrangement  would 
have  set  these  rows  at  right  angles  to  the  thoroughfare,  and,  disposing 


i88     Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

tluni  with  open  spaces  between  them,  would  have  preserved  a  fair 
incisure  of  that  beauty  which  should  be  regarded  as  the  common 
iKTitage  of  the  citizens.  Outlying-  regions  of  Rome  and  of  other 
Italian  cities,  such  as  Taranto,  have  suffered  in  the  same  way  from 
the  tasteless  disposition  of  these  vast  chunks  of  tenanted  masonry. 

More  attention  must  be  directed  to  that  prominent  figure  in  our 
time,    the   progressive    municipal   administrator,    who   discards   anti- 
Cjuated  methods  and  appeals  for  the  votes  of  the  urban  elector  from 
his  platform  of  "  efficiency."       Such  a  one  is  apt  to  regard  the  con- 
siderations urged  in  this  Paper  as  "  sentimentality,"  and,  though  he 
is  ready  enough  to  pay  them  a  passing  tribute  of  lip  homage,  he  has 
never  taken  them  really   seriously.      A   civic  official   may  profess   in 
words  a  sensitive  regard  for  these  aesthetic  considerations,  and  then 
proceed  to  ignore  them  in  practice  in  the  most  cynical  fashion.     An 
instance  occurred  only  the  other  day  in  a  northern  city  famous  alike 
for  ancient  buildings  and  for  good  specimens  of  the  work  of  the  neo- 
classic  revival.     Complaint  had  been  made  that  the  governing  body 
of  this  city  had  in  the  past  been  somewhat  reckless  in  destroying 
older  monuments  for  the  sake  of  supposed  improvements,   and  the 
chief  magistrate  took  occasion  to  repudiate  the  charge  with  some 
heat,  asserting  that  he  and  all  the  members  of  the  Civic  Council  were 
deeply  impressed  with  the  need   for  preserving  most   jealously   the 
architectural  beauties  of  the  city.     A  month  or  two  later  this  very 
chief  magistrate  was  found  voting,  as  a  member  of  a  public  board, 
for  giving  sanction  for  a  destructi\e  alteration  on  a  fine  piece  of  neo- 
classic  work  that  was  an  acknowledged  ornament  of  the  place.    There 
was  no   real   necessity   for   the  alteration,   and,   indeed,   the  parties 
chiefly  concerned  shrank  at  the  last  moment  from  the  act  of  vandalism 
they  had  contemplated,   but  the  whole  transaction  casts  a  sinister 
light  on  the  real  value  of  the  previous  protestation.     Instances  of  the 
same  kind  must  have  come  under  the  personal  notice  of  most  of  the 
members  of  the  Conference,  and  will  incline  them  to  agree  that  the 
principle  here  contended  for  must  not  only  be  demonstrated  and  main- 
tained, but  must  be  insisted  on  in  season  and  out  of  season  with  even 
wearisome  reiteration,  lest  those  who  have  professed  adherence  to  it 
should  in  their  practice  slink  out  of  their  obligations.     The  average 
civic  administrator,  though  desirous  of  doing  his  duty  in  all  depart- 
ments of  his  activity,  needs  as  a  rule  considerable  urging  before  he 
will  go  a  step  out  of  his  way  to  preserve  an  object  of  natural  or  archi- 
tectural beauty,  or  some  site  or  monument  of  historic  interest.     This 
is  a  matter  on  which  we  cannot  afford  to  let  our  local  authorities 
alone  ;  we  must  watch  their  proceedings  with  vigilance,  and  invoke 
and  educate  a  public  opinion  that  will  guide  and  control  them  aright. 

It  w-as  hinted  above  that  even  the  enlightened  town-planning 
enthusiast  needs  some  watching.  There  is  a  significant  sentence  in 
a  recent  book  by  one  of  these,  in  which  the  writer  exclaims  :"  It  is  so 
infinitely  easier  to  achieve  the  hygienic,  artistic,  and  economic  objects 
of  town  planning  when  starting  w  ith  a  clean  slate  that  one  would  like 
to  see  our  overgrown  towns  done  away  with,  and  new  ones  built  in 
their  stead,  if  only  this  were  possible."  The  writer  does  not  go  on  to 
say  that  he  would  like  his  clean  slate  foursquare  and  fiat,  and  ruled  all 


Toivn  Planning  and  the  Preservation  of  Ancient  Features.     189 

over  in  rectangles  with  parallel  lines — indeed,  he  would  probably,  on 
reflection,  hardly  stand  to  the  more  modest  desire  that  he  actually 
expresses — but  his  obiter  dictum  points  to  the  possible  danger  of  a 
doctrinaire  insistence  on  certain  special  advantages  that  might,  after 
all,  be  too  dearly  bought. 

The  "  clean  slate  "  has  a  fascination  for  man\  people,  especially 
for  the  capable  administrator  dominated  by  a  theory.  Theoretical 
town  planning,  we  should  not  forget,  is  nothing  new.  On  a  vast 
scale,  and  inspired  by  these  same  hygienic,  artistic,  and  economic 
ideals,  it  is  at  least  as  old  as  Nebuchadnezzar.  It  is,  indeed,  very 
much  older,  but  Nebuchadnezzar's  Babylon  is  one  of  the  first  con- 
spicuous examples  of  consistent  and  deliberate  town  planning  about 
which  we  have  historical  details,  and  as  this  foursquare  city,  with  its 
garden  suburbs,  was  evidently  the  model  for  the  New  Jerusalem  of 
the  Apocalypse,  it  is  the  plan  that  is  likely  to  sur\ive  the  longest,  so 
that  the  mansions  in  the  skies  of  the  well-known  hymn  A\'ill 
all  be  found  grouped  on  Nebuchadnezzar's  rectangular  scheme. 
And  not  town  planning  only,  but  doctrinaire  town  planning, 
belongs  to  the  ancient  world,  and  we  can  trace  quite  early  the 
notion,  to  which  expression  has  been  given  in  modern  times,  that 
straight  and  regular  streets  will  inspire  citizens  with  the  spirit  of 
rectitude  and  order.  With  this  end  in  view  as  early  as  the  epoch  of 
Pericles,  Hippodamus  of  Miletus,  in  the  spirit  of  the  pedagogue,  super- 
imposed on  the  broken  and  hilly  site  of  the  Piraeus  the  Babylonian 
scheme  of  straight  streets  and  rectangular  intersections,  just  as  in 
our  own  epoch  Napoleon  III.  straightened  out  old  Paris.  The  same 
idea  was  humorously  expressed  a  few  years  ago  by  the  Honorary 
President  of  this  Conference  w-hen,  in  pleading  for  new  palatial 
quarters  for  the  London  County  Council,  he  explained  the  tortuous 
methods  of  certain  departments  of  government  by  the  fact  that  their 
officials  had  to  grope  and  muddle  through  their  work  in  the  rabbit- 
warrens  of  old  and  much-altered  houses  ! 

This  is  enough  to  show  that  the  civic  reformer  in  every  age  has 
been  disposed  to  sigh  for  the  "  clean  slate  "  ;  but  these  reformers  must 
not  be  impatient,  and  must  remind  themselves  that  the  tablets  on 
which  they  draw  out  their  scientific  schemes  are  not  foursquare,  but 
of  infinite  variety  in  contour,  and  that  the  surface  of  them  is  already 
deeply  bitten  with  lines  ploughed  out  by  the  comings  and  goings  of 
many  generations.  For  cities  are  not  only  made,  but  grow.  Their 
growth  is  organic,  and  hence  in  close  dependence  on  environment ; 
and  as  this  environment  is  at  the  outset  the  work  of  Nature  it  par- 
takes of  Nature's  variety,  so  that,  as  site  differs  from  site,  the  con- 
figuration of  every  ancient  city  is  an  individual  thing  not  reproducing 
any  other.  Furthermore,  the  growth  is  conditioned  not  only  by 
physical  but  by  human  environment,  and  is  closely  dependent  on 
history.  The  character  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  city,  their  relations  with 
their  neighbours,  their  occupations,  their  achievements,  their  reverses 
of  fortune,  have  all  left  their  impress  on  streets  and  places  and 
mansions,  till  these  have  become  through  successive  ages  monumental 
records  of  an  historic  past. 

If  we  ask.  Are  these  things  to  count  for  nothing?  there  can  be  but 


190      Transactions  of  llic  Toii-'n  Planning  C'onlcrouc,  Oct.  k^io^ 

one  answ  er.  l-!!\  cry  responsible  person  w  ho  is  dealing  with  the  subject- 
matter  ol  this  Ci)nterence  will  acknow  ledge  that  the  historic  past  has 
the  very  strongest  claims  on  the  reverent  attention  of  the  present ; 
but  here  again  the  dang-cr  is  that  considerations  recog^nised  in  prin- 
ciple may  in  practice  be  crowded  out  throug-h  the  clamorous  insistence 
of  hygienic,  artistic,  and  economic  claims.  On  the  importance  of  the 
principle  in  itself  it  is  not  necessary  to  enlarge,  and  it  will  be  enough 
to  quote  one  or  two  recent  sentences  from  the  pen  of  M.  Charles  Buls, 
whose  services  in  preserving-  the  picturesque  and  historical  features  of 
old  Brussels  are  universally  honoured. 

"  Have  not  these  ancient  stones,"  he  asks,  "  a  message  to  the 
hearts  of  our  fellow-citizens?  Do  they  not  recall  the  suffering's,  the- 
struggles,  the  triumphs  of  their  forefathers?  Can  anyone  think  that 
a  city  of  human  beings  should  be  merely  a  place  of  business,  mechani- 
cally put  together  to  satisfy  only  the  material  exigencies  of  traffic,  the- 
needs  of  commerce,  of  finance,  of  administration?  In  the  midst  of  the 
deafening  rush  of  our  struggle  for  life  is  it  not  good  to  make  heard 
in  the  city  of  to-day  that  note  of  the  past,  that  soothing  recollection 
of  the  common  heritage  of  memories  appealing  to  all  the  citizens 
alike?  In  a  strange  city,  when  we  find  ourselves  in  front  of  these 
relics,  these  memorials  piously  cherished,  are  we  not  moved  at  the 
sight,  as  when  we  come  upon  that  fragment  of  the  ancient  wall  of 
Servius  preserved  in  the  midst  of  the  \  ia  Nazionale  at  Rome?  "... 

"  In  our  northern  countries  it  is,  before  all,  the  picturesque 
ensemble  that  charms  us,  whose  winding  streets  so  full  of  surprises  for 
the  passers-by,  those  indented  gables  that  break  the  monotony  of  our 
overcast  skies.  Whither  do  the  tourists  resort?  Is  it  not  to  Bruges, 
to  Nuremberg,  to  Rothenburg,  rather  than  to  Carlsruhe,  Mannheim, 
or  Turin?  " 

The  increasing  evidence  of  the  solicitude  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment for  the  safeguarding  of  this  portion  of  the  national  assets  is  an 
encouraging  feature  of  our  time.  It  is  significant  that  neither  in  the 
Housing  of  the  Working  Classes  Act  of  i8go  nor  in  the  amending^ 
Acts  of  1900  and  1903  is  there  any  reference  to  ancient  monuments,  or 
to  the  possible  artistic  or  historical  value  of  structures  scheduled  as 
"  obstructive  buildings  "  under  clause  38  of  the  Act  of  1890.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  the  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act  of  1909  there 
is  the  refreshing  clause  45,  which  begins  :  "  Nothing  in  the  Housing 
Acts  shall  authorise  the  acquisition  for  the  purposes  of  those  Acts  of 
any  land  which  is  the  site  of  an  ancient  monument  or  other  object  of 
archaeological  interest";  while  the  schedule  attached  to  clause  55 
includes  under  the  general  provisions  which  the  Local  Government 
Board  may  prescribe  for  carrying  out  the  objects  of  town-planning 
schemes  "  the  preservation  of  objects  of  historical  interest  or  natural 
beauty."  This  is,  of  course,  all  in  accordance  with  the  policy  that 
established  the  recent  Royal  Commissions  in  the  three  parts  of  Great 
Britain  for  the  survey  of  these  ancient  monuments  with  a  view  to. 
their  preservation,  and  is  of  the  happiest  omen  for  the  future.  More 
especially  to  be  noted  are  the  words  last  quoted  about  the  preservation 
of  objects  of  natural  beauty  as  well  as  those  of  historical  interest. 
It  is  novel  for  a  general  Act  of  the  British  Legislature  to  throw  the- 


Town  Planning  and  the  Preservation  of  Ancient  Features.   191 

aegis  of  the  law  round  the  beautiful  objects  of  Nature  as  well  as  those 
of  Art.  It  should  be  pointed  out  that  our  Government  is  in  this 
following-  the  example  of  some  of  the  more  enlightened  administra- 
tions of  the  Continent,  notably  those  of  France  and  Prussia,  and  the 
action  which  these  and  other  Leg-islatures  have  taken  is  an  encourag- 
ing evidence  of  the  trend  of  educated  opinion  in  Europe  generally. 

A  sentence  or  two  on  the  subject  of  these  recent  foreign  enact- 
ments may  not  be  out  of  place.  The  French  law  now  enables  local 
authorities  to  schedule  as  protected,  with  the  consent  of  the  proprie- 
tors, objects  or  sites  of  pre-eminent  natural  beauty,  and,  as  a  last 
resort,  to  save  them,  if  needful,  for  the  public  good  by  the  process  of 
compulsory  purchase.  The  establishment  in  Prussia  of  a  special  Con- 
servator, with  machinery  at  his  disposal  for  the  supervision  and  safe- 
guarding of  the  natural  beauties  of  the  Fatherland,  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  needs  only  to  be  referred  to  in  passing.  This  movement 
promises  to  be  very  successful.  There  are  already  twenty-one  local 
associations  in  aid  of  it  in  Prussia,  and  a  general  conference  was 
held  in  Berlin  at  the  end  of  igo8.  It  has  been  remarked  that  the  care 
for  natural  beauties  appeals  more  to  the  people  and  is  easier  to  under- 
stand than  the  care  of  ancient  monuments  of  architecture.  More  ger- 
mane to  the  subject  of  town  planning  is  the  recent  Prussian  Law  of 
Julv  15,  1907,  against  the  "  Disfigurement  of  Inhabited  Places  and  of 
Scenes  of  Natural  Beauty."  This  law^  authorises  local  authorities  to 
make  regulations  vetoing  any  new  buildings  or  alterations  that  would 
seriously  affect  for  ill  in  an  aesthetic  sense  either  the  streets  and  spaces 
of  a  town  or  the  landscape  beauties  that  lie  outside  it.'  Many  towns 
have  prepared  their  local  protective  regulations  under  this  general 
Act,  and  those  of  Berlin  were  issued  early  in  this  year.^  The  other 
German  States  are  following  the  example  set  by  Prussia,  and  Saxony 
has  taken  the  lead. 

Still  more  significant,  perhaps,  than  even  this  direct  legislation  are 
certain  circulars  which  have  been  issued  by  French,  Prussian,  and 
other  Ministers  to  their  subordinates,  which  show  a  desire  to  make 
these  principles  really  effective  in  detail.  One  of  these  instructs  local 
administrators  to  consult  the  official  Conservators  of  Ancient  Monu- 
ments in  the  Prussian  Provinces  on  questions  of  the  alteration  of 
lines  of  streets  in  older  cities.  Here  is  town  planning  definitely  con- 
trolled in  the  interests  of  the  ancient  monuments,  which  British  town 
planners  of  the  unregcnerate  past  have  generally  been  eager  to  sweep 
away  !  In  1904  the  French  Minister  of  Public  Works  enjoined  upon 
all  the  subordinates  of  the  Department  engaged  in  local  operations, 
"  such  as  the  opening  of  new  routes  of  communication  (roads,  rail- 
ways, tramways,  &c.),  alterations  in  thoroughfares  or  frontages, 
laying-out  of  streets,  plantations,  or  clearances  of  timber,"  that  they 
were  "  to  bear  always  in  mind  the  obligation  of  respecting  the  existing 
beauties  of  Nature,  and  as  far  as  possible  enhancing  those  beauties." 
In  igo8  we  find  the  Prussian  Minister  of  Public  Works  and  of  the 
Interior  going  so  far  as  to  appeal  to  his  subordinates  as  human  beings, 

'  The  text  of  this  Act  is  given  in   an   English  translation  in  the  Appendix  to 
this  Paper. 

■^  See  the  Appendix  as  above. 


iy2   TrunsucLiuns  of  ihc  Tiiicti  rianuing  Conjercnce,  Oct.  1910. 

and  seeking  to  rouse  in  tluir  iniiuls  a  living  interest  in  the  work  of 
protecting  the  natural  and  artistic  beauties  of  the  Fatherland.  They 
are  to  take  to  heart  the  cause  in  which  he  addresses  them,  and  in 
their  endeavours  to  further  a  sound  national  style  of  building  they 
are  not  to  confine  themselves  within  the  sphere  of  their  official  duties, 
but  also  unofficially  to  encourage  and  to  co-operate  with  any  efforts 
that  thev  mav  see  being  made  in  this  direction. 

The  recognition  by  our  own  tJovernment  in  the  recent  Town 
Planning  Act  of  the  national  importance  of  this  preservation  of 
ancient  features  carries  with  it  a  logical  consequence,  on  which  a 
word  may  be  said  in  the  light  of  what  has  just  been  quoted  from  the 
rescripts  of  foreign  Ministers.  It  is  obvious  that  there  will  now  rest 
upon  all  the  various  departments  of  the  British  public  service  con- 
cerned in  building  or  pulling  down,  the  obligation  to  assist  in  a  loyal 
spirit  in  carrying  out  in  matters  of  detail  the  expressed  policy  of  the 
Administration. 

Hitherto  our  Government  departments,  acting  in  matters  of  detail 
through  their  subordinate  officials,  have  as  a  rule  appeared  indifferent 
to  these  considerations  of  beauty  and  of  historic  interest.  One  in- 
stance will  suffice.  In  one  of  several  villages  that  claim  to  be  the 
most  beautiful  in  England  the  officials  of  the  Post  Office  had  to  intro- 
duce a  telegraph  wire.  The  signpost  of  the  village  inn  stands  on  a 
little  bank  of  grass  in  the  middle  of  the  road  that  broadens  out  just  in 
the  centre  of  the  hamlet,  and  the  officials  in  question  erected  one  of 
their  hulking  poles  on  the  grass  within  a  yard  or  so  of  the  sign  and 
exactly  in  front  of  it,  where  it  still  remains.  When  one  thinks  of  the 
old-world  charm  of  this  little  bit  of  village  equipment,  with  its  sugges- 
tions of  rustic  hospitality  and  good  fellowship,  and  notes  how  these 
officials  treated  it,  their  act,  in  itself  infinitesimal,  becomes  in  its 
stupidity  colossal,  and  one  really  feels  that  after  this  any  other  in- 
stance of  the  deadness  of  soul  of  some  subordinate  servants  of  public 
departments  would  be  an  anti-climax  !  It  must,  however,  at  once 
be  added  that  in  many  of  these  departments  the  really  responsible 
officials  have  taken  a  larger  view  of  their  duties,  and,  when  directly 
appealed  to,  have  vetoed  threatened  acts  of  Aandalism,  or  have  ex- 
pressed regret  that  the  aesthetic  bearings  of  some  piece  of  public  work 
had  not  been  timeously  reported  at  headquarters.  A  few  years  ago 
the  War  Office  withdrew  a  scheme  for  some  new  buildings  because  it 
was  represented  that  their  erection  would  injuriously  affect  the  amenity 
of  Edinburgh  Castle  Rock. 

The  following  appear  to  be  the  practical  possibilities  of  this  situa- 
tion. Now  that  the  British  Government  is  in  a  measure  committed  to 
responsibility  in  these  matters  it  would  be  of  the  utmost  value  for  the 
future  if  it  were  made  a  part  of  the  public  duty  of  inspectors  and  other 
officials  of  the  same  grade,  who  have  local  knowledge  of  the  details  of 
operations  under  "the  various  departments,  to  report  especially  on  the 
relation  of  such  operations  to  the  amenity  of  the  district  they  affect. 
It  would  then  be  left  for  the  higher  and  more  responsible  officials  to 
consider  possible  modifications  of  the  scheme  in  question,  with  a 
view  to  preservation.  Now  that  our  .'\dministration  has  followed  in 
its   legislation    the    present   practice   in    these   respects   of   the    most 


To'iL'H  Planning  a)id  the  Preservation  of  Ancie)it  Features.   193 

enlightened  European  peoples,  it  would  not  be  unreasonable  if  this 
Congress  were  to  appeal  to  our  rulers  to  advance  a  little  further  in 
the  same  direction,  and  issue  those  directions  to  subordinates  which 
are  such  encouraging  features  of  Continental  practice. 

One  practical  object  which  is  here  in  view  is  the  devising  of  means 
by  which  alterations  and  improvements  in  our  towns  may  be  carried 
out  without  the  disastrous  demolition  of  tine  old  buildings  or  the 
obliteration  of  the  characteristic  natural  features  of  a  site. 

The  arrangement  of  new  streets  and  spaces  in  accordance  with  the 
configuration  of  a  site,  so  that  natural  indications  are  followed  out  in 
Art,  is  so  obviously  right  that  one  would  apologise  for  mentioning  it 
were  it  not  for  the  glaring  contraventions  of  the  principle  in  certain 
modern  towns.  This  does  not  mean  that  artificial  lines  of  communi- 
cation are  never  to  be  allowed.  Such  devices  for  the  ready  conveyance 
of  traffic  as  we  see  now  at  Rome  in  the  tunnel  under  the  Quirinal,  or 
at  Buda-Pest  in  that  beneath  Ofen,  or  viaducts  like  the  Grand  Pont 
at  Lausanne,  or  the  North  Bridge  at  Edinburgh,  or  the  Holborn 
Viaduct,  are  necessities  of  modern  life,  and,  if  frankly  treated  as 
modern  features  introduced  for  good  reason  into  an  existing 
ensemble  that  preserves  its  general  character  intact,  no  reasonable 
objection  can  be  urged  against  them.  It  is,  on  the  other  hand,  a  most 
grievous  mistake,  always  as  regards  Art  and  often  as  regards 
economics  and  hygiene,  when  the  configuration  of  a  site  is  completely 
altered  by  huge  structures  of  utility  or  of  display.  In  Edinburgh  the 
running  of  solid  causeways  rather  than  light  bridges  across  the  low- 
lying  valle}s  has  had  the  effect  of  cutting  off  communication  between 
the  upper  and  lower  levels  and  of  thrusting  the  latter  down  into 
squalor.  The  cities  of  the  well-to-do  and  of  the  poor  are  in  this  way 
sharplv  sundered,  with  the  worst  possible  social  and  economic  effects. 
Again,  from  the  aesthetic  point  of  view  one  cannot  help  criticising 
some  of  the  new  streets  at  Rome.  There  are  immense  straight  and 
level  avenues  that  cut  right  across  and  practically  destroy  the  ancient 
topography  of  broken  or  gently  undulating  regions.  Considering 
how  much  of  Roman  history  connects  itself  with  the  topography  of 
the  Esquiline  and  the  Sabura,  and  how  pleasant  and  refreshing  in 
streets  are  flexities  and  changes  of  level,  the  Roman  a?diles  of  to-day 
would  seem  as  ill-advised  in  plans  of  this  kind  as  in  their  recent 
alteration  of  the  familiar  and  historic  names  of  the  Via  del  Corso  and 
the  \'illa  Borghese  ! 

The  demolition  of  ancient  monuments  in  the  interests  of  urban 
extension  and  improvement  is  the  last,  but  the  most  important,  point 
with  which  this  Paper  is  concerned.  Its  importance  resides  specially 
in  the  fact  that  in  this  department  whatever  is  done  is  irrevocable.  If 
in  planning  out  a  new  quarter  of  a  city  a  mistake  be  made,  it  is 
generally  possible  later  on  in  some  measure  to  correct  it ;  but  when  a 
fine  architectural  monument  of  the  past  is  destroyed  or  mutilated  it 
is  gone  for  ever.  The  number  of  these  objects  is  necessarily  limited 
and  decreasing,  and  can  never  be  augmented,  and  if  it  be  true  that 
they  are  recognised  by  all  intelligent  people  as  valuable  national  assets, 
it  follows  that  all  classes  of  the  community  are  bound  to  use  all  avail- 
able means  for  their  preservation.     It  will  be  remembered  that  we  are 

o 


iM4  Truusiutions  of  the  Toicu  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

laced  here  with  llu'  iiKlilU'rencc  ol  the  ordinary  civic  official,  and  with 
the  predilection  lor  the  "  clean  slate  "  of  the  municipal  reformer  and 
professed  town  planner. 

Ancient  monuments  may  be  usefully  divided  into  the  two  classes  of 
those  that  exhibit  svmptoms  of  decay  and  those  that  are  practically 
in  sound  condition.  The  iconoclast  prefers  the  former  class,  because 
he  has  in  their  condition  a  ready  excuse  for  their  destruction,  and  he 
will  insist,  and  will  back  his  opinion  by  expert  evidence,  that  "the 
structure  is  quite  rotten  and  could  not  possibly  be  saved."  In  this 
connection  it  is  important  that  the  public  should  know  that  on  the 
question  of  the  preservation  of  a  partially  decayed  monument  there 
are  experts  and  experts.  Too  often  do  we  hear  from  proprietors  or 
local  authorities  that  they  have  consulted  an  architect  or  engineer, 
usually  an  architect  or  engineer  "  of  eminence,"  and  he  has  assured 
them  that  the  ancient  monument  that  stood  in  the  way  of  their  pet 
improvement  was  "  not  worth  saving  "  and  "  too  far  gone  for 
repair  "  ;  whereas,  when  under  pressure  the  right  people  have  been 
called  In  to  advise,  preservation  has  been  found  quite  feasible.  The 
recent  case  of  the  old  bridge  at  Ayr  will  be  fresh  in  the  minds  of  all. 
Condemned  by  all  the  constitutional  authorities,  it  came  finally  under 
the  hands  of  those  who  are  in  the  true  sense  experts  in  restoration,  and 
has,  it  may  be  hoped,  taken  a  new  lease  of  life. 

It  would  be  of  great  practical  advantage  if  those  people,  generally 
in  each  locality  a  small  minority,  who  are  fighting  for  the  preservation 
of  some  threatened  monument  whose  constitution  time  has  ravaged, 
knew  just  where  to  turn  for  expert  advice  as  to  the  real  possibilities 
in  such  a  case  of  conservative  treatment.  There  is,  of  course,  always 
the  Society  for  the  Preservation  of  Ancient  Buildings,  that  has  accom- 
plished so  much  invaluable  work  in  this  department ;  but  in  some 
quarters  there  exists  a  prejudice,  for  the  most  part  quite  unreasonable, 
against  the  Society,  which  makes  it  sometimes  difficult  to  gain  the  full 
advantage  of  its  agency.  Advice  on  a  matter  of  the  kind  would  some- 
times come  with  more  weight  from  some  quite  impartial  authority. 

It  is  possible  that  one  permanent  result  of  this  Congress  may  be 
the  establishment  of  standing  committees  to  carry  out  its  objects,  and 
if  this  prove  to  be  the  case  it  might  be  practicable  for  one  of  the.se 
committees  to  undertake  the  very  useful  post  of  adviser  to  those  in 
trouble  about  their  ancient  monuments,  giving  them  information  as  to 
where  they  could  best  obtain  the  sort  of  professional  assistance  they 
require.  This  task  might  perhaps  seem  a  somewhat  invidious  one, 
but  it  is  undoubtedly  the  truth  that  it  is  not  the  architect  and  engineer, 
qud  architect  and  engineer,  who  are  to  be  trusted  with  the  care  of 
ancient  monuments  or  with  decisions  as  to  their  conservation.  One 
has  known  architects  of  distinction  in  their  profession  who  have  ex- 
pressed the  most  cynical  disregard  for  the  considerations  which  are 
here  being  urged.  What  is  needed  is  the  practitioner  who  unites  with 
scientific  skill  and  experience  the  artistic  and  historic  sense,  and  is 
inspired  with  a  deep-felt  patriotic  regard  for  these  memorials,  in  which 
so  much  of  the  national  and  civic  life  of  past  ages  still  abides 
enshrined. 

The  case  of  the  ancient  monument  or  architectural  feature  where 


Town  Planning  and  the  Preservation  of  Ancient  Features.   195 

there  is  no  question  of  dilapidation  is  a  different  one.  The  heges 
cannot  here  be  told  that  the  structure  is  going  to  fall  on  their  heads, 
or  that  it  is  in  a  condition  dangerous  to  health.  It  may  certainly  be 
arraigned  as  antiquated  and  not  up  to  modern  requirements,  but  its 
chief  sin  in  the  eyes  of  the  civic  reformer  is  that  it  is  an  "  obstruc- 
tion." Now  why  is  it  an  obstruction?  In  five  cases  out  of  six  it  has 
been  made  an  obstruction  by  those  who  drew  up  the  scheme  of  urban 
improvement  within  which  it  falls.  It  is  one  of  the  evils  of  the  tradi- 
tional method  of  procedure  in  matters  of  this  kind  that  schemes  are 
drawn  up  which  completely  ignore  the  existence  of  these  objects  of 
interest  and  value,  and  these  are  made  to  present  themselves  at  a 
later  stage  of  the  proceedings  as  stumbling-blocks  in  the  path  of 
municipal  progress.  The  demand  for  some  modification  of  the  scheme 
in  their  favour  naturally  rouses  opposition  in  the  minds  of  practical 
and  business-like  people,  and  the  effort  to  save  the  threatened  monu- 
ment is  put  down  as  an  aesthetic  "  fad."  Surely  the  right  method  is 
not  to  ignore  the  object  of  beauty  or  of  historic  interest  in  the  incep- 
tion of  the  scheme,  but  to  start  with  it  as  an  essential  factor  in  the 
situation,  and  assuming  it,  for  argument's  sake,  to  be  absolutely 
irremovable,  to  let  the  scheme  of  improvement  grow  around  it  as 
about  a  centre.  It  will  generally  be  found  that,  just  as  the  dilapidated 
monument  can  be  strengthened,  so  here  the  claims  of  utility  and  of 
art  and  history  can  be  harmonised,  and  the  object  or  building  in 
question  may  at  times  become  the  pivot  of  the  whole  scheme  and  its 
central  feature  and  adornment. 

It  is  an  aesthetic  principle  which  all  artists  will  acknowledge  that  a 
designer  is  really  helped  rather  than  hindered  by  the  existence  of 
restrictions,  such  as  an  out-of-the-way  shape  for  a  space  which  he 
has  to  fill.  A  decorative  figure  composition  or  an  ornamental  scheme 
is  far  more  likely  to  be  successful  if  the  space  to  be  treated  is  irregular 
in  form  than  if  it  be  severely  symmetrical.  In  Raphael's  "  Stanze  " 
in  the  Vatican  the  semi-lunar  wall  surfaces  of  the  Stanze  della  Segna- 
tura  and  dell'  Incendio  were  more  easy  to  fill  decoratively  than  the 
rectangles  of  the  Sala  di  Constantino,  and  among  these  semi-lunar 
spaces  those  which  contain  the  "  Parnassus  "  and  the  "  Release  of 
Peter,"  in  each  of  which  a  big  rectangle  is  cut  out  of  the  lower  part, 
have  inspired  more  happy  compositions  than  the  "  Disputa  "  or  the 
"  Incendio  del  Borgo. "  The  most  difficult  space  to  fill  decoratively  is 
the  square,  while  the  most  bizarre  shapes  may  give  the  designer  a  hint 
that  starts  him  on  the  way  to  a  brilliant  success.  The  inartistic  person 
does  not  see  this,  and  will  often  commiserate  the  designer  because  he 
"  had  to  fill  an  awkward  space,"  whereas  it  is  really  the  space  that  has 
inspired  the  original  and  piquant  composition. 

The  same  is  the  case  in  town  planning.  The  inartistic  person 
thinks  that  a  well-cleared  and  regular  surface  is  an  essential  condition 
for  a  business-like  scheme  of  extension  or  improvement,  just  as  the 
speculative  builder  is  never  happy  till  he  has  cleared  away  all  the 
trees  from  the  ground  where  he  is  going  to  place  his  houses.  The 
architect,  as  distinct  from  the  builder,  if  he  be  a  worthy  member  of 
an  artistic  profession,  will  start  from  these  same  trees  as  guiding 
elements  in  his  plan  of  distribution  ;  and  in  like  manner,  when  working 

o   A 


iijO  Transactions  oj  tlw  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

on  a  larger  scale  in  town  planning,  he  will  note  the  position  and 
character  of  all  the  objects  of  natural  and  architectural  beauty  within 
the  scope  of  his  operations  as  so  many  generating  points  round  which 
his  ultimate  scheme  will  crystallise.  He  will  not  desire  a  clear  field 
and  a  regular  shape,  but  will  choose  rather  the  higher  artistic  charm 
that  is  won  by  a  tasteful  use  of  the  irregular. 

The  classic  example  which  illustrates  this  point  is  at  our  own  door 
and  belongs  to  our  own  immediate  time.  Those  Londoners  who  carry 
their  minds  back  for  the  space  of  a  generation  or  more  will  remember 
the  periodical  attacks  that  used  to  be  made  in  the  name  of  public 
safety,  convenience,  and  the  other  gods  of  the  utilitarian  pafttheon 
on  the'two  older  Strand  churches,  St.  Mary's  and  St.  Clement  Danes. 
Over  and  over  again  it  was  demonstrated  that  they  must  necessarily 
be  demolished  in  view  of  the  exigencies  of  the  traffic,  and  the  defence 
of  them  on  aesthetic  and  historical  grounds  was  only  just  strong 
enough  to  keep  public  opinion  from  sanctioning  their  destruction. 
What  has  been  the  result?  These  two  long-threatened  monuments 
have  not  only  ceased  to  be  obstructions,  but  are  now  the  centres — the 
very  eyes,  so  to  say — of  a  grand  architectural  scheme,  of  which  the\' 
may  be  regarded  as  the  generating  joci.^  This  scheme  did  not  start 
with  the  speculative  builder's  first  principle  of  clearing  away  every- 
thing that  was  growing  upon  the  site,  but  took  these  monuments  as 
a  starting-point,  and  worked  from  them  and  round  them,  to  the  happy 
result  of  which  we  are  all  witnesses.  It  is  the  most  instructive  and 
at  the  same  time  the  most  encouraging  object-lesson  in  the  right 
method  of  treating  town-planning  questions  in  our  older  cities.  Let 
us  hope  that  Croydon  will  ultimately  deal  in  the  same  happy  fashion 
with  its  own  urban  problem  of  Whitgift  Hospital,  and  that  the  friends 
of  ancient  monuments  in  all  our  ancient  centres  of  population  will  take 
fresh  courage  for  the  fight  that  they  have  continually  to  wage  against 
what  is  at  best  indifference,  at  worst  an  active  spirit  of  vandalism. 

It  remains  to  sum  up  in  a  few  words  what  has  here  been  urged. 

In  the  protection  of  natural  and  artistic  beauty  we  must  be  vigi- 
lant and  insistent,  for  w'e  have  to  combat  indifference  and,  what  is 
perhaps  worse,  a  professed  willingness  of  purpose  that  breaks  down 
at  the  first  fence.  \\  e  must  hold  up  our  end  against  the  doctrinaire 
with  his  clean  slate  and  paper  projects,  and  must  plead  in  our  urban 
schemes  for  the  grace  of  variety,  for  the  interest  of  historical  associa- 
tion, for  the  value  in  modern  life  of  those  monuments  of  the  art  of  the 
past,  which  ha\e  not  only  an  aesthetic  charm  hard  to  compass  in 
modern  work  but  are  centres  round,  which  the  national  and  civic 
patriotism  of  the  young  may  be  taught  to  grow.  In  the  matter  of 
Governmental  recognition  of  the  pleas  here  urged,  we  must  express 
our  gratitude  for  what  has  been  done,  and  must  recognise  in  the 
advance  now  made  the  influence  for  good  of  the  Honorary  President 
of  this  Conference.  We  may  at  the  same  time  respectfully  urge  the 
adoption  of  measures  which  will  secure  that  the  spirit  now  animating 
our  rulers  shall  be  made  effective  in  the  various  detailed  operations 
in  which  public  departments  are  concerned. 

Furthermore,  we  should  give  the  public  to  understand  that  it  is 
not  every  so-called  expert  in  building  matters  who  can  be  trusted  to 
deal  aright  with   ancient   monuments,    and   that   sincere   good-will, 


Toivn  Planning  and  the  Preservation  of  Ancient  Features.   197 

coupled  with  technical  experience  of  the  proper  kind,  can  often  avail 
to  save  a  seriously  threatened  object.  Lastly,  we  must  urge  on  our 
practical  town  planners  the  need  for  embracing  from  the  very  first  in 
their  general  schemes  the  objects  of  beauty  and  interest  which  mav  be 
involved,  so  that  these  schemes  may  grow  around  them  as  the  great 
Aldwych  improvement  grew  around  the  often-condemned  churches  of 
the  Strand. 

APPENDIX. 

The  following  are  translations  and  summaries  of  some  of  the  documents  referred 
10  in  the  Paper  : — 

I. 

Law  agaiitst  the  Disfigurement  of  Inhabited  Places  and  of  Scenes  of 
Natural  Beauty. 

We,  \\'illiam.  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of  Prussia,  &c.,  with  the  consent  of 
both  houses  of  the  Parliament  of  the  kingdom,  decree  as  follows  : 

§  I.  The  official  permission  for  carrying  out  works  of  building  and  alterations 
is  to  be  refused,  when  these  would  grossly  '  disfigure  streets  or  open  spaces  of  the 
iiihabited  place,  or  its  general  aspect. - 

§  2.  By  local  enactment  it  may  be  laid  down  that  in  the  case  of  certain  streets 
and  spaces  of  historical  or  artistic  importance  the  official  permission  for  buildings 
and  alterations  is  to  be  refused  when  these  would  interfere  with  the  distinctive 
character  of  the  place  or  of  the  surrounding  architecture.^  Moreover,  it  may  be 
laid  down  by  local  enactment  that  official  permission  may  be  refused  for  structural 
alterations  on  single  buildings  of  historical  or  artistic  importance,  as  well  as  for  the 
carrying  out  of  buildings  and  alterations  in  the  vicinity  of  the  above,  in  cases  where 
their  special  character  or  the  impression  which  they  produce  would  be  interfered 
with  by  such  operations. 

In  cases  where  the  proposed  buildings,  if  carried  out  in  accordance  with  their 
plan,  would  correspond  in  essentials  with  the  surrounding  architecture,  and  where 
the  cost  of  alterations,  which  in  spite  of  this  may  be  demanded  in  accordance  with 
a  local  enactment,  are  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  general  expenditure  incurred  in 
the  work  by  those  responsible  for  it,  then  the  local  enactment  is  not  to  be  put  in 
force. 

§  3.  It  may  be  enacted  locally  that  official  permission  must  be  obtained  for 
the  exhibition  of  advertisements,  show-cases,  letters,  and  pictorial  posters.  This 
permission  is  to  be  refused  under  the  same  conditions  as  are  contemplated  in 
§§  I  and  2. 

§  4.  By  local  enactment  there  may  be  established  conditions  for  the  laying  out 
of  special  regions,  as,  for  instance,  villa  quarters,  watering-places,  show  streets, 
and  the  like,  which  go  beyond  the  usual  building  regulations  of  the  place. 

.§  5.  Before  the  local  enactment  is  brought  into  force  under  §  §  2  and  4,  expert 
advice  must  be  taken. 

[§§6  and  7  deal  with  the  functions  in  respect  to  the  administration  of  local 
enactments  of  various  authorities,  and  apply  only  to  the  special  system  of  local 
government  in  Prussia.] 

§  8.  [The  proper  authorities  for  rural  districts  are  authorised]  to  enact  that  in 
the  case  of  parts  of  the  district  distinguished  for  their  natural  beauty,  official  per- 
mission for  buildings  and  alterations  outside  the  urban  limits  may  be  refused  when 
these  would  grossly  disfigure  the  aspect  of  the  landscape,  and  when  such  a  result 
can  be  avoided  by  the  choice  of  another  site,  or  of  another  style  of  building,  or  by  the 
use  of  a  different  building  material. 

Before  the  permission  is  refused  experts  in  matters  of  taste  and  the  representa- 
tives of  the  commune  are  to  be  consulted.  [Regulations  corrt-sponding  to  those  in 
§§6  and  7  complete  the  section.] 

Given  under  our  own  signature  and  royal  seal. 

At  Tromso,  on  board  the  Hohenzollern,  July  15,   1907, 

WII.LI.AM  R. 

'  Groblich. 

=  Das  Ortsbild. 

'   Die   Eigenart  des  Orts-  oder  -Strassenbildes. 


lyS   TrunsacUiius  el  tlw  'I'mcii  rUnniiiig  C'onjcrcucc,  Oct.  ujio. 

II. 

On  August  4,  1907,  the  Prussian  Ministers  of  Public  Works,  of  the  Interior, 
and  of  Education,  &c.,  issued  a  ion^  circular  to  local  authorities  explaininj<  the  Act 
and  giving  directions  for  carrying  it  out. 

.A  reference  to  the  expression  "  gross  disfigurement  "  ("  grobliche  "  or  "  grobe 
Wiunstaltung  ")  may  be  quoted.  It  should  be  said  that  an  earlier  draft  of  the  Act, 
which  had  to  be  shelved  owing  to  pressure  of  Parliamentary  business,  had  simply 
"  disligurcment  "  ("  \'erunstaltung  ")  without  any  qualification,  but  the  Act  in  its 
final  form  says  that  the  disfigurement  must  be  "  gross."  The  circular  explains  it  as 
follows  :  "  In  general  every  production  of  something  positively  ugly — that  is,  offen- 
sive to  every  eye  open  to  aesthetic  impressions — may  be  considered  a  '  gross  dis- 
figurement,' "  and  it  goes  on  to  give  the  important  ruling  that  in  cases  where  there 
is  no  doubt  about  such  disfigurement  the  authorities  are  bound  to  refuse  the 
permission  ;  it  is  not  a  matter  left  to  their  own  judgment.  They  are  recommended 
to  communicate  privately  with  those  responsible  for  a  scheme,  and  seek  to  arrange 
matters  in  a  friendly  manner.     Trivial  alterations  may  be  passed  over. 

It  is  noticed  that  the  distinctive  character  of  a  place  (diis  Ortsbild  ;  die  Eigenart) 
does  not  depend  only  on  its  general  aspect,  but  on  individual  monuments  such 
as  churclu-s,  religious  foundations,  towers,  city  gates,  castles,  &c.,  which  must 
be  protected,  whether  they  are  within  or  without  the  urban  limits.  The  same 
applies  to  old  half-timber  houses.  It  is  confessed,  however,  that  the  law  cannot 
hinder  the  complete  destruction  of  monuments  of  artistic  or  historical  importance 
in  private  ownership.  (It  must  be  remembered  that  Prussia  has  as  yet  no  Ancient 
Monuments  .\ct  such  as  secures  some  protection  for  monuments  of  the  kind  in  other 
countries). 

On  the  question  of  the  regulation  of  advertisements,  &c.,  it  is  remarked  that 
commerce  and  industry  in  the  present  day  cannot  dispense  with  advertisements,  but 
the  abuse  of  them  is  to  be  opposed,  and  they  are  to  be  prohibited  or  limited  wherever 
their  use  is  grossly  disfiguring. 

In  the  case  of  the  special  regions  referred  to  in  §  4,  it  is  pointed  out  that  here  it  is 
not  merely  gross  disfigurement,  but  any  offence  against  amenity  that  can  be 
prohibited. 

The  question  who  are  the  experts  in  matters  of  taste  is  not  settled  in  the  .Act,  but 
the  circular  suggests  that  they  may  be  found  not  only  among  architects  in  ofiicial 
or  private  practice  but  in  the  ranks  of  private  persons.  Artists  will  be  found  of 
use,  and  also  representatives  of  associations  formed  in  the  interests  of  amenity. 
The  Provincial  Conservators  of  .\ncient  Monuments  should  be  consulted  in  important 
cases. 

Local  authorities  are  advised  that  financial  aid  may  sometimes  suitably  be  given 
to  piivale  persons  to  assist  them  in  securing  a  proper  architectural  character  in 
what  they  build.  It  is  evident  that  public  money  may  be  lawfully  expended  for 
such  a  purpose. 

§  8  of  the  Act  is  commented  on  at  length,  and  it  is  admitted  that  great  care  must 
be  taken  not  to  interfere  unduly  with  the  rights  of  private  property,  with  the  develop- 
ment of  mines  and  the  like.  Prussia  does  not  seem  as  yet  to  have  put  into  the  hands 
of  local  authorities  power,  which  has  been  possessed  in  France  since  1841,  for  the 
compulsory  purchase  of  sites,  &c.,  on  aesthetic  grounds. 

III. 

The  local  regulations  fur  Berlin,  under  the  .Act  of  July  15,  1907,  were  issued  early 
in  this  year,  and  aie  explained  and  criticised  in  the  first  number  for  this  year  of 
Die  Denkmalpjlege,  the  German  organ  for  this  department  of  public  life.  It  con- 
tains a  list,  on  a  moderate  scale,  of  streets,  places,  &c. ,  that  are  put  under  the 
protection  of  §  i  of  the  Act,  and  also  a  list  of  single  buildings  that  can  be  protected 
under  §  2.  This  is,  however,  rather  a  meagre  one,  and  a  similar  criticism  has  been 
passed  on  the  list  given  of  streets,  &c.,  specially  protected  in  the  matter  of  advertise- 
ments. This  list  does  not  even  include  Unter  den  Linden,  much  less  the  Leipziger 
Platz  and  the  Potsdamer  Platz,  which,  as  Denkmalpflege  complains,  appear  thereby 
given  over  to  the  advertisement  fiend.  Anything  very  glaringly  ugly  may,  however, 
be  forbidden  under  the  older  Prussian  Local  Government  Acts." 

§  5  of  the  Berlin  regulations  is  important  as  dealing  with  the  matter  of  expert 
advice,  mentioned  in  the  .Act  of  July  15.  There  is  to  be  established  a  committee  of 
experts  in  taste,  somewhat  similar  to  the  committees  that  exist  and  are  officially 
recognised  in  some  of  the  .American  cities,  and  it  is  to  be  constituted  of  members 
representing  the  Academies  of  Arts  and  of  .Architecture,  the  Architectural  Associa- 
tions of  Berlin,  the  City  .Architect,  and  two  members  of  the  City  Council  specially 
versed  ill  questions  of  amenitv. 


Toicn  Planning  and  the  Preservation  of  Ancient  Features.    199 

It  is  noticed  that  the  Berlin  regulations  only  contemplate  streets  used  for  carriage 
and  foot  traffic,  and  there  is  no  protection  extended  to  the  borders  of  the  waterways 
and  the  railroads.  As  the  Denkmalpfiege  aptly  points  out,  the  traveller  along  these 
routes  has  more  opportunity  for  noticing  what  appears  on  each  side  than  when  he 
has  to  pick  his  way  through  street  traffic,  and,  as  British  passengers  know  well,  the 
obtrusion  of  tasteless  advertisements  along  railways  is  especially  offensive.  The 
vagueness  of  the  second  paragraph  of  §  2  of  the  Act  of  July  15  has  been  commented 
on,  and  it  is  pointed  out  that  the  Act  does  not  say  who  is  to  judge  the  question  of 
correspondence  "  in  essentials  "  of  a  new  building  with  its  surroundings.  It  may  be 
presumed  that  the  experts  in  taste  would  be  referred  to. 


BoTHwELL  Castle  :    South-east  View. 


2()()   'rransiictions  of  the  Toicn  Plinminii  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(2)  CITIES  OF  'line  PRHSENT  AS  RKPRESIiX- 
TATIVE  OF  A  TRAXSFI'ION  PERIOD  IN 
URBAN  DFVFLOP.MFNT.— THE  EVIDENCE  OF 
STANDARDISED  STREETS. 

By  Chaki.ks  MiLFORD  RoBiNSOx,  Rochester,  X.Y.,  U.S.A. 

The  city  of  the  present  is  the  town  of  the  past  at,  generalh  speak- 
ing, an  ungainly  age.  In  the  olden  days,  when,  as  we  look  back,  we 
see  shining  upon  it  "  the  light  of  early  morning  and  the  n.iivctd 
of  childhood,"  it  was  pre-eminently  picturesque.  The  picture  still 
delights  the  artist  spirit  in  us. 

But  we  know  now  that  in  those  days  the  town  was  neither  very 
wise  nor  far-sighted,  nor  was  it  industrially  productive.  To  be  sure, 
it  was  a  sturdy  young  fighter,  against  foes  of  its  own  kind  ;  often 
it  mischievously  made  a  noise  in  the  world  ;  generally,  too,  it  was 
light-hearted.  It  was,  in  truth,  a  real  child-city,  playing  well,  fighting 
well,  and,  when  tired,  sleeping  well.  Indeed,  like  a  child,  it  was 
prettiest  and  mo.  t  picturesque  when  it  lay  asleep.  Here  and  there 
we  discover  yet  one  of  the  number  that  has  not  wakened,  and  we 
steal  up  to  it  on  tiptoe  to  gaze  at  the  little  sleeper  and  sigh  for 
civilisation's  childhood — for  the  care-free  days  of  urban  short  frocks 
and  tousled  curls.  Then  work  was  an  individual  matter  in  the 
towns,  while  fighting,  playing,  and  sleeping  were  the  occupations 
of  the  community.  Now  few  can  work  for  themselves.  Labour  is 
become  the  community  interest ;  the  fighting,  playing,  and  sleeping 
are  only  indi\  idual  or  neighbourhood  concerns  ;  and  the  cities,  grar.tc  J 
spaciousness,  have  been  systematised  and  standardised. 

So  the  towns  of  to-day  may  be  fancied  as  of  long  legs  and  arms, 
with  hair  slicked  down  and  faces  grown  sad  and  serious.  They 
have  become  poor  fighters  but  great  workers;  their  sleep  is  fitful 
and  restless.  They  are  the  embodiment  of  a  wealth-producing 
energy.  Yet  they  have  lost  the  joy  of  life,  and  their  frames  are  not 
fully  developed  for  the  work  they  try  to  do.  Thus  are  they  pathetic 
figures — prematurely  aged,  unnaturally  slow— lacking  the  efficiency 
that  we  must  hope  will  come  with  years  and  w  ith  fuller  development. 
To-day  the  cities  are  illustrative  of  child-labour,  straining  against 
physical  handicap  rather  than  rejoicing  in  their  strength  for  labour. 
That  is  not  right.  We  city  doctors  ha\e  no  greater  duty  than  to 
develop  these  half-grown  child-cities  into  man-cities,  fitting  them  for 
the  men's  work  they  are  so  feverishly  attempting  to  do,  that  they  may 
do  it  the  more  easily  and  at  a  human  and  economic  cost  less  frightful. 

The  city  of  the  present,  bearing  strongly  the  impress  of  the  past, 


Transition  Period  in  Urban  Development.  201 

is  ill-adjusted  to  new  conditions.  Let  us  take  as  illustration  one  very 
simple,  though  very  important,  matter  that  is  within  the  memory  of 
us  all. 

Not  in  the  picturesque  medieeval  city  only,  bu1  in  the  city  of  our 
own  remembrance,  it  was  necessary  that  the  workman  live  near  his 
work.  That  necessity  is  passing.  It  now  applies  only  to  the  labourer 
who  is  most  poorly  paid — the  push-cart  vendor  and  the  sweat-shop 
worker  are  examples — and,  in  less  degree,  to  those  whose  labour  calls 
them  to  work  at  unusual  or  uncertain  hours,  as,  for  example,  dock 
hands.  Nowadays,  architects  and  lawyers  may  have  their  office  in 
the  city  and  their  home  in  the  outskirts ;  merchant  and  banker  and 
broker  may  sleep  in  the  country  though  their  labour  is  in  town  ;  in 
multitudes  the  more  progressive  clerks  and  salesmen  and  their 
families  occupy  the  long  rows  of  detached  and  semi-detached 
dwellings  that  make  up  the  outer  residence  zones  of  cities  ;  in  the 
€arly  hours  of  the  working  day,  and  again  at  its  closing  hours,  the 
trams  and  subways  are  crowded  with  lunch-box  and  dinner-pail 
bearers — with  the  great  army  of  the  employed,  journeying  to  and 
from  their  work — riding  because  they  live  too  far  away  to  wallc 
This  is  the  triumph  of  the  modern  city.  It  has  come  with  the 
quickening  and  cheapening  of  urban  mechanical  transportation.  It 
is  the  relief  which  has  been  developed  as  a  blessed  offset  to  the 
increasing  pressure  of  modern  industrial  and  commercial  activity. 
At  last  it  has  become  possible  for  the  citizen  to  get  away  from  work. 
Thousands  of  men,  to  be  sure,  still  go  to  bed  over  their  shops,  still 
sleep  within  call  of  the  factory  whistle;  but  other  thousands,  in 
a  throng  that  grows  with  astonishing  rapidity,  considering  how 
radical  the  domestic  upheaval  involved,  now  have  daily  change  of 
scene  and  air,  entering  at  nightfall  into  a  peace  which  industry  and 
commerce  may  not  molest. 

Obviously,  this  is  a  social  readjustment  of  incalculable  value. 
But  it  has  expressed  itself  very  inadequately  on  the  city  plan. 
Though  business  sections  and  home  sections  have  become  divorced, 
and  consequently  have  developed  entirely  different  traffic  require- 
ments, yet,  generally  speaking,  the  street  plan  has  remained  un- 
changed. And  even  these  great  divisions  have  developed  various 
characteristics  of  their  ow^n,  so  that  they,  in  their  turn,  may  be  sub- 
divided into  distinct  districts,  as  far  as  the  true  requirements  of 
lot-size  and  street-capacity  are  concerned.  But  still  we  keep  streets 
mostly  uniform  in  width  and  we  standardise  the  unit  of  lot.  Rapid- 
transit  railways  have  been  created,  but  they  must  seek  the  suburbs 
by  thoroughfares  that  have  scarcely  changed  in  character  in 
hundreds  of  years.  Indeed,  the  centuries  have  brought  only  one 
marked  change,  and  that — which  is  the  wholesale  widening  of 
streets  in  the  cities'  newer  parts — is  really  of  questionable  value. 
Thus  the  average  city's  lay-out  may  be  said  to  make  scarcely  any 
recognition  of  the  tremendous  social  change  which  has  come  with 
the  labourer's  wish  to  live  away  from  his  work  and  his  recently 
acquired  ability  to  do  so. 

Adequate  recognition  would  involve  two  groups  of  changes,  and 
these,  when  made,  or  if  made,  must  definitely  differentiate  the  city 
of  the  present  from  the  mediaeval  town,  and  even  from  the  city  of 


21)2  Trcnsuctions  ol  Ihc  Tuicn   riuiiiiiiii:;  Cofijcrcncc,  Oct.  1910. 

the  last  rentury.  These  chang-es  would  be,  first,  the  provision  of 
long,  straight,  broad  radial  highways  of  easy  gradient.  Such 
thoroughfares,  shortening  time  and  distance  to  the  outer  zones, 
would  facilitate  the  daily  ebb  and  flow  of  travel  and  would  increase  the 
area  available  for  home-building.  Second,  the  changes  would  involve 
a  rearrangement  of  minor  streets,  adjusting  them  to  the  needs  of 
the  sections  which  they  serve,  largely  new  needs  in  home  sections. 

.\  representative  of  a  republic  may  regret,  as  menacing  pure 
democracy,  the  subdivision  of  home  sections  into  districts  of  various 
character.  But  the  condition  is  one  that  must  be  recognised.  We 
may  see  it  in  any  city  to  which  we  journey.  It  is  as  evident  in 
Chicago  as  it  is  in  London.  It  is  the  result  of  the  operation  of 
social  laws — na\',  of  laws  embracing  more  than  human  society.  It 
is  the  attraction  of  like  for  like.  Further,  it  is  a  delayed  working 
out  for  cities  of  that  law  of  evolution  described  as  the  specialising 
or  differentiation  of  function.  Whether  we  like  it  or  not,  we  cannot 
in  fairness  fail  to  recognise  its  operation  in  cities  and  to  perceive 
that  the  process  will  continue  and  grow  more  marked.  Already 
business  sections  are  subdivided  into  wholesale  and  retail,  and  these 
again  subdivided  into  the  "  street  of  the  jewellers,"  the  "  automobile 
row,"  the  "  leather  district,"  the  "  financial  centre,"  &c.  Already 
residence  sections  are  subdivided  into  high-class  and  middle-class 
and  working-men's  districts.  And  between  the  business  section  and 
the  residence  section  there  has  grow'n  up  a  tenement  section,  having 
some  of  the  characteristics  of  both  its  neighbours.  The  Germans, 
students  as  they  are,  have  recognised  these  laws  to  the  extent  of 
applying  the  so-called  zone  system  to  their  city  planning.  But  even 
with  them  the  zone's  adaptation  to  function  is  more  of  an  architec- 
tural than  an  engineering  matter.  In  the  city  of  the  present,  in  any 
nation,  there  is  to  be  found  a  street  arrangement  which  is  generally 
uniform,  although  it  is  intended  to  meet  totally  unlike  needs. 

How  unlike  the  needs  of  various  sections  are  must  be  obvious 
at  a  glance.  Contrast  the  traffic  requirements  of  a  street  in  the 
business  district,  a  street  in  a  labourers'  residence  district,  and  one 
in  a  region  wholly  given  up  to  villas  in  spacious  grounds.  On 
cramped  Manhattan  Island,  New  York,  where  ground  values  are 
enormous,  one  may  find,  I  dare  say,  in  the  wholesale  district,  in  the 
congested  East  Side,  on  a  fashionable  avenue  and  among  up-town 
tenements,  streets  that  are  identical  not  only  in  width  but  in  area 
of  sidewalk  and  of  road  space.  Yet  in  the  first  there  may  be  fifty 
great  trucks  and  drays  to  a  single  pedestrian  ;  in  the  second,  five 
hundred  pedestrians — push-cart  men  and  others — to  a  single  vehicle. 
The  streams  of  people  on  these  sidewalks  overflow  into  the  "  road- 
way "  and  choke  it  to  such  extent  that  one  could  hardly  drive  there 
if  he  would.  But  on  the  avenue  the  river  of  trafific  is  mainly  com- 
posed of  motor-cars  and  carriages,  and  such  a  mighty  torrent  is  it 
that  the  hunted  pedestrian  can  cross  it  only  as  the  Children  of  Israel 
crossed  the  Red  Sea,_  a  Moses  in  uniform  holding  back  the  waters  on 
either  side.  And  then  the  up-town  tenements.  Among  them  the 
city  has  been  actually  closing  some  streets  to  vehicular  traflRc  between 
certain  hours  because  inconsequent  childhood  has  appropriated  the 
street  as  a  needed  playground  ! 


Transition  Period  in  Urban  Development.  203 

Great  as  are  the  contrasts,  the  problem  has  been  reduced  in  this 
statement  to  its  simplest  terms.  I  have  taken  no  account  of  the 
difference  between  streets  that  have  and  have  not  car-tracks,  though 
in  other  respects  they  be  alike ;  no  account  of  grades,  and  length,  ot 
direction  with  respect  to  the  tidal  flow  of  traffic,  of  terminals,  cross- 
streams,  and  other  matters  which  affect  the  usefulness  of  streets. 
But  even  all  these  conditions  would  not  illustrate  all  the  folly  of  a 
standardising  system.  There  are  other  streets,  scores  and  hundreds, 
on  which,  though  they  are  uniform  in  size  with  thoroughfares  as 
crowded  as  those  described,  there  will  be,  perhaps,  two  vehicles  and 
half-a-dozen  pedestrians  in  the  hour.  The  pathos  of  this  lies  in  the 
waste  invohed. 

In  the  built-up  portion  of  most  cities  of  the  present  the  area 
devoted  to  streets  is  from  twenty-five  to  forty  per  cent,  of  the  total. 
In  mediaeval  cities  it  was  frequently  about  ten  per  cent.  Recognising 
a  new  requirement,  we  have  raised  the  proportion  ;  but  we  have 
done  this  in  a  uniform,  unthinking  way.  We  have  made  the  ridicu- 
lously impossible  attempt  to  imagine  an  "  average  street,"  and  then, 
having  guessed  at  a  width  and  arrangement  that  would  be  theo- 
retically suitable  for  this,  we  have  sought  to  save  ourselves  trouble 
bv  enacting  legislation  to  standardise  it. 

To  illustrate  concretely,  let  us  take  the  Borough  of  the  Bronx,  Xew 
York — a  region  of  delightfully  varied  topography  and  illustrating 
within  its  considerable  area  almost  every  kind  of  suburban  develop- 
ment. Yet  here  a  general  ordinance  dealing  with  the  arrangement 
of  streets  requires  that  all  streets  60  ft.  wide  shall  have  a  30-ft. 
roadway,  all  streets  80  ft.  wide  a  42-ft.  roadway,  any  street  100  ft. 
wide  a  60-ft.  roadway,  &c. — without  regard  for  any  characteristic  ol 
the  street,  save  that  of  width.  For  example  as  to  the  street's  own 
dimension  one  may  turn  to  the  city  of  Washington,  which  we  like 
to  think  of  as  so  admirably  planned.  There  a  law  requires  that  all 
new  streets  shall  be  not  less  than  90  ft.  in  width. 

Consider  the  economic  loss  involved  in  such  "  mechanical 
standardising  " — an  evil  of  which  the  United  States  has  no 
monopoly.  In  fact,  Mr.  Olmsted,  summarising  his  observations 
on  a  city-planning  trip  in  Europe  some  months  ago,  remarked  that 
such  standardising  was  to  be  found  "  in  not  a  few  quarters  of 
European  towns,  perhaps  most  noticeably  in  England."  Mr.  Ray- 
mond Unwin,  in  his  most  admirable  work  on  town-planning,  gives 
a  forcible  illustration  based  on  English  procedure.  He  says  :  "A 
mansion  such  as  Chatsworth  or  Blenheim  will  be  adequately  served 
by  a  simple  carriage-drive  from  13  ft.  to  20  ft.  wide.  The  popula- 
tion 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  asphalt  or  concrete-paved 
footpaths,  granite  kerbs  and  channel,  and  granite  macadamised 
surface,  the  whole  from  40  ft.  to  50  ft.  wide,  and  costing,  with  the 
sewers,  &c.,  from  ;^5  to  j£8  a  lineal  yard,  are  required  by  the  local 
authority  under  our  existing  by-laws." 

The  economic  loss  that  results  is  of  two  kinds,  and  it  is  all 
reflected  in  the  rent.  In  part  this  loss  is  represented  by  the  actual 
municipal  outlay  for  the  paving  and  maintenance  of  the  unnecessary 


204  Trdiisaclions  of  the  Town  rtauiiing  Conference,  Oct.  lyio. 

street-space  ;  and  in  part  it  is  represented  by  the  increase  in  rent 
traceable  to  the  amount  of  building  land  taken  out  of  the  market  in 
order  to  supply  the  needless  street-space..  It  may  be  well  to  quote 
t"ig-ures,  as  generally  the  connection  has  not  been  thought  out  :  In 
the  Richmond  (England)  housing  scheme,  "  taxes  and  insurance  " 
are  estimated  to  account  for  one-fifth  of  the  rent  of  a  six-room 
cottage.  "  Housing  Up-to-Date,"  that  valuable  compilation  by 
Mr.  \V.  Thompson,  Chairman  of  the  National  Housing  Reform 
Council  of  England,  states  that  the  cost  of  roads,  sewers,  &c., 
reaches  in  some" cases  as  high  as  £,g  per  room,  or  ^£^45  per  cottage, 
and  that  it  averages  j(^,g  per  cottage.  This  calculation  is  based  on 
statistics  covering  thousands  of  cottage  dwellings,  and  since  the 
word  "  cottage  "  means  in  this  connection  houses  built  in  con- 
tinuous rows — that  is,  dwellings  that  occupy  with  their  grounds 
a  minimum  street  frontage — it  reveals  the  effect  on  rents  for  even 
the  cheapest  homes.  As  to  the  more  costly  villa  type  of  dwellings, 
the  same  authority  notes  that  the  English  by-law  requiring  a  paved 
or  macadamised  road  surface  of  about  40  ft.  for  all  except  secondary 
streets  has  made  the  cost  of  such  thoroughfares,  in  newly  developed 
estates  on  the  outskirts  of  towns,  from  ;^2oo  to  ;;^500  per  acre — • 
"  or  more  than  the  land  itself." 

If  the  statement  that  street  widths  and  arrangement  are  too  often 
standardised  were  not  supported  by  common  observation  it  would 
seem  incredible  that  any  intelligent  community  would  permit — much 
less  demand — so  extravagant  and  illogical  a  platting.  It  is  as  if 
a  city's  building  ordinance  required  that  every  structure,  whether 
or  not  of  a  public  nature,  if  containing  a  certain  number  of  cubic 
feet,  should  be  divided  into  rooms  of  a  designated  capacity — oblivious 
to  the  structure's  possible  use  as  a  warehouse,  an  office  building, 
or  a  cathedral ;  and,  further,  that  no  structure  of  less  than  a  fairly 
average  size — let  us  say  two  stories  high  and  30  ft.  wide — should 
ever  be  permitted  within  the  corporate  limits.  If  now  and  then, 
there  being  such  an  ordinance,  an  intelligent  person  had  the  bright 
idea  of  adjusting  the  size  and  interior  arrangement  of  his  proposed 
building  to  its  intended  use,  he  would  have  to  secure — or  with  much 
effort  try  to  secure — a  special  Act  enabling  him  to  depart  from 
custom,  just  as  now  the  tract-owner  may  have  to  plead  for  the 
privilege  of  exercising  common-sense  in  the  proportioning  of  minor 
streets  ! 

The  arguments  with  which  we  attempt  to  justify  our  system  are 
interesting.  They  concern  themselves  almost  exclusively  with 
excessive  width,  as  nowadays  the  case  is  rare  of  a  standardised 
street  which  proves  too  narrow. 

The  commonest  argument  is  that  the  system  makes  forehanded 
provision  for  the  future  growth  of  traffic.  Xow  this,  surely,  is  as 
a  voice  from  the  little  child-city  of  the  past.  Observe  the  process 
of  reasoning  :  In  that  town  there  were  narrow  streets,  for  it  was 
necessary  to  live  close  within  encompassing  city  walls  ;  then  walls 
came  down,  the  city  grew  and  changed  in  character,  and  it  was 
observed  that  the  streets  were  too  restricted  for  the  traffic  which 
modern  conditions  thrust  upon  them.  We  would  profit  by  the 
lesson,    and    so,    with    truly    childlike    perspicacity,    we    ortlain    that 


Transition  Period  in   Urban  Development.  205 

henceforth  there  shall  be  no  street  with  width  less  than  a  certain 
arbitrary  minimum.  Generally  this  minimum  is  as  much  too  wide, 
considering  traffic  needs  alone,  as  the  old  maximum  was  too  narrow  ; 
therefore  we  require  that  a  certain  amount  of  the  space  be  put  in 
turf.  With  knowing  look,  we  now  call  attention  to  the  fact  that, 
should  the  thoroughfare — which  possibly  climbs  a  steep  hill,  or 
skirts  an  unnavigable  watercourse  or  a  line  of  bluffs,  or  lies  three 
or  four  miles  from  the  business  portion  of  the  city,  in  a  direction 
whither  business  cannot  grow — ever  become  a  choked  business 
thoroughfare,   no  future  generation  will  have  to  widen  it  ! 

But  Broadways,  Fleet  Streets,  and  Cheapsides  are  not  born  full- 
grown  overnight.  In  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  the  hundred  it  can 
be  foreseen  absolutely  that  given  residence  thoroughfares  will  never 
become  business  streets — or,  if  "  never  "  seems  too  big  a  word,  let 
us  say  will  not  become  so  within  any  reasonable  period.  Is  it  not 
absurd  to  charge  the  community  through  the  intervening  years  with 
the  annual  cost  of  one  hundred  needlessly  wide  streets  because  there  is 
a  possibility  that  perhaps  centuries  hence  one  of  them  might  have  a 
much  larger  traffic  than  to-day?  And  as  to  the  one  case  of  which 
the  future  might  not  be  accurately  foreseen,  the  growing  traffx, 
the  trend  of  business  and  of  building,  or  the  undertaking  of  a 
public  work  that  is  to  revolutionise  the  community,  would  give  the 
warning  in  time  to  prepare  for  it.  If  we  are  going  to  be  so 
thoughtful  in  our  city  building,  let  us  be  thoughtful  of  facts  and 
not  of  theories.  Let  us  observe,  among  other  things,  that  the 
present  tendency  to  develop  districts,  homogeneous  within  them- 
selves but  quite  distinct  from  other  districts,  tends  powerfully  to 
the  fixture  of  not  only  real-estate  values,  but  of  traffic  values. 
Then  a  street  platting  adapted  to  these  districts  will  further  dis- 
courage marked  changes  in  their  character. 

The  purpose  of  a  street,  be  it  observed  too,  is  to  afford  means 
of  communication.  To  say,  therefore,  as  does  a  second  argument, 
that  to  ha\e  a  street  in  a  residence  district  wider  than  the  traffic  needs 
is  a  good  thing  because  the  extra  width  is  nice  for  something  else — 
as  grass  and  flowers,  and  air  and  light — is  absurd,  if  those  attri- 
butes can  be  more  economically  provided  by  other  means.  Would 
an  architect  justify  the  expense  of  putting  extra  staircases  in  a  house 
because  banister-rails  are  nice  for  boys  to  slide  on? 

On  main  thoroughfares,  indeed,  mere  spaciousness  of  appearance 
is  agreeable  in  itself — the  more  so  because  there  it  is  suitable.  But 
width  being  suitable  on  such  streets,  they  would  not  be  narrowed. 
On  minor  streets — by  which  I  mean  those  non-arterial  thoroughfares 
uhich  are  neither  stately  boulevards  nor  routes  of  urban  railways, 
and  which  make  up  the  bulk  of  any  city's  residence  quarter — an 
aspect  of  cosiness  is,  on  the  other  hand,  attractive.  /Esthetically, 
such  streets  gain  nothing  by  excessive  width.  The  grass  and 
flowers  and  air  and  light  can  still  be  had.  Assuming  that  it  is  our 
right  to  force  them  on  the  community,  we  still  could  narrow  any 
distinctly  secondary  street  to  such  proportions  only  as  the  traffic 
really,  all  things  considered,  needs.  For  this  would  lengthen  the 
abutting  lots,  and  we  might  then  establish  a  building  line  in  front 
of  which  no  structure  on  a  given  street,  or  portion  of  street,  should 


2o6  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

project.  li  the  community  still  felt  the  need  of  forehandedness,  it 
could  secure  an  easement  over  those  restricted  spaces  ;  the  desired 
amenities  would  become  attributes  of  the  home  rather  than  of  the 
street,  and  better  so ;  while  as  to  provision  for  shade  trees,  on  a 
narrow  street  these  are  better  inside  the  walk-line  than  outside. 

We  may  note  the  inconsequence  of  making-  footpaths  almost 
always  double  on  a  street,  no  matter  how  little  walking  there  may 
be  ;  or  of  makings  them  always  co-extensive  with  the  roadway.  Both 
these  acts  are  mere  survivals.  .Among-  villas  with  considerable 
g;rounds  on  sites  of  picturesque  and  irreg-ular  topography,  would  not 
the  people  be  better  served,  and  the  region  made  a  hundred  times 
more  attractive  and  parklike,  if  secondary  streets  were  not  merely 
narrower  but  less  frequent,  while  footpaths  were  at  nearer  intervals? 
Should  we  not  by  this  means  create  very  simply  and  practically  a 
riis  in  iirbe  of  a  most  serviceable  kind — even  a  "  garden  city  "  for 
the  well-to-do  and  middle  class  whom,  in  such  great  numbers,  the 
city  still  must  hold? 

It  is  the  universal  modern  practice  in  good  road-building  through 
country  districts,  to  put  a  good  surface  on  a  comparatively  narrow 
strip  rather  than  a  cheap  surface  on  a  wide  strip.  This,  it  is  con- 
sidered, serves  the  traffic  better  and  with  more  genuine  economy. 
May  we  not  learn  also  from  this  conclusion?  From  the  standpoint 
of  the  traffic  to  be  served,  the  secondary  street  in  a  residence  section 
is  much  more  nearly  akin  to  the  rural  highway  than  to  the  city's 
business  thoroughfares. 

But  returning  to  the  interests  of  residents  on  those  streets,  the 
full  value  of  a  method  of  street  platting  adjusted  to  real  conditions, 
instead  of  to  imaginary  ones,  appears  forcibly  in  sections  where 
rents  are  lowest.  That  is  to  say,  it  is  marked  in  the  districts  con- 
taining the  greatest  number  of  people.  The  street  of  excessive  width 
is  a  good  thing  in  the  poorer  quarters,  we  are  told,  because  it 
provides  not  only  light  and  air,  but  play  and  recreative  spaces.  Less 
street  and  more  yard  area  would  provide  the  air  and  light  as  well 
and  would  give  wholesomer  play  or  recreative  opportunity.  The 
added  yard  area  might  be  gained  in  either  of  two  ways.  It  might 
be  an  addition  to  each  lot  of  the  area  saved  through  narrowing  the 
street,  or  it  might  be  one  or  more  concentrated  park  or  play  areas 
representing  in  extent  the  sum  of  all  the  street  saving.  The  gain 
in  the  latter  arrangement  is  obvious.  As  to  the  former,  a  child  is 
safer  at  his  home  door-step,  inside  his  father's  fence,  than  in  the 
street.  It  is  to  be  considered,  too,  that  as  for  half  the  year,  even  in 
this  latitude,  the  door-step  of  the  labourer's  house  is  another  room, 
the  door-yard  would  answer  this  purpose  still  better,  even  offering  in 
its  greater  spaciousness  an  opportunity  for  the  entertainment  of 
friends.  So  would  be  encouraged  that  home-sentiment  so  precious 
to  a  city's  welfare. 

Other  problems  intrude  themselves.  In  the  proper  quarters  the 
deep  lot  is  the  source  of  many  housing  evils.  Should  we  not  fear, 
then,  to  lengthen  it?  The  answer  is  simple.  In  tenement  sections, 
with  their  teeming  population,  the  volume  of  traffic  prohibits  the 
narrowing  of  the  street.  In  a  section  of  "cottages,"  where  the 
menace  of  the  long  lot  lies  in  the  temptation  it  offers  to  construction 


Transition  Period  in  Urban  Development.  207 

on  both  ends,  it  is  not  the  depth  of  lot  which  we  have  to  fear,  but 
the  depth  of  that  part  of  the  lot  which  is  back  of  the  building-  line.  To 
that  the  increase  in  front  space  would  add  nothing. 

Do  I  seem  to  have  travelled  far  from  my  theme — to  have  made  a 
paper  out  of  what  was  to  have  been  only  an  illustration?  Perhaps, 
if  the  illustration  really  illustrates,  there  is  no  need  of  extending 
the  paper.  As  nothing-  is  settled  until  it  is  settled  right,  so  palpable 
a  maladjustment  as  our  present  method  of  street  platting  can  be 
only  a  transitional  phase.  The  city  of  the  present  proves,  in  sad 
reality,  to  be  yet  the  town  of  the  past,  grown  sometimes  in  popula- 
tion and  often  in  area,  but  not  yet  fitted  to  the  conditions  of  modern 
urban  living.  There  was  a  time,  in  old  town-building,  when  people 
lived  in  the  buildings  in  which  they  worked,  and  everything  was 
mixed  up  together  in  a  compression  that  gave  little  chance  for  the 
differentiation  of  function.  Then  it  might  have  been  well  enough, 
in  theory,  for  one  street  to  be  like  another  ;  and  the  actual  differences 
between  them  were  possibly  traffic  handicaps.  But  that  time  has 
gone. 

Jane  Addams,  perhaps  our  greatest  social  worker,  says  in  one 
of  her  books  :  "  The  city  grows  more  complex,  more  varied  in 
resources,  and  more  highly  organised,  and  is,  therefore,  in  greater 
need  of  a  more  diffused  and  local  anatomy."  She  says  this  simply 
and  incidentally,  to  prove  another  point,  quite  as  if  everyone  ad- 
mitted it.  But  does  not  this  state  tersely  the  great  lesson  which 
w^e  cit)  planners  have  yet  to  learn,  or,  learning,  to  put  into  our 
practice? 

Childhood  is  very  dear  and  picturesque  ;  but  it  passes  at  last  in 
all  our  human  institutions.  Of  these  none  is  so  complex  as  a  city, 
and  for  none  is  absolute  efficiency  and  adaptation  to  function  so 
important.  To  plan  streets  on  a  system  dexised  to  meet  the  needs 
of  an  outgrown  age  is  to  impair  their  efficiency  and  to  cause  an 
economic  waste  which  bears  heavily  indeed  upon  us  all,  and  cruelly 
upon  the  poor.  In  so  far  as  it  creates  streets  that  transcend  in 
width  any  traffic  requirement  that  is  probable,  it  robs  the  citizens  of 
yard-space  and  precious  home-space  to  make  useless  street-area, 
and  charges  them  the  cost  of  the  robbery. 

In  the  ideal  city  of  the  future  the  system  surely  will  not  persist. 
Already  there  are  numberless  instances  of  its  breaking  down.  And 
so  fundamental  is  the  platting  of  the  streets  that  no  other  merits  of 
the  modern  city  can  atone  for  shortcomings  there.  To  the  life  of  our 
lost  urban  childhood,  the  streets  of  the  little  city  of  long  ago  were 
better  adapted  than  are  most  streets  now  to  our  lately  attained  and 
strenuous  urban  manhood.  We  need  to  recognise  the  modernness 
of  the  problem,  and  to  approach  it  with  unprejudiced  freedom  and 
common-sense. 


2o8  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(^0  NOTICli   SIR    LES   ARCHITECTURES  OBLIGA- 
TOIRES  DANS  LA  VILLE  DE  PARIS. 

Par  LoLis  Bonnier,  Hon.  Corresponding  Member  R.I.B.A.,  Archi- 
tecte-vover-en  chef  de  la  Ville  de  Paris,  President  de  la  Societe  des 
Architectes  diplomas  par  le  Gouvernement. 

Il  serait  dans  doute  particuli^rement  int^ressant  de  rechercher  les 
causes  reelles,  visibles  ou  cachees,  qui  ont  determine^  a  certaines 
epoques,  I'autorite  gouvernementale,  a  organiser  a  Paris  I'amenage- 
ment  d'architectures  d'ensemble,  obligatoires  pour  les  constructeurs, 
et  de  comparer  ces  raisons  determinantes. 

Peut-etre  constaterait-on  souvent  tout  autre  chose  que  le  sentiment 
decoratif  qui  est  I'essence  meme  du  Congr^s  qui  reunit  aujourd'hui  a 
Londres  tant  de  curieux  des  ordonnances  bien  comprises,  tant  de 
fonctionnaires,  ingenieurs  ou  architectes,  tant  d'artistes,  desireux  de 
mettre  au  service  des  ameliorations  urbaines,  leur  gout,  leur  com- 
petence, et  leur  bonne  volonte. 

L'aimable  secretaire  general,  John  W.  Simpson,  a  bien  voulu  me 
demander  une  courte  notice  sur  les  trente-et-une  servitudes  d'archi- 
tecture  de  Paris. 

La  voici. 

PLACE  DES  VOSGES. 

La  premiere  en  date  de  ces  ordonnances  architecturales  est  la 
Place  des  Vosges,  ci-devant  Place  Royale.  Le  5  aout  1605, 
Henri  IV,  reorganisant  avec  Sully  le  royaume  au  sortir  de  la  Ligue 
et  de  ses  longs  desordres,  cherchant  aussi  a  regulariser  Paris  au 
depens  du  pittoresque  du  Moyen-age,  decide,  "  pour  la  commodite  et 
I'ornement  de  la  Ville,"  d'etablir,  sur  I'emplacement  de  I'ancien 
marche  aux  che\aux,  une  grande  place  carree,  de  273"'5o  de  cote. 
II  enumere  ses  intentions  qui  sont  d'etablir  au  pourtour  des  maisons 
semblables,  mais  non  identiques,  avec  boutiques  a  rez-de-chaussee 
pour  le  commerce,  de  constituer  en  meme  temps  un  promenoir  pour  les 
habitants  "  fort  presses  en  leurs  maisons,"  enfin,  de  livrer  un  emplace- 
ment convenable  "  aux  grandes  assemblees,"  et  aux  fetes.  II  donne 
Pexemple  en  se  chargeant  de  la  construction  du  Pavilion  d'entrec  sur 
la  rue  de  Birague,  dit  Pavilion  du  Roi. 

Pour  assurer  la  conservation  de  I'ensemble,  pour  que  chaque 
maison  "  demeure  a  perpetuite  "  aux  memes  proprietaires  "  pour  eux, 
leurs  hoirs  et  ayant  cause,"  I'edit  de  1605  impose  Lindivision  eternelle 
pour  chaque  immeuble  et  c'est  ainsi  que  I'un  d'entre  eux  est  encore, 
depuis  trois  cents  ans,  aux  mains  de  la  famille  qui  le  construisit. 

Sous  Henri  IV  et  sous  Louis  XIII  la  Place  Royale  constitue  le 
centre  de  la  vie  elegante.  Si  quelques  modifications  regrettables, 
telles  qu'adjonction  de  balcons,  mutilations  de  lucarnes,  etc.,  ont  ete 
faites,  au  cours  de  ces  trois  si^cles,  par  des  proprietaires  sans  con- 


Architectures  obligatoires  dans  la  Ville  de  Paris.  209 

science  artistique,  si  un  d^cret  d'alignement  de  1849  menace  de 
destruction  deux  de  ses  maisons,  I'ensemble  de  la  Place  Royale  est 
reste  complet  dans  son  harmonieuse  coloration,  dans  sa  noble  et  solide 
regularite. 

PLACE  DAUPHINE. 

Dans  le  meme  esprit  que  celui  qui  lui  avait  fait  concevoir  la  Place 
Royale,  Henri  IV,  deux  ans  plus  tard,  donne  au  President  de  Harlay 
la  concession  du  terrain  form6  par  deux  petites  iles  de  la  Seine,  dont 
rile  aux  Vaches  qui  vit  le  supplice  de  Jacques  de  Molay,  en  aval  du 
jardin  du  Baillage,  formant  pointe  de  la  Cite  et  qui,  reunies,  con- 
stituent 1 'emplacement  compris  entre  le  Pont-Neuf  et  le  Palais  de 
Justice,  a  charge  "  par  le  dit  premier  President  de  faire  batir  les  dites 
places  suivant  le  plan  et  devis  qui  en  a  ete  dress^. " 

Des  1609,  le  plan  de  Frangois  Quesnel  indique  la  place  enti^rement 
amenagee  en  triangle  avec  ses  maisons  reguli^res  formant  un  tout 
avec  le  Pont-Neuf  et  la  statue  de  Henri  IV,  devant  laquelle  elle 
s'ouvre  par  une  porte  monumentale. 

II  semble  bien,  malheureusement,  que  ce  magnifique  projet  n'ait 
jamais  ete  compl^tement  realise.  Certaines  maisons  conservent 
encore  leur  aspect  presque  entier  ou  du  moins  des  traces  tr^s  impor- 
tantes  de  leur  ancienne  architecture.  Seuls,  deux  de  ces  immeubles, 
en  facade  sur  le  Pont-Neuf,  ont  ^te  recemment  restitu6s  par  leurs 
proprietaires  dans  leur  etat  primitif  et  montrent  quel  ensemble  heureux 
serait  obtenu  si  cet  exemple  intelligent  et  vraiment  meritoire  dtait 
suivi. 

On  peut  regretter  que  le  Gouvernement  et  la  Ville  de  Paris  aient 
donne  le  mauvais  exemple  en  supprimant  une  partie  de  la  place 
Dauphine  pour  y  amenager  le  remarquable,  imposant,  et  inutile 
escalier  du  Palais  de  Justice,  mais  on  peut  aussi  rever  la  reparation 
de  ces  erreurs  par  une  acquisition  officielle,  une  remise  en  6tat  et  une 
utilisation  administrative  de  cette  pointe  de  la  Cit6  qui,  inevitable- 
ment,  sera  un  jour  tout  enti^re  consacr^e  a  des  services  publics 
formant  ainsi  le  coeur  monumental  de  Paris. 

RUE  DE  LA   FERRONNERIE. 

En  1669,  la  rue  de  la  Ferronnerie  etait  occupee  par  des  dchoppes 
adossees  au  charnier  du  Cimeti^re  des  Innocents  ;  Louis  XIV,  pour 
la  porter  k  trente  pieds  de  largeur,  ordonne  que,  suivant  ses  offres, 
le  chapitre  de  Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois  fera  remplacer  ces  baraques 
par  un  vaste  batiment  tenant  tout  un  c6td  de  la  nouvelle  rue.  De  plus, 
"  a  chacune  des  extr^mites  de  la  rue  de  la  Ferronnerie  sera  basty  un 
portique  conform^ment  au  dessin  qui  en  a  aussy  este  ordonne  h  sa 
Majeste." 

Le  roi  arrete  en  m^me  temps  tous  les  comptes  qu'il  peut  avoir 
avec  le  chapitre  de  Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois  au  sujet  de  I'agran- 
dissement  du  Louvre  k  la  somme  de  cent  mille  livres,  dont  cinquante 
mille  seront  employees  k  la  construction  des  maisons  de  la  rue  de  la 
Ferronnerie,  et  I'autre  moitie  "  en  telle  decoration  et  en  tel  lieu  qu'il 
plaira  k  sa  Majeste  d'ordonner. " 

Le  dessin  primitif  n'a  gu^re  et^  suivi.      Ni  les  deux  portiques 

P 


2IO  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

d'acc^s,  nl  les  domes  n'ont  laiss6  de  trace.  En  1854,  on  demolit 
plusieurs  travtcs  pour  rclarg-isscment  de  la  rue  de  la  Lingerie;  en 
1868,  nouvelles  modifications.  L'ensemble  a  ete  sureleve,  ici  d'un 
6tage,  \h  de  deux  ;  le  bas,  masqu6  par  des  devantures  disparates.  La 
facade  est  delabrcc,  mutilde,  h  peu  pr^s  disparue.  II  faudrait  un 
effort  bien  invraisemblable  pour  rendre  a  cette  architecture  sa  noble 
s^verite  originclle. 

PLACE  DES  VICTOIRES. 

En  1684,  le  Marcchal-Duc  de  la  Feuillade,  desirant  creer  une  place 
circulaire  et  decorative  formant  cadre  h  une  statue  pompeuse  de 
Louis  XIV,  achate  des  terrains  et  commence,  sur  les  dessins  de  Jules- 
Hardouin  Mansart,  des  travaux  qui  sont  continues,  apr^s  sa  mort, 
par  le  Prevot  des  Marchands  et  les  Echevins  de  la  Ville  de  Paris.  Le 
contrat  oblige  les  proprietaires  des  maisons  qui  entourent  la  place  et 
leurs  successeurs  a  entretenir  les  facades  en  meme  etat,  "  sans  y 
jamais  rien  changer." 

Louis  XIV  inaugure  sa  statue  avant  la  fin  des  travaux  et  la  Place 
des  Victoires  devient  un  des  endroits  les  plus  luxueux  et  les  plus 
vivants  de  Paris,  jusqu'au  moment  ou  la  Revolution  supprime  la 
statue  du  roi  pour  la  remplacer  par  celle  du  General  Desaix. 

Pendant  presque  tout  le  XIX^  si^cle,  cet  admirable  ordonnance  est 
I'objet  d'attentats  successifs.  Des  arret^s  et  des  decrets  ^largissent 
scs  acc6s  en  recoupant  des  morceaux  de  I'architecture  primitive;  bien 
plus,  une  simple  decision  de  I'Administration,  contraire  aux  contrats 
eux-memes,  autorise  et  meme  preconise  la  substitution,  k  Tceuvre  de 
Mansart,  de  trois  immeubles  sans  interet,  months  a  toute  hauteur. 

Mais  1^  s'arretera,  il  faut  I'espcrer,  la  destruction  de  la  Place  des 
Victoires.  II  en  reste  encore  assez  pour  I'admiration  des  gens  de  gout 
et  la  Municipalite  parisienne  aura  k  cceur  de  conserver  ddsormais 
intact  et  meme  d'ameliorer  par  la  restriction,  sinon  la  suppression,  des 
enseignes,  ce  qui  survit  d'un  ensemble  que  son  Elegance  et  son 
caract^re  historique  auraient  du  mettre  de  tout  temps  a  I'abri  de  la 
moindre  atteinte. 

PLACE  VENDOME. 

Le  Ministre  Louvois,  en  1685,  se  proposant  de  grouper,  sur  I'em- 
placement  actuel  de  la  place  Vendome,  la  bibliothfeque  du  Roi,  diverses 
Academies,  I'Hotel  des  Monnaies,  I'Hotel  des  Ambassadeurs,  etc., 
achate  I'Hotel  de  Vendome,  ddmolit  le  Convent  des  Capucines  et  le 
reconstruit  avec  un  dome  important  dans  I'axe  de  la  place  dont  il 
commence  les  amenagements.  Ce  projet  pr^sentait  un  carrd  bati  sur 
trois  faces,  la  quatri^me  ferm^e  par  une  grille  sur  la  rue  Saint-Honor6, 
avec  pavilions  plus  importants  aux  quatre  angles  et  arcade  d'entree  k 
I'oppose.  Mais  Louvois  meurt  en  1691,  laissant  son  oeuvre  inachev^e. 
Alors,  en  1698,  Louis  XIV  fait  d^molir  les  constructions  commenc^es 
et  reprendre  les  travaux  sur  les  dessins  de  Mansart  qui  lui  donnent  sa 
forme  octagonale  actuelle  et  int^ressent,  non  seulement  la  place  elle- 
m^me,  mais  encore  les  deux  parties  de  voies  d'acc^s  avec  retours  sur 
les  rues  Saint-Honor^  et  des  Mathurins. 

C'est  alors  la  Place  des  Conquetes  ou  Place  Louis-le-Grand  qui  est 


Architectures  obligatoires  dans  la  Ville  de  Paris.  211 

terminee  en  1701  et  constitue  le  milieu  aristocratique  de  Paris  pendant 
toutle  XVI IP  sifecle. 

Le  XIX^  lui  a  conserve  son  aspect  d'ampleur  et  de  pompe  et 
aucune  modification  importante  n'y  a  ete  apportee,  sauf  la  disparition 
pendant  les  premieres  annees  du  siecle,  des  motifs  d'axes  formes  par 
I'entree  du  Couvent,  au  nord,  et  celle  des  Feuillants,  au  sud,  et  par 
Terection  de  la  statue  de  Napoleon  1^"^  au  centre. 

Vers  la  fin  du  siecle  dernier,  le  caract^re  des  anciennes  demeures 
de  la  place  Vendome  a  disparu  peu  a  peu,  pour  faire  place  aux  hotels 
a  voyageurs  et  aux  installations  commercials  dont  quelques-unes  ont, 
malgre  I'administration  defendant  les  termes  des  contrats,  installe,  sur 
les  balcons  et  en  diverses  places,  des  enseignes  qui  denaturent  le 
caract^re  general  de  I'architecture. 

Toutes  ces  derogations  ne  sont  pas  cependant  imputables  au  com- 
merce. Un  des  grands  hotels  d'axe,  occupd  par  le  Minist^re  de  la 
Justice,  masque,  par  d'enormes  persiennes  dont  une  paire  occupe 
autant  de  surface  que  les  enseignes  de  la  place,  I'architecture  de 
Mansart  et  c'est  un  regrettable  encouragement  aux  empi^tements  des 
particuliers. 

Malgre  ces  taches,  la  place  Vendome  reste  un  des  plus  calmes  et 
des  plus  nobles  vestiges  du  Paris  ancien  dans  le  bouillonnement  du 
Paris  moderne. 

PLACE  SAINT-SULPICE. 

Pour  degager  I'acces  et  I'aspect  de  I'Eglise  qu'il  construisait  vers 
le  milieu  du  XVIII  ^  siecle,  I'architecte  Scrvandoni  avait  dessine  une 
vaste  place  qu'il  comptait  encadrer  de  maisons  d'une  architecture 
reguliere.  Cette  ordonnance  fut  amorcee  par  I'erection  de  la  maison 
curiale  qui  porte  le  N°  6  de  la  place. 

Mais,  en  1806,  un  ministre  de  I'lnterieur,  pour  raisons  d'economie 
et  contrairement  aux  propositions  du  Prefet  de  la  Seine,  fit  adopter 
"  un  autre  plan  d'une  execution  moins  ch^re  et  susceptible,"  d'apr^s 
lui,  "  de  s'allier  avec  les  embellissements  de  I'art." 

La  place  a  ete  executee  cependant  avec  des  dimensions  sensible- 
ment  egales  a  celles  prevues  par  Servandoni,  mais  sans  architecture, 
et  Paris  y  a  perdu  une  belle  place  judicieusement  ordonnee  par 
I'auteur  meme  du  monument  qui  devait  en  faire  le  motif  principal. 
La  maison  curiale  seule  a  subsiste. 

RLE  ROVALE,  PLACE  DE  LA  CONCORDE  ET  ABORDS. 

D^s  1670,  le  plan  de  Bullet  et  Blondel  montre  un  projet  interessant 
d'une  place  a  creer  parmi  les  chantiers  de  bois  qui  occupaient  alors 
I'emplacement  actuel  de  la  place  de  la  Concorde,  avec  fosses,  pont- 
tournant,  amorce  de  la  rue  Rovale  et  entree  des  Champs-Elysees. 

Ce  n'est  pourtant  qu'en  1763  que  les  travaux  furent  entrepris 
definitivement  sur  les  dessins  de  Gabriel,  qui  construisit  en  meme 
temps  les  deux  admirables  decors  du  Garde-Meuble  et  du  Ministere  de 
la  Marine.  La  place  avait  alors  un  aspect  tres  different  de  celui 
d'aujourd'hui  :  derriere  les  balustrades  etaient  creuses  des  fosses  qui 
lui  donnaient  un  caractere  beaucoup  plus  mouvemente,  beaucoup  plus 
pittoresque. 

p  2 


212  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Architectures  nhlisicitoires  dans  la   Ville  de  Paris, 


21 


2] j[  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Les  plans  de  iy-2  prolongeaicnt  la  rue  Roy  ale  en  eventail  jusqu'a 
la  Madeleine  avec  une  architecture  obligatoire  qui  n'a  jamais  ete 
r^alisee;  puis  un  d^cret  de  I'an  II  portait  :  "  les  doux  colonnades  for- 
niant  le  Garde-Meuble  seront  reunies  par  un  arc  triomphal. "  Cet  arc 
devait  cependant  mcnag^er  la  vue  de  la  Madeleine  devenue  le  Temple 
de  la  R«^volution.  Napoleon  I"  installa  le  telegraphe  aerien  sur  le 
Minist^re  de  la  Marine.  Cependant,  malgre  la  suppression  des  fosses 
decoratifs,  et  grace  a  la  non-execution  de  Tare  pr^medite  par  la  Con- 
vention, la  place  de  la  Concorde,  axee  sur  la  Madeleine,  le  Louvre,  le 
Palais-Bourbon  et  les  Chanips-Elysees,  s'est  maintenue  intacte  et 
digne  de  sa  reputation  mondiale. 

RUE  DE  VIARMES. 

Une  architecture  symetrique  a  6te,  vers  le  meme  temps,  impos^e 
k  une  petite  rue  avoisinant  I'ancienne  Halle  au  ble,  batie  sur  I'emplace- 
ment  de  I'Hotel  de  Xesle,  habitce  par  Catherine  de  Medicis. 

La  Ville  de  Paris  en  a  decide  la  demolition  qui  a  €te  effectu^e  en 
1887  pour  le  d^gagement  des  Halles  et  la  transformation  de  la  Halle 
au  ble  en  Bourse  de  Commerce. 

RUE  DES  COLONNES. 

Puis  c'est  la  rue  des  Colonnes,  creee  en  1783  et  ouverte  en  1798. 
Elle  comporte  dans  la  hauteur  du  rez-de-chaussee  des  galeries  cou- 
vertes,  qui  font  partie  du  domaine  public.  La  servitude  n'dtant 
applicable  qu'aux  galeries,  les  facades  qui  les  surmontent  sont  quel- 
conques  et  sans  inter^t.  Ce  sont  les  restes  d'un  ancien  passage  con- 
duisant  au  theatre  Feydeau  et  devant  lequel  les  galeries  offraient  un 
abri  au  public. 

RUE  DE  RIVOLI. 

Un  arrete  des  consuls,  signe  par  Bonaparte,  d^sireux  d'isoler  les 
Tuileries  apr^s  I'attentat  de  la  rue  Saint-Nicaise  et  de  supprimer  la 
Salle  du  Manage,  theatre  des  terribles  stances  de  la  Convention,  traca 
une  rue  occupant  toute  la  largeur  d'une  cour  de  I'ancien  palais  et  le 
separant  des  immeubles  de  la  rue  Saint-Honor^  dont  une  partie, 
provenant  de  biens  nationaux,  appartenait  k  I'^tat.  Le  souvenir  des 
campagnes  d'ltalie  fit  prescrire  I'architecture  monotone  et  rigide  de 
la  rue  de  Rivoli  dans  cette  premiere  partie  qui  va  de  la  place  des 
Pyramides  k  la  place  de  la  Concorde.  Cette  ordonnance  primitive  a 
€t6  modifi^e  dfes  I'execution,  puis,  dans  le  cours  du  XIX«  sifecle,  par  le 
percement  de  voies  publiques,  la  suppression  d'^tages  et  de  portiques, 
adjonction  de  balcons,  de  persiennes,  d'appareils  k  gaz,  I'envahisse- 
ment  des  portiques  par  les  enseignes,  etc.  Quant  aux  toitures  qui  ont 
soulev^  des  discussions  tr^s  vives,  outre  que  les  architectes  auteurs 
des  dessins  primitifs  semblent  s'en  ^tre  peu  souci6,  elles  ont  con- 
struites  tr^s  dissemblables  et  toujours  laiss^es,  en  dehors  de  I'ordon- 
nance,  dans  le  droit  commun.  C'est  d'ailleurs  ainsi  que  Napoleon  P"" 
comprenait,  d^s  181 1,  I'interpr^tation  de  Parretd  du  Consul  Bona- 
parte, en  approuvant  un  projet  de  Minist^re  des  Postes,  k  toiture 
courbe. 

II  convient  de  signaler  que  I'architecture  obligatoire  de  la  rue  de 


Architectures  obligatoires  dans  la  Ville  de  Paris.  2r 


Place  Saint-Sulpice. 


\ 


Rue    de    Rivoli. 


[Photo  :  Neurddn. 


2i6  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Architectures  obligatoires  dans  la  Ville  de  Paris.  217 


2iS  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Rivoli  s'applique  cgalement  a  la  place  des  Pyramides  et  aux  rues 
Castiglione  et  des  Pyramides,  formant  un  tout  uniforniement  et  in- 
definiment  repet^,  imposant  cependant  par  son  etendue  mfime. 

PLACE   DE   l'ECOLK    DE   IMEDECINE. 

Le  premier  Consul,  apr^s  la  demolition  de  la  magnifique  eglise  des 
Cordeliers,  avait  aussi  organise,  par  arrete  du  23  Fructidor  an  XI, 
sur  les  plans  de  Goudoin,  une  place  d'ordonnance  symetrique  devant 
riicole  de  Chirurgie.  Cette  place  a  6t6  detruite  en  1876  pour  IVlar- 
gisscmcnt  de  la  rue  de  I'Ecole  de  Mddecine. 

PLACE  DU   PANTHEON. 

Le  plan  de  \'erniquet  (1791)  indique  dej^  la  facade  circulaire  de 
I'Ecole  de  Droit  devant  le  Pantheon.  En  1807  Napoleon  r^gle  la 
partie  circulaire  opposee  et  les  cotes  rectilignes  lat^raux  de  cette 
place,  "  le  fond  devant  ^tre  forme  par  les  Batiments  du  college 
Henri  I\\"  Cet  ensemble  n'est  veritablement  termini  que  sous 
Louis-Philippe,  qui,  en  1843,  fait  faire  le  nivellement  et  le  pavage, 
construire  la  bibliothfeque  Sainte-Genevi^ve  et  installer  la  ^lairie  de 
I'Arrondissement  derri^re  la  seconde  fafade  circulaire  semblable  h 
celle  de  I'Ecole  de  Droit.  Cette  place  est  depuis  cette  epoque  rest^e 
en  I'^tat,  sauf  que  des  immeubles  particuliers  des  parties  rectilignes 
ont  ete  reconstruits. 

PLACE  DE  LA  MADELEINE. 

Enfin,  I'esprit  d'organisation  de  I'Empereur  Napoleon  P""  avait 
encore  con9u,  pour  la  Madeleine,  un  cadre  monumental.  Un  Decret 
de  Septembre  1808  prevoit  la  rue  Tronchet,  le  Boulevard  Malesherbes, 
assujettit  le  pourtour  de  la  place  a  une  architecture  reguli^re  et 
reserve,  pour  un  decret  ult^rieur,  la  partie  meridionale  de  I'ensemble. 
Ni  cette  partie,  ni  meme  la  place  entifere  n'ont  malheureusement 
jamais  vu  s'appliquer  I'ordonnance  projetce,  sauf  en  ce  qui  concerne 
les  alignements. 

La  Restauration,  la  Monarchic  de  Juillet,  la  Seconde  Republique 
ne  font  rien  ou  presque  rien  pour  la  beautd  de  Paris.  Elles  con- 
damnent  et  detruisent,  au  contraire,  par  des  decrets  d'alignement  tr^s 
regrettables,  une  grande  quantity  de  monuments  int^ressants  du  Paris 
ancien.  Mais  Napol6on  III,  dans  un  but  d'organisation,  d'assainisse- 
ment,  et  aussi  de  defense  strategique,  entreprend,  non  seulement 
I'amc^nagement  d'architectures  obligatoires  sur  des  emplacements 
restreints  comme  les  places  de  Louis  XIV  et  d'Henri  IV,  mais  encore 
des  remaniements  d'ensemble  du  plan  de  Paris,  des  percements  de 
grandes  voies  plantees,  des  organisations  de  pares,  de  squares,  etc. 
.  .  .  qui  sont  peut-etre,  sous  la  direction  d'Haussmann,  la  premiere 
manifestation  du  Town-Planning. 

ABORDS  DE  L 'HOTEL  DE  VILLE. 

Une  premiere  servitude,  qui  date  de  1852,  concerne  les  deux  blocs 
de  maisons  qui  forment  la  partie  ouest  de  la  place  de  1' Hotel  de  Ville 


Architectures  obligatoires  dans  la  Ville  de  Paris.  219 

et  s'applique  a  chacune  de  leurs  quatre  faces.  Get  amenagement,  issu 
des  meilleures  intentions  et  qui  a  ete  execute,  aurait  pu  donner  d'excel- 
lents  resultats  s'il  s'etait  etendu  a  toutes  les  faces  de  la  place  de 
I'Hotel  de  Ville  et  surtout  si  les  organisateurs  avaient  pense  a  en  faire 
etudier  serieusement  I'architecture. 

RUE  UE  RIVOLI  (2^  PARTIE),   PLACE  ET  RUE  DU  LOUVRE. 

La  meme  annee  1852,  d^s  le  debut  de  son  r^gne,  Napoleon  III, 
desireux  de  completer  I'isolement  des  Tuileries  qui  etaient  encore 
separees  du  Louvre  par  tout  un  quartier,  fait  entreprendre  la  pro- 
longation de  la  rue  de  Rivoli,  commencee  par  son  oncle,  Napoleon  I'^''. 
II  prescrit  la  meme  ordonnance  pour  les  immeubles  qui,  sur  la  place 
et  la  rue  du  Louvre,  regardent  la  colonnade  de  Perrault.  C'est  a 
peu  pr^s  la  meme  architecture  que  celle  de  I'an  X,  ou  plutot  c'est  la 
copie  de  ce  qu'etait  devenue,  en  1852,  I'oeuvre  de  Percier  et  Fontaine, 
mais  avec  I'obligation  d'une  haute  toiture  courbe,  soigneusement 
determinee.  Le  tout  met  heureusement  en  valeur,  par  sa  froideur,  la 
somptueuse  variete  de  I'architecture  du  Palais. 

RUE   DE   L^ELYSEE. 

Le  desir  d'isoler  aussi  le  Palais  de  I'Elysee,  sa  residence  favorite, 
amena  Napoleon  III,  apr^s  achat  des  Hotels  Castellane  et  Sebastiani 
sur  le  Faubourg  Saint-Honore,  a  tracer  la  rue  actuelle  de  I'Elysee, 
bordee  de  petits  hotels  reguliers,  dits  "  maisons  anglaises,"  oij  le 
souvenir  de  son  exil  en  Angleterre  se  retrouve  dans  les  cours  basses 
qui  les  separent  de  la  voie  publique. 

PASSAGE  DES   PRINCES. 

Un  arrete  du  Prefet  de  la  Seine  autorise,  en  i860,  le  banquier 
Mir^s  et  le  due  d'Albufera,  a  ouvrir  le  passage  des  Princes,  sans 
toutefois  astreindre  les  constructeurs  a  une  veritable  architecture 
obligatoire. 

RUE  PAPIN. 

Plus  s^rieuse  est  celle  imposee  par  la  Ville  de  Paris,  dans  ses  con- 
trats  de  vente,  aux  deux  immeubles  mitoyens  du  Theatre  de  la  Gait6 
dont  la  facade  semble  trop  peu  importante. 

BOULEVARD  DU  PALAIS. 

II  en  est  de  meme  des  maisons  en  alignement  sur  le  boulevard  du 
Palais  qui  doivent  s'harmoniser  avec  les  batiments  municipaux 
occupes  par  la  Prefecture  de  Police  et  I'^tat-major  des  sapeurs- 
pompiers. 

PLACE    SAINT-MICHEL. 

L'ouverture  du  Boulevard  Saint-Michel  donne  lieu  a  I'application 
d'une  architecture  reguli^re  autour  de  la  place  qui  le  met  en  communi- 
cation avec  le  pont.  Les  constructions,  sans  grande  valeur  artistique, 
forment  cependant  avec  la  fontaine  monumentale,  due  k  I'architecte 
Davioud,  un  tout  suffisamment  decoratif. 

^LACE  DE  L'EUROPE. 

La  place  de  I'Europe  est,  a  son  tour,  en  1859,  entourde  de  maisons 


220  Transactions  of  the  To%'n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

uniformes  et  couverte  de  jardins  et  de  parterres  suspendus  sur  les 
voies  du  Chemin  de  far  de  I'Ouest. 

ABORDS  DE  l'oPERA. 

Puis,  c'est  la  vaste  organisation  des  abords  de  I'Opera  qui,  avec 
ramenagement  des  rues  Auber,  Scribe,  Hal^vy,  Gluck,  Meyerbeer, 
la  place  de  I'Opera,  le  boulevard  des  Capucines,  et  le  commencement 
de  I'Avenue  de  I'Opc^ra,  meublds  sur  leurs  deux  .  alignements  de 
maisons  de  meme  type  obligatoire,  assainissent,  rectifient  et  em- 
bellissent  tout  un  quartier. 

PLACE  DU  THEATRE  FRAN(^AIS  ET  ABORDS. 

Cet  ensemble  se  complete  par  la  creation  de  la  place  et  des  abords 
du  Th^fitre  Francais,  avec  un  autre  aspect  reglementaire  de  facade. 

ABORDS  DU  HOIS  DE  BOULOGNE. 

C'est  encore  a  Napoleon  III  que  revient  I'honneur  d'avoir  organist 
a  Paris  la  premiere  des  grandes  voies  bord^es  de  zones  "  non  aedifi- 
candi  "  et  meublees  de  verdures  obligatoires.  Une  loi  de  1855  impose 
cet  arrangement  aux  boulevards  Lannes  et  Suchet,  aux  avenues 
Ingres,  Raphael  et  Henri  Martin,  a  la  chaussee  de  la  Muette,  aux 
boulevards  Beausejour  et  Montmorency.  Les  proprictaires  sont 
astreints  a  toutes  les  obligations  ordinaires,  plus  a  la  grille  de  cloture, 
k  I'habitation  bourgeoise,  a  I'exclusion  de  tout  commerce  et  de  toute 
Industrie,  et  a  la  decoration  des  pignons.  C'est  une  excellente  initia- 
tive qui  a  fait  la  beaute  de  ces  nouveaux  quartiers  et  qu'il  eut  etc  bon 
d'imiter  dans  la  suite. 

ROND-POINT  DES  CHAMPS-ELYSEES  ET  ABORDS. 

Un  decret  de  1869  approuvait  la  transformation  du  Rond-Point 
des  Champs-Elysees  avec  les  memes  parterres,  mais  avec  une  obliga- 
tion de  maisons  symetriques  frappant  en  meme  temps  I'Avenue  Mon- 
taigne et  la  partie  de  I'Avenue  d'Antin  qui  se  dirige  vers  la  Seine.  II 
n'a  pas  ^t^  compl^tement  suivi. 

AVENUE   DU   TROCADERO. 

Enfin,  une  autre  servitude  analogue  s'etend  sur  I'Avenue  du 
Trocad6ro  et  les  rues  Debrousse  et  Gaston  de  Saint-Paul. 

AVENUE  G.^BRIEL. 

Le  plan  de  Verniquet  (1791)  indique  une  simple  amorce  de  I'Avenue 
Gabriel,  mais  celle-ci,  inachevee,  aboutit  dans  un  fosse  longeant  la 
partie  post(^rieure  des  propriet^s  alignees  sur  le  faubourg  Saint- 
Honore.  La  Ville  de  Paris,  par  suite  d'un  accord  avec  les  propric- 
taires, supprime  en  1852  le  foss^  et  leur  donne  un  droit  d'issue  sur  les 
Champs-Elysees,  k  charge  par  eux  de  se  clore  de  ce  cot^  par  une 
grille  en  fer  et  de  renoncer  k  y  diever  autre  chose  que  de  petits  bdti- 
ments  de  concierge.  Cette  convention  qui  assure  la  conservation  de 
beaux  et  vastes  jardins  a  6t6  observde  de  part  et  d'autre. 

PARC  MONCEAU. 

Un  arrangement,  conclu  avec  le  banquier  Pereire,  amenage,  autour 
de  I'ancien  pare  de  Monceaux,  les  avenues  Velasquez,  Ruysdael,  Van 


Architectures  obligatoires  dans  la  Ville  de  Paris.  221 

Dyck,  Rembrandt,  bord^es  d'immeubles  de  luxe,  de  faible  hauteur, 
entoures  de  frondaisons. 

PLACE  DE  l'eTOILE. 

L'Arc  de  Triomphe,  commence  par  Napoleon  1"=''  et  acheve  par  la 
Restauration  a  la  gloire  du  due  d'Angouleme,  d'abord  perdu  dans  Ics 
solitudes  du  promenoir  de  Chaillot,  risquait  de  voir  son  entourage  de 
verdure  envahi  par  la  marche  a  I'ouest  des  constructions  parisiennes. 
D^sirant  lui  donner  un  cadre  digne  de  son  grand  interet  artistique  et 
historique,  Napoleon  III,  par  un  decret  de  1859,  organise  a  ses  pieds 
une  place  de  deux  cent  quatre-vingts  metres  de  diam^tre,  la  borde 
d'une  bande  de  parterres  avec  grilles  semblables,  puis  d'une  rangee 
de  maisons  uniformes  de  ly'^oo  de  hauteur,  y  compris  les  toitures ; 
enfin,  derri^re,  d'une  rue  d'isolement.  A  cette  epoque,  ces  hotels, 
r^serv6s  k  I'habitation  bourgeoise,  dominaient  les  quartiers  environ- 
nants,  mais  Napoleon  III  n'avait  pas  prevu  le  developpement  pro- 
digieux  de  cette  region  qui,  decuplant  la  valeur  du  terrain,  a  pousse 
quelques  proprietaires  des  immeubles  situes  en  dehors  de  la  zone 
immobilis^e,  k  construire  k  toute  la  hauteur  permise  dans  le  reste  de 
Paris.  D'ou,  actuellement,  une  discordance  regrettable,  mais  heu- 
reusement  temporaire,  dans  I'alignement  des  toitures  du  quatrieme 
cadre  de  I'Arc  de  Triomphe. 

BOURSE  DE  COMMERCE  ET  SES  ABORDS. 

Depuis  1870,  une  seule  architecture  obligatoire  a  ete  imposee ; 
c'est  celle  qui  devait  couvrir  les  abords  de  la  Bourse  de  Commerce  et 
qui  a  fait  I'objet  d'un  traite  avec  un  entrepreneur-constructeur. 
Celui-ci  s'etait  engage  a  elever  sur  les  terrains  concedes  des  im- 
meubles d'un  type  approuve  par  I'Administration ;  il  a  construit,  mais 
il  s'est  cependant  fortement  ecarte  de  I'ordonnance  prevue. 

Pour  resumer  et  finir  cette  trop  longue  notice,  Messieurs,  il  me 
suflfira  de  constater  que  les  deux  tiers  des  servitudes  d 'architecture  de 
Paris  sont  demeurees  k  peu  prfes  observ^es  et  que  I'abandon  des  autres 
est  le  fait  des  epoques  ant^rieures,  sinon  de  leurs  auteurs  eux-memes. 
Elles  ont  subi  le  sort  de  tant  d 'autres  merveillcs  dont  Paris  etait  si 
riche,  et  que  I'ignorance  et  la  brutalite  ont  souvent  mis  au  compte 
des  necessites  de  revolution  necessaire  des  cites.  Heureusement, 
depuis  quelques  annees,  sous  la  poussee  des  artistes  et  des  archeo- 
logues,  I'opinion  publique  s'est  revoltee  contre  ces  destructions  trop 
souvent  injustifiees  et  une  reaction  salutaire  tend  a  ramener  les 
administrations  au  respect  des  richesses  artistiques  du  passe. 

Paris  fait  et  fera  desormais  d'energiques  efforts  dans  le  sens  de  ce 
renouveau.  Patiemment,  il  arrivera  k  neutraliser  les  heurts  et  k  con- 
cilier  le  souci  de  la  conservation  de  ses  beautes  avec  les  necessites, 
imperieuses  aussi,  de  I'hygi^ne  et  de  la  circulation. 

Cela  est  possible,  cela  est  meme  facile ;  c'est,  en  tous  cas,  neces- 
saire. Et  nul  doute  que  Paris  ne  tire  de  precieux  enseignements  de 
I'oeuvre  entreprise  dans  la  conference  qui  vous  r^unit  ici,  en  r^ponse 
a  I'intelligente  et  gracieuse  initiative  de  I'lnstitut  Royal  des  Archi- 
tectes  Britanniques. 


222   Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


[Translation  of  M.  Bonnier's  Paper.] 

NOTES  OX  THE  REGULATIONS  GOVERXIXG  THE  PLAN- 
XIXG  AXD  DESIGX  OF  RUILDIXGS  WITHIX  THE  CITY 
OF  PARIS. 

Ii  would  doubtless  be  of  very  i^'reat  interest  first  to  examine,  and 
then  to  institute  a  comparison  between,  the  actual  causes,  some  of 
them  obvious  and  others  not  immediately  apparent,  which  from  time 
to  time  have  led  the  Government  authorities  to  draw  up  a  series 
of  Regulations  for  the  City  of  Paris,  controlling  the  erection  of 
buildings  therein,  and  making  these  Regulations  obligatory  upon  all 
who  are  concerned  with  the  construction  of  such  buildings.  We 
should  probably  find  that,  often  enough,  the  underlying  causes  are 
widely  different  from  that  desire  for  decorative  effect  which  is  the 
dominant  note  of  the  Congress  now  assembled  in  London,  to  which 
have  been  attracted  so  large  a  number  of  persons  desirous  of 
obtaining  information  as  to  the  best  principles  of  Town  Planning, 
so  many  officials — engineers  as  well  as  architects — and  so  many 
artists,  all  of  them  desirous  of  offering  the  fruit  of  their  judgment 
and  of  their  practical  knowledge,  coupled  with  their  hearty  co-opera- 
tion, so  that  our  cities  may  thereby  be  rendered  more  worthy. 

Our  distinguished  Secretary-General,  Mr.  John  W.  Simpson,  has 
been  good  enough  to  ask  me  for  a  short  description  of  the  thirty -one 
Regulations  which  have  been  drawn  up  for  the  purpose  of  controlling 
the  planning  and  design  of  buildings  in  Paris. 

These  Regulations  are  as  follows  : — 

PLACE  DES   VOSGES. 

The  earlier  of  these  architectural  Regulations  applies  to  the  Place 
des  \'osges,  formerly  known  as  the  Place  Royale.  On  the  5th  of 
August,  1605,  Henri  IV.,  when  engaged  with  Sully  in  reorganising 
the  kingdom  after  that  protracted  period  of  disorder  into  which  it 
had  been  thrown  by  the  wars  of  the  League,  endeavoured  at  the 
same  time  to  systematise  the  laying  out  of  the  City  of  Paris  :  and, 
at  the  expense  of  mediaeval  picturesqueness,  he  resolved,  for  "  the 
convenience  and  embellishment  of  the  city,"  to  lay  out  upon  the 
site  of  the  old  horse-market  a  large  open  square  measuring  273.50 
metres  on  every  side.  He  proclaims  his  intention  of  erecting  on  all 
sides  houses  of  a  similar,  though  not  identical,  type,  with  shops  on 
the  ground  floor  for  commercial  purposes ;  constructing  at  the 
same  time  a  promenade  for  the  inhabitants,  who  are  "  too  much 
penned  in  in  their  houses,"  and  providing  suitable  open  spaces  for 
"  large  gatherings  and  fetes."  He  set  an  example  by  himself 
erecting  the  Pavilion  leading  to  the  Rue  de  Birague,  and  known  as 
"  Pavilion  du  Roi." 

In  order  to  preserve  the  harmony  of  the  whole,  and  so  that  each 
house  should  "  remain  for  ever  "  in  possession  of  the  same  owners, 
"  for  them,  their  heirs,  and  assigns,"  the  Edict  of  1605  provides  that 
each  several  property  shall  be  maintained  perpetually  in  its  integrity, 


Regulations  governing  Design  of  Buildings  in  Paris.     22^\ 

and  as  a  result  one  of  them  is  still,  after  300  years,  in  tiie  possession 
of  the  family  by  whom  it  was  built. 

Under  Henri  IV.  and  Louis  XIII.  the  Place  Royale  was  the 
centre  of  fashionable  society.  Mvcn  thouij^h  certain  regrettable 
alterations,  such  as  the  addition  of  balconies,  the  mutilation  of  dormer 
windows,  &:c. ,  have  been  made  in  the  course  M  the  last  three  lenturies 
bv  owners  devoid  of  all  artistic  sense,  and  the  Hy-law  of  1849  as  to 
the  buildinij  line  now  threatens  two  of  these  houses  with  destruction, 
vet  tJie  Place  Royale  as  a  whole  still  retains  its  harmony  of  colourinj^ 
and  its  noble  and  imposing;-  symmetry. 

PL.^CE  D.XLPHINE. 

In  the  same  spirit  as  that  in  which  he  devised  the  Place  Royale, 
Henri  IV.,  two  years  later,  granted  to  the  President  de  Harlay  the 
lease  of  certain  lands  consisting  of  the  two  islets  in  the  Seine,  one 
of  which,  the  He  aux  \'aches,  where  Jacques  de  Molay  was  led  to 
execution,  below  the  Jardin  du  Baillagc,  forms  the  "  Pointe  de  la 
Cit^. "  The  two  islets  together  occupy  the  whole  space  included 
between  the  Pont-Xeuf  and  the  Palais  de  Justice,  and  the  lease  was 
granted  on  condition  that  "  the  said  first  President  shall  cause  the 
aforesaid  lands  to  be  built  over  in  accordance  with  the  plan  and 
specification  drawn  up  for  that  purpose." 

As  earlv  as  1609  the  plan  of  Francois  Quesnel  shows  the  area 
reduced  to  a  perfect  triangle,  surrounded  by  symmetrically  built 
houses  harmonising  with  the  Pont-Ncuf  and  the  statue  of  Henri  IV'., 
in  front  of  which  a  monumental  archway  was  to  have  been  erected. 

Unfortunately,  this  splendid  scheme  does  not  appear  to  have  ever 
been  fully  carried  out.  Some  of  the  houses  still  retain  very  much 
of  their  original  appearance,  or  at  least  certain  highly  important 
traces  of  their  former  design.  Two  only  of  these  buildings 
facing  the  Pont-Neuf  have  recently  been  restored  to  their  primitive 
state  by  the  owners,  and  demonstrate  to  the  full  how  satisfactory  a 
result  would  be  obtained  if  this  intelligent  and  meritorious  example 
were  followed  by  others. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Government  and  the  City  of  Paris 
should  have  set  a  bad  example  in  doing  away  with  part  of  the  Place 
Dauphine  in  order  to  erect  upon  it  the  wonderful  and  imposing,  but 
useless,  flight  of  steps  leading  to  the  Palais  de  Justice  ;  but  we  may 
dream  of  a  time  when  such  errors  will  be  rectified  by  the  purchase 
of  these  lands  and  properties  on  behalf  of  the  public  authorities, 
when  we  shall  see  each  portion  restored  to  its  proper  condition,  and 
the  whole  acquired  for  the  purpt)ses  of  the  .Administration  ;  so  that 
this  portion  of  the  City,  which  is  inevitably  destined  one  day  to  be 
wholly  devoted  to  the  public  service,  will  at  the  same  time  form  the 
monumental  centre  of  Paris. 

RUE  DE  L.\  FERRONNERIE. 

In  1669  the  rue  de  la  Ferronnerie  was  occupied  by  booths,  the 
backs  of  which  adjoined  the  charnel-house  of  the  Cimeti^re  des  Inno- 
cents. Louis  XIV.,  with  a  view  to  increasing  its  width  to  30  feet, 
ordered   that   the   Chapter  of   Saint-Gcrmain-lWuxerrois   should,    in 


224  Trausactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

accordance  with  their  offer,  have  these  hovels  replaced  by  a  vast 
building  entirely  occupying  one  side  of  the  new  street.  Furthermore, 
"  at  each  end  of  the  Rue  de  la  Ferronncrie  there  was  to  be  built  a 
portico  in  accordance  with  a  design  which  has  also  been  ordered  by 
His  Majesty." 

The  King  at  the  same  time  settled  all  the  financial  questions  which 
might  arise  with  the  Chapter  of  Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois  with 
respect  to  the  extension  of  the  Louvre,  up  to  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
thousand  livres ;  of  which  amount  fifty  thousand  livres  were  .to  be 
employed  in  the  erection  of  houses  in  the  Rue  de  la  Ferronnerie, 
and  the  other  half  "  for  such  decorative  purposes  and  in  such  place 
as  it  shall  please  His  Majesty  to  order." 

Very  little  of  the  original  design  was  carried  out,  and  no  trace  of 
the  two  porticoes  or  of  the  domes  remains.  In  1854  several  bays 
were  pulled  down  for  the  purpose  of  widening  the  Rue  de  la  Lingerie, 
and  in  1868  further  alterations  were  carried  out.  The  whole  range 
of  buildings  was  increased  in  height  by  the  addition  in  some  places 
of  one  floor,  in  others  of  two  floors.  The  low^er  part  is  concealed 
by  incongruous  shop  fronts.  The  frontage  is  in  a  state  of  decay  and 
mutilation,  and  has  well-nigh  vanished.  It  would  require  an  effort 
that  can  hardly  be  hoped  for  to  restore  this  architectural  design  to 
its  original  dignity  and  severity. 

PLACE  DES  VICTOIRES. 

In  1684  the  Marechal  Due  de  la  Feuillade,  wishing  to  provide  a 
circular  and  ornamental  space  which  should  form  a  setting  for  a 
pompous  statue  of  Louis  XIV.,  bought  certain  land  and  set  to  work 
to  carry  out  a  design  supplied  by  Jules  Hardouin  Mansart,  which, 
after  the  death  of  the  Marechal  Due,  was  continued  by  the  Provost 
of  the  Merchants'  Guild  and  the  Aldermen  of  the  City  of  Paris.  The 
contract  bound  the  owners  of  the  houses  facing  the  square  and  also 
their  successors  to  maintain  the  frontages  in  their  original  condition, 
"  without  making  any  changes  therein  at  any  time." 

Louis  XIV.  unveiled  his  statue  before  these  works  were  com- 
pleted, and  the  Place  des  Victoires  became  and  remained  one  of  the 
most  fashionable  and  animated  centres  of  Paris  until  the  Revolution 
did  away  with  the  King's  statue  and  replaced  it  by  that  of  General 
Desaix. 

During  nearly  the  whole  of  the  nineteenth  century  successive 
attacks  were  directed  against  this  admirable  ordinance.  Resolutions 
and  decrees  provided  for  the  widening  of  the  approaches  by  cutting 
up  parts  of  the  original  design,  and,  what  is  more,  a  single  resolution 
of  the  administrative  authorities,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  covenants 
aforesaid,  sanctioned,  and  even  recommended,  that  Mansart's  work 
should  be  replaced  by  three  uninteresting  buildings,  which  might  be 
raised  to  any  desired  height. 

But  let  us  hope  that  the  destruction  of  the  Place  des  Victoires  will 
stop  at  this  point.  There  is  still  enough  of  it  left  to  command  the 
admiration  of  all  who  are  endowed  with  any  artistic  taste,  and  the 
Municipality  of  Paris  will  make  it  their  duty  henceforth  to  retain 
intact,  or  even  to  improve — by  restricting  the  use  of  signboards,  if 


Regulations  Governing  Design  of  Buildings  in  Paris.     225 

not  b\'  prohibiting  them  altogether — all  that  yet  remains  of  an  archi- 
tectural scheme  whose  elegance  and  historical  character  should  have 
protected  it  for  all  time  against  the  slightest  outrage. 

PLACE   VENDOME. 

With  a  view  to  concentrating  the  King's  Library,  sundry  academic 
institutions,  the  Mint,  the  Hotel  des  Ambassadeurs,  and  other 
buildings  on  the  site  of  the  present  Place  \'end6me,  the  Minister 
Louvois,  in  1685,  purchased  the  Hotel  de  Vendome  and  pulled  down 
the  Couvent  des  Capucines,  rebuilding  the  latter  with  an  imposing 
dome  placed  on  the  axis  of  the  square  he  proposed  to  form.  This 
scheme  provided  for  a  "  place  "  with  buildings  on  three  sides,  the 
fourtli  side  being  enclosed  by  railings  along  the  Rue  Saint-Honore, 
the  four  angles  being  emphasised  by  pavilions.  Opposite  the 
railings  there  was  to  be  an  arcaded  entrance.  But  Louvois  died  in 
1691,  leaving  his  work  unfinished.  Then,  in  1698,  Louis  XI\'. 
caused  the  buildings  already  begun  to  be  demolished,  and  ordered 
the  works  to  be  resumed  according  to  Mansart's  plan,  which  gave  to 
this  open  space  its  present  octagonal  shape,  and  affected  not  only  the 
square  itself,  but  also  the  two  roads  of  approach,  with  return  eleva- 
tions to  the  Rue  Saint-Honore  and  the  Rue  des  Mathurins. 

It  was  then  known  as  the  Place  des  Conquetes,  or  Place  Louis  le 
Grand.  It  w^as  finished  in  1701,  and  became  the  aristocratic  centre 
of  Paris  during  the  eighteenth  century. 

During  the  nineteenth  century  it  retained  its  vast  and  imposing 
aspect,  and  underwent  no  considerable  alteration,  save  only  that  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century  the  axial  principle  emphasised  by  the 
entrance  to  the  Convent  on  the  north  and  to  the  Feuillants  on  the 
south  disappeared,  and  that  the  statue  of  Napoleon  L  was  erected 
in  the  centre. 

Towards  the  end  of  last  century  the  character  of  the  old  dwellings 
in  the  Place  Vendome  gradually  disappeared  and  gave  way  to  hotels 
and  to  commercial  establishments,  some  of  which,  despite  the 
upholding  of  the  terms  of  the  contracts  by  the  authorities,  have 
erected  signboards  on  the  balconies  and  in  other  places,  thereby 
striking  a  discordant  note  in  the  general  architectural  style. 

Commercialism,  however,  is  not  solely  responsible  for  all  these 
acts.  One  of  the  great  axial  buildings,  now  occupied  by  the  Ministry 
of  Justice,  hides  with  its  enormous  shutters,  of  which  one  pair  occu- 
pies as  much  surface  as  the  signboards,  the  architectural  details  of 
Mansart's  building,  affording  an  encouragement  to  the  encroachments 
of  private  occupiers  which  is  to  be  regretted. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  eyesores,  the  Place  \*end6me  remains 
one  of  the  most  placid  and  noble  relics  of  old  Paris  in  the  midst  of 
the  feverish  bustle  of  the  modern  city. 

PLACE    SAINT-SLLPICE. 

In  order  to  clear  the  approaches  and  to  open  up  a  view  of  the 
church  which  he  was  building  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  architect  Servandoni  had  planned  a  large  square,  m- 
tending  to  surround  it  with  houses  of  a  uniform  style.     In  accordance 

o 


2^6   'i'rc:::::Actijiis  of  tlic  Toiai  riaiiniiiL;;  Conjcrrncc,  Oct.  iqio. 

with  this  plan,  the  buildiiii^  <>f  xhv  cKt^m -house,   Xo.  h,  in  the  square 
was  commenced. 

In  1806,  howexer,  a  Minister  of  the  Interior,  on  economical 
grounds  and  contrary  to  the  suggestions  of  llic  Prefect  of  the  Seine, 
caused  to  be  adopted  "  another  scheme,"  which,  according  to  him, 
was  "  less  expensive  and  capable  of  being  reconciled  with  artistic 
embellishments."  The  square  was,  nevertheless,  laid  out  with 
practically  the  same  dimensions  as  those  set  out  by  Servandoni,  but 
without  anv  architectural  pretensions,  and  hence  Paris  lost  the 
opportunit\'  of  possessing  a  square  which  had  ijeen  judiciously  planned 
by  the  actual  designer  of  the  monumeni,  which  was  to  be  its  principal 
feature.     The  clergy-house  alone  remains. 

RUE  ROV.ALE,    rL.VCE  DE  L.\  CONCORDE,   AND  APPROACHES. 

As  far  back  as  1670  the  plan  of  Bullet  and  Blondel  shows  an 
interesting  scheme  for  constructing  a  square  among  the  timber-yards 
which  then  occupied  the  present  space  taken  up  by  the  Place  de  la 
Concorde,  with  ditches  and  turning-bridge  and  representing  the  incep- 
tion of  the  Rue  Royale  and  the  approach  to  the  Champs-Elysees. 

However,  it  was  not  until  1763  that  the  works  were  at  last  begun, 
after  designs  drawn  up  by  Gabriel,  who  at  the  same  time  built  the 
two  splendid  ornaments  of  the  Garde-Meuble  and  the  Ministry  of  the 
Navy.  The  square  then  presented  a  very  different  aspect  from  that  of 
to-day.  Behind  the  balustrades  ponds  had  been  dug,  which  gave  It 
a  much  more  animated  and  picturesque  appearance. 

The  plans  of  1772  provided  for  the  extension  of  the  Rue  Royale 
in  the  form  of  a  fan  as  far  as  the  Madeleine,  with  restrictions  upon  the 
architectural  treatment  which  have  never  been  enforced.  Then  a 
decree  of  the  year  II  set  forth  that  "  two  colonnades  forming  the 
Garde-Meuble  should  be  joined  together  by  a  triumphal  arch."  This 
arch,  however,  was  not  to  interfere  with  the  view  of  the  Madeleine, 
which  had  then  become  the  Temple  de  la  Revolution.  Napoleon  I. 
established  the  aerial  telegraph  upon  the  Ministry  of  the  Navy. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  the  removal  of  the  ornamental  ponds,  and 
thanks  to  the  fact  that  the  arch  contemplated  by  the  Convention  was 
never  erected,  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  placed  axially  between  the 
Madeleine,  the  Louvre,  the  Palais  Bourbon,  and  the  Champs-Elysees, 
remains  intact  and  worthy  of  its  world-wide  reputation. 

RUE  DE  VIARMES. 

A  symmetrical  style  of  architecture  was,  about  the  same  time, 
made  compulsory  in  respect  of  a  small  street  near  the  ancient  Corn 
Market,  erected  upon  the  space  occupied  by  the  Hotel  de  Nesle,  the 
former  residence  of  Catherine  de  M6dicis.  In  1887  the  City  of  Paris 
decided  to  pull  it  down  during  the  process  of  disencumbering  the 
markets  and  transforming  the  Corn  Market  into  the  Bourse  de 
Commerce. 

RUE   DES   COLONNES. 

Then  we  come  to  the  Rue  des  Colonnes,  begun  in  1783  and 
declared  open  in  1798.  It  comprises,  within  the  height  of  the  ground 
floor,  galleries  under  cover  which  are  open  to  the  public.  As  the 
regulation  as  to  style  only  applies  to  the  galleries,  the  frontages  over 


Regulations  Governing  Design  of  Buildings  in  Paris.     22-j 

them  belong  to  no  particular  style  and  are  uninteresting.  They  are 
the  relics  of  a  former  passage  leading  to  the  Theatre  Feydeau,  in 
front  of  which  the  galleries  afforded  a  shelter  for  the  public. 

RUE   DE   RIVOLI. 

A  decree  of  the  Consuls,  signed  by  Bonaparte,  who,  after  the 
attempt  in  the  Rue  Sainte-Xicaise,  was  anxious  to  isolate  the  Tuileries 
and  to  do  away  with  the  Salle  du  Manege,  the  scene  of  those  terrible 
meetings  of  the  Convention,  provided  for  the  construction  of  a  street 
which  was  to  occupy  the  whole  width  of  one  of  the  courts  of  the  old 
Palace,  and  to  cut  it  off  from  the  buildings  of  the  Rue  Saint-Honore, 
a  portion  of  which,  as  it  formed  part  of  the  nationalised  estates, 
belonged  to  the  State.  The  recollection  of  the  Italian  cam- 
paigns was  responsible  for  the  monotonous  and  stiff  architectural 
style  of  the  Rue  de  Rivoli  observed  in  that  first  section  of  the  street 
which  leads  from  the  Place  des  Pyramides  to  the  Place  de  la  Con- 
corde. This  original  ordinance  was  modified  as  soon  a?  it  became 
operative,  as  well  as  subsequently,  in  the  course  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  as  the  result  of  the  opening  of  new  public  thoroughfares,  the 
demolition  of  storeys  and  porticoes,  the  addition  of  balconies, 
shutters,  and  gas  appliances,  the  encroachment  of  signboards  on 
porticoes,  &c.  The  roofs,  which  have  been  the  subject  of  such  livelv 
debates,  not  only  appear  to  have  received  scanty  attention  from  the 
architects  who  produced  the  original  designs,  but  exhibit  the 
greatest  ^  ariety  of  style  in  their  construction,  and,  their  form  never 
having  been  established  by  the  said  decree,  they  have  remained  sub- 
ject to  the  common  law.  It  was  in  the  same  spirit  that  Xapoleon  I., 
as  far  back  as  1811,  interpreted  the  Edict  of  the  Consul  Bonaparte, 
when  he  approved  a  scheme  for  the  building  of  the  Ministry  of  Posts 
with  a  curved  roof. 

It  should  be  further  noted  that  the  compulsory  style  of  archi- 
tecture imposed  upon  the  Rue  de  Rivoli  is  also  applicable  to  the 
Rue  Castiglione  and  the  Rue  des  Pyramides,  which  form  one 
homogeneous  design  with  an  indefinite  series  of  repetitions,  gaining 
increased  effect,  however,  on  account  of  its  extension. 

PLACE   DE   L^ECOLE   DE    MEDECINE. 

The  First  Consul,  after  the  demolition  of  the  magnificent  church  of 
the  Cordeliers,  had  also  issued  a  decree,  dated  the  23rd  Fructidor 
of  the  year  XI,  providing  for  the  construction,  in  accordance  with 
Goudoin's  plan,  of  a  symmetrical  open  place  in  front  of  the  School 
of  Surgery.  The  square  was  done  away  with  in  1876  for  the  purpose 
of  widening  the  Rue  de  I'Ecole  de  Medecine. 

PLACE    DU    PANTHEON. 

\  erniquet's  plan  (1791)  shows  already  the  circular  front  of  the 
Ecole  de  Droit  in  front  of  the  Pantheon.  In  1807  Xapoleon  imposed 
certain  regulations  upon  the  circular  portion  opposite  and  upon  the 
lateral  rectilinear  sides  of  the  said  space,  it  being  provided  that 
"  the  further  end  should  be  formed  by  the  buildings  of  the  College 
Henri  I\\"  This  scheme,  as  a  whole,  was  not  really  finally  carried  out 

o  2 


228  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

until  the  reiiiii  of  Louis  Philippe,  who,  in  1843,  ordered  the  levelling 
and  pa\"ing-  of  the  square,  the  construction  of  the  Biblioth^que  Sainte- 
(ienevi^ve,  and  the  erection  of  the  Mairie  for  the  Arrondissement 
behind  the  second  circular  frontage  similar  to  the  facade  of  the  Ecole 
de  Droit.  This  space  has  not  been  altered  since,  except  that  the 
private  houses  of  the  rectilinear  portions  have  been  rebuilt. 

PL.\CE   DE   LA   MADELEINE. 

I-inallv,  the  organising  genius  of  Napoleon  I.  had  also  conceived 
a  monumental  scheme  for  the  Madeleine.  In  a  decree  of  September 
180H  provisions  are  made  for  the  Rue  Tronchet  and  the  Boulevard 
Malesherbes ;  the  vicinity  of  the  square  is  brought  under  specific 
architectural  rules,  the  treatment  of  the  southern  portion  of  the  area 
being  left  to  a  later  decree.  Unfortunately,  the  intended  ordinance 
was  never  applied,  either  to  that  portion  or  to  the  whole  of  the 
square,  except  as  regards  ahgnment. 

The  Restoration,  the  July  Monarchy,  and  the  Second  Republic 
did  nothing,  or  well-nigh  nothing,  to  beautify  Paris.  Each,  on  the 
contrary,  condemned  and  destroyed  a  large  number  of  interesting 
monuments  which  belonged  to  old  Paris  in  pursuance  of  alignment 
regulations  which  are  deeply  to  be  deplored.  But  Napoleon  III.,  in 
the  interest  of  sanitation  and  improvements  generally,  and  also  on 
strategical  grounds,  not  only  drew  up  compulsory  building  laws  for 
dealing  with  limited  spaces,  such  as  the  Place  Louis  XIV.  and  the 
Place  Henri  I\". ,  but  also  effected  improvements  in  the  general  lay-out 
of  Paris,  including  the  construction  of  large  thoroughfares  with 
plantations,  and  the  opening  of  parks  and  squares,  which  under 
Haussmann's  guidance  may,  perhaps,  be  regarded  as  the  first  mani- 
festation of  town  planning. 

APPROACHES    TO   THE   HOTEL   DE   VILLE. 

An  old  regulation  which  goes  back  to  1852  relates  to  the  two 
blocks  of  houses  which  form  the  western  portion  of  the  Place  de 
I'Hotel  de  Ville,  and  applies  to  each  of  their  four  frontages.  This 
provision,  conceived  with  the  best  of  intentions  and  duly  carried  out, 
might  have  given  excellent  results  if  it  had  been  extended  to  the 
frontages  of  the  Place  de  I'Hdtel  de  Ville,  and  especially  if  the 
originators  had  gone  earnestly  into  the  question  of  architectural 
design. 

KIE    DE    RIVOLI    (SECOND    SECTION),    PLACE    AND    RLE    Df    LOl  VRE. 

In  the  same  year,  1852,  at  the  very  commencement  of  his  reign, 
Napoleon  III.,  anxious  to  complete  the  isolation  of  the  Tuileries, 
which  were  still  separated  from  the  Louvre  by  a  whole  district, 
resumed  the  prolongation  of  the  Rue  de  Rivoli,  begun  by  his  uncle, 
Napoleon  I.  The  same  regulations  were  enforced  with  regard  to  the 
property  in  both  the  Place  and  the  Rue  du  Louvre,  facing  the  Perrault 
Colonnade.  The  architecture  is  much  the  same  as  that  of  the  year  X, 
or,  rather,  it  is  a  copy  of  what  the  work  of  Percier  and  Fontaine 
had  been  reduced  to  in  1852,  subject,  however,  to  the  obligation  of  a 
high,  curved  roof,  carefully  specified.     The  quiet  dignity  of  the  whole 


Regulations  Governing  Design  of  Buildings  in  Paris.     229 

design  acts  as  an  admirable  foil  to  the  rich  and  varied  detail  displayed 
in  the  architecture  of  the  Palace. 

ri:e  de  l''elysee. 

The  desire,  furthermore,  to  isolate  the  Palais  de  1' Ely  see,  his 
favourite  residence,  induced  Napoleon  III.,  after  the  purchase  of  the 
Castellane  and  Sebastiani  Mansions  in  the  Faubourg-  Saint-Honorc, 
to  plan  the  present  Rue  de  I'Elysee,  lining  it  on  each  side  with  smaller 
symmetrical  houses  called  "  Maisons  Anglaises,"  in  which  the  recol- 
lection of  his  exile  in  England  is  apparent  in  the  fore-courts  which 
separate  them  from  the  public  road. 

PASSAGE   DES   PRINCES. 

An  order  of  the  Prefect  of  the  Seine  authorised  the  banker  Mires 
and  the  Due  d'Albufera  to  open  the  Passage  des  Princes  in  i860, 
without,  however,  binding  the  builders  to  any  really  compulsory 
architectural  rules. 

RUE  PAPIN. 

The  restrictions  imposed  by  the  City  of  Paris  in  the  deeds  of  sale 
for  the  two  adjoining  plots  occupied  by  the  Gaite  Theatre  are  more 
serious,  though  the  elevation  of  the  building  does  not  appear 
sufficiently  impressive. 

BOULEVARD  DU   PALAIS. 

The  same  applies  to  the  houses  in  alignment  along  the  Boulevard 
du  Palais,  which  must  harmonise  with  the  municipal  buildings  occu- 
pied by  the  Prefecture  of  Police  and  the  General  Staff  of  the  Fire 
Brigade. 

BOULEVARD    SAINT-MICHEL. 

The  opening  of  the  Boulevard  Saint-Michel  permitted  the  intro- 
duction of  a  regular  style  of  architecture  around  the  square  which 
connects  it  with  the  bridge.  The  buildings,  which  possess  no  great 
artistic  worth,  produce,  nevertheless,  with  the  monumental  fountain 
designed  by  the  architect  Davioud,  a  tolerably  decorative  effect. 

PLACE   DE   l'eUROPE. 

The  Place  de  1' Europe  in  its  turn  was  surrounded  by  houses  of  a 
uniform  style  in  1859,  and  laid  out  with  flower-beds  and  hanging 
gardens  along  the  line  of  the  Western  Railway. 

APPROACHES  TO  THE  OPERA. 

Then  we  come  to  the  great  task  of  co-ordinating  t'le  approaches  to 
the  Opera,  which — together  with  the  construction  of  the  Rues  Auber, 
Scribe,  Halevy,  Gluck,  Meyerbeer,  the  Place  de  I'Opera,  the  Boule- 
vard des  Capucines,  and  the  first  section  of  the  Avenue  de  I'Opera,  en- 
closed on  each  side  with  houses  of  a  regulation  type — resulted  in  the 
improvement  of  a  whole  section  of  the  city,  whether  regarded  from 
the  standpoint  of  health,  symmetr}-.  or  beauty. 

PLACE  DU  THEATRE   FRAN^AIS   AND  APPROACHES. 

This  general  plan  was  completed  by  the  construction  of  the  square 


2,:;()    'rruusactiuns  af  the  'i'oicn  Plunning  CoiijcrL  iici'.  Oil.  igio. 

and    approaches    to    the    Tht-atrc     I'^rancais,     also     with     regulation 
frontages. 

APPROACHF.S   T(5  TilE   BOIS   DE   BOULOGNE. 

It  is  again  to  Napoleon  111.  that  is  due  the  honour  of  having 
created  in  Paris  the  first  of  those  great  thoroughfares  lined  with 
"  non  aedificandi  "  zones  and  bordered  with  inalienable  grass-plots. 
.An  .\ct  of  1855  made  this  scheme  operative  in  regard  to  the  Boulevards 
Lannes  and  Suchct,  the  Avenues  Ingres,  Raphael,  and  Henri 
Martin,  the  Chaussec  de  la  Muette,  and  the  Boulevards  Beausejour 
and  Montmorency.  The  owners  are  subject  to  all  the  ordinary  obliga- 
tions, and,  furthermore,  to  what  is  called  the  *'  Grille  de  Cloture  " 
(enclosing  railings),  and  to  the  private  dwelling  clause ;  they  are 
forbidden  from  carrying  on  any  trade  or  industry,  and  are  obliged  to 
build  ornamental  gables.  This  is  an  excellent  measure,  which  has 
been  responsible  for  the  beauty  of  these  new  quarters,  and  which  it 
would  have  been  well  to  adopt  on  all  other  occasions. 

ROND-POINI    DES  CHAMPS-ELVSEES  AND  APPROACHES. 

By  a  decree  of  1869  the  transformation  of  the  Rond-Point  des 
Champs-Elysees  with  similar  flower-beds  was  approved,  but  under 
obligation  of  erecting  symmetrical  houses.  This  decree  extended 
also  to  the  Avenue  Montaigne  and  to  that  part  of  the  Avenue  d'Antin 
which  leads  to  the  Seine.  Its  provisions,  however,  have  not  been 
entirely  complied  with. 

AVENUE    DL'    TROCADERO. 

Finall}',  there  is  a  regulation  of  a  similar  nature  which  concerns 
the  Avenue  du  Trocadero  and  the  Rues  Debrousse  and  Ciaston  de 
Saint-Paul. 

AVE.NUE  GABRIEL. 

\  erniquet's  plan  (1791)  just  shows  the  inception  of  the  .Avenue 
Gabriel ;  but  this  avenue,  which  is  unfinished,  abutted  upon  a  ditch 
running  behind  the  houses  w^hich  face  the  Faubourg  Saint-Honorc. 
The  City  of  Paris,  by  virtue  of  an  agreement  with  the  owners,  did 
away  with  the  ditch  in  1852,  and  gave  them  the  right  of  way  into 
the  Champs-Elysees,  subject  to  their  property  being  enclosed  on  that 
side  by  means  of  iron  railings,  and  to  their  waiving  the  right  to  erect 
thereon  any  buildings  other  than  small  porters'  lodges.  This  agree- 
ment, which  insures  the  preservation  of  beautiful  and  extensive 
gardens,  has  been  duly  observed  on  both  sides. 

PARC   MONCEAU. 

An  arrangement  entered  into  with  the  banker  Pereire  provides 
for  the  Avenues  \^elasquez,  Ruysdael,  Van  Dyck,  and  Rembrandt, 
round  the  old  Pare  de  Monceau,  lined  with  luxurious  buildings  of 
moderate   height  and   surrounded   by   shrubberies. 

PLACE    DE    L'ETOILE. 

The  .Arc  de  Triomphe,  commenced  by  Napoleon  I.  and  completed^ 
to   the  honour  of  the  Due  d'   .\ngouleme,  at    the    Restoration,    was 


Regulations  Governing  Design  of  Buildings  in  Paris.       231 

originalh'  hidden  in  the  ^^ohtude  of  the  Chaillot  walking-grounds, 
and  was  in  danger  that  its  setting  of  verdure  would  be  encroached 
upon  by  the  westward  progress  of  Parisian  building.  Wishing  to 
endow  it  with  a  setting  worthy  of  its  great  artistic  and  historic 
interest,  Napoleon  III.,  by  a  decree  of  1859,  caused  a  space  224  metres 
in  diameter  to  be  laid  out  at  its  base.  This  he  surrounded  with  flower- 
beds, protected  by  suitable  railings,  behind  which  he  erected  a  row 
of  uniform  houses,  17  metres  high,  including  the  roof.  Behind  these 
again  a  street  was  made  for  the  purpose  of  isolating  the  whole  area. 
At  that  time  these  mansions,  used  as  dwellings  for  the  gentry, 
dominated  the  surrounding  districts ;  but  Xapoleon  III.  had  not 
foreseen  the  prodigious  development  of  the  neighbourhood,  which, 
while  increasing  the  value  of  the  land  tenfold,  induced  some  of  the 
owners  of  property  outside  the  zone  thus  laid  out  to  build  up  to 
the  maximum  height  allowed  in  other  parts  of  Paris.  The  conse- 
quence is  that  we  now  find  a  want  of  harmony  which,  though  fortu- 
nately only  temporary,  is  to  be  regretted,  in  the  alignment  of  the 
roofs  of  the  fourth  range  encircling  the  /\rc  de  Triomphe. 

THE    BOURSE    DE    COMMERCE    AND    ITS    APPROACHES. 

Since  1S70  only  one  such  compulsory  building  regulation  has  been 
passed,  namely,  that  concerning  the  approaches  to  the  Bourse  de 
Commerce.  The  whole  execution  of  this  scheme  has  been  contracted 
out  to  a  building  contractor,  who  undertook  to  erect  buildings  of  a 
t\  pe  to  be  approved  by  the  Administration  upon  the  lands  committed 
to  his  charge  ;  but  the  buildings  he  has  erected  are  very  far  from 
agreeing  with  the  provisions  of  the  contract  in  question.  He  built 
them,  but  he  greatly  departed  from  the  rules  prescribed. 

To  sum  up,  and  to  bring  this  over-long  Paper  to  a  close,  it  will 
be  sufficient  for  me  to  state  that  practically  two-thirds  of  the 
building  regulations  of  this  nature  which  concern  Paris  have 
been  complied  with,  and  that  the  abandonment  of  the  others  is  the 
work  of  bygone  days,  if  not  of  the  originators  themselves.  They 
have  experienced  the  fate  of  so  many  other  marvels  which  were  once 
plentiful  in  Paris,  and  which  ignorance  and  lack  of  artistic  sense  have 
sacrificed  to  the  imperative  demands  of  the  unavoidable  evolution  of 
cities.  Fortunately,  for  some  years  past,  and  under  the  influence 
of  artists  and  archaeologists,  public  opinion  has  rebelled  against 
these  destructions,  mostly  unwarranted,  and  a  healthy  reaction  is 
now  tending  to  bring  the  authorities  back  to  a  sense  of  respect  for 
the  artistic  heritage  left  us  by  the  past. 

Paris  is  making,  and  will  continue  to  make,  strenuous  efforts 
to  hasten  the  coming  of  this  new  Spring-tide ;  patiently  she  will 
endeavour  to  reconcile  the  desire  for  the  preser\ation  of  her  beauty 
with  the  equally  imperatixe  requirements  of  hygiene  and  modern 
traffic. 

This  is  feasible  and,  I  ma\-  even  say,  easy.  In  any  case,  it  is 
necessary,  and  no  one  doubts  that  Paris  will  have  learnt  a  valuable 
lesson  from  the  work  undertaken  by  the  Conference  which  has 
brought  us  together  here  to-day,  in  response  to  the  wise  and  praise- 
worthv  initiative  of  the  Roval  Institute  of  British  Architects. 


2^^^2     TransacliDus  oj  the  Toivii  PUtiuiiiig  Coiijcroice,  Oct.  1910. 


(4)    CAUSE  AM)  EFFECT  L\  THE  MODERN  CITY. 

By  H.  \'.  LwcHKSTER,  F.R.I.B.A. 

While  one  may  take  a  sing-le  example  of  an  important  modern  city 
and  point  out  its  characteristics,  it  seems  to  me  that  such  a  study 
would  be  of  less  value  than  a  more  general  one  ranging  over  the 
causes  that  have  resulted  in  the  various  types  of  city  as  we  find  them 
at  the  present  day.  Only  by  such  a  course  can  we  secure  the  kno\\  - 
ledge  necessary  to  bring  our  work  in  the  future  into  harmony  with 
the  natural  forces,  and  thus  ensure  that  what  we  do  should  be  on 
sound  lines  and  likely  to  endure.  It  is  not,  of  course,  to  be  inferred 
that  the  future  is  to  be  like  the  past ;  but  the  way  in  which  causes 
operate  to  produce  effects  is  the  same  in  all  ages,  and  though,  if 
conditions  vary,  as  they  inevitably  will,  the  effects  are  different,  the 
influence  of  the  one  on  the  other  remains  a  fixed  quantity. 

The  causes  influencing  the  outward  aspect  of  the  city  are  of  the 
widest  imaginable  range,  embracing  the  whole  life  of  man,  and  it  is 
hardly  possible  to  conceive  any  factors,  whether  physical,  psycho- 
logical, racial,  or  social,  that  do  not  act  and  are  not  themselves 
reacted  on  by  the  structural  environment  of  the  community. 

We  have  already  heard  something  of  the  city  in  the  primitive  and 
subsequent  periods,  and  to-day  we  meet  to  consider  the  city  as  we  find 
it  in  our  time.  For  the  reason  I  have  just  given,  it  appears  to  me  that 
a  mere  description  of  existing  types  is  of  little  value  compared  with  a 
brief  study  of  the  circumstances  producing  such  types.  These  are  so 
complex  and  so  interlaced  that  it  would  be  impossible,  except  at  great 
length,  to  convey  an  impression  accurately  proportioned  in  all  its 
details,  and  I  must  claim  your  permission  to  indicate,  by  examples 
more  or  less  crude  and  elementary,  the  kind  of  influen(-e  that  I  have  in 
mind. 

At  the  start  we  must  consider  the  main  purpose  of  the  civic  com- 
munity as  constituted  at  the  present  time.  It  has  been  the  fashion  to 
regard  this  almost  entirely  from  an  economic  standpoint,  assuming 
that  the  city  has  grown  up  because  of  the  advantages  it  oflers  in 
raising  the  standard  of  living  by  giving  facilities  for  organised  pro- 
duction. For  my  part,  I  doubt  if  this  is  the  dominating  force,  believ- 
ing that  ideal  influences  are  more  powerful  than  material  ones.  A 
particular  ideal  may  appeal  to  one  as  refined  or  vulgar,  admirable  or 
objectionable  ;  but  it,  not  economic  advantage,  is  the  real  motive  force 
in  the  development  of  the  community,  and  material  advantage  forms 
but  a  part  of  such  an  ideal. 

I  trust  it  is  clear  that  this  short  contribution  can  in  no  way  attempt 
to  cover  the  whole  range  of  causes  affecting  the  modern  city,  and  that 
my  aim  is  to  select  only  a  few  of  these  and  deal  with  them  in  general 
terms.      Were   it   otherwise  we   should    have  to   classifv   cities  on    a 


Cause  and  Effect  in  the  Modern  City.  233 

svstem  proviclino-  for  variations  due  to  conditions  of  varying  character, 
somewhat  as  follows  : — 


I.   Economic  purpose 


Government. 
Manufacture. 
Transport. 
Recreative,  &c. 
I  Social  habits. 

2.  Nationality  of  citizens         .      Methods  of  government. 

'   Methods  of  education,  &c. 

Temperature. 
I    Soil. 

3.  Climate  and  situation  .  ■<'    Formation  of  site. 


Building  materials. 
Plant  life,  &c. 


4.    Antiquity  and  traditions. 


But  you  can  realise  that  an  investigation  on  these  lines  is  far  loo 
complex  and  extensive  to  permit  its  compression  within  the  bounds 
of  a  short  Paper  such  as  this,  even  had  I  any  qualifications  justifying 
such  a  course.  These  are  questions  for  the  sociologist  first,  and  only 
after  he  has  done  his  work  is  the  architect  entitled  to  step  in  and 
suggest,  in  the  terms  of  his  art,  the  forms  that  should  be  used  to 
express  the  ideas  underlying  them. 

Again,  were  we  dealing  with  the  question  from  an  historical 
standpoint,  it  would  be  necessary  to  summarise  the  social  charac- 
teristics of  the  ancient  races  and  those  resulting  from  subsequent 
subdivisions  and  amalgamations ;  it  would  also  be  necessary  to  con- 
sider the  effects  of  the  political  influences  in  the  past,  more  especially 
in  regard  to  the  city  as  a  place  of  security  fortified  against  attack. 
But  such  a  line  of  investigation  would  take  us  beyond  the  limit  of  the 
general  aspect  of  the  city  as  we  find  it  now.  For  the  distribution  of 
its  component  parts  and  the  subdivision  of  purpose  that  distinguishes 
the  modern  city  one  must  admit  an  economic  basis,  but  the  subsequent 
way  in  which  these  parts  are  handled  depends,  as  previously  stated, 
on  the  quality  of  the  ideal,  or  rather  on  the  resultant  of  the  many 
ideals  appertaining  to  the  community. 

To  state  the  matter  more  fully,  we  have  the  large  factories  and 
warehouses  grouping  themselves  along,  first  the  river,  for  the  sake 
of  water-power  and  transport,  and  subsequently  the  canals  and  rail- 
ways when  water-power  became  unimportant  and  transport  the  main 
requirement. 

We  have  the  original  city  gradually  taken  up  by  commerce  and 
exchange,  the  residential  districts  filling  up  by  degrees  the  spaces 
between  the  star  points  composed  of  mills  or  factories,  and  the  retail 
traders  following  along  the  main  radial  arteries.  The  most  attractive 
district  will  naturally  be  selected  by  the  wealthy,  and  the  others  will 
secure  occupants  on  a  basis  of  necessity  or  convenience. 

The  governing  or  official  centre  will,  unless  firmly  fixed  by  tradi- 
tion, slip  into  a  position  betw-een  the  commercial  centre  and  the 
wealthy  quarters,  while  the  leading  places  of  entertainment  will  gravi- 
tate in  the  same  direction. 


2,u    Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Plannin^:^  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

TluTc  is,  bv  the  way,  one  factor  that,  datiiiii"  from  the  remote 
past,  still  operates  at  the  present  time,  to  which  we  may  devote  just 
a  moment's  attention.  Explanations  of  the  tendency  towards  the 
formation  of  a  "  West  End,"  so  clearly  marked  in  almost  every  city 
(where  the  natural  formation  of  the  site  does  not  forbid  it),  have  been 
frcquentlv  attempted  ;  the  most  usual  regard  it  as  a  question  of  the 
prevailing-  wind,  a  solution  which  I  have  always  felt  to  be  doubtful. 
My  own  conclusion  is  that,  the  time  of  leisure  and  recreation  coming 
towards  the  latter  end  of  the  day,  man  naturally  turns  his  steps 
towards  the  brightness  of  the  evening  sky.  Try  the  experiment; 
place  ^  ourself  at  four  or  five  o'clock  where  the  conditions  in  all  direc- 
tions are  fairly  similar,  without  any  preconceived  intention,  and  see 
which  way  you  feel  naturally  inclined  to  move.  Will  it  not  be  west- 
ward?    Moreover,   in  the  old  days  of  the   walled  city,   by   far   the 


c.     Commercial  Centre. 
M.     Of&cial.  Centre. 


pleasantest  evening  promenade  must  have  been  outside  the  western 
wall,  and  therefore  all  who  were  in  a  position  to  choose  gathered 
themselves  together  in  this  quarter,  leaving  the  others  to  those  less 
fortunately  placed.  We  may  safely  say  that  the  only  towns  not 
obedient  to  this  rule  are  those  in  which  the  conformation  of  the  city 
imposes  a  marked  physical  obstacle  to  the  tendency  towards  such  an 
arrangement. 

Lea\ing  this  question,  which  is,  though  representative  of  the 
broadest  type  of  climatic  influence  and  of  especial  interest  on  this 
ground,  not  a  characteristic  peculiar  to  the  modern  city,  we  may 
return  to  the  consideration  of  those  that  have  made  our  towns  such 
as  we  see  them  at  the  present  time. 

Park  lands  and  open  spaces  are  chiefly  governed  by  the  suitability 
of  the  land  or  by  facility  for  its  acquisition  ;  but,  other  things  being 
equal,  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  normal  distribution  w'ould  be  pro- 
portionately to  the  residential  area  somewhat  in  the  fashion  indicated 
in  the  diagram  gi\  en  above. 


Cause  and  Eijcct  in  the  Modern  Cily.  235 

To  resume  our  inquir\-  into  the  causes  influencing-  cities  as  they 
are.  Ha\ing  maintained  that  these  are  not  mainly  economic,  it  may 
appear  inconsistent  to  admit  that  the  general  distribution  of  the  city 
is  chiefly  determined  on  economic  grounds.  But  one  may  admit  it 
and  yet  deny  that  this  general  distribution  bears  the  more  important 
part  in  the  impression  received.  For  it  needs  investigation  to  grasp 
it,  while  the  character  of  the  buildings,  their  local  massing,  and 
arrangement  are  obvious  to  the  casual  observer.  It  is  in  these  cases 
that  the  ideals  come  into  play. 

Thus  the  British  convention  for  a  church  or  a  house  differs  far 
more  from  the  French  or  the  Italian  than  the  merely  material  require- 
ments demand,  these  differences  being-  symbols  of  similar  ones  in  the 
conventions  of  life.  National  character  and  national  ideals  are  the 
paramount  influences,  arising  out  of  climatic  demands  and  historic 
traditions.  (It  must  be  left  to  others  to  trace  these  out,  our  work 
being-  limited  to  the  relationship  between  ideals  and  design.) 

The  most  difficult  thing-  to  uproot  is  tradition  ;  tradition  repre- 
sents the  ideal,  and  concerns  itself  but  little  with  the  genuine  material 
requirements  of  the  moment.  Thus  we  find  the  English  house  de- 
signed to  stand  a  more  boisterous  climate  than  the  French  ;  but  the 
English  house  in  a  sheltered  position  remains  English,  and  the  French, 
however  exposed,  will  be  French. 

Again,  when  we  took  to  building  flats  we  gave  them  as  far  as 
possible  the  effect  of  the  private  house,  and  only  gradually  arrived  at 
a  more  logical  treatment.  Thus  if  we  compare  Albert  Hall  Mansions, 
on  the  south  side  of  Hyde  Park,  with  a  more  recent  block  in  the 
Bayswater  Road  next  to  St.  George's  Cemetery,  we  find  that  in  the 
first  there  is  a  definite  effort  to  vary  the  treatment  from  floor  to  floor, 
while  in  the  second  each  floor  is  almost  identical.  These  are  merely 
minor  instances.  More  important  is  it  to  take  the  broad  dift'erences  in 
the  manner  in  which  two  nations  w^ould  approach  the  problem  of 
erecting  an  important  public  building — say,  for  instance,  Law  Courts, 
a  case  in  which  the  very  name  starts  us  on  our  way,  when  we  compare 
it  with  the  title  Palais  de  Justice  ;  ours,  short  and  businesslike,  sug- 
gests the  aim  of  fulfilling  the  practical  requirements  in  a  convenient 
and  economical  fashion,  while  the  other  hints  at  the  first  necessity  of 
creating  a  mental  impression  of  the  dignity  and  paramount  force  of 
the  law.  The  building  abroad  would  not  be  wedged  in  between  a 
congeries  of  narrow  streets  that  it  might  be  conveniently  near  the 
established  quarters  of  the  lawyers,  nor  would  the  designer  be  at  pains 
to  make  the  traffic  lines  in  the  building  as  short  and  direct  as  possible  ; 
indeed,  we  find  a  spacious  carelessness  as  to  the  number  of  steps  to 
be  taken  between  the  various  rooms,  suggesting  the  intention  that 
time  is  well  spent  in  passing  from  hall  to  hall,  and  through  vestibule, 
corridor,  and  staircase,  if  by  this  m.eans  the  majestic  dignity  of  the 
building  mav  penetrate  and  impress  itself  on  the  mind.  The  varying 
importance  attached  to  emotional  influences  of  one  kind  or  another 
must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  causes  making  for  difference  in  the 
character  of  the  city  among  the  nations,  and  even  in  different  districts. 
It  is  useless  to  pretend  to  influences  that  are  in  no  way  felt — the 
result  would  be  confusion— but  it  is  good  to  cultivate  those  that  we 
believe  beneficial,  even  if  they  are  dormant  or  sluggish. 


236    Transactiotis  of  the  Toivn  Planuing  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Thus  architects  hold  a  strong  opinion  in  favour  of  consistency 
between  tlie  internal  symmetry  of  a  building  and  its  relationship  to 
its  surroundings  ;  if,  for  example,  it  has  a  marked  axial  treatment 
this  must  be  continued  far  beyond  the  actual  entrance,  so  that  the 
harmony  of  plan  may  be  apparent  in  the  whole,  whether  street, 
garden,  or  building.  Such  an  ideal  only  fails  to  be  general  owing  to 
the  lack  of  technical  knowledge  outside  the  profession,  and  only  needs 
to  be  clearly  explained  in  order  to  secure  appreciation,  an  instance  in 
w  hich  we  may  cultivate  a  dormant  ideal. 

Again,  take  a  building  irregularly  placed  and  requiring  a  special 
knowledge  to  add  beauty  to  its  surroundings.  Architects  may  hope 
in  this  case  to  secure  a  hearing  for  their  view,  even  in  our  own 
country.  There  is,  however,  a  mass  of  ideals  imposed  by  the  public 
on  the  architect  which  are  too  powerful  for  him  to  resist,  and  these 
are  of  such  force  as  to  dominate  the  character  of  the  city. 

Is  it  not  an  almost  invariable  rule  that  the  Anglican  Church  shall 
build  in  some  form  of  Gothic?  Again,  how  would  it  appeal  to  the 
householder  if  his  garden  were  left  unfenced,  as  in  the  United  States 
(even  the  garden  city  community  compromises  with  posts  and  chains)? 
while  half  our  building  by-laws  are  based  on  no  real  necessity,  but  on 
traditional  ideals. 

As  to  the  house  itself,  probably  nothing  determines  the  general 
character  of  the  city  so  much  as  the  dwelling  unit. 

The  Englishman's  notion  for  a  house  "  all  his  own  "  does  more  to 
fix  on  us  the  type  of  our  cit}"  than  any  other  consideration.  This  is 
obviously  not  a  matter  of  economics,  but  one  of  ideals ;  the  feeling 
of  personal  privacy  and  of  a  certain  dignity  as  householder,  mixed 
perhaps  with  other  less  admirable  motives,  turns  the  scale  in  favour 
of  methods  that  may  not  be  more  convenient  and  economical.  As  the 
/".anitarian  finds  himself  in  accord  with  the  separate-house  system,  we 
are  bound  to  accept  it  as  governing  the  general  scale  of  a  large  pro- 
portion of  our  town  areas,  leaving  us  but  a  few  salient  points  for  the 
exercise  of  imaginative  skill  of  a  purely  abstract  kind. 

There  are  other  qualities  in  our  countrymen  that  cannot  be  re- 
garded with  so  much  equanimity,  and  which  we  can  only  stigmatise 
as  inimical  to  the  best  developments  of  civic  design. 

In  the  main  they  arise  from  an  unfortunate  tendency  to  specialise 
in  interests  rather  than  to  take  a  broad  view  of  life  as  a  whole.  One 
thinks  of  nothing  but  commerce  ;  another  devotes  himself  to  sport ; 
while  a  third  regards  the  arts  as  only  to  be  taken  note  of  at  recognised 
times  and  seasons,  if  at  all.  The  latter  will,  perhaps,  fill  his  house 
with  interesting  pictures,  his  gardens  with  carefully  selected  flowers, 
or  maybe  he  will  go,  with  mind  attuned  to  appreciation  and  criticism, 
to  pageant  or  play,  but  he  will  pay  no  more  attention  than  the  trader 
or  the  sportsman  to  the  aspect  of  the  streets  through  which  he  passes. 
Until  national  feeling  is  awakened  in  these  respects,  and  we  realise 
that  our  art  is  not  a  thing  to  be  taken  in  specified  doses  at  specified 
times,  the  ideal  of  the  city  as  a  thing  of  beauty  in  all  the  aspects  of 
street,  square,  and  park  will  receive  but  poor  support  from  the  general 
public. 


Cities  of  the  Present. 


DISCUSSION'. 

Mr.  John  A.  Bkodie  {Cit\-  Engineer,  Liverpool)  :  I  did  not  propose 
to  take  part  in  to-day's  proceedings,  and  I  am,  therefore,  taken  aback 
at  being  called  on  to  open  the  discussion  on  the  Papers  which  have 
been  put  before  us  at  this  meeting.  In  the  first  place,  I  am  supposed 
to  be  a  practical  town-planner,  and  the  papers  have  been  dealing  with 
theoretical  questions  which  do  not  come,  and  are  not,  I  think,  likelv 
to  come,  prominently  before  those  responsible  for  town-planning  in 
this  country.  The  subject  is,  to  me,  a  ver\  large  and  a  very  important 
one,  and  really  deserves,  I  think,  a  somewhat  larger  treatment  than  it 
has  received  in  some  of  the  papers.  As  to  the  Paper  read  by  our  friend 
from  Paris,  i  had  not  a  translation,  and  therefore  I  am  not  in  a  position 
to  say  very  much  about  it.  \\'ith  regard  to  Mr.  Lanchester's  Paper. 
I  feel  that  we  are  all  a  great  deal  better  for  it.  He  has,  I  think, 
pointed  out  quite  a  number  of  matters  which  the  representatives  of  the 
local  authority  ought  to  consider,  such  as  old  buildings  and  other 
matters  of  beauty  where  they  exist.  But  all  the  Papers  have  largely 
left  out  of  consideration  points  which  I  look  upon  as  most  essential  in 
good  planning.  The  first  thing  which  I  look  at,  perhaps  the  natural 
one  from  the  point  of  view  of  an  engineer,  is  the  widening  and 
improvement  of  the  main  lines  of  communication  from  the  central 
portions  of  a  city  to  the  outskirts.  I  might,  perhaps,  give  one  or  two 
illustrations,  drawn  from  Liverpool's  experience,  which  may  be  ot 
interest.  We  have  recently  been  spending  a  large  amount  of  money 
on  the  widening  and  straightening  of  main  thoroughfares.  During 
the  past  four  years  we  have  spent  about  one  and  a-quarter  million  in 
widening  and  straightening  such  thoroughfares,  and  it  is,  I  think, 
quite  safe  to  say  that  four-fifths  of  that  money  should  never  have  been 
spent  at  all — that  is  to  say,  four-fifths  went  in  paying  for  the  removal 
of  buildings  and  the  compensation  which  followed  ;  and  if  we  had  had 
intelligent  town-planning  powers  at  a  sufficiently  early  date,  the  whole 
of  that  expenditure  might  have  been  avoided.  (Hear,  hear.)  Another 
point  may  be  of  interest  to  many  of  us — practical  as  well  as 
theoretical — town-planners,  and  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  are 
interested  from  that  point  of  view  I  would  say  that  we  have  recently 
been  constructing  several  miles  of  wide  roads.  I  notice  that  the 
utility  of  wide  roads  is  doubted,  but  I  will  come  back  to  that  point  in  a 
moment.  We  have  constructed  several  miles  of  wide  roads  in  the 
outskirts  of  widths  from  80  feet  to  114  feet.  Such  roads  in  Liverpool 
through  unbuilt-upon  land  have  cost  on  an  average  ;^7,ooo  per  mile 
to  the  public  authority,  the  landowner  paying,  as  he  should  do,  his 
share.  But  if  you  come  somewhat  nearer  the  town,  to  land  which  has 
been  built  upon  within  my  own  memory,  the  cost  for  a  street  only  60  feet 
wide  works  out  at  something  like  ;^70,ooo  per  mile.  Then  gettmg 
down  to,    sav,   within   a    mile  of  the  centre  of  the  city,   I   find  that 


238    'J^rdiiSiictiuns  of  the  Toii:ii  Phnuiiiig  Conjcrcncc,  Oct.  1910. 

impri)\ciiKnts  there  have  cost  at  the  rate  of  about  ;£'35o,ooo  per  niiie. 
I  mention  these  fig"ures  because  it  was  pointed  out^Thafwide  roads 
in  themselves  were  not  of  very  much  importance.  I  venture  to 
think  that  for  main  lines  of  communication  wide  roads  will  become 
of  g-reater  and  greater  importance  in  the  future.  (.Applause.)  Mr. 
Lanchester  has  referred  to  the  question  of  parks,  and  in  his  diagram 
has  hit  upon,  as  I  think,  the  right  idea.  I  believe  that  in  town- 
planning,  in  the  large  cities  at  any  rate,  the  tendency  will  be  to 
combine  wide  streets  with  open  spaces,  which  will  practically  become 
a  part  of  the  park  system  of  the  town.  My  own  view  is  that  it  is 
rather  a  mistake  to  have  the  old-fashioned  park  areas  dotted  about 
irregularly  over  the  area  of  the  town,  and  that  it  is  very  much  better 
to  carry  your  park-like  areas  out  with  you  radially,  if  possible,  a  little 
in  advance  of  the  development  of  the  town.  In  that  way  you  could 
get  very  much  cheaper  and  more  convenient  open  spaces  for  recreation, 
and  consequently  healthier  children  :  and  the  health  and  stamina  of  the 
children  are,  I  believe,  of  even  greater  importance  in  most  cases  than 
the  question  of  art.  (Applause.)  Therefore  I  say  we  ought  to  look  at 
this  matter  from  a  broad  standpoint,  and  I  think  there  should  not  be 
much  of  the  smaller  criticism,  whether  we  are  officials,  members  of  a 
profession,  or  a  public  body. 

Mr.  Thomas  Adams  (Local  Government  Board)  :  I  was  particularly 
interested  in  Mr.  Mulford  Robinson's  Paper,  because  he  dealt  with 
practical  points  that  really  touch  us  in  connection  with  the  .Act  which 
we  have  now  in  force  in  this  country.  This  Conference  is  necessarily 
dealing  chiefly  with  questions  relating  to  architecture  and  its  prin- 
ciples, being  convened  by  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects. 
At  the  same  time  I  believe  it  is  intended  that  when  the  report  of  these 
proceedings  is  published,  there  should,  at  a  later  stage,  be  some  expert 
ronsideration  of  the  views  put  forward,  so  that  something  practical 
may  result.  I  understand  that  may  be  the  case,  because  I  notice  from 
the  programme  that  we  are  not  expected  to  pass  resolutions  or  come  to 
any  practical  decision  upon  any  of  the  questions  put  before  us.  .At 
the  same  time  it  is,  I  think,  one  of  the  functions  of  a  Conference  of 
this  kind  that  architects  should  show  cause  why  they  should  be  intro- 
duced into  town-planning  schemes.  They  should  assert  their  position 
as  arcliitects,  and  show  the  particular  direction  In  which  they,  as 
professional  men,  have  a  right  to  take  part  in  the  planning  of  our 
towns.  I  consider  they  have  a  primary  right,  and  are  as  much  con- 
cerned as  the  engineer,  the  surveyor,  the  sociologist,  and  others  who 
are  interested  in  the  development  of  our  towns  and  cities.  But  what 
their  relative  position  is,  to  what  extent  they  can  be  employed  with 
due  consideration  to  that  economy  which  is  essential  in  all  local 
government  affairs,  or  how  far  they  can  adapt  themselves  to  our  needs, 
as  well  as  put  ideals  before  us,  are  matters  which  I  think  architects 
should  put  clearly  before  representatives  of  local  authorities.  I  lately 
had  the  opportunity  of  visiting  Sweden  and  Germany  with  the  object 
of  studying  town-planning,  and  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
systems  of  block  dwellings  which  you  see  there  are  as  much  the 
result  of  wide  roads  as  wide  roads  have  been  the  result  of  the  tene- 
ment system.      One  is  complementary  to  the  other.      In  Berlin,   for 


Cities  oj  the  Present.  239 

instance,  you  will  find  that  the  making-  of  wide  roads  almost  compels 
the  authority,  plus  the  builder,  plus  the  owner,  to  erect  high  tenement 
dwellings,  in  order  that  the  cost  of  such  roads  shall  be  borne  by  a 
sufficient  number  of  houses,  and  that  the  rents  received  from  each 
yard  of  frontage  shall  be  sufficient  to  pay  for  the  cost  of  such  roads. 
So  that  we  want,  as  Mr.  Robinson  suggested,  to  have  the  narrow  road 
as  a  complement  to  the  wide  road.  Let  me  put  forward  one  practical 
suggestion.  Under  the  Town  Planning  Act  you  will  have  to  settle 
questions  of  compensation,  and  when  you  want  to  create  a  road  of 
abnormal  width  you  should  have  the  opportunity  of  saying  to  the 
landowner  that  you  want  a  road  of,  say,  80  feet  wide  to  pass  into  the 
country  in  a  certain  direction  in  order  to  provide  for  through  traffic, 
or  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  growing  population,  but  that  you  are  willing 
to  concede  to  him  a  certain  substantial  reduction  in  the  width  of  side 
roads  which  are  to  be  used  purely  for  domestic  purposes,  so  that  one 
may  balance  the  other  and  there  may  be  no  question  of  compensation. 
I  am  speaking  as  a  private  individual,  but  I  should  think  there  will 
be  no  difficulty  in  getting  the  different  authorities  to  agree  to  these 
lines.  The  Town  Planning  Act  has  been  framed  so  as  to  secure  co- 
operation between  the  different  local  authorities  and  between  any 
one  of  these  authorities  and  the  owners  who  arc  within  their  area. 
We  are  in  advance  of  any  country  in  the  world  in  respect  of  the 
opportunity  which  this  Act  gives  for  co-operation  between  owners 
and  authorities  and  between  authorities  in  different  areas.  One  of 
the  great  difficulties  on  ihe  Continent  is  that  they  can  only  arrange 
with  the  owners  individually.  Some  objection  has  been  made  regard- 
ing the  necessity  in  this  country  of  sending  out  notices  to  a  large 
number  of  owners  and  asking  them  to  a  conference  in  order  to  settle 
a  town-planning  scheme.  But  if  you  have  a  hundred  owners  to  deal 
with,  that  is  surely  a  better  method  of  dealing  with  them  than  asking 
them  to  come  individually  and  settle  the  matter.  By  the  latter  method 
vou  would  be  involved  in  almost  endless  difficulties  because  you  would 
be  dealing  with  one  man  at  a  time.  So  that  under  the  English  Act  you 
have  opportunity  for  the  fullest  co-operation  by  the  simplest  and  best 
method,  and  I  hope  you  will  take  advantage  of  it. 

The  Vice-Chairman,  Dr.  Hegemann  (of  Berlin)  :  I  wculd  like 
to  confirm  what  Mr.  Adams  has  just  said.  It  emphasises  the 
experience  that  has  been  gained  in  Germany  on  this  point. 
The  plans  prepared  in  connection  with  the  Greater  Berlin  town- 
planning  competition,  therefore,  make  it  a  point  to  create 
very  wide  roads  for  traffic  reaching  far  out  into  the  country  (the 
"  Ausfallstrassen  "  of  Herr  Jansen's  first  prize),  and  to  provide,  on 
the  other  hand,  for  narrow  roads,  excluding  traffic  and  suited  for 
dwelling  purposes,  imitating  the  fine  English  exam.ples  of  this  kind. 
Berlin,  with  her  200,000  families  in  one-room  dwellings,  is  suffering 
from  too  wide,  too  well-paved,  and  too  highly  organised  roads,  and 
from  the  expensive  high  tenement  houses  that  seem  necessarily  to 
result  from  too  expensive  roads  carried  into  purely  dwelling-house 
districts.  Mr.  Lanchester  has  dealt  in  his  interesting  address  with 
another  point  corroborated  by  the  work  of  the  Greater  Berlin  competi- 
tion. I  refer  to  the  idea  of  penetrating  a  great  city  by  radiating  parks, 
as  is  shown  on  the  diagram.      At  the  Exhibition  at  the  Royal  Academy 


240    Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Phnining  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

you  will  find  the  plans  prepared  by  Herren  Eberstadt,  Mohring,  and 
Petersen  applying-  this  radial  idea  to  Greater  Berlin — i.e.,  not  only 
bringing-  the  traffic  in  a  radial  way  to  the  centre,  but  also  the  parks, 
providing-  thus  a  broadcast  fresh-air  drainage  to  the  whole  city,  and 
giving  a  chance  to  the  people  to  get  from  every  point  of  the  city  some 
park  that  in  a  radiating  way  reaches  the  broader  green  areas  beyond. 
In  conclusion  I  beg  to  refer  to  Professor  Baldwin  Brown's  remark 
about  the  Prussian  law  for  the  preservation  of  natural  beauty.  This 
law  is  still  too  new  to  ha\-e  had  all  the  effects  it  will  have.  The  term 
"  natural  beauty  ''  allows  considerable  stretching,  and  it  is  a  matter 
of  public  education  to  determine  in  what  way  the  city  is  to  be  "  pro- 
tected." It  has  been  alleged  by  a  well-known  journalist  that  the 
whole  of  Paris  would  rise  in  revolution  if  one  sign-board  were  to 
appear  on  the  Place  \'end6me.  I  rather  like  this  revolutionary  spirit, 
and  I  hope  in  time  people  in  every  city  will  apply  it,  not  only  to  ques- 
tions of  aesthetic  but  also  of  '*  sanitary  beauty." 

Colonel  G.  T.  Pluxkett,  C.B.  :  Before  speaking  on  the  point  of 
the  economical  and  the  ideal,  w^hich  Mr.   Lanchester  put  before  us 
in  his  very  interesting  Paper,   I   should  like  to  say,  generally,    how 
very  much    I,   and   I    am    sure   everybod}'    in   this   room,    have   been 
interested    in    the    other    Papers,     especially,     perhaps,     in    that    of 
M.    Bonnier.      I   am   not   a  town-planner   myself,    either  practical  or 
theoretical ;  but  I  have  enjoyed  the  Papers  very  much,  and  also  the 
remarks  of  Mr.  Brodie  and  Mr.  Adams  and  the  Vice-Chairman,  which 
have  been,  I  think,  most  illuminating.     Mr.  Lanchester  in  his  diagram 
gave  us  a  rough  idea  of  radiating  parks,  an  idea  which  I  think  ought 
to  be  very  carefully  considered.     Generally  speaking,  it  would  appear 
that  it  is  well  to  make  parks  and  recreation  grounds  radiate  from  the 
centre  when  possible  ;  but  as  I  am  going  to  speak  on  that  point  to- 
morrow in  the  Paper  I  am  to  read,  I  will  not  elaborate  that  now.     Mr. 
Lanchester  put  very  briefly  another  point  which  I  hope  others  will  deal 
with  better  than  I  can  ;  the  point  that  the  ideal — the  seeking  for  the 
beauty  and  the  amenities  of  our  towns  and  suburbs — is  by  no  means 
opposed  to  the  idea  of  economy  and  to  the  saving  of  money,  or  rather  to 
the  using  of  money  in  the  best  possible  way.    We  all  of  us  could  give  in- 
stances of  towns  and  suburbs  where,  in  order  to  save  money,  there  has 
been  a  throwing  away  of  natural  amenities,  and  the  result  has  been,  for 
the  unfortunate  landowner  or  builder  or  whoever  it  is  who  owns  the 
property,  that  he  has  been  astonished  to  find  his  houses  and  shops 
are  empty,  and  he  has   absolutely  lost  money  which  he  might  have 
saved  or  gained  if  he  had  had  more  regard  to  the  beauty  of  the  town 
or  suburb.      I  do  not  wish  to  mention  any  particular  places,  though 
,1  have  two  or  three  in  my  mind  ;  but  we  all  of  us  can  think  of  towns 
where  trade  has  enormously  increased,  and  the  people  come  from  a 
distance  to  do  their  shopping,  and  the  owners  of  property  and  shop- 
keepers reap  a  very  proper  reward,  simply  because  the  beauty  of  the 
place  has  been  preserved.      For  instance,   there  are  the  Pantiles  of 
Tunbridge  Wells,  known  so  well  all  over  the  country.     People  flock 
to  the  Pantiles,  and  they  have  tea  in  one  of  those  little,  old-fashioned 
places,  and  do  their  shopping  there,  simply  because  it  is  such  a  beauti- 
ful and  picturesque  place.     And  I  could  mention,  and  we  all  could 


Cities  of  the  Present,  241 

who  know  anything  about  London,  places  where  the  profits  of  the 
shopkeepers  and  the  pecuniary  advantage  of  the  ratepayers  have  been 
thrown  away  because  of  the  short-sighted  policy  of  making,  as  is  said, 
"  the  most  of  the  ground,"  and  of  getting  in  as  many  dwellings  as 
possible.  I  hope  the  point  of  pecuniary  advantage  will  be  considered 
bv  those  who  are  more  able  to  speak  on  the  subject  than  I  am,  for  I 
think  it  ought  not  to  be  lost  sight  of. 

Mr.  Benjamin  Hall  Blyth  :  Mr.  Baldwin  Brown  spoke  of  the 
vandalism  that  had  been  committed  with  reference  to  the  Ayr  Bridge- 
Well,  I  was  probably  the  chief  sinner  in  condemning  that  bridge. 
Doubtless  we  are  all  anxious  to  preserve  ancient  monuments,  if  thev 
are  worthy  of  preservation  ;  but  that  bridge  was  neither  beautiful, 
artistic,  nor  useful ;  and  it  has  simply  been  preserved  because  of  the 
wonderful  love  of  my  fellow-countrymen  for  Robert  Burns,  who 
wrote  a  poem  about  the  old  bridge.  But,  gentlemen,  that  bridge, 
after  all,  was  not  the  bridge  that  Burns  wrote  the  poem  about. 
(Laughter.)  The  arch  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  was  washed 
away  many  years  ago.  The  bridge,  as  it  at  present  stands  restored,^ 
is  only  fit  for  foot  passengers.  Two  of  the  arches  are  altogether  out 
of  line  and  out  of  adjustment ;  and  if  the  people  of  Ayr  had  desired 
to  have  that  preserved  as  a  monument,  the  corporation  were  quite 
willing  to  do  it.  But  what  the  people  of  Ayr  wanted,  and  what  any 
true  town-planner  would  have  desired,  would  have  been  a  useful 
bridge,  fit  not  onl}^  for  foot  passengers  but  for  carriage  traffic ;  and 
they  might  have  had  that  if  this  wild,  mad  desire  to  retain  that 
bridge  of  Ayr  had  not  been  yielded  to.  We  in  Edinburgh  know  what 
weight  must  attach  to  anything  that  falls  from  Professor  Baldwin 
Brown ;  but  I  think  in  this  case  he  has  gone  rather  astray  in  saying 
what  he  has  said  about  that. 

Mr.  E.  P.  Warren  :  No  apology  is  necessary  for  an  appeal  for 
the  ideal  from  Professor  Baldwin  Brown,  who  has  pointed  out  what 
a  heritage  we  have  and  are  in  danger  of  losing.  Day  by  day  our 
heritage  of  beauty  is  being  diminished  in  some  direction.  There  seems 
to  be  a  natural  attraction  to  a  certain  class  of  mind,  in  instituting  im- 
provements, to  alter  or  demolish  ancient  buildings.  That,  I  think,  is 
unfortunately  often  brought  about  by  the  sentimentality  which  advo- 
cates and  admirers  of  ancient  and  beautiful  buildings  too  frequently 
show,  and  which  all  of  us  who  care  for  such  buildings  should  try  to 
avoid.  There  is  one  suggestion  that  I  should  like  to  make — that  in 
every  secondary  school  throughout  the  land  there  should  be  some 
teaching  of  the  principles  of  architecture  and  of  its  value  as  an 
enhancement  of  the  beauties  of  the  country.  What  we  have  to  do  as 
artists  is  to  create  in  the  minds  of  the  nation  and  of  municipalities  a 
discontent  with  the  conditions  of  ugliness  that  are  so  prevalent,  a  dis- 
content akin  to  that  which  is  so  rapidly  growing  against  unhygienic 
conditions.  W^e  should  teach  people  that  no  true  comfort  for  the 
citizen  can  exist  in  his  city  unless  there  is  comfort  for  the  eyes. 

Mr.  .Vrthur  E.  Collins  (Norwich)  :  I  may  say  that  the  town  I 
represent  has  actually  put  in  practice  the  recommendation  just  made  ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  teachers  in  the  schools  endeavour  to  awaken  interest 
in  these  questions. 

R 


242   Traiisaclions  of  ihc  Toicn  PUmuini:^  Conference,  Oct.  iqio. 

Mr.  F.  S.  Hakkr  (Toronto)  :  On  behalf  of  the  Committee  of  Archi- 
tects whom  I  have  the  honour  to  represent,  I  wish  to  congratulate  you 
on  the  great  success  of  this  Conference.  To  come  here  and  find  a  hall 
filled  to  ovcrfiowing  is  a  great  delight.  I  was  very  much  interested 
to  hear  Mr.  Lanchester's  remarks  about  the  tendency  of  English 
people  to  turn  westward  ;  and  I  hope  many  of  them  will  turn  west- 
ward and  towards  Canada,  because  we  have  room  for  English  people 
there,  and  are  \ery  anxious  to  get  them  ;  and  we  are  getting  them. 
In  my  office  at  Toronto  I  have  met  on  an  average  an  English  draughts- 
man or  engineer,  or  someone  engaged  in  similar  work,  every  day 
during  the  past  two  or  three  years.  This  is  accounted  for  by  the 
fact  that  I  am  Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Architectural  Institute  of 
Canada.  This  question  of  town  planning  is  exceedingly  important  and 
is  receiving  considerable  attention  in  Canada,  approached,  however, 
from  a  different  point  of  view  from  that  in  which  you  are  approaching 
it ;  for  our  cities  are  new,  and  your  cities  are  practically  finished 
and  arc  being  re-made.  At  the  present  time  there  are,  west  of 
Winnipeg,  two  hundred  cities  in  their  infancy,  just  commencing  ;  and 
who  is  to  say  what  we  shall  see  in  a  hundred  years?  We  had  the 
pleasure  of  listening  to  Mr.  \'ivian,  M.P.,  Member  for  Birkenhead, 
in  Toronto.  He  spoke  on  the  subject  of  the  housing  of  the  artisans 
and  on  town-planning,  but  more  particularly  on  the  former  subject. 
On  the  question  of  health  he  told  us  that  in  Bournville  or  Port  Sun- 
light a  child  of  twelve  years  of  age  was  30  lb.  heavier  and  4  inches 
taller  than  an  average  child  of  the  same  age  in  the  thickly  populated 
parts  of  Liverpool.  Curiously  enough,  in  my  mail  this  morning  I 
received  a  plan  of  the  town  of  Bournemouth  ;  and,  just  glancing  at 
it,  I  noticed  the  way  the  streets  radiated  from  the  centre ;  and  I 
thought  what  a  very  important  thing  it  was  for  a  town  to  have 
radiating  streets  running  out  to  the  suburbs.  Speaking  of  suburbs, 
we  have  a  great  difficulty  in  Canada  in  controlling  their  develop- 
ment. But  it  was  interesting  to  hear  Mr.  \'ivian  say  that  in  Man- 
chester, through  the  benefits  of  an  Act  the  name  of  which  I  have 
forgotten,  the  municipality  control  the  whole  area  for  a  distance  of 
thirty  miles  from  the  centre  of  the  city  ;  so  that  any  development  that 
took  place  must  be  in  accordance  with  the  plans  of  the  authorities. 

The  Chairm.an  (Sir  Aston  Webb,  C.B.,  R.A.)  :  Before  closing 
1  should  like  to  add  one  or  two  remarks  on  points  which 
have  been  referred  to  during  the  discussion.  A  point  was 
raised  as  to  the  architect's  share  in  town-planning  schemes ; 
nnd  I  think  we  should  all  be  of  opinion  that  that  share 
must  be  a  large  one.  We  all  know  that  Sir  Christopher  Wren 
laid  out  a  scheme  for  London  which  in  point  of  fact  was  not  carried 
out ;  and  that  London  has  ever  since  regretted  that  that  great  archi- 
tect was  not  allowed  to  lay  down  the  main  lines  of  London  as  he  had 
proposed.  If  that  had  been  done  the  streets  would  have  been  as  con- 
venient, control  would  have  been  as  easy,  London  would  have  been 
as  well  drained,  aad  would  ha\e  been  more  beautiful  and,  as  has  been 
pointed  out  by  several  speakers,  more  economical,  for  a  beautiful 
town  is  a  great  asset  to  a  nation.  I  would  like  also  to  point  out  with 
regard  to  the  retention  of  the  Strand   churches   and  the   point  men- 


Cities  of  the  Present.  243 

tioncd  by  Professor  Baldwin  Brown,  that  we  as  architects  took  our 
share  in  the  discussion  of  that  question,  and  that  this  Institute 
pointed  out  from  time  to  time  the  desirability  of  preserving-  those 
churches.  Ag-ain,  when  it  was  proposed  to  take  Kingswav  rig-ht 
down  to  the  side  of  St.  Mary-le-Strand,  it  was  pointed  out  that  this 
was  not  a  view  w  hich  the  church  was  intended  to  present,  and  an 
alteration  was  in  consequence  made  in  the  street,  to  the  great  advan- 
tage of  the  beauty  of  that  fine  scheme.  Another  point  of  the  same  sort  is 
the  wonderful  fact  that,  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
(1794),  in  the  troublous  times  of  Paris,  the  artists  of  that  city  met  to- 
gether continuously  and  prepared  a  plan  for  the  improvement  and 
beautification  and  amenities  of  Paris.  In  spite  of  all  the  troubles  that 
were  going  on,  they  used  to  meet  and  prepare  this  plan  ;  and  when 
Baron  Haussmann  carried  out  his  scheme  which  made  Paris  the  admira- 
tion and  wonder  of  the  world,  he  referred  to  the  scheme  which  had  been 
prepared  by  the  old  Commission  of  Arts.  That  plan  is  now  to  be 
seen  on  the  Academy  walls  side  by  side  with  Baron  Haussmann's  plan  ; 
and  everyone  can  see  for  himself  how  largely  the  artists  of  that  day 
influenced  the  final  lay-out.  I  venture  to  think,  g-entlemen,  that  those 
are  very  good  reasons  why  we  as  architects  should  be  consulted  in  the 
early  inception  of  schemes  of  this  sort.  It  is  at  the  commencement 
of  schemes  that  we  think  we  can  most  usefully  come  in  ;  and  we 
wish  to  come  in  as  citizens  desiring  to  do  our  share  towards  the 
beautification  of  the  land  in  which  v.e  live  and  of  which  we  are  all 
proud.  I  think  also,  if  I  may  say  so,  that  in  these  great  town- 
planning  schemes  we  are  apt  to  think  the  real  thing  is  not  quite  as 
real  as  the  ideal — that  very  often  the  ideal  is  more  real ;  and  what 
we  want  is  imagination  to  reach  it.  Seen  things  are  temporal,  and 
unseen  things  are  eternal  ;  and  that  is  so  with  these  schemes  for 
the  beautification  of  our  cities.  They  will  last  if  they  are  beautiful  ; 
they  will  be  pulled  down  if  they  are  ugly — and  very  rightly,  too. 
Therefore,  I  think  we  and  the  public  authorities  of  the  country 
should  pay  attention  first  of  all  to  the  ideal  scheme,  and  be  perfectly 
certain  that  when  an  ideal,  imaginative  scheme  has  been  prepared  it 
can  be  worked  out  in  such  a  way  as  to  deal  also  effectively  with  the 
utilitarian  side  of  the  question.  I  am  sure  it  is  desired  that  I  should 
express  the  thanks  of  the  meeting  to  those  gentlemen  who  ha\  e  read 
Papers,  and  to  the  speakers  for  the  trouble  they  have  taken  and  the 
ideas  they  have  laid  before  us,  which  have  enabled  us  to  spend  a 
very  profitable  morning.     (.Applause.) 


The  Auld  Brig  of  Avr. 

Mr.  James  A.  Morris,  F.R.I.B.A.,  who  carried  out  the  archi- 
tectural work  in  the  preservation  of  the  Auld  Brig  of  Ayr,  asks  that, 
Mr.  Hall  Blyth's  strictures  on  the  bridge  during  the  discussion  above 
reported  having  been  widely  circulated  in  the  Scottish  Press,  space 
may  be  accorded  for  the  following  extract  from  his  reply  which 
appeared  in  the  Scotsman  of  the  14th  October  : — 

"  When  the  preservation  of  the  Auld  Brig  was  still  on  the  knees 

R  2 


244   Transiiclii>ns  oj  ihc  Toicn  Phiiniiug  Coiilcrcncc,  Uci.   u^io. 

of  tlif  i^oils,  Mr.  Hall  Hl\  th  ri'portfd  that  it  appeared  to  him  '  quite 
impossible  to  save  the  Hrii^  as  it  stands  at  present,'  and  with  ready 
respect  for  his  enj^incerinj,'-  skill,  one  may  be  permitted  somewhat 
to  mar\el  at  his  pronouncement.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Brij^  has 
been  preserved  as  it  stood,  and  well  preserved,  by  engineering  skill. 
In  Scotland,  Mr.  Hall  Blyth  as  an  engineer  holds  a  position  of  emi- 
nence, and  as  he  was  the  engineer  consulted  by  the  Corporation  at  the 
time  of  the  controversy,  his  statement  can  scarcely  be  allowed  to  pass 
unchallenged,  seeing  that  it  has  already  been  freely  circulated  in 
the  Scottish  Press.  Admittedly,  not  two  arches,  but  the  whole  Brig, 
is  out  of  line — perhaps,  in  an  engineering  sense,  out  of  adjustment — 
but  Mr.  Hall  Blyth  should,  I  think,  grant  that  the  straight-edge  and 
tee-square  do  not  hold  the  only  nor  the  ideal  line  of  beauty,  nor  yet 
are  the\  the  only  canons  upon  which  beauty  of  line  may  be  estab- 
lished. That  the  Brig  is  neither  '  beautiful,  artistic,  nor  useful  '  may 
be  Mr.  Hall  Blyth's  opinion,  and  he  is  quite  entitled  to  express 
it  ;  but  when  he  ventures  a  further  incursion  into  the  realm  of  fancy, 
and  gravely  states  that  the  Brig"  is  not  the  Brig  of  Robert  Burns,  he 
wanders  even  more  hopelessly  than  before.  Surely  Mr.  Hall  Blyth 
knows,  if  he  knows  anything  of  the  Brig  at  all,  that  the  northmost 
arch  fell  and  was  rebuilt  in  1732-33,  and  that  Burns  did  not  write 
his  poem  till  1786.  How,  then,  is  it  not  the  Brig  about  which  Burns 
wrote?  Its  form  is  the  same,  the  number  and  identity  of  the  arches 
the  same,  the  piers,  cut-waters,  and  approaches  are  the  same  ;  and 
in  the  preservation  eflected,  save  in  a  small  portion  of  the  parapet 
and  in  the  part  renewal  of  the  defective  and  modern  facmg  of  the 
piers,  it  is  almost  stone  for  stone  the  Brig  of  Robert  Burns.  It  is 
this  point,  and  this  point  alone,  that  touches  the  Burns  interest  ; 
hence  this  refutation." 


PART    II.    {continued). 

SECTION    III.— CITY    DEVELOPMENT    AND 
EXTENSION. 

(i)  The  City  Development  Plan.     By  Raxmond  Un^^'in,  F.R.I.B.A. 

(2)  Du  Developpement  et  de  l'Extension  des  Citks.     B\-  Augustin 

Key,  S.A.D.G.     (With  Translation.) 

(3)  CiTv  Development.      By   W.     E.    Riley,    F.R.I.B.A.,    R.B.A., 

M.Inst.C.E. 

(4)  Xeueke  Fortschritte  im  Deutschen  Stadtebau.     By  Dr.   Ing. 

H.  J.  StLibben,  Geheimer  Oberbaurat.     (With  Translation.) 

(5)  The   Greater    /Berlin   Competition.      By     Professor     Dr.     Rud 

Eberstadt. 

Discussion. 


I 


247 


(i)    THE    CITY    DEVELOPMENT    PLAN. 
By  Raymond  Unwin,  F.R.I.B.A. 

Mr.   John   Birns'  Town  Planning   Act  has  wisely  concentrated  the 
attention  of  town  planners  in  England  mainly  on  the  development  of 
the  still  unbuilt-on  areas  round  the  existing'  towns  where  the  greatest 
damage  is  now  taking  place.      We  must,  however,  not  suppose  that 
we  can  consider  the  suburban  areas  by  themselves.      City  planning 
really  involves  the  whole  problem  of  the  proper  organisation  of  city 
life.     The  high  degree  of  specialisation  upon  which  modern  industry 
and  life  depend  points  to  the  probability  that  a  very  large  proportion 
of  the  population   of  civilised  countries  will  continue  to  live   in,   or 
immediately  about,  great  city  centres.     The  growth  of  our  industrial 
towns  during  the  last  century  found  us  unprepared  ;  and  if  we  com- 
pare what  they  are  with  what  they  ought  to  have  been,  we  can  regard 
them   as  little  more  than  disorganised   aggregations   of  population, 
within  which  each  little  group  is  struggling  to  secure  freedom  and 
opportunity   to  carry  on   its  life   in   an  efficient  manner,    but  is  un- 
assisted by  any  general  plan  of  development  or  any  organisation  of 
opportunities.      We   need    to   bring   into   our   city   life   that   guiding 
oversight  and  direction  in  making  the  best  of  the  facilities  which  its 
position  affords,  and  that  proper  correlation  of  all  the  different  parts, 
which  are  found  so  essential  in  a  great  modern  industrial  concern. 
To  take  one  or  two  examples  :  we  find  in  our  towns  too  often  that 
the  land  all  along  the  railway  side  and  adjacent  to  the  canal  banks 
is  cowded  with  cottage  dwellings  ;  hence  many  industrial  concerns, 
for  which  direct  access  to  these  transit  facilities  is  most  important, 
have  to  be  scattered  about  in  other  parts  of  the  town.     This  often 
results  in  destroying  the  amenities  of  some  of  the  best  residential  areas 
and  entails  a  constant  stream  of  heavy  traffic  through  the  streets,  to 
and  from  these  very  railways  and  canals  along  the  banks  of  which  these 
works  should  naturally  be  situated.    Increased  cost  of  production,  con- 
gestion of  traffic,  heavy  street  repairs,  and  general  inconvenience  are 
the  result.    Further,  we  find  educational  facilities  needlessly  multiplied 
and  scattered  because  of  the  prohibitive  cost  of  grouping  them  in  some 
central  position  ;  we  find  dwellings  spreading  into  the  least  healthy 
districts  because  the  land  there  happens  to  be  cheap,  while  large  areas 
of  the  best  residential  sites  are  held  up  for  other  purposes.     The  city 
plan,  then,   is  needed  to  organise  the  proper  utilisation  of  all  these 
areas.      By  securing  a  good  city  development  plan  each  community 
can  facilitate  the  growth  and  efficiency  of  those  industries  upon  which 
its  life  depends,  providing  for  their  expansion  where  they  will  have 
the  greatest  convenience  of  rail  and  water  carriage,  power,  heat,  and 
light,  in  close  touch  with  their  many  and  varying  requirements,  such 
as  subsidiary  small  industries,   warehouses,   and  so  forth.      Where 
access  to  waterways  exists  the  plan  affords  a  means  of  exercising 


24'^   Trausdctions  of  the  Toicn  PUuniiiig  C\)ufcrcuci',  Oct.  \()\o. 

proper  foresight  in  the  providing  of  adequate  dock  and  harbour 
accommodation.  Moreover,  by  this  plan  the  most  convenient  com- 
munication by  road,  rail,  or  car,  between  the  industrial  regions,  tlu- 
great  centres  of  wholesale  and  retail  exchange,  and  the  best  areas 
upon  which  to  develop  the  dwellings  of  the  people,  can  be  secured. 
It  is  dillicult  to  exaggerate  the  gain,  both  in  direct  economy  and 
increased  efficiency,  which  such  proper  organisation  of  towns  may 
bring.  Further,  by  the  organisation  of  centres  of  education,  by 
which  the  value  of  each  school,  museum,  or  library  may  be  greatly 
increased,  and  by  the  proper  provision  for  recreation  in  the  distri- 
bution of  parks  and  open  spaces,  and  the  right  laying-out  and 
control  of  the  residential  areas  and  their  protection  from  the  intrusion 
of  objectionable  industries,  the  greatest  impetus  may  be  given  to  the 
development  of  a  race  of  citizens  sound  of  body,  intelligent  of  mind, 
and  energetic  of  character. 

While,  therefore,  our  immediate  concern  is  with  the  growing  dis- 
tricts of  our  towns,  it  is  only  by  a  proper  study  of  the  whole  problem 
that  we  can  deal  with  these  external  areas  in  such  a  way  that  they 
shall  bear  their  right  relation  to  the  whole  city  ;  and  we  must  look 
forward  to  the  time  when,  having  put  on  right  lines  the  present 
development,  it  may  become  well  worth  while  for  the  city  to  under- 
take to  remedy  at  least  the  worst  defects  which  have  sprung  up  for 
want  of  proper  planning  in  the  past. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done,  therefore,  towards  the  preparation  of 
the  extension  plan  is  to  determine  the  general  lines  on  which  the  city 
should  be  encouraged  to  develop  ;  to  settle  which  areas  it  is  important 
to  reserve  for  industrial  purposes,  for  providing  new  railway  accom- 
modation, docks,  harbours,  warehouses,  &c. ,  and  which  should  be 
devoted  to  residences  of  various  classes.  It  is  important  that  as  much 
intermingling  of  classes  as  possible  should  be  brought  about  in  the 
suburban  districts.  It  is  bad  in  every  way,  as  Mrs.  Barnett  has  so 
often  pointed  out,  to  allow  large  areas  to  be  covered  by  houses  of 
exactly  one  size,  occupied  by  people  of  one  class  only.  While 
this  is  a  matter  that  can  only  to  a  limited  extent  be  con- 
trolled by  planning,  and  while  it  would  be  foolish  to  attempt  to 
intermix  different-sized  houses  indiscriminately,  it  is  possible,  and 
in  every  way  to  be  desired,  that  areas  for  different-sized  houses  should 
be  arranged,  as  much  as  possible,  in  connection  with  every  residential 
district. 

In  considering  the  general  form  which  it  is  desirable  that  town 
development  should  take,  two  extremes  may  be  mentioned.  Either 
the  town  may  extend  in  solid  continuous  rings,  like  the  rising  of 
flood-water  in  a  shallow  basin,  or  it  may  increase  by  the  growth  of 
numerous  detached  townlets  spreading  from  some  centre,  such  as  an 
existing  village  or  a  railway  station,  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town. 

Mr.  Kbenczer  Howard  has  advocated  the  limitation  of  the  size  of 
towns  and  the  location  of  all  further  population,  beyond  the  limits 
fixed,  in  Ciarden  Cities,  dotted  about  at  some  distance  from  the  central 
town.  This  style  of  development  has  been  spoken  of  as  too  artificial 
when  compared  with  the  ordinary  spreading  out  of  the  town.  This, 
liowever,   is  hardly  a  correct  distinguishing  description  to  apply  to 


o   2 


"so 

1  -  ^ 


-     u     < 


250  Transaclions  of  the  Toicn  Pliinni)i<^  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 

this  method  of  growth.  There  is  much  that  is  extremely  natural  in  it. 
A  great  part  of  the  increase  of  all  large  towns  takes  place  on  these 
lines,  and  we  only  fail  to  recognise  to  what  extent  because  each  new 
townlet,  spreading  in  all  directions,  so  soon  is  merged  in  the  parent 
city.  By  reserving  an  unbuilt-on  zone  round  each  of  these  townlets 
the  Garden  City  method  of  development  would  be  largely  attained. 
In  this  connection  many  Scandinavian  plans  are  of  special  interest. 
Success  in  such  control  of  the  form  of  development  depends  on  our 
attempting  the  guidance  only  where  the  resistance  is  not  so  great 
as  to  frustrate  our  powers  of  persuasion,  whatever  they  may  be.  The 
success  of  Letchworth  as  a  new  industrial  centre  has  proved  that  this, 
at  any  rate,  as  an  experiment,  is  not  beyond  the  limit  of  such  possible 
guidance,  though  I  certainly  think  that  if  Letchworth  were  regarded 
solely  as  a  means  of  dealing  with  the  general  growth  of  towns 
the  distance  from  the  centre  is  greater  than  is  either  possible 
or,  perhaps,  desirable.  But,  depending  only  on  the  power  of 
voluntary  purchase,  the  promoters  had  very  restricted  choice  as  to 
locality.  But  the  essential  idea  that  after  a  certain  size  the  develop- 
ment of  a  city  should  be  by  the  formation  of  supplementary  centres 
on  the  outskirts,  and  the  recognition  of  the  importance  of  securing 
that  the  indefinite  expansion  of  tbese  and  the  central  town  into  closely 
built  up  areas  should  be  checked,  and  that  defining  belts  of  park, 
woodland,  or  open  country  should  be  reserved,  seems  to  me  of  the 
utmost  importance.  Many  Continental  towns,  when  abandoning  lines 
of  fortification,  have  been  wise  enough  to  reserve  such  a  belt.  It  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  city  of  Paris  will  be  able  to  do  the  same.  I 
would  venture  to  draw  your  attention  to  the  interesting  plan  for 
Greater  Berlin  made  by  Albert  Gessner  on  these  lines. 

In  all  large  organisations  it  becomes  necessary  to  subdivide  into 
smaller  units,  having  distinctive  functions  in  relation  to  the  whole, 
and  to  subdivide  these  further  into  smaller  units  still.  In  the  Army, 
for  example,  we  have  the  army  corps  divided  into  divisions,  the  divi- 
sions into  regiments,  the  regiments  into  companies,  each  having  its 
own  separate  organisation,  functions,  and  official  head ;  it  is  only 
necessary  to  think  of  an  army  as  consisting  of  an  indefinite  number 
of  companies,  each  in  direct  relation  only  with  the  general,  to  realise 
how  impossible  it  would  be  efficiently  to  handle  such  a  disorganised 
mass.  So  it  is  with  the  functions  of  city  life  :  a  few  may  be  entirely 
centralised,  but  most  of  them  must  have  local  provision  made  as  well, 
and  it  is  much  more  healthy  that  the  various  local  provisions  should 
be  grouped  together  to  form  definite  supplementary  centres  near  to 
the  population  that  is  to  use  them,  rather  than  that  they  should  be 
scattered  indiscriminately  over  the  town.  The  creation  of  such 
centres,  and  the  proper  planning  of  the  areas  around  in  definite  rela- 
tion to  them,  would  help  to  foster  local  patriotism,  to  gather  around 
each  residents  of  many  different  classes,  and  to  prevent  that 
development  of  the  vast  areas  covered  by  houses  of  one  class  without 
any  relationship  either  directly  to  the  main  town  life  or  to  any  supple- 
mentary local  life,  which  is  such  an  evil  feature  of  our  industrial 
towns.  vSuch  centres  become  naturally  the  points  of  emphasis  in  the 
design,  making  it  possible  to  introduce  scale  and  proportion  in  the 


The  City  Development  Plan. 


251 


Fig.  2. — Illustrating  Combinatiom  of  Siti;  and  Architecture. 

A.  The  City  ot  Ephesus  :  the  late  Edward  Falkencr's  Restoration. 

B.  Plan  of  the  Agora. 


2^2   Transiiclit>iis  oj  Uw  Toicn  Plaiiniiiai  C'onferciicc,  Oct.  hho. 

different  parts  and  concentration  of  architectural  effect  in  the  centre 
point  or  chmax.     If  towns  of  great  size  are  to  be  wholesome  dwelling 
places,  it  seems  necessary  to  adopt  one  of  two  courses.     Either  we 
must  give  to  every  house  a  considerable   extent   of  ground,    which 
means  spreading  the  town  over  an  excessively  large  area,  increasing 
unduly  the  distances  which   have  to  be  travelled   and  creating  the 
maximum  dilViculty  in  supplying  and  maintaining  all  the  various  ser- 
vices and  conveniences  of  communal  life,  both  material  and  social  ; 
or    we    must    develop    on    the    principle    of    grouping    our    buildings 
together  in  certain  parts  and  leaving  adequate  open  spaces  around 
each  group.     This  seems  to  me  both  the  right  and  natural  course.     It 
is  rendered  easy  by  modern  means  of  transit,  particularly  by  street 
tramwavs,  which  have  been  found  hitherto,  perhaps,  the  most  efficient 
means  of  conveying  large  numbers  of  people  about  urban  areas.     It 
facilitates  and  renders  less  costly  the  distribution  of  water,  light,  heat, 
telephone,   and   all  other  such   conveniences,    and   at  the   same  time 
fosters  a  much  more  interesting  and  varied  character  of  development. 
City  life  is  essentially  co-operative  in  character,  and  I  do  not  think 
that  the  ideal  will  be  the  setting  of  every  individual  house  within 
its    own    quarter-acre    plot    of    garden,    but    rather    the    placing    of 
groups  of  houses  within  their  ten  or  a  hundred  acres  of  park.     This  is 
the  method  of  development  that  has  in  past  times  been  adopted  when 
sufficiently  highly  organised  groups  have  made  settlements  for  them- 
selves.    In  the  great  ecclesiastical  establishments  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
for  example,  we  find  this  method  adopted  ;  and,  to  take  a  most  extreme 
example,  it  is  said  that  in  the  days  of  its  glory  the  Palace  of  \'ersaillcs 
has  housed  as  many  a^  ten  thousand  people — the  population  of  a  small 
town — all   sharing   and   enjoying   those   glorious  parks   and   gardens 
which  surround  the  palace.     Contrast  the  possibilities  for  social  life 
and  organisation  of  this  palace  or  that  of  Richelieu  with  what  there 
would  have  been  if  those  ten  thousand  people  had  been  scattered  over 
the  park,  each  in  his  own  cottage.     While  not  in  the  least  advocating 
the  crowding  of  people  into  huge  palaces  of  this  character,  I  do  think 
a  verv  useful  suggestion  is  afforded  of  the  way  in  which  it  may  be 
possible  to  group  our  buildings  into  centres  and  to  lay  out  much  of  the 
surrounding  ground  to  be  shared  as  recreation  and  pleasure  grounds 
by  the  whole  of  the  dwellers  in  these  groups.     An  attempt  has  been 
made  at  Hampstead  to  do  this  to  some  slight  extent  with  the  cottages. 
Ha\ing  determined,  roughly,  the  character  of  the  different  areas 
around  our  town,  and  also  the  character  of  development  which  we 
should  attempt,  and  the  ground  which  should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  re- 
served for  public  open  spaces  and  pleasure  grounds,  the  next  step  in 
preparing  the  city  development  plan  will  be  to  consider  the  highways 
required   for   convenient   intercommunication   between   these   centres 
and  the  heart  of  the  town  itself  or  its  industrial  district,  and  also 
between  these   different   centres   themselves.        Where   a   town   has 
reached  a  certain  size,  generally  speaking  the  main  flow  and  return 
of  population  will  be  inwards  towards,  and  outwards  from,  the  centre. 
If,  however,  the  town  has  clearly  marked  industrial  regions  at  any 
considerable  distance  from  the  centre,  new  directions  will  be  given 
to  this   flow,   particularly   as   affecting   those  areas  occupied   by   the 


llie  City  Development  Plan  25^ 

industrial  classes,  and,  in  addition  to  main  roads  leading  out  from  the 
centre  of  the  town  in  all  directions,  others  should  be  planned  giving 
direct  access  to  great  centres  of  employment,  business  centres,  railway 
stations,  and  other  similar  places.  These  roads,  with  the  intercom- 
municating roads  connecting  the  different  districts  one  with  the  other, 
will  form  the  main  framework  of  the  town  extension  plan.  Their 
direction  must  depend  so  much  on  the  consideration  of  each  individual 
town — the  site  on  which  it  is  situated  and  the  character  of  its  past 
de\elopment — that  but  little  can  usefully  be  said  as  to  the  theoretical 
form  which  such  roads  should  assume.  Three  interesting  examples 
of  ancient  ideal  schemes  from  Dr.  Brinckmann's  book  serve  to  show 
rectangular  lines  as  the  basis  of  two  and  radiating  lines  as  the  basis  of 
the  other.  Moscow  is  a  good  example  of  a  town  the  ideal  form  for 
which  would  be  the  spider's  web;  while  Aosta,  from  Dr.  Stiibben's 
book,  illustrates  the  rectangular  basis  due  to  Roman  Camp  origin. 
In  a  good  modern  plan,  in  addition  to  the  radiating  roads,  certain 
cross  diagonals  will  be  required,  and  roads  roughly  following 
circular  lines  round  the  town  will  also  probably  be  found  necessary. 
The  real  economy  of  any  town  plan  will  greatly  depend  on  the  proper 
arrangement  of  its  main  highways,  on  the  right  spacing  and  the 
suflicient  grading  in  width  and  character  of  all  the  roads.  Here  we 
must  take  warning  from  mistakes  which  have  been  made  in  other 
countries  in  the  matter  of  planning,  where  extravagance  in  the  size 
and  number  of  roads  has  sometimes  so  enhanced  the  cost  of  develop- 
ment, and  therefore  the  price  of  the  land,  that  it  has  become  impos- 
sible to  build  dwellings  except  in  the  form  of  five-story  blocks  of 
flats.  We  shall  have  to  break  away  entirely  from  our  own  traditions 
in  the  matter  of  road-making.  Hitherto  it  has  been  the  general  custom 
in  this  country  for  our  bye-laws  to  fix  one  minimum  width  applicable  to 
all  new  roads,  and  there  has  been  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  more 
enlightened  municipalities  in  recent  years  to  increase  this  minimum 
width  from  about  36  feet  up  to  about  50  feet.  But  while  either  of  these 
widths  is  ridiculously  inadequate  for  the  main  thoroughfares  in  any 
large  town,  the  greater  of  them  at  least  is  so  excessive  as  a  means  of 
giving  access  to  a  group  of  houses  that  already  the  cost  of  these  wider 
roads  has  become  one  of  the  causes  tending  to  produce  either  the 
overcrowding  of  houses  on  the  site  or  the  creation  of  flat-dwellings. 
If  we  are  to  carry  out  sensible  town  planning,  we  must  accept  at 
once  the  principle  that  roads  should  be  of  varying  widths  according 
to  the  purpose  they  are  to  fulfil.  Proper  planning  can  remove  from 
this  course  all  the  diflficulties  arising  from  any  uncertainty  as  to 
which  roads  are  likely  to  develop  into  main  thoroughfares,  an  un- 
certainty which  undoubtedly  exists  with  towns  developed  haphazard, 
but  which  can  clearly  be  avoided  when  a  plan  of  the  whole  develop- 
ment is  laid  down.  A  framework  of  roads  can  be  so  planned  that  it 
will  meet  all  the  requirements  of  the  more  important  thoroughfares, 
and  the  intercommunicating  ways  of  secondary  importance  also.  The 
city  development  plan  should,  in  fact,  lay  down  all  these  primary 
and  secondary  highways.  If  the  city  plan  provides  for  these 
secondary  roads  at  distances  from  each  other  of  from  half  to  a 
quarter  of  a  mile,   it   will   generally   be    found    that    all    necessary 


254  Tnnisactions  of  the  Toii'n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

provision  for  convenient  intcrcommunicalion  will  ha\  e  been  made. 
Any  other  roads  required  to  develop  the  land  lor  building  purposes 
should  be  regarded  as  building  roads  only  and  should  be  of  an 
entirely  different  character.      .Also,   the  planning  of  them  may  often 

I  tend  with  advantage  rather  to  discourage  any  through  traffic  from 
making  use  of  them.  If  this  is  done,  such  roads  may  be  much 
narrower,  provided  that  a  reasonable  distance  between  the  buildings 
is  prescribed.  The  construction  of  them  may  be  lighter  also ; 
pitching,  paving,  kerbing,  and  channelling  may  be  dispensed  with 
altogether  or  in  part ;  and,  indeed,  on  many  of  the  smaller  and 
shorter  roads  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  a  simple  carriage-drive,  such 
as  is  found  adequate  to  give  access  to  a  large  palace,  public  school, 
or  other  such  building  containing  a  very  considerable  population  and 
entailing  much  vehicular  traffic,  should  not  quite  well  suflice  as  a 
means  of  access  to  limited  groups  of  houses  or  cottages.  It  is, 
indeed,  only  by  saving  in  the  cost  of  these  minor  roads  that  the  cost 
of  additional  land  and  additional  expense  needed  for  providing 
adequate  traffic  highways  can  be  met  without  causing  the  over- 
crowding of  dwellings  on  the  land,  which  it  is  one  of  the  main  aims 
of  town  planning  to  prevent.  The  larger  business  buildings  will 
naturally  follow-  the  lines  of  the  main  roads,  and  these  buildings  can 
better  afford  the  enhanced  cost  of  sites  on  these  roads,  while  the 
more  simple  dwellings,  for  which  in  modern  times  main  roads  are 
becoming  less  and  less  desirable,  will  naturally  be  located  on  the 
minor  roads  where  they  will  be  free  from  the  dust  and  noise  of 
traffic  and  where  the  amenities  of  the  site  can  more  readily  be  pre- 
served. Many  of  our  main  country  highways  have  only  a  width  of 
16  feet  macadamised,  and  they  carry  conveniently  an  amount  of 
traffic  often  ten  times  as  great  as  that  which  would  be  carried  by 
these  minor  drives.  But  when  the  width  of  the  drive  is  less  than 
24  feet,  turning  places  must  be  considered  for  motor-cars  and  vans. 
I  think,  on  the  whole,  it  is  more  convenient  to  have  the  drive  a  little 
narrower — say  13  feet — and  provide  fairly  frequent  turning-places 
where  the  width  is  increased  to  25  feet.  It  is  probably  wase  in  such 
roads  to  leave  some  margin  for  possible  extension,  and  the  total 
width   devoted   to   the   roadw^ay   should   perhaps   be   20   feet   for   the 

,  smaller  roads  and  from  24  to  36  feet  for  the  more  important  of 
these  minor  roads.  While  it  is  necessary  for  the  health  and  comfort  of 
the  residents  to  fix  a  minimum  general  width  between  the  houses  on 
such  roads,  from  an  architectural  point  of  view  it  is  most  desirable  that 
the  regulations  securing  this  should  be  so  formed  as  to  allow  buildings 
here  and  there  to  be  brought  nearer  together  than  the  general  building 
line,  to  enable  some  framing  or  closing  of  the  street  view  to  be  secured, 
and  thus  prevent  the  indefinite  prolongation  of  rows  of  houses  too 
far  apart  in  proportion  to  their  height  to  produce  good  street  pic- 
tures. This  may  be  considered  by  borough  officials  to  be  a  small 
matter,  but  so  long  as  the  length  of  these  projecting  buildings  is 
limited,  as,  for  example,  that  it  shall  not  exceed  twice  the  width  of 
the  space  between  them,  and  also  the  frequency  limited,  as,  for 
example,  that  the  distance  between  such  projections  shall  be  in  no 
case  less  than   150  feet,  or  something  of  that  sort,  the  effect  on  the 


256   Triiiisacti(>)is  of  the  Toivn  PUuniinf^'  Coufcroicc,  Oct.  1910. 

question  of  air  space  and  air  circulation  would  be  nil.  Surely  it 
should  be  one  of  the  great  advantages  obtainable  from  a  more 
g-enerous  supply  of  air  space  that  a  certain  relaxation  in  the  arbitrary 
character  which  has  had  to  be  adopted  in  many  bye-laws  could 
safclv  be  allowed.  This  was  done  in  the  case  of  corner  buildings  in 
the  Hampstead  Garden  Suburb,  where,  instead  of  the  minimum  area 
of  150  square  feet  of  open  space  required  at  the  back  of  the  corner 
building  by  the  ordinary  bye-law,  the  Suburb  Trust  offered  to  pro- 
vide 1,000  super,  feet  of  open  space  if  they  were  left  free  to  put  it 
at  one  side  instead  of  at  the  back.  Architects  generally  will  appre- 
ciate the  importance  of  this  more  elastic  treatment  of  such  questions. 
At  Hampstead  this  one  concession  enabled  us  to  complete  both  the 
external  and  internal  angles  of  groups  of  buildings,  and  yet  provide 
vastly  more  open  space  attached  to  each  house  than  the  bye-laws 
required.  A  properly  finished  carriage-drive,  with  a  grass  margin, 
even  if  provided  with  a  simple  kerb  edging,  including  sewers  and 
surface-water  drains,  will  only  cost  from  one-third  to  one-half  as 
much  as  an  ordinary  50-foot  bye-law  road  such  as  is  required  in 
many  districts.  It  is  obvious  that  when  attempting  to  reduce  the 
number  of  houses  built  to  the  acre  from  forty  or  fifty  to  something 
between  twelve  and  twenty  that  this  reduction  in  the  cost  of  building 
roads  is  a  vital  consideration.  But  it  is  a  still  more  important  one 
when  at  the  same  time  it  is  desired  to  increase  the  width  of  the  main 
highways  from  50  feet  to  60,  80,  or  100,  according  to  circumstances, 
and  in  a  few  cases  to  greater  widths  still,  where  the  amount  of  traffic 
justifies  the  dividing  up  of  the  road  into  different  tracks,  for  high 
speed  and  for  local  stopping  traffic,  with  perhaps  a  wide  grass  margin 
to  carry  the  tramway  lines — an  arrangement  which  reduces  the  cost 
of  laying  and  greatly  deadens  the  noise  of  the  tramway,  and  converts 
these  tracks  from  a  nuisance  into  something  of  a  street  decoration. 
If  at  each  side  of  these  grass  tracks  trees  are  so  planted  as  to  mask 
the  standards  carrying  the  overhead  wires,  even  this  disfigurement 
of  the  street  may  be  greatly  minimised. 

Between  these  two  extremes  that  we  have  dwelt  on — the  20-foot 
carriage  drive  and  the  150-foot  multiple-track  highway — there  will  be 
room  for  roads  of  almost  every  width  and  the  greatest  variety  of 
character  and  treatment.  Not  only  does  every  argument  from  utility 
and  economy  support  the  free  use  of  different  widths  of  roads,  but 
from  the  artistic  point  of  view  the  introduction  into  the  town  plan 
of  that  essential  of  all  good  design,  namely,  proportion,  depends  on 
the  same  variation  in  the  size  of  the  parts  ;  indeed,  it  will  be  found 
that  the  very  circumstances  and  conditions  of  the  problem,  far  from 
hampering  the  designer,  will  afford  him  his  greatest  opportunities. 

Having  settled  the  purpose  of  different  areas,  determined  the 
general  character  of  growth  and  the  approximate  directions  desirable 
for  main  and  subsidiary  highways,  the  town  planner  finds  himself  with 
the  following  component  parts  out  of  which  to  make  his  design, 
namely,  the  main  centre-point  or  climax  dominating  the  whole,  the 
secondary  centres  in  definite  proportion  and  relation  to  it,  and  the  main 
highways  linking  them  up,  the  whole  giving  the  bones  or  main  frame- 
work of  the  design.     Within  the  spaces  defined  by  this  framework. 


The  City  Development  Plan.  257 

having  special  relation  to  the  secondary  centres  and  proportion  to 
the  primary  highways,  we  have  the  network  of  secondary  highways  ; 
while  within  the  areas  which  these  leave,  for  the  purpose  almost  solely 
cf  giving  access  to  the  buildings,   we  have  the  minor  roadways  or 
drives,  which  should  be  in  relation  to  any  subsidiary  centre-points  and 
both  in  relation  and  proportion  to  the  framework  of  secondary  high- 
ways.    Finally,  there  are  the  buildings  themselves,  for  the  sake  of 
which  all  the  above  exist,  and  upon  the  proper  placing,  aligning,  and 
grouping  of  which  the  beauty  of  the  completed  effect  will  depend. 
This  is  at  once  the  natural  order  arising  out  of  the  requirements  of 
the  problem   of   city   development,    and   equally   the   natural  line   on 
which    to    produce    an    orderly    design.     This    series    of  relationship, 
I  believe,  is  necessary  to  allow  for  the  proper  varied  treatment  of  the 
different  detailed  portions  of  the  town  plan  to  accommodate  them  to 
the  various  uses  to  which  they  may  be  allotted,   whether  to  satisfy 
the   commercial,    industrial,    residential,    or   recreational   needs,    and 
the  varied  arrangement  required  by  the  local  characteristics  of  the 
site.      Many   of   the   difficulties   which   have   been   found   to   exist   in 
American  cities  seem  to  me  to  arise  from  neglect  of  this  principle. 
The  whole  of  the  town  being  planned  in  relation  to  the  smallest  unit, 
the  building  block,   it  consists  primarily  of  a  mass  of  detail  frame- 
work having  no  relation  to  anything  but  itself.      To  return  to  our 
siitule^-JiJs_lik£_aJiuge  army  composed  oj_small  companies^_jwithout_ 
either.j:egiments,  divisions,  or  army  corps.     The  excessive  inconve- 
nience of  the  indefinite  multiplication  of  the  small  unit  of  the  building 
block  is  forcing  the  .American  cities  to  attempt  the  very  difficult  task 
of^^u^erimposiiig3Jxaja<ivvarJkuipfiiLJ^     rigid  mass  of  detail,  a  task 
not  only  enormously  expensi\x,_iKit^from_tJie_poini.xii,jyie^^ 
ducing  a  successful  artistic  result,  well-nigh  hopeless  ;  and  looking  at 
some,   at  any   rate,  of  the  plans  which  have  been  prepared   for  the 
further  development  of  American  cities,  one  is  led  to  think  that  the 
fundamental  wrongness  of  this  type  of  plan  has  not  always  been  recog- 
nised, as  apparently  they  are  but  reversing  the  order  that  has  to  be 
adopted  in  the  town-improvement  scheme,   and  are  trying  to  super- 
impose on  a  framework  of  main  highways  another  rigid  framework 
of  minor  roads,  which,  though  it  may  have  some  distant  relation  to 
the  whole,  bears  no  proper  relation  or  proportion  to  the  spaces  result- 
ing from  the  character  of  the  main  framework.     I  say  this  not  by  way 
of  criticising  plans  the  greatness  of  which  I   admire  and  the  condi- 
tions dictating  which  I  do  not  understand,  but  rather  as  a  caution 
lest  some  of  us,  in  our  admiration  for  the  fine  conceptions  for  the  first 
time  shown  in  England,   should  overlook  a  point  of  unsuitability  to 
our  own  conditions.     That  the  minor  roads  in  the  north-west  corner 
of    a    town     should     be     parallel     with     the     minor     roads     in     the 
.south-east   corner,    though    it    may    look   pretty    on    the    plan,    is    a 
matter  having   in    reality   no   value   whatever ;     but   that   the   minor 
roads  should  ha\e  a  definite  relationship  to  the  secondary  or  main 
roads  of  the  framework  to  which  they  are  adjacent  is  essential,   as 
much   for  convenience   and   economy  as  for  securing  a   satisfactory 
artistic  treatment  of  the   street.      Xo  system  cuts  up  the  land   into 
more    awkward    corners,    or    more    thoroughly    destroys    the    street 

s 


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rkTOKlll 

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Fig.  4. 
New  Diagonal  Street  in  the  Centri;  01' 

rnlLADELl>llIA. 


The  City  Development  Plan.  259 

facades,  than  that  which  consists  of  a  framework  of  diagonal  high- 
ways laid  upon  a  rigid  gridiron  system  of  minor  roads,  and  from  no 
system  do  such  unsatisfactory  road  junctions  result.  In  town  plan- 
ning it  is  essential  to  avoid  being  carried  away  by  the  mere  pattern 
of  lines  on  paper.  Order,  definiteness  of  design,  there  must  be  ;  but 
there  must  first  be  grasped  an  understanding  of  the  points  where 
the  order  is  important  and  will  tell,  and  of  those  where  it  matters 
little.  For  example,  the  exact  angles  and  figures  assumed  by  a 
series  of  roads  forming  a  main  framework  are  never  apparent  to  the 
spectator  walking  about  the  town,  but  the  relation  of  the  angles  at 
any  road  junction  to  the  facades  of  the  buildings  determines  whether 
such  road  junction  shall  be  capable  of  becoming  a  fine,  artistic  com- 
position or  shall  be  a  mere  jumble  of  awkward  corner  blocks.  This 
was  well  understood  by  the  planners  of  that  magnificent  street  at 
Palmyra.  In  considering,  therefore,  the  framework,  which  in  a  modern 
town  can  seldom  take  any  exact  figure,  it  matters  little  whether  the 
triangular  spaces  between  the  roads  all  match  one  another,  but  it 
matters  greatly  whether  the  roads  meeting  at  the  points  of  junction 
are  so  related  to  each  other  that  the  vista  can,  if  desired,  be  closed 
by  a  well-placed  building,  or  a  place  of  successful  shape  be  created. 
The  importance  of  so  designing  the  plan  of  a  town  that  interesting 
and  beautiful  street  pictures  can  be  created  as  a  result  of  it  has  been 
very  fully  recognised  by  the  Germans,  in  the  strong  reaction  which 
has  taken  place  in  their  cities  against  the  geometrical  style  of  town 
planning  which  they  followed  in  the  early  years  of  the  modern  revival 
of  the  art ;  and,  while  we  in  this  country  may  learn  much  from  the  splen- 
didly broad  lines  upon  which  some  of  the  great  town-planning  schemes 
of  America  have  been  laid  out,  I  trust  that  we  shall  learn  from  the 
German  school  both  a  greater  respect  for  the  opportunities  afforded 
by  the  undulations  and  other  characteristics  of  the  site  and  a  greater 
appreciation  of  the  importance  of  the  possibilities  which  town  planning 
affords  for  the  creation  of  beautiful  street  pictures— one  of  the 
imaginative  aspects  of  town  planning  which  has  less  scope  in  the 
American  style  of  treatment.  While  we  may  learn  from  America  the 
importance  of  scale  in  the  dominating  features  of  the  town,  I  think  we 
may  well  bear  in  mind  that  size,  by  itself,  is  a  somewhat  unsatisfying- 
quality  ;  and  in  studying  German  work  for  the  sake  of  the  good  pro- 
portion between  the  detailed  parts,  the  careful  adjustment  to  the 
nature  of  the  site  and  the  fine  appreciation  of  the  possibility  of  beau- 
tiful grouping  of  buildings,  we  may  well,  by  study  of  both  Renaissance 
planning  and  French  work,  learn  to  appreciate  the  importance  of 
maintaining  certain  broad  lines  of  design  and  of  giving  to  our  town  a 
definite  and  shapely  framework,  characteristics  which  are  lacking  in 
much  German  town-planning,  where  the  designer  -seems  rather  to 
have  neglected  the  main  frame  of  his  design  in  his  intense  concen- 
tration on  the  picturesque  treatment  of  minor  details. 

In  taking  a  general  survey  of  town-planning  work,  such  as  may 
be  done  by  the  aid  of  the  Exhibition  now  open,  one  cannot  but  feel 
that  the  different  schools  of  planners  have  been  hampered  by  theories 
of  formalism  and  informalism,  which  have  become  prejudices  without 
the   real  conditions  of  either  being  entirely  grasped.      Generally   in 

s  2 


26o  Trunsactious  of  the  Toi^'u  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


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Fio.  5. — Chicago. 
Plan  of  the  complete  System  of  Street  Circulalion,  Railroad  Stations,  Parks,  IJoiilcvan!  Circuits  and  Radial  Arteries, 
Public  Recreation  Piers,  Yacht  Harbour,  and  Plcasure-Boat  Piers  ;  Treatment  of  Grant  Park  ;    the  Main  Axis  and 
the  Civic  Centre,  presenting  the  City  as  a  complete  organism  in  which  all  its  functions  arc  related.     'Note  the  difficult 
facades  on  the  main  diagonal  streets  resulting  from  this  type  of  plan. 


The  City  Development  Plan. 


261 


•-( 


s  2; 


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H  p. 


o  o 


The  City  Development  Flan. 


263 


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f^ 


The  City   Development  Plan.  265 

town  planning-  there  can  be  no  such  things  as  complete  formality  such 
as  you  may  show  on  a  paper  desig^n.  To  take  a  very  simple  example; 
it  you  have  a  road  running-  across  an  undulating  piece  of  ground,  you 
may  choose  either  to  run  the  road  straight,  which  will  perhaps  fit  in 
with  the  form  of  your  desig-n  on  paper,  but  which  will  result  in  abso- 
lute informalit}-  in  the  lines  of  the  elevations  of  your  buildings,  which 
will  ha\f  to  jump  up  and  down  with  the  contours  of  the  ground;  or 
you  may  decide  that  it  is  much  more  essential  to  the  formalit}-  of  the 
effect  at  which  you  are  aiming  to  secure  horizontal  roof  or  cornice  lines 
to  your  buildings,  and  in  order  to  do  this  you  may  plan  your  road  to 
follow  the  irregular  lines  of  the  contour  of  the  ground.  In  town 
planning  we  are  seldom  working  on  one  plane,  and  we  must  think  all 
the  time  in  three  dimensions,  for  we  have  to  create  a  plan  displaying 
the  beauty  of  orderly  design  in  a  manner  applicable  to  the  undulating 
surface  and  irregular  lines  of  the  site. 

We  see  too  often,  on  the  one  hand,  the  opportunities  of  the  site 
sacrificed  to  some  preconceived  paper  design  by  the  formalist ;  while 
the  informalist  seems  at  times  to  believe  that  there  is  virtue  in  the 
mere  avoidance  of  order.  I  believe  that  it  is  only  when  we  have  got 
beyond  these  prejudices  in  favour  of  so-called  formal  and  informal 
work,  and  feel  free  to  make  use  of  either,  recognising  at  once  the 
naturalness  of  formality  in  design  and  the  importance  of  subordinating 
mere  formality  on  paper,  to  seize  upon  the  magnificent  opportunities 
which  many  undulating  sites  afford,  that  we  shall  be  able  to  do  the 
best  work  in  town  planning.  If  to  the  other  advantages  of  town 
planning  we  are  to  add  the  completing  glory  of  creating  beautiful 
cities,  let  us  not  forget  that  we  have  not  really  learned  to  do  any 
work  until  we  have  learned  to  do  it  beautifully.  It  seems  to  me  the 
function  of  the  Town-planning  Architect,  who  is  specially  trained  to 
find  beautiful  forms  of  expression  for  practical  requirements,  is  first  to 
accept  obediently  the  instructions  which  should  be  prepared  for  him 
by  the  sociologist,  the  economist,  the  surveyor,  and  the  engineer  ;  and 
then  within  the  limits  prescribed  to  find  a  beautiful  form  of  expression 
in  the  plan.  It  is  a  task  as  difiicult  as  it  is  inspiring,  for  which  he 
must  prepare  himself  in  whatever  way  is  his  equivalent  to  the  prayer 
and  fasting  of  the  ancients.  Having  mastered  all  the  practical  require- 
ments that  have  to  be  satisfied,  if,  in  a  spirit  of  respect  for  all  of 
traditional  interest  or  natural  beauty,  which  goes  to  make  up  the 
individuality  of  the  city,  and  welcoming  the  difficult  features  of  the 
site  as  affording  greater  opportunities  for  his  art,  the  town  planner  can 
fuse  the  whole  into  one  imaginative  creation  beautifull}  expressing 
the  life  of  the  city  community,  then  indeed  he  will  deserxc  well  of  his 
fellow-men,  for  not  only  will  he  have  added  to  the  convenience  of 
their  lives,  the  health  and  comfort  of  their  homes,  but  he  will  have 
provided  for  them  and  their  children  a  wealth  of  beauty  for  their 
delight,  ever  growing  in  the  grace  of  its  appeal  by  the  kindly  influence 
of  time  and  the  enriching  glamour  of  association. 


>66  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  rhuini)ig  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(2)  Dl'   DIIVI'LOPPKMENT  ET  DE  L'EXTENSION 
DES  VILLES. 

Par  A.   AuGUSTiN  Rev,   S.A.D.G., 

^'^cmbre  du  Conseil  Superieur  des  Habitations ;  Membre  du  Conseil  Superieur 
de  la  Petite  Proprictc  Rurale ;  JNIembre  Correspondant  de  la  Commission 
Internationale  contre  la  Tuberculose. 

Les  villcs  semblent,  a  Thcurc  actuellc,  sous  revolution  de  circon- 
stances  pour  ainsi  dire  organiques,  devoir  s'etendre  longtemps  encore. 

Dans  cette  evolution  qui  depeuple  les  campagnes,  que  rien  nc 
semble  devoir  serieusement  enrayer  pour  le  moment,  quelle  doit  6tre 
la  direction  la  plus  sage  h  suivre?  Est-ce  de  cr^er  des  formules 
absolument  nouvellcs,  des  syst^mes  ou  les  theories  I'emporteraient 
sur  les  regies  elementaires  du  bon  sens?  II  ne  semble  pas  que  ce 
soit  dans  cette  voie  qu'il  faille  s 'engager. 

Les  conditions  climateriques  de  chaque  pays  doivent  creer  avant 
tout  la  mani^re  d'habiter  des  peuples.  C'est  le  facteur  principal 
qu'il  y  ne  faut  jamais  perdre  de  vue.  L'on  veut  aller  trop  vite  en 
besogne  de  nos  jours,  et  l'on  oublie  un  peu  partout  ces  principes 
Elementaires.  La  preuve  en  est  dans  cette  soif  d'appliquer  en  bloc 
a  un  pays,  ce  qui  se  fait  dans  un  autre,  sans  se  donner  le  temps  de 
r<^flechir  a   I'insanite  de  pareilles  conceptions. 

On  ne  saurait  assez  s'elever  contre  la  theorie  du  "  five  minutes 
syst^me,"  qui  consiste  a  copier  vivement,  en  rentrant  chez  soi,  ce 
que  l'on  a  vu  faire  chez  le  voisin.  Cette  theorie  a  fait  commettre  a 
nos  legislations  europeennes,  trop  d'crreurs  pour  qu'il  ne  soit  pas 
inutile  d'en  signaler  le  reel  danger. 

Ce  qu'il  est  precieux  de  degager,  c'est  I'interet  fondamental  qu'ont 
les  peuples  k  tracer  a  I'avance  avec  methode  le  plan  des  agrandisse- 
ments  futurs  des  cites.  Cet  int^ret  se  concentre  presque  tout  entier, 
d'une  part,  dans  I'augmentation  des  depenses  directement  utiles  k  la 
sante  et  au  bonheur  des  peuples;  et  d'autre  part,  dans  la  reduction  de 
celles  qui  ne  profitent  qu'a  une  infime  minority. 

Un  homme  augmente-t-il  son  pouvoir  vital  en  se  mettant  sur  les 
t^paules  une  lourde  masse  de  plomb,  au  lieu  de  se  couvrir  d'habits 
chauds?     II  en  est  de  meme  des  habitants  d'une  ville. 

Les  depenses  qui  incombcnt  a  une  comniunaute  pour  I'organisation 
g6n6rale  d'une  cite  peuvcnt  se  classer  sommairement  en  quatre 
categories  : 

1.  Prix  du  terrain  occupE  par  les  voies  publiques,  les  espaces 
libres,  les  services  et  batiments  publics. 

2.  Prix  de  construction  des  rues,  des  canalisations  de  tous  genres, 
servant  aux  services  publics  et  particuliers,  l'am6nagement  des 
plantations. 

3.  Prix  de  la  construction  des  batiments  et  de  leur  entretien,  des- 
tines a  la  marche  des  services  publics. 

4.  Depenses  concernant  I'liygi^ne  et  la  beaute  des  difftrentes 
parties  de  la  ville. 


Du  Developpement  et  de  I'Exlension  dcs  Villcs.  267 

Le  budget  dcs  cites  ne  cesse  d'augmentcr.  Le  chapitre  rclatif 
aux  prix  eleves  a  payer  pour  I'achat  du  sol  pour  creation  de  voies 
publiques,  elargissement  de  voies  de  trafic  devcnues  trop  etroites,  le 
gros  chapitre  des  expropriations,  construction  de  bfitiments  pour 
les  services  generaux  de  la  ville  sur  des  terrains  trop  exigus,  absorbent 
de  beaucoup  les  sommes  les  plus  elev^es. 

II  ne  reste  pour  les  services  concernant  I'hygitljno  et  la  bcautc  de 
la  ville  que  des  sommes  insuffisantes.  C'est  la  que  reside  une  des 
causes  principales  de  leur  mauvaise  hygiene. 

Les  conditions  d 'existence  de  notre  societe  moderne  dans  les  villes 
sont  basees  sur  une  valeur  le  plus  souvent  fictive,  donnee  k  son  sol. 

II  est  profondement  deraisonnable  de  vouloir  perpetuer  cette  con- 
ception de  la  propri^te  qui  consiste  a  laisser  sans  entraves  monter 
ind(^finiment  la  valeur  du  sol  sur  lequel  s'est  etabli  et  se  developpe 
une  cite.  Ne  voit-on  pas  que  ce  sol  a  valeur  fictive  est  la  base 
economique  du  logement  humain? 

Y  a-t-il  une  excuse  valable  a  ce  phenomene  economique  qui 
consiste  a  enrichir  un  tr^s  petit  nombre  au  detriment  de  I'lnteret 
general,  qui  est  la  sante  publique,  par  les  speculations  du  sol  urbain  ? 
C'est  k  cette  speculation  qu'est  en  effet  due  I'impossibilite  d'arriver 
sans  des  depenses  colossales  a  I'assainissemcnt  des  vieux  quartiers  de 
nos  ancienncs  citds. 

Le  cottage  anglais  est  fait  de  1 'absence  de  la  grande  speculation 
sur  le  sol.  Et  c'est  une  des  gloires  nationales  de  I'Angleterre.  La 
maison  a  cinquante-deux  etages  de  New  York  est  basee  au  contraire 
sur  la  speculation  absolument  folle  dont  le  sol  est  I'objet.  Et  malgre 
le  problfeme  de  construction  admirable  resolu,  c'est  une  des  hontes 
economiques  des  Etats-Unis. 

Doit-il  y  avoir  hesitation  a  prendre  parti  dans  cetta  lutte  magis- 
trale  que  se  livrent  ces  deux  armees  opposees,  celle  qui  veut  main- 
tenir  le  terrain  a  bas  prix,  et  celle  qui  veut  en  faire  une  qui  encourage 
toutes  les  speculations  dont  il  est  I'objet. 

Pour  toute  civilisation  qui  place  au  premier  rang  la  sante  publique 
et  non  la  fortune  de  quelques  uns,  aucune  hesitation  n'est  possible. 
La  solution  est  done  de  restreindre  la  speculation  sur  la  sol  des  villes. 

Au  Congres  International  d'Hygi^ne  et  Demographic  de  Berlin 
en  1907,  ces  considerations  ont  fait  Tobjct  d'une  importante  discus- 
sion qui  a  suivi  notre  communication  :  "La  speculation  sur  les 
terrains  dans  les  grandcs  villes."  II  a  ete  demontre  que  pour 
am^liorer  les  conditions  d 'existence  des  citadins,  il  faut  les  pousser 
a  la  reserve  d'espaces  libres.  Les  municipalites  doivent  avoir  en  leur 
possession  le  plus  de  terrains  possibles.  L'autorite  municipale  qui 
represente  les  interets  superieurs  de  I'hygiene  publique  a  un  degre 
autrement  plus  grand  que  I'etat,  a  un  interet  capital  a  voir  ce  produit 
de  toute  premiere  necessite  qu'est  le  terrain,  ne  pas  augmenter  de 
\aleur  dans  des  proportions  deraisonnables. 

Pour  parvenir  a  ce  resultat,  les  municipalites  doivent  : 
I.   Garder  jalousement  en  leur  possession  tous  les  terrains  qui  leur 
appartiennent   sans  jamais  les  vendre  :    Ceux   qui   ne  lui   reviennent 
pas  a  un  prix  eleve  et  ne  sont  pas  destines  a  la  creation  de  pares  et 


268   Transactimis  of  the  Toicn  thinning  Conjcrcncc,  Oct.  1910. 

jardins  publics  doivent  etrc  loucs  :i  dcs  taux  dc  tres  longue  durce 
et  aux  prix  les  plus  rcduits  pour  laciliter  la  construction  d 'habita- 
tions entourees  d'cspaces  librcs,  ct  pcrmcttant  d'v  logcr,  a  pctits 
loyers,  la  grande  classe  des  travailleurs  ;  2.  Saisir  toutes  les  occasions 
qui  se  prescntent  pour  augnienter  Icur  domainc  en  achctant,  suivant 
les  circonstances  et  a  bon  marche,  de  nombrcux  terrains  a  i^randc 
surface.  Mais  les  muniripalites  ne  doivent,  pour  ainsi  dire  que 
dans  des  cas  exceptionnels,  jamais  construire  elle-meme  les  habi- 
tations. 

Le  Congres  de  Berlin,  a  la  suite  de  notre  communication,  vota  la 
resolution  suivante  :  "  Le  Congr^s  est  d'avis  :  Que  le  nceud  de  la 
question  des  habitations  economiques  et  hvgieniques  dcs  grandes 
\  illes  reside  dans  la  consideration  du  terrain. 

'■  Ou'il  lui  parait  de  la  plus  haute  importance  que,  pour  combattre 
les  effets  de  la  speculation  sur  Ic  sol  dcs  villes,  les  municipalitcs,  a 
qui  incombe  la  defense  des  interets  superieurs  de  Thygiene  publique, 
s'assurent  la  possession  d'une  etendue  notable  de  terrains  a  bas  prix 
pour  en  user  au  mieux  suivant  les  circonstances  particulieres  a  chaque 
pays  pour  I'amelioration  rationnelle  des  conditions  de  I'habitation. 

"  II  considere  que  le  type  d 'habitations  qui  realise  le  mieux  ce  but 
est  celui  de  la  cite-jardin. " 

Lc  Congres  fut  unanime,  a  la  suite  de  notre  argumentation,  pour 
declarer  que  le  terrain,  qui  est  une  source  de  bien-etre  pour  la  sante 
des  habitants  d'une  ville  lorsqu'il  n'atteint  pas  des  prix  trop  eleves, 
peut  devenir  une  source  de  misere  sociale  lorsqu'il  fait  I'objet  de 
speculations  abusives. 

En  possedant  d'importantes  surfaces  dc  terrains,  les  municipalit^s 
pourraient  remedier  sans  violence  a  ce  fleau  tres  moderne  :  la  specu- 
lation du  sol.  Xon  seulemcnt  elles  prepareraient  ainsi  pour  I'avenir 
une  base  raisonnable  pour  les  expropriations  d'utilite  publique — car 
les  municipalites  sont  actuellement  mises  a  la  rancon  lorsqu 'elles  sont 
obligees  d'avoir  recours  a  ces  operations — mais  elles  se  trouveraient 
surtout  en  mesure  d 'assurer,  par  ce  moyen,  dans  I'avenir,  des  espaces 
libres  considerables  et  inalienables.  A  cette  occasion  nous  avons 
cite  I'exemple  frappant  donne  par  la  ville  d'Ulm  dans  le  Wurtemberg, 
grace  a  I'energique  direction  de  son  maire,  M.  Wagner.  Les  ter- 
rains considerables  que  possede  cette  cite  lui  ont  permis  d'eviter 
le  rencherissement  du  sol.  Les  habitations  y  ont  pen  d'etages  et 
sont  entourees  d'espaccs  libres  tres  importants ;  il  en  est  result^ 
une  amelioration  sensible  de  la  mortalite  generale  et  une  mortality 
tubcrculeuse  tres  basse.  La  situation  generale  de  cette  ville  est  tres 
brillante. 

Cet  excmple  frappant  de  logique  et  de  tenacite  merite  d'etre 
repandu.  Cette  cite  a  trouve  ainsi  le  moyen  de  faire  benelicier 
I'cnsemble  des  citoyens,  dans  la  plus  large  mesure,  des  avantages  qui 
reviennent  generalement  a  une  minorite  dc  proprietaires  dc  terrains. 
Dans  ces  conditions,  lorsque  la  hausse  certaine  des  terrains  urbains 
se  produit,  c'est  I'ensemble  des  habitants  de  la  ville  qui  en  beneficient 
et  voient  leurs  charges  d'impots  diminuer  encore. 

Dans  les  principaux  pays  du  monde  civilise^,  ou  les  dangers  de 
I'agglomeration  ct  ou  la  mortalite  tubcrculeuse  se  font  dc  plus  en  plus 


I 


I 


Dii  Devcloppcmcnt  cl  dc  I'Extoisiou  dcs  ]'iUes.         269 

sentir,  Ic  grand  interet  est  d'eviter,  pour  Icurs  cites,  la  speculation  ct 
le  haut  prix  des  terrains  destines  a  I'habitation. 

Les  difficultes  que  rencontrent  les  prescriptions  de  I'hygiene  pub- 
lique  ont  presque  toujours  pour  point  de  depart  le  terrain  et  la 
valeur  fictive  qu'on  Aeut  lui  donner.  Pour  obtenir  des  espaces  libres 
autour  de  Thabitation,  c'est  sur  ce  point  que  doit  porter  tout  Teft'ort. 
Une  municipalite  qui  possede  beaucoup  de  terrains  bon  marche, 
surtout  dans  les  parties  d'une  villc  qui  s'etend  le  plus,  pcut  csprrer 
controler  en  quelque  mesure  le   marche  qui  fixe  sa  \aleur. 

La  speculation  du  sol  est  une  des  sources  directes  des  charges 
d'assistance  dont  le  budget  dc  nos  grandes  villes  voit  le  chiffre 
s'enfler  d'annee  en  ennee.  Le  terrain  des  agglomerations  urbaines 
non  destine  au  commerce  et  a  I'industrie,  mais  seulement  a  I'habita- 
tion, ne  doit  pas  etre  un  article  ordinaire  d'echange.  Nous  sommes 
parvenus  a  une  periode  de  la  \ie  des  cites,  ou  se  rt'\elent  avec 
toujours  plus  de  precision  les  mefaits  causes  par  I'habitation,  qui  ont 
pour  origine  fondamentale  les  agiotages  dont  le  sol  est  I'objet,  et  qui 
mettent  I'architecte  dans  I'impossibilite  d'elever  des  maisons  de  peu 
d'etages  et  de  les  entourcr  des  espaces  libres  necessaires. 

Le  facteur  principal  de  la  contagion  tuberculeuse  est  incontestable- 
ment  I'encombrement  des  habitations  dans  les  grandes  villes.  Si 
I'on  pou\ait  etablir  la  proportion  exacte  qui  incombe  a  ce  facteur 
dans  les  mines  que  la  tuberculose  accumule  autour  d'elle,  on  serait 
etonne  du  prix  exorbitant  auquel  reviennent,  a  la  societe  tout  entiere, 
ces  speculations  que  rien  n'arrete. 

Cette  reiorme  depend  des  pouvoirs  municipaux.  C'est  a  eux  qu'in- 
combe  en  tout  premier  lieu  de  rechercher  1 'amelioration  de  la  sante 
publique  en  enrayant  la  hausse  fictive  du  sol  urbain.  On  pourra 
alors,  par  des  methodes  scientifiques  rigoureuscs,  \iser  a  I'orientation 
des  voies  publiques,  a  (-elle  des  batiments,  qui  ont  pour  corollaire 
immediat  d'augmenter  I'espace  libre  au  pourtour  de  la  maison 
d 'habitation. 

Ce  ne  sont  pas  des  pares  surtout  qu'il  faut  d'urgence  aux  habi- 
tants, c'est  de  I'air,  de  la  lumi^re  en  abondance  dans  I'habitation  elle- 
meme.  C'est  le  seul  remede  que  reclament  ceux  qui  \eulent  voir 
baisser  rapidement  la  terrible  morbidite  et  mortalite  tuberculeuse  des 
grands   centres. 

Ces  considerations  ont  une  importance  capitale  lorsque  Ton 
s'occupe  du  developpement  des  villes  modernes.  Les  constructeurs 
de  villes  doivent  en  faire  une  des  Icurs  preoccupations  dominantes. 

L'architecte  de  \  illes,  s'il  veut  concevoir  un  plan  rationnel,  doit 
sectlonner  le  probl^me. 

Dans  1 'esprit  de  beaucoup  la  ville  est  en  effet  un  bloc  en  ap- 
parence  complexe,  presque  inextricable. 

La  complexite  de  la  ville  moderne  n'est  qu'une  apparence.  On 
peut  classer  les  besoins  en  quatre  categories  distinctes  : 

1.  La  ville  des  affaires. 

2.  La  ville  de  I'industrie. 

3.  La  ville  administrative. 

4.  La  \ille  dc  I'habitation. 


270  Trausaclions  of  the  Toicn  Phuining  Coufcrcucc,  Oct.  1910. 

II  faut  lout  d'abord  conccntrcr  dans  un  noeud  ou  plusieurs  noeuds 
du  plan,  suivanl  Ics  btsoins,  la  vie  dcs  affaires,  la  vie  de  bureau,  eelle 
ou  se  font  les  «4 rands  echanges,  les  achats,  les  ventes,  ce  qu'on  appelle 
en  anglais  "  The  City." 

II  faut  ensuite  organiser  la  ville  industrielle  qu'il  n'est  pas  neces- 
saire  de  repartir  en  trop  de  centres  differents.  Pour  etre  pratique 
et  economique  elle  a  besoin  de  voies  de  trafic  speciales,  de  voies  de 
communication,  de  canaux,  de  chemins  de  fer,  de  transports  clectriques 
ou  autres.  11  v  a  tout  interet  a  meltre  en  commun  ces  depenses 
d'organisation  si  productives,  pour  les  amener  sur  un  seul  point  au 
plus  haut  deg:re  de  perfectionnements  possibles.  On  doit  songer 
egalemcnt  a  ne  pas  compromcttre  la  sante  g;cnerale  de  la  cit^  par 
les  fumees  ct  les  odeurs  industrielles.  Si  la  fumivorite  etait  appliquee 
comme  elle  le  devrait,  dans  I'interet  meme  des  industriels,  on 
n'aurait  pas  besoin  de  se  preoccuper  de  I'orientation  k  donner  a  cctte 
partie  de  la  cite.  Mais  il  faut  reconnaitre  que  de  tr^s  grands  progr^s 
sont  necessaires,  surtout  en  Angleterre,  ou  les  industriels  n'ont  voulu 
faire  encore  aucun  effort  decisif  a  cet  egard.  II  faut  done  placer  cette 
partie  de  la  ville  au  dela  des  vents  regnants  de  mani^re  a  ce  que  les 
fumees  ne  puissent  venir  obscurcir  la  luminosite  de  I'atmosph^re. 

Ce  que  nous  appelons  la  ville  administrative,  c'est  la  ville  des 
grands  monuments  utiles  a  la  communaute,  et  ceux  qui  constituent 
sa  richesse  et  sa  gloire  et  contiennent  ses  tresors  historiques,  scienti- 
fiques,  et  surtout  artistiques.  Oij  faut-il  la  placer?  II  faut 
I'eloigner  k  la  fois  de  la  cite  industrielle  et  de  la  cite  des  affaires.  II 
faut  la  placer  au  centre  de  la  vaste  cite  de  I'habitation,  afin  que  de 
tous  cotes  puissent  affluer  ses  habitants.  Cette  partie  de  la  cite  peut 
etre  reellement  artistique  et  monumentale.  II  serait  trop  long  ici 
d'enumerer  les  dispositions  qui  conviendraient  a  cette  conception 
eminemment  moderne. 

Qu'il  nous  sufTise  de  dire  que  I'Hotel  de  \'ille  peut  en  occupcr 
presque  le  centre  \irtuel.  II  est  bon  en  developpant  le  cote  monu- 
mental de  cette  partie  de  la  ville  de  faire  na'itre  chez  ses  habitants  cet 
amour  ardent  pour  son  sol,  vrai  patriotisme  local,  qui  etait  si  florissant 
aux  grandes  epoques  de  I'histoire  artistique  des  pcuples.  L'influence 
que  peuvent  exercer  de  grands  monuments  sur  I'esprit  des  masses  est 
indeniable.  lis  sont  comme  la  representation  materielle  de  I'activite, 
du  labeur  et  de  la  grandeur  de  la  ville. 

La  centralisation  a  outrance,  qui  a  cree  les  grandes  capitales  qui 
sucent  le  meillcur  de  Tame  nationale,  est  une  erreur  fondamentale. 
Dans  les  grandes  nations,  les  centres  devraient  etre  nombreux.  Rien 
n'a  enrichi  autant  le  domaine  esthetique  des  villes,  dans  les  epoques 
passees,  que  la  puissante  indepcndance  et  la  liberte  des  Communes. 
C'est  rendre  service  a  I'ideal  de  I'humanite  que  de  chercher  a  briser 
cette  centralisation  etroite,  qui  fait  peser  lourdemcnt  sur  les  peuples 
les  Gouvernements  modernes. 

Parmi  les  grands  pays,  I'Angleterre  est  peut-etre  la  plus  decen- 
tralisee.  L'application  de  la  loi  sur  le  Town  Planning  ne  fera 
qu'arrentuer  ce  mouvement. 

La  derniere  partie  de  la  cite,  sur  laquelle  I'Angleterre  a  attach^ 
la  plus  haute  importance,   est  la  cite   de  I'habitation,   celle  ou   Ton 


Dii  Developpemcnt  el  de  I'Extension  des  ]'iUcs. 


271 


vit  quand  on  a  quitte  ses  travaux  de  la  journec,  celle  ou  est  le 
logis  de  la  famille.  L'Angleterre  en  a  cree  d'admirables  exemples 
modernes.  Et  il  ne  faut  pas  craindre  d'apporter  ici  notre  admira- 
tion a  la  lutte  heroique  entamee  par  I'Angleterre  pour  defendre  son 
cottage  contre  la  tentation  de  la  maison  a  etages,  habitation  courante 
du  Continent. 

Nous  trouvons  la  comma  un  parallele  a  cette  lutte  egalement 
heroique  sur  le  terrain  economique,  qui  a  fait  conserver  a  I'Angle- 
terre, malgre  tous  les  obstacles  et  toutes  les  coalitions,  le  libre 
echange,  en  opposition  avec  le  protectionisme  continental. 

Dans  ce  domaine  de  I'habitation,  la  race  Anglo-Saxonnc  a  de- 
veloppee  son  energie  de  caractere.  La  seule  reserve  que  nous 
aurions  a  faire  a  ces  cites  de  I'habitation,  telles  qu'elles  sont  com- 
prises en  Angleterre,  est  de  noyer  parfois  ses  monuments  importants 
au  milieu  de  I'amas  de  ces  petites  constructions  ideales  :  le  cottage. 
II  n'en  reste  pas  moins  une  des  gloires  les  plus  pures  de  la  Grande 
Bretagne  d 'avoir  fait  sienne  cette  devise  :  Une  maison,  une  famille. 

La  division  en  quatre  categories  essentielles,  montrant  les  besoins 
d'une  ville  moderne,  doit  etre  tou jours  presente  aux  constructeurs  de 
ville,  meme  lorsque  les  espaces  dont  elle  dispose  sont  relativement 
restraints.  C'est  le  cas  qui  se  presente  lorsque  les  terrains  d'exten- 
sion  raccordant  une  ville  principale  avec  ses  faubourgs  ne  prescntent 
pas  toute  I'etendue  necessaire. 

II  est  tres  delicat  de  corriger  a  ce  moment-la  les  erreurs  du  passe. 
Mais  il  est  prudent  dans  ce  cas  de  remanier  le  plan  general  des 
parties  construites  at  dans  des  lignes  d 'ensemble  montrer  I'ameliora- 
tion  qui  pourrait  etre  obtenue  par  une  execution  sectionnee  et  repartic 
sur  un  grand  nombre  d'annees. 

La  mise  au  point  d'un  plan  de  ville  et  de  ses  faubourgs,  est  un 
travail  de  tres  longue  haleine  et  que  I'avenir  seul  pent  manar  a  bian, 
lorsque  par  avance  on  aura  cherche  a  determiner  par  une  etude 
approfondie  le  plan  general  de  la  cite  agrandie. 

Mais  que  d'erreurs  sont  commises  journellement  dans  la  con- 
struction des  edifices  les  plus  importants  qui  montrent  a  quel  point  il 
est  necessaire  de  reviser  nos  programmes,  nos  plans  et  nos  methodcs 
de  construire.  II  est  certain  qua  des  erreurs  monumentales,  c'est 
bien  le  mot  qui  convient,  sont  faites  dans  nos  villes  modernes. 

L'argent  gaspille  dans  des  monuments  enormes  qui  ne  repondent 
pas  a  leur  programme  est  un  des  scandales  modernes  de  I'amenage- 
ment  des  villes.  II  me  serait  aise  d'en  citer  un  tres  grand  nom.bre 
de  cas.  Je  ne  prendrai  qu'un  exemple  :  un  monument  pris  dans  une 
categoric  de  premiere  importance  et  tnls  moderne  :  une  gare 
principale. 

Qui  ne  connait  la  ville  d'Anvers  et  les  parties  si  attachantes  de 
cette  vieille  cite  historique?  On  sait  a  quel  point,  meme  lorsqu'une 
municipalite  veut  faire  les  efforts  necessaires,  il  est  dillicila  d'ameliorar 
tant  au  point  de  vue  de  I'hygiene  qu'au  point  de  vue  esthetique  de 
semblablcs  villes.  La  nouvelle  gare  de  chemin  de  fer,  bien  connue, 
est  un  monument  gigantesque  qui  a  coiite  une  somme  de  plus  de 
cinquante  millions  de  francs  (deux  millions  de  livres  sterling). 

Lorsque  Ton  reflechit  a  ce  qu'est  une  gare  de  chemin  de  far,  et  k 


272   Tnuisactioiis  of  the  Toicn  PI(inni)ig  Conference,  Oct.  kho. 

quelques  besoins  precis  elle  repond,  on  est  stupefait  de  constater 
I'enormite  de  I'erreur  commisc  a  Anvers.  La  gare  d'Anvcrs,  toute 
recente — elle  vient  d'etre  tenninee — au  lieu  d'etre  un  edifice  raison- 
nable  que  Ton  serait  en  droit  d'attendre  d'un  monument  si  recent, 
n'est  en  realite  que  le  Palais  de  la  funue,  ainsi  que  nous  I'avons 
appele.  Ses  arches  monstrueuses  qui  ne  repondent  a  aucune  neces- 
site,  si  ce  n'est  a  la  fantaisie  de  calculs  d'ingenieurs,  sont  inexcu- 
sables.  Au  lieu  d'avoir  depense  une  somme  aussi  colossale  a  faire  un 
monument  en  definitive  deplorable — je  passe  sous  silence  le  caractere 
particulier  de  son  architecture  qui  ne  repond  aucunement  au  bon  gout 
traditionnel  des  Flandres — et  que  Ton  songe  a  ce  qu'une  \ille  telle 
qu'Anvers  a  de  sommes  a  depenser  rien  que  pour  s'assainir  ou 
s'organiser  completement,  on  reste  confondu  de  la  legerete  avec 
laquelle  sont  entrepris  les  plus  grands  travaux  laisant  corps  a\ec 
la  beaiit^  d'une  ville. 

Que  pour  la  gare  de  chemin  de  ler  d'une  ville  importante  on 
edifie  une  facade  digne  d'elle,  qui  corresponde  aux  services  generaux 
et  aux  entrees  du  public,  c'est  bien.  Mais  que  pour  niettre  a  cou\  ert 
les  trains  qui  se  composent  en  definitive  de  voitures  et  dc  locomotives 
a  I'echelle  humaine,  on  monte  des  voutes  geantes,  imitation  gro- 
tesque des  nefs  des  cathedrales,  a  la  place  des  simples  quais  couverts 
par  des  auvents,  c'est  trop  !  Aucun  raisonnement,  aucune  beaute 
esthetique,  n'excuse  de  pareils  travaux,  si  ce  n'est  le  plaisir  de 
gaspiller  les  ressources  de  I'etat  et  des  villes.  II  est  temps  que  des 
procedes  indignes  de  notre  ci\ilisation  modenie  soient  energiquement 
condamnes. 

Ces  erreurs  dans  la  construction  d'edifices  aussi  importants  ont 
naturellement  une  repercussion  immediate  sur  1 'aspect  d'une  cite,  et 
il  est  incontestable  que  lorsque  des  sommes  aussi  considerables  ont 
ete  mal  utilisees,  il  n'est  possible  avant  longlemps  de  penser  a 
ameliorer  la  beaute  et  I'harmonie  d'une  ville. 

La  beaute  d'une  ville  est  faite,  avant  tout,  de  la  beaute  de  ses 
grandes  lignes  de  circulation.  Sur  ce  point  il  faut  reconnaitre  que 
dans  les  plus  belles  \'illes  que  nous  puissions  r\oquer  nous  n 'axons 
que  des  fragments  de  cette  beaute.  Aucuns  plans  raisonnes,  s'eten- 
dant  aux  limites  possibles  du  developpcment  d'une  cite,  n'ont  encore 
ete  entrepris. 

Comment  voulez-vous  que  dans  ces  conditions  il  soit  possible 
de  creer  des  monuments  qui  soient  comme  enchasses  dans  un  en- 
semble proportionne  et  harmonieux  de  lignes?  On  attaquc,  pour 
se  couvrir,  les  travaux  de  I'architecte.  Certes,  il  a  souxent  oublie 
de  se  penetrer  des  lignes  cnxironnantcs,  lorsqu'il  a  arrete  les  lignes 
capitales  de  son  monument. 

Ceci  me  rappelle  une  (  urieuse  erreur  faite  a  New  \'ork  et  que  je 
signalais  il  y  a  deux  ans  aux  Americains  par  run  des  organes  le^  plus 
importants  de  leur  Presse.  La  Bibliothcque  |)rincipale  de  la  \ille 
de  New  ^'ork,  monument  clont  le  cout  est  de  trente-cinq  millions  de 
francs,  fut  tout  simplement  mal  plante  dans  le  tr^s  beau  terrain  qui 
lui  etait  consacre.  Sa  facade  principale  donne  sur  la  Cinquieme 
.Avenue,  I'.Vvenue  du  grand  luxe  de  I'architecture  .\mericaine,  sur 
laquelle  s'elevent  tant  de  monuments  interessants,  dont  quelques-uns 
meme  remarquables.     Le  terrain  vaste,  qui  avait  coute  une  somme 


Du  Developpement  et  de  VExtension  des  ViUes.  27.:; 

considerable,  permettait  rc'tablissement  d'un  grand  square  au  dcvant. 
All  lieu  de  reculer  redifice  et  de  placer  ce  square  comme  cadre  tout 
dt'signe  de  sa  facade  monumentale  sur  le  Cinqui^me  A\enue,  on  a 
place  le  cadre  par  derriere  sur  une  Avenue  quelconquc. 

A  peine  signalee  au  grand  journal  de  New  York,  cette  erreur  fut 
immediatement  relevee  de  tous  cotes  comme  monumentale  et  mal- 
hcureusement  irreparable.  Si  Ton  avait  songe  en  tracant  ce  pro- 
gramme a  la  valeur  qu'acquierent  les  lignes  generales  d'un  grand 
monument  par  un  recul  proportionne  de  sa  facade  principale,  I'erreur 
n'aurait  pas  ete  commise.  II  est  vrai  que  les  Americains,  dont 
I'audace  ne  recule  devant  rien,  auraient  peut-etre  un  jour  glisse  sur 
roulettes  leur  bibliotheque  pour  la  rcplacer  en  arri^re  ! 

La  beaute  d'une  ville  est  egalement,  et  peut-etre  principalement, 
influencee  par  la  direction  et  Torientation  donne  a  ses  principalcs 
voies.  II  est  en  effet  inconcevable,  lorsque  Ton  examine  de  pres  la 
contexture  d'une  grande  ville  moderne,  de  constater  a  quel  point  on  a 
oublie  I'element  principal  de  la  beaute  des  choses  qui  est  dans  leur 
eclairage.  Nous  introduisons  ici,  peut-etre  pour  la  premiere  fois  dans 
le  debat,  I'argumentation  vraiment  scientifique  et  rationnelle  qui 
concerne  la  beaute  des  cites.  Personne  ne  contestera,  en  effet,  sans 
V  avoir  cependant  jamais  bien  reflechi,  que  la  beaute  des  edifices  est 
dans  la  maniere  dont  la  lumiere  du  soleil  eclaire  certaines  parties  ou 
projette  des  ombres  sur  d'autres. 

Dans  aucune  periode  de  la  grande  histoire  de  I'art  qui  a  fait  eclore, 
dcpuis  les  civilisations  les  plus  reculees  de  I'Asie  ou  de  I'Afrique,  les 
batiments  les  plus  incomparablcs,  on  a  oublie  cette  loi  de  I'oricntation 
des  grandes  facades  par  rapport  a  la  direction  des  rayons  du  soleil. 

Quelles  sont  les  villes  de  nos  jours  oili  Ton  ne  puisse  trouver,  comme 
a  plaisir,  des  batiments  considerables,  ayant  leurs  plus  belles  facades 
plongees  dans  I'ombre  ou  a  peine  eclairees  par  des  rayons  frisants  ! 
Je  crois  que  presqu 'aucune  des  grandes  villes  du  monde  n'est  exempte 
de  ce  grave  reproche.  C'est  la  peut-etre  la  raison  cachee  de  ces  critiques 
si  justifiees  dont  la  ville  moderne  est  I'objet,  mais  dont  on  n'a  pas  su 
expliquer  la  veritable  cause. 

Le  soleil,  en  effet,  est  reconnu  par  la  science  moderne  comme 
ayant  une  action  souveraine  sur  la  vie  de  I'individu,  par  sa  puissance 
microbicide  de  premier  ordre.  S'il  est  par  consequent  veritable 
createur  de  la  sante,  il  ne  faut  pas  oublier  qu'il  est  Egalement  I'artiste 
par  excellence  qui  mettra  en  valeur  tous  nos  efforts  pour  cr^er  la 
beaute   plastique. 

Les  monuments  qui  ont  ete  profondement  pens^s  et  reflechis  avant 
que  d'etre  executes  dans  les  si^cles  passes  sont  restes  comme  les 
types  les  plus  remarquablcs  du  genie  humain.  \'oyez  a  cet  egard, 
a  Paris,  la  Place  de  la  Concorde,  I'ancienne  Place  Louis  X\',  qui  fut, 
pendant  un  temps  de  bouleversement,  la  Place  de  la  Revolution.  vSes 
monuments  sont  admirablement  orientes  et  leur  dclairage  savam- 
ment  etudie  en  fait  ressortir  la  grande  noblesse  de  lignes ;  pas  une 
erreur  n'a  ete  commise  a  cet  egard,  aussi  leur  effet  a  ete  universelle- 
ment  reconnu  dans  le  monde  comme  voisin  de  la  perfection.  Lorsque 
I'on  veut  citer  un  exemple  d'un  effet  monumental  parfait,  il  faut 
toujours  citer  la  Place  de  la  Concorde. 

On  ne  saurait  done  assez  mediter  al  grande  lol  de  I'eclairage  des 
monuments  importants  qui  se  lie  si  intimement  k  leur  beautd. 

T 


274  Traii.'^iiclions  of  tJw  To'a'n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


[Translation  of  M.  Key's  Paper.] 

THH   GROWTH   AND   DE\I:L0P.M1:\T    OF   TOWNS. 

Thk  rapid  growth  of  our  towns,  caused  by  the  evolution  ol  lircum- 
stances  which  may  be  termed  ory^anic,  seems  at  the  present  time  Hkely 
to  continue.  In  \  icw  of  this  tendency,  which  depopulates  our  country 
districts,  and  which  for  the  moment  it  seems  impossible  to  check, 
we  are  faced  by  the  question.  What  is  the  wisest  thing-  to  do;  shall 
we  draw  up  entirely  new  formula^  and  systems  in  which  theories  shall 
outweigh  the  elementary  rules  of  common  sense?  Surely  this  is 
not  the  method  to  adopt. 

The  climatic  conditions  of  each  country  must  necessarily  determine 
the  type  of  dwelling  selected  by  the  inhabitants.  Climate  is  the  main 
factor  which  must  ne\  er  be  lost  sight  of.  There  is  a  tendency  now- 
adays to  push  ahead  too  rapidly,  and  to  overlook  fundamental  prin- 
ciples. The  proof  of  this  lies  in  the  haste  with  which  we  apply 
wholesale  to  one  country  the  methods  adopted  in  another  without 
taking  time  to  consider  the  absurdity  of  such  a  proceeding.  We 
cannot  too  strongly  protest  against  the  principle  of  the  "  five-minutes' 
svstem,"  which  consists  in  hastily  copying,  immediately  on  our  return 
home,  everything  which  we  have  seen  done  by  our  neighbours.  This 
principle  has  caused  our  European  legislators  to  commit  so  many 
errors  that  it  will  not  be  superfluous  to  draw  attention  to  its  serious 
dangers. 

The  first  point  to  notice  is  the  primary  importance  of  drawing 
up  in  advance  a  .systematic  plan  for  the  future  development  of  cities. 
The  chief  advantages  to  be  gained  by  this  are  :  first,  the  increase 
of  that  expenditure  which  is  directly  conducive  to  the  health  and 
happiness  of  the  inhabitants  generall\-  ;  and,  secondly,  tiic  reduction 
of  that  which  benefits  only  a  small  minority. 

Does  a  man  increase  his  vital  strength  by  loading  his  shoulders 
with  a  heavy  weight  of  lead  instead  of  clothing  himself  warmly?  The 
same  question  applies  to  dwellers  in  cities. 

The  expenses  which  a  community  has  to  meet  in  connection  with 
the  general  organisation  of  a  city  may  be  roughly  di\idcd  into  four 
classes  : — 

(i)  The  price  of  the  land  to  be  occujjicd  )n  main  thoroughfares, 
open  spaces,  and  public  buildings. 

(2)  The  cost  of  road-making,  of  constructing  ch.anncls  for  traffic 
of  every  sort,  whether  for  public  or  private  use,  and  the  laying  out 
and  upkeep  of  public  gardens. 

(3)  The  cost  of  erecting  and  maintaining  such  buildings  as  mav 
be  required  for  public  purposes. 

(4)  Kxpenses  connected  with  the  hcaltli  and  beauty  of  the  different 
parts  of  the  town. 

The  estimates  of  cities  are  constantly  on  the  increase.      By  far  the 


The  GroiK'th  and  Dcvclopyyient  of  Toivns.  275 

greater  part  of  the  expenditure  must  be  devoted  to  the  purchase 
at  a  high  price  of  the  land  required  for  the  laying-  out  of  public 
thoroughfares  and  for  the  widening  of  roads  which  have  become 
congested  ;  to  the  important  item  of  expropriation  ;  and  to  the  erection 
of  necessary  public  buildings  on  inadequate  sites. 

An  insufficient  sum  is  all  that  remains  to  be  spent  on  the  sanitation 
and  embellishment  of  the  town,  and  this  is  one  of  the  primary  causes 
of  their  unhygienic  condition. 

The  conditions  under  which  our  modern  society  dwells  in  towns 
are  based  on  the  value,  for  the  most  part  fictitious,  which  is  set 
upon  the  land.  Nothing  can  be  more  unreasonable  than  a  desire 
to  perpetuate  a  conception  of  property  which  consists  in  encouraging 
the  unlimited  rise  in  value  of  the  land  on  which  the  city  is  built  and 
will  develop.  Is  it  not  self-evident  that  this  land,  on  which  a  fictitious 
value  is  set,  is  the  economic  basis  of  human  existence?  There  is  no 
valid  excuse  for  an  economic  phenomenon  which  consists  in  enriching, 
bv  speculation  in  town  land,  a  very  small  number  of  the  population 
to  the  detriment  of  so  great  an  interest  to  the  majority  as  the  public 
health.  To  this  speculation  in  town  land  is,  in  fact,  due  the  impossi- 
bility of  carrying  out  without  tremendous  expense  sanitary  improve- 
ments in  the  old  quarters  of  our  ancient  cities. 

The  English  cottage  owes  its  existence  to  the  absence  of  any  great 
speculation  in  land,  and  is  one  of  the  national  glories  of  England. 
The  fifty-two-storied  mansion  of  Xew  York  is,  on  the  contrary,  the 
result  of  insane  speculation  in  land,  and,  although  such  a  brilliant 
solution  of  the  building  problem  must  excite  our  admiration,  is  an 
economic  disgrace  to  the  United  .States. 

Can  we  hesitate  to  take  sides  in  this  fierce  struggle  between  two 
opposing  armies — the  one  anxious  to  keep  down  the  price  of  land, 
the  other  willing  to  encourage  any  speculation  of  which  it  is  the 
object?  For  any  ci\  ilised  community  which  values  public  health  more 
highly  than  the  enrichment  of  the  few  no  hesitation  is  possible.  The 
problem  therefore  is  how  best  to  restrict  speculation  in  town  land. 

At  the  International  Congress  of  Hygiene  and  Demography  held 
in  Berlin  in  1907  these  considerations  were  the  subject  of  an  important 
discussion  which  followed  the  reading  of  my  Paper  of  "  Land  Specu- 
lation in  Large  Towns."  It  was  conclusively  shown  that,  in  order 
to  improve  the  conditions  under  which  town-dwellers  live,  they  must 
be  forced  to  reserve  large  open  spaces.  Municipalities  must  possess 
as  much  land  as  possible.  The  municipal  authority,  which,  to  a  much 
greater  extent  than  the  State,  is  responsible  for  the  paramount 
interests  of  public  health,  has  a  \  ital  interest  in  preventing  the 
unreasonable  increase  in  the  value  of  an  article  so  pre-eminently 
essential  as  the  land. 

To  attain  this  end  municipal  authorities  must  : — 
(i)  Jealously  keep  all  the  sites  in  their  possession,  and  never  sell 
any  of  them.  Those  which  have  cost  little,  and  which  are  not  intended 
for  laying  out  as  parks  and  public  gardens,  should  be  let  on  long 
leases  and  at  low  rents,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  erection  of  dwellings 
surrounded  bv  open  spaces,  in  which  the  great  working  class  may 
live  at  moderate  rents  ;  (2)  seize  every  opportunity  which  arises  to 

T  2 


276  Transacliofis:  of  the  Town  Planning  Conjcrcncc,  Oct.  iqio. 

increase    their  property   by   purchasing-    arcording-   to  rircunistances, 
and  at  a  moderate  price,  larg^e  areas  of  land. 

Municipal  authorities  should  not,  however,  unless  in  very  excep- 
tional cases,  themselves  erect  (Iwelling-houses. 

The  Berlin  Congress,  in  consequence  of  my  Paper,  passed  the 
following-  resolution  :  "  The  Congress  are  of  opinion  that  the  crux  of 
the  question  of  economical  and  healthy  dwellings  in  large  towns  lies 
in  the  value  of  the  land.  It  seems  to  them  of  the  utmost  importance 
that,  in  order  to  resist  the  effects  of  speculation  in  town  lands,  the 
municipal  authorities,  whose  duty  it  is  to  protect  the  higher  interests 
of  public  health,  should  acquire  a  considerable  area  of  land  at  a 
moderate  pric^e,  for  the  purpose  of  utilising  it  to  the  best  advantage, 
for  tlie  svstematic  amelioration  of  housing  conditions  according  to 
circumstances  peculiar  to  each  country.  They  are  of  opinion  that  the 
style  of  dwelling-  best  suited  for  this  purpose  is  tliat  of  tlic  (irirden 
Ci'ty." 

The  Congress,  after  hearing  my  arguments,  were  unaninious  in 
declaring  that  the  land,  which,  when  it  does  not  reach  too  high  a 
figure,  is  a  source  of  well-being  for  the  health  of  the  citizens,  may 
become  a  source  of  social  misery  when  it  becomes  the  object  of 
abusive  speculation. 

By  acquiring  possession  of  considerable  areas  of  land,  municipal 
authorities  might,  without  resorting  to  violent  measures,  check  this 
modern  scourge — speculation  in  land.  Not  only  would  they  thus 
prepare  for  the  future  a  rational  basis  of  expropriation  for  public 
purposes — for  the  municipalities  are  practically  blackmailed  when 
they  wish  to  acquire  land  under  existing  conditions — but  they  would, 
by  this  means,  be  able  in  future  to  procure  considerable  and  permanent 
open  spaces. 

In  this  connection  I  drew  attention  to  the  striking  example  set 
by  the  town  of  Ulm  in  Wurtemberg,  thanks  to  the  energetic  action 
of  the  Mayor,  M.  Wagner.  The  extensive  areas  which  this  city 
possesses  have  enabled  it  to  prevent  a  rise  in  the  price  of  land.  The 
dwellings  have  few  stories,  and  are  surrounded  by  wide  open  spaces. 
The  result  has  been  a  marked  improvement  in  the  death-rate  generally, 
and  a  very  low  death-rate  from  tuberculosis.  The  general  condition 
of  this  town  is  most  creditable. 

This  striking  example  of  consistency  and  tenacity  of  purpose 
deserves  to  be  generally  followed.  This  city  has  found  a  means 
of  making  every  citizen  share  to  the  fullest  extent  the  advantages 
which,  as  a  rule,  benefit  only  a  minority  of  landed  proprietors.  Under 
these  conditions,  when  the  value  of  the  town  land  increases,  as  it 
certainly  must,  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  will  benefit,  and  taxes 
will  be  considerably  reduced. 

In  the  principal  countries  of  the  civilised  world,  in  which  the 
dangers  of  over-crowding  and  the  death-rate  from  tuberculosis  are 
becoming  more  and  more  serious,  it  should  be  the  great  object  of  the 
cities  to  prevent  speculation  in,  and  thus  avoid  the  consequent  high 
prices  of,  land  intended  for  dwelling  purposes. 

Most  of  tlie  difficulties  encountered  by  the  public  health  authority 
have  their  source  in  the  land  and  the  fictitious  value  set  uj^on  it.     All 


The  Groivlh  and  Development  of  Towns.  277 

our  efforts  must  be  concentrated  on  procuring  open  spaces  round  our 
dwellings.  A  municipality  which  owns  a  considerable  area  of  cheap 
land,  especially  in  those  parts  of  the  town  which  are  being  most 
rapidly  developed,  may  hope  to  exercise  a  certain  amount  of  control 
over  the  market  which  fixes  its  value. 

Speculation  in  land  is  one  of  the  primary  causes  of  the  rise  in 
taxes  which  goes  on  year  by  year  in  our  large  towns.  Town  land 
not  intended  for  commercial  or  industrial,  but  only  for  residential 
purposes,  ought  not  to  be  a  marketable  commodity  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  word. 

We  have  arrived  at  a  period  in  the  life  of  our  cities  when  the 
harm  caused  by  over-population,  primarily  due  to  the  jobbing  of  the 
land,  which  makes  it  impossible  for  the  builder  to  erect  few-storied 
houses  surrounded  by  the  necessary  amount  of  open  space,  is  becoming 
more  and  more  obvious. 

The  principal  cause  of  the  dissemination  of  tuberculosis  is,  incon- 
testably,  the  over-crowding  of  dwellings  in  the  large  towns.  If  the 
exact  proportion  of  the  havoc  wrought  by  tuberculosis  due  to  this 
factor  alone  could  be  established,  we  should  be  astonished  at  the 
burden  thrust  upon  the  whole  community  by  this  boundless  specula- 
tion. The  remedy  lies  in  the  hands  of  the  municipal  authorities. 
With  them,  in  the  first  instance,  rests  the  responsibility  of  en- 
deavouring to  improve  the  public  health  by  checking  this  fictitious 
rise  in  the  value  of  the  land.  Afterwards  it  would  be  possible  to 
consider  on  strictly  scientific  lines  the  right  aspects  for  public 
thoroughfares  and  building  sites,  and,  as  a  natural  consequence,  to 
increase  the  open  space  round  the  dwelling-houses. 

The  urgent  need  of  the  inhabitants  is  not  so  much  for  parks  as  for 
plenty  of  light  and  air  in  the  houses  themselves.  This  is  the  onlv 
remedy  suggested  by  those  who  wish  to  see  a  rapid  decrease  in  the 
terrible  ravages  and  high  death-rate  caused  by  tuberculosis  in  our 
large  towns.  These  considerations  are  of  paramount  importance 
when  dealing  with  the  development  of  modern  towns,  and  to  them 
town  planners  must  devote  special  attention. 

The  architect  engaged  in  laying  out  a  town  must,  if  he  would 
produce  a  rational  plan,  deal  with  the  problem  in  sections.  In  many 
ways  a  town  seems  to  be  a  complex,  almost  indivisible  whole.  Modern 
towns  arc,  however,  complex  only  in  appearance,  and  their  functions 
may  be  classed  under  four  distinct  headings  : — 

1.  The  business  quarter. 

2.  The  industrial  quarter. 

3.  The  administrative  quarter. 

4.  The  residential  quarter. 

Attention  must  first  be  concentrated  on  one  or  more  main  points 
of  the  plan  as  may  be  necessary  :  the  business  quarter,  the  adminis- 
trative quarter,  the  quarter  where  all  great  business  transactions, 
purchases,  and  sales  are  carried  on — "  The  City  "  as  we  say  in 
English. 

The  next  point  is  to  organise  the  industrial  quarter,  which  must 
not  be  divided  into  too  many  centres.  In  order  to  be  practical  and 
economical   it  must  have   special  routes  for  traffic,   many  modes  of 


27<S   Transactious  of  the  Toicn  PUi)iiiini^  Conjcrcin-c,  Ocl.  Uj\o. 

commuiiKalion,  i;uials,  railways,  tiansiK)rt  1)\  electricity  or  other 
means.  It  is  to  the  interest  of  all  to  share  in  this  hii^hly  ])r(Hlucti\e 
outlay  on  orj^aiiisation,  in  order  to  concentrate  it  in  one  place,  and 
thus  attain  the  hii,diest  possible  dej^rce  of  perfection. 

We  must  also  bear  in  mind  that  the  general  health  of  the  town 
must  be  safeguarded  against  the  smoke  and  smells  of  factories.  If 
the  principle  of  smoke  abatement  were  applied  as  it  should  be  in 
the  interest  of  the  workers  themsehes,  it  would  be  unnecessary  to 
consider  the  best  position  for  this  quarter  of  the  town.  But  we  must 
admit  that  great  reforms  are  necessary,  especially  in  England,  where 
the  manufacturers  have  not  yet  been  willing  to  take  any  decisive  steps 
in  this  direction.  This  quarter  of  the  town,  then,  must  occupy  a  site 
beyond  the  direction  of  the  pre\ailing  winds,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
smoke   from  obscuring  the  atmosphere  and  rendering  it  impure. 

What  we  may  call  the  administrative  quarter  is  that  part  of  the 
town  in  which  are  located  the  large  public  buildings  required  by  the 
community,  those  which  constitute  its  wealth  and  glory,  and  contain 
its  historic,  scientific,  and,  above  all,  artistic  treasures.  What  position 
should  it  occupy?  It  must  be  placed  apart  from  the  manufacturing 
and  business  centres.  It  should  be  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  large 
residential  quarter,  so  as  to  be  easily  accessible  to  all  the  inhabitants. 
This  part  of  the  city  should  be  really  artistic,  and  abound  with 
decorative  buildings. 

I  have  not  sufficient  time  at  my  disposal  to  enumerate  in  detail 
the  conditions  under  which  such  an  eminently  modern  conception  must 
be  carried  out.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  Town  Hall  may  occupy 
iipproximately  the  central  site.  In  developing  the  architectural  side 
of  this  quarter  of  the  town  we  should  endeavour  to  awaken  in  the 
inhabitants  that  strong  attachment  to  the  land,  that  true  local 
patriotism  which  flourished  during  the  great  epochs  in  the  artistic 
history  of  the  nations.  The  influence  of  beautiful  buildings  on  the 
minds  of  the  masses  is  undeniable.  They  embody  as  it  were  the 
activity,  the  labour,  and  the  greatness  of  the  town. 

To  centralise  at  any  cost  is  a  fundamental  error,  which  has  led 
to  the  construction  of  the  great  capitals,  and  which  robs  the  national 
spirit  of  its  best  graces.  Great  nations  must  have  numerous  centres. 
The  beauty  of  towns  in  past  ages  was  in  great  measure  due  to  the 
powerful  spirit  of  independence  with  which  the  citizens  wxre  imbued ; 
and  we  should  indeed  be  promoting  the  de\elopment  of  the  human 
race  if  we  could  destroy  this  narrow  centralisation  which  is  forced 
upon  the  people  by  modern  Governments. 

luigland  is  perhaps  the  most  decentralised  of  the  principal 
countries,  and  this  tendency  will  be  accentuated  by  the  application 
of  the  Town  Planning  .\ct. 

The  last  section  of  the  town,  and  that  which  in  l-lngland  has  been 
considered  most  important,  is  the  residential  quarter,  where  the  people 
live  when  the  day's  work  is  o\  er — where  their  homes  are.  Wonderful 
examples  of  this  ma\  be  found  in  modern  l^ngland.  We  have  no 
hesitation  in  expre-ssing  our  admiration  for  the  heroic  efforts  which 
l-ingland  is  making  to  defend  her  cottage  against  the  in\asion  of 
houses  many  stories  liigli,   tlie  usual  type  of  Continental  dwelling. 


The  Growth  and  Dcvelupmcnt  of  Tuiciis.  279 

W'c  Hnd  in  this  a  parallel  lo  that  other,  and  cquall\  heroic, 
economic  strug-glc  which  has  enabled  England,  in  the  lace  of  many 
obstacles,  and  in  spite  of  numerous  coalitions,  to  retain  Free  Trade 
in  opposition  to  Continental  Protection. 

The  encrg-etic  character  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  rexeals  itself 
very  clearly  in  this  matter  of  dwellings.  The  only  thing  with  which 
we  might  reproach  these  residential  cities,  as  they  exist  in  England, 
is  that  they  sometimes  conceal  their  important  buildings  behind  a 
mass  of  these  ideal  small  dwellings — the  cottages.  Ne\  ertheless  it  is 
one  of  the  crowning  glories  of  Great  Britain  to  ha\e  made  her  own 
this  motto  :  One  house,  one  family. 

This  division  into  four  main  sections,  re])resenting  the  needs  of 
a  modern  town,  ought  always  to  be  borne  in  mind  by  town  planners, 
even  when  the  space  at  their  disposal  is  relatively  limited  ;  when,  for 
example,  the  land  connecting  a  fast-growing  town  with  its  suburbs 
does  not  pro\ide  the  necessary  space  for  de\elopment.  Mistakes 
made  in  the  past  are  \'ery  difl^icult  to  remedy.  The  wisest  course  in 
such  a  case  is  to  remodel  the  general  plan  of  the  parts  already  built, 
and  to  give  a  sketch  of  the  improvements  which  may  be  effected 
by  carrying  out  the  work  in  sections  spreading  oxer  a  large  number 
of  years. 

The  completion  of  the  laying  out  of  a  tov\n  and  its  suburbs  is  a 
lengthy  task,  and  one  which  can  only  be  brought  to  a  successful 
termination  by  a  future  generation,  if  an  earnest  attempt  has  been 
made  beforehand  to  realise  the  general  plan  of  the  fully  developed 
city. 

But  many  mistakes  are  made  every  day  in  the  erection  of  the  most 
important  buildings,  which  show  how  necessary  it  is  to  re\  ise  our 
schemes,  plans,  and  methods  of  building.  It  is  certain  that  many 
structural  errors — structural  is  the  word  which  best  conveys  my  mean- 
ing— are  committed  in  our  modern  towns. 

The  monev  spent  on  enormous  buildings  which  do  not  answer 
the  purpose  for  which  they  are  erected  is  one  of  the  scandals  of  modern 
town  goxernment.  It  would  be  easy  to  quote  numerous  examples. 
I  shall  allude  to  one  only — a  building  of  the  utmost  importance  at 
the  present  day  :  a  railway  terminus. 

We  all  know  Antwerp  and  the  interesting  appearance  of  this 
ancient  and  historic  city.  We  know  too  the  difficulty  of  improxing 
such  a  town,  both  from  the  hygienic  and  esthetic  points  of  view, 
even  when  the  municipal  authoritx'  is  willing  and  anxious  to  attain 
this  end.  The  new  railway  station,  which  is  so  well  known,  is  a 
gigantic  structure  which  has  cost  o\'er  hftx'  million  francs  (two  millions 
sterling).  When  we  consider  what  a  railway  station  is,  and  the 
needs  it  is  intended  to  supply,  we  are  amazed  at  the  enormity  of  the 
blunder  committed  at  iXntwerp.  The  station,  which  is  quite  new — 
it  has  just  been  completed — instead  of  being  constructed  on  ration^-il 
principles  as  we  might  expect  a  structure  so  recently  erected  to  be,  is 
really  a  great  "  Palace  of  Smoke  "  as  we  have  called  it.  Xo  excuse 
can  be  found  for  its  colossal  arches,  which  serxe  no  purpose,  and  are 
merely  the  result  of  fanciful  calculations  on  the  part  of  the  engineer. 
When  we  consider  the   immense   sum  which   must  have   been  spent 


28o  Transactinns  of  tlic  Toicn  Phmtiing  Coujcrcncc,  Oct.  1910. 

on  tliis  buikliny.  in  the  end  a  deplorable  failure — I  am  not  referring 
to  the  stvlc  of  its  architecture,  which  by  no  means  represents  the 
traditional  good  taste  of  Flanders — and  when  we  reflect  on  the  amount 
of  money  which  a  town  like  Antwerp  has  at  its  disposal  for  expen- 
diture on  sanitary  improvements  and  organisation  alone,  we  are 
appalled  at  the  lightheartedness  with  which  the  most  important  works 
which  must  essentially  affect  the  beauty  of  a  town   are  undertaken. 

When  a  railway  station  is  being"  erected  in  an  important  town  it 
is  onlv  right  to  pro\  ide  a  frontage  which  shall  be  worthy  of  the  town, 
and  at  the  same  time  satisfy  the  requirements  of  the  traffic  and  the 
public.  But  it  is  ridiculous  to  erect  gigantic  arches  in  grotesque 
imitation  of  cathedral  naves  for  the  purpose  of  sheltering  trains, 
which  after  all  consist  of  carriages  and  engines  of  a  size  proportionate 
to  human  beings,  and  for  which  simple  covered  platforms  would 
amply  suffice. 

No  reasoning",  no  ccsthetic  beauty  can  excuse  such  methods,  unless 
it  be  the  pleasure  of  wasting  the  resources  of  the  State  and  of  the 
municipalities.  It  is  high  time  to  condemn  emphatically  proceedings 
so  unworthy  of  modern  civilisation. 

These  errors  in  the  construction  of  such  important  buildings  have, 
of  course,  an  immediate  influence  on  the  appearance  of  a  city,  and 
it  is  obvious  that  the  mis-spending  of  such  large  sums  of  money  must 
render  it  for  a  long  time  impossible  to  consider  any  improvements  in 
the  beauty  and  harmony  of  a  town. 

The  beauty  of  a  town  is,  above  all,  dependent  on  the  beauty  of 
its  main  thoroughfares.  In  this  connection  we  must  admit  that  even 
in  the  finest  cities  which  we  can  mention  there  are  only  occasional 
examples  of  this  beauty.  No  well-considered  plans  of  a  city  as  a 
whole,  extending  to  its  fullest  possible  development,  ha\e  yet  been 
drawn  up.  How,  under  these  circumstances,  can  it  be  possible  to 
erect  buildings  which  shall  be,  as  it  were,  set  in  a  suitable  framework 
of  harmonious  lines?  We  try  to  excuse  ourselves  by  finding  fault 
with  the  architect.  It  is  true  that  when  sketching  the  main  lines  of 
his  buUding  the  architect  often  forgets  to  take  the  surroundings  into 
consideration.  This  reminds  me  of  a  curious  mistake  made  in  New 
York,  to  which  I  drew  attention  in  one  of  the  most  important 
American  newspapers  two  years  ago.  The  principal  library  of 
New  York  City,  a  building  which  cost  thirty-five  million  francs 
(;^ 1, 400, 000),  was  very  badl}'  placed  on  the  extremely  fine  site 
reserved  for  it.  Its  principal  frontage  faces  Fifth  Avenue,  the  finest 
avenue  of  American  architecture,  noted  for  many  interesting  and 
a  few  remarkable  buildings.  The  site,  which  cost  a  considerable  sum 
of  money,  was  sufficiently  extensive  to  allow  for  the  laying  out  of 
a  large  square  in  front  of  the  building.  Instead  of  setting  the 
building'"  back  from  the  road,  and  utilising  this  square  as  a  setting 
for  the  building  frontage  facing  Fifth  Avenue — a  purpose  for  which 
it  was  admirably  adapted — the  square  was  laid  out  behind  the  building 
facing  some  avenue  of  little  importance. 

This  mistake  had  only  been  pointed  out  to  the  New  York  news- 
paper when  it  was  generally  denounced  as  a  serious,  but  unfortunately 
irreparable   blunder.      If  the  architect,   when   drawing  up   the  plans. 


The  Grozi'th  and  Development  of  Toivns. 


281 


had  considered  how  much  the  general  Hnes  of  a  large  building  gain 
in  appearance  if  the  main  frontage  is  set  back  a  certain  distance  from 
the  street,  the  error  would  not  have  been  committed.  It  is  true  that 
the  Americans,  who  hesitate  at  nothing,  might  one  day  raise  their 
library  on  wheels  and  in  this  way  push  it  back. 

The  beauty  o\'  a  town  is  also,  and  perhaps  mainlv,  influenced  by 
the  direction  and  aspect  of  its  principal  thoroughfares.  If  we 
examine  closely  the  formation  of  a  large  modern  town,  we  shall 
be  astonished  to  notice  how  far  the  effect  of  light — the  principal 
element  of  beauty — has  been  o\erlooked. 

We  are  now,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  preparing  to  discuss  the 
beauty  of  towns  on  scientific  and  rational  lines.  No  one  will  deny, 
although  he  may  never  before  have  given  the  matter  a  serious 
thought,  that  the  beauty  of  buildings  is  to  a  great  extent  dependent 
on  the  way  in  which  certain  parts  are  lighted  up  by  the  sun,  while 
others  are  thrown  into  shadow. 

This  principle  of  considering  the  aspect  of  large  frontages  with 
regard  to  the  direction  of  the  sun's  ra\  s  was  not  lost  sight  of  at 
any  period  of  the  great  history  of  the  art  which,  since  the  most 
remote  civilisations  of  Asia  and  Africa,  has  produced  so  many 
buildings  of  unsurpassed  beauty. 

In  which  of  our  modern  towns  can  we  not  point  out  at  will  large 
buildings,  the  most  beautiful  facades  of  which  are  plunged  in 
shadow,  or  but  faintly  lighted  up  by  occasional  glimmers  of  sunshine? 
I  think  very  few,  if  any,  of  the  large  cities  of  the  world  are  exempt 
from  this  reproach.  This  is,  perhaps,  the  true  reason  for  the  well- 
dcser\ed  criticisms  heaped  upon  our  modern  towns,  for  which  it  has 
hitherto  been  impossible  to  account. 

The  sun  is,  in  fact,  recognised  by  modern  science  as  being  a 
ruling  factor  in  the  life  of  the  indi\idual,  thanks  to  its  great  power 
of  destroying  microbes.  If,  in  consequence  of  this  power,  the  sun 
is  the  true  health-giver,  we  must  not  forget  that  he  is  to  an  equal 
extent  the  artist  who  \\  ill  crown  all  our  efforts  to  create  beauty  of 
form.  The  buildings  on  w  hich  in  days  gone  by  the  deepest  thought 
was  expended  before  they  were  erected  remain  as  w  onderful  examples 
of  what  human  genius  can  produce. 

Consider  from  this  point  of  view  the  Place  de  la  Concorde  in 
Paris — formerly  the  Place  Louis  XV.,  and  during  a  time  of  national 
convulsion  called  the  Place  de  la  Revolution.  Its  monuments  are 
admirably  placed,  and  the  lighting,  which  has  been  carefully  studied 
by  experts,  shows  up  to  the  best  advantage  the  nobility  of  their 
lines.  Not  a  single  slip  has  been  made  in  this  respect,  and  the 
result  is  universally  acknowledged  as  very  closely  approaching  per- 
fection. When  we  wish  to  give  an  example  of  a  perfect  architectural 
effect  we  should  always  quote  the  Place  de  la  Concorde. 

We  cannot,  then,  too  carefully  study  the  laws  which  govern  the 
effect  of  light,  on  which  the  beauty  of  important  buildings  and  statues 
so  clo.sely  depends. 


2S2   TransacUons  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  Kjio. 


DISCUSSION. 

I'hc  Hon.  Mr.  Ji  snct:  Xf.ville  in  the  Chair. 

Mr.  Tiio.M.vs  C.  HoKsiALL,  J.I'.  :  -M.  Rev  has  put  before  us  some 
ot  the  considerations  that  we  oug^ht  to  try  to  press  upon  all  our 
Town  Councils  and  other  authorities.  The  first  conditions  that 
are  needed  for  the  beauty  of  our  Eng-lish  towns  are  conditions 
necessar\  for  health.  When  our  Town  Councils  make  plans 
which  will  not  alknv  any  new  sets  of  cottages  or  workmen's 
dwellings  to  come  into  existence  without  a  playground  within  easy 
reach  and  without  some  open  space  containing  some  of  the  beauty 
of  Nature,  I  for  one  shall  be  contented  with  the  kind  of  beauty  that 
will  result.  I  do  not  say  that  that  is  all  that  is  needed — I  hope  we 
shall  work  our  way  to  higher  things  ;  but  when  you  consider  that 
80  per  cent,  of  our  people  now  li\e  in  towns,  most  of  them  of  large 
size,  and  that  in  not  one  of  those  towns  do  all  the  conditions  exist 
which  are  absolutely  necessary  for  health,  I  am  sure  you  will  agree 
that  we  ought  at  once  to  concentrate  our  attention  upon  getting  the 
Town  Planning^  Act  so  carried  out  that  it  shall  bring  the  conditions 
necessary  for  health  within  the  reach  of  every  member  of  the  com- 
munity. I  feel  that  so  strong-ly  that  I  w  ill  not  attempt  to  refer  to 
any  other  point.  I  hope  we  can  trust  our  architects  to  insist  upon 
other  necessaries  for  the  welfare  of  the  community,  because  we  do 
require  a  \er\-  large  amount  of  beauty  in  our  towns  to  keep  our 
minds  healthy,  to  keep  our  brains  sane ;  but  I  for  one  am  quite 
willing  to  lea\  e  the  consideration  of  those  other  points  to  our  archi- 
tects, and  to  range  myself  with  the  medical  officer  of  health  and 
other  medical  men,  and  to  try  to  bring  the  playground,  plenty  of  air 
and  light,  and  some  of  the  beauties  of  Nature  within  reach  of  every 
home. 

Councillor  the  Rev.  Dr.  W'altkr  Walsh  (Dundee)  :  I  was  very 
much  struck  by  the  photographs  that  M.  R(\-  threw  upon  the  screen 
showing  the  frightful  mortality  among  infants  in  inxcrse  proportion 
to  the  cubic  air  space  ;  and  I  think  that  is  a  picture  w  hich  goes  to  the 
very  root  of  the  matter,  as  Mr.  Horsfall  has  just  indicated.  I  was 
conscious  of  a  more  or  less  audible  expression  round  the  room  when 
that  picture  was  thrown  upon  the  screen,  and  some  others  of  a  similar 
nature — "  But  what  about  the  expense?  "  We  know,  unfortunately, 
that  at  every  turn  of  the  road  we  run  up  against  this  question  of  ex- 
pense ;  and  not  e\  cry  person  is  so  constituted  that  he  is  prepared  to 
sacrifice  either  his  private  means  or  the  public  rates,  c\en  when  it  is 
an  absolutely  clear  case  of  sa\  ing  life  and  improving  health.  It  is  quite 
true  that  we  can  argue  that  the  statistics  upon  our  side  show  that 
ultimately  it  will  pay  to  save  life  and  to  improve  health  ;  but,  unfortu- 
natelv,  we  have  verv  large  numbers  of  |)c()ple  on  our  Town  Councils 
—  I   am   not   sure   that   such   arc   not   a   preponderating    clement   upon 


The  Groivth  and  Develop  men  I  oj  Toivns.  283 

nearly  every  Town  Council  in  the  world — who  are  not  able  to  take 
long  views,  and  who  only  estimate  the  profit  and  loss  of  to-day,  and 
cannot  estimate  the  profit  and  loss  of  to-morrow.  I  think  there  is 
no  doubt  that  Mr.  (iradj^^rind  is  in  a  majority  on  pretty  nearly  every 
Town  Council  in  Great  Britain,  perhaps  in  the  world;  and  what  we 
have  to  do,  and  what  I  hope  this  Conference  is  going  to  do,  is  to 
show  some  way  of  getting  round  Gradgrind.  Unless  we  can  do  that, 
the  feeble  pressure  that  this  Act  may  bring  to  bear  upon  municipalities 
is  not  going  to  do  much  good.  Already  we  experience  the  initial 
dif!ictilty  of  getting  municipalities  to  move  ;  and  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board  has  itself  been  six  months  studying  this  Act,  and  has  only 
just  begun  to  give  evidence  that  it  understands  it.  Therefore  we 
must  not  be  too  hard  upon  municipalities  if  they  have  not  even 
yet  begun  to  study  it ;  and  when  they  have  begun  to  study  it,  it  is 
going  to  be  very  difficult  to  bring  public  opinion  to  bear  upon  it  and 
to  bring  its  possibilities  into  practical  effect.  Therefore  the  question 
I  ask  myself  to-day  is  :  How  are  we  going  to  get  round  the  very 
practical  man — that  is,  the  practical  man  who  is  so  unpractical 
that  he  is  saving  a  penny  to-day  although  his  children  are  going  to 
spend  a  pound  to-morrow  on  account  of  it?  How  are  we  going  to  get 
round  that  impracticable  practical  man?  That  question  is  a  very 
serious  one  ;  and  I  for  one  was  greatly  delighted  at  this  Conference 
being  convened  by  so  dignified  an  institution  as  the  Royal  Institute 
of  British  Architects,  because  I  thought — now  we  are  going  to  have 
the  aesthetes  and  the  scholars  of  the  country  to  bring  their  influence 
and  their  intellects  to  bear  upon  this  question.  This  morning  I 
listened  to  some  extremely  interesting  accounts  of  town  planning  of 
ancient  Rome,  of  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  all  of  which  really  had 
doubtless  some  important  bearing  upon  the  problem  we  arc  discuss- 
ing to-day.  We  had  high  dignitaries  from  Oxford  coming  to  talk 
to  us  about  these  beautiful  and  wonderful  things  ;  but  are  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  and  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  and  Aberdeen  and  the 
other  university  cities  of  Scotland  and  England  going  to  end  there? 
Sir  William  Richmond*  thinks  compulsion  ought  to  be  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  scholars  and  artists  to  come  into  line  with  the  muni- 
cipalities on  this  question — a  very  admirable  suggestion  ;  but  how 
are  we  going  to  do  it?  Cannot  we  get  the  sculptors  and  the  architects 
to  come  upon  our  Town  Councils?  Why  will  not  they  do  so?  \V'hy  is 
there  such  a  great  divorce  between  the  a'stheticism  and  scholarship 
of  our  country  and  the  practical  working  of  our  municipalities? 
With  the  exception  of  a  medical  man  here  and  there,  or  a  stray 
minister  of  religion,  taking  their  fates  in  their  hands  and  going  into 
Town  Councils,  the  professional  classes  of  the  country  hold  aloof  from 
municipal  administration.  With  the  exception — I  must  say  the 
doubtful  exception — of  the  legal  gentlemen,  who  are  more  or  less 
mixed  up  with  the  liquor  interest  and  the  property  interest,  almost 
all  the  other  professional  people  liold  aloof.  Now,  gentlemen,  this 
Town  Planning  Act  appeals  to  the  higher  elements  in  our  civilisation  ; 
and  if  our  scholars  and  thinkers,  our  philosophers  and  our  profes- 
sional people  in  general,  do  not  seize  hold  of  this  opportunity,  then  I 

*  See  his  Paper,  "  Some  Factors  of  Town  Planning,"  p.  508. 


284   Truiisiiclions  of  the  'JOicii  PUiiiiiiii!^  C^niUrcucc,  Oct.  i(>io. 

tell  you  the  Liradgriiids  ul  our  Cily  Councils  are  not  going  to  do 
it.  It  is  not  in  them  to  do  it.  We  need  an  infusion  of  nobler  blood. 
And  I  strongly  press  this  point  upon  this  very  important  Conference 
as  perhaps  one  of  the  best  things  which  may  result  in  bringing  the 
higher  and  nobler  life  into  our  municipal  administration,  in  order  that 
the  great  possibilities  of  this  new  Act  in  the  direction  of  that  higher 
civilisation  which  is  opening  before  us  may  be  secured. 

Mr.  F.  R.  DiRHAM,  .Xssoc.M.Insl.C.l'I.  :  I  do  not  wish  to  say 
many  words,  but  I  should  like  to  supplement  what  Mr.  Horsfall  said 
just  now.  He  mentioned  the  architect  and  the  medical  officer  of 
health.  But  there  is  one  body  w  hich  ought  to  be  more  strongly  repre- 
sented on  this  Congress,  and  that  is  the  engineers.  In  fact,  without 
the  engineer  the  architect  would  never  produce  a  town  plan.  I  think 
it  is  to  be  greatly  regretted  that  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  was 
not  fully  represented,  and  did  not  undertake  to  co-operate  with  your 
energetic  Institute  in  bringing  this  Conference  to  pass.  The 
engineers  are  represented  as  Honorary  Presidents,  but  that  is  all. 
M.  Key's  Paper  brings  before  us  what  are  essentially  engineering 
problems  in  the  distribution  of  the  streets  and  the  sanitary  condition 
of  the  tow  n  w  ith  relation  to  water,  sewers,  and  lighting ;  and  I  hope, 
therefore,  that  some  influence  will  be  brought  to  bear  upon  our  chief 
engineering  institution  to  join  hands  and  co-operate  in  the  great  work 
which  you  have  undertaken. 

Mr.  Peter  M.vcnaughtox  (Edinburgh)  :  I  came  here  to-day  from 
Edinburgh  expecting  to  gain  some  practical  information  on  the  great 
question  of  the  housing  of  the  working  classes  and  town  planning. 
I  am  sorry  that,  as  I  do  not  understand  French,  I  did  not  follow  w  hat 
I  have  no  doubt  was  verv'  interestingly  said  ;  but  1  was  able  to  follow 
the  pictures  on  the  screen.  Still,  I  should  not  have  intervened  in  the 
discussion  at  all  if  it  had  not  been  that  the  speakers  who  have  taken 
part  in  the  debate  have  entered  into  a  general  discussion  of  town  plan- 
ning. I  represent  one  of  the  great  land-owning  trusts  which  have 
been  responsible  to  a  large  extent  in  planning  Edinburgh,  and  any  of 
those  present  who  have  been  to  T^dinburgh  will  appreciate  what  a 
great  work  was  accomplished  in  the  planning  of  the  north  side  of  Edin- 
burgh. But  what  struck  me,  when  I  listened  to  the  gentleman  from 
Dundee,  was  this  :  that  the  great  difficulty  one  has  to  face  in  this 
planning  is  the  question  of  expense.  It  is  all  very  well  to  show  us 
model  towns  ;  it  is  all  very  well  to  show  us  open  spaces  ;  but  I  think 
that  anybody  who  knows  anything  about  building  knows  this  :  that 
you  cannot  get  on  without  the  speculative  builder,  and  you  will  not 
get  the  speculative  builder  to  build  unless  he  can  sec  a  profit.  Now 
we  all  know  perfectly  well  that  the  ideal  is  to  have  ample  air  and  light 
for  all  the  inhabitants  in  the  great  towns.  To  this  end  the  first  thing  is 
to  get  land  cheap  ;  but  we  all  know-  that  difficulty  is  always  a  very  great 
one.  It  may  be  that  under  new  conditions — under  the  provisions  of  the 
latest  Act  of  Parliament,  which  is  to  revolutionise  the  land  question — 
we  may  get  those  better  conditions  ;  but,  as  I  have  said  before,  the 
great  difficulty  is  the  question  of  expense,  and  I  would  like  some  of  our 
friends  w  ho  have  called  this  Conference  together  to  tell  us  here  to-day 
how  that  diHiculty  is  to  be  dealt  with.      It  is  all  very  well  to  show  us 


The  Grmvth  and  Development  oj  Towns.  285 

these  beautiful  pictures  on  the  screen  ;  but  it  seems  to  me  it  is  very 
diHicuk  to  attain.  I  have  not  been  able  to  get  very  much  guidance  as 
yet  from  the  Local  Government  Board  ;  but  I  do  hope  that  some  of  our 
practical  architects  here  to-day  will  show  us  how  and  where  to  find  a 
way  towards  providing  these  model  towns. 

Sir  Richard  Arthur  Surteks  Paget,  Bart.  :  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  lighting  and  ventilation  of  streets  to  which  M.  Rey's  Paper 
referred,  are  questions  which  might  be  considered  more  than  they  are 
at  present.  Judging  from  the  structures  which  one  sees  around,  one 
might  think,  first,  that  it  never  rained  ;  secondly,  that  the  sun  never 
shone — or,  rather,  that  there  is  always  a  steady  difl'used  light  in  all 
directions  ;  and,  thirdly,  that  the  wind  never  blew.  Certainly  we  have 
never  taken,  speaking  broadly,  any  advantage  of  the  fact  that  the  vvind 
does  blow  ;  and,  though  these  suggestions  of  M.  Rev  mav  have  been 
made  before,  I  do  not  think  it  will  be  found  that  serious  weight  has 
been  given  to  them.  With  reference  to  the  direction  in  which  the 
sun  shines,  I  ha\-e  heard  people  who  liked  the  notion  of  having  a 
house  facing  the  south,  but  I  have  never  heard  any  proposition  as  to 
how  to  deal  with  the  houses  facing  north,  and  M.  Rey  has  given  us 
admirable  suggestions  with  regard  to  this,  though  of  course  M.  Rey 
has  not  dealt  with  the  possibility  of  taking  the  sun  at  your  back 
windows.  .Then  as  to  the  rain  ;  wc  have  a  roof  over  our  heads,  but  we 
do  not  in  planning  our  streets  and  shops  and  thoroughfares  ever  seem 
to  take  into  consideration  the  fact  that  on  three  days  out  of  four  in 
this  country  it  does  rain,  and  I  would  make  this  suggestion  :  Suppose, 
for  the  purpose  of  producing  a  town  really  useful  and  desirable  for 
the  inhabitants — atti^active  for  people  to  come  to,  and  a  good  shopping 
centre — suppose  for  this  purpose  we  were  to  do  away  with  a  certain 
amount  of  those  carved  ornamentations  which  appear  in  our  modern 
architecture — those  admirable  allegorical  figures,  and  various  effects 
of  that  kind — we  should  find  that  the  money  thus  saved  would  provide 
a  covered  way  for  our  pavements  so  that  we  could  walk  about 
in  all  weathers  in  comfort  and  ease.  I  ask  myself  what  would  be 
the  effect  of  that  as  an  attractive  feature?  How  many  people  would 
be  attracted  to  a  town  which  came  to  be  known  as  the  most  com- 
fortable town  in  the  world  for  getting  about — where  the  weather 
would  be  absolutely  discounted  and  written  off — so  that  we  could 
go  about  and  be  perfectly  comfortable,  and  able  to  walk  about  under 
cover  to  our  shopping  quarters  or  places  of  business  and  back  to  our 
own  homes?  It  seems  to  me  that  to  attain  that  result  would  be  a 
great  monetary  asset  as  compared  with  a  town  where  people  were 
less  comfortable  and  less  conveniently  catered  for,  and  that  that 
might  probably  be  done  without  any  additional  expense  if  we  merely 
rearranged  our  expenditure  and  put  into  stability  and  convenience 
money  which  is  at  present  put  into  ornamentation,  most  of  which  I 
am  afraid  can  only  be  regarded  as  surplusage. 

Councillor  May  (Maidstone)  :  There  is  one  point  which  I  wish 
specially  to  call  attention  to,  which  Mr.  Macnaughton  dealt  with  in 
the  discussion,  and  that  is  the  question  of  whether  or  not  it  is  possible 
to  meet  what  M.  Rey  very  rightly  says  are  real  requirements — require- 
ments of  liyht  and  air.      I  think  Mr.  Macnaughton  must  have  omitted 


2.S6  Tran.utctionx  oj  the  Ton'ii  Phuniiiio-  Coufcrrnce,  Oct.  1910. 

to  notice  some  slides  that  M.  Rev  exhibited,  showing  how  exactly  the 
same  amount  of  accommodation  could  be  obtained  on  a  particular  site, 
but  with  the  rooms  so  arranged  that  ample  light  and  air  found  access 
to  them.  The  ditlicully  I  wish  to  draw  attention  to  with  regard  to 
those  slides,  at  any  rate  so  far  as  England  is  concerned,  is  that  the 
original  plans  which  M.  Rey  showed,  so  far  as  I  could  judge  in  the 
very  short  time  that  one  was  able  to  study  them  on  the  screen,  were 
plans  that  were  quite  likely  to  pass  the  local  by-laws  of  this  country, 
whereas  the  revised  plans,  however  much  he  met  the  essential  require- 
ments of  admitting  light  and  air,  were  in  almost  every  case  plans 
which,  so  far  as  I  know,  would  be  discarded  by  any  local  authority 
thev  were  submitted  to  as  being  outside  their  by-laws  and  regula- 
tions. A  great  many  of  M.  Rey's  suggestions  were  suggestions  as 
to  which  we  do  not  need  to  wait  till  our  town-planning  schemes  come 
into  operation.  Those  of  us  \\  ho  are  responsible  for  administering 
bv-laws  ought  to  see  to  it  that  our  by-laws  are  framed  with  a  little 
more  regard  than  they  are  at  the  present  time  to  the  requirements  of 
hygiene.  A  great  many  of  our  by-laws  ha\e  been  apparently  devised 
in  order  to  save  officials  and  administrators  a  good  deal  of  trouble. 
Now  we  want  to  be  able  in  our  local  administration  to  accept  such 
plans  as  M.  Rey  has  shown,  and  to  modify,  if  necessary,  our  by-laws 
so  that  such  plans  may  be  in  order  ;  and  if  we  can  take-  home  that 
lesson  from  M.  Rey,  I  think  we  shall  be  doing  a  great  ser\  ice,  and 
M.  Rey  will  have  been  conferring  a  great  benefit  upon  us. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Ibbersox  :  The  most  important  thing  that  has  to 
be  done  is  the  creation  of  a  wholesome  public  opinion  on  this 
subject.  It  has  been  suggested  that  architects  and  artists  should  go 
on  the  Councils.  I  agree  with  that  suggestion,  but  there  is  one 
ditliculty  in  the  way — they  have  got  to  get  elected  on  to  those  Councils, 
and  the  person  who  would  be  useful  in  the  way  we  desire  is  not  by  any 
means  the  person  who  is  likely  to  be  chosen.  In  a  little  town  with 
which  I  have  to  do  myself,  a  man  of  distinguished  character  and 
public  spirit  recently  put  up  for  the  office  of  councillor ;  he  was 
rejected  by  a  very  large  majority,  and  it  is  practically  known  that  his 
rejection  was  owing  to  the  fact  that  he  purchased  goods  for  his  school 
in  London  instead  of  in  the  little  town  itself.  These,  unfortunately, 
are  the  things  which  influence  elections  for  our  Borough  Councils  ! 
The  way  to  get  over  the  trouble  is  simply  to  create  a  wholesome 
public  opinion.  It  has  also  been  suggested  that  architects  should 
show  the  general  public  how  to  get  the  money  for  "  their  great 
schemes."  That  is  not  an  architect's  business.  It  is  the  business 
of  the  general  public  to  get  the  money,  and  then  if  they  come  to  us 
we  will  do  our  best  to  provide  the  scheme.  It  can  be  done.  We 
have  a  recent  instance — known  of  cour.se  to  everybody — the  "  Clardcn 
Suburb  "  at  Hampstead.  A  company  of  people  interested  in  the 
public  good  got  into  communication  with  others  who  had  money  ; 
they  employed  expert  advice,  and  the  result  is  altogether  for  good. 
If  I  might  reply  to  our  critics  I  would  say,  educate  the  country  and 
find  the  money,  and  I  think  there  is  very  little  doubt  that  the  archi- 
tects will  find  a  satisfactory  plan. 

Dr.    Siij.NEY    C.-^MERO.N    Lawrknck    (Medical    Oflicer    of    Health, 


The  Groivth  and  Devclopmeni  of  Toivns.  287 

Edmonton)  :  When  I  first  came  here  yesterday  I  was  very  much  in 
the  unsatisfactory  frame  of  mind  of  my  friend  at  the  back,  because  I 
discovered  that  no  in\itation  had  been  extended  to  the  Societv  ot 
Medical  Officers  of  Health.  Societies  \\  hich  are  much  vounger  than  my 
Societ}-,  and  very  much  smaller,  have  not  been,  in  the  general  rush  of 
preparing  this  Congress,  overlooked.  But  my  grievance,  if  it  were  one, 
is  minimised  considerably  by  the  discovery  that  at  least  half  a  dozen 
local  authorities  have  had  the  common  sense  to  send  their  medical 
officers  of  health  to  represent  them.  I  hope  that  anyhow  my  five  col- 
leagues will  be  the  necessary  little  lea\en  to  make  this  lump  "  work." 
I  have  a  high  opinion  myself  of  conferences,  because  I  think  that  it  is 
not  only  the  papers  and  the  formal  talk  that  do  us  good  ;  but  I  think 
when  a  great  number  of  representatives  of  all  kinds  come  and  rub 
their  heads  together,  they  impart  to  one  another  a  lot  of  useful  infor- 
mation. I  thought  that  Sir  Richard  Paget  made  a  very  common- 
sense  remark  when  he  said  he  hoped  that  the  architects  and  engineers 
who  had  to  do  with  town  planning  would  remember  that  we  have  not 
got  the  climate  of  Italy.  That  goes  for  a  good  deal,  and  I  think  our 
architects  should  bear  in  mind  that  we  do  frequently  have  wet  and 
cold  summers  here,  and  therefore  our  style  of  architecture  must  not 
be  a  slavish  copy  of  countries  whose  climate  is  altogether  different. 
Doubtless,  as  a  gentleman  has  in  effect  remarked,  there  is  a  lot  of 
spade  work  to  be  done  before  we  can  see  town  plans  in  being.  The 
first  steps  were  not  taken  which  I  had  hoped  would  be  taken  yesterday. 
I  thoug^ht  that  Mr.  Burns  was  about  to  explain  his  Reg'ulations,  and  I 
personally  left  the  Guildhall  yesterday  with  a  keen  sense  of  disappoint- 
ment because  he  did  not  do  this.  I  quite  expected  he  would,  espe- 
cially after  a  good  hint  that  was  given  to  him  by  Mr.  Stokes,  the 
President  of  this  Institute.  Well,  sir,  when  we  ha\"e  got  these  Regu- 
lations explained  so  that  the  average  medical  officer  of  health  can 
understand  them,  there  still  remains  this  most  important  matter — 
that  there  shall  be  common  sense  shown  in  our  local  by-laws.  I 
might  speak  of  a  set  of  by-laws  in  a  district  not  a  hundred  miles 
from  where  I  live,  which  are  so  awkwardly  framed — perhaps  without 
proper  advice — that  even  if  you  disapprove  of  a  man's  plan  he  can  put 
his  extended  fingers  to  his  nose  and  go  on  with  his  building.  Now 
what  can  you  do  with  by-laws  which  have  such  an  effect?  The  next 
point  is  that  you  must  have  the  right  kind  of  men  on  your  town- 
planning  committee.  I  know  a  municipal  officer  very  well  who  said 
to  me  with  great  glee  one  day  :  "  I  shall  not  ha\e  the  slightest  diffi- 
culty in  getting  my  views  accepted  by  the  town-planning  com- 
mittee ;  they  are  going  to  meet  on  Wednesday  next  for  the  first 
time. "  I  met  him  a  few  days  later,  and  he  had  a  face  of  great  length. 
Why?  Because  on  that  committee  three  parts  of  the  councillors 
w^re  men  whose  object  was  to  get  on  that  committee  at  once,  so 
that  they  could  take  jolly  good  care  that  nothing  was  done.  Unless 
these  difficulties  are  removed,  we  shall  not  make  much  progress 
in  many  localities ;  at  least,  that  is  my  prophecy,  dismal  as  it 
may  appear.  Now  I  want,  before  sitting  down,  to  make  one  remark, 
showing  why  my  fraternity  takes  great  interest  in  town  planning. 
Architects    say    they    are    "the    great   people"    in    town   planning; 


288  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

engineers  sav  so  too,  and  the  medical  officers  might  say  the  same, 
though  personally  I  do  not  say  it.  I  say  that  we  have  all  a  combined 
interest  in  town  planning^,  and  you  have  to  get  those  three  professions, 
local  authorities,  owners  and  their  agents,  and  subsidiary  interests,  to 
work  together,  if  vou  are  going  to  produce  success.  Then  you  must 
remember  that  the  success  or  failure  of  your  town  plan,  with  its  beau- 
tiful architecture  and  its  wide  streets,  will  be  judged  finally,  not  by 
those  things,  but  by  your  death  and  sickness  rates  of  the  future,  which 
will  be  published  only  by  the  medical  officer  of  health  of  the  locality. 
So  it  is  that  officer  who  will  have  the  last  word. 

The   Chairman,    in   cloj^ing-   the   debate,    said  :    I    feel   in   a   little 
difficultv    in    my    present    position — first    of    all,    because    I    know 
nothing  technically  of  architecture  ;  and,  secondly,  I  know  nothing 
of  art.      I  am  never  more  convinced  of  my  incapacity  to  appreciate 
beauty  than  I  am  when  I  look  at  the  up-to-date  improvements  in  our 
present  towns.      I  am  afraid  that  the  only  fellowship  I  can  claim  with 
the  artist  is  the  possession  of  the  artistic  temperament,  which,  as  I 
understand,    is    the    inclination    to    do   what   you    ought    not    to   do 
and  to  leave  undone  what  you  oug-ht  to  do.  (Laughter.)     I  have  an 
idea  that  artists  claim  the  monopoly  of  the  indulgence  of  that  inclina- 
tion, but  I  am  bound  to  say  that  that  idea  is  culled  rather  from  a  study 
of  fiction  than  from  any  facts  that  I  am  aware  of  that  tend  to  establish 
it.     Now  that  being  the  case,  I  am  reminded  by  a  paper  of  instructions 
with  which  I  was  presented  before  I  took  the  Chair  that  if  I  descant 
in  anv  wav  upon  questions  of  hygiene  or  housing  of  the  poor — by 
which  I  understand  is  meant  the  housing  of  the  working  classes — I 
shall  be  making  an  irrelevant  speech  ;  but,  unfortunately,  those  are 
just  the  points  of  view-  from  which  town  planning  most  appeals  to  me. 
But  there  is  one  advantage  that  I  have  here,  and  that  is  that  there  is 
nobodv  to  call  me  to  order.  (Laughter.)   I  have  not  even  got  a  Court  of 
Appeal  to  dread.     Therefore,  with  your  permission,  I  should  like  to 
say  a  word  or  two  about  the  practical  side  of  the  question,  because  I 
have  been  for  the  last  six  or  seven  years  interested  in  town  planning — 
interested  in  endeavouring  to  carry  out  at  Letchworth  the  proposals 
made  by  Mr.   Kbenezer  Howard  some  years  ago.     (Applause.)      In 
connection  with  that,   although  I   am  a   sincere  friend  of  the  Town 
Planning  .\ct  and  of  all  efforts  to  improve  the  conditions  of  suburban 
residence,    I    should   like   to   point  out   that   they   will   not  yield   the 
same     results     as     ^Ir.      Howard's     proposals     for     garden     cities. 
Because   what  you   reall}'    want    to   do,    if   and    so    far   as   you    can, 
is    not    only    to    improve    the    accommodation    of    the    inhabitants 
of  towns  of  excessive  size,  but  to  shift  the  population  and  to  check 
the  abnormal  growth  of  such  towns,  and  that,  of  course,  can  only  be 
done  by  carrying  out  plans  such  as  are  to  be  seen  at  Letchworth,  in 
which  we  have  the  beginning,   at  all  events,   of  an  industrial  town 
— an  industrial  town  where  workmen  are  certainly  living  under  con- 
ditions of  hygiene  which  are  superior  to  those  in  any  industrial  centre, 
I    should    think,    in    the    world,    but   certainly    in    this   country,    and 
the     health     statistics     fully     corroborate     what     I     say     in     that 
regard.      Now  we  have  had  some  practical  experience  in  this  matter, 
but  I   should  like  to  emphasise  a  warning  wliich  was  hinted  at  by 


The  Groii'th  and  Development  of  Towns.  289 

M.  Rev,  and  which  has  been  referred  to,  I  think  by  Mr.  Macnaughton, 
but  certainly  by  one  or  more  of  the  speakers,  and  that  is  the  question 
of  expense.  People  sometimes  cavil  at  the  cottages  which  are  erected 
at  Letchworth.  They  say,  "  Oh  yes,  you  have  got  plenty  of  air,  light, 
open  space,  but  why  do  not  you  build  them  more  artistically,  why  do 
not  you  build  them  more  substantially,  or  why  do  not  you  build  them 
in  this  way  or  in  that  way?  "  Well,  I  should  Uke  these  critics  to 
remember  that  it  is  no  good  at  all  to  build  houses  which  people  cannot 
afford  to  live  in,  and  that  what  you  have  to  consider  is  how  you  can 
best  provide  for  a  workman  a  house  which  he  can  afford  to  pay  the 
rent  of.  There  is  the  great  difficulty.  You  will  not  be  able  to  give 
the  working  man  the  house  you  would  like  to  see  him  live  in,  you  must 
give  him  the  best  possible  house  the  rent  of  which  he  can  afford  to 

pay. 

Then  there  is  another  question  which  was  raised  during  the  dis- 
cussion, and  raised  w^ith  reference  to  the  Gradgrinds.  I  have  nothing 
whatever  to  say  in  favour  of  Gradgrinds  or  of  people  who  think  a  little 
present  saving  is  better  than  a  future  gain.  But  what  I  should  like 
to  point  out  is  this,  that  unless  you  are  going  to  house  your  working 
classes  on  a  commercial  basis,  unless  you  are  going  to  provide  them 
with  houses  the  rents  of  which  will  fairly  represent  the  outlay  which 
has  been  incurred  upon  them,  you  are  entering  a  cul-de-sac  from  which 
there  is  no  way  out  except  the  undertaking  by  the  State  of  the  housing 
of  the  total  working  population,  and  I  think  we  should  all  say  that 
that  is  outside  the  bounds  of  practical  politics  at  the  present  time. 
Because,  so  far  as  municipalities,  public  bodies,  or  trusts  provide 
habitations  on  unremunerative  terms,  they  drive  out  of  the  trade  all 
the  best  people  concerned  in  it,  leaving  those  who  by  scamping  their 
work  and  by  extortionate  rents  are  still  able  to  get  a  return  upon  their 
capital.  It  is  quite  obvious  that  you  cannot  have  successful  business 
in  housing  the  working  classes  in  competition  with  municipal  pro- 
vision of  houses  at  unremunerative  rents.  Now,  although  I  do  not 
in  the  least  wish  to  put  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  municipal 
enterprise,  I  do  ask  of  those  who  are  interested  in  the  question  to 
bear  that  in  mind — that  whatever  you  do  must  be  done  upon  a  com- 
mercial basis,  or  for  all  practical  purposes  it  will  be  quite  useless. 

Now  the  question  of  the  cost  of  the  land  has  been  referred  to,  and 
I  should  like  to  say  a  word  upon  that.  When  you  come  to  think  of  it, 
the  cost  of  land  in  the  vicinity  of  large  centres  is  really  an  economic 
check  placed  upon  the  extension  of  those  towns,  and  if  you  were  to 
remove  that  check  to-morrow  it  might  be  that  you  would  not  be 
doing  good,  but  only  doing  harm.  By  shifting  the  population,  by 
inducing  people  to  carry  their  industries — as  they  are  doing  to  a  very 
great  extent — to  places  where  land  is  cheap,  and  where  plenty  of  room 
can  be  found  for  factories  at  a  moderate  cost  and  plenty  of  room  for 
housing  the  workmen  at  a  moderate  cost,  you  are  insuring  them 
conditions  which  it  is  really  impossible  to  provide  them  with  in 
existing  towns  ;  when  I  say  existing  towns  I  mean  towns  of  what  I 
call  excessive  magnitude.  Although  towns  will  undoubtedly  continue 
to  grow,  I  think  we  should  do  what  we  can  to  check  their  undue 
growth,  and  I  think  we  should  not  be  too  much  led  away  from  the 

U 


290  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

question  of  shifting  the  population  to  new  localities  in  our  endeavour 
to  improve  the  suburban  arrangements  of  existing  towns.  By  all 
means  let  us  do  the  one  thing,  but  do  not  let  us  leave  the  other 
undone;  and  my  hope  is,  and  certainly  our  experience  at  Letchworth 
has  increased  that  hope,  that  there  is  no  insuperable  difficulty  in 
getting  a  very  great  number  of  those  who  now  gravitate  to  or  remain 
in  the  great  cities  to  disperse  and  carry  their  industries  into  places 
which  really  are  more  suited  for  them. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  before  1  sit  down  I  want,  on  \our  behalf 
and  my  own,  to  thank  M.  Rey  most  heartily  for  the  address  which  he 
has  given  us  to-day.  I  am  sure  it  has  been  of  the  deepest  interest 
to  us  all,  and  I  was  delighted  to  find  the  importance  which  he 
attaches  to  the  provision  of  light  and  air  to  dwellings  intended  for 
human  beings.  That  is  a  consideration  which,  unfortunately,  has 
been  too  much  neglected,  and  very  often  inquirers  who  go  abroad  and 
express  delight  at  the  absence  of  those  rather  squalid  two-storied 
buildings  that  you  find  all  round  London,  and  come  back  with  the 
story  of  how  well  the  working  classes  of  such  and  such  a  country 
are  housed,  really  mean  that  they  are  housed  in  tenement  buildings, 
and  I  think  I  know  enough  of  tenement  buildings  to  be  able  to 
say  that  the  possibilities  of  a  healthy  existence  in  small  houses  of  two 
or  three  stories  are  enormously  greater  than  in  tenement  buildings  of  a 
great  height.  M.  Rey  has  directed  his  attention  to  that,  and  has 
shown  us  how,  for  the  same  cost  and  on  the  same  site,  buildings  which 
have  an  adequate  supply  of  light  and  air  can  be  built  in  place  of 
buildings  many  of  the  rooms  in  which  would  be,  if  not  in  utter  dark- 
ness, at  all  events  unduly  deprived  of  sunlight  and  air.  I  think  that 
that  is  the  lesson  which  he  has  impressed  upon  us  and  which  we  should 
always  bear  in  mind.  Nothing  can  compensate  for  the  deprivation  of 
light  and  air  from  human  dwellings. 


291 


(3)  CITY  DEVELOPMENT. 

By  \V.  E.  RiLEV,  F.R.I. B.A.,  R.B.A.,  M.Inst.C.E.,  Superintending 
Architect  of  Metropolitan  Buildings,  and  Architect  of  the  London 
County  Council. 

No  city  could  be  more  fitly  chosen  for  the  assembly  of  a  town-planning 
conference  than  the  mammoth  aggregation  of  streets  and  buildings 
which  forms  the  capital  of  the  King's  dominions.  In  its  hitherto  un- 
rivalled magnitude  alone  it  is  an  attractive  subject  to  the  student  of 
city  development.  It  was  estimated  in  1889  that  the  streets  and  roads 
of  London  measured  between  i,goo  and  2,000  miles;  in  other  words, 
placed  end  to  end  they  would  reach  from  London  to  St.  Petersburg. 
Since  that  date  the  formation  of  nearly  250  miles  of  streets  in  the  county 
has  been  sanctioned,  and,  although  these  may  not  all  have  been  con- 
structed, the  total  length  would  now  approximately  cover  the  distance 
between  London  and  Constantinople.  In  igoi  the  census  recorded 
that  there  were  61 1,786  houses  in  the  county  of  London,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  4,536,272  persons,  and  the  decennial  returns  next  year  will 
doubtless  reveal  a  considerable  increase.  These  figures  relate  only  to 
the  "  administrative  county,"  which  forms  but  a  fraction  of  London 
as  it  exists  at  the  present  day,  and  to  which  further  reference  will  be 
made  later. 

But  it  is  not  alone  on  account  of  its  dimensions  that  London  has 
claims  for  consideration  at  a  town-planning  conference,  and  particu- 
larly at  any  discussion  on  city  development.  It  may  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  most  costly  examples  of  the  evils  resulting  from  the  lack  of 
proper  appreciation  of  the  aims  which  this  Conference  is  convened  to 
promote.  For  long  past  the  ratepayers  have  been  called  on  to  pay  for 
the  endeavours  of  their  rulers  to  remedy  the  default  of  their  fore- 
fathers. The  London  County  Council,  up  to  December,  1909,  effected, 
or  was  in  course  of  carrying  out,  133  improvements,  estimated  to  cost 
;^8,559,5i6  net.  It  also  agreed  to  contribute  ^1,455,120  towards  the 
cost  of  486  local  im.pro\ements.  The  net  amount  to  which  the  Council 
was  committed  since  its  constitution  in  1889,  without  deducting  the 
contributions  to  be  made  by  local  authorities,  averaged  ;£r500,732  per 
annum,  the  total  length  of  improvements  undertaken  being  about 
31  miles.  The  Council's  predecessors,  the  Metropolitan  Board  of 
Works,  between  1855  and  1889  expended  ;^io,  113,392  (net)  on 
constructing  new  and  widening  old  thoroughfares,  and  also  paid 
,1^1,004,086  towards  the  cost  of  local  improvements.  The  outlay  of 
the  City  of  London  and  the  local  authorities  from  1856  to  1889,  exclu- 
sive of  contributions  from  the  central  authority,  was  over  a  million 
sterling,  and  these  bodies  are  now  spending  annually  from  ;£r40,ooo 
to  ;^5o,ooo  with  the  same  object.  The  City  Corporation  has  also 
recently   initiated   works   of   considerable   magnitude,    such    as   the 

u  2 


292  Tronsactio7is  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

wldeninq;  of  Fleet  Street  and  Blshopsgate  Street,   which  alone  are 
estimated  to  cost  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  milUon  sterling. 

Possibly  this  large  outlay  would  provoke  no  complaint  if  only  a 
satisfactory  and  commensurate  result  were  perceptible,  but  we  cannot 
evade  the  uneasy  feeling  that  the  result  is  utterly  inadequate.  A  map 
has  been  prepared  indicating  roads  60  feet  and  upwards  in  width,  and 
this  clearly  shows  that  London  is  still  without  any  motif  of  systematic 
development  or  without  proper  street  facilities  for  communication  with 
suburban,  or  rather  extra-urban,  districts.  Paris  has  forty-two  roads 
radiating  into  the  surrounding  country ;  London,  with  a  population 
twice  as  large,  has  only  twenty.  As  regards  width  of  streets,  it  is 
apparent  that  comparatively  new  streets  and  those  recently  widened 
are  becoming  daily  more  unequal  to  the  increased  demands  of  traffic, 
and  that  the  congestion  is  as  serious  as  ever.  Paris  has  102  miles  of 
streets  98  feet  or  more  wide  ;  London  has  only  8i  miles  in  all  of  streets 
of  that  width. 

It  is  instructive  to  examine  some  of  the  causes  which  have  involved 
London  in  the  enormous  expenditure  already  referred  to. 

The  fundamental  defect  in  London  development  has  undoubtedly 
been  that  no  practical  attempt  has  been  made  to  control  extension  on 
anv  svstematic  plan.  The  initial  development  of  any  city  must  be 
dependent  on  the  topographical  features  of  its  site,  and  in  many 
ancient  and  some  modern  cities  military  necessities  have  been  a 
further  prominent  consideration.  The  direction  of  the  main  streets  of 
London  from  east  to  west  was  originally  largely  determined  by  its 
construction  on  a  navigable  river  and  by  the  existence  of  rising  ground 
on  either  side.  Habitations  naturally  extended  along  the  banks  of  the 
Thames,  and  if  the  same  attention  to  military  considerations  had  been 
necessary  in  London  as  in  Paris,  vStrasburg,  and  other  Continental 
cities,  London  might  now  be  in  possession  of  a  "  Ring  "  to  rival  that 
of  Vienna,  with  focal  streets  radiating  regularly  to  the  suburbs. 

The  unsystematic  extension  of  London  cannot  be  ascribed  to  any 
lack  of  theoretical  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  the  question. 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  facts  in  connection  with  the  growth  of  the 
metropolis  is  the  amount  of  labour  and  thought  which  have  been 
devoted  to  the  subject  and  the  negative  results  realised.  Select  Com- 
mittees and  Royal  Commissions  have  met  and  reported  with  frequency 
and  perseverance  during  the  last  century,  and  to  go  farther  back  there 
were  the  far-seeing  proposals  of  Evelyn  and  Wren  at  the  time  when 
436  acres  of  the  City  were  cleared  by  fire.  Such  chances  seldom  occur, 
and  one  cannot  help  contrasting  the  supineness  of  1666  with  the  recent 
public-spirited  action  of  some  of  the  citizens  of  San  Francisco.  In 
their  case  Nature,  by  means  of  an  earthquake  and  conflagration — 
lamentable  in  themselves — presented  a  remarkable  opportunity  for 
giving  effect  to  the  recommendations  contained  in  Mr.  Burnham's 
report  of  1905.  Had  Wren's  scheme  been  carried  out,  it  is  highly 
probable  that  the  Kingsway  improvement  would  have  been  un- 
necessary. 

The  want  of  system  has  not  been  confined  to  street  development. 
The  location  of  the  railway  termini  in  London  affords  an  equally 
flagrant  example  of  disregard  of  the  most  elementary  principles  of 


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2()4  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  ujio. 

town-planning.  The  terminus  of  a  great  railway  has  been  described 
as  the  entrance  gate  to  the  City,  and  the  volume  of  trailic  demands  a 
broad  open  space,  to  which  wide  radial  thoroughfares  should  con- 
verge. This  principle  has  been  particularly  recognised  in  the  plan  for 
the  improvement  of  the  district  of  Columbia,  in  which  a  plaza  600  feet 
wide  b\-  i,JOO  feet  in  length  was  suggested  to  front  the  railway 
terminus. 

A  Royal  Commission  reported  in  1846  against  a  proposal  for  a 
great  central  station  in  London,  but  recommended  that  if  railways 
were  hereafter  admitted  to  the  centre,  this  should  be  done  in  con- 
formity w'ith  a  uniform  plan.  It  is  instructive  to  consider  how  abso- 
lutely this  recommendation  has  been  ignored.  The  termini  of  the 
Croat  Eastern  and  North  London  Railways  are  placed  in  Liverpool 


Fii.   2.  —  V'.T  vrcH  Emt.^  VNCE  OF  THE  HoL BORN  TO  Strand  Improvement. 

Street.  The  number  of  ordinary  journeys  to  and  from  Liverpool 
Street  Station  is  estimated  at  65,000,000  per  annum,  and  to  and  from 
Broad  Street  Station  at  26,700,000.  The  main  entrances  to  these 
stations  discharge  on  to  a  street  about  62  feet  in  width,  leading  to  the 
heart  of  the  City  by  a  thoroughfare  having  a  width  of  about  40  feet. 
The  same  conditions  exist  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  at  most  of  the 
London  termini,  and,  quite  apart  from  the  aesthetic  advantage  of  pro- 
viding a  dignified  and  attractive  setting  to  such  important  centres,  the 
congested  conditions  of  trailic  w  hich  so  frequently  obtain  bear  witness 
to  the  disastrous  results  of  placing  such  conspicuous  buildings  in 
crowded  districts  without  the  provision  of  adequate  open  spaces. 

Closely  connected  with  the  want  of  a  systematic  plan  is  the  indis- 
criminate intermingling  of  manufacturing  and  residential  districts  in 
London.    To  some  the  intentions  of  the  Town  Planning  y\ct  and  regula- 


City  Developmoil. 


295 


296  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

lions  made  thereunder,  and  llic  examples  of  foreign  cities  as  to  the 
allocation  of  land  to  special  purposes,  have  the  appearance  of  being 
unduly  onerous,  but  anyone  who  observes  existing  conditions  in  the 
central  parts  of  London  must  soon  be  convinced  of  the  necessity  for 
such  provision. 

The  squalor  and  overcrowding  of  districts  within  the  central  area 
are  directly  attributable  to  the  want  of  such  regulations.  In  the  past 
the  workman  lived  as  near  as  possible  to  his  work,  and  the  result  is 
seen  in  the  mean  streets  of  small,  insanitary  dwellings  in  Bermondsey, 
Southwark,  Finsbury,  Shoreditch,  and  other  industrial  districts  sur- 
rounding the  manufactories  which  have  in  some  obscure  way  become 
characteristic  of  certain  localities.  Not  only  are  the  canons  of  public 
health  contravened,  but  the  efficiency  of  labour  must  be  impaired 
when  182  persons  in  Southwark,  180  in  Shoreditch,  172  in  Finsbury, 
and  171  in  Bethnal  Green  are  crowded  on  each  acre,  as  against  14  in 
Woolwich,  18  in  Lewisham,  25  in  Greenwich,  and  36  in  Hampstead, 
even  when  the  fact  that  the  latter  areas  may  not  be  entirely  built  over 
is  taken  into  account.  The  inevitable  consequence  is  found  in  the 
death-rates.  For  Shoreditch,  Southwark,  Finsbury,  and  Bethnal 
Green  they  were  21*9,  215,  2i'4,  and  203  per  thousand  respectively; 
for  Hampstead,  Lewisham,  Woolwich,  and  Greenwich,  io'6,  13,  I4'6, 
and  152  per  thousand.  The  actual  cost  which  has  fallen  on  the  rates 
of  schemes  undertaken  by  the  County  Council  and  its  predecessors  up 
to  March  1908  in  clearing  insanitary  areas  and  rehousing  persons  dis- 
placed has  been  nearly  2^  millions  sterling.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  these  deplorable  results  would  have  been  impossible  if  foresight 
had  been  exercised  in  confining  manufactories  to  particular  parts  of 
the  town,  the  workers  being  housed  in  healthy  surroundings  which 
wide  streets  would  have  rendered  easy  of  access. 

A  third  reason  for  the  existence  of  the  evils  has  been  the  inade- 
quacy of  the  building  laws.  Hitherto  the  evolution  and  extension  of 
Inner  London  have  been  controlled  to  a  limited  extent  only,  the  require- 
ments as  to  width  of  streets  and  space  about  buildings  contained  in  the 
Building  Acts  being  very  restricted  in  scope.  The  sanction  of  the 
authority  under  the  London  Building  Act  is  certainly  required  before  a 
new  street  can  be  formed,  but  the  authority  is  powerless  to  refuse  its 
approval  in  the  following  circumstances  :  if  the  street  is  40  feet  wide 
when  intended  for  carriage  traffic  and  20  feet  when  intended  for  foot 
traffic  only  ;  if  it  provides  direct  communication  with  two  streets  laid 
out  for  carriage  traffic  ;  if  its  gradient  is  not  steeper  than  one  in  twenty  ; 
and  if  it  complies  with  certain  minor  conditions.  If  a  new  street  is 
made  50  feet  wide  builders  secure  greater  latitude  as  to  the  height 
to  which  their  buildings  may  be  erected.  Such  conditions  have  proved 
to  be  utterly  futile  for  regulating  the  general  development  of  building 
estates.  As  interpreted  by  the  tribunal  to  whom  the  Act  of  1894  P^'O" 
vides  that  appeals  on  these  regulations  may  be  made,  "  direct  "  com- 
munication has  been  allowed  by  means  of  streets  of  dog-legged 
shapes.  Nor  could  communication  be  required  between  adjoining 
estates,  and  examples  might  be  shown  such  as  that  of  two  adjacent 
properties,  having  an  area  of  over  500  acres,  which  were  deliberately 
laid  out  with  the  express  object  of  preventing  access  from  one  to  the 


City  Development. 


297 


298  Transuctions  oj  tJic  Town  Phiuuing  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

other.  The  Building  Act  was  powerless  to  prevent  such  a  miscarriage 
of  its  intentions,  involving  present  inconvenience  and  future  harmful- 
ness.  It  has  been  urged  that  borough  engineers  and  surveyors  are 
responsible  for  the  chaotic  arrangement  of  streets  which  has  prevailed 
in  the  past,  but  that  is  not  the  case.  The  streets  have  been  designed 
by  persons  whose  chief  object  has  no  doubt  been  to  do  their  utmost 
in  their  clients'  interests,  while  complying  with  the  bare  minimum 
prescribed  by  the  building  law.  Comparing  this  minimum  with  the 
powers  exercised  by  other  cities,  it  is  seen  that  Barrow-in-Furness, 
under  a  local  Act  of  1875,  can  require  a  width  of  80  feet  in  main 
streets,  and  considerable  lengths  of  main  thoroughfares  have  been 
constructed  of  this  width.  In  igo8  the  Liverpool  Corporation  obtained 
similar  powers,  and,  in  addition,  may  require  plans  and  particulars 
showing  the  general  scheme  for  the  development  or  laying  out  of  the 
estate  or  lands.  In  Manchester,  Newcastle,  Leicester,  and  other 
towns  convenient  accesses  by  cross  streets  must  be  provided  at  in- 
tervals of  100  to  200  yards  ;  in  London  there  is  nothing  in  the  building 
law  to  prevent  the  erection  of  the  interminable  unbroken  rows  of 
houses,  whose  monotony  is  almost  as  offensive  as  their  public  incon- 
venience. It  is  encouraging  to  find  instances  in  London  where  private 
enterprise  has  been  inspired  by  more  dignified  aims.  The  lay-out  of 
parts  of  Camden  Town  provides  an  example  in  which  the  main  lines 
of  comm.unication,  such  as  Camden  Road,  were  made  60  feet  wide, 
the  principal  tributaries  being  50  feet  wide,  and  the  streets  of  less 
importance  40  feet.  An  endeavour  was  made  to  depart  from  the 
orthodox  gridiron  plan,  and  crescents  with  open  spaces  were  formed, 
as  well  as  garden  squares,  such  as  Camden  Square,  Rochester  Ter- 
race, &c. ,  well  planted  with  trees,  and  affording  not  only  agreeable 
relief  to  the  surrounding  inhabitants,  but  valuable  air-space. 

A  more  recent  example  is  that  of  an  area  of  27  acres  in  the  south- 
west district,  with  a  crowded  population  of  6,500,  in  which  the  owner 
in  rebuilding  decided,  in  co-operation  with  the  authorities,  to  substi- 
tute main  avenues  60  feet  wide  for  streets  formerly  half  that  width  ; 
to  improve  other  streets  ;  to  form  new  lines  of  communication  ;  and 
to  generally  adopt  a  breadth  of  treatment  and  convenience  of  deve- 
lopment which  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  conditions  previously 
existing. 

The  garden  squares  and  open  spaces  of  London,  which  in  their 
variety  and  extent  are  unsurpassed,  may  be  considered  to  be  the  most 
satisfactory  feature  of  its  development.  In  Greater  London  the 
Government  maintains  5,985  acres,  and  it  is  diflficult  to  appreciate 
what  London  would  be  without  the  amenities  of  St.  James's  Park, 
Kensington  Gardens,  and  Greenwich  Park  in  the  central  area,  and 
Bushy  Park  and  Hampton  Court  Gardens  on  the  outskirts. 

There  are  1 14  open  spaces  under  the  control  of  the  London  County 
Council,  with  an  area  of  5,100  acres.  The  City  Corporation  maintains 
nearly  6,500  acres,  including  such  excellent  and  popular  air-spaces  as 
Epping  Poorest,  Burnham  Beeches,  and  Highgate  Woods,  and  the 
metropolitan  borough  councils  control  158  open  spaces,  having  an 
area  of  266  acres.  In  this  connection  the  work  of  the  local  authorities 
in  rescuing  disused  burial-grounds  from  a  condition  of  neglect  and 
converting  them  into  bright  and  restful  retreats  deserves  mention,  and 


City  Development. 


299 


300  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

is  beyond  all  praise.  Further,  there  are  437  private  squares  and 
enclosures,  with  an  approximate  area  of  447  acres.  Such  cases  as 
Mecklenburgh  Square  and  Brunswick  Square,  on  either  side  of  the 
Foundling  Hospital,  and  many  others,  are  of  great  value  to  London, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  they  may  long  be  preserved.  There  is,  of  course, 
the  most  commendable  work  to  the  same  end  undertaken  by  private 
associations.  This  congregation  of  open  spaces  is  a  feature  of  which 
anv  city  might  be  proud,  and  proves  that,  whatever  deficiencies  exist 
in  other  directions,  the  definite  function  of  open  spaces  has  been  recog- 
nised in  London  to  an  extent  which  places  it  beyond  comparison. 

This  brief  survey  of  some  of  the  causes  and  effects  of  indiffer- 
ence in  the  past  naturally  leads  to  the  reflection  as  to  what  is 
to  be  done  to  prevent  similar  disastrous  results  in  the  future.  In 
the  county  of  London  about  5,000  new  buildings  are  being  erected 
each  year.  These  include  those  which  are  completely  or  almost 
completely  re-erected,  whose  effect  on  possible  future  improvement 
is  as  detrimental  as  the  erection  of  entirely  new  buildings.  But  the 
county  of  London,  with  its  75,000  acres,  forms,  however,  only  a 
small  part  of  the  actual  town  as  it  exists  at  the  present  day.  The 
Royal  Commission  on  London  Traffic  in  1905  went  much  further 
afield,  including  in  its  investigations  the  City  of  London  and  the 
metropolitan  police  district,  containing  every  parish  the  whole  of 
which  is  within  fifteen  miles  of  Charing  Cross  or  any  portion  of 
which  is  within  twelve  miles,  extending  past  Cheshunt  on  the  north, 
to  Coulsdon  on  the  south,  Dagenham  on  the  east,  and  Uxbridge  and 
Staines  on  the  west,  and  covering  692  square  miles.  In  this  area  of 
Greater  London  we  have  seen  as  striking  examples  as  modern  times 
have  produced  of  the  rapid  growth  of  new  districts.  The  population 
of  Walthamstow  in  1891  was  46,346;  in  1901  it  was  95,131.  East 
Ham  in  1891  contained  32,712  persons;  in  1901  the  population  had 
increased  to  96,008.  Edmonton  in  1 891  had  a  population  of  25,381  ; 
in  1901  it  was  46,899.  Acton,  Ealing,  Hornsey,  Tottenham,  Willes- 
den,  Croydon,  Kingston,  and  all  other  districts  surrounding  the 
county  show  similar  increases,  and  it  is  estimated  that  in  193 1  the 
population  of  Greater  London  will  almost  reach  the  colossal  figure  of 
eleven  millions.  What  has  occurred  in  the  past  is  slowly  but  surely 
repeating  itself  at  the  present  time,  and  the  Town  Planning  Act  will 
have  accomplished  some  good  if  it  only  forces  on  the  public  notice  the 
urgency  of  the  problem  as  to  whether  this  great  but  unavoidable 
development  is  to  proceed  on  rational  lines,  with  due  forethought  and 
provision  for  the  inevitable  necessities  of  the  future,  or  whether 
London  is  to  gradually  expand  in  the  same  unregulated  and  in- 
coherent manner  as  in  the  past.  The  existing  outlets  of  Greater 
London  show  that  something  is  required  immediately.  The  main 
routes  out  of  London  are  already  constricted  in  many  places,  and  it 
would  be  calamitous  if  a  repetition  of  such  cases  as  the  main  road 
through  Brentford — where  the  road  is  only  19  feet  wide  between  the 
kerbs — were  possible  in  the  future  development  of  suburban  London, 

How  any  action  is  to  be  taken  forms  a  problem  almost  as  complex 
as  what  that  action  siiould  be.  At  first  sight  it  would  appear  that  a 
comprehensive  scheme  should  be  prepared  under  the  Town  Planning 


City  Development. 


^01 


302  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Act,  and  it  has  been  urged  in  some  quarters  that  town-planningf 
schemes  should  not  deal  with  small  areas,  but  should  aim  at  large  and 
comprehensive  schemes.  There  are  in  Greater  London,  beyond  the 
county  boundary,  five  county  councils,  eight  county  and  municipal 
borough  corporations,  sixty  urban  district  councils,  fourteen  rural 
district  councils,  and  fifty-five  parish  councils.  Under  the  Town 
Planning  Act  the  London  County  Council  is  the  local  authority  for  the 
county  of  London.  Outside  the  county  the  local  authority  is  the 
council  of  any  borough,  or  of  any  urban  or  rural  district.  It  is  not 
evident  which  of  these  very  numerous  local  authorities  is  to  initiate 
the  comprehensive  scheme,  and  although  the  Act  aims  at  co-opera- 
tion, anyone  with  experience  of  public  authorities  must  have  mis- 
givings as  to  the  possibility  of  agreement  being  arrived  at  in  time  to 
prevent  the  mischief  which  all  desire  should  be  avoided.  Again,  the 
regulations  under  the  Town  Planning  Act  require  that  notice  shall  be 
sent  to  the  owners,  lessees  and  occupiers  of  the  land  proposed  to  be 
included  in  the  scheme,  and  this  is  only  a  small  part  of  the  procedure 
which  must  be  followed.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  preparation  of  a 
comprehensive  town-planning  scheme  for  London,  however  desirable, 
is  a  work  of  great  magnitude,  which  would  involve  considerable 
expense  and  probably  occupy  a  much  longer  time  than  is  expedient 
under  existing  conditions. 

The  most  pressing  need  is  to  establish  the  main  arterial  communi- 
cations on  a  large  and  courageous  scale  to  provide  for  the  inevitable 
expansion  of  the  next  one  or  two  decades,  so  that  the  necessary  out- 
lets, into  the  country  may  not  be  stifled  or  obstructed,  and  that  the 
gradual  extension  which  is  now  proceeding  may  adapt  itself  to  the 
lines  laid  down. 

Attention  might  be  drawn  in  this  connection  to  the  foresight  of  the 
Liverpool  Corporation,  which  is  constructing  a  circumferential  road, 
about  three  miles  from  the  business  centre  of  the  city  and  having  a 
minimum  width  of  84  feet,  to  connect  up  the  main-approach  roads. 
The  boulevard  now  passes  through  undeveloped  or  partly  developed 
land,  but  in  the  future  extension  of  the  city  it  must  prove  of  inestim- 
able value.  The  Traffic  Branch  of  the  Board  of  Trade  is  at  present 
inquiring  Into  the  sufficiency  of  the  arterial  roads  of  London,  and  the 
necessity  for  and  direction  of  further  outlets,  and  the  subject  is  one 
which  deserves  the  favourable  notice  of  the  Road  Board  established 
under  the  Development  and  Road  Improvement  Funds  Act. 

If  the  suggestion  were  adopted  that  town-planning  schemes 
should  not  deal  with  small  areas,  the  land  between  the  main  lines  of 
communication  would  obviously  be  allowed  to  develop  itself.  It 
appears  to  be  very  questionable,  however,  whether  this  is  altogether 
advisable.  It  was  estimated  In  1903  that  approximately  one-fifth  of 
the  county  of  London  was  unbuilt  upon,  and  even  now  there  are  con- 
siderable areas  which  are  undeveloped.  It  is  most  undesirable  that 
the  beautiful  parts  of  south-east  London  which  remain  uncovered 
should  be  built  on  in  the  same  uninteresting  manner  as  other  districts 
in  the  same  quarter.  Parts  of  Hammersmith  near  the  county  boun- 
dary must  soon  come  under  the  builders'  hands,  and  it  Is  essential 
that  different  principles  to  those  which  have  prevailed  in  the  past 
should  be  applied  to  the  future  development  of  these  areas  and  others 


City  Development, 


303 


364  Transactions  of  the  Toicti  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


City  Development.  305 

in  Greater-  London.  It  should  also  be  pointed  out  that  the  Town 
Planning  Act  and  the  regulations  contemplate  the  allotment  of  land 
to  special  purposes,  and  also  the  restriction  of  the  number  of  buildings 
per  acre  and  their  height  and  character.  No  such  requirements  could 
be  made  by  the  local  authorities  without  a  scheme,  and  whilst  it  's 
desirable  that  the  greatest  possible  freedom  in  development  should  be 
allowed,  it  would  appear  that  in  most  cases  the  objects  of  the  Act  will 
not  be  secured  without  the  preparation  of  schemes. 

Whatever  may  be  done  to  solve  the  problem  of  controlling  the 
future  growth  of  London,  a  few  words  are  necessary  as  to  one  con- 
sideration which  is  paramount.  To  secure  proper  development, 
singleness  of  action  is  absolutely  essential.  Reference  has  been  made 
to  the  large  number  of  authorities  which  comprise  the  area  of  Greater 
London.  Parishes  and  villages  of  a  few  years  ago  are  now  as  cer- 
tainly integral  parts  of  the  metropolis  as  Hampstead  or  Streatham. 

A  Joint  Select  Committee  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament  in  1901 
suggested  the  desirability  of  some  central  control  of  all  projects 
affecting  the  relief  and  distribution  of  traffic  in  or  near  London,  and 
the  Royal  Commission  on  London  Traffic  in  1905  emphasised  the 
same  point.  This  part  of  the  question  is,  however,  one  of  policy 
with  which  this  Paper  is  not  concerned,  and  in  which  the  author  has 
no  desire  to  intervene,  but  attention  should  be  drawn  to  the  serious- 
ness of  employing  anything  but  unified  treatment  in  dealing  with  so 
great  an  issue.  What  is  regarded  as  of  supreme  importance  in  one 
part  may  possibly  be  of  comparatively  little  significance  in  a  com- 
prehensive scheme.  The  parochial  aspect  must  be  eliminated,  not 
only  if  the  scheme  is  to  produce  the  best  results,  but  if  a  scheme  is 
to  be  formulated  at  all. 

In  conclusion,  some  apology  may  be  due  for  the  limitation  of  this 
Paper  to  one  particular  branch  of  the  subject.  Much  might  have  been 
said  as  to  the  theory  and  character  of  city  development,  the  planning 
of  ancient  and  modern  towns,  and  other  of  the  many  essentials  of  a 
multiform  question.  It  has  been  said  that  London  is  a  city  under 
conditions  special  to  itself,  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  its  difficulties 
are,  in  a  lesser  degree,  those  of  other  great  cities  of  the  Empire,  and 
some  consideration  of  the  causes  which  have  led  to  such  unsatisfactory 
consequences  in  London  may  result,  not  only  in  the  avoidance  of 
similar  mistakes  in  other  cities,  but  also  in  the  creation  of  a  Greater 
London  developed  on  rational  lines. 


3o6  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(4)  XI-TRE  FORTSCIIRITTE  IM  DKUTSCIIEN 
STADTKBAU. 
By  Dr.  Inc..  H.  J.  Stubben. 

Gestatten  Sic  mir  eine  kurze  Mitteilung  zu  machen  ijbcr  die 
Entwickelung  der  Stiidtebaukunst  in  Deutschland  wahrend  der  lelztcn 
beidcn  Jahrzehntc. 

Unsere  Lehrerin  war  im  vorigen  Jahrhundert  die  Stadt  Paris. 
Die  regelmiissige  franzosische  Art  herrschte  in  Deutschland  bis  zu 
den  So'^''  Jahren.  Dann  fing  man  an,  von  dem  Geraden  und  Regel- 
miissigen  den  Blick  aufs  Unrcgclinassige  und  Krumme  zu  richten. 
Man  begann  die  mittelaltcrlichen  deutschen  Stiidte  mehr  als  bisher 
zu  studieren.  Die  Liebhaberei  fiir  die  krumme  Linie  fiihrte  in  der 
Folgezeit  zu  vielfachen  Uebertreibungen.  Heute  sind  wir  zu  eincr 
ruhigeren  Auffassung  zuriickgekehrt  und  achten  das  Krumme  und 
Gerade,  das  Unregclmassige  wie  das  Regelmassige,  allcs  an  seinem 
richtigen  Platze. 

Wenn  man  die  schonsten  Strasscnbildcr  in  mittelaltcrlichen 
St;idten  studicrt,  so  erwachsen  sic  auf  verhaltnismassig  scliwachcn 
Kriimmungen  der  Strassenwandungcn  bci  grosser  Bildtiefe.  Als 
Beispiele  mogen  diencn  : 

Bild   I.    Rue  des  Pierres,  Bruges. 

Bild  i.\.    Die  Anger-Strasse  in  Erfurt. 

Bild  2.    Die  Maximilian-Strasse  in  Augsburg. 

Bild  3.    Und  namentlich  die  Altstadt-Strasse   in  Landshut. 

Den  Einfluss  dieser  alten  Stadte  wollen  Sie  gefiilligst  sehen  an 
zwei  neuen  Strassen  in  modernen  Stadtplanen,  namlich 

Bild  4.  Der  Arnulfstrasse  in  Miinchen,  von  Theod.  Fischer,  und 
der  Fischereistrasse  in  Briinn,  von  mir  selbst.  Die  convexe  Strass- 
enseite  ist  fiir  die  Bildwirkung  unvortcilhaft.  Wollen  Sie  deshalb 
an  dem  Briinner  Beispiel  die  Strassen-Erbreiterung  durch  Ausklin- 
kung  der  convexen  Wandung  betrachten. 

Ich  mochte  mir  nun  erlauben,  Ihncn  cinigc  moderne  Entwiirfe 
zu  neuen  Stadtvierteln  oder  Stadterweiterungen  vorzufiihrcn,  welche 
zum  Teil  von  mir,  zum  Teil  von  anderen  deutschen  Architekten 
herriihren  und  den  gegenwartigen  Stand  der  Stiidtebaufrage  in 
Deutschland  wcnigstens  annahernd  illustricrcn. 

Bild  5.  Das  Fischerei-Viertel  in  Briinn  zeigt  die  vorhin  genannte 
Hauptstrasse  als  mittlere  Langsader,  eine  seitlich  eingebaute  Kirche 
mit  X'or-  und  Hinterplatz  am  Schlussc  der  Hauptstrasse,  mehrerc 
andere  \'crkehrs-  und  Architektur-Platze  (letztere  moglichst  ge- 
schlossen),  langliche  Baublocke  und  zumeist  leicht  ge.schwungene 
Strassen. 

Bild  6.  Die  nordwestliche  Stadterweiterung  von  Konigsherg. 
Die  unregelmiissig  gestaltete,  landschaftlich  behandelte  Hauptstrasse 
von  30  bis  70  m.  Breite  folgt  den  alten  Festungsgraben,  um  fiir  die 


Neure  Fortschritte  im  dcittschen  Stddtebau.  307 

BaublOckc  moglichst  guteii  Baugrund  zu  gewinncn.  Die  iibrigcn 
Strassen  sind  teils  gekriimmt,  teils  gerade,  je  nach  dem  Bediirfnis 
der  Blockbildung.  Ein  alter  Festungsturm  (der  Wrangelturm) 
bleibt,  von  Wasser  umgeben,  erhalten.  Fiir  eine  Kirche  und  zwei 
offentliche  Gebiiude  sind  passende  Bauplatze  vorgesclilagen. 

Bild  7.  Das  neue  Bahnhofsviertel  zu  Landsliut  zeigt  eine 
schwach  gekriimmte  Hauptstrasse  mit  wechselnder  Breite  und  ge- 
staffelten  Baufluchten.  Einen  Blick  vom  regelmassigen  Bahnliofs- 
platze  in  die  neue  Strasse  zeigt 

Bild  8.      Das  folgende  Bifd. 

Bild  9.  Der  Entwurf  zum  Bebauungsplan  eines  neuen  Stadt- 
viertels  in  Berlin  zeigt  Strassen  von  einer  Mindestbreite  von  22  m., 
da  hicr  eine  fiinfgeschossige  Bebauung  mit  22  m.  zulassiger  Gebiiude- 
hohe  stattfinden  soil.  Als  Hauptstrasse  ist  die  Diagonale  von  links 
oben  nach  rechts  unten  behandelt.  Sie  zeigt  eine  schwache  Kriim- 
mung  und  eine  betrachtliche  Erbreiterung  in  der  Mitte  ihrer  Liinge 
unter  Ausschneidung  der  convexen  Wandung.  Die  iibrigen  Strassen 
sind  gekriimmt  oder  gerade  je  nach  dem  ortlichen  Bediirfnis.  Mehrere 
Baustellen  fiir  offentliche  Gebaude  mit  entsprechendcn  Vorpliitzen 
sind  vorgesehen.  Die  offentlichen  Gebaude  stehen  nicht  vollig  frei, 
sondern  sind  seitlich  angebaut ;  die  Bauplatze  derselben  sind  meist 
erweiterungsfiihig.  Ein  kleiner  Park  ist  geplant,  in  dessen  See  sich 
der  Chor  einer  Kirche  spiegelt. 

Bild  10.  Zwei  neue  Landhausviertel  bei  Posen  und  Xeustrelitz 
sind  ebenfalls  auf  dem  Wechsel  von  geraden  und  gekriimmten  Linien 
aufgebaut.  Das  Posener  \'iertel  lehnt  sich  an  einen  Mittelpark  mit 
fliessendem  Wasser  und  Zierteichen. 

Bild  II.  Das  Neustrelitzer  liegt  rund  um  einen  natiirlichen 
Waldsee,  dessen  Ufer  zum  grosseren  Teil  von  offentlichen  Spazier- 
wegen,  zum  kleineren  Teil  aber  von  Baupliitzen  (die  direkt  an's 
Wasser  stossen)  umgeben  sind.  Xach  Siiden  bildet  ein  neuer  Stadtteil 
fiir  geschlossene  Bebauung  die  \'erbindung  mit  dem  Bahnhofe 
Xeustrelitz. 

Bild  12.  Schliesslich  erlaube  ich  mir,  Ihnen  eine  Darstellung 
meines  Entwurfs  fiir  die  Umgestaltung  der  Altstadt  zu  Lowen  oder 
Louvain  in  Belgien  vorzufiihren.  Das  umzugestaltende  Viertel,  le 
quartier  a  transformer  contient  I'ancien  abattoir  et  un  grand  nombre 
de  vieilles  maisons  qui  ont  servi  jusqu'ici  aux  petits  metiers  et  com- 
merces dependant  de  I'abattoir.  La  plupart  de  ces  batisses  se  trouve 
dans  un  etat  fort  neglige  et  malsain.  L'administration  Communale 
s'est  decidee  de  renouveler  ce  vieux  quartier  en  combinaison  avec  un 
certain  degagement  de  la  Cathedrale  St.  Pierre.  Vous  voyez  un  petit 
pare  a  I'ancien  emplacement  de  I'abattoir,  une  nouvelle  rue  peu 
irreguli^re  d'une  largeur  variee  entre  11  et  13  m.,  se  dirigeant  vers  la 
facade  de  I'eglise.  Une  nouvelle  "place  du  Parvis  "  sera  etablie 
devant  I'eglise,  entouree  de  nouvelles  constructions  a  arcades  d'un 
style  louvaniste.  Elle  sera  separee  de  la  place  laterale  dite  Marguerite 
par  un  arc  a  passage,  et  reliee  a  la  Grand'  Place  par  une  rue  diagonale, 
qui  est  necessaire  pour  remplacer  I'ancienne  rue  de  Malmes.  Los 
lignes  du  projet  sont  tracees  de  telle  maniere  que  les  vieilles  maisons 
a  pignon  d'une  valeur  artistique  seront  conservees. 


3o8  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Bild  13  vous  montrc  Ic  cioquis  dc  rrlablissciiit'iit  d'une 
nouvelle  ville,  dite  Sainte-Anue,  sur  le  bord  de  I'Escaut  vis-a-vis 
d'Auvcrs.  La  creation  de  cette  ville  devient  possible  en  conse- 
quence de  la  surelevation  d'un  terrain  de  presque  1000  hectares 
de  superlicie  par  les  terres  draguces  du  lit  de  I'Escaut.  Le  croquis 
consiste,  commenq:ant  a  gauche,  d'un  quarticr  industricl  attache  au 
chemin  de  fer  ct  a  un  port  de  batelage,  d'lDt  pare  sur  un  terrain  de- 
vaste  jusqu'a  une  profondeur  de  1 1  m.  par  une  rupture  de  digue,  et 
cnfin  du  centre  futur  de  la  nouvelle  ville.  La  route  de  Gand,  se  diri- 
geant  justement  vers  la  ileche  de  la  Cathedrale  Anversoisc,  et  I'avenuc 
de  la  Gare,  reculce  a  800  m.  de  I'Escaut,  forment  deux  lignes  princi- 
pals et  droites  de  la  nouvelle  agglomeration.  Deux  galeries  souter- 
raines  au-dessous  de  I'Escaut,  en  amont  et  en  aval,  relieront  la  nou- 
velle ville  a  la  mctropole  sur  I'autre  rive  du  fleuve.  Ces  tunnels  por- 
tent des  ascenseurs  pour  voitures  et  pietons  immediatemcnt  au  bord 
de  la  rive  et  sont  relies  a  la  gare  par  des  trams  souterrains.  Entre 
I'avenue  de  la  Gare  et  I'ascenseur  du  tunnel  en  amont  s'dtablit  un  quar- 
tier  du  petite  commerce  aux  rues  irreguli^res,  avec  eglise  et  place  libre. 
Entre  I'avenue  de  la  Gare  et  la  route  de  Gand  serait  conservee  une 
partie  de  I'ancien  village  et  une  partie  de  I'ancien  "  Fort  de  la  Tete 
de  Flandre,"  transforme  en  pare  de  jeux.  Au  nord  de  la  route  de 
Gand  suivraient  un  quartier  d 'habitations  ouvri^res  et  puis  un  quar- 
ticr d'habitations  moyennes  et  de  commerce  autour  de  la  place  cen- 
trale,  ou  s'elevera  I'hotel  de  ville.  Justement  vis-a-vis  de  la  Cathe- 
drale d'Anvers  une  place  monumentale  (avec  promontoire  de  belle  vue) 
est  projetee  pour  etre  entouree  d'un  theatre,  d'un  casino  et  d'autres 
edifices  publics.  De  cette  place  monumentale  menera  une  rue  aux 
arcades  vers  I'eglise  principale  qui  s'el^ve  derri^re  une  avant-place 
ornee  de  plantations.  La  partie  septentrionale  de  la  nouvelle  ville, 
oppos^e  au  quartier  industriel  nomme,  est  destinee  pour  les  classes 
superieures,  consistant  en  villas  et  hotels  prives.  Le  centre  de  la 
nouvelle  ville,  detaille  jusqu'ici,  serait  entoure  par  un  "  ring  "  de 
40  k  60  m.  de  largeur,  enfermant  le  tram  souterrain.  Des  quartiers 
exterieurs  seraient  a  ajouter  au  fur  et  k  mesure  du  besoin. 

Habe  ich  bis  jetzt  von  meinen  eigenen  Entwiirfen  gesprochen,  so 
gestatten  Sic  mir  nun  die  Vorfiihrung  ciniger  moderner  Planungen 
andrer  deutscher  Stadtebauer. 

Bild  14.  Sehen  Sie  zuniichst  den  schonen  Plan  der  Kleinhausan- 
siedelung  Hellerau  bei  Dresden,  von  Riemerschmid,  in  geschwun- 
genen  Linien  dem  hiigeligen  Gelande  sich  anpassend. 

Bild  15.  Sodann  den  Plan  dcr  Gartenstadt  bei  Niirnberg  von 
demselben  Verfasser,  mit  ansehnlichem  Centralplatze  fur  die  Errich- 
tung  offentlicher  und  sonstiger  u^ichtiger  Gebaude. 

Bild  16.  Es  folge  die  reizvolle  Arbeiterkolonie  Merck  bei  Darm- 
stadt, von  Piitzcr,  deren  Hauptstrasse  eine  sehr  feine  Unregel- 
miissigkeit  zeigt  und  infolge  dessen  viele  schone  Strassenbilder 
hervorruft. 

Bild  17.  Ebenfalls  von  Piitzer  stammt  der  Entwurf  des  "  Herd- 
weg-\'iertels  "  in  Darmsladt,  auf  unserer  Projektion  unten  rechts. 
Das  Bild  zeigt  ferner  die  Bebauung  der  "  Mathildenhohe  "  unten 
links,  sowie  der  sogenannten  Gartenstadt  am  "  Hohlen  Weg  "  in 
den  oberen  beiden  Darstellungen,  entworfen  von  Buxbauni. 


Neure  Fortschrittc  iyn  deutschcn  Stddtchau.  309 

Bild  18.  Die  folgende  Projektion  zeigt  zwci  ncue  Tcile  der  Stadt 
Essen,  entworfen  von  Schmidt,  oben  die  Arbeiterkolonie  "  Gottfried 
Wilhelm,"  unten  ein  Wohnhausviertel  am  Talhang  von  "  Holster* 
hausen."  Von  dort  fiihrt  eine  Briicke  iiber  ein  Tal  zur  Ansiedelung 
der   "  Margarete   Krupp-Stiftung   fiir  Wohnungsfiirsorge,"   die   im 

Bild   19.     folgenden  Bilde  dargcstellt  ist. 

Bild  20,  Endlich  die  Vogelschau  des  Bebauungsplans  fiir  das 
Wohnviertel  "  am  Bernewiildchen,"  gleichfalls  in  Essen.  Diese 
Schopfungen,  die  wir  den  Architekten  Schmidt  und  Metzendorff 
verdanken,  gehoren  wohl  zum  besten,  was  in  jiingster  Zeit  auf  dem. 
Gebiete  des  deutschen  Stjidtebaues  geleistet  worden  ist. 

Bild  21.  Ich  schliesse  mit  einem  neuen  Stadtteil  von  Cliarlotten- 
hiirg  bei  Berlin,  namlich  dem  neuen  Lietzensee-Viertel  daselbst. 
Der  See  ist  zum  Teil  von  Parkanlagen  und  Promenaden  umrahmt,  die 
einen  freien  Ueberblick  gestatten,  zum  andern  Teil  von  mehrgcschos- 
sigen  Wohnhausern  umgeben,  die  eine  herrliche  Lage  haben  und 
schone  Ausblicke  darbieten. 

Meine  geehrten  Herren.  Wenn  ich  angekiindigt  habe,  dass  ich 
Ihnen  Mitteilungen  machen  woUte  iibcr  die  Fortschrittc  des  deutschen 
Stadtebaus,  so  habe  ich  dicse  Ankiindigung  nur  zu  einem  sehr  kleinen 
Teil  erfiillen  konnen.  Ich  habe  nicht  gesprochen  von  den  offentlichen 
Platzen,  Pflanzungen  und  Parkanlagen,  nicht  von  der  Forderung 
des  Baues  von  Kleinhausern,  iiberhaupt  nicht  von  der  Wohnungs- 
fiirsorge und  Wohnungspflege,  nicht  von  unserm  Baupolizeiwesen, 
insbesondere  von  unsern  Staffelbauordnungen,  nicht  von  unsern 
Bestrebungen  zur  Gewinnung  eines  Grundlinienplans  fiir  die 
bauliche  Entwickelung  von  Gross-Berlin.  Ich  habe  nur  einen  ganz 
bescheidenen  Ausschnitt  aus  unsrer  Entwurfs-Tatigkeit  Ihnen  vor- 
tragen  konnen  und  vielleicht  zu  viel  von  mir,  zu  wenig  von  andern 
gesprochen.  Dennoch  aber  hoffe  ich,  Sie  werden  aus  dem  Wenigen, 
was  ich  Ihnen  mitteilen  konnte,  erkennen,  dass  die  deutsche  Stadte- 
baukunst  sich  auf  dem  Wege  des  Fortschritts  befindct  und  in  welcher 
Richtung  sich  diese  Bewcgung  vollzieht. 


[Translation  of  Dr.  Stubben's  Paper.] 

RECENT  PROGRESS  IN  GERMAN  TOWN- 
PLANNING. 

With  your  kind  permission  I  propose  to  read  a  short  Paper  on  the 
progress  of  town  planning  in  Germany  during  the  past  two  centuries. 
Paris  was  at  one  time  our  great  teacher.  The  symmetrical 
French  style  was  predominant  in  Germany  until  the  eighties,  when 
architects  began  to  abandon  straight  lines  and  uniform  treatment  in 
favour  of  variety  and  curved  forms,  and  medieeval  German  towns 
came  to  be  studied  as  they  had  never  been  in  the  past.  This  partiality 
for  curved  forms  naturally  led  to  many  eccentricities.  To-day  we 
have  come  back  to  a  more  reasonable  conception,  and  curved  and 
straight  lines,  as  well  as  the  symmetrical  and  unsymmetrical,  arc 
regarded  at  their  real  value. 


,:;io  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

If  \vc  examine  the  finest  streets  of  mediieval  towns,  \\c  lind 
that  they  follow  relatively  slight  curves.  Take  for  instance  the 
following  examples  : — 

Fig.    I.    Rue  des  Pierres,  Bruges.* 
Fig.    i.\.  Anger-Strasse  in  Erfurt. 
Fig.   2.   Maximilian-Strasse  in  Augsburg. 
Fig.   3.   Alstadt-Strasse  in  Landshut. 

Observe  the  influence  of  the  plan  of  these  old  towns  upon  new 
streets  in  modern  towns,  such  as  the  Arnulfstrasse  in  Munich  by 
Theod.  Fischer,  and  the  Fischereistrasse  in  Briinn  by  myself  (fig.  4). 
The  effect  of  the  convex  side  of  the  street  is  not  happy.  In  the  Briinn 
illustration  note  the  widening  of  the  streets  by  the  opening  out  of  the 
convex  face  of  the  buildings. 

I  will  now  refer  to  a  few  modern  schemes  for  the  construction  or 
extension  of  new  districts  which  have  been  proposed  partly  by  myself 
and  partly  by  other  German  architects. 

Fig.  5  represents  the  fishery  quarter  in  Briinn,  which  shows  the 
street  I  have  just  mentioned  as  the  central  longitudinal  artery,  a 
church  erected  at  the  side,  with  a  square  in  front ;  and  behind,  at  the 
end  of  the  High  Street,  several  other  open  and  ornamental  grounds 
(the  latter  being  enclosed,  if  possible),  long  blocks  of  buildings,  and 
slightly  raised  streets. 

Fig.  6  shows  the  north-western  extension  of  the  town  of 
Konigsberg.  The  irregularly  formed  High  Street,  which  is  under 
provincial  control,  has  a  width  of  from  30  to  70  metres,  and  runs 
along  the  moat  of  the  old  fortification,  thus  providing  the  best  possible 
site  for  blocks  of  houses.  The  other  streets  are  partly  curved  and 
partly  rectilinear,  according  to  the  requirements  of  the  buildings. 
The  old  tower  (the  Wrangelturm),  surrounded  by  water,  has  been 
retained.  Suitable  building-sites  have  been  proposed  for  the  church 
and  two  public  buildings. 

The  new  station  quarter  at  Landshut  (fig.  7)  has  a  slightly  curved 
High  Street  of  varying  width.  Fig.  8  shows  the  view  looking  from 
the  station  square  into  the  new  street. 

The  building  scheme  (fig.  9)  for  a  new  quarter  in  Berlin  provides 
for  streets  of  a  minimum  width  of  22  metres,  with  five-storied  build- 
ings of  an  authorised  height  of  22  metres.  The  diagonal  street,  from 
the  left  at  the  top,  to  the  right  at  the  bottom,  represents  the  High 
Street.  It  shows  a  slight  curve  and  a  considerable  widening  in  the 
centre  of  its  length.  The  other  streets  are  curved  or  straight, 
according  to  local  requirements.  Several  sites  for  public  buildings, 
with  open  spaces  in  front,  have  been  reserved.  The  spaces  round 
the  public  buildings  are  not  quite  open,  and  some  have  been  built 
upon  at  the  sides.  The  building  sites  are  generally  capable  of  expan- 
sion, A  small  park  has  been  laid  out  with  a  lake,  in  which  part  of 
the  church  is  reflected. 

Two  new  suburbs  of  Posen  and  Neustrelitz  have  also  been  built, 

straight  lines  having  been   abandoned   for  curves   (fig.    10).        The 

suburbs   of    Posen    adjoin    a   central   park    with    running   water   and 

(fig.  11)    ornamental   ponds.       The    Neustrelitzer   suburbs    are    built 

*  See  the  illustrations  to  this  Paper,  pp.  312(1  to  312^. 


i 


Recent  Progress  in  German  Town  Planning.  311 

round  a  natural  lake,  the  banks  of  which  are  mostly  surrounded  by 
public  promenades,  and  also,  to  a  smaller  extent,  by  building  sites 
which  extend  to  the  water.  On  the  southern  side  a  new  quarter 
reserved  for  closed  buildings  establishes  the  connection  with  the 
station  of  Neustrelitz. 

Fig-.  12  is  an  illustration  of  my  scheme  for  the  reconstruction  of 
the  old  town  of  Louvain  in  Belgium.  The  quarter  it  is  intended  to 
transform  includes  the  old  abattoir  and  a  larg-c  number  of  old 
dwelling-houses,  which  ha\e  hitherto  been  occupied  by  small  trades- 
men and  artisans  connected  with  the  abattoir.  Most  of  these  build- 
ing's are  in  an  extremely  dilapidated  and  insanitary  condition.  The 
municipal  authorities  have  decided  to  rebuild  this  old  quarter,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  open  up  the  approaches  to  the  St.  Pierre  Cathe- 
dral. A  small  park  has  been  laid  out  upon  the  space  formerly  occu- 
pied by  the  old  slaughter-house,  and  a  new  street,  somewhat  irregular 
and  of  a  width  varying  from  11  to  13  metres,  has  been  laid  out  in  line 
with  the  front  of  the  church.  A  new  "  Place  du  Parvis  "  will  be 
constructed  opposite  the  church,  surrounded  by  buildings  with 
arcades  after  the  Louvain  style.  It  will  be  separated  from  the  square 
at  the  side,  known  as  the  Marguerite  Square,  by  an  archway,  and 
connected  with  the  Grand  Place  by  a  diagonal  street,  which  will  be 
necessary  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  Rue  de  Malines.  The  scheme 
has  been  devised  so  as  to  save  such  of  the  old  gabled  houses  as  possess 
artistic  interest. 

Fig.  13  is  a  sketch  of  a  new  town  called  St.  Anne,  to  be  con- 
structed on  the  banks  of  the  Schelde,  opposite  Antwerp.  The  pro- 
posal is  practicable  owing  to  the  fact  that  an  area  of  nearly  a  thousand 
square  hectares  has  been  raised  by  the  gravel  dredged  from  the 
bed  of  the  Schelde.  The  sketch,  starting  from  the  left,  includes  an 
industrial  quarter  adjoining  the  railway  and  the  harbour  ;  a  park  on  a 
piece  of  ground  torn  up  to  a  depth  of  1 1  metres  by  the  bursting  of 
a  dam ;  and,  finally,  the  future  centre  of  the  new  town.  The  Gand 
Road,  pointing  straight  to  the  spire  of  the  Cathedral  of  Antwerp,  and 
the  Avenue  do  la  Gare,  800  metres  from  the  Schelde,  form  two  main 
and  straight  lines  in  the  new  city.  Two  tunnels  under  the  Schelde  are 
to  connect  the  upper  and  lower  parts  of  the  new  town  with  the  metro- 
polis on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  These  tunnels  are  furnished  \yith 
lifts  for  vehicles  and  pedestrians,  and  are  connected  with  the  station 
by  underground  tramways.  Between  the  Avenue  de  la  Gare  and  the  lift 
of  the  upper  tunnel,  a  district  for  small  shops,  with  irregularly  laid- 
out  streets,  a  church,  and  an  open  space,  will  be  provided.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  preserve,  between  the  Avenue  de  la  Gare  and  the  Gand  Road, 
a  portion  of  the  old  village  and  the  old  Fort  de  la  T^te  de  Flandre, 
which  will  be  transformed  into  recreation  grounds.  North  of  the 
Gand  Road,  workmen's  dwellings,  houses  for  the  middle-class,  and 
shops  will  be  built  round  the  central  square,  where  the  town  hall 
is  to  be  erected.  Exactly  opposite  the  Cathedral  an  ornamental 
square,  with  belvedere,  has  been  included  in  the  scheme,  and  round 
it  will  be  built  a  theatre,  a  casino,  and  other  public  buildings.  From 
this  monumental  square,  a  street  with  arcades  will  lead  to  the  prin- 
cipal church,  which  stands  behind  some  grounds  plnnted  with  trees. 


312  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

The  northern  part  of  the  new  town,  facing-  the  industrial  quarter 
referred  to,  is  intended  for  the  well-to-do  classes,  and  will  consist  of 
villas  and  private  mansions.  The  centre  of  the  new  town,  as  above 
described,  would  be  enclosed  by  a  ring  of  from  40  to  60  metres,  for 
an  underground  tram-line.  The  suburban  districts  would  be  con- 
structed aftersvards  according  to  requirements. 

I  have  so  far  spoken  of  my  own  schemes,  and  I  must  now  ask  your 
kind  permission  to  mention  schemes  by  other  German  architects. 

Fig.  14  shows  the  fine  plan  of  the  Colony  of  Hellerau,  near 
Dresden,  designed  by  Riemerschmied.  The  lay-out  is  in  beautiful 
harmony  with  the  hillside. 

In  fig.  15  we  have  the  plan  of  a  garden  city  near  Nurnberg, 
by  the  same  architect,  containing  an  imposing  central  square  for  the 
erection  of  public  and  other  important  buildings. 

In  fig.  16  is  depicted  the  charming  artisans'  settlement  of  Merck, 
near  Darmstadt,  planned  by  Putzer,  where  the  High  Street  shows 
verv  fine  irregular  outlines,  and  consequently  many  beautiful  street 
views. 

The  plan  of  the  "  Herdweg  "  quarter,  in  Darmstadt,  shown  in 
fig.  17,  D,  is  also  the  work  of  Putzer.  Fig.  17,  c,  shows  the  buildings 
erected  on  the  "  Mathild  "  Hill,  and  fig.  17,  a  and  B,  the  garden  city 
of  the  "  Hohlen  Wcg,"  designed  by  Buxbaum. 

Fig.  18  shows  two  new  quarters  of  the  town  of  Essen  :  planned  by 
Schmid,  (a)  the  artisans'  colony,  "  Gottfried  Wilhelm,"  and  (b)  a 
residential  district  by  Holsterhausen.  A  bridge  leads  thence  across 
the  valley  to  the  settlement  known  as  the  "  Margarethe  Krupp-Stiftung 
for  Convalescents,"  represented  in  fig.   19. 

Fig.  20  is  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  building  plan  for  the  quarter 
"  am  Bernewaldchen,"  also  in  Essen.  These  foundations,  for  which 
we  are  indebted  to  Messrs.  Schmidt  and  Metzendorff,  are  amongst 
the  best  productions  in  recent  German  town-planning. 

I  will  conclude  with  a  view  (fig.  21)  of  a  new  quarter  of 
Charlottenburg,  near  Berlin,  viz.  the  new  "  Lietzensee  "  quarter. 
The  lake  is  partly  surrounded  by  gardens  and  promenades  open  all 
round,  and  partly  by  dwelling-houses  with  several  stories,  which 
occupy  a  splendid  position  and  overlook  lovely  scenery. 

.1  am  afraid  in  what  I  have  said  that  I  have  scarcely  done  full 
justice  to  the  progress  of  German  town-planning.  I  have  not 
referred  to  the  public  places,  plantations,  and  parks,  nor  to  the 
advance  made  in  the  planning  of  smaller  houses,  and  particularly  of 
convalescent  homes  and  sanatoria ;  neither  have  I  spoken  of  our 
architectural  regulations,  especially  with  reference  to  the  height  of 
buildings,  and  our  endeavours  to  create  a  fundamental  plan  for  the 
architectural  expansion  of  Greater  Berlin.  Nevertheless,  I  trust  that 
the  little  I  have  told  you  will  suffice  to  show  that  German  town- 
planning  is  moving  onward  on  the  patli  of  progress,  and  give  some 
indication  of  the  direction  it  is  taking. 


Recent  Progre.Ks  in  German  Tnivn  Planning. 


12a 


Fig.  I. —  Rue  des  Pierres,  Bruges 


3126   Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,   Oct.  1910. 


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Recent  Progress  in  German  Town  Planning. 


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i2S  Transactions  of  Ihe  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Recent  Progress-  in   German  Toivn  Phinuim 


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Bfbauungsplane  der  Stadl  Essen  (Beigcordneter  Schnmit)  (ur; 
a)  die  Arbciltrkolonic  der  Zfchc  Ootifried  Wilhelm, 
til  den  TalhanR  in  Holsterhausen  mit  ZuRanusbrUclce  zur  Mar,;arelhe  Krupii-Slidunn        - 
Isiehe  am  unteren  Rande^  

Fig.  18. — Essen  :    New  Districts. 
(A)  The  Artisans'  Colony,  "  Gottfried  Wilhelm,"  by  Schmidt. 
(B)  Residential  District,  by  Holsterhausen. 


3I2.V  Trausaclions  of  the  To7cn  Planning  Conference,   Oct.  1910. 


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Recent  Progress  in  German  To%i)n  Planning.  3i2y 


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313 


(5)  TOWN  PLANNING  IN  GERMANY  :  THE  GREATER 
BERLIN  COMPETITION. 

By  Professor  Rud.  Eberstadt. 

By  the  courtesy  of  your  Committee  I  am  allowed  to  address  this 
Congress,  British  in  its  basis,  but  outgrown  into  an  international 
assembly.  Is  this  business  of  town  planning  and  town  construction 
that  unites  us  indeed  of  such  importance  as  to  deserve  popular  inter- 
national universal  attention?  Have  we  any  claim,  reaching  beyond 
the  restricted  border  of  the  professional  man,  to  the  general  interest 
of  the  people?  I  think  we  have,  and  the  position  we  hold  in  the 
general  evolution  of  human  society — let  me  say  in  a  few  words — is 
for  us  of  older  standing  than  is  generally  believed. 

In  the  Bible,  town  planning  is  designated  as  the  starting-point  of 
human  civilisation.  By  the  story  of  Cain  and  Abel  we  are  told  :  when 
Cain,  after  his  deed,  went  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  he 
turned  to  the  land  of  Nod,  and  he  builded  a  city  and  called  the  name  of 
the  city  Enoch.  If  we  believe  literally  the  words  of  the  Bible,  or  if  we 
look  upon  it  merely  as  a  document  of  history,  it  tells  us  :  the  man  who 
was  a  wanderer  upon  earth  is  sheltered,  is  settled  to  a  home  and 
property,  by  town  building.  Here  closes  the  nomadic  period  of  man- 
kind.    Here  begins  the  history  and  development  of  human  society. 

And  once  more  in  our  days  we  might  be  reminded  of  the  old  story  ; 
looking  at  the  towns  we  have  built  do  we  not  again  and  again  hear 
the  old  searching  question  :  "  Cain,  where  is  Abel  thy  brother?  " 
Is  the  town  of  our  day  really  the  protector  and  guardian  of  peace 
and  civilisation?  Or,  are  we  going  to  reply  :  "  I  know  not.  Am  I  my 
brother's  keeper?  "  Certainly  we  are  not  going  to  give  this  answer; 
this  assembly  is  the  best  proof  that  we  mean  to  meet  our  liability.  We 
wish  to  claim  for  town  building  the  place  it  ought  to  hold  in  human  civil- 
isation ;  we  claim  it  not  self-satisfied,  not  self-praising,  but  conscious 
of  the  enormous  responsibility,  of  the  gigantic  difficulties,  and  firmly 
resolved  to  do  our  duty  in  this  hallowed  and  noble  task  of  humanity. 

The  task  of  town  building  is  an  international  one,  where  every 
nation  has  to  learn  and  every  nation  may  contribute  to  our  knowledge. 
I  am  not  over-praising  England  if  I  say  that  the  modern  system  of  town 
building  has  been  created  in  England.  It  was  born  out  of  necessity. 
For  England  had,  first  of  all  nations,  to  face  the  particular  problem 
of  modern  town  building — the  amassing  of  people  by  millions  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  in  industrial  centres.  Now  lately  the  attention 
of  English  reformers  and  experts  has  been  turned  to  our  land — to 
Germany.  We  have  had  numbers  of  Englishmen  visiting  Germany  to 
study  our  town  planning  and  town  building.  We  might  be  proud  of  this 
tribute  paid  by  our  master  to  what — in  town  planning — I  should  still 
call  an  apprentice.  Therefore,  do  not  call  me  ungrateful  if  I  allude  to 
a  certain  inconvenience,  a  drawback,  connected  for  us  with  these  most 
agreeable  visits.  Our  English  visitors  generally  applied  to  our  ruling 
municipal  authorities,  the  creators  of  our  modern  towns.  They  were 
received,  naturally,  with  broadest  hospitality,  and  introductory  lun- 
cheons were  given  to  them.  Then  they  were  driven  about  in  carriages 
and  made  acquainted  with  those  magnificent,  imposing,  broad  streets, 


314  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

with  a  display  of  asphalt  sufficient  to  empty  half  the  pits  of  Italy,  and 
a  show  of  granite  to  level  down  the  mountains  of  Sweden,  lined  all 
along  with  huge  five-  and  six-storied  **  tenement  barracks."  And  the 
English  visitors  were  full  of  admiration  for  this  much  vaunted  street- 
planning — not  town-planning — system. 

And  the  effect  of  this?  When  we  town  planners  and  housing  re- 
formers, who  have  to  grapple  with  unheard-of  difficulties,  said,  "  We 
wish  to  do  away  with  this  system,  pernicious  for  our  people  ;  we  aim 
at  the  English  home,  the  English  cottage,  the  individual  house,"  the 
reply  was,  '*  Why,  last  night,  at  dinner,  your  very  Englishmen  could 
not  find  words  enough  to  praise,  to  admire  this  system  which  you 
would  upset.     They  said  they  were  going  to  imitate  it." 


Fig.  2. — Jansek's  Scheme. 

The  admiration  for  this  system  comes  too  late;  the  fashion  is  over. 
As  we  in  Berlin  get  a  French  play  from  Paris,  or  an  English  scarf  from 
London,  at  the  very  moment  when  it  is  out  of  fashion,  so  the  English- 
man's admiration  for  our  street-planning  system  came  at  the  very 
moment  when  we  wished  to  do  away  with  it. 

Now  a  certain  change  has  been  brought  about  lately — two  or  three 
years  ago — when  some  English  friends  came  to  visit  Berlin  and 
Dresden,  and  I  showed  them  the  inside  of  these  tenement  barracks — 
not  of  a  few  municipal  model  dwellings  that  are  generally  shown  to 
foreigners,  but  the  typical  workman's  dwelling,  as  it  is  and  must  be 
built  by  private  enterprise.  Since  then  the  sound  English  judgment, 
the  British  common  sense,  is  turning  up  again  in  this  question.     But 


Town  Planning  in  Germany. 


315 


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;,i6  rruusactions  of  the  Tcnvn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910.  f 


Town  Planning  in  Germanv. 


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Town  Planning  in  Germany. 


319 


;20  Transactions  of  the  To^vn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


still  I  should  say  :  this  is  not  yet  sufficient.  German  town  develop- 
ment might  still  be  studied  more  closely,  with  greater  attention,  with 
sharper  criticism,  by  Englishmen ;  and  this  effort  would  richly  pay. 
Germany  is  great  enough  to  have  her  institutions  looked  at  with  a 
scrutinising  eye.  Do  not  then  praise  what  is  bad  in  Germany.  At  least, 
I  should  never  recommend  an  English  institution  until  I  had  ascertained 
fully  that  it  would  benefit  our  people.  Especially  with  regard  to  the 
objects  of  this  Conference  I  should  say  Germany  is  the  only  land  where 
you  can  study  closely  the  inseparable  connection  between  town  plan- 
ning, street  planning,  and  the  basis  of  social  life — that  is,  housing. 

The  prominent  feature  in  modern  housing  development  of  Ger- 
many is — in  opposition  to  other  industrial  countries  like  England  and 
Belgium — the  preponderance  of  the  high-storied  tenement-dwelling. 
The  development  has  been  a  very  rapid  one,  and  was  brought  about 
by  the  conjunction  of  different  measures  in  town  building.  Up  to  1870 
the  housing  system  described  as  the  "  tenement  barrack  " — high- 
storied  buildings  containing  in  front  parts  and  courtyards  from  forty 
to  eighty  tenements — w^as  unknown  in  Germany.  The  prevalent 
system  for  our  working  class  was  the  cottage  or  the  small  tene- 
ment house.    An  example  of  our 


building  system  about  the  year 
1850  is  given  in  my  Handbook 
(page  57),  Handhuch  des  Woh- 
nungswesens  und  der  Woh- 
niings/rage,  second  edition, 
1910.  It  shows  the  traditional 
workman's  cottage  in  the  west- 
ern industrial  parts  of  Germany. 
The  fa9ade  may  not  be  called 
handsome;  but  the  house  corre- 
sponds to  the  most  essential  re- 
quirements of  family  life  and 
hygiene.  It  has  through  venti- 
lation, plenty  of  room  and  light, 
and  especially  empty  space  at- 
tached to  the  home. 

The  new — now  the  domi- 
nating— system  of  housing  and 
town  planning  that  supplanted 
the  preceding  conditions  has  not 
been  created  in  one  day,  nor  can  it  be  traced  back  to  one  particular 
author.  Especially  during  the  recasting  of  our  public  administration, 
from  1870  to  1875,  a  series  of  new  measures  and  institutions  of  highest 
efficiency  was  introduced.  Amongst  them  may  be  quoted  the  **  Build- 
ing-line Act,"  the  law  on  mortgages,  the  by-laws  in  building  matters, 
&c.     For  details  I  may  refer  to  my  Handbook. 

The  eiTects  of  the  system  now  in  force  may  be  studied  in  most  of 
our  large  towns  in  Germany  ;  more  than  anywhere  else,  however,  they 
are  visible  in  Berlin.  This  is  the  reason  why  a  competition  for  the 
planning  of  Greater  Berlin  has  been  proposed,  to  obtain,  not  a  de- 
tailed map  of  building  lines,  but  a  real  plan  for  the  development  of  a 
modern  town.  I  may  sum  up  the  most  important  jjroblems  for  town 
planning  under  five  heads  : — 


o#°"«" 


Fig 


Scheme  of  Professors  Brix  and 


Genzmer :  Improvement  of  a  Square. 


Town  Planning  in  Germany. 


r^2i 


;^22    Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


NORD-SUD-PERNBAHM  BERLIN, 


1.  The  congestion  of  street  traffic,  mainly  in  the  central  parts  (in 
Berlin  Leipzigerstrasse,  Potsdamer  Platz,  Alexanderplatz). 

2.  The  means  of  transport  and  rapid  transit  in  the  central  parts 

and  the  outskirts. 

3.  The  exemption  and  the  dis- 
tribution of  open  spaces,  parks, 
and  public  gardens. 

4.  The  artistic  development 
and  the  planning  of  public  and 
monumental  buildings. 

5.  The  most  important,  per- 
haps— the  system  of  town  exten- 
sion, the  system  of  planning 
streets,  cutting  up  of  land,  and 
the  method  of  housing  our  people. 

The  jury  have  awarded  four 
prizes.  I  will  now  give  a  selec- 
tion of  five  illustrations  from  each 
of  the  premiated  schemes. 

The  scheme  of  Hermann  Jan- 
sen  shows  the  green  belt  circling 
the  town  [fig.  i].  Commendable 
alterations  of  good  taste  and  ar- 
chitectural effect  are  proposed  for 
the  central  parts  of  Berlin  [fig.  2], 
opening  a  new  thoroughfare  to- 
wards the  River  Spree.  The 
banks  of  the  river  now  covered 
by  insignificant  buildings  would 
be  restored  to  traffic,  and  a  new 
embankment  [fig.  3]  would  em- 
bellish these  now  neglected  dis- 
tricts. 

As  for  the  town-extension 
districts,  the  architect  proposes 
several  systems  of  housing  and 
town  planning.  Fig.  4  shows 
the  planning  of  a  new  suburb, 
the  three-storied  tenement-house 
prevailing,  intermixed  by  indivi- 
dual houses,  the  buildings  being 
grouped  round  the  central  park 
and  having  private  squares. 
Traffic  schemes  may  be  inferred 
from  fig.  I.  Five  rays  of  broad 
avenues  —  termed  by  Jansen 
"  sally-streets  "  (Ausfallstrassen) 
— emerge  from  the  centre  to 
enable  fast  motor  traffic  to  move 
from  the  town  to  the  country. 
A  view  of  one  of  these  avenues  is 


mX     -  SUDEN 

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NOW-suD-yEJiBm- 

DUNOdernmmHNEN 

-w_  iim-u  vokortbuhnen 

HOOl-u  UHTEJmUNO  - 

BitnH 


Fig.  10. — Scheme    of   Professors   Brix    and 
Genzmer  and  the  Hochbahn-Gesellschaft  : 

CONNECTING    PRINCIPAL  LiNES   OF  TRAFFIC. 


given  in  fig.  5.   New  thoroughfares  are  to  be  opened  through  the  inner 
town  and  through  the  fashionable  residential  districts  of  the  Tiergarten. 


Town  Planni7ior  in  Germany. 


323 


From  the  scheme  of  Professor  Brix,  Professor  Genzmer  and  the 
Hochbahn-Gesellschaft  (High-level  Railway)  we  reproduce  a  piece  of 
monumental  architecture  in  fig.  6,  showing  a  proposal  of  giving  a  new 
shape  to  a  square  of  huge  dimensions,  but  in  its  present  condition 


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caUing  for  artistic  improvement,  the  ' '  Konigsplatz. ' '  Professors  Brix 
and  Genzmer  dispose  a  row  of  colonnades  surrounding  the  square,  the 
new  Royal  Opera  House  to  be  erected  opposite  our  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment (Reichstag).  Fig.  7  shows  one  of  our  main  streets  approaching 
a  railway  station,  the  street  to  be  changed  into  an  avenue  lined  by 


324    Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

colonnades.  Fig-.  8  affords  a  peculiar  interest  inasmuch  as  it  shows 
the  improvement  of  a  square,  the  unsatisfactory  condition  of  the  lower 
sketch  being  altered  to  the  certainly  much  better  arrangement  of  the 
upper  drawing.  Fig.  9  gives  the  bird's-eye  view  of  a  garden  city  in 
the  suburbs,  the  system  of  mainly  three-storied  tenement  buildings, 
detached  or  in  groups,  being  adopted.  Fig.  10  deals  with  the  diflicult 
problem  of  connecting  the  principal  lines  of  tratlic,  now  abutting  at  the 


northern  and   southern   stations,    by   junction-lines.      To   maintain  a 
straight  direction  of  the  road  line  an  incline  of  i  in  40  is  proposed. 

The  scheme  of  Messrs.  Havestadt  and  Contag,  Professor  Blum 
and  Professor  Bruno  Schmitz  gives  in  fig.  1 1  a  most  elaborate  system 
of  organising  local  and  long-distance  traffic.  The  adjustment  of  rail- 
road lines  is  due  to  Professor  Blum  ;  the  canals  are  traced  by  Messrs. 
Havestadt  and  Contag.     An  interesting  project  of  providing  factory 


Town  Planning  in  Germany. 


325 


326    Transactions  of  the  Toixm  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

districts  adapted  with  every  facility  of  means  of  transport  may  be 
studied  in  fig.  12.  The  characteristic  architectural  work  of  Professor 
Bruno  Schmitz  is  represented  by  figs.  13  and  14.  The  genial  sketch, 
fig.  I  -^,  proposes  a  new  civic  centre  in  the  middle  of  old  Berlin.  Fig.  14 
shows  as  a  striking  feature  an  imposing  avenue  to  connect  a  new 
southern  railway  station  with  one  of  the  most  prominent  points  of 
street  traffic,  the  Leipzigcr  Platz ;  whilst  in  fig.  15  the  banks  of  the 
river  Havel,  in  a  most  picturesque  view,  show  the  new  site  proposed 
for  Berlin  University. 

As  for  the  scheme  proposed  by  Professor  Bruno  Mohring,  Richard 
Petersen  (civil  engineer),  and  myself,  we  thought  that  an  adequate 
solution  could  only  be  arrived  at  if  the  five  great  problems  were  effec- 
tively faced — that  is  :  (i)  the  system  of  town  extension  and  housing; 
(2)  distribution  of  open  spaces ;  (3)  means  of  transport ;  (4)  congestion 
of  street  traffic ;  (5)  artistic  development  and  planning  of  public  build- 
ings. Not  one  detail  only,  but  the  great  task  in  its  entirety,  must  be 
undertaken. 

Our  Continental  towns  have  been  built  after  a  general  pattern,  the 
concentric  pattern.  The  conception  of  Continental  town  building  was 
for  the  town  to  be  enclosed  by  a  ring,  and  that  town  extension  had  to 
be  carried  on  by  new  rings  and  belts  [fig.  i6a].  First  was  the  belt  of 
fortifications,  then  came  the  belt  of  excise  or  municipal  taxation,  then 
the  new  belt  of  the  street  ring,  the  railway  ring,  and,  lastly,  the  forest 
ring  or  the  green  belt. 

I  believe  that  every  ring,  whatever  its  name  may  be,  is  injurious 
and  hurtful  to  town  extension.  The  ring  could  not  be  dispensed  with 
in  the  old  towns,  which  always  were — and  this  must  not  be  forgotten — 
restricted  in  growth  and  extension.  For  the  modern  town,  however,  we 
must  break  down  the  ring ;  the  pattern  for  modern  town  extension 
is  the  radial  pattern  [fig.  i65].  The  backbone  of  town  extension  is 
formed  by  the  traffic  line.  The  open  spaces  are  not  green  islands 
accidentally  dispersed  round  the  town,  but  systematically  arranged, 
so  as  to  procure  open  spaces  and  circulation  of  fresh  air  in  all  parts 
of  the  town.  This  radial  extension  built  up  on  the  line  of  traflfic  and 
the  distribution  of  open  space  has  been  at  the  root  of  our  project. 

Dealing  with  the  problems  of  the  inner  town.  Professor  Mohring 
combines  monumental  planning  with  the  achievement  of  necessary 
communication  for  street  traffic.  Fig.  17  shows  a  new  thoroughfare 
connecting  two  streets  now  blocked  up,  thereby  creating  a  parallel 
street  at  the  most  congested  point  of  traffic.  The  junction  of  this 
new  road  forms  a  crescent  lined  by  public  buildings  of  importance, 
to  be  matched,  in  the  opposite  direction,  by  the  new  Royal  Opera 
House — an  arrangement,  it  may  appear,  of  the  highest  efficacy.  A 
project  for  the  large  square  of  the  "  Konigsplatz  "  is  represented  in 
fig.  18.  The  intention  of  the  artist  was  to  show  that  our  public 
squares  should  manifest  a  certain  idea.  The  conception  expressed 
by  the  Konigsplatz,  then,  would  be  "  the  army  and  the  people,"  the 
pillars  of  the  empire.  The  most  conspicuous  buildings,  therefore, 
grouped  round  the  square  are  :  the  Imperial  Parliament,  the  Ministry 
of  War,  the  General  Staff  buildings,  the  Marine  Office. 

As  for  the  question  of  town  development  in  the  outskirts,  we  must 
in   Germany   distinguish   between   those  town   extension   lands  with 


;28    Transactions  of  the  Tou^n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


moderate  prices  and  those  with  high  prices.  In  consequence  of  our 
speculation  and  the  system  of  five-storied  buildings,  the  price  of  land 
in  Germany  is  eightfold  to  tenfold  of  what  it  is  in  England.  In  Eng- 
lish towns  land  prices  vary  from  £$^0,  ;^i,ooo,  to  ;£:i,5oo  an  acre  in 
residential  districts— that  is  2^  to  -i  marks  a  square  metre.  In  Berlin 
land  may  cost  60  to  80  marks  a  square  metre  for  working  men's  dis- 
tricts— that  is  ;;^i2,ooo  to 
;^ 1 6,000  an  acre  ;  in  pro- 
vincial towns  30  to  50 
marks  a  square  metre — 
i.e.  ;^6,ooo  to  ;£^io,ooo 
an  acre. 

On  low-priced  land 
the  planning  of  residen- 
tial streets  meets  with 
no  practical  difficulty. 
Where  we  have,  how- 
ever, high-priced  land, 
as  in  the  outskirts  of 
Berlin  under  the  system 
of  the  high-storied  tene- 
ment— say  ;;^io,ooo  to 
;^i  2,000  an  acre — we 
propose  a  mixed  plan. 
An  area  of  sufficient  ex- 
tension should  be  planned 
out ;  the  main  streets 
surrounding  the  area 
would  be  allowed  to 
maintain  the  five-storied 
building ;  the  inner  part 
to  be  reserved  for  resi- 
dential streets  [fig.  19]. 
A  scheme  of  connecting 
local  and  long-distance 
traffic  is  shown  in  fig.  20 
(done  by  Rich.  Petersen). 
The  curve  turning  to  the 
left  has  been  inserted  to 
avoid  the  sharp  incline  of 
I  in  40  and  reduce  it  to 
I  in  80,  being  still  prac- 
ticable for  steam  traction 
of  main  lines. 

These  few  instances, 
selected  from  four 
schemes,  will  show  you  the  road  which  German  town  planning  might 
take  ;  but  they  do  not,  nor  cannot,  show  the  barriers,  the  obstacles 
that  stop  us  on  our  road.  You  may  lay  down  the  rule,  the  worse  a 
system  of  housing  the  stronger  the  private  interests  to  preserve  it.  It 
ought  to  be  the  reverse.  The  rule  ought  to  be  :  the  worse  a  system  of 
housing,  the  easier  to  upset  it.     But  in  reality,  as  many  things  are 


Fig.  i6a. — Scheme  of  Messrs.  Mohring,  Petersen,  and 
Eberstadt  :  Town  Extension  by  New  Rings  and 
Belts.     (From    Eberstadt,  Handbuch  des    Wohnungs- 

■wesens,iviA  ed.,  1910,  p.  196.) 


Fig.  i6b. — Scheme  of  Messrs.  Mohring,  Petersen,  and 
Eberstadt  :  Radial  Pattern  for  Town  Extension. 


Town  Planning  in  Germany. 


329 


330  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Town  Planning  in  Germany. 


33^ 


Z    2 


S32    Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


WETTBEWERB    GROSS-BERLIN 
ENTWURF  „ET  IN  TERRA  PAX' 


EBERSTADT.  MOHRINO.  PETERSEN 


-~S/e^^/  Se/z,^ 


V^'- 


'^"^^nn.  Frankfurt , 


^Bji; 


Sfejtjn^ 


Akxanderfjajjjr. 


BRANDENBURGER 
TOR. 


y 


^ffurTiirsfendawiri^ 


Scho"",..."' 
/ 


unterirdische 
nord-sUd  -^«^^ 

verbindungsbahnen.      '*^*  ,...- 


FERNBAHNEN 

— T-  VORORTBAHNEN 
STADTBAHNEN 


^-^« 


■^^ 


^-^^ 


^^^^^ 


Fig.  20. — Scheme  for  Connecting  Local  and  Lono-pistance  Traffic. 


Town  Planning  in  Germany.  333 

paradoxical,  so  it  is  with  housing  reform.  Private  interest  is  specially 
strong  in  housing  matters,  and  nowhere,  at  least  in  our  country,  is  it 
so  difficult  to  be  overthrown  and  defeated  once  it  has  got  hold  of  public 
institutions  and  turned  against  public  interest. 

But  we  shall  not  despair.  A  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  in  your 
country,  in  England,  was  started  a  principle  which  seemed  sheer 
revolution  to  the  ruling  classes  and  monopolists  of  the  day  ;  it  said  : 
private  gain  is  public  profit  ;  private  interest  and  public  benefit  are 
identical.  This  maxim  became  the  programme  of  a  new  school  of 
economics,  and  it  became  the  leading  principle  in  the  unparalleled 
rise  of  English  wealth  and  industry. 

Look  now  at  the  distance  ;  look  at  the  progress  of  a  century  and  a 
half.  The  aspect  is  changed.  We  are  aware  now,  and  we  confess 
that  in  many  respects  private  gain  is  now  opposed  to  public  profit. 
But  we  may  be  sure,  not  that  the  old  rule  is  wrong,  but  that  our  insti- 
tutions are  defective.  We  shall  not  forsake  the  old  principle  which 
has  led  mankind  to  the  highest  victory.  But  we  must  work  to  turn 
the  old  truth  to  light  again  ;  private  gain  is  to  be  made  subservient  to 
public  profit.  Private  interest  and  public  benefit  must  again  become 
identical  in  the  great  task  of  modern  civilisation,  the  building  and 
planning  of  our  towns. 


•^  ^ 


4    Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


DISCUSSION.* 

Mr.  Alderman  Arthur  Bennett,  J. P.  (Warrington)  :  I  would  like 
to  say  a  word  upon  the  question  of  open  spaces.  Nearly  thirty  years 
ag-o  I  read  a  book  called  "The  Story  of  Merrie  Wakefield."  I  do 
not  know  whether  any  of  you  have  read  it.  It  is  a  book  that  everyone 
should  read  ;  but  it  is  now  our  of  print.  There  was  an  idea  expressed 
in  it  which  I  have  never  forgotten — a  somewhat  crude  idea  perhaps, 
but  one  which  will  help  to  explain  another  idea  that  I  have  at 
the  back  of  my  mind.  The  suggestion  was  that  the  New  Wakefield 
should  be  laid  out  on  the  plan  of  a  draught-board — all  the  black 
squares  buildings  and  houses,  all  the  white  squares  gardens.  Now 
I  should  like  to  see  something  like  that,  though  not  so  strictly 
geometrical.  Every  area  should  have,  I  think,  a  certain  proportion 
of  open  spaces.  Under  the  new  Act  we  have,  of  course,  power  to 
preserve  open  spaces  and  make  them  part  of  our  plan,  and  we 
have  power  to  limit  the  number  of  houses  to  the  acre.  But  I  do  not 
think  that  goes  far  enough.  There  ought  to  be  an  absolute  statutory 
obligation  that  within  every  given  area  there  should  be  a  certain 
proportion  of  the  land  devoted  to  this  purpose  only.  I  think  that 
would  be  only  a  reasonable  sacrifice  to  ask  for  from  the  landowner. 
He  would  get  an  increment  which  would  come  from  the  extra  ground- 
rent,  and  it  is  only  fair  that  he  should  be  required  to  make  this  small 
concession  in  return.  It  seems  to  me  that  something  of  the  sort  is 
so  vital  to  the  health  of  the  community  that  I  should  like  to  see  it 
made  compulsory.  The  idea  was  emphasized  by  what  I  saw  of  the 
London  County  Council's  Housing  Scheme  at  Tottenham — a  scheme 
for  which  Mr.  Riley,  I  believe,  is  largely  responsible.  The  estate 
consists  of  a  number  of  artisans'  houses  built  around  an  open  green, 
where  the  inhabitants  are  able  to  indulge  in  tennis  and  bowls  and 
other  amenities  of  suburban  life.  I  should  like  to  see  in  every  town 
in  England,  in  every  given  area,  an  open  space  like  that,  where  the 
people  might  enjoy  fresh  air  and  exercise.  I  do  not  think  we  shall 
get  what  we  want,  even  by  our  town-planning  schemes,  unless  this 
is  made  essential.  Fifteen  years  ago  I  got  my  Council  to  adopt  a 
resolution  in  favour  of  something  of  the  sort,  but  nothing  was  done. 
I  throw  the  suggestion  out  for  what  it  is  worth,  but  I  think  there 
is  something  in  it. 

Dr.  Chalmers  (Medical  Officer  of  Health,  Glasgow)  :  Might 
I  make  a  remark  with  reference  to  a  suggestion  by  Mr.  Unwin? 
I  may  have  misapprehended  him,  but  I  understood  him  to  suggest  that 
we  should  endeavour  to  limit  the  size  of  cities.  My  question  is, 
Is  that  possible?  Surely  there  is  nothing  in  the  past  history  of  cities 
that  supports  the  suggestion ;  indeed,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  facts 

♦  The  reading  of  the  Papers  occupied  the  whole  of  the  time  at  the  Great 
Meeting,  at  which  Mr.  Daniel  H.  Bumham,  of  Chicago,  presided,  and  there  was 
no  time  for  discussion.  The  discussion  here  reported  took  place  at  the  overflow 
meeting,  where  Mr.  Councillor  Galbraith  presided. 


Cities  of  the  Present.  335 

are  entirely  the  other  way.  So  long-  as  its  commerce  grows  you 
must  go  on  increasing  the  size  of  the  city.  That  seems  to  me  to 
be  the  verdict  of  history.  To  suggest  30,000  or  50,000  as  a  limit  is, 
I  think,  to  entirely  misapprehend  the  principles  of  modern  commercial 
life.  There  is  another  suggestion  which  I  understood  Mr.  Unwin  to 
make — that  there  were  two  ways  of  distributing  your  population. 
One  was  by  a  method  of  detached  or  semi-detached  houses,  and  the 
other  was  by  a  concentration  of  houses  with  unbuilt-upon  land,  or 
land  devoted  to  open  spaces,  surrounding  them.  This  last  is  pretty 
much  what  we  have  had  in  the  past.  Then  there  was  a  query,  which 
I  think  also  came  from  Mr.  Unwin,  as  to  whether  towns  should 
increase,  as  it  were,  by  wavelets,  or  by  the  growth  of  units  outside. 
I  do  not  think  we  can  regulate  that.  Industry  will  determine  the 
size  and  to  a  large  extent  the  distribution  of  the  city's  population  : 
our  work  as  town  planners  is  to  endeavour  to  direct  that  develop- 
ment into  lines  which  will  not  be  injurious  to  people  who  must  carry 
on  the  industries  of  the  country. 

Mr.  A.  B.  McDonald  (City  Engineer,  Glasgow)  :  I  have  been 
greatly  edified  by  the  opinions  expressed  by  the  authors  of 
the  different  papers,  the  main  edification  being  derived  from  the 
diversity  of  opinions  set  forth.  We  have  heard  a  great  deal  in  the^ 
last  few  days  about  what  is  called  the  clean  slate — an  opportunity 
that  no  town  planner  in  this  country  will  ever  possess.  Besides,  the 
conditions  of  every  centre  of  population  vary  to  such  an  extent  that 
even  if  we  had  the  clean  slate — which  we  never  shall  have — we 
should  not  be  able  to  use  it  in  the  same  way  in  different  places. 
One  gentleman  yesterday  said  a  great  deal  on  behalf  of  some 
restriction  on  the  width  of  roads,  one  of  his  arguments  being  that 
the  doorstep  was  an  extra  room  to  the  house — an  expression  which 
seemed  somewhat  to  ignore  the  climatic  conditions  of  North  Britain  ; 
but  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing-  what  are  called  model 
dwellings  where  the  doorstep  is  quite  a  requisite  for  the  matter  of 
domestic  comfort.  Coming  to  Mr.  Riley's  Paper,  I  should  like  to  tell 
those  whom  I  have  the  privilege  of  addressing  something  they  did  not 
perhaps  know — that  in  1S66  Glasgow  promoted  a  Bill  in  Parliament 
for  the  improvement  of  the  City,  and  this  became  a  model  for  all  the 
improvements  in  London  and  other  parts  of  England.  I  am  not 
talking  about  this  without  full  knowledge  of  what  I  am  saying-, 
because  my  predecessor,  Mr.  Carrick,  the  City  Architect  of  Glasgow, 
to  whose  genius  the  City  Improvement  Act  of  Glasgow  belongs,  was 
asked  by  Mr.  Secretary  Cross,  on  behalf  of  the  Government,  to 
prepare  a  scheme  for  the  improvement  of  London  based  to  some 
extent  upon  what  had  been  done  in  Glasgow.  He  did  not  find  an 
opportunity  of  doing-  it,  but  I  think  it  is  due  to  his  memory  that 
this  matter  should  be  mentioned. 

The  Chairman  (Mr.  Councillor  "Galbraith)  :  I  have  a  very  pleasant 
duty  to  perform,  and  that  is  to  thank  the  three  gentlemen  who  have 
given  us  Papers  this  morning.  We  have  listened  to  them  with  very 
great  interest.  One  of  them  was  given  partly  in  German  and  partly 
in  French.  However,  there  is  a  translation  of  the  Paper  for  those 
who  are  not  able  to  quite  follow  the  German  in  every  detail ;  and  when 


2s(y    transactions  of  the  Toiun  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  iglo. 

the  proceedings  are  distributed,  as  they  will  be  by-and-by,  we  shall 
have  an  opportunity  of  going-  over  that  German  Paper  with  the  tranS' 
lation  of  it  to  see  if  our  translation  of  the  German  is  quite  correct.  We 
are  very  much  indebted  to  these  gentlemen,  and  particularly  for 
their  having  repeated  their  lectures  at  this  overflow  meeting. 
It  is  a  pleasant  task  to  give  a  lecture  to  a  large  and  enthusiastic 
gathering,  such  as  they  had  in  the  adjoining  room,  and  though  I 
am  sure  those  of  us  who  are  present  were  not  lacking  in  enthusiasm, 
we  were  lacking  in  numbers,  and  numbers  do  give  inspiration  to 
reader  or  speaker.  Therefore  there  is  due  to  these  three  gentlemen 
a  double  debt  of  gratitude,  and  I  ask  now  that  you  will  show  your 
appreciation  by  giving  them  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks. 

Provost  Davidson  (Coatbridge)  :  Before  we  separate  it  is  our  duty 
and  also  our  privilege  to  award  our  best  thanks  to  the  Chairman  for 
presiding  over  our  meeting  this  morning.  He  has  guided  the  busi- 
ness of  the  meeting  with  great  wisdom  and  given  the  various 
speakers  every  liberty  and  full  time  to  deal  with  their  various  sub- 
jects, and  I  think  we  must  heartily  thank  Councillor  Galbraith,  of 
Glasgow,  for  the  ability  with  which  he  has  presided  over  this  meeting. 


PART    II.  {continuea). 


SECTION  IV.— CITIES  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

(i)  The  Immediate  Future  in  England.     By  Professor  C.  H.  Reilly, 
M.A.,  F.R.I.B.A. 

(2)  Les  Villes  de  l'Avenir  {liiiih  translation).     By  Eugene  H^nard, 

S.A.D.G.,  Architecte  de  la  Ville  de  Paris. 

(3)  A    City  of   the    Future    under    a   Democratic    Government. 

By  Daniel  H.  Burnham. 

(4)  Cities  of  the  Future  :  their  Chances  of  Being.     By  L.  Cope 

Cornford. 

Discussion. 


(I)  THE   IMMEDIATE   FUTURE   IN   ENGLAND. 

By  Professor  C.  H.   Reilly,   M.A.,  Cantab.,  A.R.I.B.A.,  School  of 
Architecture,  University  of  Liverpool. 

It  would  be  tempting  in  discussing'  the  City  of  the  Future  to  dream 
of  the  time  when,  in  the  perfect  town  organised  for  all  human  activi- 
ties and  pleasures,  our  art  of  architecture  shall  have  found  its  final 
and  noblest  expression.  For  the  town  of  the  future,  like  the  cathe- 
dral of  the  past,  will  be  the  handiwork  of  many  artists  inspired  by 
one  faith.  I  do  not  conceive  it  in  its  most  perfect  form  as  the  work 
of  one  brain,  however  complete  its  government.  A  Shakespeare 
among  architects,  whose  mind  could  translate  into  terms  of  beauty 
a  thousand  needs,  could  never  give  varied  and  sustained  interest  to 
so  mighty  a  work.  For  the  town  in  all  its  future  glory  will  be  the 
ultimate  work  of  art,  embracing  all  other  arts,  the  highest  synthesis, 
the  noblest  imagining,  the  greatest  work  of  man.  Its  main  struc- 
tural lines  or  plan,  expressing  its  essential  life  and  government,  like 
the  plan  of  the  mediccval  cathedral,  only  more  subtle  in  its  concep- 
tion, for  there  is  in  it  the  additional  element  of  growth,  may  be — 
indeed  must  be — predetermined  for  the  perfect  whole  to  be  achieved. 
So  far,  therefore,  it  will  of  necessity  be  the  work  of  the  master 
mind  among  us.  But  within  the  plan,  as  within  the  cathedral,  there 
is  room  for  many  artists,  if  each  is  working  with  the  same  end  in 
view.  And  the  faith  that  is  required  is  the  ardent  desire  to  interpret 
in  its  highest  terms  the  character  of  the  civilisation,  the  ideas  and 
aspirations  of  the  citizens.  Our  art  at  every  epoch,  from  its  limita- 
tions which  are  at  the  same  time  the  sources  of  its  strength,  must 
always  be  a  reflection,  more  or  less  complete,  of  the  civilisation  of 
the  moment.  All  that  we  as  architects  can  do  is  to  ensure  that  it 
reflects  the  best  rather  than  the  worst,  the  more  refined  rather  than 
the  more  vulgar  elements. 

But,  however  tempting  these  visions  of  the  distant  future  may  be, 
to  us,  as  practising  architects,  it  is  the  city  of  the  immediate  future 
that  is  our  concern,  that  is  indeed  our  domain  by  right,  as  well  as  of 
necessity.  I  think  in  England  (and  as  there  are  representatives  of 
foreign  countries  here  I  have  devoted  this  short  paper  to  English 
matters)  we  may  safely  leave  to  sociologists  and  others  interested  in 
such  speculations  a  consideration  of  the  time  when  London,  for 
instance,  will  absorb  the  Southern  Counties,  Birmingham  the  Mid- 
lands, when  Lancashire  will  become  one  vast  city  with  Manchester 
as  its  workshop  and  Liverpool  its  port.  One  must  suppose  that  this 
will  happen,  and  with  it  all  kinds  of  new  organisations,  new  types  of 


540    Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

road,  new  methods  of  conveyance  and  communication.  The  thing, 
however,  that  really  concerns  us  is  the  character  of  the  growth 
during  the  next  fifty  years,  and  whether  our  art  will  be  able  to  absorb 
that  character  and  express  it  in  beautiful  forms. 

The  first  step  is  to  come  to  some  clearer  conception  of  the 
meaning  of  this  new  growth,  of  the  people  who  will  cause  it,  of  the 
kind  of  life  they  will  live,  and  of  the  hopes  they  will  entertain  or  we 
may  entertain  on  their  behalf.  We  have  all  seen  during  the  last  thirty 
years  the  fruitlessness  of  trying  to  impose  one  alien  set  of  ideas  after 
another  upon  a  new  condition  of  living.  We  have  nil  built,  or  most 
of  us  have,  Queen  Anne  houses,  Georgian  houses,  Cotswold  farm- 
houses, or  stone-slated  Welsh  cottages  for  the  modern  suburb,  and  if 
we  have  had  the  courage  to  admit  it  to  ourselves  we  have  found  them 
not  a  little  ridiculous  when  finished,  furnished  by  Maple's,  and  in- 
habited by  our  stockbroker  friends.  The  fault  is  the  ancient  one  ot 
putting  new  wine  into  old  bottles.  In  the  railway  approach  to  any 
of  our  big  towns — I  choose  the  railway  because  it  gives  such  unex- 
pected and  illuminating  glimpses — we  pass  through  miles  of  these 
recent  suburbs,  and  beyond  that  they  are  garish  in  colour  and 
irregular  in  outline  if  for  the  well-to-do,  or  drab  and  monotonous  if 
for  the  poor,  it  is  impossible  to  say  that  they  have  any  continuous 
inherent  character ;  in  short,  that  they  exhibit  any  real  sense  of 
architectural  style. 

Now  it  is  this  sense  of  style,  this  consistent  and  truthful  expres- 
sion of  character,  which,  in  contrast,  gives  the  charm  and  permanent 
value  to  the  older  parts  of  our  towns.  Where  we  have,  as  in  York, 
narrow  winding  lanes,  overhanging  barge  boarded  houses,  we  feel  at 
once  the  character  of  the  life  of  the  Middle  Ages — the  close,  intimate, 
neighbourly  life  crowded  within  the  city  walls. 

Or  take  the  stately  squares  of  Bloomsbury  and  the  West  Central 
portion  of  London — the  most  liberal  town  planning  yet  achieved  in 
England.  We  see  that  such  a  neighbourhood  corresponds  truth- 
fully to  an  era  of  greater  leisure,  to  a  culture  more  reposeful  and 
refined,  to  a  time  free  from  advertisement  when  it  was  thought  right 
to  restrain  the  expression  of  individual  tastes  and  idiosyncrasies  to 
the  interiors  rather  than  to  the  exterior  of  the  houses. 

Still  later  districts  in  the  despised  plaster  period,  districts  of 
formal  villas  set  in  what  are  now  faded  London  gardens  with  their 
trellis  arbours  and  verandahs,  their  cement  vases  and  broken  statues, 
represent  an  idea  of  refinement  and  detachment,  something  definite 
and  consistent,  which  we  can  readily  grasp  and  appreciate.  Of 
course  it  is  a  much  easier  matter  to  focus  the  characteristics  of  a  past 
period  than  of  the  one  in  which  we  are  living  or  of  those  of  the 
immediate  future.  We  can  realise  now  that  the  Bloomsbury  squares, 
built  for  a  few  great  landlords,  were  designed  In  accordance  with 
their  standard  of  culture — a  culture  at  the  back  of  which  were  cen- 
turies of  class  tradition.  We  can  see  that  the  haphazard  muddled 
buildings  of  the  late  Victorian  period,  the  vast  sporadic  growths 
of  no  particular  character  which  have  surrounded  our  towns  and 
villages,  were  the  outcome  of  a  new  class  of  society  with  new  needs 
attempting    to    accomplish    its    own    desires.      It    was    during    this 


The  Immediate  Future  in  England.  341 

period  that  the  great  middle  classes  arose,  as  a  result  of  the  indus- 
trial expansion  of  the  preceding  fifty  years.  Unorganised  and 
incoherent  in  their  ambitions,  they  yet  differed  from  the  working- 
classes  in  that  they  wanted  houses  expressing  their  individuality  and 
status.  We  see  now  that  they  were  over-anxious  to  show  in  their 
homes  their  new  freedom ;  none  cared  to  be  like  his  neighbour,  and 
the  old  squares  were  deserted  for  the  new  suburbs,  where  individual 
fancy,  unchecked  by  any  traditional  taste,  ruled  supreme. 

Now  I  take  it  that  the  main  difference  between  this  period  and  the 
one  on  which  we  are  just  entering  is  that  education  has  now  had  time 
to  bring  about,  if  not  a  better,  at  any  rate  a  new  standard  of  taste, 
and  that  the  futility  of  disorganised  individual  effort  has  at  last  been 
clearly  realised.  In  Germany,  apart  altogether  from  any  questions 
of  art,  the  value  of  organisation  in  building  development  has  been 
understood  and  practised  for  several  decades.  We  are  ourselves 
only  just  beginning  to  see  that  for  the  benevolent  despotism  of  the 
great  landlords,  which  till  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  was 
fairly  successful,  we  must  substitute  an  organised  democracy  if  we 
are  to  have  anything  but  chaos.  The  laissez-faire  period  of  town 
growth  corresponding  to  the  last  half  of  the  last  century  has  proved 
its  wastefulness  as  well  as  its  hideousness ;  hence  our  town  planning 
Bills  and  our  co-operative  suburbs.  The  note  of  the  new  period 
therefore  is  organisation,  the  supervision  of  rampant  individualism 
for  certain  general  amenities.  And  if  the  amenities  at  present  most 
shrilly  called  for  are  greater  air  and  greater  garden  space,  it  does  not 
follow  that  they  will  stop  there.  Further  refinement  in  building, 
quieter  exteriors  which  will  better  compose  with  the  general  schemes, 
more  simply  shaped  and  better  proportioned  rooms  which  will  permit 
of  more  refined  furnishings,  are  but  the  next  step  in  the  same 
direction. 

If  suppression  of  individual  Idiosyncrasies  for  the  general  good 
may  be  taken  as  the  key-note  of  our  new  garden  suburbs,  and  I 
think  there  is  not  much  doubt  about  it,  do  the  houses  which  are 
already  being  built  In  them  properly  express  this  idea?  While 
admitting  very  readily  that  they  are  a  long  way  ahead  of  the  sur- 
rounding villadom.  Is  It  entirely  appropriate  that  they  should  In  the 
main  be  based  upon  the  early  mediteval  type  of  cottage,  with  high- 
pitched  roof  and  gables,  with' wood  mullion  windows  (stone  being, 
I  suppose,  too  expensive),  rather  than  on  the  later  Georgian  types, 
with  flatter  roofs  and  sash  windows,  which  are  found  so  sedately  set 
round  many  an  English  village  green,  and  contributing  so  largely  to 
Its  sober  restful  character?  On  practical  grounds  alone  one  would 
have  thought  that  the  greater  window  space,  the  square  ceiled  rooms 
clear  from  the  roof,  would  have  been  more  satisfactory,  while  the 
simpler  shapes  would  have  allowed  for  a  higher  standard  of  Interior 
proportion  and  detail.  But  this  is  really  part  of  the  general  question 
of  the  trend  of  our  recent  domestic  architecture,  which  must  be 
grasped  and  understood  if  we  are  to  make  deliberate  progress.  Our 
garden-suburb  cottages  are,  especially  at  Hampstead,  very  good  of 
their  kind.  The  question  to  my  mind  Is  whether  they,  any  more 
than  our  domestic  architecture  as  a  whole,  are  right  In  kind,  whether 


34^    Transactions  of  the  Twicn  Planning  Cunjcrcncc,  Oct.  1910. 

they  adequately  express  the  best  contemporary  culture.  And  if  they 
do  not  do  this,  how  can  they  serve  for  any  length  of  time  the  culture 
that  is  to  come? 

It  is,  therefore,  worth  while  to  consider  shortly  what  we  have  been 
attempting  to  do  of  recent  years  in  house  building.  Since  the  Gothic 
revival  finally  broke  our  classic  tradition  two  main  ideas  seem  to 
have  inspired  our  house  architects  ;  one  simple  picturesqueness  of 
outline  derived  from  Gothic  architecture,  and  the  other,  more  difficult 
to  define,  might  perhaps  be  termed  an  attempt  to  express  domes- 
ticity. Feeling  that  the  latter  is  our  national  characteristic  we  have 
striven,  and  I  think  it  would  be  admitted  by  our  foreign  colleagues 
with  a  certain  amount  of  success,  to  make  our  houses  what  we  call 
and  feel  to  be  "homelike."  For  this  purpose  we  have  naturally 
and  rightly  shunned  any  excess  of  external  ornaments  and  dressings, 
and  we  have  interested  ourselves  instead  in  texture  and  colour,  in 
materials  which  weather  well  and  quickly  lose  their  sense  of  new- 
ness. But  these  are  the  accidentals  of  architecture  rather  than  the 
essentials.  To  further  the  supposed  ideal  of  the  home  we  have 
indulged  in  a  rough  and  affected  simplicity  of  finish,  making  use  of 
such  archaic  things  as  solid  oak  steps  in  our  staircases  and  bare 
bricks  or  tiles  in  our  fireplaces.  But  our  Gothic  inheritance  of  pic- 
turesqueness has  prevented  our  desire  for  simplicity  from  taking  the 
form  of  simple  rooms  simply  put  together.  It  has  instead  tempted 
us  to  all  sorts  of  angular  shapes  and  bay  windows,  so  that  our 
rooms,  if  rustic  in  materials  and  workmanship,  have  no  real  sim- 
plicity of  form.  So  far,  therefore,  this  striving  after  simplicity,  this 
exaltation  of  the  primitive  cottage,  is  an  affectation.  A  test  to  apply 
to  it  is  the  sort  of  minor  arts  it  has  fostered.  What  kind  of  furniture, 
when  confessedly  modern,  do  we  find  in  our  overgrown  cottage 
houses?  If  our  present  period  has  produced  any  specific  kind  of 
furniture  at  all  I  am  afraid  it  has  produced  stained  wood  furniture 
with  hammered  copper  enrichments.  The  despised  Bloomsbury 
houses  produced  the  Sheraton  and  Early  Victorian  chairs  we  all 
search  for.  It  is  obvious,  then,  that  something  is  wrong.  When 
our  clients  in  the  new  garden  suburbs  cease  to  furnish  in  the  Totten- 
ham Court  Road,  shall  we  as  architects  be  ready  for  them? 

If,  then,  the  house  of  the  future  suburb  is  on  the  one  hand  to 
express  something  of  the  new  submission  of  the  individual  to  the 
community,  and  on  the  other  hand  to  answer  to  a  more  exacting  and 
refined,  if  less  sentimental  taste,  it  is  obvious  some  new  departure 
must  be  made.  Tlie  question  of  evolving  a  new  type  of  small  house 
answering  to  these  requirements  is  indeed  the  most  pressing  architec- 
tural problem  in  the  city  of  the  immediate  future.  The  country 
house  brought  into  the  town  is  really  as  affected  and  stupid  as  the 
town  house  taken  into  the  country.  We  want  in  our  garden  suburbs 
something  between,  expressing  their  peculiar  character,  a  combina- 
tion of  the  refinement  of  the  town  with  the  charm  and  quiet  home- 
liness of  the  English  country.  If  one  may  venture  on  a  suggestion, 
we  should  here,  as  elsewhere,  do  well  to  pick  up  the  threads  dropped 
at  the  approach  of  the  Gothic  revival.  I  fancy  in  our  desire  for  more 
reticent  exteriors  we  should  revert  to  flatter  roofs  with  fewer  gables, 


I 


The  liumediule  Future  in  England.  343 

and  seek  our  interest  in  such  delicacies  as  trellis  porches  and 
verandahs,  and  windows  carefully  divided  with  thinner  bars  and 
marginal  lights  pointing  to  a  higher  standard  of  interior  finish. 
Expression  is  most  naturally  given  to  such  a  house  by  a  large  swept- 
out  cornice,  adding  interest  and  shadow  to  what  otherwise  might 
seem  a  bald  reserve.  Such  a  feature,  if  maintained  at  the  same  level, 
is  sufficient  in  itself  to  give  unity  to  a  group  of  houses,  and  would 
express  thereby  the  new  communistic  idea  on  which  the  suburb  is 
based. 

If  these  ideas  are  right  for  the  houses,  they  apply  equally  to  the 
gardens.  The  dividing-line  between  what  is  for  the  enjoyment  of  all 
and  what  for  the  comfort  of  the  individual  will  everywhere  have  to 
be  redrawn,  and  I  think  it  will  at  first  show  more  obviously  in  the 
gardens  than  in  the  houses.  Our  garden  suburbs  already  give  up  in 
many  cases  the  little  strips  of  front  garden  to  communal  ownership 
instead  of  allowing  varying  taste  to  spoil  the  composition  of  a  whole 
road.  I  do  not  feel,  however,  that  this  principle  can  be  applied  suc- 
cessfully to  all  the  land  round  the  houses,  except  in  the  case  where 
each  house  stands  on  a  very  minute  plot.  There  is  something  private 
and  retiring  that  is  inherent  in  the  idea  of  an  English  garden  which, 
where  anything  approaching  a  garden  at  all  is  possible,  cannot  well 
be  dispensed  with.  A  garden  which  is  common  property,  however  well 
designed  originally,  is  sure  in  time  to  lose  its  intimate  and  individual 
character,  descending  by  easy  stages  to  that  lowest  level,  which  we 
in  England,  not  without  humour,  call  a  recreation  ground. 

I  have  dealt  with  the  architectural  character  of  the  units  which 
will  compose  the  new  suburbs  because  of  their  obvious  importance  to 
the  city  of  the  immediate  future,  and  because  now,  with  so  many 
schemes  in  the  air,  it  is  the  moment  to  pause  and  make  sure  whether 
our  architectural  ideas  are  adequate  to  our  vast  and  new  oppor- 
tunities. It  is  our  duty  as  architects  to  see  that  the  eesthetic 
amenities — if  one  may  use  the  phrase — in  our  new  suburbs  are  at 
least  on  the  level  with  those  of  hygiene,  air,  and  rent,  which  are 
making  so  great  a  success  of  the  new  movement. 

With  regard  to  the  central  portion  of  the  city  of  the  immediate 
future,  its  administrative  and  business  areas,  it  is  probable  that, 
like  the  businesses  carried  on  there,  these  parts  will  tend  in  their 
architectural  character  to  become  more  and  more  cosmopolitan. 
Already  a  block  of  offices,  a  large  hotel  or  club,  may  be  designed  in 
Paris  for  London,  or  vice  versa.  Some  of  the  most  recent  and  best 
French  and  American  architecture  is  to  be  seen  in  our  own  streets, 
which  assimilate  it  easily  and  well.  But  this  only  means  that  each 
nation  is  seeking  its  inspirations  at  the  same  classic  source.  And  if 
this  applies  to  the  buildings  where  local  variations  of  detail  are  more 
likely  to  appear,  it  applies  with  redoubled  force  to  any  new  planning 
or  adjusting  of  old  lines.  Here  the  classic  idea  of  balance  and  axial 
vistas,  derived  from  the  Roman  fora  and  thermce,  is  universal. 
Paris  may  show  the  finest  example  of  it,  but  for  the  monumental 
effects  of  the  central  portions  of  all  towns  it  is  the  only  formative 
idea.  What  picturesqueness  there  may  be  in  these  parts  must  be  the 
natural  picturesqueness  inherent  in  the  site,   due  to  curving  river, 


344    Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 

hill,  or  valley ;  anything-  else  artificially  produced  in  relation  to 
stately  buildings  becomes  an  absurdity.  The  simple  elements  of 
such  planning,  converging  lines  to  centres  of  interest,  symmetrical 
places  of  simple  rectangular,  elliptical,  or  circular  shape,  quadrant 
roads,  lend  themselves  with  perfect  ease  to  the  maximum  of  con- 
venience if  the  conditions  of  the  problem  have  at  the  outset  been 
thoroughly  grasped.  The  fact  that  in  Washington,  for  example, 
Pennsvlvania  Avenue  entirely  outweighs  in  importance  and  in  the 
effect  of  its  buildings  the  corresponding  diagonal  is  due  to  the  one 
leading  from  the  Capitol  to  the  White  House  and  the  other  leading 
nowhere  ;  which  only  means,  therefore,  that  the  conditions  were  not 
properly  understood  when  L' Enfant  laid  down  the  main  lines  of  his 
plan ;  it  does  not  mean  that  his  type  of  planning  was  wrong  or  that 
there  is  any  other  alternative  to  it.  The  simple  elements  of  classical 
planning  enumerated  above  allow  for  all  possible  monumental  effects, 
and  in  the  future  we  may  believe  they  will  be  increasingly  employed. 

With  this  taking  place,  and  with  the  civil  architecture  of  all  towns 
becoming  more  cosmopolitan  in  character,  we  shall  find  the  tendency 
to  revert  to  bygone  combinations  of  classic  forms  less  and  less  fre- 
quent. To  erect  to-day  a  pure  Georgian  or  Wren  building  in  the 
central  portion  of  a  town  is  to  affect  an  anachronism  only  less  glaring 
than  to  put  up  a  Francois  Premier,  Elizabethan,  or  Gothic  building. 
As  in  the  suburbs  we  have  passed  through  the  period  of  eclecticism 
and  caprice,  and  are  approaching  one  of  greater  restraint  and  refine- 
ment, so  in  the  centre  a  further  suppression  of  the  individual  taste 
for  the  good  of  the  common  whole  is  necessary.  Where  the  govern- 
ment of  the  future  city  could  aid  the  movement  would  be,  so  it  seems 
to  me,  in  a  wiser  and  stronger  control,  not  so  much  of  design,  for 
that  is  a  shy  thing,  apt  to  wither  under  official  restraints,  but  of  such 
general  things  as  bulk  and  colour,  which  more  than  anything  else 
affect  the  massing  and  composition.  Colour  has  a  special  importance, 
for  if  the  buildings  and  streets  in  all  big  towns  are  approximating  to 
a  common  ideal  there  must  nevertheless  always  be  a  local  and  sym- 
pathetic colour  arising  from  the  nature  of  the  site,  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  of  the  materials  available.  To  introduce  red  bricks  and  tiles 
into  an  essentially  grey  town  like  Edinburgh,  or  into  a  white  town 
like  Paris,  is  to  do  an  injury  to  the  whole,  which  the  town  as  a  whole 
should  resent.  Against  such  intrusions,  therefore,  the  town  should 
protect  itself.  A  further  and  similar  function  in  the  immediate 
future  will  be  for  the  town  to  protect  and  cherish  the  architectural 
character  of  its  different  parts.  To  allow  a  garish  terra-cotta  struc- 
ture of  German  design  like  the  Hotel  Russell  to  break  into  the  quiet 
English  dignity  of  Russell  Square  is  evidence  of  inefficiency  which 
we  hope  will  be  impossible  in  the  better  organised  city  of  the  future. 

Finally,  then,  it  follows  that  when  the  idea  of  the  town,  as  an 
organised  entity,  at  once  the  result  of  and  the  perfect  means  whereby 
the  best  energies  of  its  citizens  can  do  their  appointed  work,  is 
realised,  it  will  grow  in  the  minds  of  all  until  it  is  conceived  as  the 
ultimate  work  of  art,  to  the  making  of  which,  as  architects,  it  is  qui; 
Ijtigh  fortune  to  be  called. 


>45. 


(2)  LES  VILLES  DE  L'AVENIR. 
Par  E.  Henard,  Architecte  de  la  Ville  de  Paris. 

Je  me  propose  d'etudier  I'influence  que  les  progr^s  de  la  Science  et 
de  rindustrie  modernes  peuvent  avoir  sur  la  construction  et  sur  les 
aspects  des  Villes  de  I'Avenir. 

Ce  n'est  pas  sans  une  certaine  apprehension  que  j'aborde  cette 
question ;  mes  precedents  travaux  sur  Paris  etaient  d'un  ordre  plus 
concret,  et  s'appuyaient  sur  des  donnees  exp^rimentales  ;  il  me  faut 
aujourd'hui  speculer  sur  des  hypotheses  plus  ou  moins  vrai- 
semblables,  et  sans  base  certaine,  ce  qui  conduit  k  des  conclusions 
t^meraires  et  parfois  tout  k  fait  erron^es.  Meme  dans  les  inductions 
les  plus  methodiques,  la  limite  precise,  qui  separe  la  probabilite  de  la 
fantaisie,  est  tr^s  difficile  k  determiner ;  je  ferai  cependant  tous  mes 
efforts  pour  ne  pas  la  franchir,  sans  oser  vous  affirmer  qu'involon- 
tairement  et  sur  un  certain  nombre  de  points  je  ne  serai  pas  entrain^, 
au  del^,  par  un  s^duisant  mirage.  Je  m'attacherai  surtout  k  re- 
chercher  les  nouvelles  formes  que  doivent  prendre  la  rue  et  la  maison, 
ces  elements  constitutifs  et  primordiaux  de  la  Cit^. 

Quelle  que  soit  son  ^tendue  future,  il  y  aura  dans  toute  grande 
agglomeration  urbaine  un  noyau  d'activite  intense  ou  les  construc- 
tions seront  toujours  tr^s  rapproch^es,  comme  dans  nos  villes 
actuelles.     C'est  un  fragment  de  ce  noyau  que  nous  allons  examiner. 

Voyons  d'abord  les  d^fauts  de  la  rue  et  de  la  maison  telles 
qu'elles  existent  aujourd'hui.  Voici  (fig.  i)  le  plan  et  la  coupe 
d'une  rue  d'importance  moyenne,  prise  a  Paris.  Elle  ne  diff^re,  que 
par  des  details  secondaires,  d'une  rue  quelconque  situee  dans  une 
ville  d' Europe. 

J'ai  figure,  d'un  cote,  une  maison  remontant  au  si^cle  dernier, 
de  I'autre  une  maison  de  construction  rdcente. 

Je  ne  m'attarderai  pas  a  critiquer  la  premiere;  les  dispositions  en 
sont  incommodes  et  son  hygiene  est  deplorable.  Elle  n'est  reproduite 
ici  que  pour  contraster  avec  la  maison  moderne  et  en  faire  ressortir 
les  progr^s  tr^s  sensibles  ;  toutefois  cette  dernier  laisse  encore  trop 
a  d6sirer.  On  y  trouve  bien  I'ascenseur,  I'eau,  le  gaz,  I'eiectricite, 
le  telephone,  les  salles  de  bains  et  le  tout  k  I'egout ;  mais  on  y  trouve 
aussi  des  souches  de  cheminee  encore  bien  baroques,  qui  deversent 
sur  la  ville  des  nuages  de  fumee  malsaine  ;  I'evacuation  des  cendres 
et  des  dechets  de  toutes  sortes  s'op^re  de  la  fa^on  la  plus  barbare  au 
moyen  de  boites  malpropres,  deposees  le  soir  le  long  de  la  chaussee, 
et  que  des  tombereaux  viennent  enlever  chaque  matin.  Quant  au 
nettoyage  des  locaux  habites,  il  est  encore  reste  tr^s  eiementaire  ; 
on  ouvre  les  croisees,  on  balaye,  on  secoue  et  on  bat  les  tapis  par 
les  fenetres,  et  toutes  les  poussi^res,  tous  les  miasmes  se  repandent 

A   A 


346  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Maucn    tuidmae     ( iStO) 

_-^^     r  ^    PuE  aCtuelle, 


1^. 


,#^-^ 


P/an    du  Jous.jcI 


'■•'''''•   - 


Fig.  I. 


Les  Villes  de  VAvenir.  347 

et  se  dispersent  g-^n^reusement  dans  I'atmosph^re  que  respirent  les 
passants. 

De  cet  ensemble,  la  partle  qui  est  demeuree  bien  en  degi  des  per- 
fectionnements  qu'on  pourrait  d'ores  et  d^j^  lui  appliquer,  c'est  la 
rue  elle-mSme.  La  rue  actuelle  est  I'ultime  forme  de  Tancien  chemin 
rural,  ^tabli  sur  le  sol  naturel,  dont  on  a  pav^  la  chauss^e  et  qu'on 
a  compl^t^  avec  des  trottoirs. 

Au-dessous  de  la  chaussee,  en  pleine  masse,  on  a  construit  un 
^gfout  destin^  tout  d'abord  h.  I'^coulement  des  eaux  pluviales  et 
m^nag^res,  mais  qu'on  affecte  h.  toute  sorte  de  choses  pour  lesquels 
il  n'a  pas  €t^  construit.  On  a  commence  par  y  installer  des  con- 
duites  d'eau  pure  et  d'eau  de  riviere;  puis  on  y  a  ajout^  les  tubes 
pour  les  d^peches  pneumatiques,  une  canalisation  pour  I'air  com- 
prim6,  et  enfin  I'^cheveau,  de  plus  en  plus  important  et  de  plus  en 
plus  compliqu^,  des  fils  t^l^g-raphiques  et  t^l^phoniques.  Cet  ^g^out 
trop  encombr^  n'a  pu  recevoir  les  cables  distribuant  la  lumi^re  ^lec- 
trique,  et  I'on  a  dfi  pratiquer  des  caniveaux  sous  les  trottoirs  pour  y 
placer  les  conducteurs  m^talliques ;  et  cela,  dans  le  voisinage  des 
conduites  de  g"az  plac^es  plus  profond^ment  en  terre.  Toutes  ces 
canalisations  sont  superpos^es,  juxtapos^es  sans  ordre  et  sans 
m^thode.  Quand  il  faut  y  toucher,  chaque  entreprise,  appartenant 
soit  h  des  Compag-nies,  soit  k  des  Administrations  diff^rentes, 
travaille,  sans  plan  d 'ensemble,  au  jour  le  jour.  C'est  pourquoi 
depuis  dix  ans  (je  parle  pour  Paris)  la  ville  est  constamment  boule- 
vers^e  et  la  circulation  des  voitures  et  des  pistons  devient  de  plus  en 
plus  difficile. 

Tous  ces  travaux  ont  les  consequences  les  plus  Mcheuses  pour  la 
rue  proprement  dite ;  les  terres  incessamment  remu^es  perdent  leur 
consistance ;  il  faut  done  faire  un  pavag^e  provisoire  et  attendre 
quelques  semaines,  que  les  terres  se  soient  tass^es,  pour  refaire  un 
pavag-e  d^finitif,  a  moins  qu'une  ligne  compldmentaire  du  m^tropo- 
litain  ne  vienne  tout  bouleverser  de  fond  en  comble. 

Le  plus  g-rave  inconvenient  de  ce  syst^me  est  de  rendre  tr^s  difficile 
et  m^me  Impossible  toute  entreprise  industrielle  apportant  un  element 
nouveau  pour  la  sant^  ou  le  bien-^tre  des  habitants,  et  cependant,  d^s 
aujourd'hui,  on  peut  prdvoir  quelques-uns  de  ces  elements.  II  est  k 
peu  prfes  certain,  par  exemple,  que  le  nettoyagfe  par  le  vide  diviendra 
g^n^ral  et  qu'une  canalisation  pneumatique  s'imposera  prochaine- 
ment  pour  I'aspiration  et  la  destruction  des  poussi^res,  au  g-rand 
profit  de  I'hyg^i^ne  publique.  Cette  canalisation,  n^cessairement  tr^s 
importante,  ne  pourra  trouver  place  dans  les  ^gfouts. 

Le  transport  des  lettres  au  moyen  d'un  tube  pneumatique  plus 
g^ros,  mais  analogfue  h  celui  qui  sert  k  I'envoi  des  ddp^ches,  s'impose 
^g-alement,  tant  au  point  de  vue  de  I'^conomie  que  de  la  rapidity  des 
transmissions. 

Les  applications  du  froid  se  muItipHent.  et  il  n'est  pas  absurde 
de  pr^voir  un  reseau  de  canalisation  pour  I'air  liquide.  Le  charbon 
est  un  combustible  d'usine,  il  est  cncombrant  et  malpropre ;  on  peut 
admettre  que,  dans  Tavenfr,  on  distribuera  k  domicile  I'essence  de 
p^trole,  dont  la  tuyauterie  am^nernit  partout  et  proprement  un  com- 
bustible plus  commode. 


348  Transacti<))is  of  the  Toivii  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

L'oxyg^ne  combine  avec  le  pdtrole  donnerait  des  foyers  intenses 
et  sans  fumee,  pour  le  chauffage  des  calorif^res,  dcs  fours  de  boulan- 
gerie,  etc.   .   .   . 

On  peut  prr\()ir  egalcment  d'autrcs  canalisations  speciales  dis- 
tribuant  I'eau  de  mer,  I'air  pur  puisc  dans  un  ilot  pres  des  cotes  ou 
au  sommet  des  montagnes.  Quoiqu'il  ne  s'agisse  de  distribuer  cet 
air  que  dans  des  locaux  restreints  ou  des  salles  d'inhalation  sp^ciales, 
ceci  peut  paraitre  excesslf ;  je  I'indique  toutefois  h  titre  d'exemple, 
pour  montrer  la  multiplication  possible  de  ces  distributions,  que  des 
decouvertes  scientifiques  ulterieures  pourraient  encore  augmenter. 

Pour  realiser  ces  progr^s,  il  faudrait  faire  subir  a  la  rue  un  boulc- 
versement  incessant  et  p^riodique  entraiinant  des  frais  prohibitifs 
pour  toutes  les  societes  concessionnaires. 

Si  I'on  veut  chcrcher  le  remade  a  un  pareil  etat  de  choses,  il  faut 
aborder  le  probl^me  dans  toute  son  ampleur  et  se  demander  quelle 
disposition  serait  preferable  pour  une  nouvelle  ville,  ou  tout  au  moins 
pour  un  nouveau  quartier  de  ville,  a  construire  sui\ant  un  plan 
d'ensemble.  Nous  verrons  plus  loin  comment  on  pourrait  appliquer 
nos  conclusions  a  la  transformation  des  villes  anciennes. 

Tout  le  mal  vient  de  cette  vieille  idee  traditionnelle  que  "  Ic  sol 
de  la  rue  doit  etre  etabli  an  niveau,  du  sol  naturel  primitif."  Or  rien 
ne  justifie  cet  errement.  En  effet,  si  Ton  part  de  I'id^e  contraire  que 
"  les  trottoirs  et  la  chaussee  doivent  etre  artijiciellement  etablis  a 
line  hauteur  suffisante  pour  laisser,  en  dessous,  un  espace  capable  de 
contenir  tous  les  organes  des  services  de  voirie,"  les  diflficultes  que 
nous  avons  signalees  plus  haut  disparaissent  totalement.  Cela 
implique,  bien  entendu,  un  etage  de  plus  en  sous-sol  pour  les  maisons 
voisines,  puisque  le  sol  du  rez-de-chaussee  se  trouve  releve  au  niveau 
de  la  rue. 

Voici  (fig.  2)  le  plan  et  la  coupe  d'une  rue  etablie  suivant  cette 
conception  nouvelle.  Cette  figure  met  en  evidence  les  avantages 
ainsi  obtenus  :  Tout  d'abord,  les  trottoirs  et  la  chaussee  seraient 
constitues,  une  fois  pour  toutes,  comme  un  tablier  de  pont,  et  ne 
devraient  jamais  subir  d'autres  remaniements  que  ceux  qu'exigerait 
I'entretien  des  parties  usees.  Le  pavage,  soit  en  bois,  soit  en  toute 
autre  matifere  elastique,  revetirait  une  plateforme  monolithe  en  ciment 
arme.  Cette  plateforme,  construite  a  une  hauteur  de  5  metres  au- 
dessus  du  sol  naturel,  reposerait  lateralement  sur  deux  murs  en 
maconnerie,  paralldles  aux  murs  des  facades  des  propriet^s  river- 
aines,  dont  ils  ne  seraient  separes  que  par  un  petit  espace.  Entre 
les  murs  lateraux,  la  plateforme  serait  supportee  par  plusieurs  files 
de  piliers,  espaces  les  uns  des  autres  d'environ  4  ou  5  metres. 

Immcdiatement  au-dessous  du  tablier  serait  suspendue  toute  la 
s6rie  des  canalisations  que  nous  venons  d'enumerer  ;  nettoyage  par 
le  vide,  distribution  d'air  comprimc,  d'eau  de  riviere,  d'eau  pure 
sterilis(5e,  d'essence  de  pctrole,  d'air  liquide  ;  transport  des  lettres, 
distribution  d'air  pur,  etc.  .  .  .  puis  toute  la  serie  de  cables  elec- 
triques  (tel^graphe,  t^l^phone,  lumi^re  et  force,  courants  de  haute 
frequence,  etc.). 

Au-dessous  de  ces  canalisations,  toutes  accessibles  et  dont  la 
surveillance  serait  facile,  se  trouverait  un  espace  de  2  m.  25  de  hauteur, 
absolument  libre  jusqu'au  niveau  de  I'ancien  sol  naturel. 


Les  Villes  de  I'Avenir. 


349 


Fig.  2. 


350  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

On  y  poserait  quatre  voies  ferries,  de  i  m^tre  d'^cartement,  sur 
lesquelles  circuleraient  des  trains  de  wagonnets  enlevant  les  ordures 
et  les  ddchets,  au  fur  et  a  mesure  de  leur  production,  amenant  les 
matdriaux  lourds  et  encombrants,  et  d^gag-eant  de  leurs  gravois  les 
chantiers  de  construction  ou  de  reparations  temporaires. 

Les  deux  voies  centrales  serviraient  aux  transports  a  longue 
distance,  les  deux  voies  laterales  serviraient  a  la  formation  des  trains ; 
elles  seraient  relives  k  I'aide  de  plaques  tournantes  aux  voies  parti- 
culieres  penetrant  dans  les  maisons.  Chacune  des  ouvertures,  par 
lesquelles  les  wagonnets  passeraient  dans  les  caves,  serait  ferm^e 
par  deux  portes  ou  grilles  en  fer  independantes,  de  telle  sorte 
qu'aucune  communication  ne  puisse  avoir  lieu  entre  un  immeuble  et 
la  rue  de  service,  sans  le  consentement  simultane  du  repr^sentant  du 
proprietaire  et  de  I'agent  du  service  administratif. 

Cette  rue  souterraine  serait  eclairee  en  permanence  par  des  lampes 
k  incandescence  et  des  dalles  de  verre  au  niveau  des  trottoirs.  La 
ventilation  naturelle,  aid^e  par  des  ventilateurs  dectriques,  serait 
assuree  par  de  hautes  chemin^es,  plac^es  de  distance  en  distance, 
au  droit  des  murs  mitoyens  separant  les  propriet6s. 

Chaque  fafade  serait,  k  I'alignement,  s^paree  de  sa  voisine  par  un 
retrait  reglementaire  de  2  m.  00  sur  i  m.  00,  au  fond  duquel  serait  log^ 
le  conduit  de  ventilation.  Cette  disposition  serait  trhs  favorable  k 
I'aspect  architectural  des  fa9ades  qui  seraient  ainsi  separees  nette- 
ment  les  unes  des  autres. 

Au-dessous  du  sol  naturel  de  la  ;rue  de  service,  on  placerait, 
comme  aujourd'hui,  I'^gout;  mais  on  pourrait  en  reduire  les  dimen- 
sions puisqu'il  ne  servirait  exclusivement  qu'k  I'^vacuation  des  eaux ; 
on  pourrait  peut-etre  remplacer  I'^gout  k  pente  naturelle  par  un  large 
tuyau  ^tanche  recevant  les  eaux  usees  qu'on  refoulerait  ou  aspirerait 
sans  avoir  k  se  preoccuper  de  la  cote  de  niveau  du  terrain. 

Enfin,  au  centre  de  la  rue  de  service  on  etablirait  souterrainement 
un  large  conduit  r^fractaire  pour  I'appel  des  fumees,  en  admettant 
que  le  chauffage  traditionnel  au  bois  et  au  charbon  sut)siste  encore 
dans  quelques  immeubles ;  mais  il  est  a  souhaiter  que  les  foyers 
donnant  de  la  fumde  soient  ddsormais  interdits  et  soient  remplac6s 
par  des  foyers  k  oxygfene  oil  la  combustion  serait  complete. 

Toutefois  ce  conduit  refractaire  pourrait  etre  maintenu  pour 
I'aspiration  des  gaz  provenant  des  fourneaux  de  cuisine. 

En  resum^,  cette  disposition  revient  k  dedoubler  la  rue  actuelle 
en  deux  rues,  I'une  superieure  k  I'air  libre  destinee  uniquement  k  la 
circulation  des  voitures  l^g^res  et  des  pistons,  I'autre  inf^rieure  plac^e 
au  niveau  du  sol  naturel,  au-dessous  de  la  premiere,  et  qui  servirait  k 
I'installation  de  toutes  les  canalisations,  a  I'^vacuation  des  ordures 
m(^nagferes  et  au  transport  des  mat^riaux  et  des  merchandises  lourdes. 

On  peut  citer  dans  le  meme  ordre  d'id6e  les  tunnels  de  trafic  de 
Chicago,  entre  les  gares  de  Chemins  de  fer  et  les  entrep6ts  particu- 
liers ;  mais  ces  tunnels  ont  le  double  inconvenient  d'etre  places  k 
une  trop  grande  profondeur,  et  d'etre  beaucoup  plus  etroits  que  la 
rue.  Un  tablier  plat,  occupant  toute  la  largeur  de  la  rue,  est  beau- 
coup  plus  avantageux,  malgr^  ses  points  d'appui  multiples,  qu'un 
tunnel   k   voClte,    car   il   utilise   tout   Vespace   disponible.     Si    mSme 


Les  Villes  de  VAvenir. 


351 


I'activit^  des  organismes  nouveaux  exigeait  plus  de  place  ou  si  la 
creation  d'une  nouvelle  ligne  de  transport  devenait  indispensable,  on 
pourrait  approfondir  et  d^gager  I'espace  n^cessaire,  en  reprenant  en 
sous-ceuvre  les  points  d'appui,  et  cela  avec  un  nombre  quelconque 
d'^tages  souterrains,  sans  jamais  toucher,  gener  ou  encombrer  la 
circulation  de  la  voie  sup^rieure. 

En  gen^ralisant  cette  disposition  on  est  anient  k  concevoir  une 
ville  dont  les  rues  k  trafic  intense  auraient,  proportionnellement  k 
I'intensite  de  ce  trafic,  trois  ou  quatre  plateformes  superpos^es ;  la 
premiere  pour  les  pistons  et  les  voitures,  la  deuxi^me  pour  les 
tramways,  la  troisi^me  pour  les  canalisations  diverses  et  I'^vacuation 


d tine     \oie     de  c'rande    c/ivti/a/'/c/i 
a  c/ac&s    //>u/h///cs' 


Fig.  3. 

des  d^chets,  la  quatri^me  pour  le  transport  des  marchandises,  etc. 
On  aurait  ainsi  la  rue  a  dtages  multiples,  comme  on  a  la  maison  k 
etages ;  et  le  problfeme  gdnc^ral  de  la  circulation  pourrait  6tre  r^solu, 
quelle  que  soit  I'intensite  de  celle-ci  (fig.  3).  Mais  il  est  probable 
que  la  rue  d^doubl(^e,  telle  que  nous  venons  de  la  d^crire,  serait 
suffisante  pendant  une  longue  p^riode,  en  I'^tat  actuel  de  la  civilisa- 
tion urbaine. 

L'application  de  ce  syst^me  serait  facile  dans  une  ville  neuve. 
A  I'extr^mit^  du  reseau  des  rues  construites  les  premieres,  et  afin  de 
communiquer  avec  le  sol  naturel  de  la  campagne,  on  ^tablirait  des 


352   Tnuisactiuns  of  the  Town  Plan7iing  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

rampes  a  5  pour  cent  de  pente,  supportees  par  des  carcasses  en  fer 
d^montables  qu'on  transporterait  plus  loin,  lorsque  la  ville  prendrait 
de  I'extension. 

Quant  aux  terres  provenant  des  fondations,  des  immeubles  ou  des 
autres  travaux,  au  lieu  de  les  transporter  a  grands  frais  k  I'exterieur 
et  d'encombrer  de  depots  la  campagne  environnante,  on  les  utiliserait 
pour  exhausser  le  sol,  dans  les  paities  de  la  ville  ne  comportant  pas 
de  services  souterrains,  a  remplacement  des  pares,  jardins  ou  places 
publiques  a  creer  ult^rieurement.  C'est  meme  cette  consideration  de 
I'equivalence  des  d^blais  et  des  remblais  utilisables  qui  determinerait 
la  cote  de  hauteur,  au-dessus  du  sol  naturel,  h  adopter  pour  la 
chaussee  artificielle  de  circulation. 

L'application  de  ce  systeme  aux  villes  anciennes  serait  plus 
difficile.  II  s'agirait  en  effet  d'enlever  des  masses  considerables  de 
terra  pour  etablir  des  rues  creuses,  car  il  ne  saurait  etre  question,  un 
seul  instant,  de  deplacer  nos  tresors  d'art,  ni  de  modifier  les  monu- 
ments historiqiies  et  I'aspect  consacrd  de  nos  vielles  cites.  Toutefois 
cela  n'est  pas  impossible ;  c'est  une  question  d'argcnt  et  cela  peut  se 
calculer.  Une  evaluation  sommaire  comprenant  I'enlfevement  des 
terres  dans  une  hauteur  de  5  metres,  la  construction  de  la  plateforme 
et  la  construction  des  6gouts  de  la  rue  inferieure,  fait  ressortir  le  prix 
du  m^tre  superficiel  a  140  frs.  non  compris  les  di verses  canalisations 
et  les  conducteurs  electriques  qui  seraient  a  la  charge  des  Compagnies 
concessionnaires. 

La  surface  des  voies  publiques  de  Paris  (chaussees  et  trottoirs) 
^tant  de  1500  hectares  environ,  la  depense  totale  serait  de  2 
milliards,  100  millions.  En  supposant  I'operation  rcpartie  sur  une 
periode  de  100  ans,  cela  correspondrait  k  une  depense  annuelle  de 
21  millions  qui  n'est  pas  exageree  pour  un  budget  annuel  de  350 
millions.  Mais  tout  le  noyau  central  de  Paris,  soit  le  ^  de  la  surface 
totale,  pourrait  etre  transforme  en  35  ans  avec  700  millions. 

Quoiqu'il  en  soit,  ce  qu'il  y  aurait  k  retenir  de  cette  discussion, 
c'est  que  toute  voie  nouvelle  a  ouvrir  dans  une  vieille  ville  devrait, 
en  provision  de  I'avenir,  etre  ^tablie  suivant  ce  systeme  avec  deux 
Stages  de  circulation. 

Passons  maintenant  a  I'examen  des  immeubles  riverains. 
L'utilisation  des  elements  industriels  nouveaux  precedemment 
decrits  permettrait  d'amdiorer  les  conditions  de  la  vie  moderne  et  de 
perfectionner  I'hygi^ne  et  le  confort  des  habitants.  Je  n'insisterai 
pas  sur  les  progr^s  acquis,  deja  appliques  dans  un  certain  nombre  de 
maisons  actuelles  ;  ils  sont  indiques  dans  la  figure  2.  C'est  ainsi  qu'a 
cot^  de  I'ascenseur  pour  les  personnes  on  trouvera  le  monte-change 
descendant  jusqu'aux  caves  pour  les  poids  lourds,  et  les  boites  mobiles 
pour  le  transport  des  lettres  et  paquets  k  tous  les  Stages.  C'est  ainsi 
qu'a  cote  de  la  salle  de  bain  et  de  douche  on  trouvera  la  salle  d'hydro- 
th^rapie  d'eau  de  mer ;  a  cot^  du  tout  k  I'l^gout  pour  les  eaux  us6es 
on  trouvera  le  nettoyage  par  le  vide  pour  les  poussi^res  Idg^res,  et 
les  trdmies  d'dvacuation  sp^ciales  k  chaque  appartement,  pour  les 
dechets  encombrants,  qui  viendront  tomber  et  s'accumuler  directe- 
ment  dans  les  wagonnets  de  la  rue  souterraine. 

L'^lectricite  apportera  la  lumi^re  et  la  force ;  I'essence  de  p^trole 


Les  Villes  de  I'Avenir. 


353 


et  I'oxyg^ne  apporteront  la  chaleur  ;  avec  I'air  liquide  on  installera 
dans  chaque  office  des  armoires  frigorifiques  pour  la  conversation  des 
aliments  ;  on  aura  des  radiateurs  de  froid  a  cote  des  radiateurs  de 
chaleur,  afin  d'obtenir,  dans  chaque  local  et  quelle  que  soit  la  saison,  une 
temperature  de  valeur  determinee.  Enfin  la  possibilite  de  faire  varier  a 
volonte  le  degre  de  chaleur,  la  pression  et  la  qualite  de  I'air  respir6, 
ainsi  que  les  effluves  electriques  ambiantes,  permettrait  d'am^nager, 
dans  chaque  appartement,  une  ou  plusieurs  chanibres  sanitaires, 
fermees  par  des  doubles  fenetres  et  des  doubles  portes  etanches,  dans 
lesquelles  I'habitant,  surmene  par  le  travail  intensif  de  la  ville,  pour- 
rait  trouver  en  permanence  le  milieu  et  I'atmosph^re  convenant  a  sa 
sante  ou  k  celle  de  sa  famille,  avec  tous  les  elements  hygieniques, 
qu'il  lui  faut,  chaque  annee,  aller  checher  fort  loin  et  pour  bien  peu 
de  temps.  N'oublions  pas  qu'un  m^tre  cube  d'air  puise  dans  une  rue 
passante,  la  rue  de  Rivoli  par  exemple,  contient  six  mille  germes, 
tandis  qu'un  m^tre  cube  d'air  pur,  en  pleine  mer  ou  dans  la  montagne, 
n'en  contient  que  deux  ou  trois.  Quant  aux  souches  de  cheminees 
avec  leurs  nuages  de  fumees  malsaines,  elles  auraient  completement 
disparu. 

Des  marquises  vitrees  de  formes  varices,  mais  raccordant  entre 
elles  suivant  un  gabarit  reglementaire,  protegeraient  les  passants 
contre  la  pluie,  dans  la  largeur  des  trottoirs. 

La  hauteur  normale  des  immeubles  serait  exactement  egale  k  la 
largeur  de  la  rue,  de  telle  sorte  que  Tangle  d 'incidence  des  rayons 
lumineux,  frappant  les  facades,  ne  soit  pas  inferieur  k  45°.  Toutefois, 
chaque  propri^taire  aurait  le  droit  de  construire  une  tour  ou  un 
belvedere  plus  eleve,  dans  une  partie  de  la  facade  k  son  choix,  pourvu 
que  la  larguer  de  cette  construction  n'excede  pas  le  quart  ou  le  tiers 
de  la  largeur  totale  de  la  facade. 

Cette  faculte  serait  accordde,  tant,  au  point  de  vue  architectural, 
pour  mouvementer  les  facades,  que  pour  faciliter  les  installations  de 
la  telegraphic  sans  fils. 

La  methode  que  nous  employons,  encore  aujourd'hui  pour  couvrir 
nos  habitations  urbaines,  est  absolument  critiquable.  Elle  precede 
d'une  vieille  idee,  autrefois  juste,  aujourd'hui  fausse.  C'est  un  des 
exemples  les  plus  frappants  des  consequences  illogiques  que  peut 
entrainer  avec  elle  une  habitude  routini^re,  survivant  k  des  procedes 
nouveaux  de  construction  qui,  depuis  longtemps,  auraient  du  la  faire 
disparaitre.  Nous  elevons  en  effet,  avec  des  materiaux  excellents 
(pierre  de  taille,  meuli^re,  brique,  etc.),  et  des  ciments  de  premier 
choix,  des  murs  verticaux  dont  la  solidite  defie  les  agents  de  destruc- 
tion atmospherique,  et  dont  la  duree  seculaire  est  presque  illimitee, 
et  nous  surmontons  le  tout  d'un  couvercle  fait  de  materiaux  legers 
trfes  alterables  (bois,  ardoise,  lames  minces  de  zinc,  etc.),  dont  la 
duree  moyenne  n'excede  pas  quarante  ans,  et  qui  exige  annuellement 
des  reparations  incessantes  et  couteuses.  Les  seules  couvertures  de 
monuments  antiques  qui  aient  subsiste  jusqu'a  nos  jours,  comme  celle 
du  Pantheon  d'Agrippa,  sont  constituees  par  des  blocs  massifs  de 
ma^onnerie  et  de  beton.  Les  toits  ^conomiques  legers,  a  pente  plus 
ou  moins  accentuee,  conviennent  parfaitement  aux  batiments  d 'exploi- 
tation cu  aux  maisons  en  pleine  campagne,  Ik  ou  les  habitations  sont 


354  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

dispersdes  et  oii  la  valeur  des  terrains  est  faible ;  mais,  dans  les 
grandes  villes,  la  couverture  en  terrasse  s'impose  de  plus  en  plus. 
EUe  a  le  double  avantage  d'etre  tr^s  r^sistante  et  de  rendre  utilisable 
une  surface  libre  equivalente  k  la  surface  des  locaux  habites.  Avec 
les  ressources  varices  que  nous  offre  I'-emploi  du  ciment  arme,  il  est 
facile  de  couvrir  les  maisons  de  plateformes,  sur  lesquelles  on  peut 
installer  de  petits  jardins  fleuris  et  des  treillages  verdoyants. 

Mais,  consequence  plus  importante,  ces  terrasses  dans  un  avenir 
prochain  serviront  k  I'atterrissage  des  aeroplanes.  Nous  n'en  sommes 
pas  encore  la,  car  actuellement  I'aviateur  n'est  pas  assez  maitre  de  son 
appareil.  Cependant,  de  meme  que  I'homme  vient  d'imiter  I'oiseau 
planeur,  il  n'est  nuUement  invraisemblable  qu'il  n'arrive  k  imiter 
I'insecte.  Dans  sa  Guerre  dans  les  Airs,  Wells  a  prevu  "  un  petit 
appareil  pratique,  parfaitement  maniable  et  dirigeable,  suggdrant 
I'idee  d'une  abeille."  Je  ne  saurais  m'abriter  sous  une  plus  haute 
autorit6,  et  j'accepte  sans  hesiter  cette  sdduisante  anticipation.  On 
peut  concevoir  en  effet  un  aeroplane  leger,  muni  d'h^lices  de  sustenta- 
tion  ajoutdes  k  I'helice  de  propulsion,  et  pouvant  presque  s'immo- 
boliser  dans  I'air,  au-dessus  d'un  point  determine,  comme  I'abeille 
s 'immobilise  devant  la  fleur  ou  elle  va  se  poser. 

Lorsque  ce  progr^s  sera  accompli,  la  physionomie  des  villes  sera 
changee;  toutes  les  terrasses  deviendront  des  places  d'atterrissage 
pour  ces  automobiles  aeriennes.  On  pourra  partir  et  atterrir  d'une 
terrasse  k  I'autre.  Cette  possibilite  entrainera  necessairement,  dans 
chaque  immeuble,  la  construction  de  grands  ascenseurs,  capables 
d'elever  les  appareils  pour  leur  depart,  ou  de  les  remiser  k  leur  retour. 
Ces  ascenseurs  serviront  ^galement  k  remiser  les  voitures  auto- 
mobiles. L'exhaussement  du  sol  de  la  cour,  consequence  de 
I'exhaussement  du  sol  de  la  rue,  permettra  de  r6server  souterraine- 
ment  tous  les  garages  necessaires.  On  trouvera  ces  diverses  dis- 
positions indiqu^es  dans  la  figure  2. 

Ici  se  pose  une  question  fort  grave,  relativement  a  revolution  des 
aeroplanes  au-dessus  des  villes  et  k  la  s6curit6  des  habitants.  II  est 
incontestable  que  la  chute  d'un  moteur,  pesant  plusieurs  dizaines  de 
kilogrammes  et  tombant  d'une  hauteur  de  200  k  300  metres  sur  le 
toit  d'une  maison,  aurait  des  consequences  d^sastreuses ;  si  I'accident 
se  produisait  au-dessus  d'un  musee,  la  destruction  irreparable  de  chef- 
d'oeuvre  serait  k  redouter.  On  peut  esp^rer  cependant  que 
prochainement  les  appareils  d'aviation  seront  munis  de  parachutes 
automatiques,  attenuant  le  danger ;  et,  k  la  v^rite,  dans  cette 
hypoth^se,  le  risque  ne  serait  pas  beaucoup  plus  grand,  pour  les 
passants,  que  celui  que  leur  fait  courir  le  passage  d'une  automobile, 
et  pour  les  Edifices,  que  le  risque  d'incendie,  de  coup  de  foudre  ou 
d'explosion  de  gaz.  Toutefois  si  r^duit  qu'on  le  suppose,  le  risque 
subsistera  toujours,  d'autant  plus  serieux  que  I'appareil  lui-meme 
sera  plus  lourd.  On  sera  done  amen^  a  diviser  les  appareils  en  deux 
classes  :  les  appareils  legers  (aeroplanes-abeilles),  les  appareils  lourds 
(a6roplanes-oiseaux  ou  ballons  dirigeables),  et,  k  moins  de  r^trograder 
jusqu'i  I'^poque  pr^historique  des  cavernes  et  des  logements  de 
troglodytes  tailles  dans  les  falaises,  k  moins  de  cuirasser  les  terrasses 
comme  on  cuirasse  les  navires,  il  faudra  bien  se  r^soudre  k  cr6er  une 


Les  Villes  de  I'Avenir.  355 

police  a^rienne  et  k  r^glementer  tr^s  rigoureusement  la  liberty 
d'^volution  des  machines  volantes. 

Peut-etre  sera-t-il  n6cessaire,  meme  en  pleine  campagne,  de 
jalonner  les  grandes  routes  de  I'air,  a  I'aide  de  bouees  aeriennes,  con- 
stituees  par  des  ballons  captifs.  Quant  aux  villes,  elles  devront 
vraisemblablement  etre  subdivisees  en  trois  parties.  La  premiere, 
formee  par  le  noyau  d'activite  centrale,  contiendrait  les  edifices 
principaux,  les  monuments  historiques,  les  musees,  les  theatres,  efc. 
Au-dessus  de  ce  noyau  il  serait  interdit  a  n'importe  quel  appareil 
d'aviation  de  voler  ou  de  planer. 

La  seconde  partie  se  composerait  de  I'ensemble  des  Edifices  ou 
maisons  plus  modernes  avec  leurs  couvertures  en  terrasse  de  resis- 
tance suffisante  pour  supporter,  sans  dommages,  la  chute  d'a^ro- 
planes  legers.  Au-dessus  de  celle-ci  les  aeroplanes-abeilles  seraient 
seuls  autorises  a  circuler. 

La  troisi^me  partie,  accessible  a  toutes  les  machines,  contiendrait 
les  plages  d'atterrissage  des  grands  aeroplanes-oiseaux  et  des 
appareils  lourds. 

II  resulte  de  I'experience  du  circuit  de  Test,  executee  en  France 
au  mois  d'aout  de  la  presente  annee,  que  ce  sont  les  points  de  rep^re 
qui  manquent  le  plus  aux  aviateurs  pour  assurer  leur  direction,  surtout 
lorsque  I'atmosphere  est  brumeuse  ;  et  que  ce  sont  les  filches  des 
eglises  et  des  cathedrales  qui  les  ont  aide  k  rectifier  leurs  routes.  II 
y  a  la  une  precieuse  indication.  II  faudra  bientot,  de  toute  necessity, 
que  les  grands  centres  arborent  comme  points  de  repere  de  hautes 
tours,  des  filches  immenses  de  formes  bien  caract^ris^es,  portant,  la 
nuit,  des  phares  a  leurs  sommets, 

Les  petites  villes  pourront  se  contenter  de  leurs  anciens  clochers ; 
les  villes  moyennes  devront  avoir  des  campaniles  de  100  a  150  metres 
de  hauteur ;  quant  aux  grandes  capitales,  comme  Londres  ou  Paris, 
Berlin  ou  New  York,  ce  ne  sont  plus  des  tours  de  trois  cents  metres 
qui  leur  suffiront,  mais  des  Edifices  de  cinq  cents  metres  au  moins. 
Ces  constructions  colossales  serviraient  en  meme  temps  de  poste  de 
telegraphic  sans  fils,  et  il  n'est  pas  trop  temeraire  de  prevoir,  k  I'aide 
de  ces  grands  jalons  de  la  sphere  terrestre,  I'echange  de  communi- 
cations instantanees  entre  tous  les  pays  du  monde. 

La  necessity  d'etablir  ces  points  hauts  ouvre  des  apercus  magni- 
fiques  sur  I'esthetique  des  grandes  villes  de  I'avenir.  II  y  aura  la 
d'admirables  programmes  pour  nos  successeurs  qui  construiront  ces 
tours  et  qui  les  habilleront  de  sculptures  decoratives,  de  ceramique,  de 
bronze  et  d'or. 

Nous  pouvons  maintenant,  avec  ces  donnees  hypoth6tiques, 
essayer  de  nous  fairc  une  idee  generale  des  grandes  cites  futures. 
En  voici  un  croquis  bien  hatif  et  bien  insuffisant  (fig.  4),  mais  que 
votre  imagination  completera  suivant  vos  conceptions  personnelles. 

Au  centre  du  noyau  se  dressera  la  colossale  tour  d 'orientation,  de 
500  metres,  couronnee  par  un  phare  puissant.  Au  pied  de  cette  tour 
s'etendra  la  ville  historique  avec  ses  anciens  monuments,  ses  vieilles 
maisons,  tous  ses  tr^sors  artistiques  et  traditionnels. 

Une  premiere  ceinture  de  grandes  tours,  de  250  k  300  metres, 
signalera  la  surface  interdite  a  tous  les  aviateurs.     Ces  Edifices  de 


356  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


liHii 


Les  Villes  de  I'Avenir. 


357 


formes  tres  differentes  et  faciles  k  reconnaitre  pourront  6tre  au 
nombre  de  huit,  et  places  aux  points  principaux  de  la  rose  des  vents. 
Puis  viendra  la  zone  annulaire  des  maisons  a  toits  plats,  zone  de  deux 
a  trois  kilometres  de  largeur,  au-dessus  de  laquelle  les  aeroplanes- 
abeilles  pourront  evoluer  de  terrasse  a  terrasse.  A  sa  peripherie  une 
seconde  ceinture  de  grands  mats  ou  de  filches  metalliques,  de  150  a 
200  metres  de  hauteur,  limitera  la  ville  et  la  g-ardera  contre  les  grands 
navires  aeriens.  Ces  mats  avec  leurs  hunes  seront  les  postes  de  sur- 
veillance ou  se  tiendront  en  permanence  les  agents  de  la  police 
aerienne,  qui,  montes  sur  leurs  aeroplanes  legers,  s'opposeront,  s'il 
y  a  lieu,  au  vol  plane  des  machines  lourdes  par-dessus  la  ville.  Au 
dela  se  repartiront  les  ports  d'atterrissage,  ou  viendront  aboutir  les 
grandes  routes  de  I'air.  Plus  loin  encore  se  trouveront  les  immenses 
usines  des  services  publics. 

La  ville,  dans  son  ensemble,  sera  percee  de  larges  voies  rayon- 
nantes  occupees  en  partie  par  des  plateformes  surelevees,  a  mouve- 
ment  continu,  qui  assureront  les  communications  rapides  entre  les 
differentes  zones.  Les  boucles  terminus  de  ces  plateformes  seront 
etablies  au  milieu  des  grands  carrefours  a  giration  a  I'intersection  des 
voies  principales.  Enfin  la  ville  sera  semee  de  grands  pares  et  de 
jardins  fleuris,  centres  de  repos,  d'hygiene  et  de  beaute. 

Pour  faire  entrer  ces  hypotheses  dans  le  domaine  de  la  realite,  il 
faudrait  depenser  des  sommes  enormes,  et  c'est  ce  qui  en  rejettera 
I'execution  a  une  epoque  extremement  lointaine. 

Pourtant  la  revolution  profonde,  provoquee  dans  les  idees  par 
I'aviation,  a  une  telle  puissance,  ouvre  de  telles  perspectives  qu'il  est 
permis  de  tout  esperer.  La  conquete  de  I'air  apportera  avec  elle  la 
paix  et  la  richesse.  Les  villes  de  demain,  plus  facilement  que  celles 
d'hier,  pourront  se  transformer  et  s'embellir;  elles  batiront  des  tours 
superbes  pour  appeler  les  oiseaux-geants  de  tous  les  points  de  I'horizon  ; 
et  bientot  peut-etre,  a  I'assaut  des  nuages,  les  grandes  capitales 
dresseront  leurs  phares  de  plus  en  plus  haut. 


[Translation  of  M.  Henard's  Paper.] 

THE    CITIES    OF   THE    FUTURE. 

My  purpose  is  to  inquire  into  the  influence  which  the  progress  of 
modern  science  and  industry  may  exercise  upon  the  planning,  and 
particularly   upon  the  aspect,  of  the  Cities  of  the   Future. 

It  is  not  without  a  certain  feeling  of  hesitation  that  I  approach 
the  question  :  my  previous  works  on  Paris  have  been  concerned 
with  subjects  which  were  more  clearly  defined  and  which  rested  upon 
experimental  data.  To-day  it  is  my  duty  to  speculate  upon  mere 
hypotheses,  which,  though  more  or  less  justifiable,  have  no  established 
foundation,  a  circumstance  which  leads  necessarily  to  hazardous, 
and  sometimes  entirely  erroneous,  conclusions.  Even  in  the  most 
methodical  inductions,  the  exact  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
probable  and  the  imaginary  is  very  difficult  to  draw  :  nevertheless,  I 
shall   endeavour    to  keep   my   arguments  within   reasonable  limits,- 


358  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

although  I  dare  not  affirm  that  on  certain  points  I  may  not,  un- 
wittingly, be  carried  away  by  so  seductive  a  theme.  I  shall  make  a 
special  effort  to  describe  the  considerations  which  must  determine 
the  form  of  both  our  houses  and  of  our  streets,  as  these  constitute 
the  primary  elements  out  of  which  a  city  is  built  up. 

Whatever  form  its  future  expansion  may  take,  there  will  always 
remain,  in  every  large  urban  community,  a  centre  of  intense  activity 
wherein  the  buildings  will  always  be  placed  close  together,  as  they 
are  in  our  cities  of  the  present  day.  It  is  a  portion  of  such  a  centre 
that  we  are  about  to  examine. 

In  the  first  place,  let  us  consider  the  defects  presented  by  the 
streets  and  houses  of  to-day.  Our  first  illustration  [fig.  i,  p  346] 
shows  the  plan  and  section  of  a  street  in  Paris  of  average  importance. 
It  does  not  differ,  except  in  details  of  secondary  importance,  from  any 
street  in  any  other  European  city. 

On  one  side  I  have  given  a  drawing  of  a  house  dating  from  the 
last  century,  and  opposite  to  it  I  have  placed  one  of  modern  con- 
struction. 

I  shall  not  stop  to  criticise  the  former  ;  the  arrangements  are  incon- 
venient, and  the  sanitary  provisions  deplorable.  I  have  reproduced 
it  here  solely  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  the  contrast  between  it 
and  an  up-to-date  dwelling-house,  and  to  emphasise  the  great  pro- 
gress that  has  been  made.  Yet  even  the  latter  leaves  very  much  to 
be  desired.  True,  the  modern  house  is  furnished  with  lift,  water,  gas, 
electricity,  telephone,  bathrooms,  and  a  complete  system  of  drainage ; 
but  at  the  same  time  we  find  that  it  includes  ridiculous  chimney- 
stacks  which  discharge  volumes  of  unwholesome  smoke  over  the  town. 
The  removal  of  ashes  and  of  every  sort  of  refuse  is  carried  out  in 
a  most  barbarian  fashion  by  means  of  filthy  bins,  which  are  deposited 
every  night  along  the  pavements  and  in  the  morning  are  emptied 
by  the  dust-carts.  As  to  the  actual  cleansing  of  the  dwellings,  it  is 
of  a  still  more  rudimentary  character.  The  process  consists  of  open- 
ing the  casements,  sweeping  the  floors,  and  then  beating  and  shaking 
the  mats  out  of  the  windows,  so  that  all  the  dust,  and  all  the  germs, 
are  liberally  scattered  through  the  atmosphere  which  is  being  inhaled 
by  the  passers-by. 

Of  these  units,  the  house  and  the  street,  the  latter  has  received 
the  smaller  number  of  those  improvements  which  might  have  been 
effected  at  once.  The  modern  street  is  the  ultimate  form  of  the  old 
country  lane,  formerly  a  track-way  in  the  natural  soil,  subsequently 
paved  and  bordered  with  footpaths. 

Underneath  the  roadway,  in  the  soil  itself,  a  sewer  was  con- 
structed, its  original  function  being  to  carry  off  the  rain  and  waste 
waters  ;  but  later  on  it  was  used  for  a  variety  of  other  purposes  for 
which  it  was  never  intended.  The  first  of  these  was  the  laying  of 
mains  for  pure  and  river  waters.  Then  tubes  for  pneumatically  con- 
veyed messages  were  added,  with  pipes  for  compressed  air.  Finally 
this  sewer,  or  passage  way,  was  employed  for  the  telephone  and 
telegraph  wires,  a  system  which  grew  daily  more  extensive  and  more 
complicated  Such  a  conduit,  already  too  much  congested,  was 
incapable  of  receiving  the  cables  for  the  supply  of  electric  light,  and 


The  Cities  of  the  Future.  359 

it  became  necessary  to  form  other  conduits  beneath  the  footways 
to  receive  the  wires,  these  conduits  being-  placed  deeper  in  the  soil 
where  otherwise  they  would  be  in  close  proximity  to  the  gas  mains. 
All  these  pipes  and  tubes  are  located  above  or  beside  one  another, 
without  order  or  method.  When  they  have  to  be  repaired,  each 
system,  whether  it  belongs  to  a  private  company  or  to  one  of  the 
departments  of  the  Administration,  has  to  be  dealt  with  separately, 
without  any  co-operative  plan,  and  as  occasion  arises.  It  is  because 
of  this  that,  for  the  last  ten  years  (I  am  speaking  of  Paris)  the 
city  has  been  in  a  constant  state  of  upheaval,  and  vehicular  and 
pedestrian  traffic  has  become  more  and  more  difficult. 

These  works  have  all  been  attended  with  the  most  unfortunate 
results  with  regard  to  the  street  itself.  The  continual  disturbance 
of  the  soil  has  had  a  detrimental  effect  upon  its  compactness,  and 
it  therefore  becomes  necessary  to  lay  down  a  temporary  pavement 
and  to  wait  several  weeks  until  the  soil  has  settled  sufficiently  to 
permit  the  relaying  of  the  permanent  paving- — unless,  in  the  meantime, 
a  new  branch  of  the  Metropolitan  Railway  necessitates  a  new  upheaval 
from  top  to  bottom. 

The  most  serious  drawback  in  this  system  is  that  it  renders  it 
very  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  for  any  industrial  concern  to 
introduce  any  new  element  conducive  to  the  health  and  comfort  of 
the  inhabitants  :  and  yet  we  may  already  easily  foresee  what  some  of 
these  elements  are  likely  to  be.  It  is  pretty  certain,  for  instance, 
that  vacuum  cleaning  will  become  general,  and  that  a  system  of 
pneumatic  pipes  will  soon  be  required  for  the  extraction  and  de- 
struction of  dust,  to  the  incalculable  benefit  of  the  public  health. 
These  conduits,  which  must  necessarily  be  very  extensive,  cannot 
be  placed  in  the  sewers. 

The  conveyance  of  letters  by  pneumatic  tubes,  larger  but  other- 
wise similar  to  those  now  used  for  despatching-  messages,  will  also 
become  necessary,  from  the  standpoint  of  both  economy  and  speedy 
transmission. 

The  services  to  which  refrigeration  is  put  are  multiplying,  and 
there  is  nothing  absurd  in  prophesying  the  necessity  for  a  network 
of  pipes  for  liquid  air.  Coal  is  a  fuel  suitable  for  factories  only, 
for  it  is  both  cumbersome  and  dirty.  We  can  therefore  assume  that, 
in  the  future,  petrol  will  be  supplied  from  house  to  house  through 
pipes,  thus  conveying  everywhere,  and  without  dirt,  a  more  con- 
venient fuel. 

Oxygen  combined  with  petroleum  would  supply  an  intense  heat, 
without  smoke,  for  steam  heating  bakers'  ovens,  &c. 

We  may  also  imagine  other  special  mains  for  the  distribution  of 
sea-water  and  pure  air,  conveyed  either  from  an  islet  near  the  coast 
or  from  the  top  of  a  mountain.  As  such  air  may  only  have  to  be 
supplied  to  congested  districts,  or  to  special  inhalation-rooms,  my 
view  may  appear  somewhat  overdrawn  ;  but,  nevertheless,  I  wish 
to  mention  it  by  way  of  illustration  and  to  show  the  possible  develop- 
ment of  installations  of  this  kind  which  further  scientific  discoveries 
may  call  into  existence. 

In  order  to  render  such  progress  possible  the  streets  would  have 


360  Ttansactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

to  be  constantly  and  periodically  interfered  with,  at  a  cost  that  would 
be  prohibitive  to  the  companies  undertaking  the  work. 

If  we  wish  to  find  a  remedy  for  such  a  state  of  things  we  must 
approach  the  problem  in  all  its  bearings,  and  ascertain  what  would  be 
the  best  plan  to  adopt  in  laying  out  a  new  city,  or  at  any  rate  a  new 
quarter,  which  is  to  be  constructed  in  accordance  with  a  general 
scheme.  We  shall  see  later  on  how  it  would  be  possible  to  apply 
our  conclusions  to  the  transformation  of  cities  already  in  existence. 

All  the  evil  arises  from  the  old  traditional  idea  that  "  the  bottom 
of  the  road  must  be  on  a  level  with  the  ground  in  its  original  condi- 
tion." But  there  is  nothing  to  justify  such  an  erroneous  view.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  if  we  were  to  establish  as  a  first  principle  the  idea  that 
"  the  pavement  and  carriage-way  must  be  artificially  constructed  at 
a  sufficient  height  to  allow  thereunder  a  space  capable  of  containing 
all  the  installations  needed  for  the  service  of  the  road,"  the  diflficulties 
I  have  just  pointed  out  would  disappear  altogether.  This,  of  course, 
implies  an  additional  floor  underground  for  the  neighbouring  houses, 
inasmuch  as  the  ground  floor  would  thus  be  raised  to  the  level  of  the 
street. 

The  illustration  [fig.  2,  p.  349]  shows  the  plan  and  section  of  a  road 
constructed  in  accordance  with  this  new  conception.  This  view 
brings  out  clearly  the  advantages  thus  obtained.  In  the  first  place 
the  pavement  and  the  carriage-way  would  be  constructed  once  for  all 
like  a  bridge  roadway,  and  ought  never  to  be  interfered  with  in  any 
way  except  for  the  purpose  of  upkeep  and  repairs.  The  paving, 
either  of  wood  or  any  other  elastic  material,  would  cover  a  monolithic 
platform  of  armoured-concrete.  This  platform,  constructed  at  a 
height  of  5  metres  above  the  ground  proper,  would  rest  laterally 
upon  two  walls  of  masonry,  parallel  with  the  walls  of  the  buildings 
fronting  the  road,  from  which  they  would  be  separated  by  a  small 
space.  Between  the  lateral  walls  the  platform  would  be  supported 
by  several  rows  of  pillars,  with  spaces  between  them  of  about  4  or  5 
metres. 

Immediately  below  the  bridge  roadway  would  be  suspended  the 
whole  system  of  pipes  required  for  the  purposes  we  have  just  enu- 
merated— viz.  vacuum  cleaning,  supply  of  compressed  air,  river 
water,  sterilized  pure  water,  petrol  and  liquid  air ;  conveyance  of 
letters ;  supply  of  pure  air,  &c.  ;  together  with  all  the  network  of 
electric  cables  (telegraph,  telephone,  light,  power,  high-frequency 
currents,  &c.). 

Underneath  the  said  systems,  which  would  all  be  easily  accessible 
and  controllable,  a  space  of  2*25  metres  in  height  would  be  left 
entirely  free  and  extending  down  to  the  ground-level.  Four  lines 
of  railway  would  then  be  laid,  one  metre  apart,  upon  which  would 
run  trains  of  small  trucks  for  the  removal  of  all  rubbish  and  refuse, 
as  and  when  required,  for  the  conveyance  of  all  heavy  and  cumbersome 
materials,  and  to  clear  the  rubbish  from  building  or  repairing  yards. 

The  two  central  lines  would  serve  for  long-distance  transports, 
whilst  the  two  lateral  lines  would  be  used  for  making  up  the  trains  ; 
they  would  be  connected  by  turn-tables  to  the  private  lines  leading  into 
the  houses.      Each  opening  through  which  the  trucks   would   enter 


llie  Cities  of  the  Future.  361 

the  cellars  would  be  closed  by  two  independent  doors  or  iron  g-ratings 
in  such  manner  that  any  communication  between  the  house  and  the 
service  road  would  be  impossible  without  the  simultaneous  permission 
of  both  the  owner's  agent  and  the  representative  of  the  administrative 
authorities. 

This  underground  street  would  be  lit  permanently  by  incandescent 
lamps  and  glass  plates  on  a  level  with  the  pavement.  Natural 
ventilation,  assisted  by  electric  fans,  would  be  ensured  by  high 
chimneys  located  at  given  intervals  in  the  party-walls  between  the 
houses. 

Each  frontage  would,  at  the  base-line,  be  separated  from  the 
next  by  a  regulation  recess  of  2  metres  by  i,  within  which  would 
be  located  the  ventilation  flue.  This  arrangement  would  greatly 
improve  the  architectural  aspect  of  the  frontages,  which  would  thus 
be  sharply  divided  from  one  another. 

Below  the  natural  level  of  the  service  road  would  be  laid,  as 
now,  the  sewer^  but  its  dimensions  could  be  reduced,  inasmuch  as  it 
would  be  exclusively  used  for  the  carrying  of  the  water  :  drainage  by 
gravitation  could  perhaps  be  replaced  by  large  watertight  mains  to 
receive  the  waste  water,  which  might  either  be  forced  out  or  sucked 
up  without  regard  to  the  level  of  the  ground. 

Finally,  in  the  centre  of  the  service  road  a  large  fireproof  main 
would  be  laid  underground  for  the  conveyance  of  smoke,  assuming 
that  the  old-fashioned  method  of  heating  with  wood  or  coal  were 
still  in  use  in  a  few  houses,  although  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  smoke- 
producing  chimneys  will  then  be  prohibited  and  replaced  by  oxygen 
stoves,  permitting  complete  combustion. 

In  any  case,  this  main  could  be  retained  for  exhausting  the 
gases  emitted  by  kitchen  stoves. 

To  sum  up  :  this  arrangement  really  means  that  the  present 
street  would  be  made  into  two  streets  :  one  above  in  the  open  air, 
solely  intended  for  the  passage  of  light  vehicular  and  pedestrian  traffic, 
and  the  other  located  below,  on  a  level  with  the  ground  and  under- 
neath the  former,  which  would  serve  as  a  conduit  for  all  the  pipe 
systems,  the  removal  of  house  refuse,  and  the  transport  of  heavy 
materials  and  goods. 

We  may  mention  the  traffic  tunnels  in  Chicago  between  the  railway 
stations  and  from  private  depots  as  being  somewhat  of  this  nature  : 
but  these  subways  are  attended  with  the  twofold  drawback  of  being 
located  at  too  great  a  depth  and  of  being  much  narrower  than  the 
street.  A  flat  platform  occupying  the  whole  width  of  the  street  is 
far  preferable,  notwithstanding  its  many  points  of  support,  to  a 
vaulted  subway,  because  il  utilises  all  the  space  available. 

Supposing  even  that  the  requirements  of  new  installations  should 
call  for  more  room,  or  that  the  construction  of  a  new  line  of  transport 
should  become  necessary,  it  would  be  possible  to  dig  deeper  to  obtain 
the  space  required,  underpinning  the  points  of  support ;  and  any 
number  of  subterranean  floors  could  be  provided  without  in  any  way 
touching,  congesting,  or  interfering  with  the  traffic  of  the  upper 
roadway. 

Bv  the  expansion  of  such  a  plan  we  are  led  to  conceive  of  a  city 

B    B 


j,G2   Transactions  of  tlic  Toicn  PlaiDiing  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

in  which  all  the  streets  with  hea\  y  traffic  would  have — according"  to 
the  frequency  of  the  tratlic — three  or  four  superimposed  platforms. 
The  first  platform  would  be  for  pedestrians  and  carriages,  the  second 
for  the  tramways,  the  third  for  the  various  mains  and  pipes  required 
for  the  removal  of  refuse,  and  the  fourth  for  the  transport  of  goods, 
&'C.  \\c  should  thus  have  a  many-storied  street,  as  we  ha\e  a  many- 
storied  house ;  and  the  general  problem  of  traffic  could  be  solved, 
however  heavy  it  might  be  [fig.  3,  p.  351].  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  the  duplicate  streets  I  have  just  described  would  suffice,  at  least 
for  a  very  long  time,  under  the  present  conditions  of  urban  life. 

The  adoption  of  such  a  plan  would  be  easy  in  a  new  town.  At 
the  end  of  the  system  of  roads  first  constructed,  in  order  to  establish 
a  direct  communication  with  the  natural  level  of  the  land,  gradients 
would  be  constructed  with  a  rise  of  5  per  cent.,  supported  by  iron 
frames  capable  of  being  taken  to  pieces  and  removed  to  a  greater 
distance  when  the  expansion  of  the  town  rendered  it  necessary. 

With  regard  to  the  earth  excavated  from  the  foundations  of  houses 
and  other  buildings,  instead  of  being  conveyed  at  a  great  expense 
outside  the  town  to  encumber  the  surrounding  country  with  rubbish 
heaps,  this  would  be  utilised  for  raising  the  ground-level  in  those 
parts  of  the  town  where  underground  streets  would  not  be  required, 
and  in  laying  out  parks,  gardens,  or  public  squares,  which  it  might 
be  desired  afterwards  to  form.  In  fact  it  is  the  relative  proportion 
between  the  potential  quantities  of  excavation  and  filling-in  which 
would  determine  the  height  above  the  ground-le\el  to  be  adopted 
for  the  artificial  roadway. 

The  application  of  such  a  system  to  existing  towns  would  be 
more  difficult.  The  problem  in  this  case  would  be  the  removal  of 
large  masses  of  earth  for  the  purpose  of  excavating  the  lower  streets, 
for  there  could  be  no  question  whatever  of  removing  our  art  treasures 
or  of  interfering  with  our  historic  monuments  and  the  time-honoured 
aspect  of  our  ancient  cities.  Yet  this  is  not  impossible  in  itself. 
It  is  merely  a  question  of  money,  and  the  amount  can  be  calculated. 
Based  upon  a  gross  estimate,  including  the  removal  of  earth  up  to 
5  metres  in  depth,  the  construction  of  the  platform  and  of  the  sewers 
of  the  lower  street,  the  cost  works  out  at  140  fr.  per  square  metre 
(exclusive  of  the  various  mains  and  electric  cables,  the  cost  of  which 
would  have  to  be  borne  by  the  lessee  companies). 

The  area  of  the  public  roads  in  Paris  (roadways  and  pavements) 
being  about  1,500  hectares,  the  total  cost  would  come  to  two  thousand 
one  hundred  millions  of  francs  (^^84, 000, 000).  On  the  assumption 
that  the  execution  of  the  work  would  be  spread  oxer  a  period  of 
100  years,  the  annual  cost  would  amount  to  21,000,000  francs 
(;{^840,ooo),  which  would  not  be  exorbitant  in  an  annual  budget  of 
350,000,000  francs  (£14,000,000).  But  the  whole  heart  of  Paris, 
i.e.  one-third  of  its  total  surface,  could  be  transformed  in  thirty-five 
years  at  a  cost  of  700,000,000  francs  (;£,  28,000,000). 

In  any  case,  the  point  to  be  remembered  in  this  examination  is 
that  every  new  road  opened  in  an  old  town  should,  in  view  of  what 
the  future  may  bring,  be  constructed  on  the  principle  of  a  double 
roadwav. 


The  Cit'ies  oj  the  Future.  363 

Let  us  now  consider  the  buildings  fronting  these  streets.  The 
adoption  of  the  new  industrial  devices,  previously  described,  would 
make  it  possible  to  ameliorate  the  conditions  of  modern  life  and  to 
add  to  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  inhabitants.  I  shall  not  dwell 
upon  the  improvements  already  effected  and  applied  in  some  modern 
houses;  they  are  shown  in  the  illustration  [fig.  2,  p.  349].  By  these 
means,  side  by  side  with  lifts  for  people  we  shall  find  an  elevator  going 
down  to  the  cellars  for  heavy  weights,  and  movable  boxes  for  the  con- 
veyance of  letters  and  parcels  to  all  floors  ;  we  shall  find  the  bath  and 
douche  rooms  accompanied  by  hydro-therapeutic  sea-water  chambers  ; 
while  together  with  a  complete  system  of  drainage  for  waste  water 
we  shall  also  have  a  system  of  vacuum  cleaning  for  light  dust,  and 
the  special  discharge-hoppers  in  each  flat  for  the  removal  of  refuse, 
which  will  descend  and  accumulate  directly  in  the  small  trucks  in  the 
underground  street. 

Light  and  energy  will  be  conveyed  by  electricity.  Petrol  and 
oxygen  will  supply  heat.  Liquid  air  will  be  supplied  to  refrigerators 
in  every  larder  for  the  preservation  of  eatables.  In  addition  to  heat 
radiators  we  shall  also  have  cold  radiators,  which  will  enable  us 
readily  to  maintain  in  each  house,  in  all  seasons,  such  temperature 
as  may  be  determined  upon.  Finally,  the  power  given  us  of  varying, 
as  desired,  the  temperature,  density,  and  quality  of  the  air  inhaled, 
as  well  as  the  ambient  electric  waves,  would  enable  us  to  provide 
in  each  flat  one  or  more  health  chambers,  closed  by  tight-fitting 
double  windows  and  doors,  in  which  the  householder,  exhausted 
by  the  stress  of  city  life,  would  always  rind  an  atmosphere  and 
surroundings  suited  to  his  own  health  or  to  that  of  his  family,  with 
all  those  hygienic  requirements  which  he  is  compelled  each  year  to 
seek  much  further  afield,  and  which,  even  then,  he  can  only  enjoy 
for  a  limited  period.  Do  not  let  us  forget  that  a  cubic  metre  of 
air  drawn  from  a  much-frequented  street — say,  for  instance,  the 
Rue  de  Rivoli — contains  six  thousand  germs,  while  a  cubic  metre 
of  pure  air  on  the  open  sea  or  in  the  mountains  contains  but  tivo  or 
three.  As  to  the  chimneys  with  their  clouds  of  unhealthy  smoke, 
they  would  be  completely  done  away  with. 

Glass  verandahs  of  various  shapes,  but  connected  in  accordance 
with  a  definite  system,  would  extend  over  the  full  width  of  the 
footpaths,  and  would  shelter  pedestrians  from  the  rain. 

The  normal  height  of  the  buildings  would  be  exactly  equal  to  the 
width  of  the  street,  so  that  the  angle  of  incidence  of  the  light  falling 
upon  the  frontages  would  not  be  less  than  45°.  Each  proprietor, 
however,  would  have  the  right  to  construct  a  tower  or  a  raised 
belvedere  in  such  part  of  the  front  of  his  house  as  he  may  choose, 
subject  to  the  width  of  such  structure  not  exceeding  one-quarter  or 
one-third  of  the  total  width  of  the  frontage. 

This  right  would  be  granted  for  the  double  purpose  of  allowing 
greater  variety  in  the  architectural  treatment  of  the  elevations  and 
to  facilitate  the  installation  of  wireless  telegraphy. 

The  system  adopted  at  the  present  day  for  roofing  our  city 
dwellings  is  open  to  very  great  objections.  It  is  based  upon  an 
old  idea  which,  though  once  sufficiently  reasonable,  is  now  no  longer 

n  B  2 


364  Trausactions  of  the  Toicn  Plauiii)ig  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

capable  of  justification.  It  is  one  of  the  most  striking  instances  of 
the  illogical  conclusions  to  which  a  deep-rooted  habit  may  lead,  tliat 
such  a  system  should  continue  in  use  side  by  side  with  new  methods 
of  construction  which  ought  long  ago  to  have  caused  it  to  be  dis- 
carded. We  build  up  our  walls  with  excellent  materials — such  as 
freestone,  sandstone,  brick,  and  similar  substances — and  we  use 
cements  of  the  highest  quality  to  bind  them  together ;  with  the  result 
that  our  vertical  work  is  so  strong  that  it  defies  the  destructive 
agents  contained  in  the  atmosphere  and  has  a  durability  which 
is  practicalh  unlimited.  This  structure  we  proceed  to  cover  with  a 
roof  made  of  flimsy  and  perishable  materials — wood,  slate,  thin  sheets 
of  zinc,  and  suchlike — with  an  average  life  which  does  not  exceed 
forty  years,  and  entails  repairs  that,  at  one  and  the  same  time, 
are  constant,  unceasing,  and  costly.  The  only  buildings  of  the 
ancients,  such  as  Agrippa's  Pantheon,  which  have  preserved  their 
coverings  down  to  our  own  days  are  those  which  were  provided  with 
roofs  constructed  of  great  blocks  of  masonry  and  of  concrete.  Light 
and  inexpensive  roofs  laid  at  a  greater  or  less  slope  are  admirably 
adapted  for  factories  and  for  houses  situated  in  the  open  country, 
where  the  buildings  are  scattered  and  the  land  values  low  :  but  in 
populous  cities  the  fiat  roof  is  becoming  more  and  more  imperative. 
It  has  the  twofold  advantage  of  being  exceedingly  durable  while 
at  the  same  time  it  brings  an  area  equal  to  the  area  of  the  whole 
house  into  useful  service.  With  all  the  varied  advantages  which  the 
employment  of  armoured  cement  offers,  the  covering-in  of  our  houses 
with  a  level  platform  has  become  a  simple  matter,  and  this  platform 
could  be  planted  with  small  flower  gardens  or  adorned  with  verdure- 
clad  trellises. 

But  a  still  more  important  function  to  be  performed  by  these 
terraces  is  that  in  the  near  future  they  will  be  used  as  landing  stages 
for  aeroplanes.  We  have  not  as  yet  arrived  at  that  point  because 
up  to  the  present  the  aviator  has  not  gained  sufficient  mastery  over  his 
machine  :  but  as  man  has  at  length  succeeded  in  imitating  the  flight 
of  the  bird  it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  he  will  eventually 
succeed  in  imitating  the  flight  of  the  insect.  In  "  The  War  in  the 
Air,"  Wells  has  imagined  a  small,  handy  machine,  easily  controlled 
and  guided,  built  somewhat  on  the  principle  of  the  bee.  I  do  not 
think  I  could  adduce  any  higher  authority  on  the  subject,  and  without 
hesitation  I  accept  this  very  attractive  forecast.  We  may,  I  think, 
imagine  some  form  of  light  aeroplane,  equipped  with  horizontal  helices 
in  addition  to  the  vertical  propeller,  and  capable  of  remaining 
stationary  in  the  air,  hovering  over  a  given  point  even  as  the  bee 
first  hovers  above  the  flower  on  which  it  is  about  to  settle. 

When  this  result  has  been  achieved  the  aspect  of  our  cities  will 
be  changed  ;  for  every  terrace  will  become  a  stopping-place  for  these 
aerial  automobiles.  We  shall  be  able  to  alight  upon  terrace  after 
terrace  and  take  wing  once  more  at  will.  This  possibility  will  bring 
with  it  the  necessity  for  a  very  large  lift  in  every  house,  of  sufficient 
capacity  to  raise  the  flying  machine  when  ready  for  its  journey  and 
to  convey  it  back  to  the  garage  on  its  return.  These  lifts  would 
be  similarly  employed  for  carrying  motor-driven  vehicles  to  and  from 


The  Cities  oj  the  Future.  305 

their  garages.  The  raising  of  the  courtyard,  resuhing  from  the 
raising  of  the  street-level,  would  allow  sufficient  space  underground 
for  all  the  necessary  garages.  All  these  different  arrangements  are 
shown  in  the  illustration  [fig.  2,  p.  349]. 

At  this  point  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  a  \ery  grave 
problem  which,  while  resulting  from  the  movements  of  aeroplanes 
over  our  cities,  affects  the  safety  of  the  inhabitants.  It  is  obvious 
that  if  a  motor  weighing  some  hundreds  of  pounds  were  to  fall  from 
a  height  of  two  or  three  hundred  metres  on  to  the  roof  of  a  house 
the  consequences  would  be  disastrous  :  if  the  accident  occurred  over  a 
museum  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the  irretrievable  destruction  of  valuable 
objects  would  be  the  result.  It  may  be  hoped,  however,  that  before 
long  flying  machines  will  be  fitted  with  automatic  parachutes,  mini- 
mising the  danger  ;  and,  if  the  truth  be  told,  the  risk  to  passers-by 
would  hardly  be  greater  than  that  to  which  they  are  now  exposed 
by  passing  motor-cars,  while  in  the  case  of  buildings  the  risk  would 
not  be  greater  than  the  exciting  perils  of  fire,  lightning,  or  gas 
explosions.  In  any  case,  even  when  the  risk  is  reduced  to  the 
minimum  it  will  still  continue  to  be  a  risk  ;  and  it  will  be  greater 
in  proportion  to  the  weight  of  the  flying  machine  itself.  We  shall, 
therefore,  be  compelled  to  divide  these  machines  into  two  categories, 
the  lighter  aeroplanes  of  the  bee-type  and  the  heavier  aeroplanes 
of  the  bird-type,  with  which  latter  would  be  classed  dirigible  balloons  : 
and  unless  we  wish  to  go  back  to  prehistoric  days  when  troglodytic 
man  lived  in  caves  and  in  shelters  cut  out  of  the  sides  of  cliffs  ;  unless 
our  terraces  are  to  be  protected  by  the  same  armour-plating  as  that 
in  which  our  ships  of  war  are  encased — we  shall  certainly  be  com- 
pelled to  create  an  aerial  police  force  and  to  draw  up  stringent  regu- 
lations which  shall  control  the  movements  of  all  flying  machines. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  found  necessary,  even  in  the  open  country, 
to  mark  out  the  great  high-roads  of  the  air  by  means  of  air-buoys 
which  would  take  the  form  of  captive  balloons.  As  regards  the 
cities,  they  will  probably  have  to  be  subdivided  into  three  sections. 
The  first,  consisting  of  the  heart  of  the  city,  would  include  the  prin- 
cipal buildings,  historic  monuments,  museums,  theatres,  &c.  No 
flying  machine  of  any  kind  whatsoever  would  be  allowed  to  fly  or  to 
*'  plane  "  above  this  section  of  the  city.  The  second  section  would 
consist  of  all  such  portions  of  the  city  as  are  built  over  with  houses 
and  other  erections  of  a  modern  type,  with  terrace  roofs  of  sufficient 
strength  to  bear  without  injury  the  fall  of  a  light  aeroplane.  Over 
this  section  only  aeroplanes  of  the  bee-type  would  be  allowed  to  fly. 
The  third  section,  accessible  to  all  machines,  would  contain  the 
landing  stages  for  large  aeroplanes  of  the  bird-type  and  for  all  heavy 
machines. 

One  of  the  facts  brought  into  prominence  by  the  trial  flights 
made  in  the  eastern  part  of  France  during  August  of  this  year  was 
that  there  was  a  great  lack  of  landmarks  such  as  might  assist 
the  aviator  in  keeping  to  a  desired  course,  especially  during  misty 
weather  :  and  it  was  found  that  the  steeples  of  the  churches  and 
cathedrals  were  more  valuable  than  anything  else  in  helping  him 
to  keep  in  the  desired   direction.        Here   we   have   a  very  valuable 


f,OC)  'rraiisactions  of  the  Toiv^'u  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  hjio. 

indication  of  what  should  be  done.  It  will  soon  become  imperative 
for  every  important  community  to  erect  landmarks  in  the  form  of 
lofty  towers  or  soarings  steeples  of  unmistakable  character  ;  and  these 
at  nig^ht  would  ha\e  to  be  furnished  at  their  summit  with  beacon 
lig^hts. 

The  small  towns  might  remain  content  with  their  ancient  belfries  ; 
cities  of  average  size  would  be  obliged  to  erect  towers  of  a  hundred  to 
a  hundred  and  fifty  metres  in  height  :  as  to  the  great  capital  cities, 
such  as  London  or  Paris,  Berlin  or  New  York,  towers  of  three  hundred 
metres  in  height  would  not  be  suilicient,  and  their  summits  would 
have  to  attain  an  altitude  of  at  least  five  hundred  metres.  These 
colossal  erections  would  serve  at  the  same  time  as  stations  for  wireless 
telegraphy  ;  and  it  is  scarcely  too  bold  a  thing  to  predict  that,  by 
means  of  these  great  landmarks  of  the  terrestrial  globe,  communi- 
cations could  be  exchanged  instantaneously  between  all  the  countries 
of  the  world. 

The  necessity  for  establishing  these  lofty  landmarks  opens  up 
splendid  dreams  of  the  aesthetic  appearance  that  would  be  imparted 
to  the  great  Cities  of  the  Future.  In  them  our  successors  will  find 
a  wealth  of  artistic  possibilities  when  the  time  comes  for  them  to 
erect  their  towers,  which  they  will  adorn  with  decorative  sculpture, 
with  modelled  terra-cotta,  and  with  ornaments  of  bronze  and  gold. 

Having  set  out  the  hypothetical  data,  let  us  now  endeavour  to 
form  a  general  idea  of  the  great  Cities  of  the  Future.  The  illustration 
here  given  [fig.  4,  p.  356]  is  but  a  hasty  and  incomplete  sketch,  but 
your  own  imagination  will  enable  each  one  of  you  to  fill  in  the  picture 
according  to  your  individual  conception   of  the  matter. 

From  out  the  centre  of  the  city's  heart  there  will  arise  the 
colossal  orientation  tower,  soaring  to  a  height  of  five  hundred  metres, 
and  crowned  by  a  powerful  beacon  light.  At  the  base  of  the  tower 
the  historical  portion  of  the  city  will  nestle,  with  its  monuments  of 
b}'gone  days,  its  old  houses,  and  all  its  artistic  and  traditional 
treasures. 

Around  this  there  will  be  a  girdle  of  great  towers — each  one  from 
two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  metres  in  height — to  warn 
off  a\iators  from  the  forbidden  area.  These  erections,  each  of  a  very 
different  form  and  readily  to  be  distinguished  the  one  from  the  other, 
might  be  eight  in  number  and  placed  at  the  cardinal  points  of  the 
compass.  Beyond  them  would  come  an  annular  zone  of  flat-roofed 
houses,  this  zone  measuring  from  two  to  three  kilometres  in  width  : 
and  above  it  aeroplanes  of  the  bee-type  would  be  permitted  to  float 
from  terrace  to  terrace.  At  the  circumference  of  this  area  a  second 
girdle,  consisting  of  tall  standards  or  metallic  poles  of  a  hundred  and 
fifty  to  two  hundred  metres  in  height,  will  mark  the  limits  of  the 
city,  and  will  serve  to  warn  oft'  the  greater  airships.  These  standards, 
with  their  crow's-nest  summits,  will  serve  as  observation  stations, 
whence  an  unceasing  look-out  will  be  maintained  by  members  of  the 
aerial  police  force;  each  of  whom,  mounted  on  his  light  aeroplane, 
will  be  ready  when  occasion  arises  to  prevent  heav'v  machines  from 
flying  over  the  city.  Beyond  the  ring  of  standards  will  be  situated 
the  great  landing  stages  which  will  constitute  the  termini  of  all  the 


The  Cities  of  the  Future.-  3C7 

aerial  high-roads.  Still  further  afield  there  will  be  the  enormous 
power  stations  required  for  the  public  service. 

The  city  as  a  whole  will  be  traversed  by  wide  roads  radiating 
from  the  centre,  and  partly  occupied  by  elevated  platforms  kept 
continually  in  motion,  so  that  by  this  means  rapid  intercommunication 
between  the  several  zones  will  be  assured.  These  platforms  will  be 
terminated  by  revolving-  turn-tables,  erected  over  the  point  of  inter- 
section of  the  principal  streets.  Lastly,  the  city  will  be  planted  with 
large  parks  and  flower  gardens,  forming  centres  wherein  rest,  health, 
and  beauty  may  each  be  pursued. 

To  bring  these  dreams  within  the  range  of  practical  possibilities 
would  require  the  expenditure  of  enormous  sums,  and  it  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  carrying  out  of  such  a  project  must  be  relegated  to 
some  date  within  the  far-distant  future. 

Nevertheless,  the  far-reaching  revolution  brought  about  in  our 
ideas  bv  aviation  opens  up  such  wonderful  possibilities  that  we 
may  indulge  the  hope  that  all  these  things  will  come  to  pass.  The 
conquest  of  the  air  will  herald  the  reign  of  universal  peace  and  wealth. 
The  Cities  of  To-morrow  will  be  more  readily  susceptible  to  trans- 
formation and  adornment  than  the  Cities  of  Yesterday  :  they  will 
be  built  with  superb  towers  which  will  attract  these  giant  birds  from 
everv  point  of  the  horizon  :  and  before  long,  perhaps,  our  great 
capital  cities  will  raise  their  beacons  to  a  higher  and  yet  higher 
altitude,  com.peting  with  the  very  clouds  themselves. 


368  Transdctious  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(3)  A  CITY  OF  THE  FUTURE  UNDER  A 
DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT. 

By  D.\nii:l  H.  Burnham,  Chairman  of  the  Commission  of  Fine 

Arts,  U.S.A. 

All  of  us  belong  to  the  profession  of  prophecy  and  are  prone  to  play 
the  part  of  oracle,  and  yet  I  hesitate  to  address  you  on  a  topic  which 
has  been  so  ably  discussed  by  Mr.  John  Burns  and  by  my  predecessors 
of  this  morning.  However,  as  I  am  to  speak,  I  will  venture  to 
present  once  more  some  of  the  thoughts  you  are  acquainted  with, 
depending  on  arrangement  rather  than  on  novel  statements  for  point 
and  effect;  and  the  subject  of  the  paper  is  "A  City  of  the  Future 
under  a  Democratic  Government."  I  mention  the  form  of  govern- 
ment, because  it  must  be  agreed  upon  before  one  can  venture  a 
prophecy  regarding  the  action  of  a  people  ;  and  a  democratic  form, 
because  I  am  most  familiar  with  it. 

In  the  United  States  we  have  full  popular  government  under 
universal  suffrage.  If  it  continues  through  any  long  period  of  time 
one  might  safely  foretell  many  broad  civic  results  of  the  future.  Will 
our  democracy  persist?  Many  students  of  history  are  inclined  to 
doubt  it,  and  to  think  that  the  United  States  are  already  passing 
into  known  and  well-understood  phases  of  national  life  which  have 
hitherto  invariably  ended  in  revolution  and  return  to  despotic  control ; 
but  we  think  that  their  arguments  have  never  given  due  weight  to 
the  effects  of  education  and  the  growth  of  intelligence.  I  am  aware 
that  Spencer  doubted  our  being,  able  to  escape  the  back-swing  of  the 
political  pendulum — he  said,  "It  is  not  going  to  be  a  question  of 
education,  but  one  of  character  " — and  that,  in  a  letter  to  an 
American  friend  written  in  1857,  Lord  Macaulay  said,  "  The  Goths 
and  Vandals  of  Rome  came  from  without,  but  yours  will  come  from 
within."  Nevertheless,  there  are  good  reasons  for  hope  that  our 
democracy  will  live  on  :  they  spring  from  some  considerations  which 
are  not  given  as  much  weight  by  historians  as  by  philosophers  per- 
haps, but  which  cannot  be  ignored  by  the  former.  The  people  of  the 
United  States  are  a  new  mixture  of  bloods  in  new  environments  ; 
this  will  produce  a  human  crystallisation  in  Nature's  test-tube  which 
must  differ  from  all  preceding  ones  ;  and  for  this  reason,  if  for  no 
other,  a  form  of  government  that  could  not  long  endure  in  Greece 
or  Rome  may  persist  in  the  New  World  on  the  broad  continent  of 
North  America.  Moreover,  there  is  another  element  present  which 
did   not  exist  in   old   so-called   democracies,    and   which   cannot   but 


A  City  of  the  Future  under  a  Democratic  Government.      369 

work  in  favour  of  the  continuance  of  popular  government :  it  is 
"  publicity,"  which,  although  unknown  in  older  times,  now  exposes 
everything  in  the  United  States  to  open  view.  Our  thoughts  are 
headlined  in  the  Press  almost  as  soon  as  they  are  formed  in  the  brain. 
With  us  any  degree  of  secrecy  in  governmental  politics  is  impossible. 
In  former  times  demagogues  could  conspire  in  secret  and  conceal 
their  purposes  until  the  moment  came  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
people's  freedom  ;  but  there  can  be  no  such  hidden  movements  now, 
for  the  public  knows  almost  as  soon  as  the  politician  does  himself 
what  ends  he  has  in  view  and  how  he  proposes  to  accomplish  them  ; 
and  it  will  take  far  greater  ability  to  subvert  liberty  than  ever  before 
since  man's  history  began.  But  our  principal  reliance  must  ever  be 
on  the  sort  and  degree  of  intelligence  we  are  able  to  reach  ;  if  it  is 
enough,  we  will  ride  through  any  storm  that  may  arise.  For  the 
intelligent  man  knows  that  he  must  conform  to  public  policy,  and 
that  the  best  thing  for  the  community  in  the  long  run  is  the  best 
thing  for  himself.  There  was  neither  publicity  nor  intelligence 
enough  in  the  past  to  make  any  sort  of  governmental  institution 
secure  ;  anything  near  a  majority  of  the  people  had  no  way  of  finding 
out  what  they  should  know,  and  no  training  of  their  minds  which 
might  have  taught  them  to  act  together.  How  different  now  !  And 
how  much  cause  there  is  for  hope  !  At  any  rate,  I  must  premise  that 
the  democracy  of  the  United  States  will  persist. 

A  plenary  democracy  such  as  ours  can  realise  any  physical 
possibility  which  seems  desirable  to  It ;  and  when  the  majority  of  the 
people  of  any  town  come  to  think  that  convenience  and  its  consequent 
beauty  are  essential,  they  will  have  them,  for  a  democracy  has  full 
power  over  men,  land,  and  goods,  and  it  can  always  make  its  laws 
fit  its  purpose. 

In  a  continuing  democracy  nothing  will  be  done  illegally  :  if 
conflict  between  purpose  and  law  arises,  the  latter  will  be  changed 
before  the  former  is  carried  into  effect,  for  a  democracy  cannot  con- 
tinue unless  the  people  are  intelligent,  and  real  intelligence  is,  first 
of  all,  appreciation  of  law  and  order. 

Following  this  train  of  thought  :  when  the  inhabitants  p3rceive 
the  value  to  the  community  of  a  fine  street  plan  to  bring  convenience 
and  beauty  into  the  heart  of  a  city,  they  can  carry  it  out  if  they 
desire  to  do  so.  But  will  they  so  desire?  Will  there  be  enough 
appreciation  to  ensure  it?  There  are  good  grounds  for  the  belief 
that  there  will  be.  The  inception  of  great  planning  of  public  build- 
ings and  grounds  in  the  United  States  was  in  the  World's  Fair  in 
Chicago.  The  beauty  of  its  arrangement  and  of  its  buildings  made 
a  profound  impression,  not  merely  upon  the  highly  educated  part 
of  the  community,  but  still  more  perhaps  upon  the  masses,  and  this 
impression  has  been  a  lasting  one.  As  a  first  result  of  the  object- 
lesson,  the  Government  took  up  the  torch  and  proceeded  to  make  a 
comprehensive  plan  for  the  future  development  of  the  capital.  This 
action  was  less  than  ten  years  ago,  up  to  which  time  there  had  never 
been  a  Plan  Commission  in  the  United  States  ;  but  since  then  every 
considerable  town  in  that  country  has  gone  into  this  study,  and  there 
are  manv  hundreds  of  Plan  Commissions  at  work  at  the  present  time 


370  Transaclio)is  of  tlw  Touui  PUmnifig  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

througliDUt  the  laiul.  Is  this  a  lad,  an  altrartixc  occupation  ot  the 
moment,  an  interest  which  will  dissipate  and  pass  away?  Is  it  a 
mere  plaything,  or  does  it  mirror  urgent  needs,  never  before  felt, 
but  now  becoming  essential  to  humanity  ?  A  review  of  some  of  the 
organisations  may  help  to  determine  the  reality  of  purpose  with 
which  men  have  now  gone  into  this  work.  The  Washington 
Designing  Board  was  appointed  by  the  Government ;  the  last 
President  and,  still  more,  the  present  one  are  at  the  back  of  it,  and 
Congress  has  passed  an  Act  establishing  a  National  Fine  Arts  Com- 
mission as  an  outcome  of  their  efforts — a  Commission  whose  most 
important  immediate  business  will  be  the  fostering  of  the  plan  that 
nov.'  hangs  on  your  walls. 

Then  came  the  plan  of  Manila,  capital  of  the  Philippines,  made 
under  Mr.  Taft,  who  was  then  Secretary  for  War,  the  initiative  having 
come  from  him  personally.  The  work  w^as  backed  by  him  as  a  highly 
important  Government  affair,  backed  by  him  and  the  superb  young 
Commissioner  Forbes,  now  Governor-General  of  the  islands. 

Then  came  Cleveland,  Ohio,  which  State  passed  a  special  law  in 
order  to  allow  large  towns  to  employ  expert  Commissioners,  who  are 
to  design  the  public  thoroughfares  and  parks  and  who  are  to  act  as 
censors  in  all  public  art  matters. 

Then  came  San  Francisco,  where  an  association  of  private  men 
undertook  to  back  the  work.  And  then  came  Chicago,  where  the 
work  was  undertaken  by  the  Commercial  Club,  which  appointed  a 
committee  of  fifteen  of  its  members  to  conduct  the  enterprise. 

It  took  a  year  to  make  the  Washington  suggestions  and  about 
fifty  thousand  dollars  of  money.  It  took  two  years  to  make  the 
San  Francisco  plans  and  about  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  of 
money.  It  has  already  taken  four  years  in  Chicago  and  about  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  and  the  v/ork  is  by  no  means  completed. 

Other  places  have  done  the  same  earnest  work  and  have  shown 
the  same  liberal  spirit  as  those  mentioned  above.  But  the  most 
significant  aspect  of  this  new  phase  of  life  in  the  United  States  lies 
in  the  kind  of  men  who  are  actively  engaged.  They  are  the  best 
and  strongest  men  of  affairs  we  have.  In  Chicago  in  three  years 
there  were  two  hundred  meetings  of  th.e  General  Committee,  at  which 
hundreds  of  public  men — engineers,  architects,  sanitary,  railroad,  city 
transportation,  and  other  experts — were  present.  There  is  not  one 
man  of  the  fifteen  who  is  not  at  the  head  of  some  great  business,  and 
who  is  not  loaded  with  the  heaviest  kind  of  responsibilities  of  his 
own  ;  and  yet'  they  all  make  it  a  point  of  honour  to  be  in  their  seats 
when  the  chairman  calls  to  order,  and  not  for  a  week  or  two  or  a 
month  or  two,  but  most  faithfully  through  years;  and  it  is  everv- 
where  the  same.  The  town-planning  men  in  every  city  are  the  ablest 
in  the  community,  and  each  one  feels  that  he  has  no  duty  more  serious 
or  more  important  j  and  it  may  be  of  interest  to  Englishmen  to  know 
that,  just  as  I  was  leaving  home  a  month  ago,  Sir  William  Van 
Horn,  chairman  of  the  Board  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad,  wrote 
to  me  from  Montreal  to  say  that  he  had  taken  the  chairmanship  of  a 
Plan  Commission,  and  desired  to  consult  me  about  an  organisation 
for  the  development  of  that  city.       There  you  have  one  of  the  three 


^1  City  of  the  Future  under  a  Democratic  Government.     3;i 

or  four  first  men  in  Canada  deliberately  arranging  to  give  his  heart 
and  hand  to  the  kind  of  work  we  are  talking  about. 

There  are  many  more  instances,  well  worth  mention,  all  going  to 
show  that  Town  Planning  is  not  in  the  hands  of  people  who  have 
time  to  waste  ;  but  you  do  not  need  any  more  proof.  You  know  well 
that  the  deep  interest  taken  in  the  subject  throughout  the  world 
marks,  not  a  passing  ancy,  but  a  definitive  step  in  the  development 
of  man  ;  it  means  that  humanity,  which  has  been  moved  by  the 
changeable  feelings  and  fitful  purposes  of  its  own  youthfulness,  is 
about  to  put  on  the  toga  virilis.  When  a  cry,  almost  universal, 
goes  up  for  good  order  and  its  consequent  beauty,  when  men  every- 
where begin  to  demand  harmonious  conditions  of  life,  it  means  that 
the  race  has  arrived  at  that  stage  of  development  which  in  an 
individual  would  be  called  manhood.  There  are  other  proofs  that 
society,  in  this  year  1910,  has  advanced  beyond  all  previous  high- 
water  marks,  but  none  stronger  than  the  absorbing  interest  in  Town 
Planning  which  is  everywhere  manifesting  itself. 

Many  different  plans  may  be  made  for  any  given  town,  and  each 
of  them  may  be  a  good  one,  and  we  may  rest  assured  that  in  a  few 
years  more  every  considerable  town  in  the  world  will  possess  one. 
If  this  were  all  that  is  needed  we  might  soon  everywhere  realise 
ord^T  and  beauty  in  a  high  degree  ;  but,  in  addition  to  drawings  and 
tevts,  we  have  left  the  most  difficult  task  of  all  those  to  be  under- 
taken in  this  cause — namely,  the  awakening  of  public  interest  in 
favour  of  any  comprehensive  plan  and  the  raising  of  public  purpose 
up  to  a  level  of  definite  action.  There  is  not  a  man  in  the  room  who 
could  not  make  a  good  plan  for  the  development  of  London's 
thoroughfares,  but  it  will  take  all  of  you  working  shoulder  to 
shoulder  to  get  any  one  of  them  carried  out.  And  yet  I 'do  not  think 
this  impossible.  In  Chicago  there  is  now  a  semi-oflficial  City  Com- 
mission, consisting  of  four  hundred  men,  appointed  by  the  Mayor 
and  confirmed  by  the  Common  Council,  having  as  chairman  a  gentle- 
man who  was  at  the  head  of  the  Plan  Committee  of  the  Commercial 
Club,  which  Committee  has  been  engaged  during  the  past  four  years 
in  the  work  of  devising  the  comprehensive  plan  for  the  future 
development  of  Chicago  which  now  hangs  on  your  walls.  The 
Commission  was  organised  less  than  a  year  ago  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  out  this  plan,  and  was  created  under  a  city  law,  recently 
enacted,  by  which  the  Mayor  and  the  Common  Council  are  required 
to  refer  to  it  all  questions  of  material  improvement  whenever  they 
arise  ;  and  the  city  government  may  not  take  action  until  this  Com- 
mission has  reported.  Such  a  censorship  is  powerful  as  soon  as  a 
considerable  percentage  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  town  understand  its 
purposes  and  back  them.  Four  hundred  of  your  best  men  animated 
by  one  purpose  are  like  a  Greek  phalanx,  ,vhich  was  irresistible 
against  barbarians. 

Education  is  important,  not  that  individuals  may  be  happy,  but 
much  more  for  the  good  of  the  State.  The  sort  of  education  that 
develops  popular  intelligence  should  be  a  governmental  goal — the 
intelligence  that  enables  the  average  man  to  perceive  what  kind  and 
quality  of  public  service  he  should  stand  for.  Such  public  intelligence 


372   Transactions  <>l  Ihc  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  ujio. 

we    are    now    de\elopins4     in    the     United   States,   and  perhaps  to  a 
greater  extent  than  has  ever  been  known. 

While  all  men  are  thftir  own  masters  within  the  law,  only  a  lew 
are  able  by  individual  ability  and  effort  to  live  in  delightful  surround- 
ings ;  the  rest  have  to  take  things  as  they  come  ;  and  yet  all  crave 
such  surroundings,  no  matter  how  much  they  despair  of  obtaining 
them.  But  will  not  the  people  of  a  continuing  democracy  awaken 
some  time  to  the  fact  that  they  can  possess  as  a  community  what 
they  cannot  as  individuals,  and  will  they  not  then  demand  delightful- 
ness  as  a  part  of  life,  and  get  it?  You  may  think  that  any  realisation 
of  this  sort  will  be  a  long  time  coming,  but  remember  that  the 
growth  of  public  improvement  has  been  very  rapid  during  the  last 
few  years — so  rapid,  in  fact,  that  one  hardly  dares  to  set  a  limit 
to  what  may  be  done  in  a  single  decade.  Moreover,  the  angle  of 
intelligence  widens  as  the  speed  of  its  development  increases,  as  the 
story  of  the  last  sixty  years  proves.  In  1850  there  was  little  street- 
paving  in  the  United  States,  and  not  much  in  London  and  Paris. 
There  were  no  great  sewerage  systems,  water  systems,  gas  and 
electric  power  and  light,  street  cars,  sidewalks,  or  any  other  system. 
Compare  the  public  improvements  of  sixty  years  ago  with  those  of 
to-day,  and  remember  that,  great  as  is  this  difference,  you  are  much 
more  dissatisfied  with  your  surroundings  than  was  your  grandfather 
with  his.  We  do  things  that  would  have  made  our  forbears  think 
us  magicians,  because  we  are  equipped  with  scientific  knowledge  and 
experience  which  they  did  not  possess.  The  men  of  1850  knew 
much,  but  those  of  1910  know  enough  more  to  make  their  work  seem 
marvellous  in  contrast,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  the  men  of  i960 
will  regard  us  as  we  do  our  predecessors.  But  it  is  not  merel}  in 
the  number  of  facts  or  sorts  of  knowledge  that  progress  lies  :  it  is 
still  more  in  the  geometric  ratio  of  sophistication,  in  the  geometric 
widening  of  the  sphere  of  knowledge,  which  every  year  is  taking  in 
a  larger  percentage  of  people  as  time  goes  on.  And  remember  that 
knowledge  brings  desire,  and  desire  brings  action. 
To  speak  very  briefly  of  a  few  material  topics  : — 
The  air  of  the  city  of  the  future  will  be  pure  :  its  pollution  in  our 
time  is  due  to  dust,  smoke,  and  gases  from  manufacturing  plants. 
Smoke  will  disappear  when  fuel  is  properly  consumed,  and  this  must 
be  soon,  because  we  are  not  using  much  more  than  half  of  the  heat 
units  of  coal — an  extravagance  which  has  begun  to  be  very  serious. 
Up  to  our  time  strict  economy  in  the  use  of  natural  resources  has 
not  been  practised,  but  it  must  be  henceforth  unless  we  are  immoral 
enough  to  impair  conditions  in  which  our  children  are  to  live.  More- 
over, we  must  economise  for  ourselves ;  indeed,  competition  is 
already  forcing  us  to  do  so.  The  obvious  way  to  economise  in  the 
use  of  coal  is  to  burn  it  at  the  mines  and  to  transmit  power,  light, 
and  heat  by  wire,  which  is  entirely  practicable  and  already  in  use 
over  long  distances.  There  may  be  other  means  of  transmission 
besides  electrical  ones  ;  the  intelligent  men  of  to-morrow  may  Hnd 
them.  All  the  transportation  roads,  including  the  great  trunk  lines 
of  Xew  York,  are  now  operating  electrically,  and  it  was  recently 
said  by  a  chief  officer  of  one  of  the  greatest  railroad  systems  in  the 


,1  City  of  the  Future  under  a  Democratic  Government.     373 

United  States  that  he  expects  within  a  few  years  to  see  his  property 
operated  electrically  between  the  seaboard  and  Chicago,  a  distance 
of  nine  hundred  miles.  Many  railroad  men  think  that  electrical 
operation  would  be  cheaper  than  burning  fuel  over  grate  bars  in 
locomotives,  at  least  so  far  as  the  passenger  service  is  concerned, 
although  they  do  not  see  yet  how  the  electrical  trolley  as  at  present 
constructed  can  be  used  in  freight  yards. 

A  few  years  ago  the  packers  of  Chicago  threw  away  everything 
of  the  animal  except  the  meat ;  now  they  conserve  and  sell  the 
blood,  bone,  hair,  and  other  parts  formerly  wasted,  but  which  as 
by-products  now  are  sources  of  revenue.  Will  they  not  find  z 
merchantable  use  for  the  very  gases  they  create  to-day?  I  ask  this 
question  because  the  great  coke  burners  and  iron  smelters  have 
already  learned  to  use  their  gases  instead  of  wasting  them.  At  Gary, 
a  town  lying  next  to  Chicago  on  the  south,  is  the  most  extensive 
rolling-mill  in  the  world.  The  gases  freed  there  are  tanked  and 
burned  and  produce  the  entire  operating  power  of  the  vast  institution. 
The  great  iron  plant  at  Duluth  tanks  its  gas  and  sells  it  to  the  city  of 
Duluth  and  to  West  Superior  for  lighting  power  and  heat.  It  is  prob- 
able that  all  gases  freed  in  manufacturing  will  ultimately  be  conserved, 
perhaps  not  so  much  because  of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  manu- 
facturer to  give  special  consideration  to  the  public,  as  that  it  will 
pay  him  and  he  cannot  afford  to  waste  them,  and  it  is  quite  safe  to 
predict  that  within  a  few  years  smoke  in  cities  will  be  entirely 
eliminated.  Smoke  and  gas  being  absent,  what  can  make  dust  in  a 
well-paved  city?  I  can  think  of  but  two  things — namely,  construc- 
tion enterprises  and  horses  on  the  streets.  New  York  and  other 
cities  compel  builders  to  avoid  scattering  dust  and  dirt  outside  the 
limit  of  their  own  operations.  The  refuse  must  be  delivered  to 
wagons  through  closed  chutes,  and  the  wagons  themselves  are 
covered  with  tarpaulins.  Other  cities  of  the  future  will  adopt  the 
same  policy. 

The  use  of  horses  in  a  great  city  is  near  its  end,  because  motor 
vehicles  are  becoming  very  cheap  and  will  soon  be  more  economical, 
and  with  the  passing  of  the  custom  of  using  horses  will  end  a  plague 
of  barbarism  which  we  still  live  in.  When  this  change  comes,  a  real 
step  in  civilisation  will  have  been  taken.  With  no  smoke,  no  gases, 
no  litter  of  horses,  your  air  and  streets  will  be  clean  and  pure.  This 
means,  does  it  not,  that  the  health  and  the  spirits  of  men  will  be 
better?  It  certainly  means  very  great  economy,  both  to  the  Govern- 
ment which  can  thus  dispense  with  the  army  of  cleaners,  and  to 
every  merchant,  manufacturer,  householder,  and  individual  whose 
person  and  goods  are  soiled  and  often  ruined  in  present  conditions. 
The  air  and  streets  of  our  cities  of  the  future  will  be  as  clean  as 
our  drawing-rooms ;  and  the  people  living  in  sweeter  conditions 
should  be  better  citizens,  should  they  not  ?  Thus  you  see  that  clean 
air  is  an  affair  of  State. 

Of  water  little  need  be  said  in  this  generalisation,  so  much  has 
been  done  and  is  being  done,  and  with  such  skill,  to  ensure  sufficient 
and  sanitary  conditions  in  the  reservoirs  and  the  pipes.  But  it 
grows  more  evident  each  year   that  better  control  of  consumption 


374  Transactions  <>j  llw  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  luio. 

must  be  the  rule  in  the  future  ;  that  here,  as  in  all  other  supplies, 
a  stricter  economy  must  be  enforced.  The  water  supplies  of  United 
States  cities  are  extravagantly  abundant,  supplies  which,  if  carefully 
conserved,  are  more  than  equal  to  our  real  needs.  In  this  matter, 
men  of  the  future  will  have  little  to  do  except  to  enforce  economy. 

A  discussion  of  plans  of  streets  and  thoroughfares  of  cities  is 
left  out  of  this  Paper  because  it  is  a  topic  specifically  assigned  to 
others,  and  because  there  are  no  general  theories  applying  in  all 
cases ;  the  street  plan  of  each  city  will  present  a  separate  and 
distinct  problem. 

I  should  like  to  talk  about  the  planning  of  the  streets  ;  I  should 
prefer  to  do  it  with  some  specific  case  before  me,  but  not  at  this 
time.  However,  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  speak  generally  of 
thoroughfares  in  the  heart  of  large  cities,  because  they  are  always 
congested,  and  congestion  leads  to  the  topic  of  transportation. 

There  is  intolerable  congestion  in  the  heart  of  all  great  cities  in 
Europe  and  the  United  States.  Where  the  centres  are  built  up  with 
sky-scrapers,  as  in  New  York  and  Chicago,  congestion  is  no  worse 
than  in  certain  districts  of  London  and  Paris.  The  most  congested 
thoroughfares  are  those  devoted  to  retail  shopping,  although  the 
streets  of  the  wholesalers  and  jobbers  are  nearly  as  bad.  It  is  not 
possible  at  the  present  time  to  widen  these  streets— no  matter  what 
may  come  in  the  future — and  therefore  one  or  two  things  must  be 
done  to  give  relief — namely,  the  people  who  crowd  them  must 
be  turned  in  other  directions,  or  else  the  streets  themselves  must  be 
changed  in  construction  in  order  to  carry  more  traffic.  The  efforts 
of  the  day  are  mostly  in  the  direction  of  changing  the  conditions  of  the 
streets  themselves,  and  it  is  evident  enough  that  every  possibility 
will  have  to  be  exhausted  in  order  to  allow  the  crowds  to  circulate 
at  all  in  our  central  thoroughfares.  Everywhere  congestion  becomes 
more  severe  and  the  public  Press  is  growing  urgent  on  the 
authorities  for  relief.  This  urgency  will  lead  the  city  of  the  future 
to  build  single  and  often  double  tunnels  under  all  business  streets. 
It  will  lead  to  the  utmost  use  of  the  present  street  levels  and  to 
extensive  double-decking,  and  finally  to  many  more  overhead  trans- 
portation lines.  There  are  already  sections  in  each  of  the  larger 
cities  where  the  employment  of  all  the  means  suggested  above  would 
scarcely  suffice  to  move  the  people.  In  time  men's  habits  may 
change ;  there  may  be  less  inclination  to  push  feverishly  into  great 
business  centres  ;  but  1  confess  I  do  not  see  any  sign  of  its  coming 
\ery  soon,  and  in  any  case  it  is  too  remote  to  demand  discussion 
now.  The  town-planner — I  mean  the  street-planner — may  do  much 
to  lessen  congestion  by  arranging  systems  of  by-passes  around 
crowded  districts  ;  but  the  real  direction  to  work  in  is  that  which 
will  tend  to  diminish  the  number  of  people  or  vehicles,  or  both,  using 
given  areas,  and  here  the  future  may  bring  mitigation.  The  use  of 
motor  vehicles  helps,  but  the  greatest  improvement  must  come  from 
changed  methods  of  handling  goods.  Broadly  speaking,  the  citv 
of  the  future  will  not  bring  to  its  centre  any  goods  not  intended  for 
use  or  consumption  therein.  At  Chicago  about  66  per  cent,  of  the 
tonnage   in   and   out    is    for   distribution    to   other   places,    and   only 


A  City  of  the  Future  under  a  Democratic  Government.      375 

33  per  cent,  is  for  home  use.  In  view  of  this  fact  we  ha\e  in  the 
Chicago  City  Plan  Report  devised  a  general  freight  machine  for  the 
entire  city  to  use,  which  is  intended  ultimately  to  supersede  the  present 
disjointed  and  very  costly  methods.  It  is  a  simple  arrangement  of 
car-yards,  goods  depots,  and  warehouses  combined,  to  be  located 
eight  miles  from  the  centre  of  the  city  and  form  one  great  plant  to 
which  all  freight  trains  shall  come  and  unload,  and  from  which  they 
shall  depart  reloaded.  From  the  warehouses  located  there  all  goods 
are  to  be  sent  into  the  city  by  underground  tunnels.  In  our  special 
case  this  car-yard-warehouse  machine  is  to  be  connected  by  tunnels 
with  the  two  harbours  of  Chicago,  which  are  situated  at  the  mouths 
of  the  Calumet  and  Chicago  Rivers,  located  twelve  miles  apart.  In 
our  case,  also,  it  is  proposed  to  use,  as  a  part  of  the  great  machine, 
the  present  freight  tunnels  which  are  already  built  under  the  business 
streets  of  Chicago.  These  tunnels  are  about  forty  feet  below  the 
surface  and  about  thirty  miles  in  extent.  The  central  car-yard- 
warehouse  plant  is  to  be  furnished  with  overhead  travelling  cranes 
and  other  appliances  for  reducing  to  the  last  farthing  the  cost  of 
handling  each  ton  of  goods.  Such  a  plant  should  be  owned  and 
operated  jointly  by  the  railroads  entering  the  city.  Twice  in  the  last 
few  years  the  terminal  facilities  of  Chicago  have  proved  to  be  utterly 
inadequate,  and  they  can  never  be  made  to  do  the  proper  service 
as  long  as  each  road  operates  a  separate  right  of  way  and  a  separate 
freight  station  in  Chicago  ;  because  there  are  not  less  than  twenty- 
four  trunk  lines  terminating  in  that  city,  not  one  of  which  was  able 
to  handle  promptly  its  own  traffic  in  1907.  The  managers  of  separate 
lines  naturally  desire  to  hold  what  little  advantage  one  has  over 
another  because  of  certain  terminal  facilities  which  all  do  not  possess, 
and  naturally  they  look  upon  a  general-facility  scheme  with  little 
interest ;  but,  nevertheless,  the  needs  of  merchants,  manufacturers, 
jobbers,  and  warehousemen  combined  will  force  the  issue  before 
many  years,  because  the  present  habit  of  hauling  goods  over  the 
surface  of  the  streets  is  very  expensive  to  them  and  must  be 
eliminated. 

Such  a  scheme  of  freight  handling  once  put  into  operation,  the 
centre  of  the  city  of  the  future  will  be  relieved  of  most  of  the  street- 
surface  movement  of  goods,  a  movement  that  now  constitutes  more 
than  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  and  which,  if  abolished,  will  enable 
the  central  thoroughfares  to  carry  more  people  and  more  people- 
bearing  vehicles,  and  will  do  away  with  the  heaviest  wear  and  tear  . 
of  the  pavements,  thus  insuring  a  large  economy  in  the  expenditure 
of  public  money.  Following  this  subject  of  economy  in  street  service 
a  little  farther,  the  greatest  street  cost  in  the  long  run  lies  in  main- 
tenance, not  in  the  original  construction  of  road-beds.  There  are 
many  good  kinds  of  pavements  adapted  to  central  street  use  ;  the 
cost  of  them  varies  little,  and  every  kind  will  last  well,  provided 
the  streets  are  not  constantly  opened  and  patched,  or,  as  is  olten  the 
case,  left  unpatched.  It  is  possible  that  even  in  our  own  time  the 
tunnels,  sewers,  water-pipes,  electric,  gas,  pneumatic  and  other 
systems  under  our  central  streets  will  be  replaced,  for  our  increasing 
knowledge  may  antiquate  all  we  have  at  the  present  day.     ^^'ould  it 


376  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

not  be  wise,  therefore,  to  make  a  radical  change,  to  exca\ate  from 
building-line  to  building-line  deep  enough  to  allow  of  every  needed 
transportation  service  and  circulatory  system,  so  that  it  would  not 
ever  be  necessary  to  disturb  again  the  surface  of  the  street?  I  believe 
that  such  a  course  would  prove  economical  both  to  public  service  com- 
panies and  to  the  city  government.  It  would  certainly  eliminate  a 
cause  of  congestion,  of  dirt,  and  of  constant  disorder.  Can  it  be 
doubted  that  the  city  of  the  future  will  operate  its  central  street 
system,  and  possibly  all  its  streets,  in  this  manner? 

How  long  ago  is  it  since  there  were  no  people's  parks?  In 
this  regard  the  change  in  fifty  years  is  very  marked.  Now  no  town 
of  any  size  lacks  at  least  one  good  park,  and  all  large  towns  have 
many.  The  old  European  cities  seem  to  have  realised  and  supplied 
the  need  of  forests  in  their  great  cities,  while  the  United  States  have 
not  done  so  up  to  the  present  moment.  This  is  because  the  forest 
areas  near  European  cities  were  hunting-lodges  of  the  monarchs  and 
the  nobles,  and  were  easily  converted  into  the  best  of  natural  resorts 
for  the  people.  The  need  of  these  forests  is  now  beginning  to  be 
recognised  in  the  United  States.  For  instance,  a  recent  gift  of  land 
across  the  Hudson  River  will  furnish  New  York  City  with  many 
thousands  of  acres  of  wooded  land  for  public  use.  A  town-planner 
should  look  upon  forest  areas  as  of  great  importance  in  his  scheme, 
because  of  the  effect  of  nature  on  citizenship.  Other  things  being 
equal,  the  man  who  is  accustomed  to  live  in  nature  has  a  distinct 
advantage  all  his  life  over  the  purely  town-bred  man.  When  block- 
ing out  a  comprehensive  scheme  for  public  improvement  of  a  great 
city,  the  designer  will  think  of  this  and  provide  ample  woodlands 
near  overcrowded  residential  centres,  for  he  realises  the  constructive 
and  curative  part  nature  plays  in  the  life  of  a  man  who  submits 
himself  to  the  influence  of  her  broader  phrases.  Allure  your  city 
denizen  into  wild  sylvan  nature,  for  it  is  there  he  finds  the  balm  his 
spirit  needs  ;  nature  should  be  so  close  that  the  tired  worker  can 
easily  fly  to  it  while  still  pursuing  his  daily  avocations  in  the  city  ; 
and  where  a  town  lies  beside  broad  waters,  keep  all  the  shore  for  the 
people.  It  is  not  a  question  of  mere  content  and  pleasure,  except  as 
the  innocent  content  and  pleasure  of  the  indi\  idual  conduce  to  public 
good. 

The  great  half-sylvan,  half-formal  parks  need  no  comment  from 
me  and  no  presage  as  to  the  future.  Many  of  them  are  already 
beyond  praise,  and  one  cannot  easily  dream  of  fairer  or  more  fitting 
parks  than  those  the  world  already  possesses,  not  here  and  there, 
but  in  many  places,  and  nowhere  more  than  with  us  at  home.  The 
town-planner  has  an  easy  task  so  far  as  greater  city  parks  are  con- 
cerned, and  unless  he  has  the  problem  of  designing  an  entirely  new 
town,  he  nearly  always  finds  that  the  city  he  is  studying  is  already 
well  supplied.  There  are  some  general  theories  applying  to  all  city 
parks,  but  this  paper  will  not  discuss  them  ;  there  arc  those  present 
who  are  better  equipped  than  I  am  in  this  study.  I  will  only  say 
that  beautiful  as  are  many  large  city  parks,  they  will  be  still  more 
beautiful  when  their  verdure  exists  in  purer  atmospheres. 

The   small   neighbourhood   park,    wherein   provision    is   made   for 


A  City  of  the  Future  under  a  Democratic  Government.     377 

outdoor  games  of  youth  and  childhood,  is  a  recent  thing  ;  many 
cities  in  the  last  few  years  have  been  building  them.  The  South 
Park  Board  in  Chicago  has  already  bought  and  partially  improved 
fourteen  of  them,  and  is  building  as  many  more.  Less  than  one- 
third  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  live  in  the  district  controlled  bv 
this  Board.  These  neighbourhood  parks  range  in  size  from  ten  to 
sixty  acres.  Each  is  to  have  an  assembly  hall,  reading-room,  and 
refectory,  two  gymnasiums  (one  for  males  and  one  for  females),  w  ith 
small  swimming-pools  and  ample  dressing-rooms,  a  large  open-air 
swimming-basin  to  be  used  part  of  the  day  by  males  and  another 
part  by  females.  There  is  also  one  out-of-door  gymnasium  for 
girls  next  to  the  children's  wading-pool,  the  whole  screened  by 
shrubs  and  trees ;  there  is  an  open-air  gymnasium  and  running- 
track  for  boys,  also  screened  from  observation.  Each  of  the  parks 
has  ample  fields  for  games  requiring  large  areas.  In  each  neigh- 
bourhood where  one  of  these  parks  is  in  operation  the  police  say 
that  certain  classes  of  crime  before  prevalent  have  disappeared.  It 
was  the  hope  of  the  designers  that  this  would  be  so.  The  broad 
open  spaces  afford  a  refuge  from  fatigue  and  work  for  the  older 
people  ;  they  meet  and  associate  in  the  assembly  halls,  which  are 
assigned  to  various  free  entertainments,  lectures,  music,  dancing 
-.md  many  special  gatherings,  all  carried  on  by  the  people  themselves, 
rhe  bathing  facilities  are  used  daily  by  men,  women,  and  children. 
Ihe  gymnasiums  and  grounds  are  always  full  of  people.  All  parts 
of  these  parks  are  under  the  strict  inspection  of  male  and  female 
superintendents.  Now  as  to  results.  The  elders  themselves  are 
more  orderly  and  self-respecting  than  they  used  to  be  when  they 
wc/te  not  under  observation  outside  their  own  homes  :  they  are 
afforded  opportunities  to  know  and  practise  good  manners,  to  come 
up  to  a  standard — the  best  standard  of  their  w'hole  community — and 
it  is  already  plain  that  public  opinion  is  having  a  salutary  effect  on 
the  elders  of  every  one  of  these  small  park  neighbourhoods.  But 
the  effect  on  childhood  and  youth  is  far  stronger.  By  the  delightful- 
ness  of  fields  and  walks,  of  games  and  pastimes,  they  are  lured  into 
the  open,  where  most  of  their  waking  hours  outside  of  work  and 
school  are  spent,  and  where  they  form  habits,  fresh  and  healthful, 
of  mind  and  body  ;  they  grow  up  before  the  eyes  of  the  communit\ 
and  escape  those  practices  that  lurk  in  secret  places — practices  that 
before  the  young  are  aware  have  poisoned  their  lives  and  made  good 
citizenship  impossible.  These  play  parks  are  the  promoters  of 
sanity,  and  in  city  planning  they  should  be  placed  before  everything 
else,  and  they  will,  in  another  generation,  return  ample  dividends 
in  the  shape  of  happy,  self-controlled  men  and  women.  In  the  cit\ 
of  the  future  there  should  be  no  home  not  within  easy  reach  of  such 
a  public  park.  A  friend  recently  asked  an  urchin  in  one  of  these 
parks  if  he  had  learned  anything  there.  The  boy  hesitated  a  moment 
and  then  said:  "Yes;  I  have  learned  to  wait  my  turn."  This 
shows  that  he  knew  that  the  institution  was  intended  to  be  a  breed- 
ing-place of  law  and  that  he  had  himself  taken  a  long  step  in 
learning  it.  Make  many  little  parks  like  these,  allure  all  your 
youngsters    into  them,   and  you  will  have  attained  what  Lycurgus 

c  c 


37^^  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

sought  in  every  law  he  promulg^ated.  Environment  does  not  change 
the  kind  of  an  individual,  but  it  does  modify  him  for  good  and  evil. 
"  Let  the  Consuls  look  to  it  that  the  Republic  takes  no  harm."  In 
city  planning  there  is  no  limit  to  be  fixed.  One  may  pursue  this 
study  for  a  lifetime  and  not  exhaust  the  possibilities  of  the  future. 
But  the  question  always  arises  when  a  given  town  is  under  con- 
sideration whether  it  would  be  wisest  to  limit  suggestions  to  present 
a\ailable  means,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  to  work  out  and  diagram 
whatever  a  sane  imagination  suggests.  If  the  first  be  made  your 
limit  your  work  will  be  tame  and  ineffectual  and  will  not  arouse 
that  enthusiasm  without  which  nothing  worth  while  is  ever  accom- 
plished ;  it  is  doubtful,  indeed,  if  even  the  meagre  things  proposed 
will  be  carried  into  effect.  Such  is  humanity  !  You  may  expect 
support  for  a  great  cause,  whereas  men  will  yawn  and  slip  quietly 
away  from  the  merely  obvious  and  commonplace.  Not  that  the 
obvious  and  commonplace  are  to  be  neglected,  far  from  it;  but  to 
realise  them  one  should  seek  for  more.  Moreover,  there  is  the  other 
way  of  looking  at  this  question — namely,  the  one  mentioned  in  the 
beginning  of  this  paper,  and  that  way  has  to  do  with  the  growth  of 
man's  knowledge,  of  his  perceptions,  and,  finally,  of  his  desires. 
It  is  the  argument  with  which  I  began,  that  a  mighty  change  having 
come  about  in  fifty  years,  and  our  pace  of  development  having- 
immensely  accelerated,  our  sons  and  grandsons  are  going  to  demand 
and  get  results  that  would  stagger  us.  Remember  that  a  noble 
logical  diagram  once  recorded  will  never  die  ;  long  after  we  are  gone 
it  will  be  a  living  thing,  asserting-  itself  with  ever-growing  insistency, 
and,  above  a,ll,  remember  that  the  greatest  and  noblest  that  man  can 
do  is  yet  to  come,  and  that  this  will  ever  be  so,  else  is  evolution  a 
m^  th. 


179 


(4)    THE  CITY  OF  THE  FUTURE— ITS  CHANCES 
OF  BEING. 

By  L.  Cope  Cornford. 

I  APPROACH  this  great  subject  from  the  modest  point  of  view  occupied 
by  the  humble  layman.  We  have  learned  from  the  masters  of  their 
art  of  what  has  been  done,  what  is  being  done,  and  (above  all)  of 
what  may  be  done.  It  is  in  what  may  be  done  that  the  interests  of 
the  layman  chiefly  consist.  We  all  want  the  best — the  question  is, 
what  are  our  chances  of  getting  it?  That  is  the  question  with  which 
I  propose  to  deal. 

W'e  have  moved  amid  the  vast  and  stately  memorials  of  the  past, 
and  we  observe  that  mankind  in  its  march  through  the  ages  oversets 
the  most  stupendous  monuments,  lays  waste  the  fairest  cities,  and 
then  forgets  them,  as  a  child  kicks  over  its  toy  buildings  fashioned 
in  an  hour,  and  begins  again.  W'e  perceive  the  operation  of  the 
same  law  to-day,  in  the  large  schemes  of  reconstruction  which  are 
being  carried  into  execution  in  Europe,  in  the  United  States,  and 
even  in  this  country.  And  when  we  consider  that  admirable  array 
of  creative  artists  and  skilled  artisans  and  the  immense  wealth  of 
modern  communities,  the  cities  that  may  be — the  cities  of  the  future 
— shine,  serene  and  splendid,  in  the  austere  radiance  of  that  imagined 
dawn  of  a  to-morrow  that  ever  recedes. 

The  inexhaustible  treasures  of  the  past  lie  open  to  the  dexterous 
pilfering  of  that  chartered  thief,  the  artist.  The  needs  of  man  re- 
main unchanged  since  the  first  civilisation,  and  in  every  age  he  has 
found  the  ultimate  expression  of  his  desire.  Architecture  is  the 
concrete  secretion  of  the  mind.  You  shall  tell  a  man  by  the  token 
of  the  house  in  which  he  dwells. 

His  highest  aspiration  is  worship  ;  and,  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  god  he  serves,  are  the  temples  of  his  devotion.  The  Egyptians 
approached  their  deity  amid  groves  of  gigantic  columns,  lotus- 
headed  ;  the  Greeks  wrought  the  fane  of  the  immortals  to  the  needle- 
point of  perfection.  There  they  stand  to-day,  the  marble  monu- 
ments of  faultless  achievement,  high  uplifted  on  the  haunted  hills 
of  deathless  story,  an  eternal  witness  to  the  divinity  that  dwells  in 
man. 

The  Roman  stole  from  the  Greek,  and  built  as  he  lived,  that 
his  work  might  endure  for  ever.  So  deep  into  the  living  rock  did 
he  grave  his  record,  that  to-day  we  are  still  spelling  out  the  legend, 
whose  significance  not  all  the  fiery  makers  of  the  Renaissance  could 
exhaust. 


380  Tninsactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  ujio. 

The  Xortliman  owtd  his  Gothic  to  the  Roman,  whom  hi-  Mib- 
merged,  but  whose  spirit  he  could  not  overwhelm.  The  Gothic  grew 
from  out  the  Roman,  and  increased  and  died,  as  a  tree  might  spring 
from  amid  the  fallen  columns  of  an  antique  temple,  and  tower  into 
the  sunlight,  flourishing  greatly,  until  its  vigour  passed  and  the 
foliage  withered,  and  the  strong  limbs  put  forth  no  more  leaves. 

If  those  who  build  the  city  of  the  future  will  take  what  serves 
their  need  from  the  cities  of  the  past,  what  they  shall  build  will  be 
a  new  thing  answering  to  the  new  need.  But  when  all  is  said,  the 
likeness  of  the  temple  of  the  city  of  the  future  cannot  be  fore- 
shadowed, unless  the  religion  of  the  future  be  first  understood. 

As  in  the  building  of  temples,  so  in  the  raising  of  monuments  to 
the  lesser  divinities,  the  gods  of  Law,  of  Learning,  of  Healing,  and 
of  Art.  According  to  man's  conception  of  the  place  occupied  in  the 
spiritual  order  of  dignities,  so  will  he  mould  the  building  which  is 
at  once  the  instrument  of  his  activity  and  the  symbol  of  his  emotion. 

If  we  are  to  hazard  a  guess  of  what  such  monuments  would  be 
like,  were  they  built  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  one  might 
not  unreasonably  figure  a  House  of  Parliament  in  which  a  vast 
domed  auditorium,  a  single  chamber  modelled  on  the  Colosseum  at 
Rome,  should  be  furnished  with  cushioned  divans  to  seat  a  thousand 
demagogues.  About  it  would  be  grouped  restaurants,  saloons,  tea- 
rooms, smoking-rooms,  and  a  music-hall.  There  would  be  no 
library.  But  there  would  be  a  commodious  suite  of  rooms  for  every 
Minister.  There  would  also  be  a  pay-office.  The  building  would 
occupy  the  site  of  the  present  House  of  Parliament,  and  would  prob- 
ably extend  to  Victoria  Station  on  the  one  side  and.  to  Trafalgar 
Square  on  the  other.  Nelson's  column  would  be  taken  down,  as  an 
obsolete  relic  of  a  forgotten  civilisation.  The  external  elevation 
would  be  tastefully  designed  in  fireproof  piaster. 

Colleges  and  schools  would  be  designed  to  secure  the  utmost 
comfort  for  the  inmates,  together  with  ample  accommodation  for  the 
immense  workshops  and  laboratories  demanded  by  the  Higher 
Hducation. 

Art  galleries  would  be  built  in  accordance  with  the  instructions  of 
a  joint  committee  of  dealers  in  antiquities  and  art  critics.  They 
would  not  differ  in  any  essential  from  some  justly  venerated  structures 
now  in  existence,  except  that  the  cellarage  accommodation  might  be 
extended,  and  a  suite  of  rooms  for  the  reception  of  distinguished 
\isitors  from  the  United  States  would  be  added. 

In  view,  however,  of  the  great  enlari^ement  of  public  offices  which 
would  become  necessary,  due  to  the  wider  recognition  of  the  rights 
and  advantages  of  self-government,  it  is  not  considered  probable  that 
galleries  and  museums  will  be  multiplied. 

In  all  these  instances,  the  examples  presented  by  the  buildings 
of  past  ages  will  be  little  regarded.  A  nation  which  lives  entirely 
in  the  present,  save  for  occasional  desperate  excursions  into  the 
future,  can  of  course  afford  to  abandon  its  traditions  and  to  forfeit 
its  inheritance. 

So  much  for  what  may  be  called  the  commercial  aspect  of  t!ie 
subject  in  hand,  in  which  man  is  considered  as  a  social  animal  en- 


The  City  of  the  Future — Its  Chances  of  Being.  381 

g-aged  in  social  activities.  But  to  the  plain  citizen  there  is  ar 
even  more  important  point  of  \  iew  which  falls  to  be  examined,  the 
point  of  view  of  the  individual  family.  In  what  fashion  soever  he 
may  worship  the  public  deities,  they  are  the  gods  of  his  own  housc- 
liold  for  whom  he  reserves  his  essential  adoration.  Should  the  build- 
ings consecrated  to  public  worship  offend  him,  he  has  one  simple  and 
effective  remedy.  He  need  not  go  to  church.  If  he  chance  to  dislikr 
the  proceedings  of  Parliament,  he  can  ignore  them.  Does  he  enter- 
tain conscientious  objections  to  the  new  educational  methods,  he  can 
always  console  himself  with  the  reflection  that  his  son  or  his  daughter 
will  in  all  probability  learn  nothing  in  these  establishments,  whose 
very  appearance  they  will  hasten  to  forget. 

But  in  order  to  maintain  this  admirable  freedom  of  his  soul  he 
must  have  one  thing.  He  must  have  a  home  of  his  own.  .\  con- 
temporary writer  has  somewhere  very  justly  observed,  that  what 
Mr.  Smith  really  wants  is  a  house  to  live  in.  That  is  all  he  asks, 
and  that  is  precisely  what  is  denied  him.  He  may  have  churches. 
Parliaments,  schools,  museums,  baths,  workhouses,  and  the  key  of 
the  street — and  welcome.  But  a  home  of  his  own — no.  Bv  no 
means.  Vet  Mr.  Smith  is  willing  to  pay  for  his  house.  Still  it  is 
denied  him.  He  may  of  course  set  up  his  domestic  gods  within  four 
walls  and  under  a  slate  roof,  in  a  place  where  trams  moan  past  his 
window  by  day  and  night,  and  the  air  of  heaven  is  darkened,  and 
footsteps  beat  upon  foul  pavements  for  ever.   .   .   . 

It  was  not  always  so.  The  past,  which  remains  our  instruction 
and  our  hope,  displays  in  all  the  wistful  silence  of  antiquity  the 
Roman  house  of  the  many  chambers  and  the  flowered  quadrangle, 
the  Roman  villa  set  among  the  vineyards  and  the  corn,  the  discreet 
and  peaceful  mansion  whereto  the  ladies  and  the  gallants  who  dwell 
for  ever  in  Ser  Boccaccio's  pages,  fled  from  the  plague-struck  city. 
In  a  later  age,  the  town  houses  of  France  and  of  Germany,  the  castles 
and  the  hunting  lodges,  witness  to  a  high  and  an  urbane  civilisation. 
In  our  own  country,  we  preserve  what  we  believe  to  be  the  most 
beautiful  houses,  great  and  small,  in  the  world.  But  the  most  of 
them  are  relics  of  a  happier  time. 

In  a  word,  what  the  plain  citizen,  the  humble  man  of  heart,  hopes 
for  in  this  conference,  is  that  he  may  at  last  obtain  his  modest  desire 
— a  fit  home  in  which  he  may  worship  his  domestic  gods  in  peace. 
And  here — if  I  may  venture  to  suggest  it — lies  the  kernel  of  the 
matter.  The  State  is  made  up  of  individuals.  The  unit  is  the 
family.  When  all  that  is  implied  in  that  sacred  and  immemorial  cult 
be  rightly  and  beautifully  expressed  in  architecture,  the  rest  will 
follow.  When  Mr.  Smith  possesses  in  peace  his  own  solid  little 
home,  he  will  attend  to  the  town  hall. 

What  are  the  chances  that  he  will  ever  get  what  he  wants?  In 
other  words,  what  chance  has  the  ideal  city  of  coming  into  being? 

Now  there  are  three  enterprises  in  this  life  which  cannot  be 
achieved  by  a  Committee — Love  and  War  and  Art.  We  are  here 
concerned  with  the  third — with  Art.  In  Art,  there  must  be  one  man 
who  is  wholly  responsible  for  the  job.  The  plain  citizen,  who  is 
sincerely  eager  to  recreate  his  town,  or  his  city,  or  his  village,  or  his 


382   Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Pla)ining  Conjcrcncc,  Oct.  1910. 

house,  must  before  all  things  recog-nise  the  eternal  fact  that  it  is 
perfectly  useless  to  entrust  the  business  to  a  department,  or  a  council, 
or  a  committee.  It  must  be  done  by  one  man.  The  business  of  the 
department,  or  the  council,  or  the  committee,  is  to  arrive  at  some 
general  agreement  with  regard  to  what  it  is  they  want  done.  They 
must  then  call  in  the  professional  to  do  it.  Indeed,  if  they  be  w^ise 
they  will  call  him  in  at  the  beginning  and  ask  him  what  it  is  they  want 
done.  For  a  committee  commonly  owns  no  more  than  a  vague 
notion  that  it  wants  something.  It  must  be  so,  because  collective 
intelligence  is  always  inferior  to  individual  intelligence. 

The  future  of  English  cities,  of  English  towns,  of  English  villages, 
does  not  depend  upon  the  collective  groupings  of  popularly  elected 
bodies,  but  upon  their  ability  to  recognise  the  fact  of  their  own 
natural,  but  fathomless,  ignorance. 

The  chance  that  the  individual  citizen  may  obtain  his  peaceful, 
solid  little  home  depends  entirely  upon  the  measure  in  which  Mr. 
Smith  understands  that  architecture  is  an  art,  and  that  none  save 
those  who  have  dedicated  their  lives  to  her  service  can  hope  to 
achieve  a  good  thing. 

But  the  individual  citizen  must  do  his  part.  All  the  architects  in 
the  world  cannot  save  him,  if  he  professes  a  religion  in  which  he  does 
not  believe,  a  respect  for  law  w'hich  he  does  not  feel,  a  desire  to  get 
a  learning  which  he  really  despises,  an  aspiration  towards  the  posses- 
sion of  a  beautiful  home  which  is  no  more  than  the  ambition  to  be  a 
little  more  pretentious  than  his  neighbour. 

We  read  to-day  in  the  newspapers  a  deal  of  cdif}  ing  reflections 
upon  the  beauty  and  the  necessity  of  design,  the  holiness  of  fresh 
air,  the  salutary  effect  of  living  like  an  intelligent  person  instead  of 
like  a  filthy  savage.  But  the  artist  has  known  these  things  always. 
He  has  always  known  what  was  wanted.  Rut  he  has  not  been 
allowed  to  provide  it. 

The  chances  that  the  ideal  city  of  the  future  will  ever  come  into 
being  depend  upon  that  freedom  of  the  artist  which  can  only  be  con- 
ferred upon  him  bv  the  layman. 


The  City  of  the  Future.  383 


DISCUSSION. 
Professor  Beresford  Pite,   F.R.I.B.A.,  in  the  Chair. 

Sir  Richard  Paget,  rising  at  the  invitation  of  the  Chairman,  said  : 
I  did  not  know  that  the  great  responsibihty  and  honour  would  fall 
upon  me  of  opening  this  discussion  and  attempting  to  express  the 
appreciation  which  I  know  you  all  feel  for  the  admirable  series  of 
papers  we  have  had  to-day.  But  I  must,  at  all  events,  say  a  word  of 
appreciation  of  the  extremely  thoughtful  and  direct  and  purposeful 
paper  of  Mr.  Reilly,  with  his  fearlessness  in  admitting  the  errors  of 
past  ways  ;  the  imaginative  and  engineering  skill  of  M.  Henard  in 
his  flights  into  the  future  ;  the  thoughtful  paper  of  Mr.  Burnham, 
with  his  expression  of  the  new  needs  of  the  future,  of  which  we  have 
now  for  the  first  time  become  really  conscious  ;  and  finally — what  shall 
I  call  it? — the  cheerful  and  engaging  cynicism  of  Mr.  Cope  Cornford 
and  his  reversal  of  the  arrangement  proposed  by  Mr.  Burns,  by  which 
the  layman  is  now  to  come  down  from  his  pedestal.  I  should  also 
like  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  importance  of  simplicity  and  economy 
in  the  architecture  of  the  future.  I  think  that  the  consciousness  of 
new  needs  for  the  body  politic,  which  Mr.  Burnham  has  so  admirably 
explained  to  us,  will  produce  many  serious  effects.  In  the  first  place, 
it  will  cause  a  competition  between  all  the  various  needs  of  which  we 
are  conscious,  and  if  architecture  is  to  get  its  share  it  can  only  be  by 
showing  that  architecture  can  offer  to  the  community  full  value 
for  the  money  which  is  to  be  spent  on  it.  I  think  that  this 
ideal  is  not  at  all  incompatible  with  beauty,  for  true  economy  is  not 
the  mere  arithmetical  process  of  taking  away  the  number  you  first 
thought  of  and  being  satisfied  with  what  is  left ;  it  is  surely  the  result 
of  perfect  understanding  and  certainty  of  execution.  Then,  if  tha't  is 
true,  economy  is,  for  the  future  at  all  events,  one  of  the  important 
elements  of  beauty  with  which  we  shall  have  to  reckon. 

I  should  like  to  give  two  instances  and  one  simile  before  I  sit  down. 
The  first  instance  is  of  economy  and  of  its  beauty  and  utility.  Great 
monuments  are  an  essential  feature  of  every  great  city,  but  there  is 
no  reason,  surely,  why  those  great  monuments  should  not  also  be 
economic  structures  useful  in  themselves  as  well  as  beautiful  and 
monumental.  The  arch  at  the  top  of  Constitution  Hill,  next  to  Hyde 
Park  Corner,  contains,  or  did  contain,  a  set  of  residential  chambers. 
I  once  knew  a  man  who  lived  there.  Sir  Aston  Webb's  new  arch  at 
the  end  of  the  Mall  is  largely  built  up  of  Government  offices.  Is  it 
difficult  to  conceive  of  larger  monuments,  vast  archways  spanning  an 


3<S4   Transactions  of  the  To^cn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

immense  thoroughfare,  and  built  up  of  ofHces  or  rooms,  after  the 
manner  that  we  build  walls  nowadays  of  hollow  concrete  blocks, 
thereby  producing  a  building  whose  dignity,  simplicity,  and  efficiency 
are  the  real  causes  of  its  perfection,  a  building  owing  nothing  what- 
e\er  to  extraneous  ornament  or  to  waste  of  any  kind? 

Take  again  the  question  of  the  sky-scrapers  in  New  York.  Those 
buildings  certainly  fulfil  an  important  and  a  valuable  object,  for  they 
represent,  I  imagine,  the  highest  possible  degree  of  concentration  of 
humanity  on  a  particular  area  of  land.  Now  for  residential  pur- 
poses that  is,  of  course,  as  we  recognise,  fatal ;  but  is  it  fatal — is  it 
not  absolutely  necessary — for  the  centre  of  a  town  where  the  com- 
munity has  to  congregate  for  a  time  every  day  to  transact  its 
business?  It  seems  to  me  that  the  greater  the  concentration  the 
better  and  the  more  convenient  it  becomes.  How  would  it  be  if,  by 
a  stroke  of  magic,  we  were  to  re-plan  those  sky-scrapers  of  New 
\'ork,  make  them  all  uniform  in  shape,  make  them  in  form  like 
magnificent  and  perfectly  proportioned  pillars,  and  regroup  them  so 
that  they  formed  one  single  magnificent  and  stupendous  temple  of 
industry  and  commerce  in  the  centre  of  the  city?  Should  we  not  in 
that  way  have  produced  a  building  before  which  Karnak  would  pale 
into  absolute  insignificance?  It  would  be  four  or  five  times  as  big 
and  a  thousand  times  as  useful,  and  it  would  have  been  produced  at 
a  lower  cost  than  that  at  which  the  sky-scrapers  of  New  York  could  be 
produced — an  advantage  apparently  in  every  way,  wholly  unconnected 
with  ornament,  and  of  a  beauty  solely  dependent  upon  its  magnifi- 
cence, simplicity,  and  utilit\ . 

Finally,  for  the  threatened  simile.  Mr.  Cornford  suggested  that 
architecture  was  a  material  excretion  of  the  mind.  I  should  like  to 
offer  an  alternative — namely,  that  the  architecture  of  a  city  is  the 
clothing  of  the  body  politic.  Hitherto  the  body  politic  has  been,  I 
am  afraid,  a  dowdy  old  body.  She  has  been  over-developed  in  some 
parts  ;  she  has  been  sadly  shrivelled  in  others,  and  we  have  had  to 
clothe  her  with  ornaments  and  trimmings  in  order  that  she  may 
impress  the  visitors  who  come  to  see  her.  W^e  have  undertaken  the 
necessary  but  expensive  task  of  rejuvenating  the  old  body  and  making 
her  healthy  and  vigorous  and  beautiful.  What  I  plead  for  is  a  new 
fashion  in  the  dress  of  the  body  politic,  a  fashion  not  depending  upon 
richness  of  material  or  wealth  of  ornament,  but  upon  perfection  of 
cut,*  simplicity  of  line,  and  absolute  fidelity  to  the  figure  of  the  wearer. 
How  beautiful  she  w  ill  look  in  her  new  dress  !  Years  hence,  when 
we  have  paid  for  all  the  improvements  and  for  this  long  course  of 
treatment,  we  may  even  be  able  to  afford  to  make  her  presents  of 
jewels  and  to  embroider  her  simple  dress  with  ornaments  of  fine  gold. 

Mr.  Ebexezer  Howard  :  The  interesting  paper  that  Mr.  Cornford 
read  suggests  to  me  the  way  in  which  I  should  open  my  remarks. 
He  said,  and  I  think  said  truly,  that  the  individual  home  is  the  unit 
that  should  be  considered  in  every  scheme  of  town  planning.  What 
are  the  essential  needs  of  a  home?  The  most  essential  needs  surely 
are  adequate  space,  light,  and  air.  No  city  will  ever  be  an  ideal  city 
unless  it  provides  those  essential  conditions  for  all  the  people.  Mr. 
Burns  is  very  proud  of  London.     I  was  born  in  London,  but  I  love  it 


The  City  of  the  Future.  385 

rather  than  feel  a  pride  in  it.  Pride  in  London  is,  indeed,  a  feeling  I 
can  never  have  till  this  wealthy  city  sets  itself  resolutely  to  the  task 
of  providing  homes — healthy,  beautiful  homes — for  the  masses  of  its 
people. 

Now  it  seems  to  me  we  shall  miss  a  great  deal  if  we  go  away  from 
this  Conference  without  getting  hold  of  one  very  essential  principle 
that  will  help  to  guide  our  action  in  the  planning  of  our  towns — the 
principle  of  experimentation.  That  is  a  principle  on  which  all  modern 
science  has  been  built  up.  And  the  trend  of  events  is  preparing  the 
way  for  such  an  experiment  in  a  truly  remarkable  way.  The  most 
remarkable  social  phenomenon  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  that 
which  had  the  most  far-reaching  effects,  was  surely  this — that  the 
population,  owing  largely  to  economic  causes,  were  leaving  the 
country-sides  and  pouring  into  the  great  cities.  What  will  be  the 
chief  phenomenon  of  the  twentieth  century?  I  am  convinced  it  will 
be  a  reversal  of  this  earlier  process,  but  a  reversal  carried  out  in  a 
systematic  and  orderly  manner.  Economic  forces  and  spiritual  forces 
— on  the  one  hand,  fabulously  high  rents  in  cities  and  the  almost 
insuperable  difficulty  of  effecting  there,  except  at  a  prohibitive  cost, 
great  and  necessary  changes,  especially  the  most  vital  change  of  all, 
the  change  from  slums  to  homes ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
growing  love  for  Nature  which  is  calling  our  people  back  to  the  now 
deserted  fields,  and  the  clearly  seen  possibility  of  there  doing  all 
that  is  so  impossible  to  be  done  in  the  crowded  city — these  economic 
and  spiritual  forces  will  together  work  a  great  revolution.  But  if 
that  revolution  is  to  be  followed  by  the  best  results  it  must  take  place 
in  an  organised,  systematic  manner — the  very  antithesis  of  the  hap- 
hazard revolution  that  preceded  it.  To  that  end  I  suggest  that  in 
each  and  every  great  country  there  should  be  built  in  a  suitable  posi- 
tion in  the  open  fields  an  ideal  city — a  relatively  easy  task.  When 
we  have  done  this  we  shall  know  better  how  to  reconstruct  our 
existing  cities — though  I  do  not  for  a  moment  suggest  that  other 
important  work  should  not  go  forward  simultaneously. 

I  do  not  suggest  that  one  can  set  down  definite  limits,  or  say  that 
only  a  certain  number  of  people  should  be  aggregated  together  in 
one  city.  But  that  London  is  too  large  and  overcrowded  surely  we 
all  recognise,  and  what  is  needed  is  that  we  should  make  a  conscious, 
distinct,  and  definite  effort  to  reduce  its  population  by  a  systematic 
method  of  town  planning  In  new  areas.  Then  will  its  problems  be 
greatly  simplified.  This  experimental  method  was  adopted  most 
successfully,  In  the  first  instance,  by  Messrs.  Cadbury  and  by  Messrs. 
Lever,  and  has  been  adopted  on  a  larger  and  more  comprehensive 
scale  at  Letchworth.  There,  In  a  purely  agricultural  district,  we 
have  established  an  industrial  town,  though  practically  all  experts 
said  we  should  not  be  able  to  do  this.  We  have  demonstrated  that  it 
is  possible  scientifically  and  in  a  concerted  fashion  to  attract  industries 
from  overcrowded  centres  so  that  they  may  occupy  definite  areas, 
and  be  provided  with  water,  light,  and  power  in  a  more  efficient  way 
than  they  could  be  under  ordinary  conditions,  and  so  that  the  people 
can  be  housed  in  good,  cheap,  healthy  garden-surrounded  cottages 
near  to  their  work  and  near  to  their  play,  with  the  result  that  our 


386   Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

infantile  mortality  rate  is  ;^^i.j  per  thousand  against  107  for  London, 
You  may  criticise  Letcliworth  ;  no  one  could  criticise  it  more  severely 
than  I  could  myself.  But  why  is  Lctchworth  still  open  to  criticism? 
Chiefly  because  the  British  public  had  not  faith  enough  to  come  for- 
ward at  the  earlier  stages  and  adequately  finance  our  scheme.  But, 
notwithstanding  all  initial  difficulties,  we  are  now  nearly  round  the 
corner ;  and  when  we  have  achieved,  as  we  shall  soon  achieve,  com- 
plete financial  success,  then  what  we  have  done  there  will  be  repeated, 
but  with  far  greater  efliciency  and  completeness,  because  with  greater 
boldness  and  with  larger  resources,  by  the  architects,  engineers,  sur- 
veyors, artists,  and  manufacturers  of  this  country,  who  will  then 
see  what  a  splendid  opportunity  lies  before  them.  That  first  step 
taken,  the  problem  of  town  planning  everywhere  will  be  greatly 
simplified. 

Mr.  Andrew  T,  Taylor,  F.RT.B.A.  (of  the  London  County 
Council)  :  In  common  with  the  rest  of  you,  I  greatly  enjoyed  the 
straight  talk  of  Mr.  Burnham.  With  the  directness  of  his  nation,  he 
went  right  to  his  goal.  There  was  no  circumlocution  about  him  ;  and 
he  comes  not  only  with  theory,  but  with  practical  knowledge  of  his 
subject.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Mr.  Burnham  in  Chicago  at 
the  World's  Fair.  Many  of  you  may  know  that  he  was  the  brain  of 
that  great  undertaking.  Chicago  at  that  time  was  something  awful 
and  unthinkable,  and  it  was  a  revelation  to  the  dwellers  in  Chicago  to 
have  the  White  City  reared  in  their  midst.  At  that  date  began  the 
new  era,  and  that  White  City  made  possible  the  Commission  of 
which  we  have  heard  to-day.  Mr.  Burnham  was  also  upon  the 
Washington  Commission,  upon  which  also  was  the  late  lamented 
Mr.  McKim. 

Into  the  question  of  democracy  in  its  relation  to  art  it  is  not  my 
intention  to  enter.  There  are  dangers  in  democracy  as  in  monarchy, 
but  there  is  no  doubt  that  with  an  intelligent  democracy,  as  in  the 
United  States,  there  will  eventually  out  of  their  troubles  spring 
immense  results.  Those  of  you  who,  like  myself,  many  years  ago 
travelled  over  the  States  will  know  how  Philistinism  and  Gothism 
ruled  rampant  at  that  time,  and  if  you  go  there  to-day  the  immense 
change  and  improvement  you  will  find  will  strike  you  as  something 
marvellous.  It  is  interesting  also  to  hear  from  Mr.  Burnham  of  the 
progress  being  made  in  Canada.  I  lived  for  some  years  there,  and 
I  am  glad  to  hear  that  Sir  William  van  Horn  has  taken  the  chairman- 
ship of  the  Commission  in  Montreal.  He  is  a  man  who  makes  a  suc- 
cess of  whatever  he  undertakes.  Our  Dominions  and  Colonies  beyond 
the  seas  arc  in  a  position  in  which  we  are  not ;  they  are  in  process  of 
formation.  New  towns  are  springing  up,  and  now  is  the  time  for 
them  to  formulate  proper  plans  of  new  towns,  so  that  they  may  profit 
by  our  mistakes.  I  hope  that  all  over  Canada  there  will  be  town- 
planning  schemes  for  the  new  towns  along  the  railways.  They  have 
an  opportunity  which  if  neglected  will  never  come  to  them  again. 

I  come  before  you  as  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  London 
County  Council,  and  it  is  on  that  ground  that  I  venture  to  take  up 
your  time  for  a  moment.     I  wish  to  bring  greetings  to  this  meeting 


The  City  of  the  Future.  387 

from  the  Council,  and  to  say  how  much  it  appreciates  this  Conference 
and  to  express  its  good  wishes. 

I  feel  this  should  be  the  beginning  of  a  new  era.      Wi  shall  date 
from  this  year  Anno  Domini  1910  a  new  departure  in  town  planning 
and  the  beautifying  of  our  country.     There  are  many  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  improvement  of  London,  but   it  is  not  so  bad  as  some 
people  make  out.     London  is  becoming  more  and  more  an  attraction. 
\'isitors  are  finding  greater  inspiration  and  pleasure  in  London  than  in 
other  places.      I  do  not  think  there  is  anything  finer  in  any  citv  I  know 
than  our  Embankment  from  Westminster  to  Blackfriars  Bridge.     We 
have  cause  to  be  really  hopeful,  and  we  are  striving  after  great  things. 
Do  not  be  impatient ;  do  not  accuse  us  unduly  ;  do  not  shoot  us,  be- 
cause we  may  not  be  doing  all  you  think  we  ought  to  do.     Vou  have 
heard  the  story  of  the  notice  put  up  in  a  western  town  :  "  Do  not  shoot 
at  the  fiddler;   he   is   doing  his  best."     Now  the   London   County 
Council  are  really  doing  their  best.        We  are  beset  by  enormous 
•difficulties — difficulties  with  which   I  do  not  think  any  other  city  has 
to  contend.     You  heard  from  Mr.   Riley  yesterday  of  the  enormous 
■cost  of  any  improvements  in  London.     Therefore  we  have    -^ot  to 
consider  merely  the  theoretical  aspect;  we  have  to  consider  th*.  .ate- 
payer.     He  is  after  all  the  controlling  factor  ;  and  you  must  remember 
that  any  expense  that  is  entered  into  has  to  be  borne  by  the  rate- 
payer, who  is  already  very  much  overburdened.      But  we  are  formu- 
lating new  schemes,  to  be  carried  out  as  and  when  opportunities  offer, 
and  we  shall  be  glad  if  this  Conference  will  help  us  by  suggesting  new- 
methods  of  beautifying  London.      We  are  sure  the  result  will  be  for 
good. 

INL  AuGUSTiN  Rev  addressed  the  meeting  in  French, 
Mr.  Francis  Swales  (London)  :  May  I  make  some  observations 
and  ask  a  few  questions  relative  to  the  papers  read  this  morning? 
This  Conference  is  obviously  only  the  practical  beginning  of  the 
town-planning  movement,  and  from  the  many  and  diverse  views 
expressed  it  appears  that  all  the  speakers  recognise  the  essential 
fact  that  our  towns  have  grown  without  system  or  order.  We  are 
confronted  with  some  monumental  problems  as  to  how  to  change 
them  which  must  soon  be  solved,  and  the  equally  serious  problem  of 
how  they  shall  be  extended  without  risking  unnecessarily  further 
changes  in  the  near  future  to  these  extensions.  Some  of  the  papers 
have  been  confined  to  studies  of  planning  in  "  the  Grand  Manner,"  and 
to  undertakings  on  a  scale  similar  to  those  of  the  Grand  Mouarqitc. 
I  think  the  suggestions  relating  to  public  gardens  and  wide  boule- 
vards— intended  only  for  the  large  towns — have  been  misunderstood 
as  to  be  applied  to  every  town  throughout  the  country,  and  that  a  few 
of  our  lay  members — town  officers  and  borough  surveyors  of  small 
places — have  here  and  there  been  seized  with  the  fear  lest  the  new 
Town  Planning  Act  shall  require  them  to  convert  their  towns  into 
ridiculous  imitations  of  such  great  undertakings  as  the  plans  of 
Washington  and  Chicago ;  and  that  their  constituents  will,  in  con- 
sequence, be  burdened  with  further,  and  needless,  rates.  That,  of 
-course,  we  all  know — or  ought  to  know — is  not  the  case. 

The  Town  Planning  .\ct  is  evidently  something  whicli  lias  been 


.-^SS  Transactions  of  the  Vote;;  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  iqio. 

needed  to  enable  the  towns  of  Cireat  Britain  to  put  themselves  in  order 
and  to  effect  much-needed  economies  ;  and,  if  accepted  by  the  town 
oflicers  in  a  decent  spirit,  is  an  almost  purely  economic  measure.  It 
enables  them  to  plan — that  is  to  say,  to  think  over  in  advance  what 
thev  may  undertake,  instead  of  following-,  as  at  present,  the  course  of 
doing  something  which  when  completed  they  find  to  have  been  a 
grave  and  costly  mistake — something  which  must,  frequently,  be  done 
over  again,  or  involve  many  "  extras."  The  economy  in  town 
planning  is  the  same  as  in  building  planning ;  and  what  experienced 
person  would  think  of  building  without  a  plan?  But,  as  with  build- 
ing planning,  it  does,  however,   depend  upon  the  planner. 

In  some  of  the  magnificent  plans  on  exhibition  at  the  Royal 
Academy  we  have  seen  with  what  excellent  practical  sense — and 
artistically  presented,  too  ! — the  architects  of  France,  Germany,  and 
the  United  vStates  have  planned  the  improvements  which  the  economic 
problems  of  those  countries  have  demanded. 

Mr.  Burnham,  in  his  thoughtful  paper,  has  indicated  what  is  taking 
place  in  the  United  States,  and  the  interest  which  the  e7ilif;htened 
people  of  the  country  are  taking  in  the  improvement  of  their  towns. 
I  am  pleased  to  observe  that  the  tone  of  his  paper  is  optimistic — that 
he  has  confidence  in  "  the  democracy  of  the  United  States." 

Still,  it  seems  that  Mr.  Burnham's  predictions  have  occasioned  in 
the  mind  of  Mr.  Cornford — and  possibly  others  who  also  regard 
the  lowest  classes  only  as  the  "  public  " — fears  of  an  extra- 
ordinary nature  as  to  what  may  happen,  if  not  to  the  plan 
of  London,  at  least  to  some  of  its  important  details,  such 
as  Westminster  Palace  and  "  Mr.  Smith's  little  home,"  should 
any  such  terrible  thing  as  an  English  "  Democracy  "  develop  in  our 
midst.  Although  I  have  been  delighted  with  Mr.  Cornford 's  very 
clever  and  amusing  satire,  replete  as  it  is  with  humour  and  wit,  I 
fail  to  see  that  it  helps  towards  arriving  at  more  beautiful,  more  sani- 
tary, or  less  inane  town  disarrangement  than  what  exists.  It  seems 
almost  to  combat  the  idea  of  public  improvement,  and,  if  he  will 
pardon  my  saying  so,  I  fear  some  of  his  statements  are  biassed  by 
politics. 

Mr.  Cornford  has  told  us  that  what  "  Mr.  Smith  wants  is  his  own 
little  home,  and  when  he  has  that  he  will  attend  to  the  town  hall." 
Private  selfishness  opposed  to  public  progress  plays  well  upon  the 
prejudices  of  the  narrow-minded  ;  but  is  Mr.  Cornford  sure  about 
the  "  town  hall  "  ?  I  venture  the  suggestion  that  "  Mr.  Smith  "  will 
do  nothing  of  the  kind.  He  will  fall  into  the  meshes  of  the  "  simple 
system  "  of  payments,  and  will  soon  begin  to  think  of  another 
system  of  payments,  which  he  has  to  make  under  the  excellent 
British  system  of  direct  taxation,  which  is  not  "  so  simple."  Every 
three  months  he  will  be  served  with  what  he  feels  to  be  equivalent 
to  a  warrant  for  his  arrest — a  little  white  paper  with  the  words 
"  Final  Notice  "  printed  in  red.  If  he  thinks  of  the  town  hall  he 
\\  ill  also  think  of  the  rate  collector.  I  doubt  that  Mr.  Cornford  has 
thought  of  his  friend  "  Smith's  "  welfare  or  woes  once  in  ten  times 
as  often  as  we  architects  have  been  obliged  to  do.  His  interesting- 
paper   points  only   to   difficulties   and   obstacles  which  we   meet   and 


The  City  of  the  Future.  389 

overcome  every  day  of  our  professional  lives.  But  "  Mr.  Smith's 
little  home  "  is  a  mere  detail  with  which  we  were  all  familiar  before 
w-e  heard  of  the  phrase  "town  planning-."  It  is  a  detail  that  will 
not  suffer,  but  will  be  improved  by  the  properly  considered  distri- 
bution and  concentration  of  the  several  kinds  of  buildings  which  go 
to  make  up  a  town,  its  proximity  to  more  open  spaces,   etc. 

Mr.  Burns  in  his  Town  Planning  Act  has  gone  ahead  and  done 
something.  Mr.  Stokes,  the  able  President  of  the  Royal  Institute 
of  British  Architects,  has  pointed  out  that  the  Act  says  "  may  "  in 
many  places  where  it  should  say  "  must  "  ;  and  Mr.  Burns  has 
intimated  that  "  must  "  may  have  to  come  later.  If  "  Mr.  Smith  " 
and  the  borough  councils  are  not  wise  enough  to  adopt  that  policv 
of  "  intelligent  self-interest  " — which  dictates  that  "  Mr.  Brown  " 
(brickie)  or  "  Mr.  Jones  "  (navvy),  who  has  not,  and  never  will  have, 
"  a  little  'ome  of  'is  own,"  and  who,  left  to  his  own  choice,  will,  when 
the  land  is  full  of  garden  cities,  still  live  in  the  most  crowded  part  of 
the  biggest  town,  and  regard  the  cottage  as  the  paradise  of  fools 
and  the  country  as  the  place  for  the  credulous  agriculturist  w^ho 
believes  in  small  holdings — if  the  powers  that  be  do  not  adopt  a  policy 
in  the  large  towns  which  provides  those  public  spaces  where  "  Mr. 
Brown  "  and  "  Mr.  Jones  "  may  enjoy  some  of  the  amenities  of  life — • 
well,  Mr.  Cornford  has  told  us  what  they  will  do.  Mr.  Burnham's 
question,  "Will  the  pendulum  swing  back?"  will  be  briefl}-  answered 
in  the  affirmative. 

Town  planning  is  a  matter  which  affects  every  class,  and  is  of 
greater  importance  than  the  desires  of  any  one  or  two  classes.  It 
may,  if  "  Mr.  Smith  "  considers  his  own  little  home  as  something 
above  public  interests,  materially  affect  the  condition  of  the  small 
house,  but  it  will  not  harm  it.  Have  we  not  had  too  many  cases  of  the 
suburb  of  to-day  which  will  be  the  slum  of  to-morrow?  Has  not  the 
proverb — so  comforting  to  the  public,  if  not  to  the  architect — that 
"  fools  build  houses  for  wise  men  to  live  in  "  degenerated  into 
*' Knaves  build  towns  for  fools  to  live  in"?  It  is  to  the  proper 
subordination  of  "  Mr.  Smith's  "  house  to  the  interests  of  the  town  as 
a  whole  that  we  must  look  to  the  town  councillors  and  borough  sur- 
veyors of  the  smaller  places  to  render  the  Town  Planning  .Act  service- 
able to  their  own  neighbourhoods. 

Economy  has  too  long  been  preached  as  an  excuse  for  overcrowd- 
ing ;  and  a  kind  of  cancerous  growth  has  developed  in  most  of  the 
large  cities  of  the  world — it  is  not  confined  to  the  slums,  but  extends 
to  every  place  w-here  men  work.  To  the  districts  of  the  shop  and 
office  quite  as  much  as  to  the  workshop  and  the  workman's  abode, 
and  even  to  the  street  itself,  in  which  the  regulation  and  delay  of  traffic 
place  an  enormous  burden  of  expense  upon  the  public — an  expense 
hitherto  not  sufficiently  taken  into  account  by  those  who  are  respon- 
sible for  the  condition  of  many  parts  of  our  cities. 

The  Town  Planning  Act  is  an  instrument  provided  to  enable  the 
towns  to  rid  themselves  of  the  disease  ;  the  only  real  problem  before 
the  towns  is  the  selection  of  the  surgeon — upon  that  everything  de- 
pends ! — is  there  a  suflficient  number  of  experts?  and  where  shalPthey 
be  found?       It   is  an  invitation   to  give  up  a  foolish  and  expensive 


390   Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

method  ol  spending  "  Mr.  Smith's  "  money.  I  think  it  inti- 
mates that  the  towns  might  seek  and  obtain  better  professional 
advice  from  others  than  their  salaried  servants — that  that  advice 
would,  perhaps,  lead  to  economies  rather  than  extra  expenditures, 
and  lead  a ou  gentlemen  who  manage  the  affairs  of  the  towns  away 
from  the  only  question  you  seem  to  be  able  to  ask  :  "  Where  is  the 
money  to  come  from?  "  But  even  if  the  question  of  first  cost 
exists,  that  is  not  our  business — though  in  a  professional 
capacity  we  might  be  able  to  tell  you,  if  }ou  only  tried 
us.  \\'e  are  not  statesmen  and  we  are  not  politicians.  We 
are  economists — Heaven  knows  we  have  to  be  ! — and  we  are  expe- 
rienced in  some  kinds  of  financial  problems.  We  are  sociologists, 
and  we  have  had  a  part  in  pointing  out  the  unhealthiness  and 
degenerating  influence  of  the  tenement  and  the  foulness  of  "  Mr. 
Smith's  "  very  small  backyard.  We  are  engineers  who  "  know 
how  "  ;  the  professional  "  engineer  "  at  his  best  is  a  specialist- 
architect,  inferior,  broadly  speaking,  to  the  general  practitioner  in 
that  his  experience,  knowledge,  and  consequent  view  is  narrowed  to 
one  channel  of  the  scientific  side  of  building,  every  branch  of  which 
is  comprised  in  the  word  "  architecture."  Above  all,  we  are  artists, 
and  our  special  aim  and  interest  is  to  create  beauty  where  it  does 
not  exist  and  to  preserve  it  where  it  does.  Ambition  to  see  and  hear 
something  pleasant,  and  then  something  growing  always  better,  is 
the  most  essential  superiority  of  man  over  brute.  To  produce 
the  first,  in  addition  to  providing  for  the  animal  comfort  of  man,  is 
our  ultimate  object.  It  is  characteristic  of  inexperience  to  discover 
"  insurmountable  "  obstacles  and  to  delight  in  ridicule  and 
pessimism  ;  and  of  the  experienced  to  remember  that  where  there's 
a  will  there  are  several  by-ways  ;  that  the  public  is  not  so  stupid  as 
supposed  by  some  people,  and  that  good  sense  will  triumph  over 
al!  the  objections  of  self  interest.  Public  health  demands  places  of 
public  recreation  ;  public  convenience  requires  facility  of  communica- 
tion and  transport,  and  the  concentration  in  certain  localities  of  cer- 
tain kinds  of  business — manufacturing,  for  example  ;  public  peace 
and  protection  depend  upon  the  means  of  popular  diversion,  amuse- 
ment, and  instruction.  .\n  intelligent  plan  will  provide  for  all  these 
things.  It  is  demanded  to  provide  for  necessities,  among  which,  to 
an  enlightened  people,  beauty  is  not  the  least  considerable. 

America  is  to-day  meeting  the  growing  demand  with  such  extra- 
ordinarily well-thought-out  plans  as  those  of  Washington,  Cleveland, 
San  Francisco,  Minneapolis,  Detroit,  and  St.  Paul,  and,  best  of  all, 
the  great  one  of  Chicago,  which  have  been  prepared  by  the  most 
eminent  architects  of  that  country. 

Chicago  at  present  is  the  notoriously  ugly  Beast  which  the 
love  of  Beauty  is  about  to  convert  into  a  Prince — a  prince 
of  the  cities  of  the  world  !  If  only  a  part  of  the  scheme 
is  carried  out — that  great  lake-front  park  and  lagoon,  with 
the  magnificent  museum  as  a  centre — it  will  be  sufficient  to  effect 
the  change.  The  people  of  Chicago  know  what  Mr.  Burnham 
could  do  with  architecture,  for  he  was  the  real  creator  of  the  Chicago 
Exposition ;   but   until   the   lake-front   improvement   is   accomplished 


The  City  of  the  Ftdiirc.  391 

they  probably  cannot  realise  what  he  will  do  with  a  great  public 
garden.  Think  what  a  boon  that  will  be  to  Chicago's  poor,  and 
what  a  glory  to  the  proud  Queen  City  of  the  Lakes  !  Probablv 
nothing  that  any  of  those  four  hundred  millionaire  business  men — 
captains  of  industry  and  masters  of  finance  though  they  are 
admitted  to  be — have  done,  can  be  compared  with  the  un- 
selfish spirit  of  good  citizenship  which  has  induced  them  to  give 
up  a  great  deal  of  highly  valuable  time  in  order  to  keep  in  touch 
with  what  their  architect  was  doing.  Mr.  Cornford  is,  no  doubt, 
right  in  saying  that  probably  one  man  did  most  of  the  work,  but  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  have  done  it  alone.  What- 
ever is  accomplished  of  that  great  scheme  the  credit  will  be  due  not 
10  Mr.  Burnham  and  his  artistic  and  scientific  assistants  alone  ;  not 
to  the  four  hundred  members  of  that  public-spirited  committee  alone  ; 
but  to  both,  and  to  all  the  citizens  of  Chicago — the  city  that  some 
day  will  be  bigger  than  London  and  more  beautiful  than  Paris  ! 
I  v.ish  to  emphasise,  in  closing,  Mr.  Burnham 's  epigram  :  "  Know- 
Jed  s:c  will  lead  to  Desire,  and  Desire  to  Action." 

Councillor  JoHX  S.  Galbraith  (Glasgow)  :  I  have  listened  with  very 
great  pleasure  indeed  to  the  lectures  this  morning,  particularly  to 
that  given  by  the  gentleman  from  Chicago ;  and  we  have  heard 
gentlemen  from  England  address  this  meeting ;  but  I  do  not  think 
the  voice  of  Scotland  has  yet  been  heard  this  morning  on  the  ques- 
tion. A  Scotchman  is  nothing  if  he  is  not  practical.  The  whole 
thing,  to  my  mind,  seems  to  be  this.  Where  is  the  money  to  come 
from?  We  have  heard  architects  telling  us  of  the  beautiful  plans 
they  could  put  on  paper.  I  believe  every  word  of  it ;  but  I  want  to 
know,  if  we  are  going  to  convert  the  City  of  Glasgow,  as  some  of 
these  gentlemen  suggest  we  should,  where  are  you  going  to  get 
the  money  from  ? 

I  listened  with  the  very  greatest  interest  and  pleasure  and  delight 
to  Mr.  Burns  taking  us  away  on  to  the  top  of  the  Tower  of  London, 
looking  down  upon  Cannon  Street  and  the  other  places,  and  desiring 
that  they  should  be  swept  into  the  Thames  or  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea  ; 
but  Mr.  Burns  did  not  tell  us  who  was  to  provide  the  money  for  what 
is  to  come  in  place  of  those  abortions — shall  we  call  them  ? — that  I 
am  told  exist  even  in  the  City  of  London. 

Xow  we  have  done  a  great  deal  in  Glasgow  towards  making  it  a 
delectable  and  a  delightful  place  to  live  in,  and  I  invite  all  those 
gentlemen  and  ladies  here  who  have  not  visited  the  commercial 
capital  of  Scotland  to  come  north,  and  I  hope  at  all  events  we  can 
show  them,  if  not  a  clean  city,  at  least  a  clean  river,  the  Clyde.  We 
have  just  completed  in  the  City  of  Glasgow,  within  the  last  few- 
months,  a  great  scheme  which  has  cost  us  nearly  two  and  a  half 
millions,  to  prevent  any  sewage  from  the  city  going  into  the 
Glasgow  river,  the  River  Clyde.  We  are  tackling  at  the  present 
moment  the  air  question,  and  cross-river  communication  is  another 
matter  which  we  are  dealing  with.  We  are  trying  to  do  away  with 
the  slums  in  the  City  of  Glasgow ;  but  to  attack  a  greater  scheme 
and  rebuild  streets,  and  lay  out  squares,  is  a  matter  which  the 
ratepayers    will  have   to  say    a   word  about.      I   do    not    think  the 


392   Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

ratepavers  of  the  City  of  Glasgow  would  appreciate  6J.  or  15.,  or 
probably  2s.  in  the  pound  being  put  upon  the  rates.  That  is  my 
great  difficulty  in  connection  with  this  whole  scheme  of  town  plan- 
ning. That  is  what  I  came  up  to  London  as  a  representative  of  the 
Citv  of  Glasgow  to  hear  something  about ;  and  I  do  not  think  any 
of  the  gentlemen  who  have  spoken — at  least  those  I  have  listened  to 
— have  tackled  that  question  and  told  us  how  the  money  is  to  be 
provided. 

Mr.  H.^RRV  DE  Pass  :  I  may  say  in  general  concerning  all 
the  papers  that  the  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  town 
planning  is  the  holding-up  of  land.  I  think  that  we  in  this 
country  are  fortunate  in  having  a  valuation  made  of  all  our  land, 
and,  although  M.  Rey  and  the  several  speakers  yesterday  said  that 
we  are  more  fortunate  than  foreign  countries,  yet  we  all  know 
instances  where  land  has  been  held  up,  such  as  the  instances  dealt 
with  yesterday  by  Mr.  Riley.  Now  we  have  a  valuation  brought 
about  by  the  Budget,  and  we  hope  that  our  councils  and  munici- 
palities will  be  able  to  purchase  land  at  the  right  price.  The  great 
impediment  to  town  planning  is  the  withholding  of  land  from  use 
altogether.  That  can  be  done  away  with  by  the  introduction  of 
land  Bills,  which  we  hope  will  soon  follow  in  this  country,  I  think, 
looking  at  it  from  a  practical  point  of  view,  we  must  realise  that 
these  schemes  of  town  planning  are  very  interesting  and  very  in- 
structive, but  they  are  not  practical  as  long  as  you  have  this 
enormous  obstacle  in  the  way,  namely,  the  private  ownership  of 
land. 

Professor  S.  D.  Adshead  :  Far  be  it  from  me  to  compliment  my 
colleague.  Professor  Reilly,  on  what  I  consider  to  be  a  very  splendid 
lecture  ;  but  I  wish  to  endorse  his  remarks  and  lay  stress  upon  one 
or  two  points.  In  the  first  place,  he  pointed  out  very  clearly  that 
the  country  cottage  was  very  ill-fitting  in  the  town,  and  that  the 
town  house  was  just  as  ill-fitting  in  the  country-.  That  is 
a  point  worth  bearing  in  mind  by  architects  who  are  en- 
gaged in  town  planning  in  the  suburbs.  With  regard  to 
the  country  cottage,  I  am  not  prepared  to  enter  into  the 
question  of  whether  every  type  has  yet  been  originated.  I  do  not 
think  it  has.  But  the  district  bordering  on  the  urban  district  has  not 
yet  been  thoroughly  investigated.  We  must  originate  a  new 
type  of  house  for  that  district.  There  houses  must  go  close  together. 
I  am  quite  sure  that  we  shall  be  obliged  to  have  them  somewhat  more 
crowded  than  twelve  to  the  acre.  We  shall  have  to  originate  rows  of 
cottages  with  twenty  to  the  acre,  and  I  feel  that  Professor  Reilly  has 
given  us  some  very  good  suggestions  for  the  type  of  house  for  that 
particular  district.  It  must  be  simpler.  We  must  get  rid  of  awkward 
corners.  We  must  have  square  rooms  and  different  windows,  and 
altogether  we  shall  have  to  depend  upon  thoroughly-worked-out  refine- 
ments rather  than  accidents  such  as  half-sawn-through  ridges,  and 
square  paving  stones  broken  up  and  re-set  to  make  them  look  anti- 
quated. Mr.  Burnham  opened  his  paper  with  a  very  fine  philoso- 
phical foundation  on  the  sociology  of  .America.  He  showed  us  that 
the  new  conditions  of  .\merica,  combined  with  its  numerous  nationa- 


The  City  of  the  Future.  393 

lities,  have  resulted  in  the  production  of  something  entirely  original. 
I  wish  to  point  out  that  I  have  just  been  to  America,  and  the  sort  of 
originality  there  is  nothing  like  the  sort  of  originality  we  find  here. 
The  originality  of  .\merica  rests  on  a  solid  foundation  of  tradition, 
here  it  is  haphazard. 

Mr.  Herbert  Frevberg  (Kensington)  :  I  will  only  attempt  to  deal, 
and  that  very  cursorily,  with  the  admirable  Paper  we  have  had  from 
Professor  Reilh .  I  must  say  how  pleased  I  w  as  to  hear  him  declare 
war  against  Tottenham  Court  Road.  "  Tottenham  Court  Road," 
I  take  it,  he  used  not  in  its  narrow  local  sense,  but  as  describing  all 
that  *'  Tottenham  Court  Road  "  means  and  has  meant  to  English 
homes  for  the  last  five-and-twenty  years.  I  do  hope  that  this  Con- 
ference will  be  the  signal  for  the  deathblow  to  such  a  school  of 
furniture,  decoration,  and  building.  Now  may  I  say  that,  as  far  as 
I  gather  from  the  admirable  Paper  that  was  read,  it  seems  to  me 
that  Professor  Reilly  wanted  on  the  one  hand  to  prevent  the  eccen- 
tricities of  the  ignorant  spoiling  the  landscape  by  obtrusive  and  offen- 
sive exteriors,  and  at  the  same  time  he  was  most  willing  to  allow 
that  there  should  be  individuality  with  regard  to  the  interior  of  the 
house.  Well,  sir,  it  is  just  a  suggestion  of  mine  that  blocks  of 
houses  of  three,  five,  or  seven  detached,  semi-detached,  or  in  ter- 
races, as  the  case  might  be,  in  what  we  understand  now  by  the 
Georgian  style  of  architecture  (so-called,  I  believe,  though  it  was 
first  introduced  at  the  time  of  the  Restoration),  might  be  put 
up  in  carcase  and  could  be  finished  externally  with  the  cornices,  the 
beautiful  windows,  the  Georgian  porch  and  hood,  of  which  there  are 
any  number  of  varieties.  The  Georgian  doorways  themselves  are 
worth  studying  all  over  the  country.  If  the  interior  of  the  houses 
were  finished  perfectly  plainly,  without  cornices,  and  with  only  brick 
fireplaces  and  so  on,  then  as  the  people  got  their  money  they  could 
spend  it  wisely  by  decorating  the  interior  of  their  house  to  suit  them- 
selves instead  of  wasting  it  on  perishable  motor-cars. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Ibbersox  :  We  have  all  been  impressed  with  the  in- 
genuity shown  in  M.  Henard's  scheme  for  subterranean  treatment  in 
congested  areas.  I  think  that  we  all  felt  that  public  convenience 
would  be  helped  by  such  arrangement.  When,  however,  he  showed 
us  afterwards  the  bird's-eye  view  I  was  filled  with  wonder — and 
wonder  not  altogether  unmixed  with  fear.  The  type  of  building  did 
not  commend  itself  to  me  at  all.  This  may  have  been  my  fault,  still  I 
think  that  the  type  of  mind  which  is  skilful  in  dealing  with  engineering 
projects  is  not  necessarily  skilful  in  dealing  with  attempts  at  beauty. 
We  have  heard  that  in  America  town  planning  is  the  result  of  a 
conference  oi  experts.  In  London  I  believe  the  same  thing  is  being 
done,  but  I  fear  that  in  the  smaller  towns  there  is  a  danger  of  the 
whole  scheme  being  left  in  the  hands  of  one  man,  and  that  man  the 
borough  engineer.  I  would  not  say  a  word  against  the  borough 
engineer.  Whenever  I  have  met  him  I  have  found  him  to  be  in  many 
w avs  admirable  ;  but  perhaps  I  might  be  allowed  to  suggest  to  him 
that  when  he  goes  back  to  his  Council  he  might  call  their  attention  to 
the  fact  that  "  beauty  is  a  commercial  asset,"  and  that  the  best  way 
of  getting  a  satisfactor>  result  will  be  to  combine  with  his  special 
technical  knowledge  some  outside  artistic  help. 

DO 


394  Transactions  of  the  Toxvn  Planning  Cunfercnce,  Oct.  lyio. 


DISCUSSION  AT  THE  OVERFLOW  .MEETING. 
Mr.   j.   A.    BRODiii,   M.lnst.C'.K.,   in  the  Chair, 

Mr.  M.XTT.  G.ARBUTT  :  These  Papers  seem  to  have  dealt  not  so 
niucli  w  ith  practical  construction  as  w  ith  the  theories  which  underlie 
all  building  of  towns.  Mr.  Burnham's  Paper,  particularly,  pointed 
the  way  to  a  very  big;  subject  that  it  would  take  weeks  to  discuss 
properly.  It  is  very  unfortunate  that  Mr.  Burnham  and  Mr.  Corn- 
ford  have  had  to  leave  the  room,  because  it  would  be  a  great 
advantage  to  have  them  here  to  say  a  word  or  two  after  the  dis- 
cussion. It  would  be  particularly  interesting  if  we  could  get  them 
here  for  an  hour  or  two  to  fight  out  between  them  the  matters  to 
which  they  referred.  They  took  diametrically  opposite  points  of  view, 
evidently.  Perhaps  something  is  to  be  said  on  each  side.  I  expect 
that  most  of  us  were  more  in  s}mpathy  with  Mr.  Cornford  than  with 
Mr.  Burnham.  Mr.  Cornford,  I  think  it  was,  hit  the  nail  on  the 
head  when  he  said  that  the  tendency  to-day  was,  in  towns  at  any 
rate,  to  substitute  for  the  benevolent  despotism  of  the  great  land- 
lords an  organised  democracy.  That  would  appear  to  be  what  Mr. 
Burnham  wants,  and,  to  my  thinking,  it  is  one  of  the  very  worst  things 
that  could  possibly  happen  to  the  people.  If  you  have  your  individual 
tyrant,  and  he  does  wrong,  it  is  possible  for  a  revolution  to  smash 
him  up;  but  if  the  t}rant  is  the  vast  majority  of  the  people,  it  is  a 
tyranny  hard  to  overthrow  ;  and  that  is  the  sort  of  tyranny  that  they 
appear  to  be  actually  suffering  from  in  .\merica.  Looking  at  it  from  a 
distance,  of  course,  one  cannot  speak  to  details  in  the  way  in  which 
Mr.  Burnham  can  ;  but  there  are  frequent  indications  that  in  America 
to-day  there  is  a  kind  of  tyranny  that  is  lamentable  in  the  extreme. 
Further,  Mr.  Burnham  stated  that  everything  had  to  be  very  public 
in  America,  and  that  nothing  particular  could  be  done  privately  ;  but 
recent  events  certainly  seem  to  indicate  that  it  is  possible  over  there  to 
organise  bodies  which  have  very  great  power  for  action,  and  which 
exercise  their  power  decidedly  against  the  public  interest.  Of  course, 
the  American  people  present  a  most  interesting  problem  from  that 
point  of  view  just  now.  I  suppose  that  the  linglish  people  have,  in  the 
past,  been  strong  because  they  are  a  mongrel  race.  The  Americans, 
being  much  more  mongrel,  ought  to  be  \ery  much  stronger.  \\'hether 
that  is  an  argument  that  would  stand  thrashing  out  to  the  extreme 
I  do  not  know  ;  but  I  rather  think  that  it  is.  If  you  regard  the  different 
peoples  of  the  world  it  would  certainly  seem  that  those  who  are  purest 
in  blood  rapidly  become  very  weak.  But  in  spite  of  their  advantage  in 
this  respect,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  a  democracy  such  as  exists 
in  .America  does  carry  with  it  the  seeds  of  its  own  destruction. 
These  Papers  run  a  little  away  from  town  planning,  and  raise 
questions  which  are  much  too  big  to  be  adequately  discussed  in  these 
short  meetings.  But  even  Mr.  Burnham  indicated  that  democracy  in 
America,  in  practice,  has  to  be  managed  and  controlled  a  little  bit. 


I 


The  City  of  the  Future.  395 

"'  Four  hundred  of  the  best  men  "  are  not  exactly  "  the  democracy,'* 
and  Mr.  Cornford  was  probably  right  in  hinting  that  those  four  hun- 
dred men  only  said  "  Hear,  hear  "  to  what  Mr.  Burnham  actually  is 
■doing.  Organised  town-planning,  like  every  other  matter  that  affects 
the  bulk  of  the  people,  will  have  to  be  done  by  very  few,  obviously  ; 
and  I  must  confess  that  to  praise  democratic  rule  as  necessarily  secur- 
ing wise  government  appears  to  me  an  error,  because  nine  times  out 
•of  ten  the  majority  are  absolutely  ignorant  of  principles,  and  therefore 
wrong  in  their  views.  "  The  greater  and  not  the  wiser  part  prevails. " 
Mr.  Cornford  seemed  to  think  that,  in  the  past,  things  were  better 
for  the  majority,  and,  for  some  mysterious  reason,  he  cited  as  evi- 
dences of  the  happiness  of  the  past  the  Roman  villas,  the  castles,  the 
hunting  lodges,  and  the  beautiful  houses.  All  those,  I  think  he  said, 
were  relics  of  a  happier  time.  The  castles  and  hunting  lodges  are 
scarcely  relics  of  a  happier  time.  We  have  to-day  very  few  relics 
indeed  of  the  dwellings  of  the  masses  of  the  people  either  in  the  East 
or  in  the  \\'est.  We  should  find,  I  think,  if  we  could  see  them,  that 
they  were  further  from  the  desirable  dwelling  of  Mr.  Cornford  than 
iuiything  that  we  to-day  imagine.  The  greatest  architecture  was  never 
put  up  by  the  democracy  ;  it  was  erected  nearly  always  by  some  sort 
of  tyrant,  the  worst  tyranny  being  invariably  an  organised  tyranny  of 
many  people.  The  individual  tyrant  got  overthrown  ;  he  could  not 
last  long  ;  but  whenever  there  was  a  great  organisation  which  put 
up  magnificent  architecture  it  lasted  longer  and  was  usually  to  the 
injury  of  the  bulk  of  the  people,  who  were  made  or  induced  to  produce 
those  big  monuments  but  had  very  little  of  the  enjoyment  of  them. 
Of  course,  the  easiest  things  to  point  to,  and  the  things  that  would  be 
most  readily  recognised,  would  be  the  gigantic  temples  and  fortifica- 
tions of  which  large  remains  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  East,  and  the 
great  structures  that  were  built  in  India  for  centuries  at  the  command 
of  the  rulers.  Palaces  and  whole  towns  were  put  up  simply  to  please 
one  man,  who  very  soon  abandoned  them.  Those  things  are  very 
beautiful  to  look  at  from  the  architectural  point  of  view  ;  but  very 
often  they  did  not  tend  to  the  happiness  of  the  people.  I  think  that  our 
little  garden  cities,  with  all  their  faults,  are  much  more  likely  to  pro- 
duce happiness  among  the  people  at  large  than  any  of  these  gigantic 
architectural  schemes  of  which  the  world  has  seen  so  many,  and 
which  seem  to  be  coming  into  vogue  again,  perhaps  chiefl\-  in  those 
cities  where  there  is  the  tyranny  of  the  big  democracv. 

Councillor  M.\rr  :  I  do  not  wish  to  follow  the  last  speaker  in  an 
elaborate  discussion  upon  the  tendencies  of  the  present  time,  demo- 
cratic or  otherwise,  although  I  should  like  to  say  at  the  outset  that  I 
totally  disagree  with  his  views.  I  think  that,  like  Mr.  Cornford,  he 
uill  rather  find  himself  a  "  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness  "  now. 
The  time  for  lamenting  the  progress  of  the  democracy  has  gone  hv. 
But  I  do  wish  to  call  attention  to  one  or  two  points  in  the  Papers  as 
to  which  I  should  have  wished  that  we  could  ha\e  a  further  discussion, 
if  the  opportunity  had  availed,  with  the  readers  of  the  Papers  here. 
With  regard  to  the  point  in  Mr.  Burnham's  Paper  with  reference  to 
the  number  of  citizens  who  in  .American  towns  can  be  got  together  to 
formulate  town  plans  and  things  of  that  kind,  it  would  be  interesting 

D  D  J 


39^  Trciiisactioiis  of  tltc  'I'oicn  l^Uiiniiug'  Conjcrencc,  Oct.  H)\o. 

to  those  of  us  who  have  to  do  with  the  administration  of  Hni^hsh 
towns  if  we  could  have  had  from  Mr.  Burnham  directly  a  little  more 
information  as  to  how  those  special  commissions  are  nominated  and 
•ecurcd.  It  seoms  to  me  that  they  are  in  a  very  happy  position  in 
Chicay^o  if  they  can  enrol,  by  the  nomination  of  the  mayor,  four  hun- 
dred of  their  best  citizens  who  are  prepared  to  attend,  even  if  it  is  only 
to  say  "  Hear,  hear  "  to  certain  matters.  If  they  are  prepared  to 
attend  and  to  understand  what  Mr.  Burnham  is  doing  for  them,  they 
are  in  a  much  more  fortunate  position  than  we  in  England  are. 
I  think  that  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  from  your  experience  will  know  how 
Very  difficult  it  often  is,  when  one  master-mind  has  prepared  a  plan 
which  is  a  verv  desirable  one,  to  get  any  considerable  body  of  intel- 
ligent opinion  in  the  city  to  take  the  trouble  even  to  appreciate  the 
main  points  of  the  scheme  and  to  be  able  to  say  "  Hear,  hear  "  to  it. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  real  methods  of  democratic  government 
are  indicated  b\  Mr.  Burnham.  A  democratic  government  does  not 
mean  e\erybody  attending  and  deciding  a  lot  of  things  which  they 
know  nothing  about ;  but  it  does  mean  referring  the  subjects  to  groups 
of  people  who  do  know  about  them,  and,  on  the  whole,  accepting 
their  decisions.  I  am  not  an  engineer,  and  when  I  want  to  have  an 
engineering  decision  I  go  to  the  engineers.  That  seems  to  me  to  be 
the  democratic  thing  to  do,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  that  is  what  the 
democracy  has  to  do,  and  what  the  democracy  always  will  do. 

.Another  point  which  the  last  speaker  referred  to,  and  which  I 
w  ish  he  had  elaborated  a  little  further,  had  reference  to  something  that 
Mr.  Cornford  said  which  was  exceedingly  interesting  and  stimulating, 
but  with  which  I  disagreed,  I  think,  from  beginning  to  end.  It  came 
up  again  later  in  the  remarks  by  Professor  Reilly.  I  refer  to  the  ques- 
tion of  our  modern  town  architecture,  and  how  far  it  is  going  to  affect 
our  town  planning.  It  appears  to  me  that  we  have  rather  left  that 
question  out  of  account.  Many  of  our  discussions  dealt  very  admirably 
with  the  question  of  the  laying-out  of  streets  and  with  the  general 
question  of  how  far  we  were  to  provide  open  spaces  ;  but  we  ha\e  not 
had  quite  enough  attention  given,  I  think,  to  the  question  of  how  far 
the  great  extension  of  our  towns  is  going  to  be  affected  by  the  type 
of  house  that  is  to  be  erected  in  them.  The  last  speaker  put  in  a  word 
of  defence  for  the  little  garden  village  eccentricities,  if  they  are  eccen- 
tricities. .Although  I  disagree  with  him  in  other  matters,  I  sympathise 
with  him  in  that.  I  think  that  we  have  something  in  the  garden 
villages  which  is  worth  ha\  ing.  But  I  agree  with  Professor  Reilly 
that  the  time  has  probablx  now  arrived  when  the  movement  has  taken 
hold,  and  when  it  is  being  governed  by  people  who  have  not  given, 
perhaps,  so  much  attention  to  the  subject  as  the  devisers  of  garden 
villages  have.  The  time  has  now  arrived  w  hen  a  good  deal  more  ought 
to  be  devoted  to  the  type  of  dwellings  put  up.  Neither  Professor 
Reilly,  nor  ^^r.  Cornford,  nor  any  of  the  other  speakers  till  we  came 
to  M.  Henard,  seems  to  me  to  have  done  what  they  all  said  that  they 
were  going  to  do.  K\ery  Paper  almost  has  laid  it  down  as  essential 
that  it  was  important  to  consider  the  economic  and  sociological  con- 
ditions of  the  present  time  ;  but  scarcely  any  one  of  f)ur  friends  has 
taken  account  of  the  actual  developments  that  are  going  on.     They 


The  City  of  the  Future.  397 

all  recognise  that  \vc  ha\  c  to  Ia\-  electric  and  other  mains  in  our  streets  ; 
but  no  one,  until  M.  Henard  came  along,  has  been  bold  enough 
to  accept  some  of  those  revolutions  which  we  see  going  on  at  the 
present  moment.  \\"hethcr  M.  Henard's  very  elaborate  provision  of 
starting-places  for  our  future  aeroplanes,  and  for  the  motor-car  which 
is  to  be  available  for  every  one  of  us,  and  so  on,  is  an  absolutely 
possible  thing  I  do  not  know  ;  but  it  is  perfectly  certain  that  a  great 
many  points  upon  which  public  opinion  is  being  formed  at  the  present 
time  ought  to  be  taken  into  account  in  our  town-planning  schemes.  If 
we  are  going  to  "  town  plan  "  simply  upon  the  amount  of  knowledge 
which  we  have  at  the  present  moment,  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  hence 
our  successors  will  be  faced  with  exactly  the  same  problems  as  we  are 
faced  with  at  the  present  time.  The  problem  which  we  have  at  the 
present  time  is  how  to  adapt  the  resources  of  our  modern  civilisation 
to  an  environment  which  has  been  produced  by  our  old  civilisation. 
The  fact  is  we  have  an  old  centre  through  which  we  are  trying  to  drive 
our  modern  tramcars  and  so  on,  and  we  find  that  it  is  impossible  to  do 
it.  We  have  to  cut  and  carve  and  rearrange  things.  If  we  are  going 
to  develop  the  outskirts  of  our  towns  simply  to  suit  the  conditions 
of  the  present  day,  surely  we  are  likely  to  be,  as  M.  Henard  has  indi- 
cated, in  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  faced  with  a  series  of  problems  which 
will  be  just  as  difficult  of  solution  then  as  our  present  problems  are 
for  us. 

In  that  respect  there  is  one  matter  which  is  a  matter  of  importance 
to  me  upon  which,  I  think,  sufficient  stress  has  not  been  laid  either 
by  Professor  Reilly  or  even,  with  all  respect,  by  M.  Henard  ;  and 
that  is  that  the  type  of  the  actual  dwelling  of  the  future  seems  to  be 
likely  to  undergo  a  very  considerable  change  in  the  direction  of  meet- 
ing modern  hygienic  requirements.  At  the  present  moment  we  live 
in  a  building  which  gives  a  very  limited  amount  of  lighting  space, 
and  very  frequently  a  still  more  limited  amount  of  free  access  of  air. 
Thanks  very  largely  to  all  those  campaigns  against  the  prevalence  of 
tuberculosis  and  the  rest,  the  increase  of  sanatoria,  and  the  general 
increase  of  interest  in  the  open-air  life,  one  of  the  changes  that  have 
very  steadily  taken  place  is  that  people  even  in  England,  where  we 
have  a  much  heavier  rainfall  tlian  elsewhere,  are  living  a  great  deal 
more  out  of  doors  than  they  used  to  ;  and  it  strikes  me  that  the  house 
of  the  future  will  almost  certainly  be  a  house  in  which  a  very  much 
larger  proportion  of  open-air  life — I  admit  that  this  seems  rather 
Irish  and  paradoxical — will  be  possible.  It  will  be  a  sort  of  Japanese 
house,  which  it  will  be  possible  to  throw  open  to  the  air  and  sun- 
light, when  air  and  sunlight  are  available,  and  to  close  again  when 
those  are  impossible. 

Things  like  that  will  have  to  be  taken  into  consideration  if  we  are 
going  to  make  our  town  planning  at  all  perfect,  and  if  we  are  going 
to  avoid  handing  on  to  our  successors  difficulties,  expenditures,  and 
hindrances  of  the  kind  which  we  have  to  face  at  the  present  moment. 
It  is,  I  think,  one  of  the  matters  for  which  we  have  to  thank 
M.  Henard  that  in  that  exceedingly  interesting  Paper  and  in  all  those 
elaborately  drawn  diagrams  which  he  has  provided  us  with  he  has 
laid  down  a  series  of  suggestions  which,   if  we  do  not  accept  all  of 


3<jS   'rransactions  of  the  To^cn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  Kjio. 

them,  will,  at  any  rate,  stimulate  us  to  fresh  effort  and  fresh  thought 
in  the  direction  of  accepting  the  developments  which  are  going  on  at 
the  present  day  and  making  provision  for  their  use. 

Mr.  1'".  R.  Farrow  :  There  are  one  or  two  interesting  points  in  Pro- 
fessor Reilh  's  Paper  of  which,  I  think,  it  would  be  well  for  us  who  are 
spectators  rather  than  workers  in  the  town-planning  movement  of 
the  present  to  take  notice.  There  is  evidently  a  contest  of  opinion 
between  two  schools  of  thought.  One  is  represented  by  Professor 
Reilly,  who  advocates  a  town  laid  out  on  grand  lines,  with  long 
vistas  leading  to  open  spaces,  and  so  forth.  He  wants  also  to  bring 
us  back  again  to  a  classic  style  of  building,  as  opposed  to  the  type  of 
street  which  we  have  seen  in  the  garden  cities  at  Hampstead  and 
Letchworth,  where  the  German  principle  of  the  closed  vista  has  been 
adopted,  with  picturesque  buildings  of  the  modified  cottage  form.  I 
think  that  we  have,  perhaps,  in  this  country  lost  sight  of  what  is  at 
least  a  very  remarkable  development  in  architecture  that  has  taken 
place  in  Germany  during  the  last  few  years.  I  believe  that  w^e  shall 
find  in  what  the  Germans  call  the  "  neubau  "  an  instance  of  an  elastic 
type  of  design  which  gives  us  that  spirit  of  dignity  Professor 
Reilly  and  his  school  would  find  in  classical  inspirations,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  picturesque  homelike  effects  which  we  in  England, 
certainly  at  the  present  time,  rather  like  to  have  in  our  smaller  houses. 
I  am  one  of  those  who  feel  that  this  Conference  owes  a  great 
deal  to  the  admirable  Paper  which  M.  Henard  has  brought  forward. 
\Ve  can  see  that  in  our  cities  something  upon  the  lines  of  what  he  is 
proposing  has  already  come  to  pass.  Kingsway  is  full  of  subways 
for  the  verv  purpose  of  providing  for  those  numerous  accessories  to 
modern  life  ^^■hich  we  find  to  be  essential  now.  I  think  that  there  is 
nothing  at  all  outrageous  in  the  form  in  which  M.  Henard  has  put  the 
proposed  construction  of  streets.  It  is  a  question,  of  course,  whether 
we  in  these  days  should  so  far  depart  from  the  practice  of  all  nations 
and  peoples  in  the  past.  They  havfe  provided  for  their  immediate 
interests,  and  have  left  posterity  to  provide  for  itself.  We  may, 
perhaps,  provide  for  what  we  think  posterity  w  ill  want ;  but  posterity 
may  not  look  at  their  needs  in  the  same  way.  Certainly  any  attempts 
to  carry  out  schemes  such  as  M.  Henard  proposes  involve  a  large 
amount  of  capital  expenditure  which  will  have  to  be  met  by  posterity. 
We  could  not  possibly  meet  it  ourselves.  That,  therefore,  has  to  be 
very  constantly  borne  in  mind.  In  making  arrangements  for  future 
developments  we  should  be  very  careful  that  we  are  not  making 
trouble  for  the  future  instead  of  facilities. 

The  Chairman  :  Before  closing  the  meeting  I  would  like  to  refer 
to  one  or  two  points  raised  which  I  personally  think  are  of  importance. 
The  first  raised  by  Professor  Reilly  is  the  question  of  what  the  house 
of  tlie  future  is  likely  to  be.  I  cannot  pretend  to  approach  a  question 
of  this  description  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  trained  architect  in  a 
position  such  as  that  which  I  fill  ;  but  one  gets  accustomed 
to  watching  the  progress  of  building  development.  My  own 
\icw  is  that  his  suggestions  are  likely  to  be  realised,  from 
the  fact  that  the  newer  materials  are  likely  to  lead  in  that 
direction.        Some     of     you     know     that     I     ha\  e     a     good     deal     of 


The  City  of  the  Future.  399 

faith  in  concrete  as  the  cheapest  material  at  present  in  sight  for 
construction,  and  I  think  that  it  is  Hkely  to  come  more  and  more  to 
the  front  for  all  types  of  building-.  For  the  great  buildings  which  have 
been  shown  by  M.  Henard,  concrete,  reinforced  probably,  must  be  the 
principal  material ;  but  equally  for  the  smaller  buildings  it  is  likely  to 
come  to  the  front,  and  I  cannot  imagine  a  material  better  adapted  to 
the  types  of  buildings  which  are  now  being  erected  in  many  of  our 
garden  cities. 

Leaving  that  subject,  and  going  on  to  the  other  point  which  has 
been  raised  in  the  Paper  given  us  by  the  distinguished  architect  of 
Paris,  it  is,  perhaps,  a  good  thing  that  we  should  be  staggered  occa- 
sionally, and  I  confess  that  as  an  engineer  I  was  a  little  surprised  to 
find  the  creations  of  M.  Henard's  mind  so  fully  detailed  and  developed 
in  the  plans  shown  to  us.  I  am  not  sure  that  I  agree  even  with  the 
principles  on  which  he  starts.  It  may  be  that  three-  or  four-storey 
streets  and  many-storey  buildings  will  be  necessary  for  the  most 
crowded  central  portions  of  great  cities,  and  experience  In  the  most 
crowded  parts  of  London  drives  us  in  that  direction.  Where  the  value 
of  the  land  is  very  great  indeed  it  will  probably  become  by  the  force  of 
circumstances  necessary  to  put  as  much  as  we  possibly  can  on  a  small 
area  of  land.  But  I  think  that  when  we  get  into  the  outskirts,  where 
most  of  the  town  planning  is  likely  to  be  done,  the  conditions  entirely 
change,  and  there  I  should  say  that  we  cannot — at  any  rate,  in  a  feu-  of 
our  main  leading  thoroughfares  and  main  avenues — provide  too  much 
room.  If  the  future  is  to  be  entirely  with  flying-machines  it  does  not 
appear  that  the  four-storey  street  is  going  to  meet  the  case.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  we  continue  to  advance  in  the  direction  of  fast  traffic 
on  the  surfaces  of  streets — and  I  personally  believe  that  we  are  likely 
to  travel  In  that  direction — it  is  essential  that  we  should  widen  our 
main  streets,  and  so  provide.  In  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  cheapest 
possible  way,  for  travelling.  I  cannot  think  that  where  land  is  at  a 
moderate  cost  it  will  ever  be  necessary  to  spend  huge  sums  of 
money  upon  underground  construction  when  the  same  result  can 
be  obtained  by  comparatively  cheap  constructions  on  the  surface  of 
wider  streets. 

I  have  said  in  another  place  that  I  believe  in  wide  roads.  I  do  not 
say  that  great  width  Is  required  In  every  street.  One  point  which  I  do 
not  think  has  been  sufficiently  Impressed  upon  the  minds  of  many 
architects  is  that  whether  you  have  wide  roads  or  whether  you  have 
narrow  roads,  the  class  or  quality  of  your  street  works  requires 
careful  consideration,  and  that  real  economy  In  street  construction 
does  not  necessarily  follow  cheapest  first  cost.  As  an  official  responsible 
for  taking  over  large  areas  of  streets,  my  view  is  that  good  work  is  of 
the  greatest  importance.  I  do  not  say  that  you  should,  in  the  first 
instance,  carry  out  first-class  works  all  over  the  surface  of  a  street ; 
but  I  do  say  that  so  much  of  your  surface  as  may  be  necessary  for  the 
traffic  conditions  which  exist  at  the  time  should  be  thoroughly  well 
carried  out.  In  some  of  our  wide  streets  in  Liverpool  we  endeavour  to 
follow  that  line ;  we  reduce  the  width  of  costly  street  works  to  a 
minimum,  and  we  leave  the  balance  In  grass  or  in  open  space  until  the 
time  comes  when  the  full  width  of  the  street  Is  required  for  traffic 


40()   Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  kjio. 

purposes.  1  therefore  say  that  lor  eities  ol  moderate  size  1  do  not 
expect  to  see  the  three-storied  road.  I  think  that  the  proper  line  is 
to  provide  ample  widths  whilst  land  is  cheap  for  everything-  that  is 
likely  to  be  required  in  the  future  ;  and  I  see  no  reason  whv,  on  a 
properly  desit^ned  wide  road,  you  should  not  be  able  to  get  all  the 
speed,  quite  safely,  which  the  future  is  likely  to  require. 


PART    II.   (coniinued). 


SECTION  v.— ARCHITECTURAL    CONSIDERATIONS 
IN  TOWN  PLANNING. 

(i)  The  Architect  and  Town   Planning.     By  Professor   Beresford 
Pite,   F.R.I.B.A. 

(2)  Town  Planning  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas.     By 

Arthur  Crow,  F.R.I.B.A. 

DiSCLSSION. 

(3)  Plblic  Parks  and  Gardens.     By  T.   H.   Mawson,   Hon.  Assoc. 

R.I.B.A. 
Discussion. 

(4)  The  Architect  and  Civic  Orna.mentation.     By  E.  A.  Rickards, 

F.R.I.B.A. 
Discussion. 

(5)  Open  Spaces  and  Running  W'.aters.     By  Colonel  G.  T.  Plunkett, 

C.B.,  R.E.  retired. 
Discussion. 

(6)  Open  Spaces,  Gardens,  and  Recreation  Grounds.      By    Basil 

Holmes. 
Discussion. 

(7)  City  Improvement.      By  Professor  S.   D.    Adshead,   F.R.I.B.A, 
Discussion. 

(8)  Some  Factors  in  Town  Planning.     By  Sir  William  Richmond, 

K.C.B.,  R.A. 

(9)  The  Restraint  oe  Advertising.     B\    Richardson  Evans,  M.A., 

Hon.  Sec.  S.C.A.P.A. 
Discussion. 

(10)  Town  Planning  and  Town  Trainin(;  :  The  Scope  .vnd  Limits 

of  the  Town  Planning  .Act.     Ry  a  Member  of  the  Conference. 


4o:, 


(i)    THIi  ARCHITECT  AND  TOWN   PLAXXIXC;.* 
By  Professor  Beresford  Pite,  F.R.I.B.A. 

The  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects  brings  the  formal  gatherings 
of  this  Town  Planning  Conference  to  the  conclusion  to-day  with  the 
subject  of  "The  Cities  of  the  Future,"  beyond  which  our  mortal 
eyes  do  not  see.  It  is  of  necessity  sufficient  that  rapturous  visions 
of  human  progress  into  bliss  embody  hopes  of  glorious  architecture 
and  perfect  health,  but  to  the  architect  belongs  the  primary  conception 
of  the  ideal  as  well  as  the  direction  of  its  attainment. 

This  afternoon's  subjects,  "  The  Creation  of  Capitals  for  the 
entire  Continent  of  Australia  and  for  the  New  World  of  Africa," 
illustrate  the  practical  bearing  of  considerations  which  otherwise 
might  not  be  devoid  of  the  suspicion  of  being  merely  poetic,  Utopian 
and  visionary. 

The  architect  knows  well  that  it  is  vain  to  expect  imagination 
to  concei\'e  or  design  to  begin  without  principles,  purposes,  or 
precedents — forgive  the  alliteration — and  to  the  discussion  and 
elucidation  of  these  three  factors  in  the  art  of  the  town  plan,  this 
Conference,  with  the  indispensable  assistance  of  the  Exhibition,  has 
been  directed. 

What  are  these  principles  and  purposes?  They  are  many,  and 
are  various  in  their  nature — geographical,  political  (i.e.  of  the  police), 
sociological,  and  aesthetic — governed  on  all  hands  by  qualifying 
conditions,  and  in  detail  comprehending  the  gauge  of  a  tram-line, 
the  precise  value  of  an  inestimable  and  inconvenient  fragment  of 
antiquit}-,  and  the  new  English  factor  of  incremental  value.  Amidst 
this  variety,  perplexing  and  increasing  in  complexity  of  regulation, 
what  has  this  Conference  found  to  be  the  key  to  the  difficulty  and 
the  solvent  of  the  trials  of  the  new  problem  of  Town  Planning? 

We  have  it  in  one  word,  Architecture,  and  the  architect  reaping 
with  keenness  the  abundant  and  yet  ungarnered  harvest  of  pre- 
cedent— rich  fields  indeed,  as  the  walls  of  the  Royal  Academy  at 
present  evidence — is  armed  by  precedent  to  lay  down  the  principles 
by  which  alone  the  purposes  of  the  present  can  be  made  effective 
both  for  to-day  and  to-morrow,  for  our  generation  and  for  history. 

What  is  true  in  the  study  of  buildings  is  equally  true  in  the 
stud}  of  cities.  The  mental  quality  which  speaks  to  us  in  the 
e\er  wonderful  architecture  of  the  Greeks  w^as  necessarily  mani- 
fested in  their  town  plans.  The  indomitable  spirit  of  government 
by  which  Rome  the  city  became  the  empire,  organised  the  laying 
*  Address  delivered  at  the  close  of  the  morning  papers,  Friday,  14th  October. 


404   'i'rtiiiSiiclions  <>/  llic  'foicii  PUiiuiiiig  C())ijcrc]icc,  Oct.  U)i(j. 

out  not  oiilv  of  forums  and  hig-hwavs,  but  of  cities  and  provinces, 
is  manifest  to  the  architect  more  clearly  than  in  the  cyphers  and 
symbols  of  literature,  in  the  orders  of  the  elevation  and  the  rhythm 
of  the  plan. 

It  needs  no  asseveration  to  enforce  the  ob\  ious  truth  that  principles 
of  municipal  life  and  polity  were  as  potent  and  much  more  so  in 
ancient  Rome  than  in  any  modern  community,  and  the  conclusion 
must  ensue  that  the  survival  of  a  pre-eminent  architectural  character 
and  expression  gives  the  keynote  for  the  Town  Planning  movement 
in  our  own  era.  That  the  Middle  Ages,  with  no  organised  craft 
of  architecture  as  an  art,  have  left  such  fascinating  proofs  of  the 
charm  and  serviceableness  of  natural  methods  of  building  and 
design,  if  one  may  so  speak  of  their  less  sophisticated  manner, 
again  emphasises  the  fact  that  the  enduring  elements  of  town  plan- 
ning are  architectural,  and  that  in  the  study  of  buildings  lie  the 
seeds  of  fruitful  beauty  for  street  or  city. 

The  individual  genius  of  the  men  of  the  Renaissance  becomes 
a  nearer  and  more  characteristic  guide  for  us.  Almost  the  only 
sur\iving  impression  of  contact  with  a  great  Renaissance  plan  is 
that  of  architectural  grandeur,  generated  by  devotion  to  a  classic 
vision  of  the  past,  applied  to  the  purpose  of  extending  and  glorifying 
a  city,  a  place,  or  a  palace.  The  glory  of  a  city  is  its  grandeur, 
the  gracious  width  of  its  avenues,  the  adjusted  proportions  of  its 
squares,  and  accompanying  these,  of  nccessitx ,  healthy  spaiiousness 
and  ordered  amenities. 

It  is  to  such  precedents  that  this  Conference  of  .\rchitects  directs 
attention  for  the  education  of  the  public  conscience  and  the  ele\  a- 
tion  of  its  patriotic  ideal. 

Our  assemblies  have  been  decplx'  touched  by  the  eloquent  enthu- 
siasm of  our  Honorary  President  for  the  city  of  his  manhood,  fame, 
and  home.  Such  sympathetic  affection  for  her  very  stones  is  an 
infection  which  we  will  learn  to  enlarge  and  cultivate  each  in  his 
own  place,  for  we  have,  as  architects,  committed  to  us  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  promotion  or  depression  of  civic  beauty  and  amenity. 

This  quality  of  an  architectural  charity  which  begins  at  home 
we  commend  most  earnestly  to  all  responsible  authorities.  In  this 
relatively  free  country,  laymen  untrained  and  irresponsible  to 
artistic  criticism  become  the  custodians  of  our  civic  heritages 
and  the  promoters  of  town  development.  To  the  mayors,  the  chair- 
men of  municipal  committees,  to  their  permanent  officials,  surveyors 
and  engineers,  this  Institute  appeals,  in  the  higher  interests  of  the 
community  and  our  national  repute,  not  to  neglect  the  mother  art 
of  Architecture,  which,  taking  up  the  common  purposes  of  building, 
dignifies  the  commonplace  and  renders  the  necessary  gracious  and 
pleasant ;  for  the  same  art  with  like  instinct  and  power  can 
make  the  commonest  and  most  local  street  improvement  subserve 
a  high  purpose  of  improvement  and  beauty,  if  only  it  be  considered 
•  as  a  subject  worthy  of  the  highest  and  best  effort  of  those  qualified 
by  study,  experience,  and  grace  to  serve  the  art  of  architecture. 

The  town  is  too  precious  a  possibility,  if  not  already  a  possession 
of  beauty,   to  be  entrusted  to  consideration   only  of  its  expert  sur- 


The  jlrchitcct  and   Toicn   Planning.  405 

vevors  and  engineers.  The  problems  are  architectural,  and  will  be 
ultimately  judged  as  such. 

In  furtherance  of  help  in  this  important  matter  to  all  town 
authorities  undertaking  the  preparation  of  schemes,  the  Royal 
Institute  of  British  Architects  extends  its  heartiest  co-operation. 
The  Town  Planning  Committee  of  the  Institute,  which  at  the  in- 
ception of  the  recent  legislation  was  constituted  to  consider  and 
advise  upon  its  progress,  was  met  and  welcomed  by  Mr.  Burns 
in  conference  during  the  progress  of  his  Bill,  and  has  now  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  how  successful  and  timely  has  been  its  suggestion 
to  the  Council  of  the  Institute  to  invite  an  International  Conference 
on  town  planning.  The  Committee  on  Town  Planning  will 
continue  its  labours,  and  will  shortly  issue,  after  our  Transactions 
have  been  published,  a  Report  on  the  conclusions  of  the  Conference 
adaptable  to  the  present  needs  of  authorities  preparing  town  plans. 

The  material  oflered  to  the  Conference  by  the  amity  of  our 
confreres  will  be  invaluable  to  this  end.  The  Exhibition  of  Plans 
and  Designs  has  an  educational  force  of  great  power.  The  new 
world  is  redressing  the  balance  of  the  old,  and  the  past  is  repro- 
ducing itself  in  the  present.  For  the  papers,  for  the  exhibits,  for  the 
personal  contributions  to  the  discussions,  and  for  that  delightful 
spirit  of  universality  in  art  sympathy  which  is  one  of  the  greatest 
common  qualities  that  men  share  in  spite  of  all  other  divisions 
of  race,  government,  and  temperament,  for  all  these  the  Roval 
Institute  of  British  Architects  is  profoundly  and  ardenth-  thankful 
to  the  members.  May  our  art  yet  flourish,  and  amidst  the  man\- 
conflicting  streams  of  life  continue  to  mak-e  for  Peace,  Health,  and 
lov  ! 


4o6  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Ni.w    Casile    I'l  \!  1,    WmiECHAPEL, 
WiDiii   14  1- ]  1.1   1)  Inches. 


Little  Halifax  Street.     Width   ii  Feet, 

Showing  Modern  Houses  erected  on  Site  oi- 

Two-Storied  Cottages. 


[Photos,  C.  A .  Malheu',  Woodlord. 
EvHhARD  Street,  St.  George's  •in-theE.\st.    Width  13  Feet  6  Inches. 
THRIii;  1  XAMl'LF.S  OF  X.^RROW  STRF.ETS  WHICH   MAY  BE  LEGALLY  PERPETU.\TE1  > 


407 


<2)  TOWN  PLANNING  IN  RELATION  TO  OLD  AND 
CONGESTED  AREAS,  WITH  SPECIAL  REFER- 
ENCE TO  LONDON. 

By  Arthur  Crow,  F.R.I.B.A.,  District  Surveyor  lor 
Whitechapel,  &c. 

The  evolution  of  a  city  of  health,  comfort,  and  convenience  from  an 
area  of  mean,  squalid  streets  and  insanitary  buildings  jumbled 
together  in  a  confused  and  haphazard  manner  is  one  which  presents 
so  many  difficulties  and  apparently  insurmountable  obstacles  that  it  is 
not  surprising  that  the  task  has  been  delayed  from  age  to  age. 
Isolated  improvement  schemes  have  from  time  to  time  been  made  in 
most  of  our  great  cities,  but  the  difficulty  of  dealing  with  the  dis- 
housed  people  has  rendered  the  task  one  of  great  perplexity.  Re- 
housing schemes  on  the  site  of  congested  areas  usually  result  in  pro- 
viding accommodation  for  an  entirely  different  class  of  people,  the 
rents  and  conditions  of  letting  being  such  as  to  preclude  occupation 
by  the  poorer  class  of  artisans  with  large  families.  It  is  this  latter 
class  which  is  found  almost  exclusively  in  the  overcrowded  and 
insanitary  areas. 

Fortunately,  however,  in  recent  years  a  new  factor  has  been 
brought  into  the  consideration,  which,  so  far  as  one  can  foresee,  pro- 
mises to  afford  material  aid  in  solving  the  problem.  The  application 
of  electricity  and  petrol  as  motor  agents  have  had  the  effect  of  bring- 
ing within  easy  reach  outlying  districts  which  have  hitherto  been 
practically  inaccessible  to  the  daily  workers  in  the  great  towns.  The 
element  of  distance,  qua  distance,  has  been  overcome  by  the  increase 
in  the  speed  of  vehicles.  Both  'buses  and  trams,  which  formerly, 
under  horse  traction,  seldom  exceeded  a  speed  of  six  or  seven  miles 
an  hour,  now  usually  attain  a  speed  of  ten  or  twelve  miles  without 
difficulty  in  open  roads,  and  the  frequent  prosecutions  against  the 
drivers  of  motor-'buses  for  exceeding  the  speed-limit  of  twelve  miles 
an  hour  show  what  these  'buses  are  capable  of  doing  when  free  from 
obstruction.  The  cost  of  travelling,  too,  under  wholesome  competi- 
tion, has  been  reduced  to  such  a  point  that  the  question  of  expense 
need  no  longer  keep  the  workmen  in  the  town. 

The  one  outstanding  hindrance  to  the  free  movement  of  the  people 
from  the  town  to  the  country  is  the  obstruction  of  traffic,  which,  with 
the  natural  growth  of  trade,  becomes  from  year  to  year  more  serious 
and  more  difficult  to  overcome.  Streets  which  may  have  been  suffi- 
cient for  the  purposes  of  traffic  and  trade  in  the  Middle  Ages  have  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  a  population  which  has  increased  tenfold. 
It  is  scarcely  surprising  that  under  such  conditions  congestion  of 
traffic  often  reaches  the  point  of  complete  obstruction.  More  particu- 
larly is  this  the  case  when  important  streets  are  "  up  "  for  repairs. 
The  inconvenience  and  loss  of  time  involved  on  these  occasions,  which 
are  by  no  means  infrequent,  become  extremely  serious.  The  question 
of  necessary  repairs  seems  to  be  overlooked  in   street-iiDorovement 


4o8  Transactions  of  the  ToiK'n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

schemes,  and  the  widtli  of  road  is  limited  to  that  necessary  for  the 
actual  traOic. 

The  frequent  occasions  when  it  becomes  necessary  to  open  the 
roads  for  the  purposes  of  altering;  and  repairing  sewers,  drains,  gas 
and  water  pipes,  electric  cables,  and  telegraph  wires  should  also  not 
be  forgotten.  Street  accidents,  too,  must  not  be  overlooked  ;  a  fallen 
horse,  a  broken-down  motor  or  van,  all  add  to  the  sum  total  of 
obstruction  and  dela} .  It  would  surely  be  reasonable  if,  in  calculating 
the  width  of  important  thoroughfares,  an  allowance  of  one  extra  line 
of  traffic  was  made  to  meet  these  requirements.  The  extra  width  of 
road  would  mean  less  frequent  repairs,  and  therefore  less  hindrance 
to  traffic.  Under  normal  conditions  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  for 
traffic  in  the  busy  streets  of  London  to  be  reduced  to  a  walking  pace, 
electric  trams  taking  seven  or  eight  minutes  to  travel  half  a  mile, 
whilst  a  taxi-cab  will  take  nearly  nineteen  minutes  to  travel  from  the 
Bank  to  Oxford  Circus,  a  distance  of  less  than  two  and  a  half  miles, 
which  is  equivalent  to  seven  and  a  half  miles  an  hour.  Delays  of  this 
nature  form  a  great  stumbling-block  to  the  free  egress  of  the  people 
from  the  Metropolis,  and  in  order  that  full  effect  may  be  given  to  the 
great  increase  in  speed  obtainable  in  modern  conveyances  the  main 
traffic  routes  should  be  widened,  and,  where  necessary,  new  roads  con- 
structed. If  full  advantage  could  be  taken  of  the  improved  means  of 
locomotion  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  older  and  more  congested 
districts  of  our  great  towns  would  in  course  of  time  be  largely  aban- 
doned for  residential  purposes,  and  the  land  devoted  to  manufacturing 
and  commercial  uses. 

In  recent  years  manufacturers  have  in  some  cases  left  the  large 
towns  and  erected  factories  in  the  suburbs,  but,  except  for  the  pur- 
poses of  escaping  from  the  exacting  legislative  enactments  applicable 
to  large  cities  and  the  heavy  rates  and  expenses  attaching  thereto,  there 
does  not  seem  to  be  any  great  advantage  to  be  gained  by  such  a 
course,  whilst  the  disadvantages  appear  to  be  by  no  means  small.  It 
would  seem  to  be  the  natural  course  for  the  factories  and  warehouses 
of  a  city  to  be  grouped  about  the  commercial  centre,  and  in  easy  com- 
munication with  the  great  wholesale  and  retail  houses.  The  facilities 
for  the  transit  of  goods  afforded  by  the  river,  docks,  and  great  railway 
termini  should  also,  under  normal  conditions,  be  sufficient  to  keep  the 
great  industries  in  direct  touch  with  the  city.  In  the  case  of  a  city  of 
the  magnitude  of  London,  it  may  be  that  the  time  has  arrived  when 
the  conditions  are  such  that  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  carry  on  the 
great  manufactures  with  due  regard  to  convenience  and  economy. 
If  this  statement  be  correct  it  would  seem  to  involve  an  admission  that 
London  has  lost  its  natural  power  of  expansion  ;  that  it  is  no  longer 
possible  to  make  provision  for  the  growth  of  trade  and  commerce. 
This  one  is  reluctant  to  believe.  It  may  safely  be  said,  however,  that 
in  order  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  such  a  catastrophe  it  becomes 
year  by  year  more  imperative  to  leave  no  stone  unturned  which  may 
assist  in  fostering  and  promoting  the  commercial  side  of  our  com- 
munal life.  The  supremacy  of  our  export  trade  may  in  a  measure  be 
dependent  on -the  speed  with  which  we  can  get  the  imported  raw 
material  from  the  docks  to  the  manufactories,  and  thence  to  the  ports 
of  shipment  as  manufactured  goods.      .\  delax'  of  half  an  hour  in  the 


Tuu'ii  Planning  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas.  409 


streets  of  London  may  mean  the  loss  of  a  boat  at  Tilbury,  South- 
ampton, or  Liverpool,  and  the  possible  loss  of  a  foreign  customer. 

Turning  to  the  consideration  of  the  measures  necessary  to  remedy 
the  existing  evils,  they  would  seem  to  fall  naturally  under  three  heads, 
viz.  :— 

1.  To  facilitate  the  transit  of  goods. 

2.  To  facilitate  the  transit  of  people. 

3.  To  secure  the  health  of  the  people. 

In  considering  the  problem  as  applicable  to  London  it  will  be  clear 
from  the  outset  that  the  survey  cannot  be  confined  within  the  restricted 
limits  of  the  present  county  boundary,  which  encloses  an  area  of 
1 16  square  miles  with  a  population  of  4,613,812.  West  Ham,  nominally 
outside  the  London  area,  is  almost  entirely  a  manufacturing  borough, 
and  as  much  a  part  of  London  as  Poplar,  from  which  it  is  only  sepa- 
rated by  the  river  Lea.  The  Thames  Ironworks,  now  producing  the 
largest  piece  of  mechanism  ever  manufactured  in  London,  is  outside 
the  county  boundary.  It  would  be  folly  to  provide  facilities  of 
approach  to  Blackwall,  which  has  lost  its  great  firm  of  shipbuilders, 
and  to  ignore  the  builders  of  the  Dreadnought  over  the  border.  No  ; 
the  plans  which  should  be  laid  down  for  the  development  of  London 
should  be  comprehensive  and  far-reaching.  From  Tilbury  in  the  east 
to  Windsor  in  the  west,  and  from  Hertford  in  the  north  to  Redhill  in 
the  south,  would  not  include  too  large  a  district  to  form  the  Admini- 
strative County  of  London  for  certain  purposes.  The  area  could  be 
approximately  fixed  by  a  circle  having  a  radius  of  twenty-five  miles 
from  the  Mansion  House,  which  might  be  sufficient  for  the  needs  of 

London  to  the  end  of  the  present  century.     The  area  would  be  nearly 

2,000  square  miles,  and  would  accommodate  thirty  million  people  on 

the  basis  of  twenty-five  persons  to  the  acre. 

The  Royal  Commission  on  London  Traffic,  appointed  in  1903.  in 

considering  their   Report,   dealt  with   the   area  known   as   "  Greater 

London,"  comprising  that  of  the  City  of  London  and  the  Metropolitan 

Police  District,  containing  nearly  700  square  miles. 

The  population  of  "  Greater  London  "  during  the  last  century  was 

as  follows  : — 


n  1801 

•   1,114,644 

In  1861  . 

.   3,222,720 

1811  . 

.   1,323,899 

1871  . 

.   3,885,641 

1821  . 

•   1,596,351 

1881  . 

.   4,766,661 

183 1  . 

•   1,903,572 

1891  . 

.   5,633,806 

1841  . 

•  2,235,344 

1901  . 

.  6,581,402 

185 1  . 

•  2,680.735 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  figures  that  the  population  during  the 
period  in  question  doubled  itself  every  forty  years.  The  Commission 
estimated  that  in  193 1  the  population  of  "  Greater  London  "  would  be 
"  not  much  short  of  eleven  millions."  If  the  same  rate  of  increase  be 
maintained  the  population  of  this  area  in  1941  would  be  about  thirteen 
millions.  A  population  of  this  magnitude,  living  under  proper  condi- 
tions of  health,  would  require  an  area  of  about  850  square  miles, 
allowing  twenty-five  persons  to  the  acre  and  making  provision  for 
open  spaces,  roads,  &c. 

E  E 


41U  'J'riinsactions  of  the  Toicii  PUuiiiiug  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

From  statistics  prepared  b\  the  London  County  Council  lor  the 
use  of  the  Traffic  Commission  "  it  appears  that  the  population  per 
acre  in  the  central  area  of  London  is  148,  in  the  rest  of  the  county  54, 
in  districts  adjacent  to  the  county  166,  and  in  the  rest  of  '  Extra 
London  '  2'5."  ^  These  rtgures,  of  course,  relate  to  a  time  some  six 
or  seven  years  ago,  and  the  overcrowding  may  even  by  this  time  have 
been  mitigated  to  some  slight  extent  by  the  improved  facilities  for 
reaching  the  suburbs. 

It  would- probably,  however,  never  be  possible  to  reduce  tlie  pre- 
sent excess  of  population  to  the  limits  of  the  standard  laid  down. 
That  being  so,  it  would  seem  that  the  logical  course  to  pursue  would 
be  to  afford  special  facilities  for  conveying  the  people  to  a  distance 
considerably  outside  the  area  already  covered,  thus  leaving  an  inter- 
vening space  of  uncovered  land  to  rectify  as  far  as  possible  the  excess 
of  population  in  the  central  area. 

On  the  question  of  congestion  the  Traffic  Commission,  whose 
Report  was  published  in  1905,  stated  that  "  the  chief  difficulty  that 
stands  in  the  wa}  of  improving  the  means  of  locomotion  in  London  is 
the  narrowness  of  the  streets,  and  the  fact  that  they  were  not  origin- 
ally laid  out  on  any  general  plan.  If  the  streets  were  of  sufficient 
width,  and  had  been  laid  out  on  a  regular  plan,  the  congestion  of 
vehicular  traffic  would  practically  disappear  ;  the  long-distance  traffic 
could  be  provided  for  by  shallow  underground  railways  at  a  cost 
which  would  not  be  prohibitive  ;  and  a  complete  system  of  surface 
tramways  could  be  laid  down,  which  would  carry  the  short-distance 
and  miscellaneous  passenger  traffic  of  London  cheaply  and  quickly."  ^ 
Further,  the  Commissioners  state  :  "  We  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
tliat,  in  order  to  relieve  overcrowding,  means  must  be  provided  for 
taking  the  population  into  and  out  of  London,  not  in  one  or  two  direc- 
tions, but  in  many  directions,  at  rapid  speed,  frequent  intervals,  and 
cheap  rates."  ^ 

Dealing  first  with  main  avenues  for  the  transit  of  goods  and  for 
general  business  purposes,  it  is  clear  that  provision  must  be  made  lor 
n  frequent  service  of  trams  and  motor-'buscs.  The  width  should  not 
be  less  than  100  feet  between  the  buildings.  This  would  allow  of 
12  feet  for  each  of  two  footways,  8  feet  for  each  of  two  lines  of 
stationary  vehicles  delivering  goods,  25  feet  for  two  lines  of  trams, 
with  central  refuges,  cab-stands,  &c.,  and  35  feet  for  four  lines  of 
vehicles  (two  fast  and  two  slow).  These  thoroughfares  will  partake 
of  the  nature  of  boulevards,  and  should  be  provided  with  trees  and 
seats. 

Secondar}-  business  thoroughfares  where  trams  are  to  be  provided 
could  be  reduced  to  80  feet,  which  would  mean  the  omission  of  two 
lines  of  traflic. 

In  subsidiary  streets  where  no  trams  are  required  tlie  width  could 
be  further  reduced  to  60  feet,  the  footways  being  reduced  to  10  feet. 

The  central  refuges  should  be  retained  in  all  streets  of  60  feet  or 
more  in  width.  They  form  convenient  positions  for  electric-light 
standards,  and  help  to  keep  the  traffic  to  its  proper  side  of  the  road. 

'  See  lieport  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  London  Traffic,  Vol.  I.,  p.  9. 
■^  Traffic  Report,  Vol.  I.,  p.  17. 
•■'  Traffic  Report,  Vol.  I.,  p.  16. 


Town  Planning  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas 
WITH  Special  Reference  to  London.     (Arthur  Crow.  F.R  I.B.A.) 


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Tuii'ii  Planning  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Congested  .ireas.  411 

Motor-'buses  wanderintj    over  to  the  off-side  of  the  road  in  order  to 
pass  other  quick  traffic  are  a  great  source  of  danger. 

Coming  to  the  question  of  avenues  for  the  transit  of  the  people 
from  town  to  suburb,  it  is  doubtful  if  in  any  case  they  should  be  laid 
out  of  a  less  width  than  100  or  120  feet,  and  in  the  case  of  a  main 
central  artery  a  greater  width  should  be  provided.  Such  an  artery 
would  obviously  form  the  keynote  of  the  street  architecture  of  the 
city,  and  should  be  laid  out  as  a  boulevard,  with  ample  space  for  trees 
and  gardens. 

From  this  central  avenue  would  branch  the  great  trunk  roads 
leading  to  the  suburbs  eight,  ten,  or  twelve  miles  distant.  The  width 
of  these  should  be  sufficient  to  make  it  certain  that  the  service  of  trams 
should  not  be  obstructed  by  other  traffic.  It  should  at  least  be  possible 
to  maintain  a  speed  of  twelve  miles  an  hour. 

These  trunk  roads  would  be  formed  in  some  cases  by  widening 
existing  main  roads.  In  other  cases  existing  roads  might  be  utilised 
for  some  distance,  and  then  new  extensions  made  through  the  open 
country. 

In  order  to  supplement  these  lines  of  egress  from  the  Metropolis 
and  to  render  available  yet  more  distant  suburbs,  which  could  not  be 
reached  by  surface  trams  within  the  limits  of  time  at  the  disposal  of 
the  daily  labourer,  it  is  suggested  to  provide,  for  the  future  expansion 
of  London,  a  series  of  radiating  tubes  and  sub-surface  railways  from 
the  City,  having  stations  situate  at  a  distance  of  one  and  two  miles 
respectively  from  the  central  station. 

These  lines  would  extend  to  a  distance  of,  say,  fourteen  miles  from 
the  centre,  and  would  have  no  intermediate  stations  except  those  just 
referred  to.  A  straight  run  of  twelve  miles  without  a  stop  would  thus 
be  afforded,  and,  with  the  advent  of  the  mono-rail,  there  is  no  reason 
why  the  whole  distance  (fourteen  miles)  could  not  be  covered  in  the 
space  of  fifteen  minutes. 

For  a  distance  of  four  or  fi\e  miles  and  until  the  open  country 
was  reached  these  lines  would  be  constructed  in  tubes  in  the  London 
clay.  They  might  then  rise  by  easy  gradients,  and  be  continued  to 
their  destination  in  open  cuttings. 

The  termini  of  there  lines,  falling  on  the  circumference  of  a  circle 
some  twenty-eight  miles  in  diameter,  would  constitute  the  centres  of 
ten  new  areas,  forming  in  due  time  cities  of  health. 

The  development  of  these  cities  of  health  would  proceed  on  clearl\ 
defined  lines.  The  area  of  each  would  be  comprised  within  a  circle 
some  seven  miles  in  diameter.  They  would  be  separated  from  each 
other,  and  as  far  as  possible  from  the  rest  of  London,  by  areas  of  land 
devoted  to  afforestation  and  other  purposes,  Epping  Forest,  situate 
between  two  of  the  new  cities  in  the  north-east,  forming  a  good 
example,  which  could  not  be  too  closely  followed.  The  whole  would 
form  part  of  the  enlarged  County  of  London,  and  be  within  the  juris- 
diction of  the  central  authority  for  the  purposes  of  main  roads,  main 
drainage,  tramways,  lighting,  &c.,  whilst  for  purely  local  purposes 
each  might  come  within  the  area  of  an  existing  authority  within  or 
near  its  boundary.  On  the  north  side  of  the  river,  commencing  in  the 
north-west  these  authorities  would  be  Uxbridge,  Watford,  Barnet, 
Waltham,  Epping,  and  Romford  ;  on  the  south  side  Dartford,  Bromley, 

E  E  2 


412   Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Croydon,  and  Epsom.  The  area  of  each  would  be  approximately 
about  25,000  acres.  Allowing  one-fifth  of  this  for  roads  and  open 
spaces,  and  limiting  the  number  of  persons  per  acre  to  twenty-five, 
provision  would  be  made  in  each  city  for  housing  about  half  a  million 
persons. 

In  giving  evidence  before  the  Traflic  Commission,  Mr.  Harper,  the 
statistical  ollicer  of  the  London  County  Council,  stated  that  "  upwards 
of  a  million  and  a  half  of  people  live  in  the  central  or  most  congested 
area."  '  It  was  also  stated  before  the  same  Commission  that  "  no 
less  than  1,250,000  persons  and  100,000  vehicles  enter  and  leave  the 
City  of  London  daily."  ^ 

The  distance  from  the  centre  at  which  the  proposed  cities  of  health 
are  situate  may  at  first  sight  appear  to  offer  a  hindrance  to  the  suc- 
cessful working  of  the  scheme  ;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  if  the 
fares  were  kept  to  a  nominal  amount,  the  tube  lines,  taken  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  tramway  systems  of  the  new  cities,  would  be  at  least 
self-supporting. 

It  has  been  thought  well  to  consider  thus  briefly  the  means  to  be 
taken  to  draw  away  the  people  from  the  more  densely  populated  dis- 
tricts, for  until  the  pressure  has  been  relieved  to  some  very  consider- 
able extent  it  would  hardly  be  possible  to  engage  in  any  comprehen- 
sive scheme  for  reconstructing  the  congested  areas. 

Before  proceeding  to  consider  in  detail  the  means  to  be  adopted 
for  rectifying  the  existing  evils,  which  often  culminate  in  the  back 
streets  and  byways,  it  will  be  well  to  see  how  the  existing  law  meets 
the  case  and  wherein  it  falls  short.  Under  the  provisions  of  the 
London  Building  Acts  streets  of  a  width  of  24  feet,  laid  out  a  hundred 
or  more  years  ago  for  the  erection  of  dwellings  18  feet  in  height,  are 
now  being  lined  with  buildings  for  business  and  residential  purposes 
rising  to  a  height  often  two  or  three  times  as  great  as  the  original 
dwellings. 

Roads  24  feet  in  width  can  hardly  have  been  wide  enough  at  any 
time  or  for  any  purpose  connected  with  town  life,  yet  we  arc  content 
to  perpetuate  these  narrow  passages,  and  to  aggravate  the  evil  effects 
by  increasing  the  height  of  the  buildings  to  an  almost  indefinite 
degree. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  law  governing  tlie  question  of  ancient 
lights  is  sufficient  to  prevent  any  very  serious  increase  in  the  height 
of  buildings  on  the  opposite  sides  of  a  street ;  but  this  is  not  always  to 
be  relied  upon.  In  one  case,  within  the  writer's  experience,  the  owner 
of  a  row  of  two-roomed  cottages,  let  at  45.  a  week,  threatened  a 
building  owner  opposite  with  an  action  for  damages  for  loss  of  light. 
The  building  owner  bought  the  cottages  and  raised  the  rent  to  55. 
Of  course,  the  tenants  were  at  liberty  to  move  away,  but  the  mischief 
was  done. 

From  investigations,  made  for  the  purpose,  it  would  appear  that 
the  average  width  of  the  roads  in  the  congested  areas  of  London 
would  be  about  27  feet.  For  this  calculation  an  area  of  land  some 
forty  acres  in  extent  was  selected,  at  a  distance  of  about  a  mile  from 
the  M.-msion   House.       The  area  is  bounded  by  Commercial  .Street, 

'  Traffic  Report,  Vol.  I.,  p.  9. 
*  Traffic  Report,  Vol.  I.,  p.  6. 


Toivn  Planning  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas.  413 


Philip  Street,  E.     Width  26-28  Feet. 
Old  Buildings  on  Right,  Two  Storeys  High. 
New  Buildings  on  Right,  Three  Storevs  High. 


Splides  Street,  E.     Width  29  Feet. 

Old  Buildings  on  Right,  Two  Storeys  High. 

New  Buildings  on  Right,  Five  Storeys  High. 

Wool  Warehouses  on  Left,  65  Feet  High. 


[Photos,  C.  A.  Mallu-u;  Woodford. 
Cross  Street,  E.  (Width  20  Feet),  looking  towards  Hessel  Street  (Width  24  Feet  6  Inches). 
Old  Buildings  Two  Storeys  High.    New  Buildings  Five  Storeys  High. 
BUILDINGS   RE-ERECTED  TO   EXCESSIVE    HEIGHT   ON   N.ARROW   STREETS. 


414   Transactions  of  the  Totcn  Planning::  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Old  Castle  Street,  E.     Width  20  lii  r  2  Inches. 

Width  at  the  Public  House  12  Feet  2  Inches. 

School  on  the  Right  (43  Feet  High)  erected  by  the 

School  Board  for  London,  1873. 


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I'lu.mmer's  Row,  E.     Width  25  Feet,  decreasing  to 

12  Feet  3  Inches  at  the   Warehouse. 

Shops  on  Left  erected  1891. 

Warehouse  on  Right  (57  Feet  High)  erected  1898. 


.J.  .\J,<. 


lU.u..,. 


Cowers  Walk,  E.     View  looking  North.     Width  of 

Road  33  Feet  6  Inches,  Reduced  suddenly  to 

15  Feet  at  the  Projecting  Warehouse. 

Warehouse  erected  1894  (Height  50  Feet). 


GowERS  Walk,  E.    View  looking  South. 
Width  of  Road  38  Feet,  decreasing  gradually  to  15  Fi-i  r. 
Railway  Goods  Warehouse  on  Right  erected  1887 
(Height  93  Feet). 


EXANfPLES   OF   .AWKWARD   STRICKT    PROJECTIO.XS. 


ToiK-'ii  Planning  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas.  415 

Hanbury  Street,  Wentworth  Street,  and  Old  Montague  Street,  in  the 
boroug-h  of  Stepney.  It  contains  three  and  three-quarter  miles  of 
streets,  varying  in  width  from  5  feet  to  75  feet. 

Speaking  broadly,  so  far  as  the  London  Building  Acts  are  con- 
cerned there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  whole  of  these  streets  being 
lined  with  buildings  80  feet  in  height,  and  having  two  storeys  in  the 
roof,  with  a  slope  so  steep  (75°)  that,  in  conjunction  with  gables  and 
dormer  windows,  it  might  almost  be  vertical ;  the  only  exception  to 
this  statement  being  that  in  the  case  of  dwellings  intended  for  work- 
ing-class occupation  the  front  wall  must  be  set  back  20  feet  from  the 
centre  of  the  road. 

The  result  of  the  present  law  is,  therefore,  to  foster  the  retention 
of  narrow  streets  and  to  render  them  still  more  unhealthy  by  allowing 
buildings  to  be  erected  to  a  much  greater  height,  and  providing  for 
an  increased  population  on  an  area  already  overcrowded. 

Another  defect  in  the  existing  law  needs  to  be  emphasised.  An 
existing  road  often  contains  an  awkward  projection,  in  some  cases 
reducing  the  width  of  the  road  to  such  an  extent  that  there  may  be 
only  room  for  one  vehicle  to  pass  at  a  time.  This  projeclion  mav, 
nevertheless,  be  legally  perpetuated,  provided  the  plans  of  the  old 
buildings  be  properly  attested. 

The  evils  incident  upon  the  retention  of  these  narrow  streets,  with 
heightened  buildings,  are  increased  and  intensified  by  the  fact  that 
under  the  existing  law  the  whole  of  the  ground  abutting  on  the  street, 
including  the  old  gardens  at  the  rear,  may  be  covered  with  buildings 
to  a  height  of  16  feet  above  the  level  of  the  street  pa\cment,  and  that 
above  that  level  it  is  only  necessary  to  provide  a  narrow  space  10  feet 
in  width  across  the  back  of  the  building.  In  the  case  of  dwellings  for 
the  working  classes  this  open  space  must  be  provided  at  the  level  of 
the  adjoining  pavement. 

Under  these  regulations  has  disappeared  from  the  east  end  of 
London  many  a  quiet  garden  nook,  with  its  mulberry  or  elder  or  fig 
tree,  planted  long  years  ago  by  Huguenot  families,  and  nothing  given 
in  return  but  darker  rooms  and  vitiated  air. 

To  remedy  the  existing  evils,  the  following  outline  scheme  is 
suggested  : — 

Proposed  Oltlixe  Scheme  for  the  Gradlal  Re.modellixo  of  Old 

.\reas. 

.\  TraBic  Authority  to  be  appointed  by  Parliament  for  the  following 
purposes : — 

1.  To  consider  and  determine  from  time  to  time  as  to  the  posi- 

tion, width,  and  direction  of  new  thoroughfares  required 
•  either  for  purposes  of  traffic,  for  the  relief  of  congested 
or  insanitary  areas,  for  preventing  the  spread  of  fire  in 
crowded  manufacturing  districts,  for  general  convenience, 
or  for  other  purposes. 

2.  To  consider  the  extent  to  which  it  is  necessary  for  any  of 

the   afore-mentioned  purposes   to  widen  existing  streets 
and  to  arrange  for  their  proper  classification  into  grades 


4i6  Trunsactions  of  the  Toivii  Plainiing  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

determining  in  each  case  as  to  the  position  of  the  future 
building  lines, 
3.   To  consider  the  height  to  which  buildings  should  be  allowed 
to  be  erected  in  each  of  the  respective  grades. 

The  following  classification  and  rules  are  suggested  : — 

Grade  Width  of  road  Height  of  buildings 

ist  .         .         .  100  feet  or  more         .         .         .  80  feet 

2nd  ...  80  feet 80  feet 

3rd  ...  60  feet 60  feet 

4th  ...  50  feet 50  feet 

5  th  .         .         .  40  feet 40  feet 

6th  ...  30  feet  (under  300  feet  long)  .  30  feet 

Provided  that  in  streets  of  the  third  and  fourth  grades  the  height 
specified  may  be  increased  to  80  feet  if  the  upper  portion  above  such 
specified  height  be  set  back  so  as  to  fall  within  an  angle  of  63^". 

In  cases  where  existing  buildings  exceed  the  height  specified,  the 
owner  to  have  the  right  to  rebuild  to  the  old  height  provided  the 
building  be  set  back  to  the  new  building  line. 

The  Traffic  Authority  to  make  an  annual  report  to  Parliament, 
setting  forth  the  result  of  their  deliberations  as  to 

A.  Projected  thoroughfares. 

B.  Streets  graded. 

C.  Building  lines  determined. 

Upon  the  report  of  the  Traffic  Authority  Parliament  to  embody  the 
same  in  an  Act  prohibiting  in  the  case  of  A  the  erection  or  re-erection 
of  any  building  upon  the  site  of  the  projected  thoroughfare,  except 
structures  of  a  temporary  character  erected  under  a  licence  of  the 
Traffic  Authority  renewable  from  time  to  time  pending  the  execution 
of  the  project  (subject  to  the  provisions  of  any  Building  Acts  then  in 
force). 

The  word  "  site  "  to  be  deemed  to  include  not  only  the  land  o\er 
which  the  projected  thoroughfares  will  pass,  but  also  any  lands  which 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Traffic  Authority  may  be  required  for  the  purposes 
of  the  new  buildings  to  be  erected  in  such  thoroughfares. 

In  the  case  of  the  graded  streets  and  new  building  lines  (B  and  C) 
the  same  to  be  embodied  in  the  Act  and  future  buildings  to  be  erected 
in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  the  respective  grades. 

The  Traffic  Authority  to  cause  to  be  prepared  proper  maps  and 
schedules  giving  full  particulars  of  all  projected  thoroughfares  and 
building  lines  embodied  in  such  Acts  of  Parliament  and  to  have  the 
same  properly  advertised  and  made  available  for  public  use. 

The  Traflic  .Authority  to  present  to  Parliament  a  special  report 
whenever  it  may  determine  that  the  time  shall  have  arrived  for  the 
execution  of  any  projected  thoroughfare  already  approved  and  sche- 
duled, setting  forth  such  details  of  the  scheme  and  the  manner  in 
which  the  project  shall  be  carried  out  as  they  may  consider  necessary. 
Upon  presentation  of  the  special  report  Parliament,  if  agreeing  that 
the  time  is  opportune,  shall  authorise  the  Traffic  Authority  to  take 
steps  to  acquire  the  necessary  property  ;  to  arrange  for  the  necessary 
loans ;  to  enter  into  the  necessary  contracts  for  carrying  out  the 
schemes  ;  and  to  sell  or  lease  upon  such  terms  as  they  may  approve 
the  building  sites  abutting  upon  the  new  thoroughfare. 


Town  Planning  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas 
WITH  Special  Reference  to  London.     (Arthur  Crow.  F.R.l.B.A.) 


MAP  or  GRADED   STREETS 


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f 

D 

4.^- 

D. 

EH 

5'^ 

Do 

r 

6'" 

0. 

Town  Planwikg  in  Rel, 


c 


I 


o 


Town  Planning  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas.  417 


Traffic  Obstrlctio.v.  Spitalfields.     Trams  held  up  at  the  Market. 


^ Photos :  C.  A.  Malheu-,  Woodford. 


Vanishing  Gardens-A  finl  old  Mulberry  Tree  at  Ci  Great  Prescot  Street,  E. 


4iS  Truiisaclions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910, 

The  Traffic  Authority  to  have  the  same  powers  and  duties  with 
regard  to  the  widening  or  extension  of  an  existing  thoroughfare  as 
are  imposed  upon  them  in  respect  of  the  formation  of  new  streets. 
Such  powers  to  be  put  into  operation  in  cases  where  it  is  deemed 
necessary  to  expedite  the  setting  back  of  buildings  to  the  new  building 
lines. 

The  building  owner  to  have  the  right  of  requiring  the  Traffic 
Authority  to  acquire  the  whole  of  a  site  where  the  setting  back  of  the 
building  to  the  prescribed  building  line  would  leave  insufficient  land 
for  building  purposes. 

All  land  given  up  to  the  public  to  be  the  subject  of  compensation. 


A  suggested  scheme  of  street  improvements  for  part  of  the  Metro- 
polis north  of  the  Thames  has  been  indicated  on  the  6-inch  Ordnance 
Survey  so  far  as  regards  the  main  traffic  routes. 

Widened  roads  are  indicated  by  thick  black  lines,  whilst  entirely 
new  avenues  are  coloured  brown. 

The  most  important  of  these  thoroughfares  is  the  main  artery,  in 
the  form  of  a  double  avenue  with  central  boulevard,  extending  across- 
the  present  county  from  the  iron  bridge  over  the  Lea  at  Canning 
Town  in  the  east  to  Shepherd's  Bush  Green  in  the  west,  a  distance  of 
about  ten  miles. 

Throughout  its  entire  length  this  artery  would  be  provided  with  a 
double  tramway  system  for  ordinary  and  express  services,  connecting 
up  the  systems  of  the  West  Ham  and  Ea.st  Ham  Corporations  in  the 
east  with  those  of  the  Middlesex  County  Council  in  the  Harrow  Road 
and  the  London  United  Tramways  at  Shepherd's  Bush  in  the  west. 
The  width  between  the  buildings  is  proposed  to  be  225  feet,  allowing 
75  feet  for  each  avenue  and  75  feet  for  the  boulevard. 

The  traffic  would  be  directed  in  two  streams,  that  going  eastward 
being  kept  to  the  north  avenue,  and  that  going  westward  to  the  south 
avenue,  communication  between  the  two  being  afforded  at  all  cross- 
roads for  vehicular  traffic,  and  across  the  boulevard  for  foot  traffic. 
The  width  of  75  feet  for  the  avenue  is  sufficient  to  allow  of  ample  foot- 
ways on  both  sides  and  for  five  lines  of  vehicular  traffic,  with  the 
necessary  refuges  at  crossing  points. 

This  form  of  boulevard  has  been  adopted  as  it  has  many  advan- 
tages over  the  central  avenue  with  sidewalks.  The  vehicular  traffic 
going  in  one  direction  only  in  each  avenue  is  more  easily  controlled, 
and  the  risk  of  accidents  is  greatly  reduced. 

The  inner  and  subsidiary  service  roads  for  delivery  of  tradesmen's 
goods,  which  become  necessary  in  the  boulevards  seen  in  many  Con- 
tinental towns,  are  avoided.  The  trees  are  chiefly  massed  in  the 
centre,  away  from  the  houses,  and  can  there  be  allowed  to  assume 
their  natural  growth  and  proportion  without  materially  obstructing 
the  access  of  light  and  air  to  the  shops  and  houses. 

The  double  line  of  tramways  is  provided  for  on  the  side  of  the  road 
away  from  the  houses  and  adjoining  the  footway  of  the  boulevard. 
This  arrangement  has  two  distinct  advantages  :  it  allows  of  the  run- 
ning of  the  cars  without  interference  with  the  loading  and  unloading 


Toivn  Planning  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas.  419 


[Pholos,  A.  H.  Ity,  Hugh: 
Views  of  Proposed  Central  A\^nue,  showing  Trams,  Tram  Shelters,  and  Gardens. 
(Illustrated  by  Views  of  the  Steine  Gardens,  Brighton.) 


42()  Trunsiiclions  of  the  To^oi  Phiiniins^  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


[Fholos,  C.  A.  Mathew,  Woodford. 
Courts  on  the  RofTE  of  Proposed  Central  Avenue. 


[Pholo,  A.  H.  Fry,  Brighton. 


I'KorosF.D  Central  Avenue  :  View  Inside  the  Gardens. 
(Illustrated  by  View  of  Steine  Gardens,  Brighton.) 


LANNING    IN    RELATION    TO    OlD    AND    CONGESTED    ArEAS 

ECiAL  Reference  to  London.     (Arthur  Crow,  F.R.I.B.A.) 


TolLFORD 
CHADWELL  HEATH 
ROMFORD 


*   I 


Toivn  Planning  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas.  421 

of  goods  from  vans  standing  on  the  near  side  of  the  road,  and  at  the 
same  time  permits  of  the  erection  of  shelters  for  passengers  in  the 
boulevard.  To  illustrate  this  some  photographs  showing  the  Old 
Steine  Gardens  and  tramway  system  at  Brighton  have  been  repro- 
duced. 

The  route  chosen  for  this  avenue  lies  mainly  through  the  most 
congested  districts,  and  in  the  eastern  portion  for  a  length  of  four 
miles  through  the  poorest  parts  of  Poplar,  Bromley,  Limehouse,  Mile 
End,  Whitechapel,  Spitalfields,  and  Shoreditch. 

On  the  Essex  side  of  the  Lea  the  Barking  Road  and  the  road  to 
the  \'ictoria  and  .Albert  Docks  are  both  widened  and  a  shortened 
route  to  the  docks  formed  through  the  slums  of  Canning  Town. 

The  Mile  End  Road,  Bow  Road,  High  Street,  Stratford,  and  the 
Leytonstone  and  Romford  Roads  are  all  widened  in  their  narrowest 
parts. 

.\  new  thoroughfare  from  Bow  Bridge  crosses  the  West  Ham 
Marshes  and  joins  the  Barking  Road  at  Green  Street,  Plaistow  ;  a 
branch  road  leads  also  across  the  Marshes  to  the  Beckton  Road. 

The  road  from  vSilvertown  through  \\"est  Ham  and  Stratford  to 
Leyton  is  also  widened  and  improved. 

From  the  East  and  West  India  Dock?,  commencing  at  the  entrance 
to  the  Blackwall  Tunnel,  an  improved  thoroughfare  is  provided 
through  Poplar  and  Limehouse,  where  a  river  embankment  and  pas- 
senger quay  are  formed,  and  thence  past  the  London  Docks  to  the 
Tower  Bridge. 

Improved  facilities  are  afforded  for  getting  to  and  fro  between 
the  dock  district  and  the  goods  stations  at  Bishopsgate,  .Aldgate, 
King's  Cross,  St.  Pancras,  Chalk  Farm,  Marylebone,  and  Pad- 
dington. 

In  the  north  of  London  a  new  thoroughfare  connects  the  Penton- 
ville  Road  with  the  Hackney  Road,  which  is  continued  eastward  along 
the  south  side  of  Victoria  Park,  and  thence,  curving  round  to  the 
.south,  forms  a  service  road  to  the  various  manufactories  on  the  banks 
of  the  Lea  at  Old  Ford,  Bow,  and  Bromley,  and  joins  the  main  artery 
opposite  the  entrance  to  the  Blackwall  Tunnel  at  the  East  India  Dock 
gates. 

In  the  central  district  a  new  road  is  formed  from  Aldgate  to  Liver- 
pool Street  by  covering  in  the  Inner  Circle  Railw  ay.  Liverpool  Street 
is  widened,  and  thence  the  new  street  is  continued  on  the  north  side 
of  Finsbury  Circus  to  Finsbury  Pavement.  By  this  means  the 
northern  and  eastern  sections  of  the  tramway  system  can  be  united, 
and  the  dead  ends  at  Aldgate,  Bishop.sgate,  and  Finsbury  Pavement 
be  avoided. 

From  Liverpool  Street  also  a  new  avenue  is  formed  to  Aldersgate 
Street  a  little  to  the  south  of  London  Wall,  skirting  the  back  of  the 
Guildhall  in  its  course.  From  Aldersgate  Street  it  passes  between  the 
Charterhouse  and  Smithfield  Market  into  the  Farringdon  Road.  The 
Farringdon  Road  is  widened  to  the  G.P.O.  sorting-offices  at  Mount 
Pleasant,  and  a  new  road  formed  to  King's  Cross  and  St.  Pancras 
stations.  By  this  means  a  direct  route  would  become  available 
between  the  termini  of  the  Great  Eastern,  Great  Northern,  Midland, 
and  North  Western  Railvvavs. 


422   Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Plannina^  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


The  central  avenue  is  carried  on  a  viaduct  over  the  Farringdon 
Road,  so  as  to  separate  the  east  and  west  traffic  from  that  cominsf 
from  the  south  over  Blackfriars  Bridge  and  the  proposed  St.  Paul's 
Bridge. 

The  position  of  the  new  bridge  is  altered  somewhat  from  that 
shown  on  the  plans  of  the  City  Corporation.  Its  axis  is  now  in  line 
with  the  centre  of  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's. 

The  traffic  is  diverted  to  the  east  and  west  of  the  cathedral,  for 
which  purpose  the  property  immediately  abutting  on  the  cathedral  is 
cleared  away. 

The  property  to  the  north  of  the  cathedral  as  far  as  Newgate 
Street  is  also  removed  and  the  space  laid  out  as  gardens. 

The  following  trafiic  avenues  to  the  suburbs  are  provided  by  means 
of  widened  and  improved  thoroughfares.  These  are  shown  on  the 
inch-scale  Ordnance  Survev  : — 


if  Brent  ford 
Hounslow  Road  from  Central  Avenue  (Shepherd's  Bush)  to-  Hounslow 

I  Staines 


Uxbridge  Road  ,, 

Harrow  Road  ,, 

Edgware  Road  ,, 

Hampstead  Road  ,. 
Highgate  Road 

Caledonian  Road      ,, 

Kingsland  Road       ,, 

Cambridge  Road  ^ 

and  -,, 

I.ea  Bridge  Road  J 

Bow  Road  and       1 
Levtonstone  Road )  " 


(Bayswater) 

}i 

(Marylebone) 

») 

(Clerkenwell) 

(Shorcditch) 

(London  Hospital) 


Bow  Road  and 
Romford  Road 


Barking  Road 


(Canning  Town),, 


Fulham  Road  from  Hvde  Park  Corner 


Clapham  Road  from  Westminster  or  Blackfriars  Bridge 


Brixton  Road 


Walworth   Road  & 
Camberwell  Road 


from  St.  Paul's  Bridge 


TEaling 
,  -  Hayes 

I  Uxbridge     . 

r Sudbury 
,  -  Weald  stone 

I  Harrow  Weald     . 

rCricklewood 
,  -  Edgware 

'  Elstree 

TGolder's  Green    . 
, -  Hendon 

I  iMill  Hill       . 

r  Frier  n  Bar  net 
,  -  Chipping  Barnct. 

I  South  ^liinms 

r Rounds  Green 
,  -I  W'inchmorc  Hill  . 

I  Enfield 

/Edmonton  . 
'  '■Walt ham  Cross    . 

j  ^^'althamstow 
.  -  Buckluirst  Hill    . 

(Lougliton     . 

(Leytonstone 
\\'oodford  Bridge 
Chigwell       . 
Abridge 
I'llford  . 
,  -  Chadwell  Heath  . 
I  Romford 
j  Barking 
-.  Dagenham  . 
vRainham     . 

(Putney 
Surbiton   &   Tol- 
worth 
Hook  . 
Merton 
North  Cheam 
Ewell  . 

{Streatham  . 
Thornton  Heath 
Crovdon 
Purley 
C  Crystal  Palace 
j  West  Wickham 
I  Downe 


Miles 

•  4 

•  7 

•  14 

•  4 
(J 

.    12 

•  7 

•  9 
.   10 

•  4 
.  8 
.    10 

•  4.^ 
.     6 
.     8 

7 
ok 

6' 
8 

9h 
7 
12 
6 
Q 

I  I 

s.v 

lo.V 

13' 
6 

8? 

I I 
4 
7 
9 
4 

10 

12 

7 
10 

I2i- 

6 

8 

10 

13 

6 

10 

I4i 


I 


Toivn  Planniii<:  in  Relation  in  Old  and  Congested  Areas.  423 


■;  :  -v«^.>^-  ^:^'^■.-:^-^.-;w«g*>l^v^fti^^:  :^«*r^\ 


[Photos,  T.  Bennett  &  Sons,  Malvern. 

Example  of  IxtxpEssivL  Avenue,  200  feei  wioe,  Barnard's  Grees,  Malvern. 


4^4    I  ransactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conjercncc,  Oct.  kjio. 


Photos,  C.  A.  Mathiv,  ]Vood/uid. 
Crown  Court,  Spitali-ields,  E. 


Si.  George's  Terrace,  E. 


[Photo,  T.  licnnclt  &'Sons,  Malvern 


Barnard's  Green,  Malvern. 
CONTRASTS  IN  CHILD  LIFE. 


Toivu  Planning  in  Relation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas.  425 


Old  Kent  Koad  from  St.  Paul's  Bridge 


Do. 


Do. 


^r  Bromley 
[  Farnborough 

(Kidbrook     . 
Eltham 
Foots  Cray  . 
Farningham 
r  Welling 
,,   I  Cray  ford 
Dartford      . 


Miles 

•  9 

■    13 

•  7 

•  9 

,  12 
18 
1 1 

16 


The  arrangement  of  the  ten  cities  of  health,  with  their  connecting 
avenue,  is  shown  on  tiie  inch-scale  Ordnance  Survey.  This  map  also 
shows  in  part  the  proposed  new  boundary  of  the  Administrative 
County  of  London  at  a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles  from  the  Mansion 
House. 

The  tube  and  sub-surface  railways  connecting  the  central  districts 
with  the  cities  of  health  are  shown  in  blue  dotted  lines. 

The  green  tint  represents  areas  of  land  to  be  devoted  to  purposes 
of  afforestation,  market  gardens,  dairy  farms,  allotments,  parks,  golf 
links,  playgrounds,  and  other  purposes. 

Improvement  schemes  of  the  magnitude  of  those  outlined  in  this 
Paper  would  obviously  have  to  be  extended  over  a  long  period,  and 
possibly  in  the  case  of  the  proposed  new  thoroughfares  only  some  of 
the  minor  works,  such  as  the  connecting  links  between  Aldgate, 
Bishopsgatc,  and  Finsbury  Pavement,  and  that  between  Great 
Eastern  Street  and  the  City  Road,  could  be  put  in  hand  at  once. 

There  would,  however,  appear  to  be  no  reason  why  the  projected 
thoroughfares  should  not  be  the  subject  of  legislation  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment,  with  the  object  of  preventing  the  erection  of  costly 
buildings  on  land  which  would  have  to  be  subsequently  acquired  for 
the  purposes  of  the  improvement. 

The  cost  of  some  of  the  improvements  would  doubtless  be  heavy, 
but  as  an  artery,  once  formed  on  ample  and  generous  lines,  will  last 
for  ever,  so  should  the  time  allowed  for  repayment  of  loans  be  of 
sufficient  duration  to  avoid  an  undue  burden  on  the  present  generation. 

In  considering  the  question  of  cost  one  must  not  overlook  the 
enormous  loss  of  time  and  money  involved  in  the  traffic  delays  of  the 
present  day  in  the  busiest  parts  of  London. 

\\'ith  regard  to  the  ten  cities  of  health,  if  the  idea  aimed  at,  as  to 
the  proper  distribution  of  the  people,  could  be  secured,  they  would  all 
be  fully  developed  and  occupied  by  the  year  1941,  but  such  a  Utopian 
idea  can  hardly  be  entertained.  Tentatively,  however,  two  of  these 
cities  might  be  laid  out  with  a  reasonable  prospect  of  success.  The 
cost  of  each  city,  with  its  connecting  tube,  would  be  approximately 
about  ;^io,ooo,ooo,  including  ;^2,ooo,ooo  for  the  purchase  of  sixty- 
three  square  miles  of  land  (nine  miles  diameter)  at  ;^5o  per  acre  ; 
;i^3,648,ooo  for  the  dc\clopment  of  thirty-eight  square  miles  (seven 
miles  diameter)  at  ^150  per  acre  ;  ^^4, 200,000  for  the  construction  of 
the  tube  and  sub-surface  railway  (fourteen  miles  at  ;^30o,ooo  per 
mile). 

This  outlay  would  be  returned  twofold  by  the  sale  of  the  developed 
land  at  the  average  rate  of  ;^i,ooo  per  acre. 

It  is  open  to  consideration,  however,  whether  it  would  not  be 
better  to  sell  the  land  in  bulk  to  Co-partnership  Societies  at  a  price 

F   F 


4^6   'rrunsacti(ins  of  Ihr  Ti'ii'n  J'*lini}}in<^  Conference,  Oct.  iqio. 

which  would  recoup  the  outhiy,  gixing  the  tenants  the  athantage  of 
moderate  rents. 

Apart,  however,  from  the  commercial  aspect  ol  the  case,  there  is 
a  question  of  still  ijreater  importance  to  the  community.  I  refer  to 
the  physique  of  the  rising  generation.  Whilst  we  lavish  our  millions 
on  ephemeral  fleets  to  protect  our  over-sea  trade,  let  us  not  forget 
that  a  sturdy  virile  race  must  e\er  be  the  great  bulwark  of  a  nation's 
prosperity. 

Limitations  of  time  and  subject  prevent  more  detailed  reference  to 
these  ten  cities,  but  under  proper  control,  and  guided  by  a  zealous 
spirit  of  citizenship,  their  success  should  be  assured,  and  with  It  the 
growing  mischief  due  to  the  congestion  of  the  central  area  would 
vanish.  London  would  again  be  free  and  its  life  continued  under 
lasting  conditions  of  health. 

DISCUSSION. 

Mr.  F.  (i.  Painthr,  F.C.A.,  Chairman  of  the  City  Lands  Committee, 

in  tlie  Chair. 

Mr.  C.  \V.\TKi\s  :  Mr.  Chairman,  I  should  like  to  say  a  few  words 
upon  this  subject.  I  have  heard  several  of  the  Papers  read  upon  the 
subject  of  town  planning,  and  in  my  opinion  in  a  great  many  of  them 
there  has  been  too  much  theory  and  not  enough  thought  given  to  the 
practical  side.  I  am  pleased  this  afternoon  to  hear  the  splendid 
Paper  that  has  been  read  by  Mr.  Crow.  The  other  Papers  have  dealt 
principally  with  the  outskirts  of  London,  whereas  Mr.  Crow  has  in 
addition  dealt  with  the  congested  areas  of  London.  I  consider 
that  in  town  planning  the  question  of  housing  must  go  with 
It  hand  in  hand.  We  have  in  London  existing  town  planning  that 
we  do  not  like,  but  it  is  here  with  us,  and  we  have  to  deal  with 
it  as  It  is.  Whilst  considering  the  outskirts  of  London  we  want  also 
to  consider  the  congested  areas,  and  to  do  what  we  can  to  improve 
the  conditions  of  the  classes  represented  by  the  pictures  shown  on 
the  screen,  although  I  must  sav  that  the  children  we  saw  in  them 
looked  very  healthy.  With  regard  to  this  and  other  proposed 
.schemes,  the  very  practical  question  is:  ^^'ho  is  to  bear  the  cost? 
The  ratepayer  is  already  very  heavily  burdened,  and  if  we  are  not 
careful  In  the  future  we  shall  tax  him  out  of  existence,  as 
we  cannot  always  rely  on  the  land  realising  the  amount  expected. 
As  I  have  before  stated,  I  think  the  Paper  Mr.  Crow  has  read  Is 
a  .splendid  one.  It  deals  with  something  existing  at  the  present  time, 
as  well  as  keeping  in  mind  future  planning.  Further,  I  could  not 
quite  gather  from  Mr.  Crow  whether  his  idea  was  that,  after  making 
these  splendid  roads  shown  on  the  plans,  he  proposed  to  pull  dow  n 
all  the  congested  areas  and  rebuild  ;  if  so,  it  would  be  an  entire 
replanning. 

Alderman  Fildes  (Bowdon)  :  May  I  say  a  few  words  and  give  my 
meed  of  praise  to  the  reader  of  this  most  excellent  Paper?  Those  of 
us  who  have  had  to  do  with  the  housing  of  the  working  classes  will 
feel  that  to  a  very  large  extent  the  centre  of  a  city  should  be  relieved 
from  building  and  the  people  taken  out  by  cheap  trains  into  the 
suburbs.     Then  you  get,  perhaps,  rentals  of  \os.  or  125.  a  week  for 


I 


Toicn  Planiiino;  in   Relation  (o  Old  and  Cons^esled  Areas.  427 

vour  cottages,  and  on  to  this,  of  course,  has  to  be  added  the  railway  or 
the  tram  fare.  This  w  ill  relieve  the  congestion  considerably,  but  it 
leaves  behind  a  sad  portion  of  the  community  which  has  not  been 
touched — the  workers  at  railway  stations,  at  the  markets,  and  hawkers 
— people  whose  wages  only  amount  to  from  155.  to  205.  a  week.  There 
are  thousands  upon  thousands  of  that  class  in  London  and  in  all  our 
large  municipal  centres.  What  are  we  to  do  with  them?  That  is  the 
most  serious  problem  we  have  to  solve.  It  is  in  the  slum  quarter 
that  you  find,  disease,  and  the  poor  cannot  help  themselves  :  w^e  leave 
them  alone  to  fight  out  their  own  salvation.  I  want  to  see  London  and 
the  other  great  municipalities  first  of  all  attack  the  slum  quarters. 
It  is  a  difficult  thing  to  do,  but  London  has  done  a  great  deal  in  con- 
nection with  its  tenements,  and  Birmingham,  Liverpool,  and  Man- 
chester have  also  done  much.  Surely  we  in  London  and  the  other 
large  centres  ought  to  have  some  scheme  for  dealing  with  the  slum 
quarters,  as  well  as  for  building  on  the  outskirts.  We  must  do  it.  1 
can  speak  for  Manchester,  where  we  have  done  a  great  deal  of  altera- 
tion, as  well  as  pulling  down.  The  demolishing  of  houses  is  a  costly 
expedient.  We  have  not  only  done  that,  but  we  have  altered  the 
properties  ;  we  have  taken  houses  out  of  a  row  of  houses — for  in- 
stance, three  houses  out  of  nine ;  and  we  have  built  yards  and  altered 
the  accommodation,  so  as  to  give  them  another  twenty  years'  lease, 
until  we  have  got  our  town  planning  in  proper  order.  During  the 
last  five  years  we  have  altered  8,400  houses  and  made  it  possible  for 
people  to  live  in  them  satisfactorily  and  healthily.  That  has  been 
done  practically  at  no  cost.  We  had  simply  to  get  an  order 
against  the  owners.  What  does  that  8,400  houses  mean? 
Taking  five  people  to  a  house,  it  means  that  we  have  found 
suitable  habitations  during  that  period  for  40,000  people.  I  would 
like  to  have  heard  Mr.  Crow  on  this  point.  We  have  had  suggestions 
of  taking  people  on  the  outer  radius  out  further,  and  then  by  degrees 
taking  them  from  each  ring  one  degree  further  out.  But  it  is  people 
who  cannot  help  themselves  who  ought  to  have  our  consideration,  at 
the  same  time  that  we  are  considering  those  whom  we  are  going  to 
ask  to  go  into  the  suburbs. 

Mr.  C.  W.\TKINS  :  Might  I  ask  Mr.  Crow  a  question?  When  he 
was  speaking  of  those  high  buildings,  did  I  understand  that  they  were 
built  for  the  housing  of  the  working  classes  by  some  of  the  Councils? 

Mr.  Crow  :  No,  not  at  all.  All  I  say  is  that  I  am  powerless  to 
prevent  that.  They  were  built  for  private  owners.  I  am  pleading 
for  two  things  :  the  setting-back  of  the  frontages  to  a  proper  distance 
so  as  to  allow  streets  to  be  of  a  proper  width,  and  for  the  limitation  of 
the  height. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Waltkr  Walsh  (Dundee)  :  The  remarks  of  the 
speaker  from  Manchester  point  out  a  very  serious  difficulty  in  Mr. 
Burns'  Act — namely,  that  it  does  not  authorise  any  kind  of  planning 
on  the  existing  areas — that  is  to  say,  on  the  built-on  areas — but  only 
with  regard  to  areas  which  are  likely  to  be  used  for  building,  and, 
consequently,  so  far  as  improvements  in  congested  areas  are  con- 
cerned, we  have  recourse  to  the  old  system  of  Improvement  Acts,  and 
so  on.  I  suggest  this  among  other  amendments  of  which  the  Act  is 
certainly  in  want.     I  am  glad  that  a  provincial  has  got  up  to  speak, 


42S  Traiisitclifyns  of  the  To^vn  ]'*Janniug  Conference,  Oct.  i()io. 

so  that  this  is  not  going-  to  be  entirely  a  London  discussion,  although, 
of  course,  we  value  the  opinions  of  our  London  friends.  I  come 
from  a  provincial  town  where  we  have  500,  600,  or  700  people  to 
the  acre.  We  have  need  of  town  planning  in  our  centre  area,  too. 
It  is  hardly  in  order  to  ask  a  question  of  a  secondary  speaker,  but, 
if  you  will  permit  me,  I  would  like  to  ask  how  they  can  get  those 
Manchester  houses  cleared  out  without  cost ;  because  in  Scotland,  at 
least,  if  we  want  to  get  rid  of  a  house  we  have  to  buy  it. 

The  Ch.mr.m.an  :  I  take  it  they  are  condemned  as  insanitary. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Walsh  :  I  am  Chairman  of  our  Housing  Committee, 
and  we  have  condemned  a  lot  of  houses,  but  we  cannot  pull  them  down. 
They  stand  there,  and  they  can  be  used  as  workshops,  or  the  owners 
can  keep  them  there  unused.  ^Ye  cannot  pull  them  down  unless  it  is 
proved  that  they  are  obstructions  ;  but  I  understand  in  Manchester 
they  have  pulled  down  three  out  of  nine  houses  to  get  air  round  the 
other  six.  It  is  a  big  proportion,  and,  of  course,  it  makes  the  place 
very  much  healthier.  If  there  is  any  law  that  would  authorise  that  in 
Dundee  or  anywhere  else  I  should  be  glad  to  know  of  it.  I  am 
very  much  indebted  to  the  speaker  also.  I  can  see  that  there 
are  years  of  very  patient  study  in  the  short  exposition  we  have  heard 
this  afternoon.  Mr.  Crow  deserves  every  recognition  for  his  valuable 
work. 

Mr.  W.  R.  Davidge  (London)  :  I  should  like  to  add  my  thanks 
to  Mr.  Crow  for  his  Paper.  At  the  first  blush  it  almost  takes  one's 
breath  away  to  see  two  such  gigantic  schemes  as  those  involved  in 
the  ten  encircling  cities  of  health  and  the  great  central  boulevard  for 
London  suggested  in  the  Paper.  Mr.  Pepler,  when  making  his  sug- 
gestions a  little  while  back  for  a  circular  girdle  road  of  ten  miles 
radius  around  London,  was  almost  apologetic  as  to  the  cost ;  although 
it  struck  one  that  there  would  be  a  vast  number  of  other  roads 
required  also,  to  which  the  girdle  road  would  be  but  a  beginning. 
That  scheme  was  like  starting  to  build  a  motor-car  by  providing  a 
tyre  for  one  of  the  wheels.  Mr.  Crow  has  provided  a  very  expensive 
motor-car  indeed  ;  in  fact,  looking  at  the  plan  it  seems  to  be  a  ten- 
cylinder  one.  Mr.  Crow  has  a  wide  knowledge  of  the  East  End,  and 
his  detailed  suggestions  as  to  that  particular  portion  of  London  will  be 
very  valuable.  I  think  we  should  very  seriously  consider  the  defects 
in  the  existing  Building  Laws  in  regard  to  permitting  the  erection 
of  high  buildings  on  narrow  streets.  Mr.  Crow  has  done  a  good 
service  in  pointing  out  that  we  should  look  to  the  inner  areas 
of  towns  and  see  that  the  powers  we  possess  are  amended 
in  such  a  way  that  people  shall  not  only  have  perfectly 
healthy  conditions  to  live  in,  but  that  the  law  allowing  high 
buildings  of  any  description  to  be  erected  on  these  narrow  streets 
^ '••.  mid  be  amended.  I  think,  if  nothing  else  is  done,  calling  attention 
I  ^  that  particular  point  will  be  doing  a  very  useful  public  service. 
With  regard  to  the  general  scheme  for  the  central  thoroughfare, 
of  course  the  millions  of  pounds  are  rather  staggering  at  first.  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  the  whole  business  of  east  to  west  transit  might 
be  solved  in  rather  a  cheaper  way  than  that  suggested  by  the  Traffic 
Commission  or  by  Mr.  Crow.  We  have  got  at  present  a  thoroughfare 
running    more   or   less    east    and    west   along   the   river   bank — our 


Toi>Jii  Planning  in  Rclalion  lu  Old  and  Congested  Areas.  421; 

magnificent  Embankment.  That  embankment  is  not  at  present  used 
very  much  for  traffic.  It  wants  carrying  a  Httle  further  east,  and 
then  we  should  have  an  east  to  west  thoroughfare,  which  would  not 
only  improve  the  traffic  facilities,  but  would  at  the  same  time 
improve  the  beauty  of  London.  That  could  be  done  at  very  con- 
siderably less  cost  than  the  eighteen  millions  which  Mr.  Crow 
suggested  for  his  new  thoroughfare.  I  merely  put  that  forward  as 
an  idea,  because,  after  all,  this  Conference  is  for  the  collection  and 
dissemination  of  ideas.  I  think  in  the  ideal  which  Mr.  Crow  has  set 
before  us  of  a  healthy  city,  a  convenient  city,  and  a  city  which  will  be 
for  the  good  of  every  one  of  its  inhabitants,  he  has  done  us  a  service, 
and  he  has  done  the  whole  community  a  very  much  greater  service. 

Mr.  Arthir  Crow  :  With  regard  to  Mr.  Watkins'  question  of 
cost  and  the  idea  of  clearing  the  whole  of  congested  areas,  I  would 
like  to  say  that  I  have  no  such  idea  as  that.  What  I  say  is  :  Mark 
out  your  roads  through  those  congested  areas,  and  do  not  let  any- 
body put  up  buildings  of  a  monumental  character,  such  as  council 
schools,  churches,  chapels,  museums,  expensive  office  buildings, 
warehouses,  and  buildings  of  that  class,  costing  sometimes  ;^io,ooo, 
;^i 5,000,  or  ;/?20,ooo  apiece,  and  fitted  up  with  elaborate  machinery, 
which  you  may  have  to  pull  down  in  four  or  five  years'  time. 
Surely,  it  is  competent  for  someone  to-day  to  say  where  a  new 
route  is  required.  The  Traffic  Commission  have  made  a  splendid 
suggestion.  Appoint  someone  to  say  definitely  where  that  road 
is  to  go ;  then  pass  an  Act  authorising  its  construction.  That 
Act  would  prohibit  the  erection  of  any  building  on  the  site 
of  the  road,  or  abutting  on  the  site  of  the  road,  except  such 
buildings  of  a  temporary  character  as  might  be  authorised  by  the 
traffic  authority  or  by  any  authority  that  is  appointed,  with  the 
knowledge  that  they  would  be  pulled  down  possibly  in  four  or  five 
years'  time.  The  authority  would  issue  a  licence  perhaps  for  a 
corrugated  iron  building  if  a  man  wanted  to  continue  to  carry  on 
his  business.  If  the  man  says  he  does  not  want  to  have  a  corrugated 
iron  building,  then  take  his  site  and  have  done  with  it.  But  do  not 
allow  these  expensive  buildings  to  be  erected  only  to  be  pulled 
down  again  in  two  or  three  years'  time.  We  had  an  illustration  of 
that  the  other  day  at  the  Guildhall,  where  our  President,  Mr. 
Leonard  Stokes,  gave  us  an  illustration  of  a  place  in  the  City 
where  they  had  to  buy  out  an  expensive  building  at  the  corner  of 
a  street  in  order  to  widen  a  main  road.  They  let  the  owner  re-erect 
a  building  of  a  very  expensive  character,  and  five  years  afterwards 
they  had  to  pull  it  down  again  and  compensate  the  owner  for  the 
purpose  of  widening  the  side  street.  That  is  the  sort  of  thing  that 
ought  to  be  put  an  end  to.  I  do  not  propose  to  pull  down  all  the 
congested  areas.  I  say  let  some  authority  grade  these  streets ;  let 
them  say  whether  they  ought  to  be  60  feet  or  50  feet  or  40  feet ;  then 
as  people  want  to  rebuild  let  them  set  back  to  the  new  building  line. 
We  do  not  buy  them  out.  At  the  present  time  all  I  ask  you  to 
spend  is  ;^'i,ooo  for  an  Act  of  Parliament  authorising  someone  to 
say  where  the  roads  are  to  be,  and  prohibiting  future  buildings 
being  erected  otherwise  than  to  those  new  building'  lines.  Then 
tlic    next    point   was    put   by    Mr.    Fildcs    with    regard    to    the    sub- 


^3<)  Trunsiulioiis  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

merged  tciuli,  or  possibly  the  submerged  fifth,  who  cannot  possibly 
get  away  owing  to  the  expense  of  travelling.  Of  course,  there 
must  ine\itablv  be  a  large  number  who  must  remain  in  town  ;  but 
what  I  want  to  do  is  to  bring  the  rest  out  some  miles  away  from 
the  centre,  so  liuit  those  who  must  remain  may  have  the  advantage 
of  healthy  houses  at  a  cheap  rate.  As  the  people  go  further  away 
so  the  rents  will  come  down  naturally,  owing  to  the  relief  of  pressure. 
Mr.  Davidge  spoke  of  the  millions  of  pounds'  expense  which  has  to 
be  incurred.  I  omitted  to  mention  that  I  do  not  want  you  to  start 
this  scheme  to-morrow.  If  you  will  start  it  in  five  years'  time  it  will 
be  sufficient,  and  then,  if  you  will  take  twenty-five  years  to  do  it, 
I  shall  be  quite  satisfied.  \\'hat  I  suggest  is  this  :  Take  down  about 
half  a  mile  in  the  middle  of  the  proposed  new  thoroughfare  first. 
That  block  you  would  have  to  buy  outright,  and,  of  course,  you 
would  have  to  compensate  the  occupiers  for  trade  losses.  They  might 
not  be  able  to  find  property  elsewhere  suited  to  their  purposes. 
Having  acquired  one  length  of  street  of  half  a  mile,  and  having 
plenty  of  building  sites  to  offer,  I  think  afterwards  you  would  largely 
eliminate  the  necessity  for  compensation  with  regard  to  trade 
interests.  Vou  could  say  to  a  man  :  "  Your  building  is  worth 
;£^5,ooo  ;  your  land  is  worth  £,'5,000 ;  that  is  ;^io,ooo.  Vou  will  have 
£'10,000."  If  he  says  :  "  What  about  my  business?  "  you  will  reply  : 
"  Well,  we  have  a  site  to  offer  you  only  100  yards  away — a  much 
better  site  than  your  old  one.  You  can  build  your  new  premises  and 
put  your  machinery  in.  You  can  close  your  old  premises  at  five 
o'clock  to-night,  and  to-morrow  you  can  go  into  your  new  premises." 
Where  is  the  trade  loss  there?  If  you  undertake  this  scheme  in 
sections  over  a  number  of  years  you  would  minimise  the  difTiculty. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  Embankment  route  would  be  a  cheaper 
route  than  the  one  through  the  centre.  Well,  much  as  we  should 
like  to  see  a  noble  Embankment  brought  under  Cannon  Street 
Station,  past  the  Tower  of  London  (it  is  rather  a  puzzle  to  know 
how  it  could  be  got  under  London  Bridge,  but  no  doubt  engineers 
could  do  it),  I  cannot  conceive  that  that  would  be  a  cheaper  route 
than  going  either  by  the  Traffic  Commission  route  or  the  alternative 
route  which  I  have  suggested  further  north.  I  thank  the  meeting 
extremely  for  the  attention  it  has  given  me  and  the  consideration  it 
has  shown  me  in  what  must  be,  I  fear,  after  all,  only  a  dishing-up  of 
sentiments  of  other  people  which  have  been  already  more  ably  ex- 
pressed. There  is,  I  fear,  little  that  is  new  in  anything  I  have  said, 
unless  it  be  on  the  question  of  the  new  building  lines,  which  I  think  is 
of  paramount  importance.  I  say  that  no  new  building  ought  to  be 
erected  on  these  old  streets  until  they  are  widened  considerably. 
I  think  one  word  of  thanks  is  due  to  my  assistant,  Mr.  Mathew,  for 
the  very  interesting  series  of  photographs  he  has  taken  for  me  of 
those  lovely  children  in  the  East  End  of  London. 

The  Chairman  :  I  think  I  must  just  offer  one  personal  explanation 
as  to  why  I  am  here.  I  have  not  the  privilege  of  being  an  architect; 
I  am  merely  a  City  man  ;  but  I  happen  to  l)e  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Corporation  who  lent  the  Guildhall  to  the  Town 
Planning  Conference,  and  you  have  honoured  mc  by  asking  me  to 
take  the  chair.     I  am  very  pleased.     Of  course,  T  am  not  altogether 


Toioii  PUiiuiing  in  l\clali()ii  to  Old  a)ul  Congcslal  Areas.  431 

ignorant  of  the  matters  which  have  been  discussed,  especially  so  far 
as  they  refer  to  the  purchasing  of  interests  in  properties  and  the 
compensation  for  removal.  I  quite  agree  with  what  has  been  said 
about  the  iniquities  of  the  present  Building  Acts.  They  ought  to  be 
amended.  In  the  City  we  are  bound  hand  and  foot  by  them,  and 
they  seem  to  me  to  be  devised  in  many  cases  not  for  the  convenience 
of  the  public  but  for  their  greater  inconvenience ;  and  I  think  the 
sooner  the  Building  Acts  are  amended  the  better  it  will  be. 
I  should  like  to  say  what  you  know  better  than  I  do — that  there 
is  no  man  in  a  better  position  to  .speak  about  these  things  than 
Mr.  Crow.  He  is  district  surveyor  for  Whitechapel,  and  therefore 
he  has  the  whole  of  these  diflficulties  presented  before  him  every  day, 
and  for  years  he  has  been  considering  the  way  to  get  over  them.  He 
has  to  do  with  a  part  of  London  which  is  very  close  to  the 
City,  and  he  knows  all  the  conditions  of  City  life.  There  is 
one  part  of  his  scheme  which  appealed  to  me  very  much  indeed, 
and  that  is  the  proposed  road  from  Whitechapel  past  Liverpool 
Street  to  Finsbury  Circus  and  adjoining  the  trams  to  the  north 
of  London.  A  considerable  part  of  that  could  be  made  by  simply 
covering  over  the  railway.  When  the  Metropolitan  Railways  were 
made  we  ought  to  have  had  a  boulevard  round  the  whole  of  London 
on  the  top  of  those  railways.  So  far  as  they  are  open  now  and  could 
be  used  for  the  purpose  suggested  by  Mr.  Crow,  I  think  it  would  be  a 
very  excellent  thing  if  that  part  of  the  scheme  could  be  carried  out  very 
soon.  It  just  struck  me  when  I  was  coming  up  here  to-day  that  it  would 
be  well  to  send  up — and  I  have  sent  up — a  book  which  formed  part 
of  the  Exhibition  at  the  Guildhall.  It  is  open  now  at  a  place  which 
shows  us  that  over  a  hundred  years  ago  the  City  authorities  were 
not  ignorant  of  the  advantages  of  town  planning.  There  is  a  very 
excellent  plan  by  the  City  architect,  Mr.  George  Dance,  in  which  he 
shows  an  open  space  at  St.  Paul's  with  a  street  120  feet  wide  leading 
down  to  the  river,  very  close  to  the  spot  where  it  is  now  proposed 
to  have  a  bridge.  There  are  also  three  other  streets  shown,  and  all 
four  radiate  from  the  centre  of  the  dome ;  one  of  the  streets  is 
practically  upon  the  lines  that  Mr.  Crow  suggested  in  his  Paper. 
I  do  not  know  that  I  should  agree  quite  with  Mr.  Crow  as  to  the 
cost  of  improvements  in  the  City  of  London.  I  happen  to  be  a 
member  of  the  Improvements  and  Finance  Committee,  which  is 
now  dealing  with  Bishopsgate  Street  and  Fleet  Street  widenings, 
and  I  know  that  the  costs  of  those  cases  are  very  great.  But  I  do 
very  much  sympathise  with  Mr.  Crow's  remark  about  the  question 
of  compensation  when  a  person  is  moved  only  a  few  yards  off,  and, 
under  the  present  law,  I  believe  I  am  right  in  saying  that  he  can  get 
three  years'  profits.  I  think  it  is  an  iniquitous  thing.  As  a  profes- 
sional man  myself,  it  would  not  matter  to  me  two  straws  if  I  moved 
across  the  road ;  all  my  work  is  done  by  correspondence,  I  quite 
understand  that  for  a  grocer  or  a  fishmonger  or  a  tailor  there  is  an 
interest  in  his  particular  shop ;  but  that  interest  does  not  seem  to  me 
to  be  as  much  as  it  is  very  often  made  out  to  be  by  the  claimants. 
There  is  the  greatest  diflficulty  with  claims.  Of  course,  you  know 
that  very  often  if  a  man  claims  ;£^5,ooo  he  is  very  glad  to  get  ;^i,ooo. 
I  was  having  my  photograph  taken  one  day  about  a  year  and  a  half 


43-2    1  runsaclioiis  oj  the  Town  Planning  Coiijcrencc,  Oct.  ujio. 

ago,  and  the  man  w  lio  was  taking  it  said  :  "  I  have  not  been  here 
al\va\  s,  you  know.  I  was  at  the  other  corner  once,  and  they  wanted 
it  for  street  improvements,  and  I  got  paid  a  good  sum  for  going  out. 
Then  I  went  to  another  place,  and,  fortunately,  they  wanted  that 
soon  after,  and  I  got  something  out  of  that,  too."  I  said,  "  And 
I  suppose  you  will  soon  be  moved  out  of  this  place?  "  It  is  really 
an  iniquitous  tiling  that  there  should  be  an\  fixed  compensation 
which  you  must  give  to  a  man,  particularly  in  the  case  of  a  pro- 
fessional man  whose  goodwill  is  not  attached  to  his  premises.  1 
think  that  if  something  were  done  with  regard  to  that  it  would 
very  much  facilitate  and  cheapen  any  .changes  made  in  tlic  City. 
I  would  just  like  to  add  something  to  what  has  been  said  with 
regard  to  the  Embankment.  I  do  not  know  what  we  are  going  to 
do  for  wharves  in  the  City  if  >ou  are  going  to  take  away  all  that 
rl\er-side.  To  continue  the  Knbankment  from  Blackfriars  would 
be  a  difficult  undertaking ;  but,  of  course,  there  are  no  difficulties 
which  architects  and  engineers  cannot  overcome.  If  you  oxercomc 
all  the  difficulties  and  continue  the  Embankment  beyond  Blackfriars, 
where  would  the  City  wharves  be?  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any 
better  route  than  that  spoken  of  by  Mr.  Crow.  I  know  that  some 
years  ago,  before  the  Post  Office  was  taken  in  hand,  Mr.  Morton, 
M.P. — and  you  all  know  what  an  energetic  City  man  he  is — had 
a  scheme  which  was  brought  before  the  Streets  Committee  then, 
for  running  a  street  from  Smithfield  and  getting  it  into  Fore 
Street  and  Aldgate,  which  would  have  entirely  relieved  the 
pressure  on  Cheapside  and  Bishopsgale.  That,  however,  was 
not  carried  out  owing  to  its  expense.  I  think  the  route  indi- 
cated by  Mr.  Crow  is,  perhaps,  the  best  route  we  could  get. 
I  thoroughly  agree  with  Mr.  Crow  tliat  a  scheme  which  need  not 
necessarily  be  carried  out  now,  but  which  is  a  good  one,  should  be 
laid  down,  and  then  there  should  be  a  provision  by  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment that  there  should  be  no  new  buildings  put  upon  that  part  which 
is  scheduled  as  the  way  for  the  road,  and  that  any  alteration  made 
in  it  should  be  subject  to  the  line  laid  down.  I  think  something  like 
that  might  be  done.  I  am  quite  sure  that  this  Conference  will  not  be 
without  its  effect,  and  I  trust  its  effect  may  be  to  hasten  some  such 
scheme  as  Mr.  Crow  has  put  before  us.  I  propose  that  a  very  hearty 
vote  of  thanks  be  given  to  Mr.  Crow  for  his  excellent  Paper. 

The  vote  having  been  warmly  accorded,  Mr.  Crow  briefly 
responded. 

Mr.  M.  C.  Hlluert  :  Before  we  disperse,  I  think  we  must  give 
a  very  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Painter  for  consenting  to  under- 
take the  duties  of  chairman  this  afternoon.  He  is  the  chairman  of 
a  very  important  City  Lands  Committee  attached  to  the  Corporation, 
and  his  time  is  also  occupied  by  another  committee,  the  Bridge 
House  Committee,  which  will,  we  hope,  carry  out  the  scheme  of 
putting  a  bridge  across  the  Thames  leading  up  to  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 
Mr.  Painter  has  no  doubt  considerable  influence  in  the  City  Cor- 
poration, and  he  will  help  forward  that  and  any  other  schemes  which 
may  make  for  the  architectural  embellishment  and  opening  out  of 
thoroughfares  in  the  City.  We  are  particularly  grateful,  I  am  sure, 
to  a  gentleman  who  is  not  an  archilect  or  surveyor,  and  not  imme- 


Toicn  Planning  in  h'clation  to  Old  and  Congested  Areas.  433 

diately  interested  professionally  in  the  g-reat  subject  of  town  plan- 
ning-, but  who  is  interested  in  it  as  an  amateur,  and  who  comes  down 
to  help  us,  but  who  at  the  same  time  occupies  a  very  responsible 
position.  I  move  that  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  be  given  to  Mr. 
Painter. 

Mr.  H.  Shepherd  :  I  have  very  great  pleasure  in  seconding  the 
vote  of  thanks. 

The  vote  of  thanks  was  put  by  Mr.  Raymond  Unwin,  and  carried 
bv  acclamation. 


434  Transaclions  oj  llic  'ioi\}n  Planning  Conference,  Ocl.  k^io. 


(3)  PUBLIC    PARKS   AND    GARDENS:   THEIR  DESIGN 
AND    EQUIPMENT. 

Hv  Thomas  H.  Mawson,  Hon. A.R.I. B. A.,  Lecturer  on  Landscape 
Design,  School  ol"  Civic  Design,  Liverpool  University. 

I HKKE  arc  many  standpoints,  economic  and  aesthetic,  from  which 
civic  parks  may  be  \  iewed,  but  there  is  one  upon  wliich  most  people 
now  agree,  which  is  that  ihey  are  not  only  a  luxury  but  also  a  neces- 
sity. Many  things  have  combined  to  make  them  so.  The  stern  and 
ceaseless  demands  ol"  modern  industry,  with  its  noise  and  dust,  the 
danglers  of  modern  street  locomotion  with  its  maddening-  haste,  call 
aloud  for  the  space  apart. 

Founders  of  modern  industrial  \illages  believe  that  parks  and 
a\sthetic  amenities  are  necessary  for  the  physique  and  working-  power 
of  the  worker  and  his  progeny,  and  put  their  theory  into  practice. 
It  is  this  attention  to  the  health  and  physique  of  posterity  that  is  to 
ensure  the  continuity  and  prosperity  of  commercial  enterprise,  and  it 
is  this  consideration  which  places  the  provision  of  public  parks  and 
open  spaces  in  the  lirst  rank  of  progressixe  municipal  enterprise. 

Parks  and  gardens  may  therefore  be  reckoned  w  ith  the  imperative 
"  must  be's  "  that  will  not  be  set  aside. 

You  will  therefore  see  my  contention  that  the  provision  of  parks 
and  open  spaces  is  not  primarily  an  cesthetic  but  a  practical  question, 
bearing  upon  the  moral  and  physical  condition  of  the  whole  com- 
munity, whether  industrial  or  social. 

There  is  another  aspect  to  this  question.  I  refer  to  the  rush  of 
townsfolk  to  the  country,  which  is  rapidly  converting  this  little  island 
of  ours  into  one  vast  building  estate,  to  the  destruction  of  rural 
beauty.  Pleasant  parks  and  boulevards  would  stem  this  daily  rush 
from  town  to  the  parsimoniously  laid-out  suburbs  and  expanding 
hamlet.  A  medical  officer,  in  speaking  of  this  useless  rush  to  the 
country  and  suburbs,  singles  out  train-catching  as  a  fruitful  source 
of  nervous  breakdown.  There  are  places  in  London  and  other  towns 
1  could  mention  where  one  moment  you  are  in  the  ceaseless  stream 
of  traffic  and  the  glare  of  lights,  whilst  in  another  you  may  enter  the 
quiet  of  a  retreat.  A  leafy  scene  of  trees  and  an  indirect  connective 
road  secures  them  as  a  kind  of  backwater,  and  their  denizens  (the 
proper  word,  I  think)  do  not  wish  their  hiding-place  to  be  popularly 
known.  These  retreats,  apart  from  the  main  lines  of  traffic,  need  to 
be  multiplied  so  that  our  towns  may  become  more  tolerable. 

There  is  a  certain  kind  of  disciplined  exercise  which  must  hold  in 
a  public  park,  altogether  different  from  the  go-as-you-please  of  the 
open  country  ;  the  value  of  this  disciplined  exercise  is  proved  by  the 


Public  Parks  and  iianlcns.  _j._:55 

action  oi  the  Hoard  ol  Education  in  issuing^  a  circular  to  heads  of 
schools  urging  them  to  foster  the  old-time  games  and  dances.  Local 
education  authorities  are  even  allowed  to  cut  a  piece  out  of  the  school 
curriculum  in  order  to  organise  the  children,  and  start  in  them  the 
absorbing  interest  of  the  games  which  have  physical  development  as 
the  end  in  view.  You  cannot  improve  the  physique  in  the  national  or 
civic  sense  if  you  occupy  people  with  physical  development  as  an  end 
in  itself.  You  inust  divert  them  by  pleasant  surroundings  and  draw 
out  their  interests  along  other  lines,  and  so  mask  the  true  issue,  or 
else  you  stultify  your  object.  The  great  thing  is  to  have  a  forward 
and  consistent  policy  which  has  no  need  to  save  the  situation  as  does 
"  Gradgrind,"  who,  after  he  has  killed  the  desire  for  games  by 
cramming,  tries  to  resuscitate  what  he  has  killed,  only  to  find  the 
feat  impossible. 

Thus  much  as  bearing  upon  the  necessity  of  public  parks  and 
open  spaces  for  recreation,  and  to  secure  the  quality  of  restfulness 
essential  to  a  well-ordered  town.  Now  as  to  the  manner  of  securing 
them. 

Hitherto  we  have  relied  too  much  upon  private  philanthropy.  (All 
honour  to  those  who  have  so  generously  given  land  ;  more  honour  still 
to  those  who  have  both  given  the  land,  endowed  it,  and  laid  it  out.) 
The  provision  of  parks  must  not,  however,  be  left  to  chance  ;  it  is  a 
work  that  must  be  courageously  undertaken  and  carried  through  by 
the  municipality  on  scientific  principles.  It  means  civic  economy  in 
the  end. 

There  are  two  principles  on  which  jiark  schemes  may  be  deve- 
loped ;  these  are  shown  in  diagrams  prepared,  I  believe,  by  Professor 
Eberstadt.   The  first  is  known  as  the  belt,  the  other  as  the  radial  plan. 

Vienna  may  be  cited  as  the  most  notable  city,  which,  after  laying 
out  its  splendid  Ringstrasse,  is  now  securing  outlying  belts,  which 
will  eventually,  I  suppose,  entirely  encircle  the  city.  Many  other  cities 
have  either  secured  the  surrounding  and  now  obsolete  fortifications 
or  are  negotiating  for  them.  Here  the  "  belt  "  would  seem  to  be  the 
simplest  principle  upon  which  to  work. 

All  town-planners,  howe\er,  who  have  seriously  studied  the  deve- 
lopment of  park  schemes  are  agreed  that  the  radial  principle  is  the 
best,  as  it  ensures  an  unbroken  current  of  fresh  air  into  the  city,  takes 
the  least  land  where  it  is  most  expensive,  and  the  most  on  the  agricul- 
tural fringe  ;  but,  most  important  of  all,  it  ensures  an  expanding  pro- 
portion of  park  as  the  population  increases.  Unfortunately,  neither 
of  these  principles  can  be  rigidly  applied  ;  and  yet  it  is  amazing  to 
find  how  nearly  we  can  approach  our  ideal  if  we  have  the  necessary 
persistency.  In  proof  of  this  statement  let  me  show  you  a  diagram 
of  a  town  and  its  environs.  It  is  taken  at  random  from  an  Ordnance 
map  ;  I  forget  the  name  of  the  place,  but  it  is  not  by  any  means  an 
imusual  example.  Here  you  will  see  that  the  suburbs  straggle  along 
the  highways  which  radiate  from  the  town  centre,  leaving  large  tracts 
of  agricultural  land  between,  only  a  part  of  which  is  necessary  for  ou; 
system  of  parks.  A  detailed  plan,  showing  this  radiation  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  lay-out  of  streets,  is  given  in  INIr.  Lanchcster's  diagram 
(P-  234). 


4oO  Transuctiuns  uj  Uic  Toicii  rUuining  Conjcicncc,  Oct.  lyio. 

Apart  from  playing-liclds,  which  should,  ol  course,  be  as  Jevel  as 
possible,  there  are  two  classes  of  land  which  it  is  most  desirable  to 
brinjj  into  our  park  scheme,  viz.  river  banks,  low-lying  swampy 
meadows,  and  the  hills  for  prospect.  Fortunately  these  are  invari- 
ably the  least  expensive  to  acquire. 

In  the  vicinity  of  growing-  cities  ample  tracts  of  land  ought  to  be 
reserved,  even  though  no  connected  scheme  be  possible  which  can 
ultimately  convert  them  into  parks.  Smaller  spaces  lor  playgrounds 
and  town  gardens,  varying  in  extent  to  suit  the  needs  of  the  locality 
in  which  they  are  placed,  are  also  essential.  Surely  we  ought  to  have 
a  civic  law  or  policy,  as  in  certain  American  cities,  in  Missouri  and 
Massachusetts  to  wit,  to  ensure  that  the  land  to  be  devoted  to  building- 
shall  not  outrun  in  iixed  proportions  the  acreage  of  reservation  for 
parks. 

In  all  cases,  from  the  standpoint  of  health  alone,  there  ought  to  be 
broad,  leafy  parkwa}  s  and  boulevards,  to  act  as  connective  air-ducts 
intersecting  or  skirting  these  parks,  leading  from  the  heart  of  the 
city  to  the  open  country.  These  wedges  of  greenery  would  not 
defeat  slums  altogether,  but  would  stem  them.  I  have  no  hesitation 
in  saying  that  every  borough  ought  to  secure  the  option  over  a 
minimum  area  of  open  spaces.     What  is  this  minimum? 

As  examples  of  generous  and  enlightened  cities  I  would  point  to 
Boston  and  Chicago.  I  do  not  know  to  which  to  cede  the  preference ; 
Boston  has  natural  amenities  and  has  secured  them  in  advance, 
whereas  flat  Chicago  has  none  and  is  making  them  for  herself,  and 
perhaps  for  this  reason  merits  the  preference. 

After  the  transformation  of  the  formerly  unimpressive  area  now 
known  as  Jackson  I'ark  to  the  White  Dream  City  of  1893,  citizens  of 
Chicago  never  rested  until  they  could  show  to  the  world  the  magnifi- 
cent project  of  the  model  city  of  the  future,  and  what  Chicago  pro- 
jects she  invariably  fulfils.  The  vastness  of  Chicago's  project  can 
be  imagined  when  it  is  stated  that  it  involves  a  range  of  country  with 
a  radius  of  sixty  miles  from  Chicago,  stretching  from  Kenosha  on 
the  Wisconsin  shore  around  to  Michigan  City  and  India  Harbour 
on  the  lake.  This  is  wheeling  subsidiary  boroughs  and  minor  councils 
into  line  if  you  like.  The  highways  of  this  great  region  all  converge 
towards  Chicago's  lake  front,  and  it  is  here  that  we  find  the  focal 
point  of  Daniel  Burnham's  vast  panoramic  plan.  I  will  not  go  into 
the  prodigious  scheme  of  lagoons,  breakwaters,  and  enormous  parks, 
of  filled-in  or  made  lands,  and  the  way  the  lake  scheme  and  parks  are 
gripped  together  with  the  boulevards,  streets,  and  buildings.  The 
design  is  based  on  a  system  of  diagonal  avenues,  with  concentric, 
encircling,  bow-shaped  boulevards. 

Boston's  park  system  is  already  famous,  being  the  most  complete 
of  any  in  America.  It  includes  the  greatest  civic  park  in  the  world— 
that  of  the  Blue  Hills,  third  only  to  the  great  Yosemite  and  Niagara 
Falls  Parks,  which  are  deserxedly  described  as  international.  Its 
several  parks  comprise  all  the  various  characteristics  of  pleasing 
scenery  that  Nature  can  show — forest,  seashore,  rocky  and  pastoral 
hills,  and  the  valleys  and  banks  of  four  rivers.     W'ithin  eleven  miles 


Public  Parks  and  Gardens.  4-^7 

of  Beacon  Hill  there  are  15,000  acres  of  parks  and  twenty-five  miles 
of  parkways. 

In  the  design  and  equipment  of  public  parks  and  gardens,  the 
most  fatal  mistake  is  the  failure  of  municipal  authorities  to  recognise 
the  claims  of  landscape  architecture.  I  believe  I  am  correct  in 
stating  that  our  public  parks,  which  contrast  so  unfavourably  with 
our  private  gardens,  are  almost  entirely  the  work  of  amateurs. 

Amateur  garden-designers  have  accomplished  much  and  given 
many  useful  lessons  to  the  professors  of  the  art,  but  not  without 
effort,  travel,  study,  and,  above  all,  a  genius  for  fine  gardening. 
Unfortunately,  such  enthusiasts  seldom  find  employment  in  laying 
out  public  parks. 

In  this  country  we  have  overlooked  the  fact  that  parks  and  gardens 
should  be  planned  in  relation  to  their  surroundings.  A  tract  of  land  is 
secured  and  enclosed  by  a  tortuous  boundary  line,  the  land  perhaps 
occupying  the  position  through  which  a  main  artery  should  have  been 
driven.  In  innumerable  instances,  not  only  in  London  but  in  other 
towns,  a  boundary  road  is  made  to  follow  the  sinuous  course  of  the 
park  boundary.  Contrast  the  orderly  and  natural  arrangement  of  the 
parks  and  gardens  of  Paris  with  that  of  London  or  any  English  pro- 
vincial town.  In  the  former  everything  seems  to  fall  into  such  orderly 
progression  as  to  suggest  that  each  park  and  garden  occupies  the  onlv 
possible  position  for  it. 

The  third  cause  of  failure  has  resulted  from  the  notion  that  land- 
scape gardening  was  an  art  which  aimed  at  concealing  art.  It  was, 
and  is  still,  supposed  to  be  an  art  which  seeks  to  reproduce  Nature 
in  her  "  gentler  moods."  Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  aims  of 
landscape  gardening,  landscape  architecture  must  be  honestly  inven- 
tive. It  is  essential  that  a  clear  knowledge  should  therefore  be 
gained  of  the  objective  to  be  attained,  the  motif  to  be  expressed,  the 
local  requirements,  and  the  necessities  of  the  site.  Here  a  know- 
ledge of  traditional  design  is  needed. 

A  fourth  cause  of  failure  has  been  the  introduction  of  all  manner 
of  cheap  cast-iron  erections,  ranging  from  the  silvered  bandstand  to 
the  gilded  urinal,  and  from  the  corrugated-iron  grand  stand  to  the 
automatic  sweet-machine.  Cultured  design  is  not  possible  with  such 
accompaniments. 

A  fifth  serious  cause  of  failure  results  from  the  lack  of  practical 
knowledge  relating  to  the  planting  of  parks  and  gardens.  Instead  of 
the  artist-gardener,  with  a  wide  knowledge  of  trees  and  shrubs, 
especially  of  native  trees,  the  work  is  frequently  deputed  to  the  prac- 
tical gardener  who  loves  novelty,  variety,  and  rarity  for  their  own 
sake.  The  outcome  is  the  huddled  groups  of  sickly,  half-starved 
arboricultural  curiosities  which  so  often  do  duty  for  park  plantations. 
A  public  park  is  not  the  place  for  risks,  and  the  capable  man  would 
prefer  to  work  with  six  well-proved  varieties  rather  than  experiment 
with  fifty  doubtful  ones. 

So  much  for  the  mistakes  ;  now  a  word  as  to  style  and  design. 

I  am  sure  you  have  all  looked  upon  Great  Britain  as  the  home  of 
incomparably  fine  gardens,  and  you  are  right.  Nature,  art,  and 
high-keeping  combine  to  make  them  so.     If  I  may  paraphrase  Lord 


4,;<S   'rransiuiions  of  the  Toion  /'/</)? )//nij-  Confrn'ticc.  Oct.  Kjio. 

Bacon,  1  would  say  that  when  an  iMighsh  tamily  has  grown  to  the 
age  of  civility  it  takes  to  gardening  as  naturally  as  it  docs  to  dining 
late.  We  cannot  help  it  ;  our  love  of  home  landscape,  our  genius  for 
touching-up  Nature  and  decking  her  out  in  new  garb  and  dress,  „\\u\ 
the  perfcctlv  wonderful  response  which  lavish  Nature  gives  to  our 
appeal  urge  us  on.  Is  it  surprising  if  in  the  process  of  time 
measured  by  hundreds  of  years,  we  have  evolved  a  style,  influenced 
let  us  add,  in  its  evolution,  by  notable  examples  of  gardens  abroad? 
The  English  garden  cannot  be  reduced  to  the  science  of  exact 
manner  and  proportion  as  is  a  classic  facade  ;  its  charm  is  that  it  is 
so  elastic  as  to  be  adaptable  to  almost  any  site  or  set  of  conditions, 
vet  its  perfect  blend  of  art  and  nature  always  bears  the  marks  of  its 
nativity. 

This  luiglish  style  of  garden  design  may  be  formal  or  informal ;  it 
may  be  architectural,  or  may  so  far  forget  the  canons  of  architecture  as 
to  run  to  wild  Nature  and  help  her,  as  Sedding  put  it,  to  "  speak  the 
truth."  Its  most  perfect  characteristic,  indeed,  will  be  found  in  its 
adaptation  to  its  site,  locality,  and  environment,  in  its  avoidance  of  en- 
gineering feats  at  least  in  the  country.  \Yhen  exercised  upon  civic 
commission  it  will  follow  a  course  of  wise  restraint  and  avoid  the  land- 
scapist's  eccentricities.  On  the  contrary,  it  would  follow  a  logical 
and  artistic  progression  by  the  preservation  of  every  natural  beauty 
in  the  informal  style,  and  by  allowing  Art  to  be  supreme  mistress  in 
the  formal  style.  This  is  in  harmony  with  the  traditions  of  architec- 
ture, which,  starting  with  the  monumental  expression  of  the  civic 
centre,  prefers  rural  simplicity  in  the  suburb. 

"When  we  come  to  select  illustrative  examples  of  ICnglisli  landscape 
design  applied  to  public  baths  and  gardens,  we  are  met  with  the  curious 
fact  that  we  must  go  to  the  Continent.  To  avoid  misunderstanding,  let 
me  add  that  I  here  draw  a  distinction  beween  the  expansive  lawn  and 
fine  woodland  effects — our  national  heritage — and  applied  landscape 
architecture.     It  is  to  the  latter  that  I  am  now  addressing  mvsclf. 

In  comparing  the  differences  in  planning  English  and  Continental 
parks,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  conditions  in  this  country 
are  peculiarly  local  and  national.  Reing  a  sporting  and  yet  intensely 
economical  people,  we  seldom  lay  out  a  park  purely  as  an  ornamental 
feature,  but  design  it  upon  a  revenue-producing  basis.  We  want  the 
maximum  amount  of  recreation  .spaces,  and,  for  preference,  those 
which  will  contribute  towards  the  annual  upkeep.  To  secure  revenue, 
we  may,  and  often  do,  entirely  close  a  park  on  certain  dates  for 
annual  festivals  or  fetes,  charging  an  entrance  fee.  We  construct 
a  lake  and  secure  a  high  rental  for  the  right  of  letting  out  boats  and 
skating ;  we  lay  out  bowling-greens  and  charge  rentals  for  lockers ; 
tennis  lawns,  and  charge  for  the  use  of  nets  ;  we  erect  a  bandstand, 
and  draw  revenue  from  the  hire  of  chairs.  In  the  main  I  have  no 
fault  to  find  with  this  system.  The  charges  arc  usually  moderate 
and  regulated  by  bye-laws,  and  the  income  thus  provided  ensures  a 
more  liberal  outlay  on  upkeep.  The  point  of  difference  is  that  with 
us  utility  takes  the  first  place  and  ornament  the  second,  whereas  on 
the  Continent  the  order  is  reversed. 

The  second   pf)int  of  difference  lies  in  the   fad   that  with  us  green 


Public  Parks  and  Gardens. 


439 


lawns  are  the  determinant  artistic  factor,  whereas  on  the  Continent 
trees,  spinney  woods,  or  woodlands  predominate.  This  fact  should  be 
kept  strictly  in  mind  when  comparing  ground  plans  apart  from  per- 
spective views.  The  many  curved  lines  of  walks  starting  from  a 
single  centre,  and  all  curving  in  the  same  direction,  but  widening 
out  as  they  get  further  from  the  centre  (a  treatment  common  in  the 
French  landscape  parks),  are  quite  possible  and  delightful  when 
passing  through  a  spinney  wood,  but  impracticable  when  the  paths 
are  separated  only  by  grass. 

Anticipating  the  time  when  municipalities  will  think  seriously 
about  park  design,  let  me  say  that  our  greatest  opportunities  will  be 
found  in  the  convenient  planning  and  arrangement  of  recreation 
grounds  and  a  fuller  appreciation  of  our  great  heritage — beautiful 
lawns  and  trees — and  when  with  true  artistic  insight  we  learn  to 
grasp  the  significance  of  existing  features  whether  of  near  or  distant 
views,  and  acquire  the  skill  perfectly  to  wea\  e  in  the  new  with  the 
old  without  discord. 

In  order  to  give  point  and  meaning  to  the  generalities  indulged 
in,  I  now  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  three  park  designs  which, 
taken  together,  cover  a  wide  executive  field  : — 

1.  A  marine  garden  parade  at  Southport. 

2.  A  small  recreation  ground  at  Cleethorpes,  a  seaside  resort  on 
the  coast  of  Lincolnshire. 

3.  Pittencrieft  Park,  Dunfermline. 

SOI'THPORT   MaRIXK    P ARK. 

Southport  possesses  an  almost  unique  opportunity  for  securing 
an  exceptionally  beautiful  promenade,  marine  park  and  garden. 
-Attempts  have  already  been  made  in  this  direction,  but  what  has  been 
done  bears  no  relation  to  the  scheme  under  review.  I  ought  to  add 
that  the  scheme  which  I  am  about  to  describe  is  merely  a  study. 

In  its  present  form,  the  promenade  is  the  least  satisfactory  of  the 
amenities  of  Southport.  AYith  all  its  advantages,  it  is  bald  and 
lacking  in  interest,  whereas  it  ought  to  be  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
promenades  in  Britain.  The  relative  cost,  compared  with  similar 
undertakings  in  other  towns,  would  be  small.  There  are  here  no 
private  ownerships  entailing  costly  litigation,  nor  are  there  an\'  bitter 
sea-blasts  which  make  impossible  the  growth  of  trees  and  shrubs. 

To  ensure  a  deserving  amplitude  of  promenade,  I  propose  to 
widen  the  roadway  to  a  uniform  width  of  eighty-five  feet,  divided 
as  in  the  section  [fig.  2],  with  shelters  placed  at  regular  distances 
arranged  to  give  an  ample  screen  from  all  winds.  Between  the.se 
shelters  are  arranged  formal  masses  of  privet,  out  of  which  rise 
standard  trees  of  Sorhus  domestica,  a  tree  which  has  proved  invalu- 
able along  the  coast  of  North  Wales.  The  marine  gardens  extend  to 
the  north  and  south  of  the  promenade  and  roadway,  and  are  divided 
therefrom  by  a  handsome  stone  balustrade,  with  several  flights  of 
wide  steps,  and  also  several  graded  ways  for  bath  chairs. 

As  the  cost  of  removing  light  sandy  soil,  resting  on  a  substratum 
of  pure  sand,  is  so  small,  and  the  two  chief  sources  of  beauty,  green- 
sward and  privet  hedges,  are  so  quicklv  reared,  there  need  be  no  fear 


44"  Transactions  oj  the  Toii'u  rianniug  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Public  Parks  and  Gardens.  441 

in  suggesting-  an  entire  rearrangement  of  these  gardens  on  a  scale 
which,  though  really  securing  greater  shelter,  would  still  appear 
dignified.  Between  these  gardens  and  the  marine  lake  there  is  a 
second  promenade,  some  thirty  feet  in  width,  protected  at  the  back 
by  the  retaining  wall  and  high  hedges  of  the  marine  gardens,  into 
which  would  be  built  recessed  and  covered  seats.  During  the  summer 
months  this  promenade  might  be  decked  out  with  gay  shrubs  in  tubs, 
and  the  pathway  might  be  treated  in  a  more  agreeable  manner  than 
is  possible  with  the  black  asphalte,  by  flagging  a  part  of  its  width 
to  some  simple  pattern,  and  by  gravelling  or  paving  the  remainder. 

The  marine  lake,  in  its  present  form,  has  proved  such  an  attrac- 
tion that  I  suggest  that  the  area  be  doubled  by  extending  it  to  the 
north  of  the  pier,  and  by  adding  wide  bays  reaching  to  the  lower 
terrace.  This  would  give  most  convenient  boat-landings.  This 
extension  should,  I  suggest,  be  made  central  with  the  marine  park. 
The  lagoon-like  character  of  the  lake  might  be  enhanced  by  the 
erection  of  bandstands  designed  to  fit  in  and  accord  with  their  spe- 
cially favoured  positions,  while  the  margins  would  gain  in  interest 
by  gaily  decorated  Venetian  masts,  with  gondolas,  decked  in  rich 
colours,  plying  on  the  lake.  If,  in  addition,  a  large  tract  of  sand 
could  be  enclosed  b}'  a  new  marine  drive,  encircling  the  marine 
lake,  a  park  little  less  than  magnificent  might  eventually  be  realised 
within  this  enclosing  boundary. 

CLEETHORPES SIDNEY   PARK. 

Cleethorpes  is  a  small  but  distinctly  progressive  seaside  resort  on 
the  East  Coast,  south  of  Grimsby  and  the  estuary  of  the  Humber. 
Most  East  Coast  resorts  are  improved  by  inland  parks  and  gardens, 
which  supply  additional  recreative  spaces  not  provided  by  the  seaside 
promenades.  Such  parks  not  only  form  an  agreeable  alternative  to 
the  sea-front,  but  ensure  a  development  of  back  land  property  on 
aesthetic  and  hygienic  principles  which,  under  other  conditions,  often 
develop  into  slums,  thereby  spoiling  the  approaches  which  ought 
to  give  the  key  to  the  amenities  of  the  town.  Cleethorpes  was  for- 
tunate in  securing,  through  the  generosity  of  the  wardens  of  Sidney 
Sussex  College,  Cambridge,  a  park  site  of  twelve  acres  from  the 
principal  landowners,  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  on  terms 
allowing  of  a  fair  expenditure  for  its  lay-out.  It  is  situated  in  the 
centre  of  what  will  soon  become  a  populous  neighbourhood  of  small 
thirty-pound  villas. 

Naturally  in  a  neighbourliood  like  this,  where  the  population 
was  augmented  by  visitors,  there  was  a  great  demand  for  playing- 
grounds.  For  this  reason  the  park  is  treated  mostly  as  a  recreation 
park,  with  ample  provision  for  bowls,  tennis,  croquet,  and  model 
yachting,  with  two  good  playing-fields,  each  having  direct  access 
from  the  boundary  roads — an  arrangement  most  essential  where  it 
is  desirable  to  maintain  orderly  quiet  for  adults  in  the  other  parts  of 
the  park. 

Although  so  largely  devoted  to  recreational  purposes,  it  was 
necessary  to  make  Sidney  Park  attractive  to  the  general  public. 
Fortunately,  the  large  area  of  neatly    kept    turf  which    tennis    and 

G  G 


Public  Parks  and  Gardens. 


44-3 


Small  Recreation  Ground 
£r  The  Cljiethorpes  U  D  C 


in 


n 


VI* 


Fig.  3. 


444  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

bowling  greens  demand — secures  in  quantity  the  first  quality  of  an 
Knglish  park  or  garden — greensward.  Yew  hedges,  which  grow 
in  the  neighbourhood  to  perfection,  and  the  avenues  and  shrubberies, 
planted  almost  entirely  with  deciduous  and  evergreen  flowering  plants, 
give  ample  foliage  effects  ;  whilst  the  pavilion  lodges  and  conservatory 
would,  if  carried  out  as  designed,  have  supplied  the  necessary  touch 
of  richness  and  civic  expression  so  essential  in  a  public  pleasaunce. 
In  a  small  park  such  as  this  the  bandstand,  surrounded  by  ample 
gravelled  space,  should  always  be  given  a  good  position  and  treated 
architecturally.  The  extent  of  the  park  and  the  position  chosen  do 
not  admit  of  the  ideal  spacing,  but  the  site  has  the  advantage  of  posi- 
tion for  a  permanent  architectural  erection  and  of  quick  access  from 
the  two  main  entrances. 

vSurrounding  the  bandstand  circle  it  was  proposed  to  erect  stone 
columns,  surmounted  by  small  lead  urns,  with  double  tie-rods 
connecting  the  whole  of  the  columns  together  ;  these  were  to  be 
festooned  with  Dorothy  Perkins  rose. 

The  two  panel  gardens  were  to  be  filled  entirely  with  roses,  each 
bed  w;ith  one  variety  only,  and  their  paths,  though  now  gravelled, 
are  eventually  to  be  laid  down  with  old  town  flags.  The  other  flower- 
beds are  to  be  filled  partly  with  showy  herbaceous  plants  and  partly 
with  bedding-out  plants,  for  the  rearing  of  which  proper  provision 
has  been  made  in  the  frame-yard. 


PITTENCRIEFF    PARK    AND    GLEN,    DUNFERMLINE. 

I  have  thus  far  said  little  upon  the  relation  of  parks  and  gardens 
to  the  design  and  plan  of  the  town.  In  order  to  amend  this  omission 
I  have  selected  Pittencrieff  Park  and  Glen  as  one  of  my  examples. 

In  September  1903  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  added  to  his  many 
benefactions  to  his  native  town  by  presenting  the  munificent  sum  of 
half  a  million  pounds,  ensuring  an  income  of  twenty-five  thousand 
pounds  per  year,  which,  had  a  continuous  policy  been  adopted, 
would  ha\e  allowed  of  an  expenditure  of  a  million  sterling  in  fifty 
years  in  addition  to  new  income  created.  This  gift  was  accompanied 
v,ith  the  conveyance  of  this  Park  and  Glen,  which  he  desired  should 
be  devoted  to  the  uses  of  a  public  park,  reserving  a  portion  of  ground 
at  the  northern  end  for  monumental  buildings.  The  property  is  vested 
in  a  Trust,  who,  realising  that  they  did  not  themselves  possess  the 
necessary  expert  knowledge,  invited  Professor  Geddes  and  myself  to 
prepare  separate  schemes  for  laying  out  the  park  and  otherwise 
assisting  them  with  suggestions.  In  fairness  to  the  Trust,  and  also 
to  avoid  any  misunderstanding  of  my  designs,  I  ought  to  say  that 
every  premiss  on  which  my  scheme  rested  was  considered  bv  them  to 
be  impracticable,  visionary,  and  unattainable. 

To  understand  tliis  scheme  you  must  first  look  at  the  plan  indi- 
cating the  line  upon  which  I  intended  to  remodel  the  town.  From  this 
you  will  see  that  Pittencriefi^  Park,  through  which  runs  a  deep  ravine, 
has  hitherto  effectually  barred  the  expansion  of  the  town  on  its 
western  boundary.  I  proposed  to  cut  a  fine  boulevard  right  through 
tl>e  northern  end  of  the  park  :  this  would  at  once  have  relieved  the 


446  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1916. 

congested  end  of  Bridge  Street  and  secured  a  fine  leafy  vista  extend- 
ing into  the  open  country  in  line  with  the  principal  street.  My 
insistence  on  the  value  and  necessity  of  this  road  led  to  the  rejection 
of  my  scheme.  Vou  will  notice  that  I  have  also  proposed  to  form  a 
parkway  connecting  the  old  Comely  Bank  Park  with  Pittencrieff 
Park  and  Glen.  This  was  my  second  mistake,  which  was  as  strongly 
condemned  as  the  first. 

For  the  better  understanding  of  the  design  for  the  Park  the 
following  key  to  the  numbers  on  the  plan  [fig.  5]  may  help  to  locate 
important  features  or  details  : — 

1.  Lecture  hall. 

2.  Four  towers,    which   would  answer   the  purpose  of  shelters,   and  also  as 

entrances  to  the  art  gallery  and  muscimi  on  the  north  and  the  collonade 
on  the  south  sides. 

3.  Museum. 

4.  Large  concert  hall. 

5.  Covered  carriage  entrance. 

(Note. — Nos.  3,  4,  and  5  are  connected  by  the  Sculpture  Hall  under  the  dome.) 

6.  Art  gallery. 

7.  -Small  hall  for  concert  and  musical  rehearsals  or  school  of  horticulture. 

8.  School  of  housewifery. 

9.  Bandstand,  designed  as  a  central  feature  to  the  colonnade. 

10.  Colonnade,  with  balustrade  on  the  side  adjoining  the  Glen. 

11.  Carriage  entrance  from  the  circular  space  at  junction  of  Bridge  Street  and 

Chalmers  Street. 

12.  Old  trees,  with  undergrowth  of  rhododendrons,  the  space  immediately   in 

front  of  the  colonnade  to  be  laid  down  in  grass. 

13.  Old     Bridge,     surmounted     with   a    rough-hewn    shelter,    a    walk     passing 

through  it. 

14.  The  old  super-arched  bridge,  through  which  side  arches  are  pierced  to  admit 

the  new  walks.     The  centre  abutments  would  also  be  pierced,  allowing 
access  to  the  top  of  lower  arch. 
14A.   Small  shelter  and  tea-rooms,  with  ladies'  retiring  rooms  behind. 

15.  .Malcolm  Canmore's  Tower.     A  rough  bridge  to  be  raised  over  the  ruins  to 

facilitate  inspection  without  further  destruction,  the  floor  space  of  Tower 
to  be  paved  or  flagged. 

16.  The   Abbey  \\'alk,   following   with   slight  deviations  the  course  of  the  old 

Stirling  Road.     This  path  protected  on  either  side  by  a  wall  recessed  for 
seats.     The  entrance  to  this  walk  from  St.  Catherine's  Wynd  is  by  steps. 

17.  Small  bridges,  designed  with  single  arches  and  plain  coping. 

18.  Model  yacht  pond. 

19.  .'\viary. 

20.  Coal  Lane  entrance. 

21.  Entrance  to  Pittencrieff  House  and  grounds. 

22.  Pittencrieff  House. 

23.  F"rame-yard,   in  which  would  be  erected  the  new  propagating-houses. 

24.  E.xisting  bothies  and  potting-sheds,  to  be  retained. 

25.  New  garden  houses  shown  in  the  perspective  of  greenhouses. 

26.  Range  of  glasshouses. 

27.  Terrace  walk. 

28.  Pond  garden  and  yew  walk. 

29.  darden  pavilion,  wilh  loggia  at  each  side,  and  a  side  exit  with  steps  to  a 

lower  walk. 

30.  A  rose  walk. 

31.  A  statuary  garden. 

32.  P'ountain  garden. 

33.  Small  garden  pavilions  or  shelters. 

34.  Yew  walk  recessed  for  seats. 

35.  Wild  garden. 

36.  Maze. 

37.  Al-frcsco  theatre. 

38.  Small  shelter  ending  grove  of  evergreen  oaks. 

39.  Octagonal  space  with  recessed  seats. 
^.o.  Lime  avenue. 


PitbJic  Parks  and  Gardens. 


447 


THECARNEGE 
CVNFERMLI^C  n  TRV5T 
PLANg^PITTB^CREFF 


Fic.  5. 


44^  Transaclious  of  the  Tcnvu  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

41.  Conveniences. 

42.  New  super-arched  bridge. 

45.      Lodge  entrances  from  Comely  Bank  Avenue. 

44.     A  part  of  the  old  buildings  of  the  snuff  factory  now  proposed  as  the  smithy, 
and  partly  as  a  dovecote. 

Pittencrieft"  Park  presents  one  of  those  designs  in  which  it  is 
most  difficult  to  judge  of  its  merits  or  of  its  adaptability  to  local  con- 
ditions without  a  careful  study  of  the  plan  in  situ.  Many  tortuous 
lines  and  junctions  of  walks  which  do  not  comply  with  the  best 
traditions  of  garden  development  are  dictated  by  the  necessities  of 
the  site  and  the  desirability  of  retaining  all  those  natural  features  for 
which  the  Glen  is  famous.  These  natural  characteristics  of  the  Park 
and  Glen  are  so  pronounced,  and  the  range  and  variety  of  their  native 
beauties  so  profuse,  that  no  fear  was  entertained  that,  in  adapting 
them  to  the  use  and  amusements  of  the  public,  their  prevailing  char- 
acter would  be  destroyed.  The  old  Abbey  and  Palace  ruins,  the  lovely 
Glen,  and  the  extensive  views  in  the  distance  to  the  south,  the  excep- 
tionally favourable  fall  of  the  ground  in  the  same  direction,  the  deep 
dell,  and  the  fine,  well-matured  timber,  together  with  the  old  house  and 
the  quaint  enclosed  garden,  make  a  unique  composition,  into  which  it 
seemed  to  me  the  new  w^ork  should  be  deftly  interwoven.  Only  one 
feature  is  lacking,  and  that  is  an  expanse  of  water  for  boating, 
which  I  hoped  it  would  be  possible  to  provide  in  the  lower  fields,  and 
thus  add  one  more  healthy  form  of  recreation. 

It  is  not  alone  in  Dunfermline  that  opportunities  have  been  lost. 
Every  tow-n  and  city  has  its  neglected  opportunities.  The  London 
parks  are  full  of  suggestion,  and  in  many  cases  would  entail  a  com- 
paratively small  expenditure  to  convert  them  into  parks  in  which 
landscape  architecture  should  reach  its  highest  attainment.  Mr. 
Calcutt  has  made  some  very  excellent  suggestions  for  much-needed 
improvements  to  Battersea  Park,  but  I  would  prefer  to  start  on 
Greenwich  Park.  Here  the  material  already  to  hand  in  the  Green- 
wich Hospital,  the  Blackheath  Avenue,  the  unique  panorama  over 
the  Thames,  and  the  favourable  contours  make  an  exceptionally 
fine  effect  possible.  My  proposals,  if  carried  out,  would,  I  believe, 
result  in  such  a  practical  concrete  gain  to  the  community  as  to  compel 
respect. 

On  the  Ordnance  plan  on  the  screen  are  roughly  indicated  pro- 
posals. Briefly,  they  consist  of  the  extension  of  the  axial  line  of 
Blackheath  Avenue  across  the  river  to  a  point  on  East  Ferry  Road 
near  the  Millwall  Docks  Station,  and  the  creation  of  a  new  traffic 
road  across  the  Isle  of  Dogs  to  the  East  India  Dock  Road,  thus  inci- 
dentally opening  up  a  district  badly  in  need  of  systematic  rearrange- 
ment, and  which  could  be  remodelled  without  the  destruction  of  any 
valuable  buildings.  At  present  the  Greenwich  Hospital,  Greenwich 
Church,  and  the  Blackheath  Avenue  exist  as  isolated  incidents  with- 
out aesthetic  connection  of  any  kind.  An  examination  of  my  pro- 
posals will  show  how  they  can  be  brought  into  harmonious  connection 
and,  at  the  same  time,  Greenwich  Park  and  the  Blackheath  Avenue 
can  be  given  that  ordered  expression  which  is  best  attained  by  the 
introduction  of  seemly  architectural  features. 

vStarting  at  the  south  end,  on  the  Dover  Road,  I  would  continue 


Public  Parks  and  Gardens. 


449 


the  avenue  these  few  yards  to  meet  it,  and  here  form  a  circus  with 
a  monument  or  other  architectural  feature  marking  the  point  of 
intersection  of  the  central  lines  of  the  two  roads,  and  which 
would  also  form  a  terminal  feature  to  the  avenue.  How  badly  such 
a  feature  is  needed  is  evident  from  my  next  slide,  from  which  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  avenue  is  worse  off  in  this  respect  at  present  than  if 
it  had  no  terminal  feature  at  all,  the  spire  being  rendered  quite 
ineffectix  e  by  the  contours  and  its  distance  from  the  avenue. 


<    ""■•  '  Fig.  C-  Proposed  N'ew  Budge,  Bjidge  Stresf.  Dj.vfermlive. 

.\t  the  other  end  it  is  pcoposed  to  duplicate  the  present  Observa- 
tor\  buildings  on  the  east  side  of  the  avenue,  and  to  connect  the  two 
with  an  open  colonnade  which,  while  marking  the  termination  of 
the  avenue  and  providing  opportunity  for  seats  and  balustrade  from 
which  to  view  the  extensive  prospect,  nill  not  block  the  view. 

On    the    flat    ground    between    the    Observatory    and    the    Xaval 


450  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

College  there  is  a  splendid  opportunity  for  one  of  those  architec- 
turally treated  formal  gardens  for  which  Paris  is  famous,  and  which 
would  harmonise  so  completely  with  the  College  Buildings  ;  and  on 
the  hillside  between  the  avenue  and  the  gardens  could  be  formed 
a  series  of  terraces  with  architectural  cascades,  steps,  and  inclined 
ways.     Those  indicated  on  my  scheme  are  merely  suggestive. 

Needless  to  say,  the  buildings  of  the  Greenwich  Hospital  and  the 
College,  with  the  Romney  Road  and  its  cordons  of  chipped  trees 
running  between  them,  all  fall  admirably  into  the  scheme  without  the 
slightest  readjustment,  but  undoubtedly,  whether  or  no  my  scheme 
ever  takes  practical  shape.  Nelson  Street  should  be  broadened  to  the 
same  width  as  Romney  Road  so  as  to  open  out  Greenwich  Church 
and  incorporate  it  in  the  scheme. 

If  I  mav  do  so  without  impropriety,  may  I  suggest  that  the  Royal 
Institute  of  British  Architects  should  themselves  so  far  recognise  the 
claims  of  Landscape  Architecture  as  to  select  some  such  subject  for 
the  Soane  Medallion  award? 


DISCUSSION. 

Mr.   Ernest  George,  A.R.A.,    F.R.I.B.A.,  in  the  Chair. 

Sir  James  Le.mon  (Southampton)  :  I  think  we  are  very  much 
indebted  to  Mr.  Mawson  for  his  most  interesting  lecture  and  for  the 
admirable  slides  which  he  has  shown  us  ;  but  I  think  we  must  approach 
this  question  from  a  practical  standpoint — that  is  to  say,  we  must 
first  see  the  means  of  acquiring  the  land  before  we  can  think  of  the 
best  way  to  lay  it  out.  Some  towns,  as  we  all  know,  have  had  land 
given  to  them,  and  others  have  been  in  the  possession  of  public  land 
for  a  great  number  of  years.  What  we  ha\e  to  deal  with  in  the 
future  is  the  best  mode  of  acquiring  land  for  public  parks.  I  agree 
with  Mr.  Mawson  that  public  parks  are  a  necessity,  and  I  hope  that 
under  the  Town  Planning  Act  means  will  be  adopted  by  the  local 
authorities  to  secure  a  certain  amount  of  land  in  towns  for  the  purpose 
of  public  parks. 

I  must  say  that  I  have  been  somewhat  disappointed  with  a  discus- 
sion that  has  taken  place  in  the  other  room.  Some  of  our  friends 
have  taken  what  I  call  a  pessimistic  view  of  the  Town  Planning  Act. 
They  seem  to  have  looked  upon  it  rather  in  the  light  that  the  local 
authorities  are  not  entitled  to  spend  money  for  the  purpose  of  carrying 
out  a  town-planning  scheme.  Now  I  dissent  from  that  altogether. 
My  experience  of  public  life — and  it  is  rather  a  long  one  of  about  half 
a  century — is  that  what  the  public  want  is  value  for  their  money,  and 
if  you  show  the  ratepayers  that  what  you  propose  to  carry  out  will 
improve  the  town,  you  will  stand  a  very  good  chance  of  getting  the 
properties. 

I  should  like  to  draw  attention  to  one  or  two  points  which  sug- 
gested themselves  to  my  mind  when  L  saw  the  sketch  of  Cleethorpes. 
There  you  have  a  park  surrounded  by  a  number  of  villas.  If  the 
owner  of  land  in  a  town  could  be  induced  to  give  a  certain  portion  of 
land  in  the  centre  of  an  estate,  or  if  he  would  give  it  on  a  small  pay- 


Public  Parks  and  Gardens^  451 

nient  from  the  local  authority  on  condition  that  the  local  authority 
should  lay  it  out  as  a  public  park  and  maintain  it  in  perpetuity,  I  think 
there  would  be  some  chance  of  getting  more  parks  in  our  towns. 
Looking  at  it  from  a  financial  point  of  view  only,  it  means  that  you 
will  always  get  a  very  much  higher  price  for  }our  land  surrounding 
an  open  space  or  public  park  than  you  will  otherwise.  If  that  view- 
could  be  put  before  the  persons  who  are  interested,  I  think  it  would 
be  a  means  of  getting  more  parks. 

There  is  a  means  of  getting  land  for  public  purposes,  and  Mr. 
Mawson  very  properly  referred  in  his  Paper  to  the  question  of  public 
health.  If  you  wish  to  maintain  a  high  standard  of  public  health  in 
this  country,  you  must  increase  your  open  spaces.  Then  we  are  told, 
"  Oh,  but  persons  will  not  spend  money  for  that  purpose  "  ;  but  I 
would  remind  them  that  all  measures  for  the  public  health  have  now 
become  compulsory.  The  Public  Health  Act  of  1875  '^  compulsory 
upon  all  points.  It  provides  that,  if  the  local  authorities  do  not  pro- 
perly drain  a  town,  the  Local  Government  Board  steps  in  and  makes 
them  do  so.  Then  there  are  various  clauses  of  the  Public  Health  Act 
as  to  drainage  and  water-supply  and  prevention  of  disease. 

Now  I  say  that  the  provision  of  open  spaces  will  have  to  be  made 
compulsory.  I  quite  admit  "  compulsion  "  is  a  very  ugly  word,  but 
still  it  is  necessary,  I  think,  in  the  interests  of  public  health,  that  in 
the  laying-out  of  the  future  more  public  spaces  should  be  given  to  our 
towns.  I  do  not  think  the  Town  Planning  Act  is  an  Act  that  was 
intended  to  pull  down  slums  and  clear  out  existing  buildings.  The 
local  authorities  have  plenty  of  powers  to  do  that  without  a  Town 
Planning  Act.  The  Town  Planning  Act,  in  my  judgment,  is  framed 
on  the  old  and  well-known  principle  that  prevention  is  better  than 
cure  ;  and  in  the  future  I  hope  the  Town  Planning  Act  will  be  a  means 
of  securing  proper  open  spaces  in  our  towns. 

Having  secured  open  spaces,  of  course  the  next  step  is  to  lay  therr 
out  properly,  and  I  hope  local  authorities  in  this  country  will  be  suffi- 
ciently enlightened  to  entrust  that  duty  to  an  expert  like  our  friend 
Mr.  Mawson.  If  a  thing  is  worth  doing  at  all  it  is  worth  doing  well. 
It  is  all  very  well  to  say  that  the  town  surveyor  ought  to  do  this  and 
do  that.  Well,  he  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  an  expert  in  everything. 
Therefore,  if  you  have  public  lands  to  lay  out,  by  all  means  call  in  an 
expi.t,  and  if  you  do  that  I  am  sure  you  will  not  regret  it;  the  town 
will  have  a  park  which  will  be  a  thing  of  beauty  ;  and  a  thing  of 
beauty  is  a  joy  for  ever. 

Mr.  H.  B.  Grubb  :  I  should  like  to  ask  Mr.  Mawson  how  he  ex- 
plains the  extraordinary  hesitation  on  the  part  of  municipal  bodies  to 
call  in  expert  advice  when  they  have  an  opportunity  for  laying  out 
parks. 

Mr.  E.  P.  Warren  :  I  have  listened  with  the  greatest  possible 
interest  to  Mr.  Mawson 's  admirable  Paper,  and  many  suggestions 
have  arisen  in  my  mind  as  I  listened  to  him.  It  seems  to  me  that 
Mr.  Mawson  was  perfectly  right  in  suggesting,  as  I  gather  that  he 
did,  if  not  in  actual  words,  that  the  ideal  scheme  should  be  a  precursor 
of  any  deliberate  attempt  at  the  laying  out  of  a  public  park. 

I  think  that  is  perfectly  true.      Vou  need  to  get  into  people's  heads 


452   Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

the  acceptance  of  an  ideal  in  order  to  create  the  w  ant.  When  you  can 
get  people  to  see  how  very  much  better  and  more  charming  their  town 
may  be  made  by  the  acceptance  of  an  ideal,  and  when  you  get  that 
ideal  thoroughly  worked  into  their  minds,  they  become  discontented 
and  the  discontent  gradually  ferments  until  something  comes  of  it. 
A  private  gift  is  very  much  more  apt  to  follow  such  an  acceptance  than 
to  be  promoted  by  mere  evolution  of  a  practical  scheme.  The  idea 
may  be  over  their  heads  ;  it  may  be  better  than  is  attainable ;  but  it  is 
always  advisable  to  fly  high  and  aim  at  a  good  thing. 

I  think  in  London  our  public  parks  and  public  gardens,  and  many 
of  the  reconstructed  public  gardens  which  have  been  formed  of  old 
churchyards,  are  rendered  unnecessarily  dreary  and  unattractive  by  the 
acceptance  of  a  very  low  standard  of  what  we  may  call  the  furniture 
or  the  accessories  of  the  park.  The  paths  are  frequently  of  asphalte, 
which,  in  conjunction  with  grass,  and  particularly  in  wet  weather,  is 
very  dark  and  dismal.  The  borderings  of  the  parks  are  of  the 
cheapest  and  nastiest  order,  frequently  of  a  kind  of  twisted  brown 
faience  which  suggests  the  bakers'  shops.  The  seats  are  the  mere 
reach-me-down  appurtenances  to  be  bought  from  a  firm,  with  no 
consideration  of  design.  The  lamp-posts  are  ugly  and  dreary,  and  the 
gardens  are  usually  distributed  without  any  particular  notion  of  the 
acceptance  of  salient  features,  such  as  a  church  spire  or  a  notable 
building,  which  may  be  landscaped  up  to  harmonise  with  the  general 
design  of  the  park  or  garden.  In  many  respects  I  think  most  of  our 
public  parks  and  gardens  compare  very  badly  with  those  abroad.  If 
one  compares  them  with  similar  cases  abroad,  and  particularly  in 
France,  it  will  be  found  that  the  English  public  park  or  garden  as  a 
rule  is  a  self-contained  entity,  without  any  consideration  of  what  is 
around  it. 

In  France  and  on  the  Continent  generally  one  cannot  help  being 
particularly  struck  by  the  acceptance  of  a  general  principle  in  what 
is,  after  all,  a  relatively  modern  feature  everywhere — the  railway 
station.  The  railway  station  in  every  Continental  town,  and  particu- 
larly in  French  ones,  nearly  always  connotes  something  like  a  dignified 
approach.  There  is  a  wide  space  outside  it.  \'ery  frequently  there 
is  a  park  or  garden.  I  have  in  mind  a  railway  station  which  I  saw  a 
short  time  ago  at  Besancon,  on  a  hill  above  the  town.  There  the 
railway  station  is  approached  as  you  go  up  from  the  town  by  two  main 
roads  for  vehicles.  It  is  approached  by  foot  passengers  through  a 
small  park  or  garden,  with  good  grass  plots,  and  trees,  under  which 
people  who  are  waiting  for  the  train  can  sit  upon  seats  instead  of 
remaining  in  the  station.  The  whole  thing  is  agreeable  and  charm- 
ing. The  railway  station  is  rendered  more  attractive  than  most  rail- 
way stations  are  externally  by  a  very  simple,  pleasing  arrangement  of 
heraldry,  the  arms  of  Besancon  in  the  middle  and  the  arms  of  various 
towns  on  the  line  distributed  right  and  left.  I  think  in  England  we 
have  regarded  railway  stations  as  a  mere  means  of  getting  to.  and 
from  the  town,  and  there  is  an  end  of  it.  We  seldom  arrange  a  good 
approach,  and  still  more  seldom  do  we  arrange  a  park  or  garden  that 
might  very  adequately  adorn  such  a  place. 


45: 


(4)  THE  ARCHITECT  AND  CIVIC  ORNAMENTATION. 

By  E.   A.   Rrkards,  F.R.I.B.A. 

The  nature  of  this  Congress  and  the  many  representatives  from  other 
countries  assisting"  at  it  lead  one  irresistibly  to  speculate  on  the  com- 
parative methods  brought  to  bear  on  this  exceedingly  important 
branch  of  the  art  of  town  building,  whether  direct  in  conception  and 
execution  or  accumulative  and  gradual,  as  is  more  usually  the  case. 
If  I  am  able  in  this  short  Paper  to  demonstrate  why  we  English  do 
not  achieve  more  than  a  moderate  success,  and  to  hint  at  what  I 
consider  the  causes  which  so  often  lead,  in  other  countries,  to  so 
splendid  a  result  and  the  proper  exploitation  of  the  various  forms  of 
plastic  art  in  this  connection,  then  I  should  be  grateful  to  my  visitors 
here  for  their  endorsement,  and  for  any  further  enlightenment  as  to 
the  methods  they  themselves  have  either  employed  or  witnessed 
in  their  own  communities.  ]Ve  have  almost  everything  to  learn  in 
this  department  of  civic  art. 

By  the  ornamentation  of  the  city  I  really  include  all  that  may 
serve  as  amenities  in  any  form  to  the  life  of  the  people.  For 
example,  the  treatment  of  an  oasis,  a  point  of  rest,  in  the  vast 
labyrinth  of  the  routes  of  modern  traffic ;  there  are  many  such 
examples  in  the  small  gardens  and  island  spaces  in  the  heart  of 
Paris,  and  the  Botanic  Gardens  of  Brussels,  so  contiguous  and  yet 
so  removed  from  life  around,  stand  out  in  my  mind.  Memorials  of 
events,  personalities,  or  purely  abstract  appeals  to  the  intelligence 
or  the  soul  of  the  town-dweller.  This  comprises  the  exploiting  of 
the  art  of  sculpture  in  its  many  forms,  from  the  absolutely  realistic 
or  fantastic  expression  of  the  most  individual  artist  to  the  sculpture 
which  is  a  leavening  of  the  severer  and  dominating  forms  of  some 
monument  on  a  larger  scale.  There  is  place  for  all.  Again,  the 
romance  with  which  the  lighting  of  the  city  might  be  invested,  in 
addition  to  its  purely  utilitarian  office,  with  all  the  distinction 
between  the  severity  and  soberness  and  permanent  effect  and  the 
prodigal  fancy  of  the  illumination  of  the  festa — such  as  w^e  have 
witnessed  this  year  in  Brussels  and  can  still  remember  of  the  Paris 
P'xhibition  of  igoo.  One  thinks  also  of  the  many  effects  obtainable 
with  the  opposite  element  of  water,  as  material,  whether  in  reflecting 
pools  and  placid  stretches  of  calm  suggestion  of  repose — as,  for 
example,  the  Memorial  Garden  to  the  Empress  Elizabeth  and  the 
other  graceful  enclosures  of  this  element  in  \'ienna ;  or  actively 
displayed,  and  in  the  form  of  its  control  taking  its  place  in  the  vista, 
or  in  a  smaller  way  filling  out  the  line  of  the  sculptured  fountain — 
a  link  between  the  inanimate  conception  of  the  artist  and  the  life 
around. 


454  Tniiisactioiis  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Even  the  display  of  flowers  and  plants,  and  the  touch  of  almost 
feminine  grace  and  holiday  lightness  they  impart,  comes  under  the 
heading  of  architectural  ornamentation  when  managed  with  such 
skill  as  the  Viennese  have  shown  in  the  succession  of  the  graceful 
lamp-standards  down  the  centre  of  the  Ringstrasse,  with  the  metal 
brackets,  attached  a  fleur  de  roses,  and  the  temporary  display  of 
bunting — witness  the  example  again  of  Brussels  this  vear ;  could 
anything  be  more  beautifully  conceived  in  its  relation  to  the  scheme 
of  the  city  and  its  outstanding  features?     One  can  only  shudder  at 


Fig.   I, 

the  recollection  of  our  own  City  wardrobe,  rummaged  out  on  the  occa- 
sion of  each  Guildhall  procession,  in  the  face  of  such  consummate  skill 
in  handling  light  material. 

Since  we  are  here  to  compare  methods  as  much  as  to  pronounce 
upon  results,  the  question  arises  how  in  such  matters  as  these  I 
have  mentioned  we  are  so  lacking  in  examples  that  satisfy  neither 
the  imagination  nor  the  eye.  London  is  without  a  public  space  or 
square,  or  even  the  smallest  clearing,  that  is  comparable  with  the 
average  in  any  Continental  town.  Is  there  a  public  monument  with 
any  of  the  qualities  of  design  which  would  justify  its  assertion  of 
immutability  and  its  claim  as  an  uplifter  of  the  more  subtle  side  of 


The  Architect  and  Civic  Ornamentation. 


455 


our  consciousness? — and  as  for  the  other  accessories  of  our  streets, 
can  thev  bv  anv  show  of  enthusiasm  be  quoted?     In  making-  such 


■:?^^-^i^lS^tev:, 


■^'■--■'  '«di'  ¥W 


vX:i'j?^J;i:*;i»^!^t::^^  -'^  i'^i^-' 


Fig. 


a    sweeping    indictment    as    this    I    am    not   unmindful   of   the   many 
attempts  at  street  decoration  or  the  possibiHties  in  the  way  of  execu- 


Fic.  3. — Avenue  in  the  Volksgarten,  Vienna. 


tion   and  craftsmanship   already   displayed ;   but   we   must   admit  the 
fact  that  there   is  behind   all   these  efforts  a  certain  lack  of  style, 


456  Traiisaciions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

shall  I  say  what  looks  like  a  lack  of  conHdence,  which  seems  to  be 
a  mute  acknowledgment  of  their  insufficient  character  to  support 
a  derelict  condition,  instead  of  gracing  positions  allotted  to  them 
by  design  and  becoming  as  it  were  the  high  lights  of  some  general 
scheme  of  harmonious  design. 

How,  then,  have  we  arrived  at  such  a  tangle,  in  which  even  the 
occasional  work  of  the  inspired  artist  is  jostled  by  the  trade  adver- 
tisement (literal  or  figurative),    or,  worse  still,   is  stifled  in  its  effect 


Fig.  4. 

by  the  necessary  utilities  of  a  benevolent  but  luienlightened  munici- 
pality and  the  pathetic  and  obviously  painful  efforts  of  its  servants 
to  supply  something  of  art  in  their  making? 

The  answer  is  obvious — just  as  in  the  larger  issues  under  dis- 
cussion during  this  week,  the  deduction  obtained,  based  to  a  large 
extent  on  successful  example,  points  to  the  fact  that  intelligent 
control,  a  jurisdiction  that  the  smallest  detail  cannot  evade,  must 
be  exercised  over  all  these  decorations  and  amenities  of  our  town 
system  ;  and  this,  so  far,  has  never  existed  in  any  municipality  in 
England.     To  render  such  control  effective  altogether,  I  must  in  my 


The  Architect  and  Civic  Ornamentation, 


457 


idea  assume  that  questions  of  street  arrangement,  traffic  systems, 
park  and  public  space  allotment,  alignment  and  balance  of  buildings, 
and  all  the  larger  details  of  civic  design  are  satisfactorily  settled 
by  you,  and  the  various  portions  of  the  city  ready  to  receive  and 
contain  the  separate  works  which  the  decorative  artist  is  straining 
to  be  loosed  upon ;  and  to  be  embellished  by  all  that  will  serve  to 
link  the  buildings,  large  and  small,  not  only  with  themselves  and 
the  general  scheme,  but  with  the  life  in  their  midst. 

Give  this  ideal  field  of  operation  all  the  solid  foundations  of  a 
town  scheme,  with  every  possibility  of  artistic  embellishment  pro- 
vided for,  who  is  to  be  entrusted  with  the  design  and  control  of  all 
these  accessories  to  the  dominating  and  enclosing  general  masses? 
Naturally  one   would    think  those  fitted   by     training     and    natural 


ability  to  do  so ;  and  it  should  be  the  duty  of  those  in  authority  to 
seek  out  such  special  ability,  and  rise  superior  to  the  hitherto  pre- 
vailing superstition  (which  I  am  bound  to  say  has  been  largely 
fostered  by  the  generality  of  artists  as  distinct  from  the  architec- 
tural profession)  that  such  details  of  ornamentation  are  without  the 
province  of  the  architectural  artist.  We  have  seen  how  in  the 
training  of  the  French  architect  a  complete  study  of  all  those  details 
is  included,  and  in  the  highly  imaginative  reconstructions  of,  for 
instance,  Prix  de  Rome  students,  how  large  a  part  is  taken  up  by 
the  life  and  general  attributes  of  the  period  in  question.  In  addition 
to  the  restoration  of  the  chief  monuments  and  buildings  themselves. 
Admitting  that  the  artistic  education  of  the  English  architect  is  far 
behind  that  of  his  French  neighbour,  the  parallel  is  worth  drawing, 
for  his  qualifications  for  assisting  in  the  general  furnishing  of  the 
streets  are  surely  greater  than  those  whose  training  has  been  almost 

H  H 


458  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

entirely  confined  to  the  studio  and  what  can  be  executed  by  them- 
selves in  such  a  space.  Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  at  the  present 
time  there  exists  in  England  a  privileged  class  who  have  almost  an 
entire  monopoly  of  the  design  of  any  street  decoration,  such  as 
monuments,  memorial  fountains,  &c.,  or  indeed  any  decoration  not 


an  integral  portion  of  a  building,  and  this  by  virtue  only  of  their 
eminence  in  an  altogether  different  branch  of  art.  Even  In  those 
rare  instances  of  collaboration  we  can  think  of,  the  architectural  aid 
has  been  merely  utilised  in  an  attempt  to  render  coherent  an  alto- 
gether inarticulate  speech,    if  one  may  use  the  simile. 

It  is  true  we  have  an  amazing  record  of  effigies,  admirable  in 
themselves  (the  ideal  presentment  of  the  human  figure  is  rarely  en- 
couraged), but  in  what  isolation  they  exist  !  Even  the  particular 
setting  of  these  portrait  fig-ures  has  generally  nothing  which  would 
link  them  with  their   surroundings.     But  take  this  typical  French 


The  Architect  and  Civic  Ornamentation. 


459 


portrait  memorial  shown  in  fig.  6  :  the  accompHshment  and  design  oi 
its  support  not  only  appear  to  enhance  and  reflect  the  scale  and  intri- 
cacy of  the  figure  itself,  but,  in  addition,  to  blend  it  with  the  general 
architectural  impression  which  is  bound  to  be  on  the  mind  of  the  spec- 
tator in  such  a  neighbourhood  as  the  statue  is  placed.  The  architec- 
tural details,  however,  of  the  English  sculptor  when  he  attempts  them 
are  individual  at  any  cost,  and  seem  designed  to  destroy  any  such  link 
with  their  environments.  But  he  is  beyond  impeachment  even  in  far 
larger  efforts  than  these  when  the  opportunity  affords.  As  an 
example  of  his  attitude  toward  existing  monuments  we  are  shortly  to 
witness  the  completion  in  London  of  a  work  of  consummate  art,  whose 
author  is  long  since  dead.     The  full  design  is  on  record.     The  scale  of 


r'^ 


5;  ^il. 


Fig.  7. — Treatment  of  Main  Thoroughfare 

the  sculpture  is  most  definitely  indicated  in  the  information  he  has 
left  us,  and  is,  moreover,  in  strict  conformity  with  all  classical  prece- 
dent, as  are  all  the  details  of  this  beautiful  work.  Yet,  as  this  is 
a  gift  to  the  nation,  the  divergence  from  the  original  ideal 
is  unnoticed  or  ignored,  and  the  artist  engaged  on  this  work  is 
beyond  any  jurisdiction,  and  substitutes  (in  all  good  faith,  of  course) 
his  idea  both  in  scale  and  treatment,  which  comparatively  is  Brob- 
dingnagian.  Another  great  monument  of  architectural  art  in  this 
country  has  recently  been  happily  saved  from  as  serious  a  desecration, 
and  even  mutilation,  by  the  protest  of  the  architectural  profession.  I 
cannot  help  thinking  that  we  should  be  listened  to  in  other  cases  if  we 
had  the  interest  and  proposed  to  intervene. 

Many  other  instances  could  be  quoted,  but  these  are  fresh  to  my 
mind.     Against  this  I  set  the  example  offered  in  Paris  within  the  last 


460  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

few  years,  when  the  idea  of  crowning  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  with  a 
quadriga  was  considered.  I  cannot  remember  whether  this  was  in 
the  nature  of  a  gift,  but  I  do  know  that  after  the  most  careful  con- 
sideration it  was  decided  that  the  monument  was  to  retain  its  cold 
dignity  and  was  in  no  need  of  the  embellishment.  That  was  more  of 
an  appreciation  of  the  value  of  sculpture  than  its  mere  vulgar  display, 
and  is  what  one  would  expect  in  a  country  where  sculpture  has  been 
so  wonderfully  exploited  and  encouraged  within  its  proper  limits. 
That  it  cannot  be  the  dominating  element  in  any  considerable  or 
important  design  is  obvious  when  one  thinks  of  it  as  a  midway 
element  between  the  life  of  the  city  and  the  abstract  form  of  the 
architecture  in  which  that  life  moves. 


Fig.  8. — Forecourt  to  Park. 

The  general  movement  and  interest  in  the  art  of  town  arrangement 
and  design  which  has  brought  us  together  has  enlarged  the  horizon  of 
the  English  architect,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  quicken  his 
nearer  vision  and  perceptions,  and  give  him  the  confidence  to  assert 
his  interest  in  the  design  of  much  of  the  detail  that  is  so  necessary  to 
make  an  artistic  whole,  and  his  necessity  to  the  community  for  such 
purposes. 

After  all,  it  is  the  repetition  and  multiplication  of  parts  which  go 
to  make  up  the  chain  of  events  in  any  scheme  of  town  ornamentation, 
though  here  and  there  the  motive  may  be  symphonically  treated  under 
the  influence  of  some  atmosphere  of  larger  architectural  incident. 

The  value  of  some  architectural  form  and  style  in  any  feature 
which  has  to  undergo  such  multiplication  is  undeniable,  and  the  more 
abstract  and  balanced  the  form  the  less  likely  it  is  to  cloy.     It  follows 


2    42 


S  o 
i- 

S  J! 

y.  5 

3  <a 


H    i2 


462  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

that  the  finest  and  most  scholarly  invention  should  go  to  the  making 
of  any  accessories  which  accentuate  the  rhythm  of  our  streets. 

We  as  architects  should  watch  carefully  any  break  in  this  chain, 
which  I  am  assuming  would  be  of  our  own  conception,  if  not  in  all 
details,  at  least  in  essential  and  general  forms.  With  judicious 
arrangement  it  would  be  possible  to  accommodate  the  most  plastic 
forms  of  sculptural  art,  and,  indeed,  these  should  be  welcomed  in 
their  fit  positions,  where  they  would  be  no  menace  to  the  definite  style 
of  adjacent  work  ;  the  sculptor,  after  all,  requires  freedom  of  expres- 
sion, and  should  be  provided  for  if  we  are  to  benefit  by  his  art.  My 
illustration  [fig.  8]  shows  the  possibility  of  such  comparative  isolation 
for  a  freer  treatment ;  the  didactic  nature  of  certain  work  requires 
such  placing,  and  the  architect  of  the  right  sympathies  will  remember 
it  in  his  own  town. 

Again,  some  buildings,  by  their  purpose  of  design,  require  the 
reflection  of  their  style  in  the  street  accessories  of  their  neighbour- 
hood, and  this  should  secure  the  employment  of  the  same  artist  as 
much  as  if  they  formed  part  of  the  main  structure  itself,  and  thus 
characterise  the  immediate  surroundings  and  enhance  the  central 
object  in  effect.  Thus  would  many  a  work  of  art  be  provided  with  a 
position  in  advance  which  perhaps  had  never  been  otherwise  called 
for.  We  should  also  be  spared  the  effect  of  conflicting  elements,  as 
when  a  monument  is  raised  against  the  central  feature  or  entrance, 
for  example,  of  a  large  building — a  feature  applied  against  a  feature 
free,  one  obscuring  the  value  of  the  other.  This,  of  course,  is  con- 
tinually happening  when  authority  is  subdivided.  An  example  of 
what  I  mean  could  be  seen  if  my  illustration  [fig.  9]  were  to  show  a 
central  feature  or  entrance  rather  than  an  unbroken  facade  as  a  back- 
ground to  the  chief  object  of  the  middle  distance  of  the  architectural 
picture. 

With  regard  to  the  temporary  decorations  of  the  city,  it  will  readily 
be  conceded  that  unless  they  are  to  obscure  the  design  of  permanent 
structures  and  arrangement  they  should  be  subservient  to  their  lines, 
or  at  least  respond  to  the  anatomy  of  the  figures  they  are  to  adorn. 
Though  the  light  and  perishable  material  might  require  the  special 
knowledge  and  executive  facility  of  the  special  craft  of  illumination 
or  drapery  or  bunting,  yet  the  architect,  with  his  sense  of  balance  and 
knowledge  of  the  salient  forms  of  the  subject  to  be  dressed,  should  be 
an  invaluable  and,  in  fact,  the  chief  director.  When  one  thinks  of  the 
great  periods  of  the  past,  and  the  general  reflection  of  architectural 
forms  in  almost  every  art  expression  and  in  almost  all  mediums,  one 
feels  that  such  statements  as  mine  are  the  merest  platitudes.  But  in 
th's  more  restless  age,  when  individualism  is  so  continually  asserting 
itself  for  the  worse,  there  is  need  of  direction  and  constant  surveil- 
lance, and  it  is  we  whose  duty  to  the  State  is  to  see  that  we  demand, 
nay,  enforce  it. 


The  Architect  and  Civic  Ornamentation.  463. 


DISCUSSION. 

Mr.  Ernest  George,  A.R.A.,  F.R.I.B.A.,  in  the  Chair. 

Professor  S.  D.  Adshead  (Liverpool)  :  Mr.  Chairman,  the  subject 
of  these  two  lectures  is  of  special  interest  to  me,  and  I  think  they 
will  be  a  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  Conference.  With 
regard  to  Mr.  Mawson's  lecture,  I  always  regard  Mr.  Mawson 
as  a  colleague  of  mine,  and  there  compliments  or  criticisms 
would  perhaps  be  out  of  place.  But  we  have  here,  I  believe,  a  large 
contingent  of  engineers  and  men  who  will  be  eventually  responsible  or 
will  have  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  carrying  out  of  schemes  such  as 
Mr.  Mawson  has  ad\'ocated.  There  is  one  point  I  wish  to  lay  stress 
upon,  and  that  is  that  when  we  get  the  Town  Planning  Act  in 
operation  a  considerable  number  of  open  spaces  will  have  to 
be  dealt  with.  Now  I  have  it  in  my  mind  that  most  en- 
gineers, designers,  and  so  forth,  fancy  that  they  are  going  to  turn 
these  open  spaces  into  gardens  like  Versailles  or  the  Tuileries.  If 
they  do  so  in  the  suburbs  they  will  be  making  a  very  great  mistake, 
and  I  should  like  to  point  out  to  them  that  there  is  a  very  great  differ- 
ence, and  many  grades,  between  the  public  reserve  and  the  city 
garden.  There  is  first  of  all  the  public  reserve  which  is  really  a  wild 
waste — it  may  be  almost  moorland — outside  the  town.  Then  we  get 
such  areas  as  a  sort  of  park  which  belongs  to  a  country  mansion, 
simply  a  fine  open  space  with  a  few  carriage-drives  and  well  grown 
trees — quite  a  suitable  park  outside  a  suburban  district,  and  with 
very  little  expense  attached  to  keep  it  in  order,  fencing  it  round,  and 
so  forth.  Then  we  get  the  village  green  and  the  urban  park,  which 
may  be  a  little  further  advanced  at  certain  points  and  which  may 
have  some  conventionality.  Finally  we  get  the  town  garden. 
This,  of  course,  is  a  serious  problem  to  tackle.  Now  one  of  the 
difficulties  which  attach  to  the  realisation  of  the  town  garden  as 
we  get  it  at  present,  and  also  the  open  space,  is  :  Who  is  going 
to  be  responsible  for  what  is  done  in  regard  to  the  design?  I  do 
not  myself  think  that  that  is  a  question  which  is  going  to  be  settled 
at  once.  In  the  first  place,  I  hardly  think  that  this  country  at 
the  present  moment  is  in  a  prepared  condition  to  carry  out  big 
town  decorative  schemes.  What  happens  now  is  that  a  committee  of 
gentlemen,  very  well  intentioned  I  have  no  doubt,  endeavour  to 
obtain  the  best  possible  professional  advice  on  the  subject ;  but  I 
myself  feel  pretty  strongly  that  there  is  no  professional  advice  avail- 
able at  the  present  moment — at  all  events,  not  quite  in  the  sense 
I  mean.  In  the  first  place,  take  the  architects.  They  do  not  suffi- 
ciently study  the  surroundings  of  their  buildings,  and  I  hope  that  this 
Conference  will  open  their  eyes  to  the  importance  of  considering  all 
the  details — details  such  as  the  position  of  lamp-posts  and  trees ; 
I  hope  that  they  will  consider  these  things  more,  and  not 
in  a  fitful  way,  but  that  our  schools  will  do  as  French  schools 
have   done,    and   as    I    believe   the   American    schools   have   done — 


4^4  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

make  big  schemes,  and  attach  as  much  importance  to  all  these 
details  as  they  do  to  the  buildings  under  consideration.  If  we  could 
get  our  architects  and  our  schools  to  consider  schemes  in  this  way, 
ultimately  we  might  turn  out  a  type  of  architect  who  would  be  able 
really  to  deal  with  a  big  town  scheme.  As  for  the  sculptors,  there  is 
no  doubt  we  have  plenty  of  talent  among  sculptors,  but  what  I  feel  is 
that  it  is  all  misdirected.  That  is  not,  perhaps,  the  fault  of  the  sculp- 
tors ;  it  is  the  fault  of  the  architects  in  not  showing  them  what  to  do. 
We  shall  have  to  take  some  lessons  from  this  Conference,  and  see  if 
we  cannot  get  this  broader  view  of  the  placing  of  buildings  taken  into 
consideration.  Mr.  Rickards'  Paper,  I  think,  laid  great  emphasis  on 
the  lack  of  style  which  is  found  to  pervade  most  of  our  schemes,  in 
this  country  especially.  He  talked  about  the  lack  of  style,  and  called  it 
lack  of  confidence.  That  is,  perhaps,  a  better  word.  The  word  "  confi- 
dence "  is  a  splendid  word,  because  if  you  see  any  lay-out  like  the 
Place  de  la  Concorde,  for  instance,  the  one  thing  that  strikes  you 
above  all  others  is  that  everything  has  been  done  with  perfect  con- 
fidence. You  see  perfect  control  from  end  to  end.  You  do  not  see 
hesitation  anywhere.  In  most  of  our  squares  and  public  places  one 
cannot  help  thinking  that  there  has  been  hesitation  in  every  direction. 
We  must  have  more  of  this  confidence.  And  it  can  only  come  about, 
I  think,  in  the  way  I  have  suggested.  It  just  occurs  to  me  that  this 
may  be  an  opportune  occasion  to  mention  tree  planting  in  towns. 
Mr.  Rickards  has  pointed  out  that  in  the  Place  de  la  Concorde 
there  are  no  trees.  Now  trees  are  the  finest  things  we  can  have  in  a 
town,  and  therefore  we  should  be  most  careful  in  regard  to  the  way 
in  which  we  plant  them.  To  plant  a  great  many  trees  in  all  directions 
in  a  heterogeneous  manner  without  any  careful  consideration  is 
worse  than  nothing  at  all.  I  hope  in  future  that  those  responsible 
for  the  planting  of  trees  will  recognise  that  it  is  the  most  diflficult 
thing  to  do  properly,  and  one  requiring  the  highest  ability. 


465 


(5)  OPEN  SPACES  AND  RUNNING  WATERS. 

By  Colonel  G.  T.  Plunkett,  C.B.,  R.E.  retired. 

The  importance  of  preserving  open  spaces  as  parks  and  playgounds 
and  as  the  lungs  of  great  modern  cities,  for  the  benefit  of  the  people 
who  in  this  and  other  countries  are  being  more  and  more  collected 
in  masses  in  our  centres  of  industry  and  commerce,  needs  no  advo- 
cacy before  such  an  audience  as  this ;  therefore  the  observations 
which  I  offer  for  your  consideration  will  not  be  in  support  of  the 
general  policy,  upon  which,  I  presume,  we  are  all  agreed,  but  are 
intended  to  bring  forward  and  to  emphasise  points  which  seem  to  be 
often  overlooked,  though  they  should,  I  think,  be  borne  in  mind  when 
occasions  arise  for  carrying  out  that  policy. 

It  is,  in  my  opinion,  important  to  consider  the  matter  from  three 
or  four  points  in  view,  in  order  that  the  people  may  obtain  the  greatest 
possible  advantages  from  the  outlay  incurred. 

I  propose,  therefore,  to  discuss  very  briefly  .some  principles  which 
are  I  think  well  worthy  of  consideration  before  the  necessity  actually 
arises  for  deciding,  perhaps  somewhat  hastily,  which  particular  locali- 
ties in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  city  shall  be  preserved  from  the 
spreading  network  of  streets  and  houses. 

Wherever  public  parks  or  commons  exist  already,  we  gladly  accept 
them,  and  the  duty  of  the  citizens  is  to  see  that  nothing  shall  be 
allowed  to  diminish  the  attractions  of  these  open  spaces,  which  it  is 
their  duty  to  hand  on  unimpaired  to  succeeding  generations.  It  is, 
however,  impossible  not  to  see  how  much  might  have  been  done  in 
other  districts,  and  at  how  small  a  cost,  if  our  predecessors  of  a  cen- 
tury ago — or  even  of  half  that  time  or  less — had  foreseen  the  coming 
marvellously  rapid  expansion  of  so  many  of  our  towns,  and  especially 
of  this  Metropolis.  If  they  had  adopted,  on  an  adequate  scale  and 
according  to  some  regular  system,  measures  for  acquiring  open  spaces 
to  meet  all  reasonable  requirements  of  our  own  times  and  of  the 
generations  to  come,  it  is  evident  now — though  I  suppose  it  was  not 
to  our  grandfathers — that  all  this  might  have  been  done  and  the 
original  expenditure  recovered  with  interest. 

It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  very  desirable  that  we  should  consider 
beforehand  some  principles  which,  as  I  have  already  said,  may 
be  useful  in  selecting  the  open  spaces  which,  so  far  as  we  can 
foresee,  will  assuredly  be  required  in  the  future,  even  though  we  may 
only  be  able  to  put  our  theories  into  practice  by  instalments  as  oppor- 
tunities occur. 

In  the  first  place,  we  see  that  the  general  Idea  has  hitherto  been — 


466   Transactions  of  the  Toion  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


open  Spaces  and  Running  Waters.  467 

and  perhaps  I  may  say  still  is — to  surround  a  compact  city  by  a  more 
or  less  regular  ring  of  open  space  or  spaces.  This  has  in  most  cases 
arisen  from  the  existence  of  walls  and  fortifications  with  which  cities 
were  enclosed  down  to  quite  recent  times.  When  these  were  no  longer 
required  for  purposes  of  defence,  the  space  occupied  by  the  old 
ramparts  and  ditches  was  in  many  places  preserved  as  a  public 
recreation  ground,  or  for  fine  avenues,  as  may  be  seen,  for  instance, 
at  \'ienna  or  Florence. 

In  London  there  has  been  no  such  opportunity  in  modern  times, 
but  by  the  preservation  of  common  lands,  as  at  Hampstead,  Wimble- 
don, Blackheath,  and  elsewhere,  by  the  great  extent  of  the  Royal 
parks,  which  have  for  many  years  been  freely  open  to  the  public,  and 
by  the  preservation  and  acquisition  of  Epping  Forest  and  many  other 
tracts  of  wood,  meadow,  or  heath  land,  purchased  by  the  aid  of  public 
bodies  and  private  benefactors,  at  varying  distances  from  the  closely 
built  central  area,  a  number  of  natural  or  artificial  parks  have  been 
provided  for  Londoners. 

As  the  Metropolis  continues  to  grow,  and  as  we  see  in  many  direc- 
tions, year  by  year,  additional  square  miles  of  fields  and  orchards 
covered  with  streets  of  dwelling-houses,  there  is  felt  in  each  new 
district  the  want  of  a  public  park,  and  we  are  glad  when,  by  the  public 
spirit  of  local  authorities  or  by  the  generosity  of  individuals,  or  by 
the  joint  action  of  both,  a  few  fields  are  saved  from  the  builder  and 
laid  out  as  a  park  or  recreation  ground. 

While  welcoming  every  such  acquisition,  I  venture  to  suggest  that 
it  is  not  only  desirable,  but  also  practicable,  to  proceed  on  some  more 
systematic  lines  in  the  future,  and  to  submit  for  your  consideration 
a  few  observations  which  might,  I  think,  be  borne  in  mind  by  those 
whose  duty  it  will  be  to  see  that  the  next  generation  of  Londoners  are 
adequately  provided  with  fresh  air  and  breathing  space. 

Before  coming  to  the  points  which  I  have  come  here  especially 
to  impress  upon  you,  1  would  ask  }ou  never  to  lose  sight  of  this 
important  fact — that  for  the  young  children  a  recreation  ground  of 
any  kind  will  be  of  little  use  unless  it  is  within  a  short  walk  from 
their  homes.  Anyone  who  watches  young  families  from  the  poorer 
neighbourhoods  going  out  for  the  afternoon — girls  who  do  not  look 
big  or  strong  enough  for  the  task  of  carrying  infants,  and  children  of 
very  tender  years  walking  beside  them — will  not  forget  that  no  park  or 
playground  will  be  of  much  use  to  them  if  over  about  half-a-mile,  or 
say  at  the  most  a  mile,  from  their  houses.  It  must  also  be  remem- 
bered that  for  the  boys  and  young  men  playing  fields  for  cricket  and 
football  are  required.  I  mention  these  wants  of  young  children  and  of 
youths  to  show  that  I  have  not  overlooked  them,  and  will  now  pass  on 
to  the  points  I  wish  more  particularly  to  speak  of,  merely  reminding 
you  that  these  wants  I  have  mentioned  must  not  be  ignored,  and  that  it 
will  frequently  be  necessary  to  consider  how  such  playing  fields  can 
best  be  combined  with  parks  for  the  general  community,  or,  if  this 
cannot  be  done,  provided  in  other  localities. 

Whatever  is  done  as  regards  playgrounds — large  or  small — for 
children  and  youths,  these  cannot  take  the  place  of  the  open  spaces 
which  are  best  described  as  public  parks,  where  we  can  provide  for 


468  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


open  Spaces  and  Running  Waters. 


469 


470  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

the  people  of  all  ages  and  of  all  classes  scenes  of  natural  beauty,  with 
their  refining,  civilising,  and  elevating  influence. 

I  say  of  all  ages  because,  however  liberally  we  may  provide  for 
children  playgrounds  for  games,  it  is  at  least  as  important  to  give  them 
also  fairly  easy  access  to  parks  of  natural  scenery.  We  shall  thus  give 
to  the  town-bred  children  frequent  opportunities  not  only  of  breath- 
ing the  fresh  air,  but  of  refreshing  their  senses  and  their  minds  with 
the  sights  and  sounds  of  the  country  as  Nature  made  it,  and  with 
the  appearance  of  the  land,  as  nearly  as  possible  as  while  yet  un- 
touched by  man  ;  and  of  seeing  native  trees,  plants,  and  wild  flowers 
in  the  surroundings  which  are  natural  to  them.  Here  they  should 
find  many  of  the  varieties  of  birds  which  remain  in  or  readily  come 
back  to  the  groves  and  thickets  where  they  are  not  persecuted,  and 
where  men's  habitations  are  not  brought  too  near  to  them,  and  will 
get  glimpses  of  insect  and  other  forms  of  animal  life  of  which  they 
can  see  nothing  in  a  wilderness  of  streets  and  houses,  even  when 
interspersed  with  small  gardens;  and  important  as  this  contact  with 
Nature  is  for  children,  the  refining  and  elevating  influence  is  not  for 
them  only  ;  people  of  all  ages  can  alike  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  what  we 
call  a  country  walk. 

Now,  this  contact  with  Nature  unimproved — or  shall  I  say  un- 
spoiled?— cannot  be  found  in  even  a  very  beautiful  public  garden, 
unless  it  be  of  unusually  large  extent  or  laid  out  in  a  very  unusual 
manner;  human  habitations  are  generally  too  near,  and  with  houses 
on  all  sides,  even  if  we  can  restore  the  natural  vegetation,  there  can 
hardly  exist  sanctuaries  such  as  will  attract  any  but  the  commonest 
of  our  birds,  and  if  by  careful  planting  sufficient  shelter  be  provided, 
there  does  not  exist  that  contact  with  the  open  country  by  which  the 
animal  life  of  the  thicket  may  be  maintained  and  replenished.  Nature 
will  not  be  forced,  and  wild  life  cannot,  I  think,  be  preserved,  or 
restored  where  it  has  died  out,  if  the  ground  does  not  in  one  direction 
stretch  for  a  considerable  distance  into  the  country,  so  that  a  bird, 
for  instance,  may  travel  along  it  from  cover  to  cover,  and  thus 
approach  the  city  without  leaving  its  natural  surroundings. 

As  by  reason  of  the  expense  It  is  impossible  to  preserve  near  a  great 
city  many  very  large  areas  of  open  ground,  the  only  way  in  which 
the  desired  stretches  of  natural  scenery  can  be  maintained  is  by  the 
preservation  of  long  and  comparatively  narrow  strips  of  country, 
commencing  near  to  the  thickly  inhabited  centres  and  extending  a 
considerable  distance  away  from  them. 

Such  a  strip  of  countr}',  with  an  average  width  of  perhaps  only 
three,  four,  or  five  hundred  yards,  but  two  or  three  miles  in  length, 
would  be  far  more  valuable  than  an  equal  area  in  a  square  plot.  It 
is  better  as  a  preserve  of  wild  creatures,  it  naturally  gives  much 
greater  facilities  and  inducements  for  a  country  ramble,  it  is  con- 
veniently accessible  for  a  much  larger  neighbourhood,  and  it  should 
cost  less,  because  ground  is  generally  less  valuable  in  proportion  to 
its  distance  from  the  centre  of  a  city.  Mr.  Lanchester,  in  the  Paper 
he  read  yesterday,  also  explained  very  clearly  the  reasons  for  laying 
out  parks  so  as  to  radiate  from  the  city  into  the  country,  instead  of 
grouping  them  in  a  more  or  less  continuous  ring. 


open  Spaces  and  Running  Waters.  471 

•  And  now  I  come  to  the  question,  What  would  be  the  most  suitable 
localities  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London  for  public  parks  consisting  of 
long,  narrow  strips  of  country  stretching  outwards  from  the  inhabited 
area?  I  say  along  our  rivers  and  our  brooks;  and  this  applies 
to  many  other  places  besides  London,  as  the  majority  of  towns  are 
situated  similarly  in  valleys  and  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  and  thus  in 
providing  public  parks  of  a  very  attractive  kind  we  should  attain 
another  object  which  I  would  equally  commend  to  your  notice— the 
importance  of  preserving,  as  natural  features  of  the  landscape,  our 
running  streams. 

Londoners  have  lost  many  of  the  clear  streams  which  in  former 
days — in  some  cases  down  to  almost  our  own  times — flowed  through 
pleasant  meadows  to  join  the  Thames  ;    now  they  are  covered  in  as 


Fig.  4. — River  Colne,  .near  Hilli.ngdon. 

sewers  or,  where  any  portions  remain  open,  are  generally  enclosed  by 
buildings  and  defiled  with  rubbish.  It  is  useless  to  lament  the  past, 
but  we  may  take  a  lesson  for  the  future.  There  are  still  streams 
flowing  through  the  fields  which  are  so  rapidly  being  absorbed  by 
the  suburbs  of  London,  destined,  it  appears,  to  engulf  before  long  the 
whole  country  which  may  be  readily  reached  by  an  electric  train  or 
tramcar.  There  still  flow  into  the  Thames  through  the  suburbs  of 
London  rivers,  or  at  least  parts  of  them — the  Hogmill,  Wandle, 
Ravensbourne,  and  Cray  on  the  south  side  of  the  Thames,  and  the 
Crane,  Brent,  Lea,  and  Roding  on  the  north  side ;  and  besides  these 
rivers  there  are  smaller  streams,  and  among  the  latter  I  may  mention 
the  Beverley  Brook,  the  best  part  of  which  will  during  the  next  few 
}ears  be  shut  in  between  backyards  and  become  a  receptacle  for 
rubbish  unless  it  is  saved  by  the  scheme  which — only  just  in  time — 
is  now  being  promoted  for  preserving  for  the  public  the  meadows  of 
Kingston  Vale,  through  which  it  flows. 


472  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

By  the  banks  of  this  brook,  covered  with  willow  herb  and  many 
kinds  of  wild-flowers,  one  can  walk  under  the  oaks  and  birches 
between  the  old  thorn-trees,  over  which  trail  the  bramble,  the  honey- 
suckle, and  the  wild  rose,  while  the  song-birds  sing  in  the  bushes  and 
the  wild  pigeons  coo  from  the  tree-tops.  It  is  important  to  remember 
that  typical  English  scenery  as  this  is — the  scenes,  the  sounds,  and 
the  scent  of  the  wild  flowers  giving  pleasure  alike  to  young  and  old — 
when  once  acquired  costs  comparatively  little  to  maintain,  and  that 
the  small  expense  of  preserving  it  will  diminish  in  proportion  as  we 
educate  the  people  to  appreciate  its  attractions. 

This  brook,  which  I  mention  as  an  illustration  simply  because  I 
happen  to  know  it  well,  is  in  the  London  S.W.  postal  district,  and 
I  daresay  some  of  you  who  know  better  than  I  do  the  country  round 
London  may  know  of  other  little  streams  not  much  further  afield 
along  whose  banks  will  be  found  similar  bits  of  rural  scenery,  or 
where  in  any  case  this  can  easily  and  naturally  be  restored  by  a  little 
planting  and  restoration  of  the  natural  woodland,  without  any 
attempt  at  gardening.  I  would  on  no  account  undervalue  the  beauty 
of  the  higher  ground,  such  as  the  Surrey  heaths,  with  their  springy 
turf,  heather,  bracken,  and  birch  or  pine  woods;  but  I  would  espe- 
cially plead  for  the  preservation  of  our  rivers  and  brooks,  with  such 
land  as  can  be  reasonably  acquired  along  their  banks,  for  I  believe 
that  these  would  provide,  at  a  minimum  of  cost,  public  parks  of  a 
particularly  attractive  kind  for  the  populations  of  great  cities. 

By  keeping  buildings  at  even  a  small  distance  from  the  banks  of 
a  stream,  the  purity  of  its  water  may  be  preserved.  A  few  islands, 
whether  already  existing  or  very  easily  made  by  short  diversions  of 
parts  of  the  stream,  will  make  the  best  possible  sanctuaries  for  birds. 
The  delight  of  children  in  following  up  the  course  of  a  running  stream, 
and  not  only  of  children  but  also  of  those  who  are  no  longer  young 
enough  to  gratify  their  sporting  instinct  by  fishing  for  minnows — is 
unmistakable,  and  its  banks  and  the  adjacent  thickets  afford  endless 
opportunities  for  Nature-study.  Along  the  banks  common  trees  and 
bushes  can  be  grown  with  very  little  trouble  or  expense,  and  the 
aspect  of  the  watercourse  will  soon  become  again  what  it  was  many 
centuries  ago. 

I  should  like  also  to  mention  the  great  importance  of  preserving 
from  buildings  the  ground  around  the  sources  of  streams,  unless  they 
are  far  removed  from  habitations.  By  enclosing  the  source,  if  the 
course  of  the  stream  is  also  protected,  as  I  have  suggested,  the  purity 
of  the  water  will  be  preserved,  and  there  will  be  a  certain  extent  of 
grassland  as  a  gathering  ground  of  the  rainfall,  which  will  be  lost  if 
the  country  is  covered  with  buildings  ;  the  lowering  of  the  water-level 
caused  by  turning  the  rainwater  from  acres  of  roofs  and  of  hard  roads 
into  gutters  and  drains  has,  as  we  can  see  in  many  London  suburbs, 
resulted  in  the  destruction  of  nearly  all  the  fine  old  trees,  and  this  is 
another  strong  reason  for  including  as  many  brooks  as  we  can  in 
public  parks,  so  that  we  may  preserve  the  water  in  those  that  are  still 
left  to  us,  and  by  so  doing  save  or  restore  the  trees. 

Finally,  I  would  point  out  that  the  land  at  the  bottom  of  a  valley 
along  the  course  of  a  stream   is  not  usually  the  best  for  building 


open  Spaces  and  Running  Waters. 


473 


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474  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  ujio. 

purposes.  Better  and  healthier  sites  will  g-encrally  be  found  at  a 
higher  level.  Therefore,  in  the  interests  of  public  health  as  well  as  of 
economy,  and  in  addition  to  the  aesthetic  reasons  which  I  have  tried 
to  set  forth,  it  seems  desirable  to  secure  the  lowest  portions  with  the 
watercourses  as  public  parks. 

Adequate  open  spaces  must  be  kept  somewhere,  so  it  seems 
reasonable  to  select  those  areas  which  are  the  less  suitable  for  building 
sites,  but  which  possess  special  attractions  in  the  way  of  natural 
scenery,  or  in  any  case  can  be  given  such  attractions  with  the  smallest 
outlay. 

If  my  proposals  seem  likely  to  lead  to  undue  extravagance,  I  would 
point  out  that  great  expense  may  be  saved  by  considering  schemes 
long  before  we  are  forced  to  take  action,  and  by  deciding  beforehand 
what  course  is  best  to  adopt. 

I  suppose  the  grandest  scheme  for  a  park  in  this  country  was  the 
plan  of  Charles  I.  to  convert  into  a  great  game  preserve  for  the  deer, 
wild  boars,  and  other  animals  then  found  in  the  woods,  the  whole 
country  from  Wimbledon  to  Hampton,  with  the  Thames  flowing  for 
about  four  miles  through  it.  The  King's  intentions  were  not  approved 
of  by  the  Parliament ;  in  fact,  his  efforts  to  get  rid  of  the  few  farmers 
or  cottagers  who  lived  here  and  there  among  the  woods  constituted, 
I  believe,  one  of  the  acts  of  tyranny  which  cost  him  his  life  and  his 
crown.  It  is  certainly  too  late  now,  however  we  may  regret  it,  to 
enclose  such  an  extent  of  country  ;  we  cannot  clear  away  several 
square  miles  of  streets  and  villas  ;  but,  could  even  a  portion  of  this 
scheme  have  been  carried  out  sixty  or  seventy  years  ago,  London 
might  now  have  had  a  park  which  could  hardly  be  matched  in  the 
whole  world,  while  the  original  cost,  with  interest,  might  have  been 
recovered  by  selling  strips  of  land  for  building  along  the  outskirts 
of  it. 

I  am  not  now  advocating  anything  so  startling.  I  only  wish  to 
impress  upon  you  four  points  :  Firstly,  that  for  an  open  space  a  long 
if  narrow  strip  stretching  away  into  the  country  possesses  peculiar 
advantages  ;  secondly,  that  the  value  of  such  a  strip  is  immeasurably 
increased  if  it  includes  a  running  stream  ;  thirdly,  that  in  any  case  it 
is  very  important  to  preserve  the  rivers  and  brooks  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  our  cities  ;  and,  lastly,  that  we  should  consider  in  good  time 
the  needs  not  only  of  the  present  but  of  coming  generations. 

Rivers  and  brooks  have  inspired  our  poets  in  every  age.  W'e 
know  how  Milton  loved  them  from  many  an  allusion  he  has  made, 
as,  for  instance,  when  he  wrote  of 

"  Such  sights  as  youthful  poets   dream 
On   summer  eves  by  haunted  stream." 

Or  when,  wishing  to  describe  a  vast  multitude,  he  wrote  : — 

"  Thickly  as  autumn  leaves  that  strew  the  brook 
In  Vallombrosa,  where  the  Etrurian  shades 
High  overarched  embower." 

Tennyson,  writing  to  his  friend  in  the  New  Forest,  said  :  "  When 
I  come  to  see  you  bring  me  to  a  brook,  it  is  better  than  twenty 
ruined  castles." 


open  Spaces  and  Running  Waters.  475 

But  I  must  not  weary  you  with  quotations,  which  might  be  mul- 
tipHed  indefinitely  ;  it  is  in  the  hope  that  this  question,  of  preserving 
for  generations  to  come  some  of  the  most  beautiful  features  of  our 
English  countryside,  may  be  taken  up  by  more  influential  voices 
than  mine  that  I  have  ventured  to  offer  the  remarks  to  which  you 
have  so  kindly  listened. 


DISCUSSIOX. 
Mr.   Ernest  Georc.e,  A.R.A.,  President,  in  the  Chair. 

Mr.  C.  J.  Jexkix  (Finchley)  :  I  left  the  meeting  in  this  room  after 
one  of  the  speeches  with  feelings  of  great  discouragement.  One  had 
fateful  visions  of  the  descent  of  the  expert  gardener  on  St.  James's 
Park,  the  beautiful  winter  gardens  at  Bournemouth  and  other 
places,  which  are  a  delight  to  the  eye  and  a  rest  to  the  mind.  I  have 
been  encouraged  in  coming  from  another  meeting  and  hearing 
another  lecturer  speak  of  the  beauties  of  Nature ;  and  I  think 
those  who  have  to  do  the  laying  out  of  public  gardens  and  public 
spaces  cannot  pay  too  much  attention  to  the  beauties  which  Nature 
is  so  lavish  in  giving.  Architecture  has  a  beauty  of  its  own,  but  it 
is  not  beauty  to  have  gardens  in  small  seaside  towns  laid  out  like  the 
boulevards  in  Paris  ;  and  to  have  beautiful  parks  laid  out  for  the 
children  where  they  can  see  Nature  in  its  own  beautiful  moods,  is 
in  my  opinion,  the  highest  ideal  of  laying  out  open  spaces.  These 
beautiful  gardens  laid  out  in  straight  lines  and  curves  and  radial 
paths  are  really  necessary  in  some  of  our  great  cities,  but  in  the 
majority  of  smaller  towns  and  in  the  provinces  the  natural  laying 
out  has  a  beauty  which  nothing  can  beat.  To  paraphrase  roughly 
it  occurred  to  me  that  the  best-laid  schemes  of  art  and  men  cannot 
compare  with  Nature.  It  would  be  with  that  idea  that  I  should 
proceed  if  I  were  laying  out  a  park.  Colonel  Plunkett  has  in 
his  address  referred  to  his  scheme  which  I  had  anticipated  and 
put  to  my  Council  some  months  ago  in  connection  with  the  Town 
Planning  Act.  I  told  them  I  thought  the  best  method  possible  to 
arrange  open  spaces  under  that  Act  would  be  to  schedule  the  land 
for  not  less  than  200  feet  on  each  side  of  the  two  beautiful  brooks 
which  we  have  in  my  district  of  Finchley.  By  that  means  you  would 
obtain,  as  Colonel  Plunkett  has  said,  a  beautiful  open  space  at  com- 
paratively little  cost ;  and  if  the  owners  were  properly  approached,  I 
think  they  would  see  that  it  would  be  enormously  to  their  advantage 
to  give  that  land  for  nothing,  in  consequence  of  the  extra  value  which 
would  come  to  the  land  immediately  abutting  on  those  open  spaces. 
I  am  much  indebted  to  Colonel  Plunkett  for  his  very  able  Paper. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Ellis  (London)  :  Mr.  Chairman,  I  also  should  like  to 
add  a  word  of  sincere  thanks  to  Colonel  Plunkett  for  what  he  has 
said  to  us.  He  has  succeeded — and  that  can  be  no  easy  task  in  this 
week  of  speaking — in  saying  a  good  deal  that  I  do  not  think  others 
have  said  ;  and  we  certainly  cannot  complain  that  he  has  kept  us  very 
long ;  in  fact,  I  feel  he  has  kept  us  scarcely  long  enough.  I 
suppose  most  of  us  come  here  with   some  pet  charms  of  our  own. 

I  I  2 


476  Transactions  of  the  Toivii  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

and  when  I  saw  on  the  agenda  the  title  "  Running  Streams  "  I 
thought  I  must  come  and  put  in  a  word  for  my  own  particular  running 
stream  ;  but  I  will  not  do  so  at  great  length.  We  have  heard  of  the 
Beverley  Brook.  It  is  said  to  have  taken  its  name  from  the  fact  that 
beavers  were  there  a  long  time  ago.  There  are  still  herons  and  king- 
fishers there.  I  know  Beverley  Brook  very  well,  and  I  have  been 
doing  my  little  best  to  secure  its  immunity  from  further  desecration. 
I  ask  you  also  to  put  in  a  word  for  one  of  the  few  rivers  that 
still  exist  near  London — the  Ri\er  W'andle.  That  river,  which  has 
worked  so  hard  all  its  life — I  think  in  ten  miles  it  has  got  forty-three 
mills — is  a  beautiful  river,  and  it  is  as  beautiful  a  river  of  its  size  as 
you  could  possibly  wish  to  see.  But  it  flows  through  miserable 
slummy  purlieus  and  most  unsaxoury  places,  though  it  does  its  best 
before  it  gets  down  to  Wandsworth,  and  in  its  ten  miles  of  course  it 
has  some  of  the  most  beautiful  spots  that  can  be  seen  in  any  small 
river  scenery  in  England.  It  is  that  river  of  which  Ruskin  spoke  so- 
beautifully  thirty  years  ago  when  he  referred  to  the  water  being  taken 
from  it — how  its  life-blood  was  being  drained.  When  I  was  at  school 
at  Carshalton  thirty  years  ago  I  remember  the  Wandle  Ponds  at 
Car.shalton  as  full  of  fish  as  you  could  possibly  desire  to  see  them — full 
of  beautiful  trout.  Now  there  are  no  trout  at  Carshalton ;  you  may 
stand  there  until  you  fall  into  the  w^ater  and  you  would  never  see  any 
trout.  About  25,000  gallons  of  water  per  day  is  taken  by  the  various 
water  companies  for  their  supply,  but  still  the  river  struggles  on,  and 
it  is  still  very  beautiful  and  it  still  wants  saving.  I  should  have  been 
glad  if  it  had  been  possible  for  you  to  have  had  shown  on  the 
screen  some  scenes  on  this  beautiful  little  river,  but,  alas  !  other  things 
have  taken  up  my  attention,  and  I  did  not  know  even  of  the  Town 
Planning  Conference  till  a  month  ago.  If  I  could  have  placed  before 
you  some  of  those  scenes  you  would  have  seen  what  a  beautiful  river 
this  is.  There  is  a  scheme  on  foot  to  save  that  river  if  it  can  be  done. 
I  say  "  if  it  can  be  done,"  because  I  assure  you  it  is  no  easy  matter. 
One  old  gentleman  who  died  recently  at  the  age  of  ninety  held  out  for 
;^5oo  an  acre  for  land  along  the  bank  of  the  Wandle  with  absolutely 
no  building  or  any  other  value,  but  it  is  pretty  land  by  the  side  of  a 
pretty  river.  He  died  still  calling  aloud  for  ;^^5oo  an  acre,  which 
he  did  not  get.  I  tried  last  week  to  get  his  surveyors  to  name 
a  lower  sum  ;  but  no,  they  still  stick  out  for  ;^^5oo  an  acre.  I  have 
options  on  those  bits  of  land  at  much  lower  prices  than  that — £^20 
and  ;;^,  160  an  acre- -and  before  long  we  are  going  to  badger  some  of 
the  gentlemen  who  have  shown  themselves  in  their  true  colours,  and 
most  beautiful  colours,  as  members  of  this  Conference,  to  try  and  get 
them  to  help  us  to  win  back  that  poor  little  river  before  it  becomes 
what  it  is  already  scheduled  by  the  County  Council — a  ditch.  It  is 
not  a  sewer  yet,  but  it  stands  in  danger  of  becoming  so.  This 
question  brings  me  to  a  very  important  point  on  which  I  would 
like  to  say  just  one  word.  We  have  heard  a  great  deal  of  the  pre- 
servation and  beauties  of  open  spaces.  These  halls  must  be  full  of 
nice  phrases  concerning  open  spaces  ;  but  I  do  not  think  we  have 
heard — perhaps  because  lecturers  were  afraid  of  trenching  on  the 
sociological  or  political  side  of  the  question — any  very  practical  sug- 


open  Spaces  and  Rniuiing  M'aters.  4 


/  / 


g-estions  as  to  how  we  are  to  get  the  open  spaces.  We  cannot  buy 
open-space  land  at  unheard-of  prices  per  acre.  We  have  to  get  a  new 
spirit  to  pervade  the  minds  of  owners,  to  make  them  see  that  it  is  to 
their  interest  to  let  some  of  their  land  g"o  at  reasonable  prices  which 
will  enable  the  communities  to  purchase  them  without  burdening-  the 
rates  to  an  unconscionable  extent.  They  have  to  see  that  those  lands 
are  to  some  extent  a  heritage  of  the  people.  I  speak  without  political 
instincts,  but  it  has  got  to  be  recognised  that  it  is  no  good  our  speak- 
ing about  open  spaces  and  saving"  rivers,  and  doing  this  and  doing 
that  and  the  other,  if  we  have  not  got  the  money  to  do  it  with.  I 
should  like  to  have  heard  some  concrete,  practical  proposition  as  to 
how  this  is  to  be  brought  about,  hov/  we  are  to  get  the  open  spaces 
that  we  all  profess  to  love  and  want  so  much.  It  will  only  be  done  by 
a  very  different  state  of  feeling  from  that  which  exists  to-day.  You  all 
know  that  a  running  stream  or  a  river  vastly  improves  the  appearance 
of  any  neighbourhood  through  which  it  goes  if  it  is  kept  as  it  should 
be,  and  you  know  also  how  it  defiles  a  neighbourhood  where  it  is  itself 
defiled.  There  is  nothing  more  horrible  than  the  Wandle  at  Wands- 
worth, and  there  is  nothing  more  beautiful  than  the  Wandle  at  Car- 
shalton,  and  yet  you  would  scarcely  believe  it  is  the  same  river.  But 
there  it  is,  and  before  long  another  appeal  will  be  made  to  try  to  save 
this  last  favourite  river,  Ruskin's  favourite  river,  a  river  that  is  still 
worthy  of  being  a  favourite  of  all  of  us. 

The  Chairman  :  We  have  to  thank  the  three  gentlemen  who  have 
read  Papers  before  us  very  heartily  for  their  interesting  Papers.  I 
think  the  argument  of  Mr.  Mawson  and  Mr.  Rickards  was  that 
wisdom  is  wanted  at  the  inception  of  a  scheme,  whether  it  is  the 
scheme  of  a  park  or  more  especially  in  the  case  of  a  statue.  I  think 
there  never  was  a  time  when  we  had  finer  sculptors  than  we  have  now, 
where  so  often  their  work  is  misplaced.  I  think  the  most  interesting 
and  poetic  address  was  from  Colonel  Plunkett.  Inclusion  of  streams 
wherever  possible  ought  to  be  among  the  chief  features  in  any  scheme 
of  preservation  of  open  spaces.  I  hope  some  possible  wa}-  will  be 
found  of  following  out  such  a  scheme  in  many  places.  We  have  been 
told  about  the  Wandle.  I  know  the  beauty  of  that  river,  and  I 
believe  there  is  a  project  now  for  securing-  parts  of  it  from  destruc- 
tion. I  hope  that  may  be  accomplished,  and  that  there  may  be 
many  other  such  cases. 


47^  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(6)    OPEN  SPACES,  GARDENS,  AND  RECREATION 

GROUNDS. 

Bv  Basil  Holmes,  C.C,   Secretary  of  the  Metropolitan  Public 
Gardens  Association. 

Town"  planning  under  modern  conditions  is  so  bound  up  with  the 
provision  of  open  spaces  that  the  former  movement  may  almost  be 
said  to  be  an  outcome  of  the  latter.  It  may,  therefore,  be  of  interest 
briefly  to  outline  the  progress  of  the  open-space  movement  as  exem- 
plified in  the  work  of  the  Commons  and  Footpaths  Preservation 
Society  and  of  the  Metropolitan  Public  Gardens  Association,  the  two 
leading  organisations  that  have  been  closely  identified  therewith  for 
many  years,  and  that  exhibit  striking  examples  of  how  much  ma} 
be  done  by  persevering  and  zealous  voluntary  effort.  I  will  then  show 
some  slides  typical  of  the  work  in  London. 

The  expression  "  open  spaces  "  generally  conveys  the  impression 
of  areas  that  are  unenclosed,  usually  known  by  the  name  of  commons, 
though  common  lands  sometimes  bear  the  designation  of  heaths, 
greens,  moors,  &c. ,  according  to  their  \  arying  characteristics,  e.g. 
Wimbledon  Common,  Hampstead  Heath  ;  and  inasmuch  as  the  move- 
ment for  the  preservation  of  land  for  public  recreation  was  largely 
concerned  in  its  earlier  stages  with  the  preservation  of  commons,  I 
should  like  to  commence  by  a  reference  to  these  unenclosed  open 
spaces. 

CO.ALMOXS    AND   OPEN    SPACES. 

The  open-space  movement,  as  it  may  shortly  be  termed,  first 
began  to  take  shape  in  the  year  1865 — about  forty-five  years  ago. 
So  long  as  the  population  was  comparatively  small  and  lived  to  a 
large  extent  in  country  districts  the  necessity  for  public  open  spaces 
was  not  apparent,  as  there  were  few  who  could  not  secure  exercise 
in  the  open  country  and  refresh  their  eyes  with  the  sight  of  trees  and 
green  fields.  The  population  of  Great  Britain,  which  in  1801  was 
only  about  lo^  millions  and  mainly  rural,  had  risen  to  23^^  millions 
in  1865  (the  period  above-named)  and  was  becoming  largely  urban. 
Hence  additional  impetus  was  given  to  the  movement  by  reason  of 
the  rapid  growth  of  towns  and  the  necessity  for  providing  fresh  air 
and  means  of  outdoor  recreation  for  their  inhabitants. 

The  particular  class  of  open  spaces  to  whose  preservation  public 
attention  was  at  that  time  directed  were  commons,  which  many 
people,  otherwise  well-informed,  would  consider  to  be  property  which 
the  public  can  roam  over  at  will  and  can  utilise  as  they  please  without 
let  or  hindrance.  The  tracing  of  the  origin  of  commons,  some  of 
which,  very  fortunately  for  present-day  wants,  still  exist  in  England 


open  Spaces,  Gardens,  and  Recreation  Grounds.  479 

and  Wales,  opens  up  a  very  interesting-  chapter  of  domestic  history 
that  mig^ht  very  profitably  occupy  all  the  time  at  my  disposal,  but 
to  which  I  can  only  briefly  allude.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  these  sur- 
vi\  iui^  common  lands  come  down  to  us  from  early  Saxon  times,  and 
are  the  relics  of  a  system  of  collective  ownership,  when  the  land 
was  held  in  common  by  village  communities.  A  part  (generally 
divided  into  three  large  fields  for  a  three-course  method  of  hus- 
bandry) was  enclosed  and  cultivated,  whilst  the  remainder  was  left 
open  for  grazing  purposes  and  for  the  cutting  of  turf  and  bracken. 
But  gradually  portions  of  the  cultivated  area  became  assigned  to  indi- 
viduals, the  uncultivated  portion  still  remaining  common  propert;,'. 
By  the  feudal  system  of  a  later  date  that  became  universal  after  the 
Xorman  Conquest,  a  change  was  effected,  as  the  country  was  divided 
up  into  military  areas  corresponding  more  or  less  with  the  village 
and  its  surroundings,  and  these  divisions  were  called  manors,  over 
which  feudal  chieftains  were  appointed  as  Lords  of  the  Manor,  whose 
office  gradually  became  hereditary,  and  who  by  virtue  of  their  office 
assumed  the  ownership  of  the  land  in  their  respective  manors,  both 
enclosed  and  unenclosed.  The  residence  of  the  Lord  of  the  Manor 
was  oftentimes  known  as  the  Manor  House,  a  designation  which 
many  houses  in  various  parts  of  the  country  still  bear,  but  of  whose 
origin  perhaps  only  a  few  people  are  aware.  The  individual  land- 
owners in  each  manor  thus  became  tenants  of  the  Lord  of  the  Manor, 
bound  to  render  him  military  service,  but  having  fixity  of  tenure  as 
regards  their  holdings,  together  with  the  right  of  utilising  the 
unenclosed  land  (which  was  known  as  the  common  or  waste  land 
of  the  manor)  for  grazing  and  other  purposes.  Owing  to 
the  Lords  of  the  Manor,  in  the  exercise  of  ownership  rights, 
enclosing  common  land  for  their  own  use,  disputes  arose  with 
the  tenants,  which  led  to  the  passing  of  the  Statute  of  Merton 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  HL  (20  Hen.  HL  c.  4,  a.d.  1235),  and 
the  Statute  of  Westminster  the  Second  in  the  reign  of  Edward  L 
(13  Edw.  L  c.  46,  A.D.  1285),  which  laid  down  that  common  land 
might  be  enclosed  by  the  Lords  of  the  Manor,  provided  a  sufficient 
area  was  left  for  the  needs  and  use  of  the  tenants.  It  is  believed 
that  at  that  time  two-thirds  of  the  country  was  common  or  waste, 
consequently  under  these  Statutes  large  areas  of  common  land  were 
enclosed  and  became  the  absolute  property  of  the  Lords  of  the  Manor. 
By  the  sixteenth  century  these  continuous  enclosures  gave  rise  to 
grave  complaints,  on  the  part  more  especially  of  the  smaller  tenants, 
to  whom  an  adequate  supply  of  common  land  for  the  grazing  of  their 
cattle  was  of  vital  importance  in  connection  with  the  successful  culti- 
vation of  their  small  holdings.  Moreover,  it  began  to  be  recognised 
that  if  enclosures  were  desirable,  the  tenants  of  the  manor,  as  well 
as  the  Lord  of  the  Manor,  had  a  right  to  a  share  of  the  enclosed  land. 
For  these  reasons  enclosures  by  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  for  his  own 
benefit  under  the  above-named  statutes  became  increasingly  difficult, 
and  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  a  practice  was  commenced,  which 
continued  for  over  200  years,  of  obtaining  the  sanction  of  Parliament 
to  enclosure  schemes,  in  which  this  principle  of  division  was  recog- 
nised.     During  this  period   several  thousand    Enclosure   Acts   were 


480  Transactions  of  the  Toivii  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  ujio. 

passed  dealing-  with  over  seven  million  acres  of  common  land,  it  being 
generally  and  rightly  held,  until  the  adoption  of  Free  Trade,  or 
I'ather  Free  Imports,  in  1846,  that  it  was  a  matter  of  great  national 
concern  to  add  to  the  cultivated  area  of  the  country.  It  may,  how- 
ever, be  pointed  out  in  passing  that  the  yeoman  class,  cultivating 
their  own  small  holdings,  practically  became  extinct,  as  the  compara- 
tively small  compensation  which  they  secured  in  money  or  land  under 
enclosure  awards  was  no  adequate  quid  pro  quo  to  them  for  the  loss 
of  the  common  lands  where  their  cattle  grazed.  Hence  they  were 
often  forced  to  sell  their  holdings  to  larger  owners  or  tenants.  But 
these  Enclosure  Acts  lacked  uniformity,  nor  did  they  give  any  con- 
sideration or  compensation  to  the  agricultural  labouring  population, 
who  also  enjoyed  the  use  of  the  common  lands,  but  who  had  neither 
the  right  nor  the  means  of  making  their  voices  heard  in  opposition 
to  schemes  that  deprived  them  of  such  important  advantages  of  their 
daily  life.  At  length,  however,  complaints  of  injustice  became  suffi- 
ciently insistent  as  to  induce  Parliament  to  pass  a  general  Enclosure 
Act  in  1845,  appointing  independent  Commissioners  to  examine  all 
enclosure  schemes  and  to  submit  such  as  they  approved  to  Parlia- 
ment for  sanction.  But  no  scheme  could  go  forward  unless  two- 
thirds  of  the  commoners  of  the  manor  assented  ;  moreover,  provision, 
though  meagre,  was  made  for  allotments  and  recreation  grounds  for 
the  labouring  class.  Under  this  Act,  between  1845  and  1869  over 
600,000  acres  of  common  land  were  enclosed,  only  a  very  small  por- 
tion, some  4000  acres,  being  set  apart  for  allotments  and  recreation. 
But  many  of  these  enclosures  were  made  without  regard  to  public 
interests,  which  would  have  been  better  served  by  the  commons  being 
retained. 

We  have  now  come  to  the  period  between  i860  and  1870,  at  which 
I  mentioned  that  the  open-space  movement  first  began  to  gather 
strength,  when  it  was  perceived  that  these  common  lands,  especially 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  large  towns,  were,  with  the  advent  of  Free 
Imports  and  the  decline  of  home  agriculture,  together  with  the  growth 
of  urban  centres,  becoming  less  and  less  utilised  for  cattle  and  sheep, 
and  of  infinitely  greater  use  and  importance  to  human  beings,  as 
places  of  fresh  air,  recreation,  and  natural  beaut}'.  But,  at  the  same 
time.  Lords  of  the  Manor,  as  owners  of  the  soil,  began  to  wake  up 
to  the  value  of  the  commons  as  building  sites,  and  to  claim  that 
they  could  enclose  these  valuable  areas  under  the  ancient  Statute  of 
Merton,  owing  to  the  more  or  less  disuse  by  the  commoners  of  the 
!nanor  of  their  grazing  and  other  rights. 

In  1864  Earl  Spencer,  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Wimbledon,  asserted 
a  right  to  sell  and  to  enclose  parts  of  W^imbledon  Common.  A  com- 
mittee, with  the  late  Sir  Henry  Peek  as  chairman,  was  formed  to 
resist  the  scheme,  and  in  the  following  year  a  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  best  means  of 
preserving  the  forests,  commons,  and  open  spaces  in  and  near  London 
for  public  use.  It  reported  against  the  claims  of  the  Lords  of 
the  Manor  as  advanced  by  Earl  Spencer,  and  advocated  that  no 
enclosures  should  be  authorised  under  the  1845  Act  within  the 
Metropolitan    Police    area     that     extends     for     a     radius     of     fifteen 


open  Spaces,  Gardens,  and  Recreation  Grounds.  481 


•^-t^k^ligr^^tr^i 


Fig.  I.— Village  of  St.  Giles-ix-the-Fields  about  1560,  showing  0.\ford  Street  and 
Tottenham  Court  Road.  On  the  south,  walled  round,  is  the  Convent  Garden  of 
Westminster,  the  Site  of  Covent  Garden  Square,  now  used  as  a  Market 


Fic.  2. — Bishopsgate  Street  and  the  Village  of 
Shoreditch   about  1560. 


482   Transactions  of  the  Town  Phuming  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


miles  round  London  from  Charing  Cross.  The  report  of  the 
Committee  led  to  Lords  of  the  Manor  taking  steps  to  uphold 
their  claims,  and  enclosures  were  commenced  or  threatened  in 
Epping-  Forest,  Berkhampstead,  Plumstead,  and  Tooting  Com- 
mons, Bostall  Heath,  Hampstead  Heath,  and  elsewhere.  It  was 
for  the  purpose  of  resisting  encroachments  on  commons  that,  at  the 
suggestion  of  Mr.  P.  H.  Lawrence,  the  Commons  Preservation  Society 
was  at  that  time  founded,  under  the  chairmanship  of  the  Right  Hon. 
J.  Shaw-Lefevre,  M.P. ,  now  Lord  Eversley,  who,  in  spite  of  advanc- 
ing vears,  still  holds  that  honoured  position.  This  Society  is  the 
oldest  of  the  Open  Space  Societies,  and  the  value  of  its  work  to  the 
country    can    scarcely    be    overestimated.      It    at    once    became    the 


\\ 


1 V    '.  '-^^f^        \ 


•  /■' 

Fig.  3. — Village  of  St.  Pancras  im  1746. 

centre  of  resistance  to  the  wholesale  enclosure  of  common  lands,  and 
it  took  a  leading  part  in  the  arduous  battles  that  had  to  be  fought  to 
safeguard  the  above-named  and  many  other  commons,  including 
Epping,  New,  and  Ashdown  Forests,  to  mention  only  a  few  of  the 
areas  that  have  been  endangered.  The  influence  exerted  by  this 
Society  was  to  be  seen  from  the  day  of  its  birth  onwards  in  the 
changed  character  of  the  legislation  affecting  commons.  Instead  of 
Enclosure  Acts  continuing  to  be  passed  as  heretofore,  we  hence- 
forward find  the  sanction  of  Parliament  being  accorded  to  Acts  for 
the  preservation  and  regulation  of  common  lands  in  the  public 
interest  :  e.g.  the  Metropolitan  Commons  Acts  of  1866,  1869,  1878, 
and  1898,  the  Commons  Acts  of  1876  and  1899,  the  Law  of  Com- 
mons Amendments  Act  1893,  the  Local  Government  Act  1894,  and 
numberless  other  Acts  applicable  to  specific  areas,  all  having  the 
same  objects  in  view,  viz.  the  rendering  of  the  enclosure  of  common 


Opoi  Spaces,  Cicirdcns,  and  Recreation  Grounds.  483 

lands,  whether  by  the  Lords  of  the  Manor  or  other  people,  more 
difficult  if  not  impossible,  and  the  setting  up  of  machinery  for  their 
management  by  Boards  of  Conservators  for  public  enjoyment.  It  is 
a  singularly  fortunate  circumstance  that,  owing  to  the  system  of 
land  tenure  prevailing  in  the  days  of  our  forefathers,  a  considerable 
area  of  common  land  (though  but  a  small  fraction  of  what  once 
existed)  has  remained  till  the  present  day,  to  be  still  utilised  for  the 
common  good,  though  the  form  of  use  has  changed  owing  to  the 
altered  conditions  of  agriculture  and  to  the  great  increase  of  popu- 
lation. For  the  cost  of  acquiring  these  areas  by  purchase  would 
have  been  prohibitive  had  they  been  ordinary  private  property, 
unfettered  with  rights  that,  if  properly  enforced,  prevent  their 
enclosure  and  conversion  into  building  sites.  The  Commons  and 
Footpaths  Preservation  Society,  to  give  it  its  present  title,  had  thus, 
so  to  speak,  a  happy  hunting-ground  ready  to  hand.  Nor  has  it 
failed  to  make  the  most  of  opportunities  for  safeguarding  the  valuable 
heritage  handed  down  from  a  remote  past  by  providing  ways  and 
means  of  asserting  rights  which  the  community  possesses  in  these 
remaining  common  lands,  but  which  were  in  grave  danger  of  being 
ignored. 

PARKS,    GARDENS,    AND    RECREATION    GROUNDS. 

But  this  Society  did  not  cover  the  whole  ground,  as  common  lands 
alone  would  not  suffice  for  the  needs  of  the  growing  population. 
They  are  very  unevenly  distributed  and  are  usually  rather  scarce 
and  of  small  area  in  or  near  cities  and  towns.  It  was  obvious,  there- 
fore, that  parks  and  recreation  grounds  were  requisite,  and  we  find 
that  the  K\  rle  Society,  which  was  founded  in  1877,  under  the  able 
guidance  of  Miss  Octavia  Hill,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  beauty  to 
the  homes  of  the  people,  included  an  open-space  branch  amongst  the 
several  branches  into  which  it  was  subdivided  for  the  furtherance 
of  its  aim,  and  has  given  most  valuable  help  to  the  cause. 

But  a  yet  more  definite  advance  was  made  in  1883,  when  the 
Metropolitan  Public  Gardens  Association  was  founded  and  launched 
on  its  career  by  the  Earl  of  Meath,  K.P.,  who  is  still  its  well-known 
and  energetic  chairman.  To  that  organisation  belongs  the  credit 
of  drawing  attention  to  the  necessity  for  providing  town  dwellers 
with  parks,  gardens,  and  recreation  grounds  within  easy  reach  of 
their  homes.  It  is  true  that  in  London,  chiefly  in  one  section,  certain 
Royal  parks  are  to  be  found,  Crown  lands  which  through  the  com- 
plaisance of  former  Sovereigns  the  public  have  been  enabled  to  use  ; 
but  otherwise  at  the  date  named  the  deficiency  of  spaces  for  exercise 
and  recreation,  and  especially  of  smaller  grounds,  was  very  marked. 
This  Association,  like  its  earlier  prototype,  also  discovered  an  existing 
objective  upon  which  to  devote  its  energies,  viz.  the  numerous 
disused  churchyards  and  burial  grounds,  and  squares,  which  are  to 
be  found  in  London  and  other  towns.  The  former  class  of  grounds 
having  been  closed  for  more  or  less  considerable  periods  against 
further  interments,  had  begun  to  acquire,  with  the  advance  of  urban 
conditions  around  them,  a  building  value,  strange  though  it  may 
seem,  of  which  their  owners  were  not  slow  to  take  advantage;  and 
one  of  the  first  results  secured  by  the  Association  was  the  passing 


I 

4<S4    Transactions  of  the  To^vn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

of  the  Disused  Burial  Grounds  Act  1884,  which  definitely  prohibited 
throughout  the  kingdom  the  use,  or  rather,  the  misuse,  of  these 
resting-places  of  departed  generations  as  building  sites.  Deprived  of 
their  value  for  such  a  purpose,  the  Association  has  been  able  to 
secure  many  of  these  areas,  and,  with  funds  derived  from  voluntary 
contributions,  to  rescue  them  from  their  sad  state  of  neglect  and  to 
lay  them  out  as  wholesome  and  pleasant  public  gardens  for  the  use 
of  the  living.  In  London  alone  some  130  of  these  grounds  have  been 
laid  out  and  opened  to  the  public  ;  of  the  remainder,  167  are  not  open, 
manv  being  very  small,  51  have  been  turned  into  builders'  and  carters' 
yards,  whilst  115  had  entirely  disappeared  before  the  protective 
Act  came  into  force.  Again,  in  neighbourhoods  that,  so  to  speak, 
have  seen  better  days,  the  central  enclosures  of  squares,  which  were 
no  longer  cared  for  or  kept  up  by  the  adjacent  residents,  have  pre- 
sented a  field  of  opportunity,  and  the  Association  has  found  it  possible 
in  some  cases  to  secure  these  more  or  less  derelict  areas  from  their 
owners  and  convert  them  into  public  gardens,  greatl\-  to  the  advantage 
of  the  surrounding  inhabitants. 

We  owe  these  squares  and  other  similar  enclosures  to  the  good 
sense,  foresight,  and  public  spirit  of  a  former  generation  of  land- 
owners, who,  when  their  land  became  ripe  for  building,  planned  it 
out  on  garden-suburb  lines,  as  may  be  seen  on  consulting  a  map  of 
London  or  other  large  towns  in  which  such  spaces  are  coloured  green, 
for  what  are  the  Westminster,  Portman,  Bedford,  and  similar  London 
estates  but  the  garden  suburbs  of  the  past?  The  Association  has 
consistently  advocated  the  importance  of  preserving  all  such  areas, 
because,  whether  or  not  they  are  actually  open  to  the  public,  they 
form  (as  do  the  churchyards),  with  their  trees  and  foliage,  which  all 
can  see,  health-giving  lungs  and  air-holes — numbering  nearly  450  in 
London  alone — in  the  midst  of  crowded  surroundings,  that  are  of  the 
utmost  value  to  the  community.  But,  except  the  comparative  few 
that  have  been  obtained  as  public  gardens,  they  are  in  an  insecure 
position,  for  when  the  leases  expire  of  the  adjacent  house  property, 
to  which  they  are  attached  as  gardens  for  the  common  use  of  the 
lessees,  they  revert  to  their  respective  freeholders,  who  will  be  able 
to  utilise  them  for  building  purposes.  Several  of  these  squares  in 
London  are  in  the  market  at  the  present  time,  e.i^.  St.  Peter's  Square, 
Hammersmith;  Edwards  Square  and  Alexander  Square,  Kensington; 
Princes  vSquare,  Stepney;  Barnsbury  Square,  Islington,  &c.,  whilst 
others  have  only  been  saved  from  the  builders  by  being  bought  up 
at  enormous  cost,  the  London  County  Council  having  paid  over 
;;{^io,ooo  for  a  square  of  three-quarters  of  an  acre  in  East  London, 
whilst  ;^3,5oo  had  recently  to  be  paid  for  a  similar  space  in  Southwark. 
We  have  inherited  these  sites  from  a  past  generation,  and  yet  we 
appear  content  to  let  them  gradually  slip  from  our  midst,  even  whilst 
discussing  town  plans  in  which  such  spaces  should  form  a  prominent 
feature.  In  view  of  the  extreme  importance  of  their  preservation, 
it  ought  not  to  be  impossible  to  devise  some  scheme  whereby  all 
such  spaces  should  be  rendered  ineligible  as  building  sites,  without 
necessarily  altering  their  private  ownership,  or  acquiring  them 
as  public  gardens,  and  without,  therefore,  having  to  pay  any  undue 


open  Spaces,  Gardens,  and  Recreation  Grounds.  485 


Fig.  4. — ^YoRK  Street.  W  alworth,  disused  Burial  Ground,  before  being  laid  out. 


Fig.  5,-York  Street,  Walworth,  after  being  laid  out  as  a  Public  Garden  by  the  Association. 


486  Transactions  oj  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 

sum  by  way  of  compensation  to  owners  for  the  imposition  of  this 
disability  upon  property  with  which  they  are  not  immediately  free 
to  deal.  By  the  London  Squares  and  Enclosures  Act  1906  a  start 
has  been  made  in  this  direction,  although  only  those  few  sites  are 
included  therein  which  had  already  been  obtained  for  public  use  or 
upon  which  it  was  found  possible  to  place  a  building-  disability 
witliout  paying  compensation.  Again,  with  great  foresight,  spacious 
thoroughfares  have  been  provided  in  the  past  by  the  reser- 
vation of  garden  strips  some  50  feet  in  length  between  the  build- 
ings on  each  side  and  the  public  way.  These  belts  of  foliage  have 
added  immensely  to  the  appearance  of  such  roads,  and  the  extra 
space  thus  obtained  has  provided  a  broad  channel,  bringing  sunlight 
and  air  into  the  heart  of  the  Metropolis.  But  instead  of  converting 
them  into  continuous  boulevards,  as  has  been  advocated  by  the  Asso- 
ciation, or  in  any  case  carefully  husbanding  this  valuable  heritage, 
we  have  allowed  them,  all  too  frequently,  to  be  utilised  as 
sites  for  buildings  of  one  or  more  stories  pushed  forward  in  advance 
of  the  original  line  of  frontage.  Compare  the  fine  appearance 
of  Sussex  Gardens,  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Terraces,  and  the 
Marylebone  Road,  where  the  forecourts  still  exist,  with  the  mean 
and  degenerate  aspect  of  the  same  thoroughfare  from  Portland  Road 
Station  onwards  to  Pentonville,  and  thence  down  the  City  Road  to 
Old  Street,  where  they  have  been  mostly  obliterated.  Similar 
examples  could  be  given  in  South  London  and  elsewhere.  We  desire 
to  see  these  features  reproduced  in  town  plans.  Why,  therefore,  do 
we  permit  their  destruction  where  they  already  exist? 

Not  content  with  disused  burial  grounds  and  squares,  the  Asso- 
ciation already  named  has  promoted  further  legislation  for  giving 
public  authorities  all  over  the  country  increased  powers  of  purchasing 
land  for  public  recreation,  e.g.  the  Open  Spaces  Acts  1887,  1890,  and 
1906,  and  part  of  the  Commons  Act  1899,  whilst  alone,  or  in  conjunc- 
tion with  others,  it  has  had  to  resist  and  secure  amendments  to  Bills, 
public  and  private,  which  endangered  open  spaces — even  Government 
measures,  including  the  Housing,  Town  Planning,  &c.  Act  itself,  not 
being  always  innocuous.  Some  of  the  most  recent  efforts  in  this 
I'irection  are  Section  19  of  the  Development  and  Road  Improvement 
Funds  Act,  1909,  and  Section  73  of  the  Housing  and  Town  Planning 
Act,  &c.  1909,  which  were  inserted  after  lengthy  negotiations  for  safe- 
guarding commons  and  open  spaces  ;  whilst  only  this  year  the  West- 
minster City  Council's  Bill  for  building  on  Piccadilly  Churchyard 
had  to  be  defeated.  The  guiding  principle  in  all  such  cases  has  been 
that,  if  open  spaces  are  subjected  to  encroachment,  other  adequate 
open-space  compensation  must  be  provided  in  exchange. 

The  planting  of  trees  in  suitable  thoroughfares  is  a  feature  of  the 
work  that  should  be  noticed,  as  they  are  both  health-giving  and  afford 
much-needed  relief  to  the  eye.  But  it  is  deplorable  to  see  how  they 
are  sometimes  maltreated  and  injured  by  unskilful  pruning  and 
lopping,  and  this  is  especially  the  case  when  complaints  are  made 
as  to  the  darkening  of  the  windows  of  adjacent  houses  by  reason  of 
their  foliage.  Much  can  be  done  bv  internal  thinning  to  obviate  anv 
such  grievances  witliout  materially  affecting  the  graceful  appearance 


open  Spaces,  Gardens,  and  Recreation  Grounds.  487 


Fig  6. — Albion  Square,  Dalston,  before  being  laid  out. 


Fig.   7. — .Albion  Square,  Dalston,  after  being  laid  out  as  a  Public  Garden  b\   i  i      \         iation. 


488  Transactions  oj  the  Toi^^n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


-^-:--.,^^-m.'^MJ'}:  •"'-'?■■  ■' 


Fig.  8. — Benbow  Street,  Deptford  :   Bovs'   Playground. 


I'lG.  ij. — Benbow  Stklli,  l-)EtiiuKu;  Cikls'   I'laygkul-nd. 
Equipped  with  Gymnastic  Apparatus  bv  the  Metropolitan  Public  Gardens  Association. 


I 


Open  Spaces,  Gardens,  and  Recreation  Grounds.  489 

of  the  trees.  But  if  existing^  front  g-ardens  and  forecourts  were  care- 
fully preserved,  and  if  they  were  always  created  in  all  new  roads, 
the  houses  being-  set  back  accordingly,  plenty  of  space  would  be 
secured  for  noble  avenues  of  trees,  without  any  diminution  of  light 
to  adjacent  residents. 

The  two-fold  work  of  the  Association  has  been  to  repair  as  far 
as  possible  the  deficiencies  of  the  past  and,  with  the  advancing  tide 
of  building  into  new  localities,  to  provide  for  the  future.  As  suitable 
estates  have  come  into  the  market,  schemes  have  been  promoted 
for  their  acquisition  for  public  use,  and  steps  have  been  taken  by  the 
Association  and  kindred  bodies  to  raise  the  requisite  funds  for  their 
purchase  by  means  of  voluntary  contributions  from  private  sources 
and  grants  from  public  bodies.  Nearly  all  the  additions  to  the  area 
of  public  space  in  and  around  London  during  the  last  twenty-five 
years  are  due  to  schemes  promoted  by  the  Association  and  those  with 
whom  It  has  co-operated.  The  educative  value  of  these  efforts  has 
been  immense,  public  opinion  having  undergone  a  complete  change, 
and  many  similar  societies  have  sprung  up  in  the  provinces.  It  is 
no  longer  necessary  to  go  cap  in  hand  to  a  local  authority  to 
crave  some  small  measure  of  sympathy  for  a  project,  and  to  meet 
with  but  a  cold  reception.  On  the  contrary,  such  bodies  are 
as  a  rule  fully  alive  to  the  importance  of  open-space  provision, 
and  are  ready  to  extend  sympathetic  consideration  and  substantial 
assistance  to  well-devised  schemes  for  which  their  help  may  be 
needed.  The  County  Council  of  Middlesex  has  during  the  last  few 
years  vied  with  that  of  London  In  providing  a  proportion  of  the  cost 
of  purchasing  sites  for  public  parks  and  gardens  for  its  rapidly  grow- 
ing suburban  population  ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  other  County 
Councils  ere  long  may  make  similar  use  of  the  powers  with  which 
they  have  all  been  endowed  by  the  Open  Spaces  Act,  1906.  The  result 
of  such  activities  Is  to  be  seen  in  the  great  Increase  that  has  taken 
place  both  in  London  and  the  provinces  in  the  provision  of  open 
spaces.  From  returns  which  I  secured  from  some  fifty  of  the  chief 
towns  of  the  kingdom,  I  was  able  to  prepare  a  tabular  statement  show- 
ing that  in  1883  they  possessed  in  the  aggregate  one  acre  of  public 
space  to  760  people,  whereas  twenty  years  later,  in  1903,  notwith- 
standing an  Increase  of  50  per  cent.  In  population,  there  was  one 
acre  of  public  space  to  635  people.  In  the  county  of  London  there 
was  in  1883  one  acre  of  public  space  to  950  people,  whereas  now, 
with  an  Increase  of  25  per  cent,  in  population,  there  is  one  acre  of 
public  space  to  750.  If  a  wider  range  were  taken,  so  as  to  include 
large  areas  near  to  but  outside  the  county  boundary,  such  as  Epping 
Forest,  Richmond  Park,  Wimbledon  Common,  &c. ,  I  have  no  doubt 
the  figure  named  would  be  sensibly  reduced. 

The  preservation  of  the  amenities  of  a  locality,  whether  in  town 
or  country,  which  was  formerly  considered  to  be  of  no  importance, 
has  now  become  a  matter  of  public  concern,  as  Is  testified  by  the 
formation  of  such  organisations  as  the  National  Trust  for  Places  of 
Historic  Interest  and  Natural  Beauty,  to  which  can  be  entrusted  sites 
such  as  are  indicated  in  its  title,  with  the  assurance  that  they  will 
receive  that  sympathetic  treatment  in  regard  to  their  preservation 

K  K 


490  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

and  maintenance  which  is  not  always  forthcoming-  from  our  ever- 
changing-  pubhc  bodies ;  the  Society  for  Checking  the  Abuse  of 
Public  Advertising-,  and  the  Coal  Smoke  Abatement  Society ; 
also  by  the  public  appreciation  of  scenery  and  view  points,  as  evi- 
denced by  the  large  sum,  about  jQ'jo,ooo,  paid  for  the  purchase  of 
land  to  preserve  the  view  from  Richmond  Hill,  and  by  the  provision 
in  the  recent  Port  of  London  Act,  relating  partly  to  the  Thames  Con- 
servancy, for  the  appointment  thereon  of  two  members,  of  whom  I 
have  had  the  honour  of  being-  selected  as  one,  specially  charged  with 
the  duty  of  preserving  the  amenities  of  the  river  in  the  interests  of 
the  public. 

DIFFERENT  CLASSES  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  OPEN  SPACES. 

I  ought  briefly  to  allude  to  the  different  kinds  of  open  spaces. 
There  is  the  small  garden  and  the  children's  playground,  which  ought 
to  be  found  within  a  short  distance  of  everyone's  door.  The  import- 
ance of  such  lungs  and  air-holes  available  at  any  spare  moment  of  the 
day,  even  those  of  the  smallest  size,  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  acre  In 
extent,  cannot  be  over-estimated,  and  It  has  been  specially  the  work  of 
the  Metropolitan  Public  Gardens  Association  to  create  such  areas  and 
to  transform  disused  graveyards  and  neglected  squares  Into  gems 
of  beauty.  In  business  localities  they  are  largely  used  by  employees 
during  their  dinner  hour,  and  In  residential  parts  by  women  and 
children.  In  small  gardens,  where  the  public  are  necessarily  confined 
to  pathways,  appearances  count  for  much,  and  the  brighter  they  are 
the  better,  In  the  midst  of  their  dull  surroundings.  Grass  grows  well 
In  London,  thanks.  It  Is  said,  to  the  smoke,  and  a  well-kept  grass  plot 
is  a  great  relief  to  the  eye.  Children's  playgrounds  are  oftentimes 
furnished  with  swings  and  gymnastic  apparatus.  But  we  are,  I 
think,  much  too  fond  of  asphalte.  The  ordinary  school  playground, 
with  Its  hard  surface  and  high  walls,  Is  like  a  prison  yard,  and  no 
wonder  the  children  prefer  the  streets.  The  best  form  of  playground 
Is,  I  think,  a  grove  of  trees,  such  as  one  sees  abroad  sometimes,  with 
a  bare,  sandy  surface  underneath  them.  There  the  children  can  play 
In  comfort  on  the  hottest  day.  Such  grounds  are  few  and  far  between 
here,  but  I  know  of  one  In  the  Victoria  Gardens,  North  Woolwich, 
which  Is  most  delightful.  When  we  come  to  the  larger  areas,  parks, 
heaths,  and  commons,  which  are  specially  requisite  for  holiday 
seasons,  the  less  elaboration  of  treatment  the  better,  otherwise  their 
use  for  exercise  and  recreation  Is  Impeded.  The  public  much  prefer 
an  area  over  which  they  can  wander  unrestricted  rather  than  one 
where  they  are  hampered  at  every  turn  by  enclosures  and  internal 
railings.  Public  use  In  these  areas  should  not  be  subordinated  to 
appearance.  It  Is  very  desirable,  where  possible,  to  lay  out  portions 
of  such  spaces  as  playing  fields  for  organised  games.  The  London 
Playing  Fields  Society,  in  catering  for  clubs  which  can  afford  to 
pay  a  small  rental,  has  done  a  great  work  In  relieving  the  pressure 
upon  the  public  playing  fields,  which  are  needed  by  those  who  are  too 
poor  to  pay  even  a  small  charge.  The  natural  features  of  the  larger 
parks  and  commons  ought  to  be  carefully  preserved,  and  artificiality 
should  be  strictly  avoided. 


open  Spaces,  Gardens,  and  Recreation  Gruunds. 


Pr™  r"   ^*''°^''''    Betiinal   Green,    formerly    known  as  Victoria   Park   Cemeierv,  being  a 
1  RivATE  Burial  Ground  of  ii   Acres  in  which  an  enormous  number  of  interments  had  taken 

PLACE,  AND  WHICH     HAD    FALLEN    INTO    A    STATE    OF    DEPLORABLE    NEGLECT,  UNTIL  RESCUED  AND  LAID  OUT 
BV   THE  .^SOCIATION. 


Fig.  II.— Christ  Church  disused  Churchyard,  Spitalfields,  laid  out  as  a  Public  G  arden 

BV  THE  Association 

K   K   3 


492  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

PRESENT-DAY  SCHEMES. 

I  might  briefly  mention  open-space  schemes  which  are  occupying 
our  attention  at  the  present  time  and  which  indicate  continuous 
activity  and  progress  : 

The  extension  of  Wimbledon  and  Putney  Commons  by  the  addi- 
tion of  170  acres  between  Wimbledon  Common  and  Richmond  Park. 

The  purchase  of  five  or  six  acres  known  as  The  Grange,  Kilburn. 

The  purchase  of  the  Ironmongers'  Almshouses  and  Garden, 
Shoreditch,  an  acre  and  three-quarters. 

The  extension  of  Streatham  Common. 

The  acquisition  of  Shadwell  Market,  a  riverside  area  in  Stepney. 

The  formation  of  spaces  and  of  riverside  walks  along  the  banks 
of  the  River  Wandle ;  and  the  preservation  of  the  Crystal  Palace 
and  its  magnificent  grounds  of  250  acres. 

PAST    DIFFICULTIES    WHICH    MAY    PARTLY    BE    SOLVED    IN    FUTURE    BY 
TOWN    PLANNING. 

Two  facts  which  those  who  work  in  the  cause  of  open  spaces 
very  clearly  perceive,  have,  I  venture  to  think,  led  to  the  expansion 
of  the  movement  in  the  direction  of  garden  cities  and  suburbs,  and 
to  the  passing  of  the  Act  for  the  establishment  of  town  plans  : — 

(1)  The  first  is  the  impossibility  of  repairing  the  errors  of  the 
past  in  many  of  the  existing  centres  of  population,  as  there  are  no 
unbuilt-on  areas  left  to  acquire.  Take  such  a  borough  as  Shore- 
ditch,  with  about  eight  acres  of  public  open  spaces  (chiefly  disused 
churchyards)  for  120,000  people,  or  one  acre  to  15,000  people,  against 
an  average  of  one  to  750  for  the  whole  of  London.  In  that  borough 
there  is  only  one  open  area  left,  the  Ironmongers  'Almshouses  and 
Garden,  a  beauty-spot  under  two  acres  in  extent,  and  that  is  being 
acquired  at  enormous  cost — ;^24,ooo.  This  addition  will  increase  the 
open  spaces  to  ten  acres  and  reduce  the  average  to  one  acre  of  public 
space  for  12,000  people.  Southwark,  with  fifteen  acres  of  public 
space,  has  210,000  people,  or  one  acre  to  14,000  people.  Practically 
nothing  more  can  be  done  there  materially  to  rectify  the  deficiency. 

(2)  The  second  difficulty  is  the  virtual  impossibility  of  getting 
the  governing  body  of  a  district,  that  is  becoming  or  is  likely  to 
become  urban  or  suburban  in  its  character,  to  make  proper  open- 
space  provision  for  the  future  requirements  of  the  place  whilst  the 
land  may  still  be  had  at  something  approaching  agricultural  rates. 
The  local  authority  is  naturally  reluctant  to  throw  a  burden  upon  its 
low  rateable  value  of  which  it  does  not  see  the  immediate  necessity, 
and  when  building  actually  commences  the  price  of  land  goes  up, 
so  that  the  authority  cannot  afford  to  purchase  land  to  an  adequate 
extent  owing  to  the  high  price  which  it  commands. 

Only  this  year,  in  spite  of  much  pressure  and  outside  promises  of 
help,  the  local  authorities  of  a  suburban  area  on  the  west  of  London 
finally  declined  to  purchase  at  a  price  that  was  perfectly  reasonable 
a  most  charming  estate  of  forty-five  acres,  Whitton  Park,  containing 
some  of  the  finest  cedars  in  the  kingdom,  although  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
such  a  place  will  in  a  few  years'  time  be  surrounded  by  houses.     It 


1 


open  Spaces,  Gardens,  and  Recreation  Grounds.         493 

has  now  passed  into  the  builders'  hands  for  development  in  the  usual 
way,  to  the  grievous  and  permanent  loss  of  the  community. 

Lord  Meath  long  ago  laid  down  as  a  sine  qud  nan  that  a  public 
space  for  recreation  should  be  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  every- 
one's door,  and  so  far  back  as  1891  Sir  Robert  Hunter,  one  of  our 
leaders  in  the  movement,  gave  publicity  to  a  plan,  at  a  combined 
meeting  of  the  Open  Spaces  Societies,  for  a  tax  of  10  per  cent,  on 
all  new  ground-rents,  which  would  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of 
open  spaces  in  those  areas  from  which  the  tax  was  drawn.  In  this 
way  it  was  calculated  that  it  would  be  possible  to  secure  the  provision 
of  about  five  per  cent.,  or  one-twentieth,  of  all  new  town  areas  as 
public  open  spaces.  This  was  but  a  modest  amount.  The  Garden  City 
Company,  of  their  own  accord,  have,  I  believe,  reserved  200  acres 
at  Letchworth  for  parks  and  open  spaces  out  of  the  1300  acres 
included  in  the  city  area,  a  proportion  of  about  fifteen  per 
cent.  Even  twenty  years  ago  it  was  thus  perceived  that  in 
new  localities,  if  slums  were  not  to  be  reproduced,  open  spaces 
must  be  provided  on  some  definite  plan  and  to  a  definite  extent, 
instead  of  being  left  to  the  fortuitous  efforts  and  liberality  of  private 
individuals  or  public  bodies.  Although  the  actual  scheme  has  not 
been  adopted,  yet  it  served  its  purpose  of  showing  the  necessity  for 
that  systematic  provision  which  will  now  be  made  in  schemes  under 
the  Town  Planning  Act  that  has  brought  this  Congress  together. 
One  of  the  essential  differences  between  an  area  developed  under  a 
town  plan  and  an  area  that  has  been  developed  haphazard  under 
present,  or,  shall  I  say,  past  conditions,  will  be  the  amount  of  open 
space,  both  public  and  private,  and  its  even  distribution,  that  will  be 
secured  in  the  former,  but  is  to  a  great  extent  lacking  in  the  latter. 
Hence  it  is  that  Open  Spaces  Societies,  such  as  I  represent  to-day,  feel 
such  a  keen  interest  in  the  working  of  the  Act,  which  they  earnestly 
hope  the  Congress  will  do  much  to  facilitate. 

The  magnitude  of  the  problem,  both  as  regards  town  planning 
and  open  spaces,  becomes  apparent  when  we  take  the  case  of  London 
only.  There  is  a  population  of  over  7,000,000  inhabiting  an  area  of 
700  square  miles,  known  as  "  Greater  London,"  being  equal  to  the 
population  of  the  whole  of  Canada  with  its  3,750,000  square  miles. 


I 


DISCUSSION. 

Sir  Gilbert  Parker,  D.C.L.,  M.P.,  in  the  Chair. 

Mr.  Herbert  M.  Ellis,  F.S.I.  :  I  should  like  to  thank  Mr.  Holmes 
very  much  for  his  most  interesting  Paper.  He  has  given  us  an 
enthusiastic,  temperate,  carefully-thought-out  lecture  on  one  of  the 
most  engrossing  subjects.  I  am  glad  it  has  become  an  engrossing 
subject.  For  many  years  we  have  been  engrossed  in  so  many  other 
ways  that  this  subject  seems  to  have  been  lost  sight  of.  On  a  more 
personal  ground,  I  should  like  to  thank  him  for  his  references  to 
the  scheme  for  adding  to  the  extent  of  Wimbledon  Common  and 
connecting  it  up  with  Richmond  Park.  Only  this  morning  I  intro- 
duced an  influential  deputation  to  the  Surrey  County  Council,  in  the 
hope  that  they  would  assist  us  with  our  finances  in  achieving  this 


494  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

great  object.  I  trust  this  reference  to  it  will  produce  some  interest 
amongst  those  present  in  our  most  valuable  scheme.  One  of  the 
chief  objects  we  are  aiming  at  is  the  preservation  of  water.  Every- 
one will  agree  that  any  scheme  having  water  in  it  possesses  an  excep- 
tional charm.  Land  preserved  with  the  water  amenities  is  more 
beautiful  than  any  other  land  ;  while  land  with  water  in  it  which  is 
"  developed  "  is  more  hideous  and  more  objectionable  than  any  other, 
because  it  is  so  easily  fouled  and  contaminated.  Another  scheme 
I  would  briefly  refer  to  not  less  feelingly  is  that  connected  with  the 
River  Wandle.  It  is  five  years  since  a  somewhat  hopeless  band  of 
us  started  on  a  crusade  to  try  to  save  this  last  of  the  London  rivers. 
The  Fleet,  the  Walbrook,  the  Effra,  the  Ravensbourne,  and  many 
others  have  gone  the  way  of  all  small  rivers,  and  become  sewers. 
I  believe  that,  technically,  even  the  River  Wandle  is  scheduled 
by  the  London  County  Council  as  a  sewer.  But  if  you  saw  some 
parts  of  the  River  Wandle  which  I  know,  between  Hackbridge  and 
its  defiled  mouth  at  Wandsworth,  you  would  say  that  they  were 
well  worth  saving,  and  would  compare  favourably  with  many  of  the 
most  beautiful  pieces  of  river  scenery  to  be  seen  in  Dovedale,  Lanca- 
shire, or  other  places.  You  see  the  most  beautiful  stretch  of  pure 
water — lessened,  certainly,  by  the  demands  of  the  London  water 
companies,  but  still  worth  saving.  It  will  not  be  long  before  an 
appeal  is  made  to  those  who  have  signalised  their  interest  in  these 
matters  by  taking  part  in  this  Town  Planning  Conference  to  lend 
their  sympathies  and  influence  in  the  saving  of  the  ten  miles  long 
Wandle — we  may  say  the  last  small  river  that  London  can  be  said 
to  possess,  and  the  river  about  which  Ruskin  speaks  so  beautifully 
in  his  "  Crown  of  Wild  Olives." 

Mr.  T.  C.  HoRSFALL  :  This  is  a  subject  to  which  I  have 
devoted  thirty  years  of  attention  and  work,  and  I  know  it  to 
be  one  of  the  most  important  subjects  that  can  possibly  occupy 
the  attention  of  English  people.  We  may,  I  think,  say  with  con- 
fidence that,  unless  the  Town  Planning  Act  is  used  for  doing 
even  more  systematically  than  the  admirable  Association  with 
which  Mr.  Basil  Holmes  is  connected,  the  work  of  providing  play- 
grounds and  other  open  spaces,  it  will  be  a  very  great  failure ;  it 
will  not  give  the  nation  the  results  that  so  many  sanguine  people  are 
hoping  to  get  from  it.  It  is  absolutely  impossible  to  bring  up 
children  in  health  in  a  town  of  any  size  unless  you  give  them  syste- 
matic physical  training  ;  and,  of  course,  the  open  space  is  the  conditio 
sine  qud  nan  for  giving  children  a  good  physical  training,  because, 
physically,  the  training  given  in  the  closed  room  is  not  of  one- 
hundredth  part  the  value  of  that  which  is  given  in  the  fresh  air. 
I  would  like  those  of  you  who  do  not  know  the  facts  to  realise  how 
urgent  is  the  need  for  giving  our  children  open  spaces.  In  the 
periodical  panics  which  take  possession  of  the  land  at  short  intervals 
we  all  clamour  for  more  Dreadnoughts ;  but  does  the  nation  ever 
ask  itself  where  it  is  going  to  get  the  men  for  those  Dreadnoughts? 
At  the  present  time  the  Navy  is  one  of  the  most  popular  profes- 
sions known.  The  conditions  of  work  are  good,  and  men  can  work 
for  the  whole  of  their  lives  in  it,  and  when  they  retire  they  get  good 


open  Spaces,  Gardens,  and  Recreation  Grounds.         495 

pensions.  The  Navy  needs  about  5000  boys  a  year.  It  cannot 
get  5000  boys  up  to  its  standard,  and  to  get  5000  boys  of  useable 
quality  it  has  to  reject  30,000  boys  a  year.  That  is  one  of  the 
most  horrible  facts  connected  with  civilised  life  that  I  know. 
Then  with  regard  to  the  Army,  things  are  as  bad.  In  Man- 
chester, in  1899,  ^vhen  we  were  in  urgent  need  of  soldiers,  11,000 
young  men  offered  to  enlist.  Eight  thousand  had  to  be  rejected  at 
once.  Remember,  the  11,000  were  to  a  certain  extent  the  pick  of 
a  large  population,  because  the  man  who  is  exceptionally  poor  in 
physique  knows  that  he  has  no  chance  of  being  accepted  and  never 
thinks  of  offering  to  enlist.  Of  the  3000  who  were  not  rejected, 
only  1000  were  good  enough  for  regiments  of  the  Line,  and  2000 
went  into  Militia  regiments.  Ihat  represents  the  condition  of  one 
English  town.  Now,  remember  that  in  Germany,  by  virtue  of  the 
good  gymnastic  training  that  is  given  to  the  people,  58  per  cent, 
of  the  young  men  can  pass  a  much  more  severe  military  examination 
than  we  subject  our  recruits  to.  In  Pomerania  80  per  cent,  of  the 
young  men  are  fit  for  military  service.  In  Berlin  the  figures  are  bad, 
only  38  per  cent,  are  fit,  for  the  reason  that  Berlin  suffers  from 
exceptionally  difficult  conditions,  such  as  were  described  to  us  by 
Professor  Eberstadt  this  morning.  Now  let  me  turn  to  the  bright 
side  of  the  picture.  What  can  we  do  if  we  show  common-sense  and 
follow  the  magnificent  example  set  us  by  Lord  Meath  and  Mr.  Basil 
Holmes.  Germany  has  long  given  weekly  two  hours  of  gymnastic 
training  to  all  its  children  in  the  elementary  schools.  That  proved 
insufficient  to  enable  them  to  withstand  the  bad  effects  of  living 
in  the  large  towns,  and  it  has  now  put  on  a  third  hour  weekly. 
Even  that  does  not  suffice,  and  a  very  large  organisation,  the  like 
of  which  is  unknown  in  Great  Britain,  for  the  promotion  of 
popular  and  children's  games,  has  been  formed.  It  has  the 
direct  encouragement  of  the  Emperor  and  very  considerable  help 
from  the  Government.  The  association  recognises  that  children 
must  have  games  in  addition  to  systematic  gymnastic  training. 
Under  its  influence  an  Act  has  been  passed  which  allows  districts  to 
have  compulsory  games  on  one  afternoon  a  week  for  all  the  children 
attending  the  elementary  schools  in  the  town.  The  Germans  are 
people  of  common-sense,  and  they  know  what  the  English  have  not 
yet  learned — that  the  town  child  is  not  much  helped  if  it  is  simply 
offered  a  playground.  Knowledge  of  games  has  died  out  amongst 
our  urban  population,  or  in  a  great  part  of  it.  The  Germans 
know,  therefore,  that  they  must  provide  open  spaces,  and  also  must 
provide  keepers  of  order  and  teachers  of  games.  They  have  trained 
more  than  20,000  teachers,  men  and  women,  to  act  as  leaders  of 
games  in  elementary  schools.  They  give  them  a  very  small  addition 
to  their  salaries  on  condition  that  they  give  their  services  on  the  after- 
noons for  compulsory  games.  Let  me  give  you  one  typical  result.  The 
town  of  Pforzheim  in  Baden  has  50,000  inhabitants.  It  is  almost 
the  equal  of  some  of  our  Lancashire  towns  in  the  disagreeable 
conditions  which  it  offers  its  inhabitants.  Its  air  is  polluted  with 
smoke,  and  there  is  a  good  deal  of  chemical  vapour.  The  town 
is    rapidly    growing,    and    the    children    were    getting    sicklier    and 


496  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

sicklier  every  year.  The  Germans  are  great  people  for  recording 
all  kinds  of  statistics,  useful  and  useless,  and  they  recorded  these 
useful  figures — the  figures  relating  to  the  number  of  hours  during 
which  the  children  were  compelled  to  be  absent  from  the  elementary 
schools  owing  to  illness.  The  number  of  hours  was  increasing 
steadily  year  by  year  by  10,000  in  spite  of  the  gymnastic  training. 
The  year  before  last  the  Pforzheim  Town  Council  introduced  a  com- 
pulsory afternoon  for  games,  and  last  year  not  only  was  there  not 
the  normal  increase  of  10,000  hours  of  sickness,  but  they  reduced 
the  number  of  hours  of  sickness  of  the  previous  year  by  25,000.  I 
was  speaking  yesterday  about  what  the  Swedes  have  done,  mainly 
by  the  improvement  of  their  towns,  by  conquering  the  drink  evil  in 
some  measure,  and  by  giving  good  physical  training  to  all  their 
people.  An  Englishman  who  has  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the 
training  of  instructors  for  the  boys  in  our  Navy  told  me  that  the 
Swedes  have  been  changed  from  one  of  the  most  degenerate  nations 
in  Europe,  as  they  were  some  years  ago,  into,  physically,  the  finest 
people  in  Europe,  by  means  of  those  great  improvements — town 
planning,  temperance,  and  good  physical  training  of  the  young 
people.  What  is  most  encouraging  of  all  for  we  English  is  that  the 
urban  Swedes  are  even  a  finer  race  than  the  country  Swedes,  in  spite 
of  the  advantages  of  purer  air  in  the  country,  because  better  physical 
training  can  be  given  in  the  towns  and  that  makes  all  the  difference 
in  the  world. 

Mr.  Bernard  Gibson  :  I  should  like  very  briefly  to  give  my  own 
experience.  Everyone  who  throws  himself  into  an  open-space 
movement  in  his  own  district,  or  who  helps  the  movement  forward 
in  other  districts  (and  it  is  only  when  the  "  lungs  "  are  not  covered 
with  houses  that  there  is  any  possibility  within  twenty  miles  of 
London  of  saving  them) — is  not  only  making  his  own  life  happy, 
but  he  is  leaving  behind  him  something  which  will  live  for  all  time, 
or  as  long  as  this  world  exists.  He  is  helping  to  leave  another 
"lung,"  another  playing-field  for  those  children  who  cannot  grow 
up  into  citizens  worthy  of  the  name  unless  they  have  these  "  lungs." 
I  would  tell  you  from  my  own  experience  that  there  is  no  greater 
joy,  there  is  no  greater  happiness,  than  in  helping  forward  this  work. 
It  means  very  often  going  without  your  dinner;  it  means  going 
down,  perhaps  on  a  pouring  wet  evening,  to  try  to  stimulate  enthu- 
siasm in  some  slum  on  the  outskirts  of  London ;  but,  believe  me,  the 
reward  is  great.  I  believe  that  if  those  who  are  here  to-day,  with 
the  enthusiasm  which  has  brought  them  here,  will,  in  the  years  to 
come,  as  long  as  they  are  spared,  throw  their  every  energy  and  their 
every  keenness  into  this  movement,  it  will  make  in  the  future  still 
greater  progress  than  it  has  made  in  the  past.  Mr.  Basil 
Holmes  has  alluded  to  one  lovely  "  lung  "  which  we,  and 
those  who  are  associated  with  us,  tried  for  three  years  to  save. 
I  allude  to  Whitton  Park,  forty-five  acres  of  land  near  Hounslow 
Station.  We  first  of  all  got  a  refusal  of  those  forty-five  acres  for 
;^i5>5oo-  That  is  the  way  to  secure  the  spaces — to  get  a  refusal 
for  a  term,  a  couple  of  years,  if  you  can.  The  Duke  of  Northumber- 
land most  generously  came  forward  and  offered  to  buy  it  at  a  little 


Ope7i  Spaces,  Gardens,  and  Recreation  Grounds.        497 

less ;  but  we  could  not  get  the  freeholder  to  abate  his  terms.  By 
degrees  we  got  the  price  of  that  down  to  ;^8ooo.  I  knew  the 
owner,  and  when  he  passed  away  I  made  one  final  effort.  There 
were  some  shadowy  rights  of  way,  and  the  owner  made  a  further 
concession  of  ;^200  for  the  legal  expenses  which  the  extinguishing 
of  those  rights  of  way  might  have  necessitated.  Will  you  believe 
that,  although  we  put  it  before  the  people  of  that  district  in  every 
way  we  could,  and  told  them  that  it  would  pay  them  handsomely 
to  save  that  open  space,  it  has  been  lost?  I  only  mention  this  because 
I  am  perfectly  certain  that,  if  we  had  those  three  years  before  us 
now,  that  space  would  not  be  lost.  London  is  waking  up.  It  is  in 
the  hope  that  my  experience  will  help  to  stimulate  the  energy  of 
everyone  here  that  I  venture,  for  myself,  before  this  discussion  closes, 
to  say  what  a  glorious  work  it  is  to  save  even  one  open  space  for 
London. 

The  Chairman  :  We  have  had  a  valuable  Paper,  and  an  equally 
valuable  discussion.  If  one  were  to  take  an  entirely  judicial  position 
concerning  the  Paper  and  the  discussion  upon  it  there  would  be  very 
little  to  say,  because  there  seem  to  be  very  few  objections  to  the  policy 
which  the  Open  Spaces  Associations  have  advocated,  and  practically 
no  controversy  upon  the  objects,  and  the  methods  of  acquiring  the 
objects,  at  which  they  aim.  Personally,  I  was  delighted  to  see  that 
Mr.  Basil  Holmes  dwelt  so  largely  upon  the  relief  given  by  those  open 
spaces  in  the  congested  districts  in  London.  Such  places  as  Hamp- 
stead  are  well  furnished  with  open  spaces ;  and  the  opportunities 
which  are  given  by  the  larger  developments  on  the  outskirts  of 
London  to  the  poor,  the  artisan,  and  the  hard-working  classes 
to  get  recreation  are  many ;  and  those  open  spaces  give  immense 
advantages.  But  when  you  take  the  terrible  fact  that  there  is  only 
one  acre  of  open  space  to  15,000  people  in  Shoreditch,  and  one  acre 
to  14,000  people  in  Southwark,  then  I  think  you  will  all  agree 
with  me  that  when  Mr.  Basil  Holmes  spoke  of  the  problem  as 
one  of  the  greatest  magnitude  his  words  were  not  exaggerated. 
Again,  the  words  which  fell  from  Mr.  Horsfall,  illustrated  as 
they  were  by  figures  which  are  simply  appalling,  concerning  the 
deterioration  of  our  young  men,  and  that  degeneracy  which  is  appar- 
ently an  outcome  of  modern  civilisation,  and  the  increase  of  large 
populations  in  great  cities,  ought  to  make  us  realise  that,  if  we  have 
great  national  problems,  such  as  defence,  and  trade  and  commerce 
to  develop  and  shelter,  in  order  to  make  that  trade  and  that  com- 
merce effective  and  in  order  to  make  defence  effective,  we  have  got  to 
provide  for  the  population  which  is  coming  (we  cannot  provide  it  for 
the  population  of  the  present  sufficiently)  that  which  will  give  it 
opportunities  for  health,  which  will  steadily  cultivate  and  strengthen 
the  national  fibre.  Mr.  Basil  Holmes  spoke  most  concerning  London. 
I  know  that  there  are  a  great  number  of  municipalities  represented  at 
this  Conference,  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  cheering  signs  in  the  Con- 
ference that  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  have  come  representatives 
of  local  authorities  to  discuss  these  questions,  which  will  become  for 
every  great  city  in  the  kingdom  as  important  problems  as  they  are  for 
London  itself.     In  some,   I  think,   the  problem  is  almost  as  great 


498  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

now.  There  are  places  in  some  of  our  large  towns  in  England  that 
are  as  biad  as  anything  in  Southwark  or  in  Shoreditch.  The  problem 
has  to  be  faced.  They  have  attempted  to  deal  with  it  in  Germany 
in  places  like  Essen  and  Dusseldorf.  Some  attempts  have  been 
made  in  Manchester  and  other  of  our  large  towns — Swansea,  Roch- 
dale, Stoke,  and  Chester — to  deal  with  the  trouble ;  but  I  do  not 
believe  that  we,  as  a  nation,  have  grappled  with  the  subject  yet. 
It  will  be  a  problem  for  all  local  authorities  in  the  future  to  consider 
what  they  are  going  to  do,  not  for  the  present  generation,  but  for 
the  future  generations.  It  is  going  to  cost  money.  For  my  part 
I  can  see  no  reason  why  we  ourselves  should  not  only  provide 
for  the  present,  but  for  the  future,  and  throw  all  the  burden 
upon  the  present.  We  have  to  face  the  fact  that  if  we  are  going 
in  for  this  alleviation  of  national  degeneracy  and  of  this  disease — 
for  it  is  nothing  more  nor  less  (it  is  one  of  the  products  of  modern 
civilisation ;  all  of  this  belongs  to  modern  days ;  we  had  ample 
open  spaces  in  the  old  days) — if  we  are  going  to  face  it,  we  have  to 
face  it  with  cash,  and  local  authorities  will  probably  have  to  deal  with 
that  necessity,  upon  which  I  am  not  either  empowered  or  prepared 
to  make  any  remarks.  The  problem  will  have  to  be  faced,  and  the 
larger  the  problem  the  more  money  will  have  to  be  got.  One  thing 
is  certain,  no  great  national  reform  can  be  achieved  without  immense 
national  responsibility,  and  responsibility  always  translates  itself 
into  cash.  I  doubt  whether  anyone  could  have  listened  to  the  Paper 
of  Mr.  Basil  Holmes  without  realising  that  a  national  duty  devolves 
upon  every  one  of  us. 


°*  A^^'^^'^    Katharine  Coleman  disused  Churchyard,  Fenchurch  Street. 
A  TYPICAL   City,  Churchyard    laid    out  by   the  Association,   greatly 

USED,  AS  are  other  SIMILAR  AREAS,  BY  CLERKS  AND  OTHERS     DURING     THEIR 
DINNER-HOUR. 


499 


(7)  CITY  IMPROVEMENT. 

By  Professor  S.  D.  Adshead,  F.R.I.B.A.,  of  the  Department  of 
Civic  Art,  School  of  Architecture,  University  of  Liverpool. 

It  is  not  often  that  an  occasion  arises  for  the  planning  of  an  entirely 
new  town,  but  opportunities  for  making  improvements  are  constantly 
happening-.  This  is  a  Congress  of  Architects  :  our  interest  is  in  the 
first  place  an  architectural  one,  and  therefore,  important  as  are  those 
sociological,  economic,  and  engineering  problems  which  are  always 
involved  where  an  alteration  in  a  city  is  projected,  I  propose  to  deal 
here  with  the  architectural  issues  alone,  and  in  particular  to  consider 
some  of  the  principles  which  should  guide  us  in  connection  with  the 
improvement  of  English  towns. 

In  an  age  of  constant  international  communication  the  barriers 
which  separate  nations  in  the  direction  of  their  arts  are  the  first  to 
be  broken  down.  At  a  time  when  England  and  Germany  are  ex- 
changing ideas  by  the  frequent  visits  of  their  societies  and  deputa- 
tions, by  international  congresses  and  exhibitions — when  cities  like 
New  York  are  built  up  in  a  decade  entirely  from  motifs  borrowed 
from  European  models  of  the  past — at  such  times  it  is  imperative 
that  we  look  abroad,  and  in  doing  so  comparisons  must  necessarily 
be  made. 

Now  when  comparing  the  modern  English  city — I  lay  stress  on 
the  word  modern — with  that  of  America,  Germany,  or  France,  it  is 
very  obvious  that  the  former  lacks  consistency  in  style,  is  defective 
in  scale,  and  illogical  in  the  use  of  its  adornments.  This  inconsistency 
in  style  is,  of  course,  more  noticeable  to  us  than  to  the  foreigner. 
The  fusion  of  individuality  in  iiationality  seen  only  by  a  foreigner 
counts  for  much  yet,  even  although  there  is  no  gainsaying  the  fact 
that  here  in  England  in  the  matter  of  style  we  are  exceptionally 
confused  in  our  point  of  view.  We  have  not  had  since  about  the  time 
of  the  Gothic  revival  any  one  influence,  either  academic  or  personal, 
sufficiently  powerful  to  control  a  national  style.  True  we  have  had 
the  influence  of  Mr.  Norman  Shaw  in  connection  with  our  domestic 
work ;  but  it  is  to  our  monumental  work  that  I  particularly  refer. 
In  America  they  have  had  the  strong  personality  of  the  late  Charles 
Follen  McKim,  and  in  France  a  national  style  has  clung  about  the 
traditions  of  the  Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts.  The  lack  of  consistency  in 
style  which  I  see  in  this  country  may  be  largely  due  to  the  Gothic 
revival — certainly  its  destructive  influence  was  never  quite  felt  in 
other  countries  as  it  has  been  here. 

I  have  an  impression  that  to  drag  the  word  "  style  "  into  a  dis- 


500  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

cussion  on  modern  architecture  is  considered  bad  form.  In  modern 
design,  originality  of  expression  counts  very  high,  and  the  word 
"  style  "  savours  of  lifeless  things.  Perhaps,  Hke  the  commemora- 
tion of  victory,  its  use  reminds  us  but  too  forcibly  of  the  buried 
hatchet  long  since  wielded  in  the  architectural  battle  between  Greek 
and  Goth.  Be  this  as  it  may,  its  absence  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  serious 
loss  to  the  complete  dictionary  of  everyday  architectural  terms. 

No  city  can  be  possessed  of  great  civic  dignity  unless  in  places  it 
conforms  to  a  symmetrical  binding  together  of  parts,  and  unless  it 
subordinates  its  units  to  the  dictates  of  a  scheme. 

If  this  be  true,  it  follows  then  that  the  city  must  show  us  at 
intervals  a  continuity  of  style — a  style  which  we  must  more  or  less 
adhere  to  when  a  big  improvement  is  under  way,  and  which  must  be 
something  more  than  the  stringing  together  of  parts  :  it  must  be  the 
outcome  of  a  scholarly  design,  design  which  is  alone  based  on  that 
which  is  pure  and  fundamental  in  the  architecture  of  the  past.  We 
shall  always  have  individual  digression.  The  work  may  be  of  brilliant 
but  specialised  brains.  This  is  no  disadvantage ;  it  is  desirable,  and 
supplies  an  added  interest  to  the  architecture  of  the  nation  as  a 
whole.  I  do  not  wish  absolute  uniformity,  but  what  I  plead  for  is 
a  consensus  of  opinion  as  regards  the  basis  of  a  national  style. 
National  style  in  architecture,  like  fashion  in  dress,  moves  in  cycles ; 
it  will  ever  do  so,  and  in  its  rotation  purity  and  originality  are  but 
too  often  followed  by  pedantry  and  confusion.  We  in  England  are, 
I  fear,  at  the  present  moment  very  nearly  at  the  bottom  of  the  wheel ; 
in  America  they  are  not  quite  so  far  down.  Perhaps  my  estimation 
of  the  cycle  of  progression  in  America  is  too  modest,  for  buildings 
like  the  Pennsylvanian  Railway  Station,  the  new  railway  station  at 
Washington,  the  Metropolitan  and  University  Clubs  in  New  York, 
the  Boston  Library,  and  the  Bank  of  Montreal  are,  perhaps,  equal  to 
many  of  the  best  works  in  Italy  and  Rome. 

These  are  mostly  the  works  of  the  firm  of  which  the  head  was  the 
late  Charles  Pollen  McKim.  By  intense  application  and  continued 
research  he  has  set  a  standard  which  others  have  followed.  He  has 
founded  a  great  school,  and,  as  a  result,  in  America,  if  nowhere  else, 
there  is  a  national  style  of  some  worth.  We  shall  achieve  but  little 
in  this  country  until  we  study  more  seriously  the  vast  field  of  know- 
ledge which  archaeology  and  science  have  spread  at  our  feet.  The 
architects  of  fifty  and  a  hundred  years  ago,  who  were  placed  under 
similar  conditions  to  ourselves,  but  less  favourably  so,  relied  not  so 
much  on  themselves  as  on  the  seriousness  of  the  study  which  they 
undertook  of  the  finest  examples  of  classic  work  which  had  been  done 
up  to  their  time.  In  the  days  of  Cockerell  and  Soane  there  was  a 
constant  reference  to  the  antiquities  of  Greece  and  Rome,  to  the  com- 
positions of  Claude,  to  the  imaginative  drawings  of  Piranesi,  and  to 
the  researches  of  Stuart  and  Revett.  All  the  architects  of  note  were 
at  this  time  intimately  acquainted  with  these  works  and  the  methods 
of  these  men.  Hence  it  is  my  opinion  that  if  we  as  a  nation  are  again 
to  do  pure  classic  architecture  and  carry  out  improvements  of  equal 
worth  with  what  was  done  then,  we  must  follow  their  lead,  renew  our 
studies,  and  so  originate  a  modern  and  national  style — a  style  which, 


City  Improvement.  501 

once  orig-inated,  will  act  as  a  powerful  matrix  in  binding-  together  the 
units  of  the  town. 

When  we  are  about  to  undertake  a  public  improvement,  or  when 
we  are  about  to  erect  an  important  public  building,  it  is  usually 
agreed  that  it  must  be  in  the  Classic  style,  but  as  to  what  constitutes 
the  difference  between  the  application  of  classic  principles  and  the 
mere  stringing  together  of  classic  details  is  a  thing  which  we  are 
too  uneducated  to  decide.  Classic  art  in  this  country  has  come  to 
mean  any  loose  use  of  classic  detail,  and  were  it  not  for  what  has 
been  done  in  America,  and  to  some  extent  in  France,  one  would  be 
inclined  to  regard  its  continuation  as  synonymous  with  the  resurrec- 
tion of  dead  bones ;  but  a  visit  to  New  York,  and  perhaps  I  may  add  a 
glance  at  the  new  Kursaal  at  Wiesbaden,  convince  me  that  classic 
art  is  as  alive  to-day  as  ever  it  was  in  the  past. 

Provided  we  keep  well  before  us  and  embody  in  our  designs  the 
essential  requirements  of  our  modern  social  system,  the  new  materials 
and  the  latest  inventions  of  science,  we  need  have  no  fear  that  we 
shall  be  counted  as  pedants,  or  that  our  work  will  be  uninteresting. 
If  we  are  to  express  these  things,  we  will  be  forced  into  some 
originality  of  composition.  The  real  facets  of  human  existence  are 
permanent ;  they  glitter  in  rotation.  ^Esthetic  expressions  as  endur- 
ance, solidity,  playfulness,  elegance,  &c. ,  are  wrapped  up  in  questions 
of  style  and  character.  It  is  the  correct  expression  of  these  things 
which  is,  after  all,  of  first  importance,  and  this  can  only  be  done  by  a 
sympathetic  use  of  traditional  forms  and  a  recognition  of  style. 

Many  of  the  worst  features  in  modern  architecture  arise  out  of  an 
exaggerated  regard  for  the  trivialities  of  modern  life,  or  owing  to  a 
too  evident  desire  to  explain  some  detail  of  construction  which  it  is 
felt  must  appear  on  the  face  of  the  work.  In  the  human  form  mental 
attitude  and  expression  comes  first,  and  after  that  indication  of  bone. 

It  matters  not  how  great  artists  we  be  :  we  may  play  with  form 
and  colour  as  we  will ;  but  if  we  ignore  the  traditions  of  the  past, 
attach  no  meaning  to  the  orders,  to  rustications,  wave  ornaments, 
frets,  dentals,  and  all  the  other  insignia  of  architectural  thought, 
then  our  buildings  will  have  merely  the  interest  of  sand  castles,  the 
art  of  the  pastrycook,  and  the  glitter  of  the  kaleidoscope. 

But  apart  from  this  question  of  style,  yet  very  closely  allied  to  it, 
comes  the  question  of  scale.  A  comparison  of  London  with  Paris  or 
with  New  York,  or  a  comparison  of  our  provincial  towns,  Liverpool, 
Birmingham,  or  Glasgow,  with  London,  shows  us  that  after  all  the 
aesthetic  value  of  a  town  approximates  very  nearly  to  its  appreciation 
of  scale.  More  than  half  the  mistakes  that  are  made  in  connection 
with  city  improvement  in  this  country  arise  out  of  a  lack  of  apprecia- 
tion of  this  important  attribute.  By  scale  I  mean  not  only  comparative 
size,  but  also  comparative  appropriateness  and  fitness.  I  mean  that  to 
make  a  town  look  big  it  must  be  framed  in  huge  but  simple  lines,  be 
filled  in  and  interpenetrated  by  interests  analytically  separable  and 
subordinate  to  one  another.  We  must  also  remember  that  each 
building  must  satisfy  the  exact  circumstances  of  its  existence ;  the 
residence  must  take  its  place  according  to  rank  and  express  itself 
correctly,    coming    somewhere    between    the    royal    palace    and    the 


502  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 

thatched  cottage.  Each  must  be  in  appropriate  scale.  But  leaving 
on  one  side  for  the  moment  considerations  arising  out  of  the  scale  of 
building  with  building,  let  us  turn  our  attention  to  what  is  perhaps 
more  to  the  point — namely,  the  question  of  the  scale  of  city  with  city. 
Let  us  think  what  this  means  and  what  it  really  involves.  London 
has  by  far  the  biggest  population  of  any  city  in  the  world,  and  yet, 
when  I  think  of  Paris  or  New  York,  modern  London  is  a  small  town  ; 
the  ambitions  of  its  inhabitants  are  comparatively  modest.  We  have 
far  too  poor  an  opinion  of  the  importance  of  this  great  place. 
London  is  an  old  city,  and  commenced  its  existence  in  a  small  way  ; 
but  unfortunately,  since  about  the  time  when  the  clubs  in  Pall  Mall 
were  erected,  its  scale  has  been  reduced  inversely  with  its  extension. 
Nothing  will  open  one's  eyes  to  the  littleness  of  London  like  a  visit 
to  New  York,  and  this  is  not  due  to  the  skyscrapers  alone,  for  in  New 
York  buildings  which  are  twice  the  size  of  similar  buildings  in  our 
streets  are  in  mass  and  outline  much  more  simply  conceived.  London 
is  the  metropolis  of  the  world,  but,  taken  as  a  whole,  in  scale  modern 
London  hardly  deserves  to  rank  with  cities  of  secondary  worth. 

A  great  city  must  be  built  on  a  great  scale ;  it  must  have  wide 
streets,  wide  sidewalks,  and  big  buildings  simply  composed ;  it 
must  concentrate  its  interest  at  points,  and  must  not  spread  it 
about  with  reckless  waste.  I  do  not  look  disparagingly  ahead  ;  on 
every  side  I  see  evidence  of  the  need  for  improvement,  and  the  advent 
of  the  Ritz  Hotel  and  Selfridge's  Store  marks  a  change.  Still,  it  is 
heartbreaking  to  think  of  the  number  of  costly  buildings  that  have 
been  erected  in  London  and  our  provincial  towns  during  quite  recent 
years  which,  though  big  in  actual  measurement,  in  scale  exhibit  a 
miserably  poor  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  their  place. 

But  in  the  scale  of  appropriateness  and  character  our  fault  in  this 
country  is  the  reverse.  The  tendency  in  modern  work  is  to  exag- 
gerate importance  and  rank.  Certainly  in  our  garden  suburbs 
the  small  residence  has  the  character  of  the  cottage  which  it  really  is, 
and  our  churches  and  chapels  are  less  like  the  miniature  cathedral 
they  used  to  be ;  but  apart  from  such  isolated  cases,  our  archi- 
tecture everywhere  evinces  an  effort  to  be  more  ambitious  than 
circumstances  justify.  The  small  Carnegie  library  has  more  features 
of  importance  than  the  British  Museum,  and  the  provincial  town-hall 
has  all  the  features  of  Greenwich  Hospital,  Whitehall,  and  Hampton 
Court  combined  in  one. 

Where  improvements  are  to  be  made  in  this  country,  and  where 
aesthetic  considerations  arise,  we  cannot  attach  too  great  importance 
to  this  question  of  scale  ;  it  should  be  appropriate  in  rank  and  com- 
mensurate with  the  importance  and  character  of  the  city  which  it 
stands  to  express.  We  do  not  want  bigger  features,  less  refinement, 
size,  and  measurement  alone,  but  what  we  want  is  simplicity  of  mass, 
a  better  relationship  of  parts,  subordination  of  interest,  higher  struc- 
tural development  with  greater  intricacy,  more  delicate  detail,  a 
more  gradual  approach  to  the  climax  of  the  mass,  scintillation  of 
interest  carefully  disposed,  stronger  contrasts  brought  about  by  more 
subtle  qualities  in  the  approach,  trees  brought  hard  up  to  stone, 
flowers  brought  hard  up  to  grass ;  but  foliage,  formal  and  informal, 


City  Improvement.  503 

many  qualities  in  the  facework  of  the  stone,  subtleties  in  the  colour 
scheme  of  the  flowers,  velvety  lawns,  pasture  lands,  and  qualities 
even  in  the  grass. 

But  after  all,  it  is  only  by  a  bigger  comprehension  and  a  better 
appreciation  of  the  subtleties  of  design  that  we  can  hope  to  get  better 
scale  in  the  architecture  and  composition  of  our  towns. 

To  bring  about  sequence  in  style  and  correctness  of  scale,  we 
must  have  combination  of  effort  and  subordination  of  interest.  This 
under  modern  conditions  is  a  most  difficult  thing  to  obtain.  We  can 
hardly  hope  to  arrive  at  it  by  legislation.  Something  might  be  done 
by  offering  a  prize  for  the  best  building  in  certain  streets,  the  design 
to  be  subject  to  restrictive  conditions  as  in  Paris,  or  as  is  now  being 
arranged  for  in  connection  with  the  best  building  annually  erected  in 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York.  This  is  an  incentive  to  subordinate  an 
isolated  building  to  a  general  effect.  Societies  like  the  Garden  Cities 
Association  and  the  Co-partnership  Tenants  can  do  much  ;  so  can 
the  big  landed  proprietors  and  those  responsible  for  the  architecture 
which  is  being  constantly  erected  on  many  of  our  estates.  Educa- 
tion and  a  general  consensus  of  opinion  amongst  those  responsible 
for  its  direction  can  do  the  rest.  We  shall  never  have  great  archi- 
tects one  and  all,  but  we  may  have  outstanding  men ;  and  if  these, 
while  unconsciously  expressing  their  individuality,  direct  their  efforts 
to  the  same  end,  the  work  of  the  minor  men  will,  though  not  out- 
standing, never  be  trivial,  irritable,  or  ruinous  to  the  whole  ;  in  most 
cases  it  will  merely  be  tame. 

I  have  dwelt  on  style  and  scale  in  the  abstract,  and  on  the  import- 
ance that  should  be  attached  to  these  things  if  improvements  to  our 
cities  are  to  withstand  the  criticism  of  the  generations  which  are  to 
come.      Lastly,     I    would    like    to    say    a    few    words    about    the 
necessity   for  the   application  of   some   system   in   disposing  of  the 
incidental  adornments  which  are  so  important  in  giving  sparkle  and 
life  to  the  whole.     There  is  no  doubt  we  are  at  present  very  uncertain 
in   our  use   and   application  of  statuary   and   sculpture  in  the  town. 
We  appear  to  have  no  definite  idea  of  the  part  which  sculpture  should 
be  made  to  play.     Our  system  in  this  country  seems  to  be  to  erect 
wherever  possible  portrait  statues  of  great  men.     So  far  as  I  know, 
this  is  quite  a  modern  idea.     I  stand  to  be  corrected,  but  feel  very 
strongly  that  the  aesthetic  value  of  a  piece  of  sculpture  is  the  only 
value  it  possesses  which  is  of  any  worth.     Its  aesthetic  value  is  pro- 
portionate to  the  power  it  can  exert  in  arousing  abstract  feeling,  and 
not  concrete  ideas  in  the  crowd.     A  statue  of  Gladstone  only  has 
value  in  so  far  as  it  is  representative  of  a  certain  heroic  type  of  man. 
I  feel  that  the  portrait  statue  as  such  is  best  consigned  to  the  gallery, 
to  be  regarded  as  a  gallery  piece,  or  should  be  treated  as  a  bust  or 
medallion  surmounting  a  pedestal  or  supported  by  a  sculptured  group 
of  symbolic  worth.     I  feel  that  the  right  sort  of  sculpture  to  be  placed 
in  the  city  and  amidst  the  crowd  is  such  as  tells  an  abstract  tale — a 
figure   of   Liberty,    Maternity,   Justice,    Peace,   War,    or   some   such 
symbolic  subject  inspiring  to  civic  and  national  pride.     Nothing  could 
be  worse  than  the  collection  of  realistic  statuary  which  is  arranged 
about  St.  George's  Hall,  Liverpool.     Such  a  type  of  art,  if  it  can  be 


504  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

so  described,  in  no  way  adorns  a  city,  and  what  interest  it  is  capable 
of  arousing-  should  be  relegated  to  the  portrait  gallery  or  the  museum. 

The  finest  type  of  sculpture  is  that  which  is  purely  allegorical, 
which  stands  simply  for  its  poetry  and  for  nothing  else.  This  is 
misplaced  midst  the  busy  throng;  it  should  be  reserved  for  the 
quiet  corner  and  for  the  park;  not  the  entrance  gateway  nor  the 
centre  of  the  main  boulevard,  but,  mildewed  and  stained,  in  the  re- 
cesses of  green  arbours,  around  the  fountains,  midst  the  flowers,  and 
where  its  intimacy  with  Nature  and  its  retirement  from  the  throb  of 
the  city  enables  it  to  exercise  a  mystic  charm ;  where  the  wanderer 
after  seclusion  and  rest  will  be  led  to  forget  for  the  moment  the  hard 
realities  of  life.  Here  may  be  placed  the  Venuses,  the  Apollos,  the 
Neptunes,  the  Hercules,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  fanciful  creations  of 
the  poets,  both  present  and  past. 

But  we  need  more  non-traffic  places  in  our  cities  ;  such  places  need 
not  all  be  in  the  parks.  Nothing  is  more  refreshing  than,  as  at  Rome, 
Paris,  or  Munich,  set  back  from  the  main  thoroughfare,  occasionally 
to  find  such  recesses  and  retreats.  Here,  in  re-planning  our  cities, 
great  improvements  could  be  made.  The  quietness  of  our  railed-in 
squares  corresponds  in  some  measure  to  what  I  have  in  my  mind. 

Each  day  we  see  in  the  technical  journals  a  suggestion  for  some 
improvement  scheme.  Fortunately  not  many  of  these  ever  come  to 
be  carried  out.  As  a  nation  we  are  fast  arriving  at  better  things,  and 
it  is  the  rapidity  of  the  progress  that  is  being  made  that  inclines  me 
to  think  that  there  is  no  harm  in  delay.  We  do  well  to  continue  pre- 
paring these  schemes.  Suggestions  for  the  improving  of  Hyde  Park 
Corner,  the  Horse  Guards  Parade,  and  other  would-be  Place-de-la- 
Concordes,  are  a  healthy  sign  of  the  times,  interesting  to  the  general 
public,  and  a  valuable  contribution  to  some  scheme  which  we  may 
justly  hope  will  be  executed  in  time  to  come. 

In  conclusion,  I  may  say  we  hear  a  great  deal  about  English 
architecture  preserving  its  English  character  and  extracting  its  in- 
spirations entirely  from  an  English  source.  My  advice  is,  do  not 
restrict  your  research  to  English  work  because  you  are  an  English- 
man. Your  character  is  expressed  not  in  the  thing  sought,  but  in  the 
seeking  and  in  its  use  when  found.  I  am  one  of  those  who  look 
upon  the  expression  of  character  as  being  an  affectation  when  not  a 
subconscious  thing.  There  would  have  been  no  Jones  without  an 
Italy,  and  London's  fifty-five  churches  and  its  cathedral  would  never 
have  existed  had  there  been  no  France.  Still,  this  does  not  mean  that 
they  have  no  individuality  of  their  own.  It  is  significant  that  at  this 
Conference  are  representatives  from  many  nations.  Facilities  for 
travel  have  made  it  inevitable  that  we  be  dependent  upon  one  another. 
We  would  be  foolish  to  close  our  eyes  to  the  successes  of  our  neigh- 
bours ;  we  would  be  as  foolish  to  shut  our  doors  upon  the  things  of 
which  we  ourselves  are  proud.  Year  by  year  the  architecture  of  the 
civilised  world  will  become  more  cosmopolitan  and  international. 
We  should  not  resist,  but  should  welcome  such  a  result. 


City  Improvement.  505 


DISCUSSION. 

Mr.  John  Belcher,  R.A.,  F.R.I.B.A.,  in  the  Chair. 

The  Chairman  :  Professor  Adshead  has  raised  so  many  points  of 
interest,  though  some,  perhaps,  are  rather  outside  "  Town  Planning," 
the  subject  we  have  come  here  to  consider,  and  I  am  afraid  that  if  we 
took  them  all  up  they  would  take  us  some  weeks  to  discuss ;  ques- 
tions like  "  style  "  and  "  scale,"  of  course,  are  most  important,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  he  has  addressed  us  on  these  to  show  how  necessary 
it  is  that  our  architecture  should  be  improved  before  we  attempt 
any  town  planning.  Xo  doubt  style  and  scale  are  necessary,  we 
must  all  recognise  that ;  and  I  hope  in  course  of  time,  after  the 
teaching  and  the  excellent  education  young  architects  now'  receive 
at  Liverpool  and  other  Universities,  there  will  be  found  men  who 
can  work  in  large  and  fine  scale.  Professor  Adshead  regards  us  in 
a  very  different  way  from  Mr.  John  Burns,  who  told  us  in  the 
Guildhall  that  he  thought  we  were  doing  exceedingly  well,  in  fact 
rather  better  than  other  people  ;  but  Professor  Adshead  considers  we 
are  very  low  down  in  the  scale  indeed.  I  should,  however,  like  to  say 
that  the  conditions  in  this  country  are  different  from  others.  We 
have  very  little  sun.  To-day  is  a  specimen  of  the  sort  of  day  that 
we  so  frequently  enjoy,  and  it  seems  to  be  getting  worse.  Atmo- 
sphere, again,  has  a  great  deal  to  do  with  building  effects  and  also 
materials.  Our  London  stock  brick  is  dull.  True,  we  have  stone 
buildings  ;  but  brick  was  the  principal  material  used  after  the  Fire 
of  London.  Our  time  for  laying  out  London  was  in  the  year  1666, 
when  the  Great  Fire  took  place.  We  had  a  chance  then,  and  we 
had  the  man — Wren.  He  gave  us  a  most  magnificent  plan,  which 
if  it  had  only  been  carried  out  would  have  placed  us  in  a  position 
to  be  admired  of  all  countries.  But  there  is  always  a  difficulty  in  this 
free  country  in  passing  great  schemes,  and  finally  Wren's  was  given 
up,  for  every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes.  But  we 
have  been  learning  during  this  Conference  about  great  schemes  for 
the  laying  out  of  new  cities  and  development  of  old  cities,  where  everv 
care  has  been  taken  to  provide  proper  surroundings  and  dignified 
approaches  to  public  buildings,  which,  as  Professor  Adshead  hinted 
at,  are  absolutely  necessary.  We  have  also,  in  some  of  those  towns 
that  Dr.  Lilienberg  has  been  showing  us,  seen  streets  laid  out  with 
picturesque  effects  and  with  delightful  vistas,  the  streets  winding 
round  and  through  the  town,  only  to  open  up  fresh  beauties  beyond. 
.Some  of  those  streets  may  have  reminded  us  a  little  of  Artemus 
Ward's  description  of  the  street  which  was  "  called  Straight,"  which 
he  said  "  was  straighter  than  a  corkscrew  but  not  so  straight  as  a 
rainbow."  But  here  in  these  cities  every  deviation  has  its  purpose 
and  meaning ;  and  I  see  no  reason  why  we  should  not  combine  the 

I,  L 


5o6  Transactions  of  the  Toiim.  Planwing  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

t^vo — and  that  is  apparently  what  has  been  learnt  in  Sweden.  There 
must  be  some  limit  to  the  straight  street.  It  should  have  a  relative 
proportion  to  its  width,  its  length,  and  the  height  of  its  buildings. 
All  these  are  points  which  must  be  considered,  and  I  see  no  reason 
why  some  beautiful  picturesque  effects  should  not  be  effected  in  our 
suburbs  and  the  outlying  parts  of  our  cities. 

Mr.  S.  BvLANDER  :  I  was  most  forcibly  struck  by  the  impression 
that  Professor  Adshead  made  in  regard  to  simplicity  and  greatness. 
I  also  speak  from  an  engineering  point  of  view,  and  I  thought  I 
should  like  to  say  how  very  much  I  appreciate  his  opinions  as  to 
simplicity  and  repetition  of  detail.  There  are  certain  points  to  be 
borne  in  mind  in  design — amongst  others,  the  kind  of  material  that 
is  going  to  be  used  for  a  building ;  and  in  considering  this  point,  I 
think  his  idea  applies  very  much. 

Mr.  D.  Bassall  :  I  would  suggest  that  in  future  suburban 
town  planning  no  plantation  should  be  destroyed  or  built  upon. 
It  cannot  be  replaced ;  and,  considering  there  is  so  much  other 
land,'!  think  there  ought  to  be  a  law  preventing  any  builder  from 
building  on  a  plantation.  For  instance,  look  at  a  district  like  Heidel- 
berg. Builders  have  taken  up  a  lot  of  plantations  there.  We  all 
know  that  a  plantation  takes  a  long  time  to  replace — hundreds  of 
years,  some  of  them. 

M.  AuGUSTiN  Rey  (Paris),  speaking  in  French,  said  that  he  wished 
particularly  to  congratulate  Professor  Adshead  for  the  Paper  w'hich 
he  had  read  with  regard  to  architectural  monuments.  In  his  opinion, 
in  regard  to  the  question  of  town  planning,  the  architect  was  really 
the  hygienist  of  a  city,  and  he  was  an  artist  who,  by  the  work  of  his 
own  hands,  would  produce  beautiful  results  for  the  admiration  of 
future  generations.  It  lay  with  the  architect  to  improve  the  conditions 
not  only  as  regards  hygienic  matters  but  also  to  introduce  the  element 
of  beauty.  He  thought  that  in  many  cases  there  had  been  spent 
sums  far  in  excess  of  wdiat  might  have  been  in  regard  to  large 
buildings  that  had  been  erected.  For  instance,  this  year  there  had 
been  completed  the  Central  Station  at  Antwerp.  That  building  had 
cost  two  million  pounds  sterling.  It  was  a  monumental  work — 
indeed,  the  railway  station  had  been  rendered  a  gigantic  palace — 
largely  to  become  a  repository  for  smoke.  If  such  a  considerable 
amount  was  to  be  expended  on  the  construction  of  a  railway  station, 
the  speaker  asked  why  the  inhabitants  of  a  town  should  not  have 
the  pleasure  of  possessing  other  fine  public  buildings  which  would 
not  be  decorated  by  smoke.  Other  instances  were  the  railway 
stations  at  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  pictures  of  which  had  been 
shown  upon  the  screen.  In  both  those  cases  enormous  sums  of 
money  had  had  to  be  expended.  In  his  opinion,  again,  the  Palais  de 
Justice  at  Brussels  was  a  monstrosity.  It  had  cost  more  than  sixty 
million  francs.  He  quite  agreed  with  the  lecturer  that  it  was  essen- 
tial in  designing  important  buildings  to  have  regard  to  the  question 
of  style  and  scale  of  the  town.  He  believed  that  simplicity  of  line 
was  one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  introducing  beauty  into  these  great 
monuments,  and  that  care  should  be  taken  in  the  materials  used  in 
order  that  the  structures  might  be   free  from   the  defects  of  those  in 


City  hnprovement.  507 

a  great  number  of  towns  at  the  present  day.  He  had  visited  the 
railway  stations  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  and  in  his  view 
one  million  pounds  only  might  have  been  well  spent  on  a  building 
that  had  cost  three  millions,  and  the  other  two  millions  might  have 
been  economised.  He  believed  that  the  architect,  who  worked  in 
inches  and  feet,  should  have  much  greater  influence  in  municipal 
councils  to-day.  If  architects  had  a  more  prominent  place  assigned 
to  them,  and  if  their  opinions  were  listened  to,  he  was  sure  that 
society  would  be  a  great  gainer  and  that  the  construction  of  towns 
would  become  more  and  more  beautiful. 

On  the   motion  of  the   Chairman  a  hearty    vote    of    thanks    was 
accorded  to  Professor  Adshead  for  his  Paper. 


L  L  2 


5o8  Transactions  of  the  7'ow);  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(8)  SOME  FACTORS  IN  TOWN   PLANNING. 
By  Sir  W.  B.  Richmond,  K.C.B.,  R.A.,  Hon.  Associate  R.I.B.A. 

The  town-planning  scheme  would  appear  to  indicate  a  general 
opening  out  for  the  employment  of  many  and  various  factors  imme- 
diately connected  with  the  arts  of  architecture,  sculpture,  and  painting. 
But  besides  these,  many  branches  of  what  are  called  the  minor  arts  will 
necessarily  in  time  come  under  consideration.  Metal-work  (chiefly 
wrought  iron),  woodcarving,  fencing,  stucco-work,  and,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  essentially  also  the  laying  out  of  formal  gardens,  arbor  culture 
as  well  as  floral.  Indeed,  the  idea  which  has  prompted  the  initiation 
of  this  important  movement  seems  to  be  fraught  with  possibilitie? 
endless  as  regards  their  practical  and  aesthetic  value. 

We  all  know  that  structure  grows,  or  should  grow,  out  of  the  plan. 
The  plan,  therefore,  is  the  dominant  note  of  each  chord  in  process  of 
development. 

Symmetry  of  plan  may  be  ad  nauseam.  Unsymmetric  arrange- 
ment employed  with  obvious  self-consciousness  may  degenerate  into 
afiFectation  and  mannerism.  Effect  is  promoted  by  balance  of  sym- 
metry and  unsymmetric  treatment. 

Many  geometrical  forms,  other  than  the  circle,  oblong,  or  square, 
may  be  used  with  advantage.  The  oval,  ellipse,  together  with  triangles 
of  various  qualities  of  proportion,  discreetly  used  and  varied  in  their 
application,  will  redeem  a  plan  from  obvious  monotony,  and  produce 
unexpected  effects  of  light  and  shade  upon  elevations.  Thus  a 
pleasant  variety  might  be  attained,  difficult  spaces  dealt  with,  and 
undue  formality  avoided. 

In  our  climate,  well-lighted  colonnades,  glass-covered  areas — not 
necessarily  narrow  or  restricted — would  be  most  acceptable  for  winter 
pleasaunce  and  summer  shade,  whenever  the  latter  may  be  essentia) 
■in  our  fitful  and  rare  summers. 

In  projected  gardens — and  I  hope  that  all  town-planning  schemes 
may  make  gardens  an  important  clement — places  should  be  arranged 
for  fountains,  also  for  bandstands. 

Not  far  off  from  the  gardens,  covered  spaces  might  be  considered 
indispensable  as  forming  retreats  in  bad  weather. 

Of  course,  places  of  public  entertainment,  gymnasiums,  schools, 
and  churches  will  have  to  be  considered. 

Care  should  be  taken,  I  think,  especially  in  London,  that  gardens 
are  provided  only  with  such  shrubs,  trees,  and  flowers  as  resist  the 
poison  of  a  smoke-laden  atmosphere.  Any  shrubs  or  trees  whose 
leaves  or  barks  are  of  a  sticky  nature  must  be  avoided  ;  they  invariably 
fail  to  flourish  in  towns  or  cities  where  there  is  much  smoke  and  the 
poison  (sulphuric  acid)  which  it  contains. 


Some  Factors  in  To'vcn  Planning.  509 

All  electric-lighting-  stations  should  be  provided  with  complete 
smoke-consuming  apparatus.  Their  shafts  should  be  carried  up  to  a 
height  which  will  allow  the  unburnt  particles  to  pass  away  readily 
under  the  influence  of  air  currents. 

With  a  view  to  render  the  air  as  pure  and  immune  from  smoke  as 
possible,  all  grates  should  consume  as  much  of  the  smoke  of  private 
fires  as  possible,  and  e\ery  encouragement  should  be  given  to  the 
manufacturers  of  smokeless  coal.  Indeed,  it  might  be  a  part  of  the 
town-planning  enterprise  to  devise,  especially  for  the  dwelling-house;^ 
of  the  poorer  classes,  central  heating-stations  from  which  necessary 
warmth  might  radiate. 

Also  the  erection  of  cooking  stations  and  cheap  restaurants  for 
the  poorer  classes,  encouragement  being  given  to  them  to  club 
together,  a  system  which  would  promote  economy,  healthy  food,  and 
good  fellowship,  so  much  needed  among  our  poorer  brethren. 

If  we  cure  the  smoke  evil,  which  might  be  cured  but  for  "  party 
questions,"  vote-catching,  and  the  clique  of  interested  so-called  em- 
ployers of  labour,  gardens  on  house-tops  might  be  possible  even  in 
our  climate.  They  are  so  in  America,  where  the  climate  is  both 
hotter  and  colder  than  with  us.  It  is  the  dirt  produced  by  London 
smoke  which  makes  these  impossible  at  present. 

In  other  conditions,  which  must  come  when  the  absolute  necessity 
for  a  change  from  dirt  to  cleanliness  is  recognised,  a  whole  row  of 
houses  of  the  poorer  classes  might  possess  a  large  area  of  flat  roof — a 
healthy  playground  for  children,  and  be  a  source  of  pleasure  to 
"grown-ups."  But  while  things  are  as  they  are,  we  are  bound  to 
insist  upon  open  spaces  within  every  area  where  new  town-planning  is 
adopted — and  these  are  almost  of  more  imperative  need  to  the  poor 
than  to  the  rich. 

I  cannot  but  think  that  the  architect — who  is,  or  will  be,  of  course, 
the  prime  director  of  all  town  planning — should  consult  the  sculptor 
and  painter.  Indeed,  I  think  that  an  omission  of  representatives  of 
the  two  professions  from  a  committee  of  advice  would  be  a  great 
mistake. 

Mural  painting  is  pretty  nearly  certain  to  come  into  more  general 
use  when  the  smoke  of  our  towns  is  abated.  Sculpture,  happily,  is 
already  inaugurated  as  in  a  measure  an  essential  whenever  a  building 
is  to  be  representative  or  illustrative  of  any  noble  purpose ;  yet  not 
nearly  enough  is  this  the  case,  partly  because  the  sculptor  is  not 
taken  into  the  confidence  of  the  architect  ab  initio.  Wherever  there 
is  to  be  sculpture,  the  sculptor  should  be  in  consultation  with  the 
architect  from  the  starting  of  any  plan.  The  same  law  should  apply 
when  coloured  decoration  is  in  view.  The  painter  should  be  in 
consultation  with  the  architect  from  the  earliest  moment  of 
plan-designing. 

There  will  be  one  difficulty  which,  I  take  it,  both  the  originators 
and  the  exploiters  of  town  planning  see  they  will  have  to  face — namely, 
the  dismissal  of  every  chance  for  the  jerry-builder  and  all  the  curses 
that  he  brings  with  him,  and  the  various  Building  Associations  which 
have  done  so  much  to  spoil  the  appearance  of  towns,  cities,  and 
villages  in  England. 


510  Transaclions  of  {he  Toivn  Phtinii)ig  Conference,  Oct.  ujio. 

None  but  accredited  architects  who  have  passed  proper  examina- 
tions which  have  fitted  them  to  be  designers  and  constructors,  or 
constructors  and  designers,  as  I  would  rather  put  it,  should,  I  think, 
be  enlisted  in  the  ranks  of  responsible  guides  for  the  town-planning 
scheme.  If  ignorance,  bad  taste — I  say  more,  irresponsible  men, 
with  no  welfare  at  their  hearts  save  their  own  pockets,  are  admitted 
to  guide  or  to  partake  in  the  labour  of  erecting  and  maintaining 
buildings  which  should  be  as  Art,  of  permanent  honour  to  the 
country,  we  shall  lapse  into  a  state  of  things  perhaps  worse  than  the 
one  from  which  we  seek  to  find  a  definite  and  final  exit. 

Care  will  also,  I  think,  have  to  be  taken  in  London  to  provide 
against  the  interference  in  matters  of  art  and  taste  of  the  Office  of 
Works.  We  have  only  to  remember  how  disastrous  the  control  of 
that  body  has  been  and  is. 

To  relieve  us  from  that  body — if  it  be  possible  to  do  so — when  the 
town-planning  committees  are  established  and  strong-going,  they 
should  be  represented  by  their  own  member  of  Parliament,  whose 
duty  it  should  be  to  instruct  "  the  House  "  and  the  Office  of  Works 
in  matters  which  touch  either  on  convenience  or  eesthetic  laws.  The 
former  may  be  superficially  understood  ;  the  latter  are  almost  as  little 
comprehended  as  they  are  cared  for. 

I  venture  to  hold  the  opinion  that  the  scheme  under  consideration 
is  a  gigantic  and  splendid  one,  and  as  such  is  full  of  pitfalls  which  will 
have  to  be  bridged  over  or  destroyed  before  the  plan  is  erected  and 
becomes  a  strong,  pow^erful,  commanding  edifice. 

If  it  gets  into  the  hands  of  cliques,  or  into  the  hands  of  companies, 
or  into  the  hands  of  exploiters  on  the  look-out  for  dividends  and  powers 
to  grind  an  axe,  it  will  become  degraded  into  even  a  worse  form  of 
commercial  greed,  because  the  chances  will  be  more  abundant  than  is 
the  case,  unhappily,  at  present. 

Its  success  depends,  in  my  opinion,  on  two  things,  the  first  being 
that  none  but  responsible  architects,  engineers,  and  builders  shall 
have  anything  to  do  with  a  final  judgment;  second,  that  upon  the 
governing  committee  the  presence  of  some  of  the  leading  sculptors 
and  painters  of  the  day  should  be  obligatory. 

If  the  plan  goes  on,  if  it  be  exempted  from  the  middleman  as  much 
as  possible,  if  the  ruling  powers  of  the  committee  elect  as  far  as 
possible  to  employ  young  men  who  have  received  diplomas  from 
various — to  be  specified — authorities,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  town- 
planning  scheme  will  give  intelligent  labour  to  a  class  of  students 
trained  by  the  State,  who,  under  the  supervision  of  older  and  more 
experienced  men,  would  be  encouraged  to  work  out  their  own  ideas. 
If  this  can  only  be  brought  about,  success,  I  think,  may  be  confidently 
looked  for. 


511 


(9)     THE  RESTRAINT  OF  ADVERTISING. 

B}   Richardson  Evans. 

It  is  the  merest  truism  to  say  that  one  of  the  main  objects  of  the 
movement  of  which  this  Conference  is  destined,  we  hope,  to  mark  a 
memorable  sta^e,  is  to  secure  in  the  cities  and  suburbs,  in  the  towns 
and  villages  of  the  future,  a  reasonable  standard  of  beauty.  I  use  the 
word — for  want  of  a  better — in  no  fantastic  sense.  The  beauty  we 
desire  to  create  is  the  beauty  attainable  in  places  where  men  dwell  in 
larg-e  societies  to  do  the  necessary  business  of  life.  You  have  heard, 
or  will  hear,  the  subject  considered  in  detail  from  the  special  stand- 
point of  the  sanitarian,  the  social  reformer,  the  advocate  of  industrial 
efficiency.  In  availing  myself  of  the  privilege  of  drawing  attention 
to  another  aspect  of  our  common  aim,  I  claim  close  kinship  with  all 
the  other  schools  of  thought  represented  here. 

Let  me  state  at  once  the  thesis  I  have  to  maintain.  It  is  that  if 
you  want  your  good  work  to  last,  you  must  provide  for  the  regula- 
tion of  all  forms  of  signs  and  notices  which  are  addressed  to  the  sight 
of  those  using  public  thoroughfares  and  public  places  in  your  cities 
beautiful,  your  garden  suburbs,  your  model  manufacturing  quarters, 
your  sagaciously  planned  lines  of  traffic  and  communication.  You 
will  observe  that  I  do  not  use  the  word  "advertisement."  I  am 
sorry  to  have  to  do  so  even  for  the  purpose  of  begging  you  to  dismiss 
it  from  your  thoughts  as  you  accompany  me  in  the  effort  to  arrive  at 
a  clear  understanding  of  the  real  issue.  What  is  in  question  is  the 
limitation  of  the  right  of  individuals  to  play  for  their  own  purposes 
and  at  their  own  discretion  upon  the  eyes  of  their  fellows.  Posters 
and  placards  may,  or  may  not,  come  within  the  bounds  of  toleration  ; 
but  they  will  take  rank  with  all  sorts  of  other  legible  symbols  which 
in  ordinary  speech  no  one  calls  "  advertisements."  The  huge  gilt 
letters  announcing  a  hotel  or  a  hospital  or  a  theatre  or,  it  may  be, 
a  town  hall,  would  fall  within  the  range  of  regulation.  So  would  all 
the  plates  in  vivid  enamel  which  municipal  authorities  are  quite  as 
proud  of  employing  as  the  soapmakers  or  motor-spirit  vendors. 

One  other  preliminary  caution  is  necessary  to  secure  a  calm  hearing 
of  my  case.  I  am  pleading  not  for  prohibition  but  for  regulation,  and 
for  regulation  on  lines  which  will  be  consistent  with  practical  utility 
and  convenience.  It  is  a  fundamental  maxim  with  those  for  whom  I 
presume  to  speak  that  grace  and  dignity  in  the  aspect  of  a  town  is  one 
of  the  chief  utilities.  But  we  do  not  say  that  it  is  the  only  utility.  Our 
doctrine  is  that  the  other  utilities  can  be  and  ought  to  be  reconciled 
with  the  utility  of  beauty — using  the  word  "  beauty  "  in  the  largest 
and  truest  sense.      The  great  painters  have  not  alwavs  found  their 


51.2   Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

finest  material  in  the  loveliness  of  Nature  or  in  the  works  which  the 
hand  of  man  has  deliberately  sought  to  make  splendid  or  pleasing. 
There  is  a  glory  in  a  sunset  over  the  hundreds  of  smoke-belching 
chimneys  of  a  vast  industrial  metropolis  as  well  as  a  charm  in  the 
sunset  over  a  lonely  stretch  of  fenland.  A  ruined  abbey  has  its 
romance,  but  so  has  the  interior  of  a  railway  station — even  on  a  Bank 
Holiday.  Love  lies  in  the  eyes  of  the  lover.  Human  life  is  full  of 
interest,  and  a  crowd  is  one  of  its  most  moving  phases. 

All  this  I  say  to  dissipate  the  common  presumption  that  anyone 
who  resents  that  wanton,  unnatural  appeal  to  the  eye  which  is  becom- 
ing every  day  a  more  pervading  feature  in  out-of-door  scenes  is  a 
person  of  fugitive  and  cloistered  tastes.  Just  the  reverse  is  true.  It 
is  because  he  finds  the  world  a  goodly  world  that  he  wants  to  save  it 
from  being  effaced  by  the  letters  of  the  alphabet. 

Hitherto  no  mention  has  been  made  of  architecture.  This  would 
be  singularly  ungracious  in  an  assembly  which  enjoys  the  hospitality 
of  this  Institute — if  the  silence  has  not  been  intended  as  homage.  It  is, 
in  fact,  on  the  architectural  side  that  I  am  laying  out  my  parallels  of 
approach  on  your  sympathy  and  assent.  If  any  class  of  public  bene- 
factors ought  to  feel  keenly  the  urgency  of  the  case  against  disfigure- 
ment it  surely  should  be  the  great  company  of  accomplished  builders 
who  have  laboured  and  are  labouring  to  make  our  cities  beautiful. 
For  have  architects  been  wanting  in  sympathy  with  the  organised 
effort  made  to  arrest  the  march  of  defacement?  I  may  not  speak 
to-day  of  the  distinguished  living  architects  whose  co-operation  is 
our  strength ;  but  I  may  be  permitted  to  recall  with  pride  and  aflection 
the  long  years  during  which  I  was  the  colleague  of  Mr.  Alfred  Water- 
house — our  first  president^ — and  to  associate  with  his,  in  grateful 
recollection,  the  name  of  our  first  member,  Sir  Arthur  Blomfield.  The 
Institute  itself  in  its  collective  capacity  has  more  than  once  taken 
spontaneous  action  in  insisting  on  the  need  of  authoritative  control. 
It  would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  artists  were  impassive  spectators  of 
the  indignities  done  to  art. 

I  hardly  like  to  wound  susceptibilities  with  an  account  of  the 
things  which,  as  a  poor  layman,  I  am  forced  to  witness  every  day. 
Fortunately  for  the  glory  and  honour  of  the  art  and  the  credit  of  the 
public  patron,  the  tradition  still  lingers  that  an  edifice  designed  to 
serve  noble  uses  should  be  constructed  on  worthy  lines.  Public 
oflfices,  town  halls,  churches  are  still — subject  to  the  infirmities  and 
caprices  of  those  who  find  the  indispensable  funds^ — monuments  of 
the  best  work  of  the  best  builders.  From  State  and  municipal  autho- 
rities the  fashion  has  passed  to  the  private  persons  who  want  new- 
business  premises.  In  my  own  day  modified  types  of  the  stxles  which 
made  mediaeval  Rome  or  \'enice  or  Nuremberg  or  Ghent  famous 
cities  have  been  installed  in  the  streets  of  the  city  of  London.  .As 
they  stand  fresh  from  the  final  touches  of  the  mason  and  the  sculptor 
nothing  could  be  finer.  But  what  happens?  The  architect  has  taken 
his  last  look  of  the  beloved  facade  when,  presto  !  the  artificer  of 
colossal  gold  letters  is  sent  for  by  the  enterprising  manager  and 
forthwith  utilises  cornice  and  frieze  and  pediments  as  convenient  pro- 
jections wherefrom  to  hang  his  own  creations.     Meanwhile  the  older 


The  Restraint  of  Advertising,  513 

houses  on  both  sides,  the  fronts  of  which  are  regarded  by  the  tenants 
as  too  commonplace  to  inspire  even  the  qualified  respect  that  is  due 
to  the  brand-new  bank,  are  utilised  as  a  sort  of  hoarding  on  which 
bills,  placards,  and  canvas  sheets  are  aflixed  at  random  to  announce 
something  or  other   connected   or   not  connected  with  the  business 
transacted  within.     I  take  this  as  a  sample  unit,  but  of  such  units  the 
whole  of  the   busy  trade   quarters  of  our  modern   English  cities   is 
being  built  up.      This  is  the  pass  to  which  unregulated  competition 
in  the  effort  to  catch  the  eye  of  passers-by  has  brought — what  shall 
I  say  ? — the  richest  and  noblest  street  in  the  richest  and  noblest  city 
of  the  richest  and  noblest  Empire  that  the  world  has  ever  seen.     If 
it  represents  the  ultimate  outcome  of  civilisation,  it  would  be  a  mani- 
fest duty  to  try  to  bring  back  the  truer  civilisation  that  unimaginative 
people  call  the    Dark  Ages.      But    civilisation  has    not    said  its  last 
word.        There    is    nothing    at    all    inevitable  or  irremediable  in  the 
malady  which  the  mere  neglect  of  rational  precaution  has  developed. 
The  object  of  this  paper  is  to  suggest  that  in  the  organisation  of  town- 
planning  enterprise   the  remedy  will   be  applied,   and  that  once    the 
better  wa}'  is  adopted  in  the  garden  cities  it  will,  by  sheer  force  of  the 
instinct  of  rivalry  and  imitation,  be  adopted  in  the  brick-and-mortar 
wilderness  of  the  earlier  age.      In  the   very  worst  of  the  old   towns 
are  elements  which  it  is  worth  an  effort  to  save.     The  slowly  moulding 
processes  of  history,  the  gentle  touch  of  time,  have  gi\en  to  the  seats 
of  ancient  habitation  a  homely  human  interest  which  the  settlements 
of  the  newer  and  better  model  will  take  years — perhaps  generations — 
to   acquire.      The  moral   I   desire  to  enforce  is  that  if  you  want  the 
sweetness  to  mellow  \  ou  must,   above  all  things,  take  steps  to  pre- 
serve it  from  the  first  from  any  risk  of  taint.      I  appeal  with  particular 
confidence  to  the  architect  members  of  this  Congress.      They  are  bv 
the  very  law  of  their  being  lovers  of  the  picturesque.     It  is  not  any 
single  design  that  pleases  them,   but  the  grace  and  propriety  of  the 
whole  prospect.      There  are  landscape  effects  in  the  town  as  well  as 
landscape  effects  in  the  country.    Architects  have  been  very  jealous  in 
the  past  for  the  preservation  of  that  town  landscape.    When  we  sought 
to  protect  the  glorious  views  which  used  to  be  seen  from  our  London 
bridges  and  river  banks  from  profanation  by  blazing  signs  on  whiskey 
towers  and  tea  towers,   it   was  in  this  Institute  that   we  found   our 
most  enthusiastic  and  effective  allies.     For  the  time  being  we  failed  ; 
but  the  ideal  at  which  we  aimed  can  still  be  attained  in  the  better 
world   which  the  Town  Planning  Act  will  bring  into  being.     The 
secret  of  success  lies  in  a  due  appreciation  of  the  forces  which  baffled 
us.     The  practice  of  appealing  to  the  eye  by  huge  and  vivid  lettering 
or  signs  is  of  comparatively  recent  growth,  but  it  has  taken  so  firm 
a  hold  that  many  people  have  come  to  regard  it  as  essential  to  the  life 
of  trade.      In  a  sense  this  is  true.      So  long  as  everyone  is  at  liberty 
to  anounce  himself,  no  single  person  can  afford  to  be  modest.     But  a 
moment's   reflection   will    show   that   everyone   suffers    in   the    hurly- 
burly.     The  more  the  sight  of  the  community  is  assailed  the  less  can 
the  sight  perceive  with  discrimination.     Senses  that  are  habitually  sub- 
ject to  the  coarsest  stimulus  must  lose  the  power  of  delicate  appre- 
ciation.    So  the  process  has  become  one  of  the  frantic  multiplication 


514  Tnuisaclions  of  the  Tuivii  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

of  eyesores — each  competitor  struggling  wildly  to  outblaze  and 
obscure  the  performances  of  his  fellows.  I  put  it  to  anyone  who  has 
ever  tried  to  find  the  particular  shop  he  wanted  in  a  typical  London 
street,  whether  the  higgledy-piggledy  of  placards  and  huge  letters 
and  blazing  signs  helps  or  hinders  him.  If  the  object  of  business  be 
to  serve  the  needs  of  the  community  the  most  effective  and  economical 
way,  the  existing  anarchy  is  dead  against  the  interests  of  trade. 
Unfortunately,  the  evil  is  entrenched  in  custom,  and  custom  yields 
but  slowly  to  common-sense.  We  must  turn  to  the  fresh  field  which 
the  town-planning  movement  is  opening  up.  The  associations  which 
provide  capital  for  garden  cities  and  suburbs  are  masters  of  their  own 
fate  and  of  the  fortune  of  future  generations.  Their  principle  is  to 
make  the  surroundings  of  the  homes  they  offer  restful  and  pleasing. 
They  have  called  in  the  services  not  only  of  the  architect  but  of  the 
landscape  gardener.  Their  motto  is  not  so  much  Riis  in  urbe  as 
Urbs  in  nire.  Already  their  influence  has  extended  far  beyond  the 
areas  under  their  control.  The  speculative  builder  is  beginning  to 
copy  their  dainty  designs,  and  boldly  commends  his  new  block  on 
the  ground  that  it  is  "  planned  on  garden  city  lines."  This  is  as  it 
should  be,  and  as  the  founders  of  the  movement  hoped.  Every  high 
ideal,  if  it  is  to  be  fruitful,  must  work  by  affecting  the  conduct  and 
practice  of  ordinary  human  beings,  whose  rule  is  to  think  what  other 
people  think  and  do  what  they  see  other  people  doing.  My  firm  faith 
is  that  town-planning  schemes,  wisely  directed,  will,  in  the  specific 
matter  with  which  I  am  dealing,  set  up  a  standard  to  which  the  older 
towns  and  districts  will,  by  stress  of  circumstances,  be  led  to  conform. 

In  our  first  approaches  to  the  governing  bodies  of  the  new  asso- 
ciations we  were  met  by  the  lulling  assurance  that  it  was  quite  incon- 
ceivable that  the  forms  of  defacement  we  were  anxious  to  exclude 
could  ever  find  a  lodgment  in  the  contemplated  paradise.  The  very 
spirit  of  the  place — we  are  told — would  for  ever  forbid  that  any 
resident  or  any  trade  would  dream  of  placing  a  blot  upon  the  fair 
prospect.  Now  I  am  a  believer  in  the  saving  virtue  of  moral  force 
and  in  the  energy  of  sentiment.  But  those  who  dream  the  dream 
I  have  summarised  have  missed  the  plain  lesson  of  everyday  experi- 
ence.    A  single  case  may  serve  to  illustrate  my  meaning. 

Nothing,  I  suppose,  could  be  more  delightful  than  the  unspoilt 
old-fashioned  English  village.  There  is  the  dear  old  Gothic  church, 
with  its  trim,  quiet  graveyard;  cottages  that  have  been  homes  for 
centuries,  houses  that  have  the  charm  of  simplicity,  of  suitability, 
alike  in  design  and  material.  The  little  gardens,  the  ancient  trees 
make  the  place  a  delight.  Everyone,  it  would  seem,  should  be  in 
league  to  keep  the  spot  the  paradise  which  the  loving  hand  of  time 
has  made  it.  Unfortunately,  that  fatal  gift  of  loveliness  attracts 
visitors.  One  of  the  agents  who  are  perpetually  on  the  look-out  for 
opportunities  of  "  placing  "  the  wretched  plates  which  push  his 
employer's  wares  finds  that  a  cottage  gable  offers  a  fine  position.  He 
gives  a  few  shillings  to  the  poor  old  woman  who  owns  the  abode. 
Up  goes  the  eyesore  and  away  goes  the  pleasure  which  thousands  of 
people  who  ha^■e  seeing  eyes  used  to  derive  from  the  contemplation  of 
the  perfect  whole.     The  parson  and  the  squire,  who  regret  the  change. 


The  Restraint  of  Advertising. 


:)'D 


shrink  from  the  unkindness  of  depriving^  the  estimable  old  woman  of 
the  pittance  which  the  defacers  allow.  Other  agents  find  other  old 
women  ready  to  accept  the  reward  of  assisting  in  disfigurement,  and 
in  a  year  or  so  "  Sweet  Auburn  "  becomes  as  vulgarised  as  any  city 
of  the  plain.  Xow  the  case  of  this  imaginary  hamlet  is  typical  of  the 
process  that  is  proceeding  everywhere — with  the  result  that  we  all 
know  and  deplore.  It  is  as  certain  as  anything  can  be  that  garden 
cities  will  meet  the  common  fate  unless  there  be  imposed  an  imperative 
veto  on  the  power  of  any  individual  to  harbour  the  pest. 

Some  of  those  whom  I  am  addressing  will,  perhaps,  inquire 
whether  the  Advertisement  Regulation  Act  of  1907  does  not  provide 
adequate  machinery  of  defence.  I  must  say  with  sorrow  that  it  does 
not.  We  believe  that  the  practically  unanimous  assent  of  both 
branches  of  our  Legislature  to  the  passing  of  that  measure  was  an 
event  of  historic  importance,  for  it  asserted  for  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  British  jurisprudence  the  principle  that  the  beauty  of  the 
out-of-door  world  is  a  natural  asset  which  national  authority  is  bound 
to  recognise  and  safeguard.  But  as  yet  the  new  law  only  permits 
prohibition  in  tracts  or  spots  of  exceptional  beauty.  It  is,  no  doubt, 
a  great  advance  that  the  Lake  District  in  the  three  counties  of  West- 
morland, Cumberland,  and  Lancashire  is  absolutely  secure  from  any 
fresh  display,  and  that  in  other  counties  areas  of  less  extent  are  safe. 
But  I  am  afraid  the  Home  Office  would  hardly  sanction  bye-laws  for 
the  infinite  number  of  streets  and  villages  which  would  be  glad  to 
have  them. 

The  vital  point,  here  and  to-day,  is  that  the  admmistrators  of 
town-planning  societies  or  companies  have  the  power  which  less  for- 
tunate authorities  have  sought — in  vain  as  yet — to  obtain.  They 
have  only  to  make  it  part  of  their  constitution,  to  insert  in  all  agree- 
ments with  those  who  purchase  or  lease  from  them  sites  or  premises, 
a  stipulation  to  the  effect  that  no  notice  visible  from  any  part  of  the 
public  area  shall  be  atTixed  or  erected  unless  it  conforms  to  con- 
ditions carefully  prescribed  in  the  deed. 

Xow  that  I  have  reached  the  practical  point  of  my  discourse  I  am 
conscious  that  I  have  also  reached  the  limits  of  your  patience.  But 
you  will  bear  with  me  if  I  seek  to  emphasise,  as  essentials  to  success, 
two  points. 

The  veto  on  unauthorised  notices  must  form  part  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  trust  or  body  which  exercises  control. 

Nor  will  it  do  to  provide  that  "  no  notices  shall  be  displayed 
without  the  consent  of  the  governing  body." 

I  have  the  highest  possible  respect  for  all  who  are  working  towards 
the  ideal.  But  to  justify  my  confidence  in  their  virtue  I  must  put 
them  beyond  the  reach  of  temptation.  Those  of  them  who  have  to 
look  at  questions  as  they  arise  from  the  standpoint  of  finance  will  be 
subject  to  the  same  infirmities  as  other  business  men  who  are  inspired 
by  less  exalted  motives.  They  will  feel  themselves  under  a  constant 
obligation  to  present  a  favourable  balance-sheet.  Capital  is  the  prime 
requisite — the  prospect  of  a  dividend,  though  wisely  restricted,  is  a 
condition  of  getting  the  capital.  Everyone  knows  what  the  anxieties 
are  in  the  first  stages  of  any  great  development  scheme.     Owners  of 


5i6  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

large  estates  have  often,  just  for  the  sake  of  promoting:  the  sale  of 
sites  when  the  demand  appears  to  flag,  allowed  houses  to  be  con- 
structed of  so  poor  a  type  that  they  affect  injuriously  the  permanent 
character  of  the  estate.  A  situation  of  this  kind  may  arise  in  the 
development  of  some  garden  cities.  There  may  be  delay  in  finding 
purchasers  and  a  corresponding  difficulty  in  making  ends  meet. 
While  the  managers  are  in  this  anxious  mood  some  manufacturer 
who  takes  a  deep  interest  in  all  the  other  aspects  of  town-planning 
enterprise,  but  has  not  what  he  would  call  "  strait-laced  notions  "  as 
to  placarding  and  sky-signs  and  huge  letters  on  the  roofs  and  walls, 
may  say  some  day  :  "  If  you  give  me  reasonable  facilities  for  an- 
nouncing myself,  I  will  relieve  you  of  such  and  such  a  set  of  blocks." 
Now  by  "  reasonable  facilities  "  the  manufacturer  I  am  thinking  of 
will  be  found  to  mean  the  facilities  he  uses  in  ordinary  towns  or 
suburbs ;  and  so,  to  remove  tlie  temporary  financial  pressure,  the 
managers  may  reluctantly  consent  to  sacriiice  the  sound  ideal.  I 
maintain  that  their  assent  would  be  bad  business  policy.  For  in  the 
competition  of  the  future  anything  that  destroys  public  faith  in  the 
competence  of  garden  city  administrators  to  make  good  the  implied 
guarantee  that  the  beauty  and  the  freshness  will  not  be  a  mere  lure 
must  lessen  the  inducements  that  now  attract  residents.  Unfaith  in 
one  particular  is  loss  of  faith  in  all,  and  when  the  garden  city  plan 
ceases  to  be  a  pledge  of  peace  it  will  have  lost  its  advantage  in  the 
struggle  for  custom. 

Further,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  careful  people,  contemplating 
the  purchase  of  a  plot  or  the  taking  of  a  house,  would  hardly  care  to 
submit  themselves  to  the  discretion  of  the  directors  as  a  tribunal 
of  taste. 

All  the  security  which  I  desire  to  see  established  could  be  obtained 
by  a  simple  rule  that  everybody  would  understand  beforehand,  and 
that  could  be  enforced  by  the  impartial  adjudication  of  the  measur- 
ing-tape. Time  does  not  allow  me  to  go  into  technical  illustrations  of 
the  practical  working  of  the  covenants  I  suggest.  But  the  principles 
can  be  briefly  indicated  : — 

I.  As  regards  signs  on  buildings. 

(a)  No  letter  to  exceed  a  prescribed  size. 

(b)  The  sign  not  to  be  above  a  prescribed  height   above  the 

ground  level. 
{c)  The  space  occupied  by  the  sign  to  have  a  defined  ratio  to 
the  whole  superficies  of  the  exterior. 

(d)  The  sign  to  be  on  the  surface  of  the  wall  and  be  part  of  its 

substance.  Where,  as  an  exception,  hanging  signs  are 
approved,  there  would  be,  of  course,  conditions  for 
structural  security. 

(e)  In  certain  cases  it  might  be  provided  that  the  sign  should 

be  only  in  a  prescribed  position. 
The  scale  would  vary,  of  course,  from  prohibition  to  latitude,  in 
accordance  with  the  character  of  the  area  from  which  the  sign  would 
be  visible,  whether  manufacturing,  commercial,  residential,  or  public 
pleasure  ground. 

II.  As  regards  poster   display   and  bills    containing    oflficial    an- 


The  Restraint  of  Advertising.  517 

nouncements  or  relating  to  matters  of  public  interest,  the  directors 
themselves  ought,  I  think,  to  provide  reasonable  facilities — retaining 
ownership  in  the  sites  and  structures,  and  letting  spaces  at  fixed 
rates.  Where  the  hoarding  form  would  be  suitable  it  should  have  a 
neat  architectural  character  and  the  bills  should  be  disposed  strictly 
within  the  frame.  The  directors  should  retain  power  to  veto  the 
display  of  any  poster  that  in  design,  or  colouring,  or  scale  would  be 
unworthv,  or  oflenslve,  or  demoralising.  I  confess  I  do  not  myself 
love  posters,  but  a  well-ordered  display  of  really  good  bills,  pictured 
or  printed,  might  please  many.  It  has  often  occurred  to  me  that  on 
roadsides  shelters  might  be  provided,  the  interiors  of  which — or  even 
the  exteriors — could  be  decorated  with  this  form  of  artistic  work. 
There  would  be  a  keen  competition  then  amongst  the  bill-posters  for 
the  privilege  of  pleasing  rather  than  of  attacking  the  eye. 

As  regards  street  plates,  direction  posts,  and  similar  permanent 
official  notices,  the  managers  of  a  garden  city  would  have  a  free 
hand  and  a  most  remunerative  opportunity  of  showing  how  excel- 
lently things  may  be  done  within  their  limits  which,  as  a  rule,  are 
indifferently  contrived  elsewhere. 

I  venture  to  claim  that  under  the  system  I  have  sketched  there 
would  be  reasonable  liberty  for  those  who  want  to  announce  them- 
selves or  their  concerns,  while  they  would  gain  by  the  existence  of 
restrictions  on  the  license  of  others.  The  community  at  large  would 
be  free  from  the  haunting  fear  that  the  beauty  they  valued  was  in 
daily  jeopardy  ;  architects  would  be  encouraged  to  do  their  finest 
work  by  the  certainty  that  it  would  not  be  degraded  by  after-treat- 
ment or  by  an  incongruous  environment,  while  the  creation  of  garden 
cities  would  be  rendered  an  assured  commercial  success  in  virtue  of 
the  fact  that  the  policy  of  authoritative  control  would  guarantee  the 
preservation  in  unimpaired  and  ever-increasing  beauty  of  features 
which  no  town  of  haphazard  growth  can  offer. 


DISCUSSION. 

Mr.  Edwix  T.  Hall.  F.R.I.B.A.,  in  the  Chair. 

Mr.  Andrew  T.  Taylor  :  I  have  the  honour  to  be  one  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  County  Council  at  this  Conference.  May  I  begin 
by  saying  how  sympathetic  we  are  with  this  Conference,  and  that  I 
am  glad  to  be  in  a  position  to  be  here,  and  hope  that  the  result  of 
the  Conference  may  lead  to  the  beautifying  of  our  towns  and  country? 
May  I  also  say  that  it  has  a  special  interest  for  me,  as  I  have 
the  honour  to  be  Chairman  of  the  Building  Acts  Committee,  and  it 
is  to  that  Committee  that  this  special  subject,  the  restraint  of  adver- 
tising and  signs,  is  relegated.  It  has  always  been  a  very  vexed 
question  with  us  that,  although  we  have  powers  from  Parliament  to 
prevent  sky-signs,  our  powers  with  regard  to  other  signs  are  not 
as  definite  and  effective  as  they  should  be.  We  are  just  now  asking 
for  additional  Parliamentary  powers  to  enable  us  to  restrain  the 
effervescent  and  verbose  advertising  which  some  private  owners 
show  ;  and  I  trust  that  our  efforts  may  be  successful,  and  that  we 


5i8  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

shall  be  able  to  regulate  those  signs.  Some  owners  seem  to  think 
that  the  facade  of  a  building  is  merely  a  background  for  advertise- 
ment. I  think  a  distinction  ought  to  be  drawn  between  advertise- 
ments which  have  to  do  with  the  particular  occupation  carried  on 
in  a  building  and  advertisements  which  are  quite  foreign  to  the  build- 
ing. I  may  say  we  have  also  set  our  faces,  at  least  recently,  against 
intermittent  illuminated  signs  at  night.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  some 
years  ago  they  were  allowed  ;  and  you  all  know  some  of  the  glaring 
anomalies  at  Charing  Cross  and  other  places,  which  unfortunately 
were  permitted  at  that  time  and  which  we  cannot  stop.  I  must  say 
I  have  a  great  sympathy  with  some  of  the  old-fashioned  ways  of 
advertising,  such  as  the  projecting  ornamental  sign.  I  think  that 
is  a  form  of  advertising  which  we  should  always  be  glad  to  have. 
I  am  sure  the  old  inns  in  the  country,  with  their  painted  signs,  are 
very  interesting  things,  especially  when  they  are  done  by  Hogarth 
and  other  temporarily  embarrassed  artists  who  used  to  paint  them 
to  settle  their  score.  There  is  one  sign  in  Holborn,  over  a  tailor's 
shop,  which  some  of  you  may  know,  which  I  think  is  a  very  charming 
idea ;  I  always  look  at  it  with  pleasure.  It  is  a  delightful  figure  of  a 
tailor  cutting  out  garments — a  copy  of  Moroni's  tailor  in  the  National 
Gallery.  I  should  like  to  see  more  of  that  kind  of  thing  in  our 
London  streets.  Of  course,  there  is  a  limit  to  the  projection.  I  think 
about  4  feet  6  inches  should  be  the  extreme  limit.  I  am  personally 
glad  that  Mr.  Evans  has  broug'nt  forward  to-day  his  valuable  Paper, 
and  I  trust  that  those  present  will  disseminate  the  views  he  has 
brought  before  us,  with  the  result  that  we  may  get  legislation  to 
prevent  the  abuse  of  advertising. 

Mr.  W.  D.  Caroe,  M.A.,  F.S.A.  :  Personally  I  feel  that  this  is 
one  of  the  most  important  Papers  that  has  been  read  at  this  Con- 
ference, and  I  hope  it  will  be  sufficiently  broadly  published  as  to  com- 
mand the  attention  it  deserves.  I  hold  in  my  hand  some  leaflets  which 
have  just  been  published  by  the  vSociety  for  Checking  the  Abuses  of 
Public  Advrtising,  and  I  venture  to  say  that  these  small  leaflets  put 
the  matter  in  a  nutshell.  They  explain  most  fully  the  incidence  and  the 
extent  of  the  Act  of  1907,  of  which  probably  a  great  many  people  do 
not  know  the  existence,  and  they  show  the  limitations  of  that  Act. 
They  show  also  in  very  brief  words  how  that  Act  can  be  helped  by 
individuals  who  are  interested  in  the  preservation  of  the  country  from 
these  eyesores  by  themselves  pressing  forward  the  adoption  of  bye- 
laws.  Since  that  Act  was  passed  only  five,  or,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
four  and  a  half  counties  have  made  bye-laws,  and  it  is  somewhat  to 
the  discredit  of  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  which  happens  to  be 
unusually  well  placed  so  far  as  the  beauties  of  Nature  are  concerned, 
that  not  one  of  those  counties  is  immediately  round  London.  In  fact, 
the  Lake  District,  which  happens  to  be  an  especially  favoured  spot  in 
the  country,  absorbs  three  counties,  and  outside  those  there  is  Somer- 
set and  a  part  of  Suftolk.  Now  we  arc,  I  think,  doing  admirable  work 
in  forwarding  town  planning.  It  is  a  matter  of  \  ast  interest,  especially 
in  this  country,  where  the  population  is  increasing  rapidly  ;  but  when 
one  sees  fine  efforts  of  town  planning  almost  nullified  bv  the  vulgarity 
which  is  allowed  to  exist  round  them,  one  redly  docs  feel  that  some- 


The  Restraint  of  Advertising.  519 

thing  definite  ought  to  be  done.  I  Hstened  with  very  great  satisfaction 
to  what  the  President  of  the  Local  Government  Board  said  at  the 
Guildhall  on  this  subject  the  other  day.  I  think  none  of  the  things  he 
said  were  more  interesting  than  the  strong  line  which  he  took  with  re- 
gard to  this  matter,  and  I  am  very  glad  that  the  representative  of  the 
County  Council  is  here  to-day.  Incidentally,  I  may  say,  I  am  very  glad 
to  hear  from  him  that  the  old  trade-sign  is  not  going  to  be  done  away 
with.  One  of  the  finest  opportunities  of  town  planning  in  any  place 
in  the  country  is  at  Cardiff,  and  yet  the  first  thing  you  find  on  arrival 
is  that  you  are  absolutely  surrounded  by  hoardings  40  or  50  feet 
high.  Then  you  come  across  a  river,  which  might  be  one  of  the  most 
charming  features  of  the  whole  place,  and  yet  it  is  flanked  on  both 
sides  by  hoardings  and  posters  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  yards  long. 
You  go  to  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  you  have  to  run  the  gauntlet 
through  hoardings  on  both  sides  of  you  which  almost  destroy  the 
feeling  of  pleasure  in  visiting  those  charming  cities.  Therefore,  again 
I  sav  I  am  exceedingly  grateful  that  this  subject  has  been  brought 
forward  at  this  Conference,  and  I  venture  the  view  that  it  shows  how 
thoroughly  the  question  of  town  planning  has  been  treated  by  the 
managers  of  the  Conference  in  all  its  aspects.  I  must  not  sit  down 
without  proposing  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Richardson  Evans. 
He  is  the  protagonist  of  the  movement  to  try  to  free  us  from 
these  and  other  destructive  vulgarities.  I  venture  finally  to  make 
one  small  suggestion  to  the  representative  of  the  County  Council. 
Why  should  not  a  rule  go  forth,  either  by  .Act  of  Parliament  or 
otherwise,  that  no  poster  is  to  be  larger  than  a  certain  size?  If  all 
posters  were  confined  to,  say,  6  feet  by  3  feet,  the  total  result  of  the 
posters  would  be  very  much  smaller,  and  those  people  who  wanted 
to  see  them  would  have  to  go  closer  to  them  ;  but  it  would  be  a  vast 
benefit,  and  so  much  cheaper  to  the  people  who  produce  them,  and  to 
the  public,  which,  of  course,  pays  for  them.  That  is  a  matter  which 
you  must  consider  :  the  public  pays  for  these  things,  and  the  public 
ought  to  control  them. 

Mr.  W'atkixs  :  We  have  had  a  splendid  Paper  read  to  us,  and 
I  hope  the  suggestions  brought  forward  will  apply  to  all  the 
railway  stations,  because  a  great  many  travellers  on  the  rail- 
ways who  are  strangers  cannot  always  find  out  at  what  place  they 
have  arrived  when  the  train  stops.  As  regards  advertising  in  other 
directions,  in  later  years  the  hoardings  in  front  of  buildings  which 
are  being  constructed  from  the  designs  of  various  architects  are 
sometimes  very  ornamental,  and  I  consider  suitable  for  advertising. 
There  has  been  in  fact  a  great  advance  made  in  later  years  upon  what 
I  call  temporary  advertising.  But  with  regard  to  what  I  call  per- 
manent advertising,  which  is  more  particularly  referred  to  in  the 
Paper,  why  do  not  the  architects  themselves  design  advertisements 
so  as  to  harmonise  with  and  form  part  of  their  own  elevations?  I 
think  that  is  what  they  ought  to  do,  and  to  a  large  extent  it  rests 
with  the  architects  to  carry  out  the  idea,  because  you  all  know  as  well 
as  I  do  that  if  an  architect  has  a  client  for  whom  he  is  designing  a 
building  for  business  purposes,  immediately  his  back  is  turned  (in 
other  words,  when  the  building  is  completed),  and  perhaps  before  his 


520  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 

commission  is  paid,  the  client  fixes  signs  and  letters  indiscriminately, 
and  sometimes  they  are  very  ugly.  I  think  myself  that  if  architects 
would  seriously  take  this  matter  in  hand  we  should  have  more  artistic 
elevations  than  we  have  now. 

Mr.  Frederick  W.  Platt  (Salford)  :  I  should  like  to  address  my 
remarks  to  the  particular  phase  of  advertising  which  takes  place  on 
hoardings,  and  to  say  a  few  words  as  to  how  local  authorities  should 
control  advertising.  The  Public  Health  Amendment  Act,  1907,  pro- 
vides that  local  authorities  may,  in  certain  circumstances,  control 
advertising  hoardings,  and  that  no  advertising  hoardings  can  be 
erected  unless  the  consent  of  the  local  authority  is  obtained.  Under 
a  local  Act  containing  similar  powers  we  refused  to  give  consent  to 
the  erection  of  hoardings  in  a  residential  district.  We  did  not  give 
our  reasons  for  refusing  the  consent  until  the  applicant  took  us  before 
the  magistrates.  When  we  went  before  the  magistrates  evidence 
was  given,  together  with  plans,  photographs,  and  elevations,  of  the 
hoardings  in  the  district  and  a  description  of  the  district ;  and  we 
gave  further  evidence  that  the  committee  had  considered  these  points 
and  bona  fide  thought  that  such  a  hoarding  was  not  desirable  for  the 
district.     The  court  upheld  us.     That,  perhaps,  might  be  useful. 

There  is  another  point  which  perhaps  ought  to  be  taken  into 
consideration.  Nearly  every  local  authority  when  it  has  to  deal  with 
a  Railway  Bill  finds  that  at  some  portion  of  the  new  line  the  railway 
is  going  to  be  a  disfigurement  to  their  district ;  and  very  often  the 
local  authorities  say  :  "  If  you  are  going  to  build  a  row  of  arches  or 
erect  a  wall  here  they  must  have  some  pretence  to  architectural 
effect."  The  railway  companies  have  agreed  to  do  this  in  many 
instances.  But  what  happens,  unless  a  clause  is  put  into  the  Railway 
Bill  that  no  advertising  is  to  take  place  upon  that  row  of  arches  or 
wall,  is  that  they  are  scarcely  built  before  advertising  plates  arc 
fixed  all  over  them.  I  could  quote  you  many  instances  of  that  kind  ; 
and  I  trust  that  the  representatives  of  the  local  authorities  will 
bear  this  one  in  mind  when  dealing  with  a  Railway  Bill.  There 
is  this  further  example,  in  which  local  authorities  perhaps  are 
greater  sinners  than  private  owners.  In  nine  out  of  ten  instances 
they  allow  land  obtained  for  public  improvements  to  be  used  for 
advertising  purposes — temporarily,  it  is  true  ;  but  still,  if  you  have  an 
Act  of  Parliament  which  says  you  may  or  may  not  give  consent  to 
advertising  hoardings,  and  you  allow  your  own  land  to  be  so  used 
and  give  a  facility  which  you  refuse  to  somebody  else,  you  are  liable 
to  be  criticised  for  being  inconsistent. 

I  am  very  glad  to  hear  that  in  the  Lake  District  the  Advertising 
Act  is  in  operation.  I  remember  standing  at  Ambleside  some  years 
ago  and  looking  at  a  house  which  bridges  the  river  Rothay.  Those 
who  remember  the  spot  will  know  that  there  is  a  tree  which  hangs 
right  over  the  river  just  after  you  pass  the  fall.  If  you  look  closely 
at  that  tree  you  will  find  alongside  it  a  hideous  motor-sign.  Again, 
I  stood  on  Tintagel  Head  one  day,  looking  at  the  setting  sun,  and 
thinking  of  the  wonderful  words  of  Kingslev  describing  the  glory  of 
the  western  sky,  and  just  as  I  turned  around  after  seeing  the  view 
of  Tintagel  Castle,  there  behind  me  was  an  advertisement  of  a  news- 


The  Restraint  of  Advertising.  521 

paper.  This  is  one  of  the  things  which  makes  hfe  not  quite  so 
beautiful. 

Even  in  York,  that  beautiful  city  of  vistas,  on  Sunday  last  I  saw, 
not  very  far  from  the  Minster — on  a  church  of  all  places — a  horrid 
poster,  which  you  could  not  miss  seeing  when  you  came  to  look 
at  the  west  front  of  the  Minster.  So  I  think,  Mr.  Chairman,  that 
some  effort  ought  to  be  made,  and  some  strong  voice  ought  to  go 
forward  from  some  responsible  authority  as  to  the  extension  of  the 
control  of  advertisements,  not  only  in  respect  of  permanent  hoardings 
in  places  of  natural  beauty,  but  especially  in  those  towns  where  the 
old-world  feeling  has  been  kept  very  much  to  the  front,  and  where 
the  town  has  endeavoured  to  preserve  those  amenities  which  make 
life  so  pleasant  in  those  old-world  towns. 

Mr.  G.  Ernest  Xield  :  Only  yesterday  somebody  was  good 
enough  to  call  attention  to  the  benefit  the  leaseholders  enjoyed.  It 
seems  to  me  that  this  is  a  case  where  the  leasehold  holdings  were  an 
advantage.  In  some  of  the  old  leases  the  tenants  were  not  allowed 
to  annoy  their  neighbours  by  putting  up  advertisements.  This 
covenant,  administered  by  the  trustees  of  a  very  large  estate,  was  a 
very  powerful  weapon  for  prevention  of  this  abuse.  I  will  not  enlarge 
on  the  immense  benefit  it  was  to  good  tenants.  Now  that  freehold 
property  owners  are  becoming  more  numerous  they  are  going  to 
Parliament  to  get  the  Government  to  do  those  things  which  used  to 
be  done,  and  done  effectively,  by  the  landlord. 

Mr.  Trier  :  .Although  I  greatly  sympathise  with  the  objects  of 
the  Paper  and  with  the  proposals  to  prevent  the  abuse  of  signs,  may 
I  say  that  I  think  the  public  has  the  matter  largely  in  its  own  hands? 
I  have  for  years  and  years  never  bought  any  article  that  is  advertised 
in  a  way  which  spoils  the  view  of  a  beautiful  place. 

Mr.  M.  J.  Wells  :  I  come  from  a  place  close  to  Tintagel  Castle, 
and  I  know  the  spot  referred  to.  The  scheme  which  has  been,  sug- 
gested is  a  fine  one,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  it  interferes  with  the 
libertv  of  the  subject.  If  a  man  owns  his  own  house,  surely  he  should 
be  allowed  to  do  what  he  likes  with  it.  It  is  very  diflicult  to  make  an 
Act  of  Parliament  retrospecti\e  ;  so  that  if  a  house  is  already  covered 
with  signs  and  posters  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  make  that  man  take 
them  down.  Who  is  going  to  be  the  authority  to  say  what  is  an 
incongruous  thing?  Perhaps  it  is  rather  bold  to  say  that  every 
architect  is  not  an  artist,  but  I  have  seen  some  buildings  which  are 
very  incongruous.  I  have  seen  a  building  with  slates  of  two  colours, 
which  is  very  ugly,  and  with  the  colour  scheme  of  the  lower  part  of  the 
building  entirely  out  of  harmony,  with  no  nice  eaves  and  no  dormer 
windows.  I  know  some  of  Mr.  Caroe's  work,  and  there  you  have 
a  man  who,  if  he  would  sit  on  a  board,  would  exert  a  most  beneficial 
influence  ;  but  I  think  the  difficulty  would  be  that  you  would  find  the 
people  would  not  tolerate  too  much  interference.  Another  question 
is,  ^^'ho  would  control  public  taste?  The  advertising  specialist  is 
doing  much  in  the  way  of  educating  public  taste. 

The  Chairman  :  I  should  like  to  thank  Mr.  Evans  for  so  valuable 
a  contribution  to  this  Conference,  and  I  am  very  pleased  that  there 
has  been  such  an  interesting  discussion  upon  it.      I  am   certain   the 

M  M 


522   Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects  as  a  body  will  be  keenly  in 
sympathy  with  the  views  Mr.  Evans  has  expressed.  The}  have 
always  taken  that  view,  and  personally  it  seems  to  me  little  short  of 
a  scandal  that  if  a  nice  building  is  erected  it  should  be  immediately 
covered  by  horrible  letters,  which  destroy  any  architectural  merit 
the  building-  mav  have.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  owner  is  ashamed 
of  his  building  and  wishes  to  hide  its  architecture,  but  that  seems 
to  be  the  onlv  reason  for  much  of  the  advertising  that  is  done.  If 
people  will  get  out  of  the  habit  of  putting  big  advertisements  on 
their  houses  we  shall  get  on  just  as  well.  We  sympathise  with  Mr. 
Trier,  who  told  us  that  he  never  buys  anything  which  he  sees  adver- 
tised to  the  discredit  of  the  neighbourhood.  With  regard  to  garden 
cities  having  these  rules,  there  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not. 
On  a  South  London  estate  which  Mr.  Trier  knows  quite  well  no 
advertising  is  permitted  at  all.  The  only  blots  on  the  estate,  which 
is  two  square  miles  in  extent,  are  the  railway  stations,  which 
are  covered  by  advertisements.  It  was  a  pure  oversight  that  these 
were  not  prevented  by  Act  of  Parliament.  What  is  done  in  one 
suburb  can  be  done  in  all  the  suburbs  of  London,  and  I  sincerely 
hope  it  will  be,  and  that  the  regulations  will  be  rigorously  enforced. 
With  regard  to  temporary  hoardings,  I  think  there  is  less  objec- 
tion to  advertising  there.  One  great  amelioration  of  the  evil  we 
suffer  from  in  that  regard  would  be  to  have  the  hoardings  laid  out 
in  panels  and  the  posters  strictly  regulated  to  those  panels.  If  that 
were  done  artistically  while  the  hoardings  were  up  we  should  have 
something  which  would  not  offend  the  artistic  eye  of  passers-by,  and 
it  would  meet  the  wish  of  the  owner  to  make  capital  out  of  the 
hoarding  while  he  is  not  in  occupation  of  the  building. 

Mr.  Richardson  Evaxs,  in  acknowledging  the  vote  of  thanks, 
said  :  I  should  like  to  express  my  sincerest  thanks  to  the  County 
Council.  We  have  been  hammering  at  the  gates  of  Spring  Gardens 
for  fifteen  years,  and  I  have  just  heard  in  this  room  for  the  first  time 
that  the  purpose  for  which  we  have  hammered  has  at  last  been 
attained.  There  is  only  one  fault  I  would  call  attention  to,  and  that 
is  the  distinction  that  some  of  our  friends  wish  to  draw  between  the 
advertising  upon  premises  which  relates  to  the  business  transacted 
on  the  premises  and  other  classes  of  advertising.  I  quite  admit  that 
if  you  could  only  restrict  advertising  to  the  business  transacted  on 
the  premises  you  probably  would  get  a  very  great  reduction  of  eye- 
sores ;  but  the  worst  cases  of  disfigurement  are  in  connection  with 
the  business  for  which  the  premises  are  used.  I  need  onlv  refer  to 
Dewar's  whiskey  tower  and  to  Lipton's  tea  tower  on  the  Thames, 
both  between  Waterloo  and  Westminster.  If  anyone  goes  down 
that  beautiful  inlet  of  the  sea,  Southampton  Water,  and  gazes  back 
and  sees  Mr.  Idris'  mineral-water  tower  he  will  say  at  once  :  "  The 
first  thing  you  must  do  is  to  provide  means  of  restricting  the  powers 
of  the  owner  of  premises  as  to  the  way  in  which  he  advertises  his 
own  business."  As  to  the  question  of  interference  with  the  liberty 
of  the  subject,  surely  it  is  the  ruthless  advertiser  who  interferes  with 
the  liberty  of  the  surroundings.  When  I  go  out  I  want  to  enjov  my 
environment,  and  the  man  who  takes  that  away  by  putting  up  these 


TJie  Restraint  of  Advertising.  523 

devices  on  his  own  house  for  his  own  purposes  is  interfering-  not  with 
my  hberty  only  but  with  the  liberty  of  everybody.  The  Englishman's 
house  is  by  no  means  his  own  castle  in  the  way  that  some  people 
think.  He  must  lay  his  drains  in  a  particular  way,  he  must  use  a 
particular  material,  he  must  conform  to  reg^ulations  as  to  distance 
from  the  frontage,  as  to  height,  and  so  on.  Really,  to  raise  this 
objection  in  the  face  of  the  interests  of  the  whole  community  is,  my 
friend  will  pardon  me  for  saying,  an  obsolete  superstition. 


524  Tran>;actions  of  the  Tcnvn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(10)  TOWX    PLAXXING   AXI)   TOWX    TRAIXIXG. 

The  Scope  and  Limits  of  the  Town  Planning  Act. 

By  a  Member  of  the  Conference. 

[  This  paper  has  been  included  in  the  Transactions  with  a  view  to  suggest- 
ing the  practical  directions  in  which  the  ideals  set  ont  in  the  papers  and 
speeches  delivered  at  the  Conference  may  be  applied  to — 

(a)  Fully  developed  areas  outside  the  scope  of  the  Town  Planning  Act,  and 

(b)  Undeveloped  or  partially  developed  areas  which  come  within  the  scope 

of  the  Act.] 

PART    I. RE-PLANNING   OF   DEVELOPED  AREAS. 

Town  planning  as  an  abstract  term,  and  as  it  has  come  to  be  under- 
stood and  discussed  by  g-roups  of  specialists  interested  in  the  problem 
of  civic  development  from  different  points  of  view,  may  be  divided 
into  two  main  categories.  We  have  first  the  "  town  planning  " 
which  may  be  described  as  being  concerned  with  the  reconstruction 
or  improvement  of  existing  groups  of  buildings  ;  or  the  better  arrange- 
ment or  re-modelling  of  public  streets,  squares,  and  open  spaces 
within  our  cities  ;  or  the  readjustment  of  the  position  of  our  railway 
stations,  and  existing  and  proposed  bridges,  to  modern  conditions  of 
traffic  and  population,  and  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  improved  public 
taste.  Town  planning  of  this  kind  is,  for  the  present,  outside  the 
scope  of  the  Town  Planning  Act,  but  it  has  always  been  a  matter  of 
concern  to  the  architectural  profession  which  has  found  congenial 
outlet  for  its  creative  ideas  in  improving  what  exists,  and  has 
always  very  naturally  revolted  against  the  ugliness  which  has  been 
the  product  of  the  utilitarian  age  through  which  we  have  been 
passing.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  securing  improvements  under 
this  category  in  the  past  are  said  to  be  due  to  two  primary  causes — 
first  to  the  absence  of  sufficient  imagination  and  good  taste  on  the 
part  of  the  public ;  and  secondly,  to  the  inadequate  nature  of,  and  the 
complicated  procedure  involved  in  applying,  the  powers  under  which 
such  improvements  could  be  carried  out.  Practically  nothing  could 
be  done  in  the  way  of  improving  existing  conditions  without  the  aid 
of  special  Acts  of  Parliament  or  provisional  orders  obtained  on  the 
initiative  and  at  the  expense  of  local  authorities.  In  carrying  out 
these  improvements  the  expense  is  not  confined  to  the  cost  of  expro- 
priation of  property.  Perhaps  the  heaviest  burden  is  that  of  paying 
compensation  for  business  disturbance.  The  more  central  and 
probably  also  the  more  vital  the  improvement  the  greater  the  cost 
under  this  head.  In  saying  that  the  expenditure  is  entirely  wasteful 
is  neither  to  condemn  authorities  for  undertaking  schemes  which  irWe 


Town  Planning  and  Tuivn  Training.  525 

•occasion  to  it,  nor  to  question  the  justice  of  the  claims  which  are 
made  for  compensation.  It  is  wasteful  in  the  sense  that  it  is  some- 
thing paid  for  losses  on  one  side  for  which  no  equi\alent  gain  is 
obtained  on  the  other.  It  is  largely  because  of  this  necessary  waste 
that  authorities  hesitate  so  much  to  initiate  schemes  of  improvement. 
Moreover,  while  they  have  to  compensate  the  owner  and  the  trades- 
man who  loses,  they  have  no  power  to  secure  for  themselves  any 
share  of  the  betterment  derived  by  those  whose  property  may  be 
appreciated  by  the  improvement.  Considering  that  the  greatest 
need  and  demand  for  these  improvements  have  arisen  within  the  last 
thirty-five  years,  since  the  passing  of  the  Public  Health  Act  of  1875, 
during  which  period  the  authorities  have  had  to  bear  the  heavy  cost 
of  providing  safeguards  for  public  health  in  the  form  of  new  systems 
of  drainage  and  water-supply,  and  in  laying  the  foundations  of 
national  education,  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  have  not  been  able 
to  take  up  reconstruction  schemes  with  enthusiasm,  and  that  where 
these  have  been  carried  out,  it  was  only  after  they  had  become  a 
matter  of  dire  necessity. 

There  appears  to  be  much  room  for  improvement  in  legis- 
lation in  regard  to  schemes  of  this  kind.  As  we  will  see  later, 
the  Town  Planning  Act  does  not  touch  them.  It  is  probable  that 
the  working  of  the  Act  may  afford  some  guidance  to  Parliament  as 
to  how  areas  already  built  upon  can  be  dealt  with  more  easily  and 
with  less  expense,  but  the  problem  of  dealing  with  these  areas  must 
in  any  event  continue  to  be  one  of  great  difficulty  and  expense. 
Even  in  great  cities  like  London  it  requires  a  great  deal  of  courage 
on  the  part  of  the  local  authority  to  face  the  cost  of  carrying  out 
effective  improvements.  It  is  no  marvel,  therefore,  that  in  the  lesser 
cities  nothing  is  done  until  the  need  for  some  public  work  becomes 
absolutely  desperate,  and  then,  when  the  work  is  undertaken,  it  is 
spoiled  or  crippled  in  most  cases  by  false  economy. 

But  the  most  disturbing  factor  in  connection  with  the  re-creation 
of  the  developed  portions  of  our  cities,  is  not  the  difficulty  of  dealing 
with  past  evils — in  connection  with  which  we  will  have  to  exercise 
patience — but  the  absence  of  sound  judgment  and  good  taste  on  the 
part  of  most  authorities  when  they  have  opportunities  put  before 
them  of  preventing  the  repetition  of  similar  evils. 

Our  forefathers  are  blamed  for  want  of  foresight,  but  it  is  open 
to  question  whether,  considering  their  more  limited  powers,  oppor- 
tunities and  knowledge  of  sanitation  and  the  principles  of  civic  growth, 
they  did  not  exercise  greater  foresight  than  our  city  rulers  to-day. 
Some  of  the  best  city  planning  is  early  nineteenth-century  work, 
some  of  the  worst  has  been  perpetrated  in  recent  years  under  bye-laws 
that  have  been  framed  in  the  name  of  Public  Health.  A  few  of  the 
directions  in  which  much  more  could  be  done  by  authorities  in  the 
way  of  applying  preventive  measures  are  : — 

(i)  The  proper  placing  and  grouping  of  all  public  buildings  now 
being  erected  or  to  be  erected  in  future.  The  example  of  Cardiff 
might  be  usefully  followed  by  many  other  cities. 

(2)  The  widening  of  streets  and  the  alteration  of  building  lines 
when   new   buildings   are   being  erected.      This   should    be    done    in 


526  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

accordance  with  a  comprehensive  plan  prepared  by  the  authority 
within  the  powers  it  possesses  at  present,  and  not  on  the  haphazard 
Hnes  now  in  vogue. 

(3)  The  insistence  on  a  high  architectural  standard  in  certain 
positions  w^here  the  public  interest  is  as  great  as,  if  not  greater  than, 
the  private  interest.  For  instance,  round  parks  and  open  spaces 
provided  at  public  expense,  and  along  the  frontage  of  roads  made 
over  60  feet  wide  at  the  cost  of  the  ratepayers.  The  time  is  not  yet 
ripe  for  imposing  an  architectural  standard  in  general,  but  there  are 
certain  sites  over  which  it  would  be  quite  equitable  for  the  authority 
to  have  more  control  than  others. 

(4)  The  removal  of  the  abuse  of  public  advertising. 

{5)  The  insistence  on  v.-ider  streets  Avhere  high  buildings  are  per- 
mitted to  be  erected. 

(6)  The  emplovment  of  architectural  advice  in  regard  to  all 
iTiatters  in  which  the  architect  is  properly  concerned,  and  particularly 
in  regard  to  the  placing  of  all  buildings  of  a  public  or  semi-public 
character. 

No  doubt  there  are  other  points  equally  important,  and  it  would  be 
useful  if  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects  w^ere  to  prepare  a 
statement  showing  the  directions  in  which  authorities  might,  even 
under  existing  powers,  do  much  to  beautify  and  improve  their  towns, 
by  exercising  more  control  over  all  new  development  in  the  centres, 
and  also  indicating  how,  with  the  aid  of  special  bye-laws  or  a  simple- 
local  Act,  machinery  might  be  set  up  to  facilitate  "  give  and  take  " 
arrang'ements  between  the  authority  and  owners  in  regard  to  street- 
widenings  and  height  and  character  of  buildings. 

So  far  we  have  been  referring  to  the  planning  or  rather 
re-planning  of  developed  areas  in  the  centres  of  our  towns,  first  by 
means  of  reconstruction  schemes  with  the  object  of  curing  existing 
evils,  and  secondly  by  preventive  measures.  A  great  part  of  this 
Conference  Report  deals  with  the  principles  of  town  planning  in  rela- 
tion to  this  particular  aspect  of  the  subject. 

It  is  this  first  category  that  affords  greater  scope  for  the  creative 
genius  and  ambition  of  the  architect.  The  successful  designer  of  a 
complete  new  Kingsway,  or  of  a  scheme  for  a  new  processional  road 
and  bridge  over  the  Thames,  will  achieve  a  higher  place  in  the  niche 
of  fame  than  the  designer  of  the  scheme  of  development  for  the 
unbuilt-upon  areas  in  Putney  or  Ealing — even  if  the  latter  be  a  per- 
fect creation  of  its  kind.  He  has  the  attraction  of  carrying  out  a 
complete  piece  of  work  in  the  former  case,  whereas  in  the  latter  he 
can  only  lay  down  a  basis  on  which  a  medley  of  architects  and 
builders  will  supply  the  superstructure.  Even  if  it  is  a  pri\ate  Garden 
Suburb  in  Avhich  he  has  more  or  less  control  of  the  building  design, 
he  is  unlikely  to  escape  the  vagaries  and  idiosyncrasies  of  clients,  or 
to  get  that  unlimited  power  which  would  enable  him  to  make  it  a 
work  of  art  of  his  own  creation.  One  can  therefore  understand  whv 
architects  are  attracted  most  to  the  town  planning  that  concerns  itself 
with  our  civic  centres  rather  than  that  which  deals  with  our  residential 
suburbs. 


Town  Planning  and  Town  Training.  527 

FART   II. TOWN   I'LAN'MNG  OF   UNDEVELOPED  AREAS. 

But  there  is  probably  greater  scope  for  the  exercise  of  architec- 
tural ability  and  for  the  permeation  of  architectural  ideals  in  con- 
nection with  the  development  of  new  areas  than  is  usually  thought. 
It  is  this  particular  development  that  is  to  be  controlled  under  the  Town 
Planning  Act,  and  it  forms  the  second  category  into  which  general 
town  planning  may  be  divided.  The  planning  of  new  areas  will  not 
of  course  be  confined  to  the  laying  out  of  purely  residential  estates. 
Important  new  centres  are  likely  to  arise,  especially  all  round  London, 
which  is  not  so  much  one  large  city  as  a  congeries  of  large  towns 
embraced  in  one  federation.  Subsidiary  civic  centres  will  have  to 
be  designed,  wide  main  arteries  provided  for,  parks  &c.  placed  in  the 
best  positions,  and  provisions  inserted  in  the  town-planning  schemes 
to  give  the  necessary  architectural  control.  The  fact  that  the  Royal 
Institute  of  British  Architects  has  taken  up  the  subject  of  town 
planning  with  such  enthusiasm  since  the  passing  of  the  Act  shows 
that  it  recognises  the  opportunity  which  the  Act  provides,  not  only 
for  securing  better  architectural  treatment  of  our  suburban  develop- 
ment but  also  for  creating  a  greater  public  interest  in  all  the  aspects 
of  civic  design.  As  time  goes  on  no  doubt  town  planning  will 
assume  a  wider  significance,  and  its  aim  will  not  be  confined  to 
developing  the  open  areas  in  the  suburbs,  but  will  be  broadened  out 
to  embrace  the  linking  up  of  the  suburbs  with  the  main  centres,  and 
the  gradual  improvement  of  developed  areas  both  in  regard  to  con- 
venience and  amenity. 

Although  the  Garden  City  and  Garden  Suburb  schemes,  so  far 
as  these  are  promoted  by  private  enterprise,  are  outside  the 
scope  of  the  Town  Planning  Act,  it  is  probable  that  in  the  future 
these  schemes  will  be  initiated  under  the  Act.  Even  the  unique 
scheme  to  develop  a  self-contained  Garden  City  at  Letchworth  may 
find  it  of  advantage  to  come  within  the  Act  in  order  to  secure  the 
permanent  establishment  of  its  objects. 

The  following  are  some  observations  with  regard  to  the  Town 
Planning  Act  so  far  as  it  deals  with  the  practical  question  of  planning. 
The  paragraphs  in  italics  are  a  precis  of  parts  of  the  .Act  :  — 

Section  54. — The  object  of  a  towu-planiiing  sclienie  is  to  secure 
proper  sanitary  conditions,  amenity  and  convenience  in  co)inec- 
tion  zvith  the  laying  out  and  use  of  any  land  in  course  of  develop- 
ment or  likely  to  he  used  for  building  purposes.  A  scheme  may 
he  prepared  by  a  local  authority  or  the  authority  may  adopt  the 
schenie  of  an  owner.  In  certain  cases  land  already  built  upon 
or  land  not  likely  to  be  used  for  building  purposes  may  he  in- 
cluded. The  scheme  has  to  be  approved  by  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board,  and  when  so  approved  has  statutory  effect.  .  .  . 
Land  required  to  provide  open  spaces,  parks,  streets,  Ci-c.,  is 
included  as  "  hnid  likely  to  be  used  for  building  purposes." 

In  carrying  out  the  town-planning  scheme  there  will  be  scope  for 
the  special  qualifications  of  the  Architect,  the  Engineer,  the  Surveyor, 
and  the  Economist.  The  Engineer's  concern  may  be  said  to  be  with 
regard   to  the  lines  of  the  main  sewers  and   the  lines  and  widths  of 


528   Trausactious  of  the  T<wn  Piauuing  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

proposed  main  trunk  roads.  The  Architect  should  take  this  skeleton 
plan  and  supply  the  design  for  all  intervening  land.  The  amenity  of 
the  area,  the  fixing  of  the  building  lines,  the  determination  of  the 
class  and  character  of  building  will  come  under  his  review.  When 
he  comes  to  deal  with  an  industrial  area  no  doubt  the  voice  of  the 
Engineer  must  take  precedence  in  certain  matters,  and  his  plan 
before  being  finally  settled  will  have  to  be  carefully  considered  by  the 
Surveyor  and  Economist  so  as  to  ensure  that  the  scheme  does  not 
prevent  the  land  being  disposed  of  in  convenient  plots. 

Section  55. — The  Local  Government  Board  is  empowered  to 
prescribe  a  set  of  general  provisions  for  "  carrying  out  the 
general  objects  of  toum-planning  schemes/' 

These  provisions  have  not  yet  been  prescribed.  In  these  and  the 
special  provisions  to  be  inserted  in  each  scheme  there  should  be  an 
opportunity  for  including  something  in  the  nature  of  architectural 
direction  and  control.  The  provisions  will  deal  with  streets,  build- 
ings, open  spaces,  preservation  of  amenities,  drainage,  lighting, 
water-supply,  &c. ,  &c.  (Fifth  Schedule.)  The  question  of  the  cha- 
racter of  the  buildings  in  different  areas,  or  in  special  positions  such 
as  overlooking  public  parks,  the  consideration  of  the  widths  of 
streets  in  relation  to  the  class  of  building  to  be  erected  in  special 
zones,  the  preservation  of  open  spaces  and  amenities,  with  proper 
regard  to  aesthetic  considerations,  are  all  matters  which  might  and 
should  be  dealt  with  under  architectural  as  well  as  other  advice,  in 
connection  with  the  general  or  special  provisions.  In  so  far  as  archi- 
tects are  of  opinion  that  existing  bye-laws  in  any  district  hamper 
proper  development,  they  can  arrange  in  town-planning  schemes  to 
supersede  these  bye-laws  if  the  Local  Government  Board  approve. 

Section  57.  —  The  responsible  authority  may  remove,  pull  down, 
or  alter  any  building  or  other  work  in  the  area  included  in  the 
scheme  which  is-  such  as  to  contravene  the  scheme,   &c. 

Bv  coming  forward  with  any  suggestions  which  they  think  it 
desirable  to  make,  to  alter  or  demolish  buildings,  or  in  other  cases 
to  prevent  their  alteration  or  demolition,  in  connection  with  town- 
planning  schemes,  architects  may  incidentally  render  a  public  service. 
This  power  to  alter  or  demolish  buildings  will  have  an  important 
bearing  on  many  schemes,  particularly  on  those  which  cover  large 
rural  areas  and  include  old  villages  and  hamlets.  The  exercise  of 
this  power,  and  that  of  preserving  features  of  historical  and  natural 
interest,  will  want  jealous  watching.  Many  important  highways 
run  through  narrow  village  streets,  and  probably  to  many  people 
town  planning  will  consist  of  such  a  thing  as  the  wanton  destruction 
of  some  interesting  building,  in  order  to  get  an  even  kerb  line  to 
the  footpath. 

Section  58. — Compensation  is  paid  for  injury,  but  no  person 
is  entitled  to  obtain  compensation  on  account  of  any  building 
erected  on  or  contract  made  or  other  thing  done  with  respect  to 
land  included  in  a  scheme  after  the  time  at  which  the  application 
for  authority  to  prepare  the  scheme  was  nnide.     J]liere  a  scheme 


Town  Planning  and  Toivn  Training.  529 

increases  the  value  of  property   the   responsible  authority  shall 
be  entitled  to  recover  half  of  the  increase. 

Section  59. — Property  shall  not  hoivever  be  i)ijnriously  affected 
by  any  provisions  which  could  have  been  enforceable  in  the 
bye-laws,  or  which  with  a  view  of  securing  the  amenity  of  the 
area  included  in  the  scheme  prescribe  the  space  about  buildings 
or  limit  the  number  of  buildings  to  be  erected,  or  prescribe  the 
height  and  character  of  buildings  which  the  Local  Government 
Board  consider  reasonable  for  the  purpose. 

These  sections  are  of  the  utmost  importance.  The  compensation 
■clauses  will  make  it  worth  while  for  authorities  to  embark  upon 
schemes  and  to  incorporate  advanced  ideas  in  their  plans  which  they 
would  not  contemplate  under  ordinary  conditions.  Clause  59  is  in 
the  highest  dcg;ree  important  to  architects  who  have  every  claim  to 
advise  in  regard  to  amenity,  height  and  character  of  buildings,  and 
limitation  of  houses  per  acre. 

The  question  of  the  employment  of  expert  advice,  whether  of  the 
Architect,  the  Engineer,  or  the  Surveyor,  rests  with  the  local 
authority,  except  in  so  far  as  private  owners  may  employ  experts  to 
prepare  plans  for  adoption.  The  tendency  will  probably  be  for  the 
Borough  or  Urban  Council  Surveyor  to  advise  his  Council  that  he 
can  do  all  the  planning  that  is  necessary,  and  he  will  have  the 
powerful  plea  of  economy  on  his  side.  In  the  larger  towns  and 
cities  no  doubt  architectural  help  will  be  sought,  but  probably  onlv 
after  some  experience  of  the  mistakes  that  will  occur  unless  this  is 
done. 

There  are  some  who  assume  that  town-planning  schemes  under 
the  Act,  i.e.  in  connection  with  the  laying  out  of  undeveloped  land, 
can  be  successfully  prepared  without  the  help  of  the  Architect. 
Those  who  assume  so  must  take  a  very  narrow-minded  view  of  what 
is  embraced  in  town  planning.  It  does  not  merely  consist  of 
securing  a  few  wide  arterial  and  circumferential  roads  so  as  to  relieve 
the  traffic  problems  of  the  towns.  It  is  not  merely  a-  question  of 
determining  the  lines  of  drains  and  roads  according  to  the  most 
practical  gradients.  The  planning  of  roads  and  the  laying  of  drains 
create  sites  for  building ;  these  sites  have  to  be  planned,  and  the 
Architect  who  designs  the  buildings  to  occupy  them  has  to  consider 
the  relation  of  the  sites  to  the  road,  the  sites  to  the  buildings,  and 
the  buildings  to  the  road.  The  orderliness,  harmony,  and  refinement 
of  the  development  will  depend  on  the  architectural  treatment  not 
of  the  buildings  alone  but  on  the  forethought  which  the  Architect 
applies  from  the  initial  stages  of  development.  Professor  Beresford 
Pite,  in  a  paper  read  at  the  Guildhall,  London,  in  December  1909, 
described  architectural  town  planning  as  "  planning  with  forethought 
for  purpose,  for  economy,  and  for  that  sense  of  beauty  which  may 
possibly  be  summed  up  in  the  word  refinement.  The  beauty  and 
amenity  of  a  city  are  certain  elements  in  its  success  and  value."  On 
the  same  occasion  Mr.  Raymond  Unwin  urged  the  desirability  of 
founding  schemes  of  town  extension  and  improvement  on  the  tradi- 
tion of  the  past  and  of  maintaining  "  local  colour  and  the  local  beauty 


530  Trausaclions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

that  have  become  characteristic  ol  our  towns.  From  this  point  of 
view  town  planning"  is   finally  an  architectural  problem." 

The  work  of  the  Engineer,  the  Surveyor,  and  the  Economist  is 
not  less  in  degree  of  importance  or  necessity,  but  the  final  dcfinit*^ 
plan  on  paper  to  which  their  work  has  at  different  stages  been  a 
necessary  and  important  contribution,  is  an  architectural  problem. 
This  is  so  in  regard  to  town  planning  of  new  building  areas  as  well 
as  in  regard  to  re-planning  of  old  areas. 

The  Engineer  or  the  Surveyor  of  the  local  authority  in  many  cases 
may  possess  architectural  knowledge  and  experience,  and  may  have 
regard  for  amenity  and  forms  of  beauty  in  building.  He  may  be 
better  qualified  to  undertake  the  work  of  planning  than  many  who 
label  themselves  architects.  It  is  the  architectural  insight  and 
imagination  that  are  wanted  to  guide  the  town  planner,  and  the 
Engineer  or  Surveyor  may  in  exceptional  cases  possess  these  qualities 
in  a  high  degree.  It  is  not  the  architect  qua  architect  who  is  best 
fitted  to  become  a  town  planner,  but  architectural  training  and 
insight  are  necessary  qualifications  of  anyone  v.  ho  presumes  to  advise 
in  any  department  of  civic  design. 

In  time  experts  -will  grow  out  of  all  the  kindred  professions  which 
interest  themselves  in  town  planning,  but  for  the  present  it  is  hoped 
in  the  interests  of  the  proper  development  of  our  towns  that  authori- 
ties that  can  afford  it  will  secure  architectural  advice  before  going 
too  far  with  the  town-planning  schemes.  It  is  notable  that  in  all 
town-planning  competitions  it  is  architects  who  are  the  bulk  of  the 
competitors,  and  it  is  they  who  carry  off  the  prizes.  In  Germany,  in 
France,  in  America,  wherever  town  planning  has  attained  any  vogue, 
it  is  the  Architect  whose  voice  is  supreme  in  questions  of  the  definite 
planning  of  new  areas. 

Architects  should  therefore  apply  themselves  studiously  to  this 
problem  and  fit  themselves  for  the  important  work  that  must  await 
them. 

The  problem  is  a  many-sided  one.  Apart  from  other  divisions 
there  are  the  differences  in  character,  size,  and  density  of  population 
of  numerous  groups  of  authorities.  We  have  the  following  group 
as  a  beginning  : — 

(i)  London. 

(2)  Provincial  cities  of   over  500,000  inhabitants. 

(3)  County  boroughs  and  small  cities. 

(4)  Urban  Districts. 

(5)  Rural  Districts. 

In  all  of  these  the  Act  must  be  applied  in  a  different  way  in  so  far 
as  the  method  of  planning,  the  fixing  of  zones  for  different  purposes, 
the  limitation  of  houses  per  acre,  the  character  and  scope  of  the  roads, 
the  naturei,  extent,  and  progressive  character  of  the  expenditure 
involved,  ahd  the  extent  of  the  areas  included,  &c.  Different  types 
of  planning  may  be  wanted  for  each  of  the  above  groups,  with  the 
following  further  sub-division. 


Toicti  Planning  and   Toicn    Training. 


DJ 


I.    London 


Provincial  cities  of  over 
500,000  inhabitants 

County    Boroughs    and 
Smaller  Cities 


4    Urban  Districts 


5.    Rural  Districts 


a.   Manufacturing  and  working  class  areas. 
6.    Residential  areas. 

r.  Linking-up  of  detached  built-upon  areas  in  the  suburbs 
with  the  central  districis. 

Ditto 

(?.    Industrial. 

/>.   Partly  industrial  and  residential. 
(-.   Residential  (A)  Seaside;  (B)  Inland. 
(/.   Ecclesiastical  and  educational. 
('.   Old  market  towns. 

a.  Isolated  from  e.xisting  centres  of  population  and  forming 
practically  small  detached  towns. 

/>.  Connected  with  large  cities  and  practically  forming 
suburbs  of  such  cities. 

c.   Largely  rural  in  character. 

(/.   Manufacturing  or  coal-mining  districis. 

£.   Residential :  (a)  Seaside  ;  (k)  Inland. 

a.   Largely    urban  in  character   and   embracing  series   of 

large  villages. 
6.   Rural  in  character  and  embracing  series  of  small  villages. 

Both  groups  may  include  either   {.\)  Residential, 

including  seaside  resort.-.  ;  or  (B)  Manufacturing  or 

coal-mining. 

Subject  to  certain  g-eneral  principles  for  all  these  districts  the 
question  of  planning  for  each  of  the  above  subdivisions  will  have  to 
be  considered.  Xo  doubt  the  industrial  throughout  and  the  residen- 
tial throughout  will  have  many  features  in  common  and  require  the 
same  consideration;  the  urban  "  rural  "  district  may  correspond  to 
the  rural  "  urban  "  and  so  on,  but  the  varieties  of  problems  to  be 
dealt  with  will  be  numerous  enough.  Then  there  will  be  the  further 
subdivisions  due  to  the  differences  of  climate,  character  of  the  people, 
and  their  industries  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

It  is  one  of  those  complex  subjects  of  which  you  grow  in  the 
realisation  of  your  ignorance  contemporaneously  with  your  growth 
of  knowledge.  .\ny  one  town  plan  is  too  big  a  problem  to  be  dealt 
with  single-handed.  Town  planning  is  a  field  which  presents  so 
man\  complex  problems  that  it  will  have  to  be  cultivated  by  experts 
in  many  different  spheres  of  activity.  The  sphere  of  the  architect 
is  one  of  the  most  important,  and  it  behoves  him  to  render  himself 
n  master  of  his  craft. 

Note.  —  See  Ordnance  Survey  Map  and  notes  thereon  over  leaf,  in  illustration 
of  the  foregoing  Paper. 


f);\2    Transactions  of  the  Toxi:n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


a 


o 
X  ri 


O    E 


Town  Planning  and  Town  Training.  533 


Notes  to  Plan  ox  p.  532, 
Illustrating  Paper  on  "  Town  Planning  and  Town  Training." 

The  plan  opposite  shows  a  typical  suburb  of  London.  Note  the 
following  as  a  few  of  the  many  points  for  consideration  :• — 

1.  The   straggling  nature   of  main   arterial   roads  of  varying 

width.  Where  these  pass  through  developed  areas  the 
first  part  of  this  Paper  referring  to  preventive  measures 
would  appl} .  Where  they  intersect  undeveloped  areas 
they  should  be  dealt  with  under  the  Town  Planning  Act. 

2.  The  inadequate   and    unsatisfactory  means  of   communica- 

tion between  east  and  west ;  and  the  opportunities  for 
prevention  of  further  inconvenience  in  partialh-  developed 
areas  and  of  securing  through  communication  under  a 
town-planning  scheme. 

3.  The  necessity  of  joint  action  between   the   London  County 

Council  and  the  Croydon  Corporation. — See  boundar\-  of 
areas. 

4.  The   existence    of   two   civic   centres,    one   adjoining   West 

Norwood  Station  on  the  north-east,  and  the  other  at 
Streatham  Station  near  Streatham  Common.  The  treat- 
ment of  these  centres  should  be  an  important  consideration 
in  any  scheme.  They  are  practically  two  detached  civic 
centres  without  having  any  separate  identity  in  local 
government — one  being  part  of  Wandsworth  and  the 
other  part  of  Lambeth. 

5.  W'ant  of  proper  connections  between  stations  and  between 

open  spaces. 

Many  developments  have  taken  place  since  1896  without  any 
general  control  being  exercised.  As  shown  on  the  map,  more  than 
half  of  this  area  could  be  town-planned. 


PART     II.     [conti  lilted). 
SECTION  VL— SPECIAL  STUDIES  OF  TOWN  PLANS. 


(i)  The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh.      By  Professor  Patrick  Geddes. 

(2)  The  Planning  of  Khartoum  and  Omdur.man.   By  W.  H.  McLean, 

Assoc.  M.  Inst.C.  E. 
Discussion. 

(3)  The     Federal     Capital     of    .A.ustralia.        By     John     Sulman, 

F.R.I.B.A. 

(4)  Greater  London,     By  G.  L.  Pepler,  F.S.I. 
Discussion. 

{5)  L'  .\menagement  des  Fortifications  et  de  la  Zone  des 
Servitudes  Militaires,  Paris.  By  Louis  Dausset,  formerly 
President  of  the  Municipal  Council  of  Paris.  (With  Transla- 
tion.) 

(6)  Bruxelles  aux  Champs.     By  E.   Stasse,  Engineer,  and  H.   De 

Bruyne,  .Architect.     (With  Translation.) 

(7)  Glasgow      City      Impro\  ements.        By      .\.      B.       McDonald, 

M.Inst.C.E.,  City  Engineer,  Glasgow. 

(8)  T&E  Improvement  of  Trafalgar  Square.     By  Wm.  \^'oodward, 

F.RT.r,.A. 
Discussion. 


537 


r 


(i)     THE  CIVIC  SURVEY  OF  EDINBURGH. 

By  Prof.  P.  Geddes,  Outlook  Tower,  University  Hall,  Edinburgh, 
and  Laboratory  of  Civics,  Crosby  Hall,  Chelsea.  With  Illustra- 
tions by  F.  C.   Mears,  Architect,  Edinburgh  and  Chelsea. 

The  survey  of  Edinburgh  and  its  region  is  the  fundamental  purpose 
and  significance  of  the  Outlook  Tower,  from  the  collections  and  work 
of  which  the  exhibit  at  the  Royal  Academy  has  been  selected.  I  may 
best  describe  the  Tower  as  a  Civic  Observatory  ;  and  despite  any  ap- 
pearance to  the  contrary,  as  primarily  concerned  with  that  survey  and 
interpretation  of  the  conditions  of  the  city  of  the  present,  of  which  the 
Rt.  Hon.  Charles  Booth's  classic  and  initiative  map  and  volumes 
upon  the  "  Life  and  Labour  of  London  "  are  the  great  example,  and 
Councillor  Marr's  Survey  of  Manchester,  Miss  Walker's  of  Dundee, 
or  Mr.  Rowntree's  study  of  York,  later  instances.  But  we  seek 
to  go  further  than  these  writers  have  done,  and  to  connect  our 
studies  of  contemporary  conditions  with  their  origins — local,  regional, 
and  general.  This  inquiry  we  find  requires,  first,  a  survey  of  our 
geographical  environment  in  its  fullest  and  deepest  aspects  ;  secondly, 
a  survey  also  of  the  history  of  the  city  and  region,  and  of  Scotland  in 
particular ;  with  general  history  so  far  as  bearing  on  this,  and 
necessarily,  therefore,  from  the  earliest  beginnings  of  civilisation. 
Above  all,  we  are  thus  learning  to  view  history  not  as  mere 
archaeology,  not  as  mere  annals,  but  as  the  study  of  social  filiation. 
That  is,  the  determination  of  the  present  by  the  past ;  and  the  tracing 
of  this  process  in  the  phases  of  transformation,  progressive  or 
degenerative,  which  our  city  has  exhibited  throughout  its  various 
periods — Ancient,  Mediaeval,  Renaissance,  and  Industrial — with  each 
of  these  in  its  earlier  and  its  later  developments.  ^Ve  seek  thus  to 
interpret  our  observations  of  the  present,  and  even  at  times  to  discern 
something  of  the  opening  future  ;  for  that  also  is  already  incipient, 
as  next  season's  buds  are  already  here. 

Now  I  am  well  aware  that  such  a  detailed  and  comprehensive 
survey  of  a  city  is  necessarily  difficult  and  laborious,  though  not 
insuperably  so;  and  I  am,  therefore,  not  surprised  that  there  are 
still  students  and  fellow-workers  in  the  town-planning  movement 
who  hesitate  to  undertake  or  even  encourage  such  surveys,  lest  the 
good  and  urgent  work  on  which  we  are  here  and  now  so  conspicuously 
engaging  should  be  unduly  delayed,  if  not  misled  into  learned  irrelc- 
vancies.  Let  us,  however,  for  the  moment,  waive  this  controversy  ; 
since  your  presence  grants  me  that  you  have  some  little  leisure  to  look 
over  these  outlines  from  our  survey  in  this  Exhibition  with  an  unpre- 
judiced mind,  as  being,  at  any  rate,  of  intelligent  interest,  even  if  you 

N  N 


538    Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conjerence,  Oct.  1910. 

are  not  yet  convinced  of  its  obvious  and  immediate  use.  With  this 
moderate  claim  granted,  let  us  now  run  over  some  of  the  main 
phases  of  the  development  of  Edinburgh. 

[The  Catalogue  of  this  Edinburgh  Survey  may  here  with  advantage  be  condensed, 
as  a  glance  ever  its  contents  will  enable  the  reader  to  follow  this  outline  without 
more  of  its  illustrations  than  are  herewith  reproduced. 

OUTLINE  OF  A  SURVEY  OF  EDINBURGH. 
By  Prof.  P.  Geddes  and  F.  C.  Mears,  Outlook  Tower,  Edinburgh. 
Preliminary  Note. — This  Exhibit  is  a  developed  example  of  the  methods  of 
Survey  of  Cities  (Scottish,  English,  and  other)  in  progress  in  the  Outlook  Tower,  as 
applied  (a)  to  the  teaching  of  Civics,  [h)  to  Collegiate  developments  and  City  improve- 
ments. Its  significance  in  the  present  Exhibition  is  as  affording  evidence  of  the 
necessity,  practicability,  and  fruitfulness  of  a  clear  understanding  for  each  town  and 
city  (a)  of  its  geographical  situation,  (h)  of  its  development  (and  corresponding  decline) 
at  each  important  phase  of  its  history  from  earliest  to  most  recent  times.  Natural 
environment  is  thus  never  to  be  neglected  without  long-enduring  penalties.  Neither 
can  historic  phases  be  considered  as  past  and  done  with  ;  their  heritage  of  good,  their 
burden  of  evil,  are  each  traceable  in  our  complex  present  City  :  and  each  as  a 
momentum,  towards  betterment,  or  towards  deterioration  respectively.  As  these  lines 
of  development  and  deterioration  become  disclosed  by  our  survey,  the  task  of  practical 
civics  grows  correspondingly  clear,  both  for  municipal  statesmanship  and  for  indi- 
vidual and  associated  effort.  It  thus  becomes  evident  that  the  survey  should  be 
adequately  thorough,  both  as  regards  the  needs  of  City  Improvement  and  the  pos- 
sibilities of  City  Development.  The  suburban  extensions  and  the  industrial  develop- 
ments so  fully  illustrated  in  the  Town  Planning  schemes  around  us,  may  thus  be  aided 
in  many  ways,  and  guarded  against  many  risks  of  omission  or  error. 

Edinburgh  Survey  Exhibit :  General  Map ;  also  Photographic  Panorama,  and 
large  Frieze,  in  oil,  by  Eric  Robertson,  of  "  Old  Edinburgh  from  Outlook  Tower," 
showing  complex  modern  development  to  be  surveyed,  i.e.,  analysed  and  interpreted 
geographically,  historically,  socially,  etc. 

Site  of  Edinburgh. — Model,  by  Paul  Reclus,  in  true  relief — horizontal  and  vertical 
scales  the  same — showing  (1)  glaciated  surface,  (2)  ancient  tracks  avoiding  bad 
ground,  (3)  extent  of  walled  city,  (4)  position  of  New  Town. 

Relief  Model  of  Edinburgh  City,  in  relation  to  its  site,  before  advent  of  railways. 

Maps  of  Edinburgh  Region — ordnance,  orographical,  geological,  and  botanical. 

Corresponding  Relief  Model  and  Botanical  Survey  of  Scotland  :  with  reference 
maps  (also  in  relief)  of  larger  environment  of  England  and  Europe. 

Origins  of  Edinburgh. — Books  of  photographs  and  postcards  showing  primitive 
cultivation-teiraces  :  also  (disappearing  or  contemporary)  shepherd,  peasant  and 
fisher-life  and  conditions. 

Perspective  of  Earliest  Edinburgh  as  Hill-Fort  associated  with  Sea-Port  (Leith), 
and  with  agricultural  plain  of  Lothian. 

Comparison  with  Athens  :  Piraeus-.^cropolis  (port-fort)  type  not  infrequent  in 
Europe. 

Bird's-eye  View  of  Forth  Estuary,  showing  early  advantages  and  disadvantages 
of  situation  of  Edinburgh. 

Section  across  head  of  Old  Town,  showing  necessary  sites  of  walls  ;  thus  early 
origins  of  congestion  of  recent  (and  present)  times.  Note  also  deficient  water-supply, 
etc. 

Plan  of  Early  Mediaeval  City  :  with  Plan  of  Elgin,  closely  analogous. 

Remains  of  Terraces,  their  retaining  walls  adapted  to  mediaeval  defence,  now 
being  gardened  again. 

Style  of  mediaeval  housing,  arcaded  and  galleried  with  illustrative  photographs,  etc. 
("  Open-Air  Treatment  "). 

Procession  of  the  History  of  Scotland,  by  W.  G.  Burn  Murdoch. 

Bird's-eye  View  about  1450,  showing  mediaeval  development  of  Castle  and  Royal 
burgh,  with  Holyrood  Abbey  and  beginnings  of  aristocratic  burgh  of  Canon-gait. 

Corresponding  Plan  showing  City  walls  and  their  extension,  development  of  "  Nor 
Loch  "  as  partial  moat,  also  growth  of  ecclesiastical  foundations  outside  walls.  Note 
also  extension  of  "  Flodden  Wall  "  after  1513.  To  this  is  directly  traceable  the  long 
overcrowding  and  underhousing  of  Edinburgh,  with  high  rents  and  land  values  :  a 
marked  influence  also  in  Scotland,  and  on  industrial  age  therefrom.  [Note  analogous 
evil  influence  now  radiating  through  U.S.A.,  &c.,  from  narrow  site  of  New  York 
City.] 


The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh.  539 

Castle  before  siege  of  1573,  by  Bruce  J.  Home. 

Siege  of  1573  (old  print).  Decisive  in  Annals  of  Edinburgh  (and  of  Reformation) 
as  main  defeat  of  Party  of  Queen  Mary  (Catholic  and  of  French  Alliance)  :  victory 
of  Calvinism,  with  tendencies  towards  England. 

View  of  Edinburgh,   1647.     [Note  Gardens  of  late  Renaissance  fashion.] 

i.  Plan  of  Edinburgh — 17th  century — after  Reformation  and  the  Union  of  Crowns. 

[Note  crowded  insanitary  town  of  high-built   stone  houses  still   sheltering  behind 
Flodden  Wall  "  of  1513.     Ecclesiastical  properties  devoted  to  secular  uses — largely 

educational.     Departure  of  courtiers  and  stagnation  of  trade.] 

ii.  The  West  Bow  :  ancient  principal  approach  to  the  town  from  the  South  and 
West,  destroyed  1820-30.  Its  peculiar  form  was  probably  conditioned  by  cultivation 
terraces  utilised  for  strategic  use. 

Bird's-eye  View  from  Slezer's  Theatrum  Scotia',  1690.  [Note  town  still  confined 
to  its  ridge.     Gardens  now  in  Dutch  fashion.] 

Plans  showing  developments,  1688-1765.  With  revival  of  agriculture  and  weaving, 
along  with  increasing  oversea  trade,  following  the  Union  of  Parliaments,  there  come 
the  first  small  attempts  at  formal  planning.  Small  courts  are  opened  up  and  squares 
'and  streets  laid  out;  but  mainly  within  the  traditional  fortified  area. 

Decay  of  Old  Edinburgh  following  the  building  of  suburbs  to  North  and  South. 
This  decay  began  with  the  removal  of  the  Court  to  London,  and,  a  century  later,  of 
the  Parliament. 

Moray  House  ;  as  best  surviving  example  of  mansions  of  nobles  of  Renaissance  ; 
now  a  Training  College. 

Greyfriars'  Churchyard  ;  (becomes  Campo  Santo  of  Presbyterianism)  Note 
Martyrs'  Monument,  etc. 

The  Crown  of  St.  Giles. 

The  New  Town  and  the  Railway  Age. — Craig's  Plan  for  New  Town,  1765. 

Map  of  Edinburgh  (1778)  showing  New  Town  in  course  of  building. 

North  Bridge  and  Earthen  Mound  as  exists  from  Old  Town  to  New. 

Stages  of  development  of  Formal  Town,  1 767-1 900. 

City  Plan  (1829)  showing  formal  developments  as  planned  ;  not  all  executed,  owing 
to  breakdown  of  system,  e.g.  : — 

i,  ii,  iii,  iv,  v.  Five  competitive  Plans  (1817)  for  area  of  Calton  Hill  and  north- 
wards to  Leith. 

Photo  of  this  area,  showing  park  frontage  as  designed,  with  breakdown  behind. 

National  Monument,  etc.,  on  Calton  (unfinished),  showing  classical  taste  of 
period.     Note  also — 

"Battle  of  the  Styles."  Calton  Monuments  arranged  as  (earlier)  Classic  and  (later) 
Romantic. 

Illustrations  of  Period  of  Improvement  of  Communications  :  age  of  Civil  En- 
gineering. 

Types  of  Improvement  before  Railway  Period — bridges,  viaducts,  embankments. 

Photos  of  these,  culminating  in  Forth  Bridge  :  this  is  a  natural,  i.e.  logical  as  well 
as  regional,  development. 

Plan  for  New  Communications  (1855)  :  a  typical  example  of  profuse  utilitarian 
extravagance  with  corresponding  aesthetics  {e.g.  note  chimney  disguised  as  pagoda). 

Modern  (late  Victorian)  Edinburgh,  showing  panoramic  contrast  of  Old  and  New 
Towns  and  their  respective  utilisation  of  sites.  Note  combination  yet  contrast  of 
historic  and  artistic  sentiment  with  modern  and  utilitarian  practicality.  (This 
apparent  paradox  of  Scottish  character  is  thus  but  a  typical  example  of  the  interaction 
of  individual  life  with  history,  of  citizen  and  city  everywhere.) 

Advent  of  Railway  Age. — Map  showing  present  extent  of  railways,  stations, 
sidings,  etc.,  also  tramways 

Photos  showing  modest  beginnings,  1837-43,  ^''^'^  onwards  to  present  vast  develop- 
ments. 

Panorama  of  station  roof  ("  smoke-hall,"  "  halle  a  fumde  "  of  M.  Rev)  :  cul- 
minating example  of  "  utilitarian  "   extravagance  and  unwholesomeness. 

The  \'alley  as  it  might  have  been.     (By  Bruce  J.  Home.) 

Map  of  Industrial  .Areas.  These  now  surround  the  formally  planned  area,  having 
grown  up  haphazard  (yet  in  vicious  circle)  with  the  development  of  railways.  Observe 
the  necessary  effect  of  the  prevailing. winds.  Note  also  large  areas  tinted  blue — 
devoted  to  treatment  of  disease,  poverty,  etc.  :  these  in  large  proportion  due  to 
defective  (unplanned)  environment. 

Municipal  Report  :  "  Edinburgh  as  a  Site  for  Factories  and  Industrial  \\'orks 
(1908)." 

Here  return  to  Railway  Map.  Note  "  Innocent  Railway,"  S.W.  of  Arthur's  Seal. 
This  is  the  oldest  line  entering  Edinburgh  direct  from  the  Midlothian  Coalfield  ;  and 
it  might  well  have  been  developed  rather  than  existing  lines  had  town  planning  not 

N  N2 


540    Transactions  of  the  Toivii  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 

been  lost  sif^ht  of.  It  is  upon  this  coalfield,  and  therefore  to  cast  and  not  west  of  the 
present  Edir>burgh,  that  the  industrial  garden  villages  and  towns  of  the  future  must 
arise,  and  this  for  every  reason  of  economy,  health,  and  amenity,  etc.  An  indication 
of  this  (though  unfortunately  as  yet  unplanned)  is  afforded  by  the  growing  brewery 
village  of  New  Duddingston. 

The  two  ways  of  looking  at  old  Edinburgh  : 

Squalor  and  Romance. 

Photographs  recording  the  appalling  (still  tolerated)  squalor  of  the  Old  Town 
buildings,  and  correspondingly  of  iti  slum  life.  This  mainly  accepted  as  a  permanent 
supply  of  material   for  charity,   medicine,  anatomy,  and  religious  endeavour. 

"  Old  Edinburgh  Street  "  of  International  Exhibition  of  1886. 

Revivals  in  Religious  .'\rchitecture. 

Restoration  of  Castle. 

Classical  Re\  ival  revived  :  e.g.  Proposed  completion  of  National  Monument. 

Strata  of  Edinburgh,  New  and  Old. — Uppermost  row  :  Superficial,  or  Tourist 
View. 

Best  of  New  Town  ;  status  and  culture,  wealth  and  appearances. 

Breakdown  of  Formal  Plan.  Unfinished  ends  ;  workshops — the  latter  not  pro- 
vided for. 

Workshops  behind  present-day  tenements. 

Old  cottages  neglected,  falling  into  ruin. 

.Squalid  life  of  back  streets  overcrowded  and  unclean. 

Photos  of  villas  of  various  dates,  1800-1900  :  corresponding  sur\ival  or  admixture 
of  classical  and  romantic  traditions,  all  lapsing  alike. 

"  The  long  unlovely  street  " — Photos  recording  miles  of  tenement  rows  with 
further  decadence  of  rival  styles.  This  essential  continuance  of  the  historic  over- 
crowding of  Edinburgh  has  been  and  still  is  encouraged  and  maintained  by  its 
educational  trusts  acting  as  ground  landlords,  in  the  supposed  interest  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  child  life  of  Edinburgh  ! 

Higher  Education  Developments. — University  Buildings,  Extra-Mural  Schools, 
Museums,  etc. 

University  Union,  proposed  Halls  of  "  Academic  Nations  " — Indian,  Africander, 
Australasian,  Canadian,  and  West  Indian,  etc.  Each  as  a  needed  centre  of  legitimate 
individuality  and  of  national  dignity,  within  solidarity  of  Empire  and  of  Education. 

College  of  Art.  Mrtually  a  new  Faculty  of  the  University,  and  this  of  the  highest 
civic  potentiality,  as  the  present  Town  Planning  Exhibition  shows. 

Edinburgh  as  a  Collegiate  City. — While  the  three  other  Universities  of  Scotland 
are  mediaeval  foundations,  Edinburgh  University  dates  from  15S2 — nearly  a  generation 
after  the  Reformation.  Hence  no  collegiate  residences  were  established,  and  pious 
founders — Heriot  and  others,  to  Fettes — preferred  to  erect  schools,  often  palatial. 
For  these  reasons  the  first  hostel  or  Hall  of  Residence  in  Edinburgh  dates  only  from 
1887,  and  arose  in  due  continuation  of  the  tradition  of  student  independence  and 
responsibility,  as  self-governing  groups  without  a  Warden. 

Outlook  Tower,  acquired  in  1892  as  centre  of  post-graduate  studies,  experimental 
education,  civic  improvement,  etc. 

This  scheme  is  not  one  of  collegiate  development  independently  of  the  existing 
cit}'  and  by  replacement  of  its  buildings,  as  in  older  collegiate  systems.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  seeks  (on  grounds  alike  economic  and  historic)  to  conserve  and  incorporate 
existing  buildings,  and  is  at  once  conservative  as  regards  Town  and  constructive  as 
regards  Gown.  It  carries  on  the  preservation  and  repair  of  ancient  buildings  (see 
Riddle's  Court,  etc.),  and  the  incorporation  and  adaptation  of  historic  houses  (Allan 
Ramsay's  Lodge,  Ramsay  Garden,  etc.). 

Watercolour  Perspectives  show  extension  of  scheme  from  Esplanade  to  Bank  of 
Scotland  and  thence  eastwards  as  circumstances  permit  to  Holyrood  and  Croft-an- 
Righ.  The  full  scheme  of  "  Town  and  Gown  "  may  now  be  understood  :  in  quality 
and  in  quantity,  from  the  Map  of  Historic  Buildings  of  Old  Edinburgh,  and  the 
corresponding  perspectives  ranging  from  Castle  to  Holyrood. 

Growth  of  Edinburgh.      Nowhere  more  need  of  garden  villages,   yet   practical 
reluctance  to  abandon  crowded  tenement  habit.- 
Small  Garden   Village,   erected  1895. 
Garden  Village  near  Murrayfield  (1900). 

Open  Spaces  as  Gardens  and  Playgrounds. — Survey  of  Open  Spaces  in  Old  Town 
(75  pieces,  10  acres),  now  being  reclaimed  into  gardens  as  circumstances  allow. 
Vacant  Lands  Survey  of  Environs  :  about  450  unused  acres. 

Holyrood  and  its  Environment.     Actual  and  Possible. 

The  realisation  of  this  scheme  is  thus  well  advanced  ;  and  in  view  of  the  possible 
renewal  of  Holyrood  as  a  royal  residence,  it  gains  in  urgency,  especially  when  com- 
pared with   schemes   less  conservative  of   its  historic  setting. 


> 


The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh.  541 

Map  of  City,  with  emphasis  on  Natural  Site  as  at  starting  point  ;  insistence  on 
its  geographic  features. 

Experimental  Sketches  towards  completion  of  Survey  by  corresponding  "  Report 
on  City  Development."  This  to  be  in  utmost  practicable  accordance  with  natural 
environment  as  with  historic  heritage,  with  economic  prosperity,  and  with  social  and 
cultural  evolution,  at  once  individual  and  civic. 

Example  from  Report  of  suggested  Symbol  of  returning  unity  and  activity,  at  a 
main  point  of  Old  Edinburgh,  midway  between  churches  of  all  denominations — 
Statue  of  St.  Columba. 

Model  of  City  Cross.  Demolished  1756,  partially  re-erected  by  the  good  ofTices 
of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  finally  re-erected  by  W.  E.  Gladstone  and  again  restored  to  public 
uses.  Hence  this  Cross  is  peculiarly  fitting  as  a  symbol  not  only  of  Citizenship,  but 
of  Civic  Revivance  ;  and  as  complementing  the  Relief  Models  of  Edinburgh,  with  their 
expression  of  the  material  origins  of  the  Town,  by  a  corresponding  expression  of  the 
deeper  and  inner  evolution  of  the  City.  The  many-sided  activities  of  a  great  city, 
spiritual  and  social,  educational  and  hygienic,  arciiitcctural  and  indusliial — or  most 
simply  ideal  and  material — all  these  may  be  fitly  symbolised  upon  the  many  sides  of 
this  characteristic  building  as  aspects  of  a  real  unity,  and  this  again,  by  the  shaft  of 
the  Cross,  as  an  ascent  of  life  towards  expression — civic  and  national. 

Yet  as  each  pha^e  of  development  of  our  Survey  has  come  and  gone,  so  in  turn 
may  this  presentment  of  it.  All  surveys  need  perpetual  renewal  ;  and  cur  final  exhibit 
is  thus  : — 

The  Outlook  Tower — here  reduced  to  its  simplest  expression  :  that  in  which  it 
may  be  adapted  by  anyone  to  the  problems  and  the  tasks  presented  by  his  own  environ- 
ment, his  own  legion  and  City.] 

Let   me    recall    in    outline   the    general   topography    of   old    Edin- 
burgh— a  great  volcanic  rock — the  surviving  lava-plug  of  a  crater 
worn  away  by  the  Ice  Age,  and  with  a  long  ridge  or  "  tail  "  running 
downhill  eastwards  from  the  "  crag  "  to  low  ground  at  the  foot  of 
Salisbury    Crags   and    Arthur's    Seat.      Thus,    from   our   fairlv   lofty 
Outlook  Tower,  almost  at  the  apex  of  the  ridge,  we  command  a  view 
at  once  of  the  rock  and  its  huge  castle  to  the  westward,  and  of  the 
old  city  running  down  the  ridge  to  the  east.      The  seaport  of  Leith 
is  on  the  coast  to  northward,  and  the  New  Town  lies  between  ;  while 
nearer  still,  betwixt  us  and  the  varied  facades  of  Princes  Street,  lies 
the  valley  of  the  old   "Nor'   Loch."     This  valley  is  now  a  public 
garden,  intersected  longitudinally  by  a  railway,  and  transversely  by 
the  earthen  Mound  with  its  Art  Galleries,   and  further  east  by  the 
North    Bridge,    under    which    lies    the    vast    station    into   which    the 
railway  line  expands.      Southward  the  city  also  extends  for  a  couple 
of  miles  along  each  of  the  main  roads  to  the  south  and  south-west , 
so  that  the  historic  Castle  and  Old  Town  remain  as  a  central  head 
and  backbone  of  the  irregularly  spread  modern  growth.     Thus,  while 
people   still   think   and   speak   of   Edinburgh   mainly   in   terms   of   its 
mediaeval  and  renaissance  "  Old  Town,"  and  its  eighteenth-century 
"  New  Town,"  the  modern  Edinburgh  and  Leith  extend  far  around 
these  in  all  directions,  and  include  a  population  which  is  now  nearly 
approaching    half    a    million,   which   seems  destined  to  considerable 
further  expansion,  and  which  is  thus  in  need  of  fuller  consideration, 
economic,  h}gienic,  and  civic,   than  it  has  yet  received.      In  short, 
Edinburgh  plainly  exhibits  both  the  great  problems — of  central   and 
of  suburban  developments — which  are  before  the  present  Conference  ; 
we  shall  see  that  these  require  at  once  forethought  as  regards  their 
future,   and  retrospect  for  their  origins ;  and  how  each  is  helped  by 
the  other. 

From  the  very  outset  of  our  survey  of  a  city,  we  must  observe  and 
understand   it   in  its   region.     Our  Tower   overlooks   the   city   both 


542   Transactions  of  the  To-ivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

within  its  immediate  and  its  greater  landscape.  The  first  of  these 
ranges  from  the  Pentland  Hills  to  the  Firth  of  Forth,  and  shows  the 
city  fringed  at  each  level  with  the  appropriate  rustic  life,  from  the 
sportsman's  solitudes  and  pastoral  hamlets  of  the  Pentland  slopes,  as 
notably  R.  L.  Stevenson's  Swanston,  through  the  agricultural  and 
the  mining  villages  of  the  Lothian  plain  to  the  characteristic  fishing 
ones  along  the  coast.  Thus  the  real  country  is  accessible  on  every 
hand,  and  its  villages  are  not  yet  the  mere  suburban  dormitories  into 
which  those  around  London  and  other  great  cities  have  so  largely 
become  transformed.  Yet  this  landscape  is  but  a  fraction  of  the  larger 
visible  whole.  To  north  and  east  we  have  the  widening  estuary  of 
the  Firth  of  Forth,  with  Fife  and  its  towns  upon  the  opposite  shore. 
Westward,  the  Forth  Bridge  is  seen  overleaping  the  mile  of  the  old 
Queen's  Ferry;  beyond  this  lies  the  old  yet  renewing  city  of  Dun- 
fermline, just  now  adding  to  itself  what  we  trust  may  soon  be  the 
paragon  of  town  planning,  the  great  Naval  Base  of  Rosyth.  The 
spacious  anchorage  of  the  Upper  Forth  has  also  its  mercantile  ports. 
Finally,  far  beyond  Stirling,  the  great  Highland  Hills  rise  against 
the  sunset.  Thus  one  readily  realises  the  situation  of  Edinburgh  as 
making  it  a  convenient  metropolis  of  its  region ;  and  were  this 
primarily  a  company  of  geographers,  of  historians,  or  politicians,  I 
might  show  the  bearing  upon  the  past  life  and  present  influence  of 
our  city  of  every  detail  I  have  mentioned,  and  of  far  more. 

For  town  planning  we  naturally  wish  to  concentrate  upon  our 
essential  and  central  outlook  of  the  city  itself.  Yet  we  cannot  trace 
our  city  from  its  early  beginnings  upon  the  castle  rock  without  under- 
standing it  as  a  hill-fort  associated  with  a  sea-port,  as  well  as  with 
the  agricultural  plain  of  Lothian ;  and  as  arising  after  the  departure 
of  the  Romans,  as  a  defence  against  the  incursions  of  the  Northmen. 
Indeed,  to  understand  a  city  of  this  type  we  must  go  further  afield 
than  ever.  Hence  the  comparison,  side  by  side,  of  Edinburgh  and 
Athens — each  plainly  a  hill-fort  associated  at  once  with  a  sea-port, 
and  with  an  agricultural  plain.  This  combination  of  an  Acropolis 
with  its  Piraeus  and  its  Attica,  is  common  throughout  Mediterranean 
Europe,  though  less  frequent  in  the  north ;  and  such  a  threefold  co- 
operation is  conducive  alike  to  agricultural  efficiency,  to  maritime 
enterprise  and  commerce,  and  to  regional  as  well  as  civic  culture. 
Thus  we  see  the  traditional  comparison  of  Edinburgh  with  Athens 
has  really  little  to  do  with  our  eighteenth  and  nineteenth-century 
imitations  of  Greek  temples  or  Greek  sophistries,  but  lies  far  deeper, 
in  geographical  and  historical  origins.      [See  figs,  i,  2,  3,  4,  5.] 

The  Roman  occupation  had  no  use  for  Edinburgh,  though  its 
defences  and  monuments  are  not  far  to  seek  around.  Yet  at 
least  one  far  older,  indeed  pre-historic,  survival  remains  significant 
through  the  ages,  and  is  even  beginning  to  renew  its  old-world  life  in 
these  present  years.  Every  rambler  round  Arthur's  Seat  must  notice 
the  long  range  and  succession  of  pre-historic  cultivation  terraces  which 
rise  like  a  gigantic  stairway  upon  its  gentle  and  sheltered  eastward 
slope — terraces  unmistakably  of  the  same  essential  build  as  those  which 
line  the  Mediterranean  coasts  from  Spain  and  Portugal  to  Palestine, 
dnd  thence  run  eastward  through  Persia  to  Korea.  Traces  of  what 
are    plainly    kindred    terraces,    and    better    situated    ones,    are    still 


The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh. 


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548  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910^ 

discernible  upon  the  southward  slope  of  old  Edinburgh  ;  and  the 
architect  of  historic  interests  need  hardly  be  reminded  how,  as  our 
survey  illustrates,  these  old  terraces  have  constantly  furnished  the 
base-line  for  fortress  walls  in  the  middle  age ;  yet  how  they  also 
developed  into  the  stately  Renaissance  terrace-gardens  of  the  succeed- 
ing and  more  pleasure-loving  time.  Our  survey  shows  these  terraces 
taken  from  their  immemorial  peaceful  use  to  afford  the  lines  and  bases 
for  successive  city  walls  [fig.  6],  with  at  least  one  great  defensive 
bastion — that  of  the  West  Bow.  We  find  them  next  becoming  built 
over,  or,  where  surviving  at  all,  largely  deteriorating  Into  slum  areas, 
sometimes  even  derelict,  their  very  ownership  forgotten  ;  yet  at  length, 
as  we  shall  see  on  one  of  the  later  sheets  of  this  survey,  becoming  once 
more  renewed  as  gardens  for  the  people  [fig.  17].  Thus,  after  long 
ages  of  warlike  history,  our  women  and  children  are  returning  to  their 
gentle  tasks  of  old,  their  setting  of  herb  and  tending  of  flower.  This  Is 
but  a  small  example,  yet,  I  venture  to  say,  a  vital  one,  of  the  renewing 
modern  life  and  use  of  even  what  may  have  been  a  forgotten 
past  :  in  this  case,  the  very  longest  forgotten.  We  shall  see^  as  we 
proceed,  that  one  survival  after  another  becomes  in  its  turn  similarly 
significant,  and  thus  learn  how  the  soil  of  the  past  teems  with 
its  dormant  seeds,  each  ready  to  leap  into  life  anew,  be  this  as  weed 
or  flower. 

My  able  colleague,  Mr.  F.  C.  Mears,  has  here  reconstructed,  by 
help  of  surviving  fragments  as  well  as  of  tradition,  the  type  of  dwelling 
of  Edinburgh  in  the  Middle  Ages — long  before  the  days  of  its  high- 
piled  tenements — as  a  dwelling  with  arcaded  ground-level  and  galleried 
first  floor.  Such  a  house  plainly  exceeds,  in  Its  facilities  for  outdoor 
work  and  open-air  treatment,  the  cottages  of  any  garden  suburb 
to-day,  and  will  encourage  those  who,  in  these  days  of  camping  out, 
are  beginning  to  do  the  like  at  home.  Of  late  years  the  eminent 
medical  history  of  Edinburgh  has  been  renewing  Itself  as  regards  con- 
sumption. Long  an  extreme  centre  of  this  disease,  it  has  become  a 
correspondingly  eminent  centre  for  its  treatment ;  and  my  architect- 
collaborator,  an  expert  In  open-air  schools,  is  thus  deriving  fresh 
Inspiration  from  the  long  libelled  Middle  Ages.      [See  fig.  7,  a.b.] 

Next,  our  section  across  the  head  of  the  old  town  [fig.  6]  shows  the 
terraces  as  the  necessary  sites  of  successive  walls,  and  thus  explains 
the  early  origins  of  that  congestion  of  recent  and  even  present  times, 
which  is  still  so  serious  a  difficulty  for  Edinburgh.  For  though  the 
walls  are  forgotten,  the  resultant  land-values  remain  not  a  little  pro- 
hibitive. It  explains,  again,  that  deficient  water-supply  which  was 
so  long  an  efficient  cause  of  the  historic  dirt  of  old  Edinburgh  ;  while 
this  dirt  and  that  overcrowding,  with  their  accompanying  intensity 
and  increasing  variety  of  disease,  have  been  prime  factors  in  the 
development  of  Edinburgh  as  once  and  again  the  metropolis  of 
medicine,  just  as  the  fire  calls  out  the  fireman's  powers,  the  wreck  the 
sailor's.  It  is  by  no  mere  accident  that  Pasteur,  and  his  foremost 
disciple  Lister,  should  have  been  aroused  to  their  cleansing  tasks  In 
the  midst  of  cities  so  pre-eminent  In  their  overcrowding,  their  dirt 
and  disease,  as  old  Paris  and  old  Edinburgh.  Thus  our  city  surveys 
are  continually  bringing  out  the  strange  alternation  and  Interaction 
of  good  and  evil,  evil  and  good. 


Fig.  7  a,  b. 

A,  Early  Tvi'e  of  House  ix  Edinburgh  with  Arcaded  and  Galleried  Front 

("  Open-air  Treatment  "). 

B    View  showing  a  Surviving  Later  Example  :  Whitehorse  Close,  Canongate 


550  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 

Take,  now,  our  later  perspective  [fig".  8]  and  views  of  Edinburgh  at 
the  conclusion  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  coming  on  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. Just  as  the  Reformation  in  England  was  a  generation  later  than 
in  Germany,  so  in  Scotland  it  was  a  generation  later  still ;  and  hence 
an  intensification  of  the  wars  between  England  and  Scotland.  Recall, 
now,  what  to  an  Englishman  seems  a  well-nigh  forgotten  incident, 
the  battle  of  Flodden  in  1513,  so  disastrous  to  Edinburgh  that  tra- 
ditionally only  one  survivor  returned  ;  and  then  see,  on  the  remains 
of  the  Flodden  Wall,  thereafter  hastily  pushed  out  beyond  the  then 
existing  ones,  the  marks  of  hurried  and  unskilled  building  against 
the  threatened  invasion  by  the  victor.  This  invasion,  however,  did 
not  come  off  for  another  generation ;  then  note  what  follows  in  our 
survey,  with  its  reproduction  of  the  drawing,  presumably  by  the  war 
correspondent  accompanying  the  Earl  of  Hertford's  invasion  of  1544, 
and  showing  his  advance  to  the  taking  and  destruction  of  Edinburgh. 
Now  realise  the  immediate  consequence  of  such  repeated  calamities 
(and  there  were  far  more)— a  community  twice  denuded  of  its  active 


Fig.  8. — View  showing  Medieval  Development  of  Castle  and  Royal  Burgh,  c.  1450,  with 
HoLVROOD  Abbey  and  Beginnings  of  Burgh  of  Canongate. 

men — fathers  and  sons  swept  away  in  two  successive  generations, 
with  few  save  women,  children,  and  old  men  left,  and  with  un- 
numbered fugitives  from  the  devastated  country  crowding  in,  time 
after  time,  to  take  shelter  behind  the  walls.  Here,  then,  are  con- 
ditions, among  the  most  intense  in  history,  for  that  evolution  of  over- 
crowding and  squalor,  with  their  attendant  and  complicating  evils, 
which  to  this  day  are  the  reproach  of  old  Edinburgh.  I  am  only  too 
well  aware  that  in  peaceful  England,  with  its  mostly  unwalled  cities, 
and  above  all  here  in  London,  which  has  known  no  such  tragedies, 
not  even  at  the  Conquest,  her  people  are  honestly  incredulous  that 
such  far-away  incidents  can  continue  to  matter.  Here  let  me  appeal 
to  our  foreign  visitors.  What  Frenchman,  what  German  here  does 
not  know  how  terrific  and  enduring  have  been  the  effects  of  war? 
Who  does  not  know  it  as  a  commonplace  of  German  history  that  the 
prosperity  and  growth  of  cities  in  the  past  generation  are  often  but 
their  first  substantial  recovery,  since  the  widespread  ruin  and 
calamities  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  of  the  Burning  of  the  Palatinate, 
of  even  older  as  well  as  newer  tragedies. 


The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh.  551 

The  complex  strife  and  civil  wars  of  the  Reformation  are  recalled 
in  other  battle-pictures.  Little  more  than  a  generation  later  we  have 
again  a  largely  ruinous  disaster  to  Edinburgh  as  the  metropolis,  in 
the  accession  of  King  James  VI.  to  the  English  crown.  In  less  than 
another  generation  and  a  half  begin  the  new  calamities  of  civil  war, 
of  Cromwellian  defeats  and  occupation  ;  then,  again,  after  the  Restora- 
tion, the  ruthless  persecution  of  the  Covenanters,  with  practically 
a  renewing  of  the  Civil  Wars  under  Charles  II.  and  James  II.  Next, 
the  difficulties  of  the  Revolution  of  1688;  and  yet  again  a  ruin  of 
Edinburgh  as  the  centre  of  Parliament  (and  its  expenditures)  by  the 
Union  of  the  Parliaments  in  1707,  while  following  upon  this  came 
successively  the  collapse  of  Scottish  Imperialism  in  the  Darien  scheme, 
and  the  Civil  Wars  of  1715  and  1745.  Each  of  these  events,  at  the 
time  tragic  enough,  is  more  or  less  recorded  in  the  monuments  and 
buildings  of  our  survey,  or  in  the  ruins  and  dilapidations  of  these  ;  and 
the  conception  thus  grows  clearer  of  one  of  the  most  distressful  of 
old  countries,  in  which  each  and  all  the  evils  destructive  of  historic 
cities  have  raged  by  turns,  if  not  together,  and  that  repeatedly,  seldom 
sparing  a  generation  from  the  thirteenth  century  to  well  on  in  the 
eighteenth.  The  impassioned  and  adventurous  Scot,  colonising  or 
militant,  political  and  ruling,  and  the  canny  Scot,  cautious  and  reserved 
to  an  extravagant  degree,  who  by  turns  appear  to  the  romantic  or 
the  practical  Englishman  as  the  essential  and  predominant  Scottish 
type,  have  thus  both  been  developed  in  such  a  troubled  environment, 
the  one  by  facing  it  among  his  fellows,  the  other  by  shrinking  into  his 
own  small  affairs ;  and  the  strange  yet  constant  alternations  of  our 
Edinburgh  architecture — here  of  picturesqueness,  there  of  utilitarian 
plainness — thus  appear  as  the  natural  and  necessary  expressions  in 
architecture  of  these  contrasted  social  types.  Architecture  and  town 
planning  in  such  a  city,  we  thus  plainly  see,  are  not  the  mere  products 
of  the  quiet  drawing-office  some  here  would  have  them  ;  they  are  the 
expressions  of  the  local  history,  the  civic  and  national  changes  of 
mood  and  contrasts  of  mind.  Here,  indeed,  I  submit  is  an  answer 
to  those  town  planners  who  design  a  shell,  and  then  pack  their  snail 
of  a  would-be  progressive  city  into  it,  not  discerning  that  the  only 
real  and  well-fitting  shell  is  that  which  the  creature  at  its  growing 
periods  throws  out  from  its  own  life.  This  is  no  doctrine  of  laissez 
fairs  ;  it  is  simply  the  recognition  that  each  generation,  and  in  this, 
each  essential  type  and  group  of  it,  must  express  its  own  life,  and 
thus  make  its  contribution  to  its  city  In  its  own  characteristic  way. 

Returning  to  the  elementary  standpoint  of  town  planning,  the 
growth  of  our  mediaeval  town  may  now  be  traced  downwards,  from 
the  Castle  and  its  vacant  space — the  military  zone  of  a  bow-shot 
distance — beyond  which  we  descend  by  the  steep  Castle  Wynd,  now  a 
staircase,  to  the  spacious  old  Grassmarket,  from  the  earliest  times  the 
agricultural  Import  centre  of  the  city  until  the  removal  of  our  cattle- 
markets  this  very  autumn  [figs.  4,  5,  6,  8,  9].  At  the  same  point 
begins  the  narrow  Castlehill,  the  earliest  suburb,  and  evidently  at  the 
outset  a  mean  one.  This  soon  widens,  however,  into  the  spacious 
Lawnmarket  and  High  Street,  100  feet  broad,  formerly  arcaded  on 
either  side — in  Its  day,  as  the  letters  of  French  or  Venetian  Ambas- 
sadors in  Scotland  show,  the  stateliest  street  in  Europe  [fig.  9] .     To 


552    Transactions  of  the  Totvu  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

meet  the  gate  of  this  Old  Edinburgh  midway  down  the  ridge,  there 
begins,  uphill  from  Holyrood  Abbey,  the  Canon-gait— from  the  first 
a  garden  suburb,  and  after  the  plunder  of  the  Reformation  especially 
largely  made  up  of  the  mansions  of  the  nobles,  a  few  of  which  survive 

to  this  day   [figs.  8  and  9I . 


■v^v 


-^Sl  ' 


\ 


\ 


■^r^it^-<<f 


F.CM. 


Fig.  9. — Bird's  Eve  View  from  above  Salisbury  Craigs,  showing  Essentials  of 
Medi,eval  Topography. 

Note,  next,  outside  the  wall  zone  to  the  south,  the  situations  taken 
up  by  the  various  orders  of  Friars.  Then,  as  students  of  history,  see 
how  their  old  preaching  intensity  renews  in  that  of  the  Reformation 


liRf^r 


b    5 


The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh. 


ODO 


and  the  Covenant  once  and  again  in  later  times.  For  to  this  day  the 
"  Old  Greyfriars  "  Churchyard  is  the  Campo  Santo  of  Scotland  ;  and 
this  again  has  made  Edinburgh  the  successor  of  Geneva  as  the  central 
and  sacred  city  of  the  Calvinist  world.  And  of  more  than  Calvinism  : 
this  very  year  even  London  has  heard  of  the  "  World's  Missionarv 
Congress,"  with  its  five  thousand  pilgrims  in  conclave  from  well-nigh 
all  lands  and  denominations. 

Note,  again,  how  it  is  in  this  very  area  we  trace  the  beginnings 
and  still  possess  the  development  of  the  University,  of  hospitals,  and 
great  schools  [fig.  ii].  Compare  this  now  with  the  plan  of  Oxford, 
and  see  how  colleges  arose  in  the  exactly  corresponding  sites  vacated 
by  the  Friars  outside  the  walls.  Thence  go  back  to  a  plan  of  earlier 
type  still— that  of  Florence — and  note  its  two  great  poles  of  tradition  in 
religion  and  culture,  and  thus  in  art  and  architecture,  afforded  by  the 
same  Friars,  grey  and  black,  at  Santa  Maria  and  Santa  Croce.  As 
before,    in  comparison   with   ancient   Athens,    so   now   with   notable 


Fig.  12. — Plan  showing  Developments  previous  to  Xew  Town  Plan,  1688-1765. 
(With  revival  of  industry  and  trade  following  the  Union  of  Parliaments  came  the  first  small  attempts 
at  planning  on  "  Classic  "  lines.      Small  courts  were  opened  up  and  squares  and  streets  laid  out. 
Still  no  serious  attempt  is  made  to  extend  beyond  the  traditional  fortified  area). 

mediaeval  cities,  British  and  foreign,  we  see  how  our  town  studies 
throw  light  upon  their  ancient  plans.  Their  apparent  medley  is  more 
orderly  than  we  knew  ;  their  unique  physiognomy  but  the  individual 
variant  of  some  general  type. 

Enough,  now,  of  Mediai\al  and  Renaissance  Edinburgh.  Let  us 
come  to  the  Modern  world,  in  the  main,'  as  we  know  it,  L'tilitarian 
and  Industrial ;  this,  as  elsewhere  in  Great  Britain,  comes  into  power 
with  the  Revolution  of  1688.  See  how  our  photographs  of  old  Edin- 
burgh show  the  new  type  of  modern  utilitarian  building  at  once  arising 
amid  the  mediaeval  timber-work  and  the  Renaissance  stone  mansions, 
as  the  tall  block  proudly  inscribed  by  its  builder-architect,  the  seventh 
King's  master-mason  of  his  family,  as  "  Milne's  Court,  1690." 
With  the  revival  of  agriculture  consequent  upon  peace,  and  the 
increase  of  commerce  helped  by  the  rise  of  the  new  trading  class  upon 
the  ruins  of  the  Cavaliers,  the  improvement  of  the  old  town  begins 
more  rapidly  a  generation  later,  and  by-and-by  with  small  beginnings 

002 


55^>    Transactions  of  the  Tou-h  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910 

of  formal  planning;  for  after  the  opening  up  of  James  Court  (1726) 
[fig.  12]  we  venture  next  to  build  a  New  John  Street,  off  Canongate, 
the  small  Brown  Square,  and  at  length  lay  out  the  spacious  George 
Square.  The  Jacobite  wars  of  171 5  and  1745  are,  after  all,  but  minor 
interruptions  of  this  growing  prosperity  ;  and  half  a  generation  later 
the  increasingly  prosperous  Edinburgh  community,  stirred,  no  doubt, 
bv  the  contemporary  improvement  of  London,  then  beginning  to  lay 
out  its  spacious  and  dignified  squares,  resolved,  under  the  leadership 
of  a  really  great  edile,  Lord  Provost  Drummond,  upon  city  develop- 
ment and  town  planning  proper.  Hence  Craig's  "  Plan  of  the  New 
Town  "  of  1765,  which  was  realised  in  the  generation  ending  with 
1800  [figs.  13  and  14] .  The  original  New  Town  had  next  its  northern 
extension  by  1822,  and  thence  to  1830.  As  examples  of  the  high  state 
of  town  planning  in  181 7,  let  me  cite  the  series  of  plans  selected  as 
best  from  a  competition  held  by  the  Corporation  of  Edinburgh  in  181 7, 


Fig.  13. — View  of  Princes  Street  (i8i6)  as  originally  built  on  monotonous  lines. 
(The  last  surviving  front  of  this  type  is  now  being  altered.) 

for  the  area  northward  of  Calton  Plill,  and  now  lent  the  Exhibition  by 
their  successors.*  Here,  then,  we  have  a  period  of  town  planning 
and  of  architectural  execution  surpassing  even  the  lesson  of  London  ; 
yet  breaking  down,  also,  in  its  turn. 

Our  photographs  and  maps  are  arranged  so  as  to  show  this  pro- 
gress of  design  and  construction,  yet  also  to  bring  out  the  reason  of 
their  arrest  and  breakdown,  with  abandonment  of  their  unused  spaces 
to  the  contemporary  squalor  or  confusion.  These  town-planners, 
with  all  their  merits,  made  various  grave  mistakes.  First,  they 
omitted  adequate  consideration  of  relief  and  contour,  and  thus  their 
office-made  schemes  broke  down  wherever  the  ground  became 
seriously  irregular,  so  demanding  unforeseen  outlays  for  founda- 
tions— here   upon   cliffs,    or   there   on   marshy   hollows.      They   failed 

*  These  are  figured  by  Mr.  Thomas  Adams,  of  the  L.G.B.  Town  Planning 
Department,  in  the  Architectural  Review  of  October  1910. 


The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh.  557 

then,  very  largely  for  want  of  a  proper  topographical  survey  and  its 
contour-models  ;  but  also,  and  even  more  seriously,  for  want  of  any 
adequate  social  survey.  These  competitive  plans  show  plainly  that 
designers — clients  and  corporations  alike — assumed  a  practically 
indefinitely  increasing  population  of  the  well-to-do — the  lawyers, 
country  gentlemen,  merchants,  and  others  for  whom  the  new  town 
was  designed,  and  forgot  entirely,  after  the  New  Town  Plan  of  1765, 
with  its  first  instalment  of  three  rich  streets  and  two  poor  ones,  to 
provide  for  cheaper  burgher  dwellings,  much  less  for  workmen's 
homes.  Thirdly,  they  omitted  from  consideration  any  provision  for 
anything  so  vulgar  as  workshops,  for  any  industry  whatsoever  ;  and, 
consequently,  the  formal  beauty  for  which  they  had  laboured  was 
soon  broken  in  upon  and  at  many  places  destroyed  by  the  necessary 
and  inevitable  filling  up  of  any  and  every  vacant  space  with  any  and 
every  sort  of  irregular  and  utilitarian  factory  and  workshop,  as  our 
photographs  again  plainly  show,  as,  for  instance,  the  dramatic  con- 
trast of  stately  residential  order  and  planless  squalor  on  opposite  sides 
of  the  same  street,  e.g.  Fettes  Row,  of  the  same  monument  even — 
witness  St.  Stephen's  church. 

Does  not,  then,  our  survey  bring  its  gentle  but  decided  criticism 
to  bear  upon  much  of  the  town  planning  of  our  time,  which,  with 
all  its  specialising  upon  communications  here,  or  comfortable  dwel- 
lings there,  there  forgets  the  industrial  development,  and  here  the 
popular  well-being  upon  which  every  town  essentially  depends?  I 
^•enture  deliberately  to  say  that  this  Exhibition  has  too  many  plans 
of  this  kind  showing  various  lack  of  foresight,  though  happily  not 
all  too  late  for  correction. 

Turn  now  to  our  aesthetic  town  planning.  The  builders  of  the 
new  town  at  first  cared  little  for  the  romantic  old  one  they  had 
deserted.  Their  ideas  and  tastes  were  classic,  as  were  those  of  their 
time  throughout  iuirope  ;  and  hence  the  classic  High  School,  still  one 
of  the  best  examples  of  its  Neo-Grecian  style.  Hence,  too,  the 
various  classic  monuments  of  the  Calton  Hill,  culminating  in  the 
too  colossal  and  unfinished  colonnade  of  the  National  Monument,  and 
more  temperately  continued  in  the  Art  Galleries  of  the  Mound. 

Yet  the  dramatic  contrast  of  the  picturesque  castle  and  hill  town 
with  the  regular  and  utilitarian  modern  new  town,  which  is  to  this 
day  the  most  striking  of  the  many  panoramic  features  of  F)dinburgh, 
was  a  great  factor  in  the  Romantic  Movement,  of  which  Sir  Walter 
Scott  made  Edinburgh  for  a  time  the  veritable  capital.  This  new 
idealisation  of  the  mediieval  past,  both  in  its  temporal  and  its  spiritual 
manifestations,  so  natural  to  a  generation  rebounding  against  the 
severe  republicanism  of  the  Revolution  days  and  the  formal 
classicism  of  the  Empire  style  which  succeeded  it,  produced  its 
speedy  effect  in  the  next  generation.  Hence  that  efflorescence  of 
castellated  gaols  and  "  Scottish  baronial  "  tenements  or  villas  with 
which  the  next  generation  followed  the  architectural  well-nigh  as 
fully  as  the  romantic  inspiration  of  Abbotsford. 

This  Calton  Hill,  with  its  strange  medley  of  monuments,  is  thus 
a  vast  museum  of  the  battle  of  the  styles,  and  a  permanent  evidence 
showing  how  the  town  planners  of  one  generation  cannot  safely  count 
upon  continuance  of  those  of  the  next.     This  is  not  an  argument 


558    Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910- 

against  town  planning ;  but  it  brings  out  clearly  the  proposition  that 
we  shall  do  best  by  supplying  the  needs  and  expressing  the  ideas  of 
our  opening  generation,  without  too  great  expectation  of  agreement 
from  the  next  one,  much  less  attempt  to  dominate  it. 

New  churches,  too,  arose  for  all  denominations — bad,  good,  or 
mostly  at  best  indifferent — culminating  in  magnitude  at  least  in 
St.  Mary's  Cathedral  by  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  which  was,  till  Truro 
Cathedral  surpassed  it,  the  largest  and  most  ambitious  ecclesiastical 
edifice  since  the  Reformation. 

The  romantic  planners  are  now  left  behind  by  their  successors. 
A  period  of  new  communications  had  been  already  opening,  with 
its  new  and  wider  roads,  its  embankments,  bridges,  and  viaducts. 
There  is  more  civil  engineering  of  this  kind  in  Edinburgh  than  in  any 
other  city  I  know  of.  Our  series  of  photographs  again  bring  out 
notable  consequences  of  this  development,  yet  equally  unforeseen.  On 
one  side  a  disastrous  increase  in  the  social  separation  of  classes,  w'ho 
had  been  in  old  Edinburgh  so  peculiarly  mingled,  so  that  the  upper 
and  middle  classes  have  been  wont  to  traverse  Edinburgh  by  viaducts 
high  above  the  festering  squalor  below,  and  to  live  and  die  in  practical 
indifference  to  it,  and  thus  maintain  that  practical  indifference  to  de- 
plorable conditions  which  strikes  every  Continental  visitor,  even  every 
American  tourist,  with  an  outspoken  astonishment  far  from  flattering 
to  Edinburgh,  yet  for  the  same  reason  with  too  little  effect  upon  it. 
Yet  note  also  how  this  series  of  achievements  of  civil  engineering 
culminates,  for  the  city  itself,  in  the  beautiful  Dean  Bridge,  which  is 
one  of  Telford's  masterpieces;  while  a  few  miles  further  on  we  come 
to  the  natural  outlet  and  main  highw^ay  of  Edinburgh — that  of  the 
Forth  Bridge,  which  but  replaces  its  old  Queen's  Ferry.  This  most 
colossal  of  engineering  achievements  appears  in  its  true  light  as  a 
regional  and  therefore  normal  and  natural  product,  when  we  consider 
the  immediate  civic  environment  of  civil  engineering  achievements, 
each  a  triumph  in  its  day,  in  which  its  promoters  and  its  first  designers 
grew  up  from  boyhood.  In  an  analogous  connection  the  Forth  and 
Clyde  Canal,  once  of  small  barges,  then  of  incipient  steamships,  and 
through  the  Railway  Age  in  comparative  insignificance,  is  now  likely 
to  give  place  to  a  Forth  and  Clyde  Canal  upon  the  oceanic  scale, 
necessarily  with  unseen  future  transformations  for  Edinburgh. 
Almost  since  its  foundation,  and  for  many  years  before  the  present 
public  interest,  the  alternative  routes  for  this  canal  have  been  on 
exhibition  in  our  Outlook  Tower,  with  a  suggestion  of  their  future 
Garden  City,  stretching  from  sea  to  sea. 

From  the  great  civil  engineers  of  roads  and  bridges  to  the  Railway 
Age  which  followed  them  is,  however,  not  so  distinct  a  progress — in 
fact  much  otherwise,  as  our  map  of  the  development  of  the  railway 
system  of  Edinburgh  so  tragically  shows  [fig.  15].  This  development 
of  the  old  carrier  system  of  Edinburgh  by  the  "  new  firm  of  carriers," 
as  Lord  Cockburn  called  it,  naturally  established  its  depots  as  near  as 
possible  to  the  old  places  of  departure  for  east  and  west  (north,  too, 
and  south  respectively)  ;  and  these  have  then  grown  by  sheer  force  of 
circumstances  to  their  modern  dimensions.  Thus,  too,  their  depots  at 
each  side  of  the  city  naturally,  almost  inevitably,  became  linked  up  by 
the  railway  through  the  gardens.     Hence  our  exhibition  of  the  railway 


^: 


560    Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910, 

age  appropriately  begins  with  the  statue  of  Lord  Provost  Adam  Black, 
uttering  his  dictum  that  "  Providence  had  plainly  designed  the  valley 
of  Princes  Street  Gardens  for  a  railway."  Hence,  naturally,  our 
two  contrasted  plans — one  of  the  valley  as  it  is,  its  eastern  half  filled 
with  the  most  gigantic  of  stations,  the  other  of  "  the  valley  as  it 
might  have  been  " — the  most  magnificent  of  public  gardens  between 
the  sister  cities,  old  and  new.  The  practical  question,  of  course,  here 
arises  :  "  Where  better  could  the  railway  have  been  arranged  for? 
Would  you  arrest  all  industry  and  progress,  and  dry  up  the  very 
sources  of  wealth  from  which  gardens  can  be  obtained?  "  No  doubt 
there  have  been  such  aesthetes  ;  but  here  we  are  planners.  See  there- 
fore upon  our  plan  the  "  Innocent  Railway  " — the  oldest  line  entering 
Edinburgh,  and  direct  from  the  great  Midlothian  coalfield  ;  and  we 
venture  to  submit  it  is  plain  that  it  is  this  practically  designed  railwa}- 
line  which  should  have  been  developed  rather  than  the  existing  mere 
following  up  of  the  old  horse-carrier  roads  and  depots,  had  not  this 
latter  railway  planning  been  incompetent  through  lack  of  grasp  and 
foresight,  and  had  not  the  town-planning  interest  and  experience  of 
the  previous  generation  been  totally  lost  sight  of  by  a  generation 
hastening  to  be  rich  and  smitten  with  railway  mania. 

Observe  in  detail  the  weltering  confusion  of  the  railway  lines  of 
competitive  companies  which  have  invaded  and  well-nigh  destroyed 
the  regions  between  Edinburgh  and  Leith,  which  were  being  so  care- 
fully planned  only  one  generation  before  ! 

Next  consider  the  far  simpler  net  of  the  railway  system  as  it  might 
and  should  have  been,  and  note  in  this  the  economy  in  space  and  in 
time,  with  gain,  not  loss,  of  efficiency,  time,  and  convenience,  and  with 
saving  of  the  city's  beauty  to  boot.  Of  course  this  is  but  a  sketch, 
inviting  criticism  by  the  expert,  with  no  doubt  modifications  in  detail. 
It  is  the  general  principle  which  is  here  boldly  affirmed,  that  this 
railway  system  has  not  been  the  utilitarian  success  it  still  pretends 
itself,  but  has  been,  not  merely  half-ruinous  to  the  beauty  of  Edin- 
burgh, but  is  structurally  bungled  and  economically  wasteful  to  all 
concerned — so  much  so,  in  fact,  that  I  again  venture  to  suggest 
that  it  may  not  be  a  merely  Utopian  or  academic  question  whether  it 
may  not  yet  pay  some  day  to  transform  the  railway  system  more  or 
less  as  here  suggested  !  Be  this  as  it  may,  I  trust  this  illustration  will 
be  sufficiently  clear  on  general  lines  to  warrant  my  pressing  the  town- 
planner  boldly  to  confront  and  scrutinise  the  railway  system  of  his 
own  town  and  of  every  other  town.  Let  liim  criticise  this,  not 
on  any  grounds  of  antiquarian  piety  or  wayward  aestheticism 
(as  he  will  be  of  course  misrepresented  on  all  hands  as  doing), 
but  from  his  more  extensive  and  more  clear-headed  grasp  of 
the  topography  and  the  economics  of  the  town  and  region,  which 
the  railway  directors  and  their  engineers  have  as  yet  so  astonish- 
ingly little  time  to  inquire  into.  He  will  thus  discover  that 
the  "  utilitarian  "  here,  as  so  often  elsewhere,  has  been  the 
futilitarian  ;  and  that  he  too  frequently  to  this  day  remains  so.  If 
this  be  doubted,  let  us  glance  for  a  change  at  the  map  of  North 
London  with  its  railway  termini,  and  their  mazes  behind  the  scenes, 
or  at  the  Thames  with  its  adjacent  stations  and  railway  bridges  ;  the 
r.ame   through   outer   and   suburban   Paris,    and   so   on,    even   to   the 


562     Tnnisaclions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910- 

newcst  capitals,  like  Berlin  and  Chicago.  All  this  will  surely  be 
sufficient  to  warrant  the  present  attack  upon  most  railway  planning, 
whether  in  Edinburgh  or  beyond,  as  the  most  fortuitous  bungle  in  the 
long  history  of  cities,  and  as  far  exceeding  in  its  present  disorder  and 
waste  of  space,  time,  and  energy  (to  say  nothing  of  natural  beaut}' 
or  human  life),  anything  that  has  been  or  can  be  alleged  against  the 
decav  of  the  Mediaeval,  the  Renaissance  or  the  eighteenth-century 
cities  and  citv  plans,  defective  though  we  have  seen  each  and  all  of 
these  to  ha\e  been  in  its  turn,  and  disastrous  in  its  decay.  I  labour 
this  point,  not  as  vituperation,  but  to  bring  out  the  essential  origins 
and  tasks  of  our  present  town-planning  movement ;  it  is  the  necessary 
rebound  of  a  new  generation  against  the  ideas,  and  the  lack  of  ideas, 
of  our  elders  of  the  railway  and  industrial  age,  and  the  practical 
endeavour  now  to  mitigate  the  material  confusion  and  the  social 
deterioration  in  which  their  lapse  of  well-nigh  all  sense  of  civic 
responsibility  and  well-being  has  plunged  us. 

Turning  now  from  communications  to  population,  our  later  maps 
of  Edinburgh  show  it  growing  rapidly,  after  all  much  like  other  more 
obviously  industrial  cities  in  this  railway  age.  They  show  how  readily 
and  completely,  even  in  this  city  so  peculiarly  inspired  by  the  tradition 
of  the  three  great  preceding  culture-periods,  all  alike  for  practical  pur- 
poses become  lost  so  far  as  city  development  is  concerned.  For  newer 
districts  this  has  arisen  from  the  lower  and  more  squalid  types  in  the 
main,  largely  that  of  the  West  Port  quarter,  which  each  succeeding- 
town  plan  unhappily  neglected.  \\'itness  the  wretchedly  unplanned  in- 
dustrial suburb  of  Dairy,  &c. ,  which  chokes  the  western  exit ;  witness, 
too,  the  confusion,  stretching  far  and  near,  round  Holyrood,  or  that 
on  the  eastern  and  northerly  quarters  of  Leith. 

This  zone  of  sordid  industrial  districts  surrounding — say,  indeed, 
immersing — the  old  town  and  the  planned  new  town  alike,  has  thus 
grown  in  a  vicious  circle  with  the  misgrowth  of  the  railway  system, 
and  our  plans  show  plainly  how  Edinburgh  has  become,  as  far  as  it 
could,  an  ordinary  manufacturing  town— at  many  points  now  able  to 
match  Dundee,  Glasgow,  or  Lancashire  towns  in  their  characteristic 
perspectives  of  squalor  and  dreariness  of  homes,  of  monotonous  con- 
fusion of  mean  streets. 

Yet  we  must  not  merely  blame  the  earlv  railwav  age  or  its  con- 
tinuators  ;  nor  do  we  forget  the  efforts  of  the  prosperous  community 
meantime  to  the  lay-out  of  villa  quarters,  of  the  poorer  middle-class 
towards  more  or  less  improved  tenements.  Nor  can  we  simply  follow 
our  present  town-planners,  central  or  suburban,  to  the  laying  out  of 
boulevards  within  or  of  dormitories  without.  For  what  is  this  indus- 
trial confusion  but  the  Nemesis  of  that  forgetfulness  of  workshops 
and  workers'  homes  which  we  noted  in  eighteenth-century  planning? 

We  are  thus  coming  plainly  abreast  of  the  modern  situation,  and 
this  as  we  sec  it  in  less  obviously  historic  cities  than  Edinburgh  ;  and 
we  are  now  ready  to  criticise,  not  merely  the  apathetic  standpoint 
of  yesterday,  but  the  well-intentioned  efforts  of  to-day,  with  old  com- 
munities and  municipalities  beginning  to  look  towards  the  problem 
of  redressing  the  disorder  which  has  thus  thoughtlessly  grown  up, 
and  even  with  new  communities,  like  Lctchworth  or  Rosyth,  seeking 
how,  if  possible,  to  avoid  failure  in  their  turn.      Here,  then,  the  views 


The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh.  563 

of  the  Edinburgh  Municipahty,  which  has  pioneered  in  town-planning 
progress  even  oftener  than  our  Survey  has  sufficed  to  show,  are  sureh- 
worthy  of  careful  consideration.  Note,  then,  our  exhibit  of  the 
"  Prehminary  Memorandum  to  the  Town  Council  of  Edinburgh  on 
the  F"urther  Development  of  Industries  (1908)."  In  this  document, 
after  a  preamble  duly  appreciative  of  the  historic  interest  and 
picturesque  beauty  of  Edinburgh,  and  of  the  economic  value  of  its 
consequent  tourist  attractiveness,  after  due  recognition  of  its 
educational,  governmental,  religious,  and  other  importance  as  the 
Scottish  metropolis,  there  is  no  suggestion  at  all  as  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  existing  industries  of  Edinburgh — much  less  of  that 
possible  further  association  of  these  with  the  educational  and  other 
advantages  of  the  city.  But  these,  it  would  be  easy  to  prove  to  the 
most  sceptical  critic,  give  it  potential  advantages  similar  to  those 
which  it  has  partly  utilised,  as  in  the  printing  and  paper-making 
industries,  those  of  pharmacy,  brewing,  &c.  ;  and  all  these  in  a  degree 
probably,  on  the  whole,  not  inferior  to  any  other  cities,  British  or 
foreign.  There  is  merely  a  lengthy,  and  in  itself,  so  far  as  it  goes, 
not  unpersuasive,  argument  as  to  the  suitability  of  Edinburgh,  by 
virtue  of  its  low  rates  especially,  for  new  industries  of  any  kind  ;  but 
notably  those  which  are  being,  or  may  be,  attracted  to  Great  Britain 
by  Mr.  Lloyd  George's  recent  law  on  Patents.  Moreover,  this  docu- 
ment also  proposes — and  here  is  its  main  interest  as  a  town-planning- 
suggestion — that  these  industries  should  be  developed,  as  mainly  at 
present,  to  the  south-west.  But  so  long  as  the  earth  continues  to 
rotate  that  will  be  the  direction  of  our  prevailing  wind.  The  new 
town  is  already  gravely  depreciated  by  the  smoke  and  smell  of  this 
new  quarter — even  its  central  and  most  famous  view  is  "So  like 
Pittsburg!"  as  the  American  tourist  now  frankly  tells  you;  and  to 
extend  all  this  is,  surely,  not  likely  to  benefit  or  even  maintain  the 
interests  so  politely  recognised  at  the  outset  of  the  memorandum. 

.Are,  then,  industrial  developments  to  be  discouraged,  and  the 
city  to  be  left  to  its  lawyers  and  parsons,  its  doctors  and  professors, 
to  its  letired  villas  and  its  conspicuous  slums?  Not  so.  Our  initial 
Survey,  with  its  general  and  geological  maps,  shows  exactly  where 
the  future  industrial  development  of  Edinburgh  should  be,  and  there- 
fore will  be,  because  it  will  pay  to  be — pay  in  energy  and  efficiency, 
in  health  and  beauty,  and  therefore  in  money  also.  It  will  be  upon 
that  "  Innocent  Railway  "  [fig.  15]  which  we  saw  for  urban  reasons 
should  have  been  developed  from  the  first,  and  now  should  be  for 
regional  reasons  also.  And  it  will  be  upon  and  beside  the  Midlothian 
coalfield,  which,  happily,  lies  east,  not  west  of  the  city,  and  has  its 
smoke  mainly  blown  out  to  sea.  Smoke,  of  course,  is  mere  waste, 
soon  to  be  suppressed  by  a  more  economic  and  more  truly  utilitarian 
civilisation,  while,  with  this,  an  adequate  development  of  electrical 
power,  lighting  and  heating  systems  must  naturally  also  arise,  and 
this  not  only  for  its  own  uses,  but  also  improving  existing  Edinburgh 
in  wavs  for  which  a  volume  is  required.  Our  survey,  in  fact,  points 
straight  towards  its  sequel,  in  a  Report  with  Plans  of  this  possible 
Newer  Edinburgh — an  industrial  city  and  a  garden  city  in  one,  and 
this  realisable  within  a  reasonable  period,  which  our  friend  Mr. 
Ebenezer  Howard  may,  I  trust,  live  to  see. 


564    l^ausactions  of  the  Town  Phiuniug  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

An  indication  of  this  growth,  as  already  in  instructive  and  un- 
conscious progress — though  for  that  reason  unfortunately  as  yet 
quite  unplanned — is  afforded  by  the  growing  brewery  village  of  New 
Duddingston.  This  exodus  of  the  breweries  from  Central  Edinburgh 
next  begins  to  raise  the  question  of  the  reorganisation  of  the  present 
industrial  confusion,  and,  with  this,  of  the  working-class  quarters 
within  the  old  town — in  short,  we  have  to  supplement  our  incipient 
scheme  of  a  newer  Edinburgh  by  a  better  older  Edinburgh  also.  We 
iire,  in  fact,  entering  ujjon  a  period  like  that  of  1765,  upon  a  new 
spiral,  of  course;  let  us  hope  a  less  defective  one.  Does  not,  then, 
this  Survey  unmistakably  bring  out,  not  only  the  interest  and  the 
possibility  of  our  Survey  of  a  City,  but  its  direct  practical  use — the 
way  in  which  retrospect,  rightly  interpreted,  not  only  illuminates  the 
present,  but  sweeps  through  this,  and  forward  again  into  intelligent 
foresight?  With  our  greater  populations  and  resources,  our  graver 
problems,  our  more  anxious  responsibilities,  we  are  compelled  to  still 
greater  magnitude  of  design  than  were  our  predecessors ;  but  surely 
also  to  fuller  reflection,  to  completer  provision  for  all  the  many  needs 
of  life.  Of  course  it  may  fairly  be  contended  by  the  municipal 
authorities,  whose  "  Preliminary  Report  "  we  have  been  so  severely 
criticising,  that  their  proposed  south-westward  development  is  for 
their  own  area,  while  ours  are  outside  their  present  municipal 
boundary.  Yet  the  answer  to  this  also  is  plain.  Municipal 
boundaries  exist  for  the  sake  of  cities,  and  not  cities  for  municipal 
boundaries ;  and  in  Edinburgh,  with  what  is  believed  to  be  propor- 
tionately the  largest  legal  and  political  population  of  any  city  in  the 
world,  or  in  history,  it  should  not  be  impossible  to  enlarge  at  once 
its  area  and  its  powers  to  an  extent  worthy  alike  of  the  opening  social 
future,  and  of  the  continued  place  of  Scotland  as  one  of  the  Great 
Powers — of  Culture,  if  no  longer  of  material  forces  and  alliances  :  of 
Edinburgh  as  one  of  the  Great  Cities — for  in  history  those  alone  are 
great  whose  spiritual  forces  and  influences  are  most  out  of  proportion 
to  their  mere  numbers. 

11. 

The  preceding  criticism  of  the  recent  industrial  order,  or  rather 
lack  of  order,  together  with  the  complemental  indication  of  a  policy  of 
improvement  within  the  city,  and  of  expansion  without,  has  brought 
us  more  fully  up  to  the  contemporary  interests  of  town  planners  than 
our  far-away  manner  of  opening  seemed  to  promise.  Yet,  instead 
of  now  presenting  plans  of  industrial  and  garden  villages  without,  or 
of  new  clearances  or  thoroughfares  within,  as  the  prevalent  custom 
is,  let  us  simply  return  to  our  Survey,  still  far  from  ended— indeed, 
really  only  beginning  for  truly  modern  purposes — with  our  disillusion- 
ment with  the  "  progress  "  of  the  industrial  and  railway  age. 

Let  us  resort  rather  to  that  form  of  mental  relief  common  to  all 
save  the  poorest  classes  of  our  industrial  world — that  of  taking  the 
tourist  and  holiday  view  of  Edinburgh,  from  which  indeed  our  city 
largely  derives  its  wealth,  like  Scotland  generally. 

This  explains  our  exhibit  of  the  two  ways  of  looking  at  Old 
Edinburgh — as  a  centre,  indeed  a  very  metropolis — of  Squalor,  yet 
likewise  of  Romance.     Our  series  of  photographs,  therefore,  records 


f 


The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinbiiri^h.  565 

this  appalling^  and  still  tolerated  squalor  of  the  old  town  in  its  build- 
ings and  courts,  and  correspondingly  of  its  slum  life.  Throughout 
the  nineteenth  century,  as  already  indicated,  this  state  of  things  has 
been  mainly  accepted  by  the  middle  and  governing  classes  as  a 
permanent  supply  of  human  material  for  its  confused  charities,  for 
its  vast  schools  of  medicine  and  anatomy,  and  for  its  manifold 
religious  endeavours.  Vet,  as  the  medical  school  has  its  long  roll  of 
heroes,  of  whom  Simpson  and  Lister  are  but  the  chief,  so  the  philan- 
thropists and  di\ines  have  also  largely  justiiied  themselves  in  types 
like  Dr.  Guthrie,  the  organiser  of  ragged  schools,  and  Dr.  Chalmers, 
the  originator  of  the  Elberfeld  system,  or  Dr.  Begg,  a  pioneer  in 
housing  many  years  ago ;  while  the  too  sweeping  would-be  sanitary 
clearances,  like  those  of  Provost  \Mlliam  Chambers  and  most  of  his 
successors,  are  also  seen  to  be  not  entirely  inexcusable,  despite  their 
inevitable  resultants  of  transferred  pressure  in  higher  local  rents  and 
general  taxes,  &c. 

For  Romance,  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  a  selection  of  Mr.  Bruce 
Home's  admirable  drawings  [fig.  j6],  while  our  photographs  culmi- 
nate in  those  of  the  "  Old  Edinburgh  Street  "  of  the  International 
Exhibition  of  1886,  probably  the  most  admirable  reconstruction  of  an 
ancient  city  yet  effected,  and  a  suggestion  of  what  may  yet  be  done  in 
some  of  our  old  quarters  in  permanent  form.  Beginnings  of  this 
domestic  revival  have,  in  fact,  since  been  made  at  Dean  Milage,  in 
High  Street,  &c. ,  as  notably  in  the  buildings  of  University  Hall. 

The  exact  coincidence,  both  in  time  and  space,  of  such  work  as 
this  of  Messrs.  Sydney  Mitchell  and  Wilson,  Capper,  and  other  archi- 
tects, towards  this  revival  in  domestic  architecture,  with  the  romantic 
tales  and  admirable  "  Edinburgh  "  of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  is  of 
interest  as  once  more  showing  how  the  mental  attitude  of  a  generation 
and  its  expression  in  material  and  literary  art  are  normally  at  one.  In 
this  case  all  are  plainly  derived  from  Scott,  and  arise  by  the  revival  of 
his  spirit  in  presence  of  the  broken  survivals  of  his  picturesque  envi- 
ronment before  the  inroad  of  the  railway  and  full  onset  of  the  indus- 
trial and  financial  age.  The  restoration  of  the  interior  of  St.  Giles  and 
that  of  Edinburgh  Castle  are  similar  and  contemporary  examples  of 
the  work  of  the  past  generation  at  its  best.  This  connection  is  still 
more  plain  when  we  note  that  both  these  great  works  were  carried  out 
at  the  initiative  and  expense  of  Robert  Chambers  and  of  William 
Xelson  respectively,  two  of  our  leading  printers  and  publishers — a 
group  among  whom  there  still  reappear,  perhaps  more  naturally  than 
in  any  other  class,  the  combined  virtues  of  scholar  and  of  citizen. 

Once  more  we  return  in  fresh  series  of  exhibits  to  that  ever-recur- 
ring deterioration  of  the  work  of  each  generation,  which  seems  well- 
nigh  as  sternly  inevitable  as  the  death  and  decay  of  its  once  living 
bodies  ;  and  this  involves  a  corresponding  rebuke  of  the  vanity  of  the 
town  planners  who  so  boldly  provide  for  a  morrow  they  naively 
imagine  "  shall  be  as  this  day  and  much  more  abundant."  We  show, 
then,  the  character  of  our  "  eligible  villas,"  but  these  have  already 
been  sufficiently  criticised  in  Stevenson's  "  Edinburgh."  We  show, 
too,  the  type  of  "  long,  unlovely  street,"  unending  miles  of  tenement 
rows,  upon  which  a  past  generation  of  builders,  of  speculators  rather, 
made  their  transient  gains,  each  an  enduring  injur}  to  its  community. 


566    Transactions  oj  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 

once  more — like  the  villas,  the  Calton  monuments,  the  two  towns,  old 
and  new — in  further  decadence  of  rival  styles,  the  classic  and  romantic, 
in  their  latest  variations  of  decay. 

It  is  important  to  note  how  that  essential  continuance  of  the  his- 
toric overcrowding  of  Edinburgh  by  the  habitual  preference  of  even 
moderately  well-to-do  and  otherwise  intelligent  people  for  the  tene- 
ment, as  distinguished  from  the  cottage,  has  been  and  still  is  en- 
couraged and  maintained  by  the  great  Educational  Trusts,  which  are 
the  largest  ground  landlords  of  Edinburgh,  and  which  stoutly  con- 
tinue to  press  in  and  pile  up  a  population  far  denser  than  that  which 
can  be  found  upon  the  estates  of  any  of  the  ordinary  types  of  ground 
landlords  of  whom  English  town-planners  so  often  grievously  com- 
plain— and  yet  all  this  with  the  best  intentions,  in  the  supposed  in- 
terest of  the  up-bringing  of  the  child-life  of  Edinburgh  !  Thus  the 
question  of  ground  landlords  is  not  so  merely  political  as  people  sup- 
pose. Like  every  other  abuse  or  evil  around  us,  it  needs  a  fuller 
study  than  either  politicians  or  reformers  are  yet  accustomed  to  give 
— for  lack  of  city  surveys  ! 

Our  survey  made,  shall  we  then  turn  to  political  agitation  ?  Xot 
I,  at  least,  for  one.  Our  Civic  Observatory  of  an  Outlook  Tower  can 
but  leave  its  Surveys  to  leaven  gradually  as  they  may,  the  thought 
of  ground  landlords.  City  Fathers,  Parliamentary  representatives, 
and  other  personages  too  high  for  easy  access,  like  our  tenements 
themselves.  Our  Survey  turns  next  to  what  can  be  done  here  and 
there  meanwhile  with  moderate  means  and  ordinary  folk,  with  such 
labour  and  time  as  they  can  spare.  Hence  our  "  Open  Spaces  Coni' 
mittee,"  with  its  survey  of  every  open  space  amid  the  slums;  and 
these  within  the  "  Historic  Mile,"  despite  its  overcrowding,  amount 
to  no  less  than  seventy-five  pieces,  measuring  about  ten  acres  in  all. 
This  Survey  again  leads  to  "  Report  " — that  is  to  plan,  to  action  ;  and 
ten  or  a  dozen  of  these  have  already  been  reclaimed  within  the  past 
two  or  three  years  into  gardens,  accessible  to  school  and  street 
children  and  to  women,  to  the  people  generally,  whilst  others  are 
in  preparation  as  circumstances  and  scanty  funds  allow.  Our  photo- 
graphs and  water-colour  perspectives  here  explain  themselves — save 
that  in  these  I  may  bring  out  the  principle  and  point  of  view  of  the 
whole  historic  survey  by  once  more  calling  attention  to  these  as  a 
veritable  renewal  of  the  cultivation  terraces  of  our  initial  and  pre- 
historic survey  [fig.  17].  As  a  practical  point  it  may  be  added  that, 
despite  all  that  is  too  commonly  said  of  rough  population  and  the  rest, 
no  mischief  worth  mentioning  is  ever  done.  Quite  the  contrary.  The 
gardens  are  thoroughly  appreciated,  and  their  educating,  civilising 
influence  already  plain,  and  spreading  in  ways  too  varied  and  complex 
for  consideration  here. 

Closely  kindred  to  the  work  of  this  Open  Spaces  Committee  is  the 
corresponding  larger  survey  lately  suggested  by  Mr.  Joseph  Pels  on 
behalf  of  his  well-known  "  Vacant  Lands  Cultivation  scheme,"  now 
flourishing  in  London  as  well  as  in  Philadelphia.  Our  map  shows  that 
about  450  unused  acres  on  the  outskirts  of  Edinburgh  might  be 
utilised  as  in  these  .so  far  more  progressive  cities.  It  should  not 
be  necessary  to  argue  for  this  method  of  relief,  though  as  yet  its 
adoption  is  hard  to  begin  in  so  keenly  critical  a  community  as  ours  : 


568   Transactions  of  the  Toiv)i  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910 

hence    this    Httle    survey    also    awaits    its    natural    application    and 
development,  like  other  and  larg-er  ones. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  historic  survey,  however,  note  how 
this  vacant  land  cultivation  just  outside  the  town  limits  throws  light 
upon  the  origin  of  the  spacious  gardens  of  the  old-worid  friars  upon 
our   mediaeval   town-maps ;   and   these^    not   only    in   Edinburgh,    but 


Fig.  17. — "  King's  Wall  Garden,"  an  example  of  the  Reclamation  of  Neglected  Areas 
AND  Renewal  of  Ancient  Cultivation  Terraces. 


in  Oxford,  in  Florence,  and  other  old  cities.  Hence — the  speculation 
is  at  least  harmless — might  not  this  similarly  useful  and  re-educa- 
tional type  of  cultivation  again  lead  us  towards  some  other  new  and 
unexpected  development  of  town-growth,  in  its  way  also  beautiful,  as 
did  that  of  old?  May  it  not  have  some  latent  part  in  that  next 
evolution  of  our  city  for  the  better,  which  is  the  happier  side  of  that 


The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh.  569 

judgment-day  which  our  historic  and  sociological  survey  shows  is 
always  going  on?  May  it  not  even  again  be  said  by  the  Ideal  of 
Progress — "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it 
unto  Me?  " 

Leave  now  our  small  gardens  in  progress,  and  our  waste  lands 
still  unutilised.  We  leave  undescribed  also  our  little  beginnings  of 
Garden  \'illages  in  Edinburgh,  though  the  oldest  in  Scotland  and 
among  the  earliest  in  Britain.  For  a  higher  outlook  and  a  larger 
future,  let  us  return  to  the  ancient  heart  and  focus  of  our  city,  the 
ridge  of  Old  Edinburgh.  Once  more  we  have  to  promote  an  exodus 
like  that  to  the  New  Town,  yet  in  a  different  way — the  relief  of  its 
again  largely  over-crowded  population,  seriously  under-housed  even 
when  contented — not  by  further  destruction  of  insanitary  areas,  as 
some  desire,  nor  by  the  erection  of  masses  of  new  tenements  for 
the  poorer  classes,  as  another  school  of  city  reformers  everywhere 
desires  ;  but  aiming  rather  at  that  gentle  yet  real  uplift  throughout  all 
classes  which  is  afforded  by  better  housing  generally,  and  by  normal 
civic  expansion  and  improvement. 

Notice  in  this  connection  the  survey  by  our  foremost  Edinburgh 
antiquary  and  civic  artist,  Mr.  Bruce  Home,  showing  every  historic 
building  still  surviving  :  yet  let  us  frankly  recognise  that  interesting 
though  these  old  buildings  may  be,  their  survival  must  essentially 
depend  upon  such  possibilities  of  utilisation  as  they  can  show. 

Here,  then,  the  significance  of  our  next  exhibit — that  outlining 
the  constructive  work  of  the  Town  and  Gown  Association,  Limited. 
Here  I  shall  only  speak  of  its  Gown  side — that  of  collegiate 
residence,  and  sum  up  its  development  and  growth  in  twenty  years 
without  eleemosynary  aid,  from  one  house  and  seven  residents,  in- 
volving a  capital' of  ;^400,  to  140  residents,  plus  additional  accom- 
modation for  married  residents  and  others,  representing  upwards  of 
;£!^5o,ooo.  This  scheme  has  also  extended  to  London,  and  there 
initiated — with  considerable  outlay  and  not  without  sacrifice — the 
University  Hall  of  Residence  in  Chelsea,  now  conducted  under  the 
tegis  of  the  University  of  London,  by  a  kindred  but  independent 
"  University  and  City  Association,  Ltd.,"  which  has  in  its  turn 
lately  succeeded  in  re-erecting  Crosby  Hall.  Here,  then,  we  have  a 
new  principle  and  method  of  town  planning — and,  indeed,  of  city 
design.  It  is  the  combination,  in  each  city,  of  its  antiquarian  piety,  and 
its  conservative  artistic  purpose,  with  architectural  ability  and  busi- 
ness management :  this  towards  a  two-fold  purpose — on  one  side 
that  of  collegiate  efficiency  ;  on  the  other,  that  of  civic  betterment. 
With  the  accompanying  Outlook  Tower  of  Edinburgh,  or  the  corre- 
sponding survev  of  Chelsea  and  other  boroughs  beginning  in  London, 
this  combined  collegiate  and  civic  scheme  is  gradually  becoming 
intelligible  as  a  centre  not  merely  of  civic  survey,  but  also  of  civic 
improvement.  Education  and  post-graduate  study  and  effort  thus 
tend  to  develop  upon  a  somewhat  different,  yet  not  altogether  less 
social  plane  than  that  of  the  University  Settlements,  which  may  in 
turn  adapt  themselves  to  the  more  unified  civic  and  educational 
policy  of  the  University  Halls. 

These  are,  in  fact,  the  gradual  working-out  of  a  scheme  of 
collegiate  development,  especially  adapted  to  our  larger  University 

p  p 


370  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conjerence,  Oct.  1910. 


The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh. 


571 


572  Transactions  of  the  Tozvn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

cities,  and  not,  as  too  much  in  older  types,  independently  of  the 
existing  city  and  by  mere  destruction  and  replacement  of  its  buildings. 
On  the  contrary,  it  seeks,  on  grounds  alike  economical  and  social,  to 
conserve  and  incorporate  existing  buildings.  Hence  our  large  perspec- 
tives [figs.  18  and  19]  of  the  upper  third  of  the  ridge  of  Old  Edinburgh 
now  become  intelligible  as  a  definite  and  gradually  unifying  scheme. 
This  is  not  simplv  for  the  cleansing  and  conservation  of  the  historic 
remnants  of  Old  Edinburgh,  but  for  the  development  of  this  into  a 
collegiate  street  and  city  comparable  in  its  way  with  the  magnificent 
High  Street  of  Oxford  and  its  noble  surroundings.  Not,  of  course, 
comparable  in  the  same  forms  of  collegiate  splendour  ;  but  none  the 
less  in  the  definite  and  practical  way,  of  ultimate  student  numbers,  and 
in  excellent  and,  in  their  way,  not  less  educative  conditions.  Historic 
houses  have  thus  been  renewed  ;  old  courts  cleansed,  repaired,  and 
modestly  re-beautified ;  and  City  and  University,  too  long  dis- 
sociated, begin  to  find  themselves  entering  into  renewing  contacts, 
in  which  that  tradition  of  culture  in  democracy,  which  is  the  peculiar 
heritage  and  glory  of  Scottish  education,  may  be  not  only  maintained, 
but  developed  towards  new  and  higher  issues.  Thus,  then,  the  long 
discord  of  antiquarian  sentiment  and  utilitarian  realism  is  beginning 
to  find  a  renewed  harmony  ;  and  our  studious  Survey  has  risen  once 
more  towards  practical  purpose  and  unwearying  activity. 

In  this  renewal  of  Old  Edinburgh  other  agencies  have,  of  course, 
also  been  long  at  work,  both  municipal  and  private ;  witness  the 
admirable  application  of  Miss  Octavia  Hill's  system  by  the  Social 
Union.  At  present  most  hopeful,  yet  as  some  fear  also  most  dangerous 
to  the  future  of  Old  Edinburgh  is  that  possible  improvement  of  Holy- 
rood  Palace  now  being  considered  in  association  with  the  memorial 
of  the  late  King  and  the  welcome  to  the  new.  Here  town-planning 
schemes  at  this  point  are  actually  being  called  for,  and  towards  these 
our  survey  and  its  conservative  suggestions,  our  constructive  begin- 
nings also,  are  respectfully  submitted,  especially  to  any  to  whom 
the  present  principle — that  of  survey  before  action — carries  a  serious 
appeal. 

At  the  outset  we  noted  the  fear  that  our  surxeys  might  delay 
action.  But  has  it  not  been  shown  in  practice  how  our  survey  with 
its  interpretation  illuminates  the  path  for  action,  and  this  alike  as 
regards  its  dangerous  and  its  hopeful  possibilities?  Our  survey,  in 
short,  leads  inevitably  towards  a  corresponding  "  Report  on  City 
Development;  "  and  this  is  actually  in  preparation,  and  on  lines  not 
less,  but  more,  comprehensive  than  those  of  my  "  City  Develop- 
ment "*  with  regard  to  the  small  yet  deeply  interesting  and  significant 
City  of  Dunfermline. 

Here,  however,  it  is  sufficient  to  give  some  simple  indication  alike 
of  the  method  and  spirit  of  the  Report  which  arises  necessarily  from 
the  Survey.  First,  as  regards  the  method  ;  this  we  briefly  express 
by  our  juxtaposition  of  two  plans  of  the  city.  The  first  is  the  ordinary 
Directory  map  of  the  city,  tinted  here  and  there  to  show  how  it 
has  grown  upon  its  physical  contour  and  geographical  situa- 
tion. The  second  is  a  sample  of  our  rough  experimental  sketches 
towards  the  bettered  city  of  the  opening  generation.  For 
the  past  it  shows  the  utmost  practicable  acceptance  of  the  natural 
*  Edinburgh:  Geddcs  and  Colleagues,  Outlook  Tower,  1904. 


The  Civic  Survey  of  Edinburgh.  573 

environment  with  the  conservation  of  the  historic  heritage — the  best 
word  of  each  and  every  generation.  As  regards  the  present,  we 
seek  at  once  social  betterment  and  economic  efficiency  ;  while  as 
regards  the  opening  future,  we  venture  more  and  more  boldly  upon 
that  social  and  cultural  evolution,  at  once  civic  and  educational, 
which  surely  expresses  the  best  tradition  and  the  highest  hope  of 
Edinburgh  Old  and  New.  Our  suggested  Report  on  Edinburgh 
Town  Planning,  then,  is  no  mere  matter  of  street-making,  or  house- 
building, however  respectably  improved  upon  conditions  present  or 
past.  It  is  a  City  Design  ;  and  this  not  only  of  material  process,  but 
of  idealistic  progress,  for  except  the  ideal  plan  the  city  they  labour 
in  vain  that  build  it.  Hence  our  verses  from  the  scriptorium  of 
the  Art  College ;  hence  our  suggested  statue,  one  of  the  most 
needed  symbols  of  returning  unity  and  activity  at  the  main  point  of 
Old  Edinburgh,  midway  between  its  warring  churches  and  assem- 
blies, its  colleges  of  all  denominations — the  statue  of  St.  Columba  the 
Civiliser,  in  whom  all  religious  traditions — Catholic,  Episcopal, 
Presbyterian  of  all  denominations  and  all  interpretations — legendary, 
historic,  and  sociological — actually  for  once  agree 

Beyond  this  even,  as  our  survey  began  with  the  Castle  upon 
the  Rock,  so  it  ends  appropriately  with  a  Castle  in  the  Air.  Let  our 
successors  materialise  this  in  their  turn. 

Our  Civic  Survey  thus  has  ranged  through  wide  limits  :  from 
the  fullest  civic  idealism  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  most  direct  and 
ruthless  realism  on  the  other.  For  there  is  no  real  incompatibilitv 
between  the  power  of  seeing  the  thing  as  it  is — the  Town  as  Place,  as 
Work,  as  Folk — and  the  power  of  seeing  things  as  they  may  be — the 
City  of  Etho-Polity,  Culture  and  Art.  Our  city  surveys,  in  fact, 
descend  throughout  their  veritable  inferno,  yet  ascend  towards  corre- 
sponding circles  of  higher  life.  What  are  these  circles  of  ascent  or 
of  decline  ?  The  needful  stereoscopic  device  of  thought — the  analyses 
of  a  strangely  mingled  and  ever-changing  ebb  and  flow,  the  rise  and 
fall  of  historic  and  individual  evolution. 

As  final  expressions,  then,  of  our  survey  and  of  its  practical 
purpose,  our  exhibit  ends  with  two  symbols  :  First,  Mr.  Gibson's 
well-carved  model  of  the  City  Cross,  in  itself  summing  up  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  Old  Edinburgh  for  centuries  past,  built  in  mediaeval  times, 
transformed  at  the  Reformation,  demolished  in  the  utilitarian  period, 
partly  re-erected — thanks  to  Sir  Walter  Scott — in  the  romantic  age, 
and  finally  re-erected  and  restored  to  civic  uses.  Hence  this  Cross 
is  peculiarly  fitting  as  a  symbol  not  only  of  Citizenship,  but  of 
Civic  Revivance ;  and  as  complementing  that  initial  Relief  Model 
of  Edinburgh,  with  which  we  started  as  conditioning  the  material 
origins  of  the  town,  by  a  corresponding  expression  of  the  deeper  and 
inner  evolution  of  the  city.  The  many-sided  activities  of  a  great  city, 
spiritual  and  social,  educational  and  hygienic,  architectural  and 
industrial — or  most  simply  ideal  and  material — all  these  may  be  fitly 
svmbolised  upon  the  many  sides  of  this  characteristic  building  as 
aspects  of  a  real  unity  ;  and  this  unity  again,  by  the  shaft  of  the 
Cross,  as  an  ascent  of  life  towards  fitting  expression — pointedly 
individual  because  also  civic  and  national.  Yet  as  each  phase  of 
development  of  our  survey  has  come  and  gone,  so  in  turn  may  this 
presentment    of    it.      All    surveys,    we    have    seen,    need    perpetual 


574  Transactions  of  the  ToTvn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

renewal ;  and  our  final  exhibit  is  thus  a  plain  office-model  of  the 
Outlook  Tower — reduced  to  its  simplest  expression — that  in  which  it 
may  be  adapted  by  anyone  to  the  problems  and  the  tasks  presented 
by  his  own  immediate  environment,  his  own  region  and  neig-hbour- 
hood,  quarter  and  city.  Hence,  beside  this,  we  lay  our  indications 
and  beginning's  of  other  surveys  of  cities,  e.g.  of  Dunfermline,  of 
Perth  and  Dundee,  of  Chelsea,  of  Paris.  These  at  least  may  serve 
as  further  evidence  of  the  practicability  of  city  surveys  ;  and  of  these, 
not  only  as  the  essential  local  and  public  Inquiry  needed  before  town 
planning  and  city  improvement  schemes  can  be  safely  or  sufficiently 
undertaken,  but  as  helpful  to  municipal  work  of  all  kinds,  and  to 
civic  betterment  in  its  endless  details.  In  conclusion  then,  here  is  my 
thesis  and  challenge  :  City  surveys  are  urgent,  practicable,  and  useful, 
so  useful  that  they  must  before  long  become  for  civic  statesmanship 
and  local  administration  what  charts  now  are  to  Admiralty  and  to 
pilot. 

NOTES. 

Note  I. — Any  who  are  desirous  of  entering  upon  a  survey  of 
their  city  are  invited  to  communicate  with  the  writer  at  Outlook 
Tower,  Edinburgh,  or  University  Hall,  Chelsea,  or  with  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Sociological  Society,  24  Buckingham  Street,  Strand,  who 
will  furnish  a  copy  of  a  Memorandum  on  the  need  of  "  City  Survey 
preparatory  to  Town  Planning,"  prepared  by  the  Cities  Committee 
of  the  Sociological  Society.  This  Memorandum  includes  a  summary 
of  the  Committee's  work  and  recommendations ;  an  indication  of 
the  dangers  of  town  planning  before  survey  and  of  the  method  and 
use  of  the  preliminary  survey  ;  and  an  outline  scheme  for  City  Survey 
and  its  associated  local  Exhibition,  corresponding  to  that  of  Edin- 
burgh above. 

Note  II. — The  cordial  thanks  of  both  editors  of  this  survey  are 
due  and  tendered  (a)  for  loans  of  original  drawings  to  Mr.  Bruce 
Home,  and  of  many  valuable  photographs  to  the  Photographic 
Society  of  Edinburgh,  and  to  Mr.  Frank  C.  Inglis  ;  (h)  to  their  assist- 
ants Mr.  Robert  Dykes,  Miss  Geddes,  and  Mr.  Alastair  Geddes. 

Note  III. — The  success  of  the  Town  Planning  Exhibition  justifies 
the  suggestion  of  a  further  "  Cities  Exhibition,"  which  should  be 
a  graphic  presentment  of  the  Development  of  Cities  and  of  their 
historic  and  sociological  Interpretation,  as  well  as  be  more  fully  and 
systematically  representative  of  the  best  methods  of  Town  Planning 
and  of  the  possibilities  of  City  Development. 

Elements  towards  such  a  Cities  Exhibition  are  at  present  being 
collected  and  provisionally  arranged  at  Crosby  Hall,  Chelsea.  These 
include  (a)  a  selection  of  typical  plans,  &c.,  of  city  improvements, 
garden  villages,  &c. ,  from  the  recent  Exhibition,  and  others  not  there 
exhibited,  usually  upon  a  smaller  scale,  more  convenient  for  study  and 
comparison  ;  (b)  the  survey  of  Edinburgh,  improved  as  to  arrange- 
ment, &c.  ;  (c)  surveys  (in  various  stages  of  progress)  of  other  cities 
and  boroughs,  e.g.  Salisbury,  Chelsea,  &c.  ;  (d)  other  matters  of 
interest  towards  the  study  and  interpretation  of  cities. 

This  Type-collection  is  being  arranged  with  the  view  to  exhibition 
in  other  cities.  Particulars  can  be  obtained  on  application  to  its 
Secretary  (Crosby  Hall,  Chelsea,  or  Outlook  Tower,  Edinburgh). 


575 


(2)  THE  PLAXMXG  OF  KHARTOUM  AND 
OMDURMAN. 

By  W.  H.  McLean,  A.G.T.C,  A.M.I. C.E.,  Municipal  Engineer, 
Khartoum,  and  Lecturer  in  Engineering,  Gordon  College. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

Geographical   Position — Meteorological  Conditions — Conditions   Modifying   the   Climate — 

Site— Population. 

The  towns  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman,  in  the  Egyptian  Sudan,  are 
situated  near  the  junction  of  the  Blue  and  White  Xiles,  in  latitude 
15°  30'  north,  and  about  1,260  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. The  relative  position  of  the  towns  may  be  seen  by  reference 
to  the  map  [fig.  i].  The  main  town  of  Khartoum  is  on  the  southern 
bank  of  the  Blue  Xile  near  its  junction  w'ith  the  White  Xile,  while 
Omdurman  is  on  the  western  bank  of  the  river  immediately  below  the 
junction. 

The  meteorological  conditions  are  somewhat  peculiar,  and  call  for 
special  remark.  The  climate  of  the  Sudan  \aries  with  the  latitudes  ; 
at  Khartoum  the  maximum  temperature  is  seldom  over  110°  P.,  and 
the  night  minimum  seldom  below  50°  F.  Even  in  winter  the  midday 
temperature  is  generally  over  90°  F.,  although  the  north  wind  makes 
the  air  feel  comparatively  cool  and  refreshing.  From  the  beginning  of 
July  to  the  end  of  September  may  be  termed  the  rainy  season,  though 
a  few  showers  may  occur  in  May  and  June,  and  there  is  often  a  large 
fall  in  October.  The  amount  of  rainfall  varies  within  considerable 
limits,  and  in  some  years  there  are  only  a  few  heavy  showers. 

During  the  rainy  season  the  prevailing  wind  is  south-south-west, 
but  it  is  almost  invariably  north-north-east  during  the  remainder  of 
the  year.  The  months  of  May,  June,  and  July  are,  as  a  rule,  made 
very  unpleasant  by  sandstorms,  called  "  haboubs,"  which  sweep  down 
upon  the  town  principally  from  the  south,  and  these  are  sometimes 
accompanied  by  thunder  and  lightning,  followed  by  torrential  rain. 

Dr.  Balfour,^  the  Medical  Officer  of  Health,  is  of  opinion  that  the 
proximity  of  the  Xile  and  the  presence  of  gardens  modifies  the  climate 
of  Khartoum,  which,  on  the  whole,  possesses  a  desert  climate  with  all 
its  advantages,  and,  although  at  certain  periods  trying  and  disagree- 
able, it  cannot  be  termed  unhealthy. 

In  the  old  days  Khartoum  swarmed  with  Anopheline  mosquitoes, 
the  carriers  of  the  malaria  fever  germ.  Father  Ohrwalder,  of  the 
Austrian  Mission,  states  that  he  has  been  driven  to  stand  up  to  his 
neck  in  the  Xile  to  escape  the  attacks  of  these  pests.     Xow,  thanks  to 

'  Third    Report   of   the   Wellcome   Research   Laboratories  at    the    Gordon 
Memorial  College,  Khartoum.     BaiUiere,  Tindall  &  Cox,  London,  1908. 


576  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Dr.  Balfour's  mosquito  brigade,  one  rarely  ever  sees  a  mosquito  in 
Khartoum,  and  it  is,  therefore,  possible  to  dispense  with  mosquito 
curtains,  and  to  sleep  out  in  comfort  on  the  verandahs  or  flat  roofs  of 
the  houses.  In  this  way  the  cool  nights,  which  are  experienced 
throughout  most  of  the  year,  may  be  enjoyed  to  the  full. 

The  climate  of  Omdurman  is  similar  to  that  of  Khartoum,  except 
that  there  is  less  humidity  and,  consequently,  a  slightly  higher 
temperature. 

The  difference  between  high  and  low  Nile  at  Khartoum  is  about 
23  feet,  and  the  flood  commences  annually  about  the  month  of  June. 


<>!•>"    "  ^'  >   - 

-\ 

^" 

\ 

<r-y.-? 

-r 

'    ^li- 

-  .*' 

# 

_.. 

^,- 

\ 

hr.AKTO.iS,        S„„T,I 

■  if'  ■ 

"•■'• 

'*^'-                                                              .! 

k' 

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K  v.~- 

Fig.   I. — Map  of   Khartoum  and  Omdurman. 

Full  reference  has  been  made  to  climatic  conditions  in  view  of  thf 
fact  that  to  these  must  be  adapted  any  well-considered  scheme  of 
town  or  house  planning.  How  often  do  we  find  in  the  tropics  arrange- 
ments which  are  clearly  only  suited  to  European  conditions.  Again,  a 
scheme  for  a  very  humid  tropical  climate  would  be  quite  unsuitable  for 
an  arid  region  like  the  northern  Sudan. 

The  main  town  of  Khartoum  is  on  a  bed  of  alluvium,  part  of  which 
is  below  extreme  high  Nile  level,  and  in  the  absence  of  preventive 
measures  flooding  of  the  central  part  of  the  town  would  result.  The 
surface  soil  consists  largely  of  loose  sand,  and,  where  this  is  absent, 
black  cotton  soil  principally  is  found.  This  soil  is  very  liable  to 
fissures,  which  extend  often  to  a  considerable  depth.  At  Omdurman 
the  soil  is  hard  clay,  gravel,  and  sand,  overlying  a  limestone  deposit, 
which  crops  out  in  places. 

The  population  of  Khartoum  is  estimated  to  be  about  15,000,  only 
one-quarter  of  whom  are  Europeans,  the  remainder  being  Egyptians, 
Syrians,  and  Sudanese.     To  Khartoum  North  there  has  been   recently 


The  Planning  of  Khartouin  and  Omdurman.  577 

a  great  influx  of  natives,  and  the  population  there  may  be  approxi- 
mately taken  as  25,000,  principally  Sudanese,  but  a  much  higher 
figure  is  often  quoted. 

Omdurman  is  the  real  native  city,  and  it  is  difficult  to  tell  the 
number  of  its  very  cosmopolitan  population,  but  60,000  is  thought  to 
be  a  fair  estimate.  Here  may  be  met  specimens  of  most  of  the  North 
and  Central  African  races,  many  of  them  brought,  in  the  old  days,  as 
slaves  to  this  stronghold  of  the  Khalifa — Arabs,  Sudanese  (partly 
Arab  and  partly  negro),  and  Nilotic  negroes  mainly,  with  a  sprinkling 
of  Egyptians,  Syrians,  and  Europeans. 

HISTORICAL. 

Khartoum— The  Dervish  Rising— Fall  of  Khartoum— Plan  of  Old  Khartoum,    1898— Khar- 
toum after  its  Fall — Omdurman. 

It  is  always  interesting  as  well  as  instructive  to  trace  the  history 
of  any  town  or  locality.  The  towns  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman 
possess  a  practical  interest  as  well  as  a  sentimental  one,  for,  since 
Lord  Kitchener  brought  the  Khalifa's  reign  of  terror  to  an  end  in 
1898,  a  new  and  splendid  city  has  been  raised  on  the  ruins  of  old 
Khartoum,  and  Omdurman  is  being  gradually  converted  from  an 
unhealthy  "  rabbit-warren  "  to  an  orderly  town. 

Khartoum  is  not  an  ancient  city,  and  in  the  past  the  literature 
dealing  with  it  has  not  been  extensive.  In  1820  the  Turkish  and 
Egyptian  armies  of  the  first  Khedive  Mohamed  Ali  invaded  the  Sudan, 
and,  on  arriving  at  the  junction  of  the  Blue  and  White  Niles,  the  strip 
of  land  between  these  rivers,  known  as  Khartoum  or  the  "  elephant's 
trunk,"  appears  to  have  been  selected  as  a  suitable  site  for  head- 
quarters owing  to  its  strategical  position. 

From  the  accounts  of  the  travellers  Petherick  and  Melly,  who 
visited  the  Sudan  in  1846  and  1850  respectively,  it  appears  that 
Khartoum  had  then  become  a  place  of  considerable  importance.  They 
record  the  irregular  construction  of  the  town,  and  the  presence  of 
narrow  and  winding  streets  which  were  quite  impassable  after  rain. 
Here  and  there  were  spaces  resembling  squares,  and  the  architecture 
of  the  houses  was  primitive.  There  were  only  a  few  European 
residents. 

Sir  Samuel  Baker  visited  Khartoum  in  1862,  and  he  described  it 
as  a  miserable,  filthy,  and  unhealthy  spot.  The  houses  were  built 
chiefly  of  mud  brick,  and  the  town  had  a  densely  crowded  popula- 
tion of  30,000.  He  again  visited  it  in  1870,  and  found  the  population 
had  fallen  to  about  15,000,  and  the  town  in  the  same  insanitary 
condition. 

In  1880  Felkin,  a  medical  man,  records  improvement  in  the  sani- 
tary arrangements,  the  existence  of  good  houses  and  better-class 
shops,  and  the  erection  of  grand  Government  buildings  and  a  large 
hospital.  Father  Ohrwalder,  of  the  Austrian  Mission,  on  his  arrival 
at  Khartoum  in  1881,  was  favourably  impressed  by  the  pleasant 
gardens  and  shady  groves  of  date  palms. 

The  rising  of  Mohamed  Ahmed,  the  Mahdi,  began  at  Abba  Island, 
on  the  White  Nile,  in  1882,  and  his  power  reached  its  zenith  with  the 
annihilation  of  Hicks  Pasha's  army  in  1883.  General  Gordon  was 
sent  out  to  arrange  for  the  evacuation  of  the  Egyptian  garrisons  and 

P  P2 


578  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

to  leave  some  settled  form  of  g-overnment,  but  it  will  be  remembered 
that  he  was  surrounded  by  the  rising-  tide  of  Mahdiism  before  his 
mission  was  completed.  How  Gordon  held  on  in  the  hopes  of  relief 
until  the  morning  of  26th  January  1885,  when  Khartoum  fell,  is  well 
known.  In  the  early  morning  of  that  fateful  day  the  Dervish  hordes 
broke  through  the  defences,  slaughtered  the  half-starved  garrison, 
and,  after  cruelly  murdering  Gordon  at  his  post,  commenced  the  work 
of  pillage,  murder,  and  ravage  in  the  town. 

The  plan  [fig.  2]  shows  Khartoum  at  the  time  of  its  fall,  and  is  a 
copy  of  the  plan  compiled  by  the  Intelligence  Department  from  in- 
formation given  by  Slatin  Pasha  after  his  memorable  escape  in  1895 
from  Omdurman  after  twelve  years'  captivity  there.  Sir  Rudolf 
Slatin  Pasha,  who  is  now  Inspector-General,  very  kindly  amplified 
the  information  on  the  copy,  and  signed  it  specially  for  this  Paper. 
When  Khartoum  fell  Slatin  Pasha  was  already  a  prisoner  in  the 
Dervish  camp,  and  he  tells  in  his  interesting  book  "  Fire  and  Sword 
in  the  Sudan  "'  how  Gordon's  head  was  shown  to  him  in  his  prison  as 
proof  that  the  Dervish  victory  had  been  complete. 

Father  Ohrwalder  at  this  time  still  enjoyed  a  comparative  amount 
of  liberty,  and  was  able  to  visit  Khartoum  soon  after  it  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Dervishes.  His  experiences  are  described  in  a  volume 
entitled  "  Ten  Years'  Captivity  in  the  Mahdi's  Camp,"^  which  was 
translated  from  the  original  manuscripts  by  Sir  Reginald  Wingate, 
then  Director  of  Military  Intelligence  and  now  Sirdar  of  the  Egyptian 
Army  and  Governor-General  of  the  Sudan.  Father  Ohrwalder  suc- 
ceeded in  escaping  in  1892.  When  he  visited  the  fallen  city  in  April 
1886  the  fortifications  were  much  damaged,  and  they  evidently  had 
been  crossed  by  the  Dervishes  near  the  west  end.  The  Messalamieh 
gate  was  still  intact,  and  the  ground  within  the  fortifications  was 
strewn  with  the  dead.  The  Dervishes  occupied  the  city,  but  very  soon 
the  Khalifa,  feeling  it  impossible  to  supervise  two  towns,  ordered  its 
evacuation,  the  destruction  of  the  buildings,  and  the  removal  of  the 
materials  to  Omdurman.  The  only  buildings  spared  were  the  Arsenal, 
the  Mission  House,  and  part  of  Gordon's  Palace. 

The  photos  [fig.  3]  show  Old  Khartoum,  Nos.  i  to  5  being  repro- 
ductions of  photographs  taken  in  Gordon's  time  by  one  of  his  staff, 
and  kindly  lent  by  Mr.  Holland,  of  the  Sudan  Intelligence  Depart- 
ment, who  received  them  from  his  uncle.  Colonel  G.  H.  Holland,  R.E. 
No.  I  shows  the  south  view  of  Gordon's  Palace,  and  Nos.  2,  3,  and  4 
are  views  from  the  palace  roof  looking  south,  west,  and  east  respec- 
tively. No.  5  is  the  old  Mudiria,  and  shows  the  Indian  elephants 
presented  by  Ismail  Pasha  to  Gordon.  This  is  a  unique  photograph. 
Photo  No.  6  was  taken  immediately  after  the  battle  of  Omdurman, 
and  shows  the  ruined  palace  as  it  was  found  in  1898.  It  is  reproduced 
by  the  kind  permission  of  Colonel  R.  H.  Penton,  D.S.O.,  obtained 
through  Colonel  P.  R.  Phipps,  Civil  Secretary. 

The  history  of  Omdurman  practically  commences  with  the  fall  of 

'  Fire  and  Sword  in  the  Sudan,  1879-1895.  Sir  Rudolf  Baron  von  Slatin 
Pasha,  C.B.,  K.C.M.G.,  &c.,  and  Sir  F.  Reginald  Wingate,  K.C.B.,  K.C.M.G.,  &c. 

'^  Ten  Years'  Captivity  in  the  Mahdi's  Camp,  1 882-1 892.  Translated  from  the 
original  manuscripts  of  Father  Joseph  Ohrwalder  by  Sir  F.  Reginald  Wingate, 
K.C.B.,  K.C.M.G.,  &c. 


580  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


OLD      KHARTOUM 


Fig.  3. 


The  Planning  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman.  581 


'»>ll)l    lv»>IAN 


a— --^>-.r3Eo^*, 


Fig.  4. 


582   Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Khartoum,  and,  as  already  mentioned,  much  of  the  building  material 
used  in  its  construction  was  obtained  from  the  ruins  of  Khartoum. 

At  first  the  new  capital  appears  to  have  been  merely  a  countless 
conglomeration  of  straw  huts,  but  these  were  ultimately  replaced  by 
the  mud  houses  which  are  still  to  be  seen,  many  of  them  in  ruins. 
Father  Ohrwalder  states  that  it  was  not  permitted  to  build  good 
houses,  as  they  might  prove  a  temptation  to  their  owners  to  hide 
money.  Whenever  a  man  was  known  to  be  well  off  or  prosperous,  he 
was  almost  certain  to  have  his  wealth  taken  from  him.  The  popula- 
tion at  this  time  is  given  as  about  150,000,  or  more  than  double  the 
present  number.  Reference  to  the  map  [fig.  ij  will  show  that  the 
town  extended  for  a  distance  of  about  six  miles  along  the  Nile  and 
about  two  miles  back  from  the  river  in  a  westerly  direction. 

Father  Ohrwalder  tells  us  that  the  Khalifa,  for  his  own  conveni- 
ence, ordered  the  construction  of  several  wide  streets,  necessitating 
the  removal  of  thousands  of  native  houses,  for  the  loss  of  which  he 
believes  the  owners  were  never  indemnified  in  any  way. 

The  "  Sikket  el  Hequira,"  "  Sikket  Khalifa,"  and  the  "  Sikket  el 
Arda,"  are  broad  roads  wliich  were  formed  in  this  manner.  The 
map  [fig.  1]  shows  the  Mosque  Square  and  the  line  of  the  great 
wall  {stir)  enclosing  the  Khalifa's  Mulazimin  Quarter ;  also  the 
numerous  Dervish  forts  along  the  river  bank.  In  order  to  show 
his  veneration  for  the  Mahdi,  writes  Slatin  Pasha,  the  Khalifa 
decided  to  erect  a  monument  over  his  grave.  This  took  the  form  of 
a  building  about  36  feet  square  at  the  base,  surmounted  by  an  enor- 
mous whitewashed  dome.  The  sombre  appearance  of  the  inside  was 
relieved  by  some  gaudy  paintings  on  the  walls. 

The  photos  [fig.  4]  show  Omdurman,  No.  3  being  the  Mahdi's 
tomb  just  referred  to.  It  is  reproduced  by  the  kind  permission  of 
Colonel  R.  H.  Penton,  D.S.O.,  obtained  through  Colonel  P.  R. 
Phipps.  The  photo  was  taken  immediately  after  the  battle  of  Omdur- 
man, and  shows  the  damage  done  to  the  dome  by  shells  from  the  gun- 
boats. This  building  was  the  only  one  in  the  town  of  any  architectural 
pretensions,  and  was  a  landmark  for  miles  around,  but,  being  an 
object  of  veneration  and  a  stimulus  to  bloodthirsty  fanaticism,  the 
Sirdar  very  wisely  completed  its  destruction,  and  now  only  the  lower 
portion  stands,  amid  a  heap  of  debris. 

Close  to  the  Mahdi's  tomb  is  the  great  mosque,  which  Is  really  an 
immense  yard  capable  of  holding  about  30,000  men,  whose  murmuring 
during  prayers  was,  we  are  told,  like  distant  thunder.  The  walls  were 
at  first  of  mud,  but  the  Khalifa  replaced  these  by  substantial  brick- 
work in  lime  mortar.  Photo  No.  6  shows  these  walls  in  their  present 
condition,  and  also  in  the  foreground  the  Khalifa's  Palace,  which 
remains  practically  intact,  being  now  used  as  an  inspector's  house. 
This  palace  consists  of  a  maze  of  buildings  and  small  courtyards,  and 
on  one  part  of  it  there  is  a  second  storey,  which  provided  the  Khalifa 
with  an  excellent  view  of  the  town.  It  is  built  of  burnt  brick,  and 
roofed  in  the  usual  native  method  of  rough  timber  joisting,  covered 
with  rope  netting  and  "  bursh  "  matting,  on  which  is  spread  a  layer 
of  "  zibla  "  (a  mixture  of  stable  manure  and  earth).  The  photo  also 
shows  in  the  distance  to  the  right  the  new  market  (suk)  buildings, 
which  have  been  recently  erected. 

Photo  No.   I  shows  the  remains  of  the  enormous  wall  (siir)  which 


The  Planning  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman.  583 

the  Khalifa  built  round  the  Mulazimin  Quarter  for  defensive  purposes, 
while  photo  No.  4  is  a  view  from  the  top  of  the  water  tower  looking- 
north-west.  The  absence  of  streets  or  alig-nment  of  any  sort  is  appa- 
rent, and  in  the  foretjround  are  seen  the  ruins  of  houses  all  doubtless 
fully  occupied  in  the  Khalifa's  time. 

Photo  No.  5  is  a  view  of  the  foreshore  from  the  water  tower,  show- 
ing the  gum  and  grain  markets  and  the  boats  employed  in  the  trans- 
port ;  and  photo  No.  2  is  a  view  of  the  old  market  (sCik),  which  is  still 
in  use.  This  is  one  of  the  many  narrow  streets  running-  through  the 
market  which  are  roofed  over  and  have  shops  on  each  side.  A  new 
market  is  now  under  construction. 

Photo  No.  7  shows  the  Market  Square  and  the  Tramway  Central 
Station.  This  view  was  taken  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  H.R. H. 
the  Duke  of  Connaught.  This  and  also  photo  No.  6  are  reproduced 
by  kind  permission  of  Mr.  G.  N.  Morhig,  Khartoum. 

Nos.  I,  2,  4,  and  5  are  kindly  lent  by  Mr.  G.  W.  Grabham,  Sudan 
Government  Geologist,  and  are  all  copies  of  recent  photographs. 

Such,  then,  was  the  capital  of  a  ruler  of  whom  Father  Ohrwalder, 
after  his  escape  in  1892,  wrote  :  "  How  long  shall  Europe  and  Great 
Britain  watch  unmoved  the  outrages  of  the  Khalifa  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Sudan  people?  "  The  Nile  campaign,  culminating 
on  2nd  September  1898  in  the  great  battle  of  Omdurman,  was  Lord 
Kitchener's  answer  to  this  challenge.  On  4th  September  the  British 
and  Egyptian  flags  were  hoisted  over  Gordon's  ruined  palace  at 
Khartoum,  but  it  was  not  till  December  1899  that  the  Khalifa  was 
finally  defeated  and  killed  by  Sir  Reginald  Wingate  in  Kordofan. 

RECONSTRUCTION    OF    KHARTOUM. 

Khartoum  North — Plan  of  New  Khartoum,  1910 — Avenues  and  Streets — Sections  of 
Avenues,  &c. — Open  Spaces — -Markets — Building  Regulations — Classification  of  Land 
— Class  of  Buildings — Types  of  Houses — Water  and  Light  Supplies— Drainage  (waste 
water) — Rain  Water — Conservancy — Tramways— Extensions  of  the  City — The  Cathedral 
—Gordon  College. 

With  the  occupation  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman  the  formation 
of  a  civil  administration  for  the  government  of  the  country  was  imme- 
diately begun. 

In  1899  the  first  year's  revenue  for  the  whole  of  the  Sudan  was 
estimated  at  only  ;;^'8,ooo,  which  shows  the  state  of  destitution  then 
prevailing  in  a  country  nearly  as  large  as  Europe,  and  when  this  is 
compared  with  the  present  revenue  of  over  ;^'i,ooo,ooo  the  progress 
made  is  apparent.  Laws  and  regulations  were  framed,  and  appeared 
as  proclamations  by  the  Governor-General ;  a  Penal  Code  was 
brought  out  and  the  Civil  Courts  and  general  administrative  work 
started. 

The  municipality  of  Khartoum  was  established  by  order  of  the 
Governor-General  in  the  Sudan  Gazette  (No.  29)  of  rst  November 
1901. 

Major  A.  E.  Stanton,  late  Governor  of  Khartoum,  in  a  lecture  '  to 
the  Royal  Colonial  Institute  described  the  early  development  of  the 
New  Khartoum.  The  ruins  of  Old  Khartoum,  he  said,  were  levelled 
with  the   assistance  of  the  troops,   streets  were  driven  through  the 

'  Khartoum  and  the  Sudan.  By  Major  A.  E.  Stanton,  late  Governor  of 
Khartoum.  Read  at  a  meeting  of  the  Royal  Colonial  Institute,  isth  February 
1910. 


584  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  19 10. 


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The  Phiniii)}^(^  of  Kharloum  and  Omiiiirman.  585 

debris,  and  other  necessary  works  undertaken  as  funds  became  avail- 
able. The  various  public  services  were  gradually  inaug"urated.  The 
land  settlement  appears  to  have  given  considerable  trouble  owing  to 
the  "  land-grabbing  "  propensity  of  the  native,  but  eventually  dis- 
putes were  settled  and  house-building  began.  Then  the  land  boom 
came  up  from  Egypt,  and  prices  rose  from  id.  or  2d.  per  square  yard 
tO;^2  or  ;^"3  per  square  yard.  The  crash  came  early  in  1907  with 
the  breaking  of  the  Egyptian  bubble,  and  Khartoum  has  hardly  yet 
recovered.  Some  day,  prophesies  Major  Stanton,  it  may  be  very- 
many  years  yet,  but  some  da}?^  Khartoum  will  be  the  largest  town  in 
Africa,  and,  amongst  other  things,  the  centre  of  an  enermous  cotton 
trade,  for  the  vSudan  is  capable  of  supplying  most  of  the  cotton  that 
Lancashire  can  take  ;  and  the  low  n  has  been  planned  with  an  eye  to 
such  future  development. 

Major  C.  E.  Wilson,  Governor  of  Khartoum,  reports  '■  in  1909 
that  the  state  of  the  native  population  continues  to  improve,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  is  little  improvement  on  the  previous  year  in 
the  financial  condition  of  the  European  population.  They  appear  to 
be  still  suffering  from  the  effects  of  the  crash  already  referred  to. 

At  present  the  city  extends  along  the  bank  of  the  Blue  Nile  for  a 
distance  of  about  two  miles,  and  back  from  the  river  one  mile.  The 
existing  municipal  boundaries  commence  at  the  waterworks,  and 
run,  following  the  line  of  the  old  fortifications,  to  the  White  Nile,  a 
length  of  about  four  and  a  half  miles,  the  distance  from  the  Blue  Nile 
being  about  one  and  a  quarter  mile. 

Reference  to  the  map  [fig.  i]  will  show  these  limits,  and  also  that 
all  the  land  immediately  to  the  west  of  the  city  between  the  two  rivers 
is  Government  land.  All  the  land  stretching  away  into  the  open 
desert  to  the  south  of  the  present  city  is  also  Government  property, 
so  that  future  extension  on  proper  lines  is  assured.  The  Sudanese 
native  villages  immediately  to  the  south  outside  the  old  fortifications 
were  built  to  accommodate  the  natives  who  had  been  living  previously 
amid  the  ruins  of  old  Khartoum.  In  this  way  an  attempt  was  made 
to  segregate  the  native  population,  a  very  desirable  arrangement, 
more  especially  from  a  sanitary  standpoint,  as  the  epidemics  to  which 
all  tropical  cities  are  liable  can  be  so  much  more  easily  dealt  with. 
Omdurman,  as  already  pointed  out,  is  the  real  native  town,  while 
Khartoum  is  nominally  the  European  one. 

The  w-aterworks  and  electric-light  station  are  situated  on  the 
extreme  east  boundary  near  the  river  bank,  while  the  sewage  farm 
and  refuse-destructor  are  to  the  south-west  of  the  town  beyond'  the 
old  fortifications,  as  shown  on  the  map. 

The  map  [fig.  ij  also  shows  Khartoum  North,  where  the  Govern- 
ment dockyard,  stores,  and  some  of  the  Egyptian  Army  barracks  are 
located.  There  is  also  a  large  native  town  here,  which  has  been  laid 
off  on  a  distinct  plan  in  the  same  manner  as  the  villages  to  the  south 
of  Khartoum. 

The  detail  plan  [fig.  5]  shows  Khartoum  city  as  it  now  exists. 
The  general  scheme  on  which  the  town  has  developed  was  initiated  by 
Lord  Kitchener  before  he  left  the  Sudan,  and  the  most  striking  feature 

'  Report  (Egypt  No.  i,  1910),  "Egypt  and  the  Sudan  in  1909,"  by  H.M. 
Agent  and  Consul-General. 

QQ 


586  Transaciions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

of  the  plan  is  the  diagonal  streets,  which  appear  to  have  been  intro- 
duced primarily  for  military  purposes.  Each  crossing  of  these  dia- 
gonals commands  a  considerable  portion  of  the  city.  The  diagonal 
streets  are  undoubtedly  a  useful  direct  communication  between 
various  points,  but  at  the  crossings  they  form  awkward  building  plots, 
which  are  somewhat  inconvenient  in  the  business  quarter  of  the  town. 

All  the  land  between  the  Embankment  and  Khedive  Avenue  is 
Government  land,  while  that  to  the  south  is  principally  private  pro- 
perty. 

The  bridge  across  the  Blue  Nile  was  completed  recently,  and  the 
railway  has  now  been  carried  round  to  the  Moghran  Quay  at  the  west 
end  of  the  town.  The  railway  embankment  has  reclaimed  the  land  to 
the  east  of  it  which  was  liable  to  flooding  at  extreme  high  Nile. 
There  are  level  crossings  over  the  railway  on  all  the  main  routes  to 
the  cit^•. 


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Fig.  6. — Khartoum  :    Section's  ok  Streets. 


Running  parallel  to  the  embankment  are  three  main  avenues, 
named  Khedive  Avenue,  Abbas  Avenue,  and  Sultan  Avenue,  while  at 
right  angles  to  the  river  there  are  four — namely.  Kitchener  Avenue, 
Melik  Avenue,  Victoria  Avenue,  and  Mohamed  Ali  Avenue. 

The  general  scheme  of  planning  is  that  the  main  avenues  running 
parallel  to  the  ri\er  intersect  those  running  at  right  angles,  forming 
rectangles  approximately  500  yards  square.  These  rectangles  are 
sub-divided  by  three  streets  running  each  way  parallel  to  the  main 
avenues,  and  by  the  diagonal  streets  connecting  the  intersections  of 
the  main  avenues. 

With  the  laying  out  of  the  Government  land  to  the  north  of 
Khedive  Avenue  there  was  not  quite  such  a  free  hand,  owing  to  the 
desirability  of  utilising  and  preserving  what  remained  of  the  principal 
buildings  and  gardens  of  old  Khartoum,  and  this  accounts,  to  some 
extent,  for  the  want  of  symmetry  in  the  plan.  The  palm  groves  in  the 
gardens  form  one  of  the  most  attractive  features  of  the  cit\-. 

Victoria  Avenue,  the  most  important,  is  180  feet  in  width  and  is 
centred  on  the  Palace,  from  which  there  is  a  most  striking  vista  away 


i 


The  Planning  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman.  587 

to  the  south,  with  the  luxurious  gardens  in  the  foreground.  Khedive 
Avenue,  running  at  right  angles,  is  next  in  importance,  being  150  feet 
wide.  The  Gordon  Statue  is  at  the  crossing  of  these  two  principal 
avenues. 

The  main  streets  are  120  feet  and  the  secondary  streets  80  feet 
wide  over  all,  and  many  of  the  plots  in  the  third-class  or  native  quarter 
of  the  city  have  lanes  12  feet  wide  running  through  them,  made  prin- 
cipally for  conservancy  purposes. 

Fifteen  feet  of  the  width  of  all  footpaths  is  contributed  by  the 
owners  of  the  abutting  properties,  who  arc  permitted,  however,  to 
build  arcades  over  this  portion. 

The  streets  and  a\enues  are  named  on  the  following  system,  whicli 
has  proved  a  satisfactory  one.  All  streets  running  parallel  to  the  river 
are  known  by  odd  numbers,  the  embankment  being  "  First  Street," 
and  all  streets  at  right  angles  to  the  river  are  known  by  even  numbers, 
beginning  at  the  east  end  of  the  city  with  "  No.  2  Street."  The 
principal  streets  and  axenues  have  special  names  in  addition.  The 
diagonal  streets  are  named  after  the  more  important  battles  fought  in 
the  country,  e.g.  "  Atbara  Street." 

The  sections  [fig.  6]  show  the  types  of  avenues  and  streets. 
Khedive  Avenue  is  the  largest  type,  in  which  the  footpaths  each 
occupy  about  one-third  of  the  total  width,  and  along  each  footpath 
two  rows  of  trees  are  planted. 

The  Embankment  is  of  a  similar  type,  but  the  footpath  widths  vary 
considerably,  owing  to  the  irregularity  of  building  line  and  the  river 
embankment,  where  there  is  no  retaining  wall  or  other  protective 
work. 

Thirteenth  Street  (Abbas  Avenue)  is  the  main-street  type,  with 
30-feet  footpaths,  half  of  which  may  be  covered  with  an  arcade. 
Seventh  Street  is  the  type  in  the  business  part  of  the  city. 

Owing  to  the  expense  which  would  be  involved  in  constructing  and 
maintaining  such  an  enormous  area  of  street  surface,  only  the  middle 
third  of  the  main  avenues  and  streets  are  macadamised  at  present.  The 
side  portions  form  soft  "  going  "  for  horses,  while  the  vehicular  traffic 
takes  the  centre.  In  the  business  part  of  the  town  the  whole  width 
is,  of  course,  macadamised.  Kerbstones  are  laid  in  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal avenues  and  streets,  but  the  footpaths  are  merely  made  up  with 
earth,  except  where  proprietors  have  constructed  tiled  or  other  pave- 
ment in  front  of  their  premises.  Meantime,  only  a  few  of  the  main 
avenues  and  streets  are  macadamised,  but  the  work  is  being  pushed 
forward  as  funds  become  available. 

In  fig.  6  is  shown  a  block  in  the  third-class  or  native  quarter,  with 
the  i2-feet  wide  conservancy  lanes  traversing  it.  An  enlarged  plan 
of  the  Double  Street  Crossing  is  also  shown. 

Referring  again  to  the  plan  [fig.  5]  it  will  be  seen  that  a  certain 
amount  of  open  space  has  been  reserved.  Abbas  Square,  in  the  centre 
of  the  city,  is  about  800  yards  long  and  200  yards  wide.  In  it  stands 
the  great  Mosque,   a  most  impressive  building.  There  are  public 

gardens  near  the  Gordon  Statue  and  on  the  river  embankment  at  the 
west  end  of  the  city,  where  there  is  also  a  zoological  collection. 

The  markets  are  on  the  north  side  of  Abbas  Square,  and  there  is 
ample  space  reserved  for  extension.  In  the  native  quarter  there  are 
large  markets,  principally  for  grain  and  firewood. 

002 


5SK   'iransatiions  oj  the  Toivn  PUmuiug  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

I''or  the  purpose  of  allotting-  land  for  building's,  the  city  was  in  the 
first  instance  divided  into  quarters,  and  to  ensure  some  uniformity  in 
the  class  of  buildings  to  be  erected  there  was  specified  in  the  regula- 
tions issued  the  minimum  value  of  the  building  and  the  class  of 
material  to  be  used  in  its  construction.  It  was  further  enacted  that, 
within  a  certain  time  after  allotment,  the  buildings  were  to  be  erected 
and  a  fence  or  boundary  wall  of  a  certain  value  built  round  the  plot,  in 
default  of  which  the  land  would  revert  to  the  Government.  This  pro- 
cedure was  necessary  to  check  mere  speculators  in  land,  although  in 
spite  of  it  gambling  was  rife  and  prices  rose  to  a  ridiculous  figure. 
Building  operations  were  delayed  in  many  cases,  and,  in  order  to  save 
the  land,  inferior  structures  were  rushed  up  at  the  last  moment,  at 
famine  prices,  of  course.  The  situation  was  a  difficult  one  to  deal 
with,  as  too  great  severity  might  ha\  e  seriously  crippled  the  young 
city. 

Latterly  it  has  become  necessary  to  provide  for  a  greater  control 
in  the  detail  of  the  building  operations,  and  recently  a  simple  set  of 
iletailed  regulations,  adapted  to  the  use  of  the  country,  were  issued. 
These  have  worked  in  a  Nery  satisfactory  manner,  and  the  inhabitants 
appear  to  look  upon  them  as  a  guarantee  against  the  practices  of  the 
"  jerry-builder.  " 

For  the  purpose  of  tlie  regulations  land  in  the  city  of  Khartoum  is 
classified  as  follows  : — 

((/)   (lovernment  land. 

(/))   First-class  land,    all  land   between   Khedive   Avenue   (Fifth 

Street)  and  Sirdar  Avenue  (Ninth  Street). 
((•)  Second-class  land,   all  land  between  Sirdar  Avenue  (Ninth 
Street),    Abbas    Avenue    (Thirteenth    Street),    and    Abbas 
Square. 
((/)  Third-class  land,  all  land  south  of  Abbas  Avenue  (Thirteenth 
Street)  and  Abbas  Square. 
Lamd  in  Khartoum  North  and  Omdurman  is  classified  as  follows  : 

(a)  Government  land. 

(b)  Third-class  land. 

It  is  further  provided  that  "  the  walls  of  all  buildings  erected  in 
first  or  second  class  land  shall  be  of  stone,  burnt  brick,  or  concrete, 
excepting  boundary  walls  and  outhouses  not  visible  from  the  road." 

Buildings  of  only  one  storey  in  height,  the  walls  of  which  consist 
entirely  or  partly  of  mud  or  unburnt  mud  bricks,  are  exempt  from  the 
greater  part  of  the  regulations.  The  "  third-class  "'  quarter  of  the 
town  consists  almost  entirely  of  such  buildings. 

The  blocks  tinted  dark  in  the  plan  are  built  upon,  while  the  unbuilt 
blocks  are  tinted  light. 

The  types  of  buildings  vary  considerably,  but  the  flat  roof  is 
almost  universal  in  Khartoum.  In  dwelling-houses  they  are -con- 
venient for  sleeping-  on,  but  during- the  rains  are  a  source  of  trouble,  as 
it  seems  practically  impossible  to  keep  them  quite  watertight.-'  '— '  '/* 

In  a  Pat-VT  on  "  Ehvelling-houses^  in  the  Tropics,"  contributed  by 
the  author  to  the  recent  Wellcome  Research  Laboratories  Report,^  it 
is  shown  that  for  white  men  an  excess  of  tropical  light  is  injurious  and 

'  Thin.1  Report  of  the  Wellcome  Research  Laboratories  at  the  Gordon 
Memorial  College.  Khartoum.     Bailliere,  Tindall  Ot  Cox.  London,  1908. 


The  Plauuing  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman. 


>8g 


Fio.  7. 


590  Transactions  of  the  To%^ni  Plannini^  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

must  be  guarded  against.  Houses  for  such  men  should  be  well 
darkened  and  have  low  verandahs,  the  rooms  being  arranged  so  that 
each  gets  a  share  of  the  prevailing  wind. 

Colours  are  all-important  in  the  tropics,  and  houses  painted  white 
should  not  be  permitted  in  cities,  as  the  glare  from  them  is  terrible. 
The  greens,  dark  yellows,  and  browns,  to  which  our  eyes  are 
adjusted,  are  preferable. 

Rut  for  the  damaging  effect  of  rain,  mud  walls  are  quite  satis- 
factory, and  they  certainly  have  the  advantage  of  not  retaining  and 
radiating  the  heat  like  stone  or  brick  walls. 

The  waterworks  and  electric-light  station,  constructed  by  the 
Public  Works  Department,  under  the  direction  of  Captain  M.  R.  Ken- 
nedy, R.E.,  are  situated  at  the  extreme  east  boundary  of  the  town. 
The  water  is  a  deep-well  supply  pumped  to  a  storage  tower,  and  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  city  in  pipes.  In  the  third-class  quarter  the 
water  is  supplied  to  the  inhabitants  principally  from  street  stand-posts. 
The  electric  light  is  supplied  to  the  public,  and  the  streets  are  lighted 
in  the  usual  manner,  the  secondary  streets  at  larger  intervals  than  the 
main  avenues. 

There  is  no  system  of  sewerage,  and  the  waste  water  is  dealt  with 
by  "  broad  irrigation  "  in  the  gardens  where  available,  or  it  is  run 
into  "  percolation  "  pits  or  into  "  waste-water  "  pits,  from  which  it 
is  daily  removed  in  carts. 

During  the  rains  a  system  of  shallow  trenches  is  cut  as  recom- 
mended by  Mr.  C.  E.  Dupuis.^  The  trenches  follow  the  less-important 
streets,  just  outside  the  pavement  line.  They  cross  all  main  avenues 
in  steel  pipes,  and,  being  below  extreme  high  Nile  level,  require  to  be 
pumped  out  if  rains  occur  during  that  period. 

The  dry-closet  system  is  adopted,  and  there  is  a  house-to-house 
collection,  the  soil-pails  being  taken  out  to  the  sewage  farm  and 
there  dealt  with.  Kitchen  refuse  is  taken  to  the  destructor  at  the 
sewage  farm  and  burnt.  The  systems,  which  were  inaugurated  by 
Dr.  Balfour,  Medical  Officer  of  Health,  are  working  extremely  satis- 
factorily. 

There  are  public  latrines  and  urinals  throughout  the  city. 

Steam  tramways  are  run  by  the  municipality  from  the  central 
station  near  the  ]\Iosque  westwards  to  the  Moghren  point  (in  connec- 
tion with  Omdurman  ferry),  eastwards  to  the  Burri  \^illages  beyond 
the  city,  and  also  across  the  bridge  to  Khartoum  North. 

As  already  referred  to,  it  is  anticipated  that  the  city  will  ultimately 
extend  to  the  west  and  also  to  the  south,  and,  as  this  is  Government 
land,  there  should  be  no  difficulty  in  ensuring  that  these  extensions 
are  made  in  accordance  with  the  existing  system  of  planning. 

A  suburb  may  be  built  in  the  future  at  Burri,  to  the  east  of  the 
waterworks. 

The  photos  [fig.  7]  show  the  new  Khartoum.  Xo.  i  is  the 
original  draft  plan  for  the  reconstruction  of  the  city,  and  No.  2  is  a 
view  of  the  Embankment  looking  east,  showing  the  Blue  Nile  Bridge 
when  under  construction.  No.  3  is  the  Gordon  Statue  in  Khedive 
Avenue,    while   No.    4   shows   two    Mohammedan   tombs,    which    are 

'  Late  Sudan  Irrigation  Service,  now  Adviser  to  the  EgA'ptian  Ministry  of 
Public  Works. 


The  Planning  of  Khartoum  and  Omiiiirman.  591 

practically  all  that  now  remains  of  the  old  city.  They  have  beert 
restored,  and  look  quite  gay  in  their  coat  of  bright  yellow. 

Photo  Xo.  5,  taken  in  April  last,  shows  the  Anglican  cathedral  in 
course  of  erection — close  to  the  spot  where  Gordon  fell.  Although 
nearly  every  creed  is  represented  in  Khartoum  by  a  church  or  mosque, 
and  although  the  flag  of  Britain  floats  over  the  city,  there  is  as  yet  no 
completed  Anglican  church.  The  foundation-stone  of  the  cathedral 
was  laid  by  H.R.H.  Princess  Henry  of  Battenberg  on  7th  Februarv 
1904,  but,  owing  to  lack  of  funds,  the  building  is  still  far  from 
complete.  The  total  estimated  cost  is  ;^28,ooo,  and  about  _;^i 7,000 
has  already  been  spent.  An  appeal  has  been  issued,  and  the  hon. 
treasurer  of  the  fund  in  England  is  Mr.  A.  D.  Acland,  186  Strand, 
W.C.  The  building  is  unique  in  style,  and  has  been  specially  designed 
by  Mr.  R.  Weir  Schultz  to  meet  the  requirements  of  a  tropical  climate, 
the  main  feature,  from  a  constructional  point  of  view,  being  the 
external  ambulatory,  which  is  introduced  for  coolness.  Simple  and 
dignified,  it  is,  as  Sir  Reginald  \\'ingate  said  at  the  Mansion  House, 
"  a  fitting  memorial  to  all  those  gallant  British  oflicers,  ofTicials,  and 
others  who  had  lost  their  lives  in  the  service  of  their  countrv  in 
endeavouring  to  introduce  into  the  Sudan  the  benefits  of  peace  and 
civilisation. " 

Photo  Xo.  6  is  a  view  of  the  public  gardens,  showing  the  Gordon 
Statue  and  the  Palace  in  the  distance  ;  while  Xo.  7  shows  the  Palace 
as  seen  from  the  river.     It  is  built  on  the  site  of  Gordon's  Palace. 

No.  8  shows  Xinth  Street  (second-class  quarter)  and  the  markets, 
with  the  mosque  on  the  extreme  right  in  the  distance. 

The  Gordon  Memorial  College  is  shown  on  photo  Xo.  9.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  immediately  Lord  Kitchener  had  crushed 
Mahdiism  and  routed  the  savage  hordes  at  Omdurman  he  asked  the 
British  people  to  provide  a  college  for  the  youth  of  the  country.  This 
institution  was  the  result  of  that  appeal,  and  it  has  proved  one  of  the 
greatest  blessings  to  the  Sudan.  The  college  includes  such  practical 
units  as  the  Wellcome  Research  Laboratories,  of  which  the  Medical 
Officer  of  Health  for  the  city,  Dr.  A.  Balfour,  is  director  ;  the  Mather 
Instructional  Workshops  for  the  training  of  artisans;  and  the  School 
of  Engineering.  Avith  which  is  incorporated,  for  instructional  pur- 
poses, the  Municipal  Engineer's  Office.  The  drawings  illustrating 
this  Paper  were  prepared  there,  with  the  kind  assistance  of  Mr. 
G.   E.   Hunt,  assistant  municipal  engineer  and  lecturer. 

Photo  Xo.  10  is  a  view  from  the  palace  looking  south  over  the 
gardens  and  down  \'ictoria  Avenue,  while  Xo.  1 1  shows  Melik 
.\venue,  with  the  new  law  courts  in  Khedive  Avenue  to  the  right.  The 
system  of  arcades  over  part  of  the  footpath,  as  already  described,  is 
seen  in  this  photo. 

RECONSTRUrnOX  OF  OMDURMAN". 

Onuluriiian  ;    General   Plan — Detail   I'lan,  original  state — Detail  Plan  show- 
ing reconstruction  — General  Plan  ;  description. 

The  reconstruction  of  Omdurman  presented  a  vastly  different 
problem  from  that  of  Khartoum.  In  the  latter  case  a  heap  of  ruins, 
containing  only  a  few  scattered  inhabitants,  had  to  be  cleared,  and 
a  new  citv  laid  out.     But  such  a  "  rabbit-warren  "  as  Omdurman, 


592   Transactions  of  the  To%vn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

containing-  an  enormous  number  of  inhabitants,  could  not  be  dealt  with 
in  the  same  wholesale  manner.  When  it  is  remembered  that  the  native 
has  a  keen  appreciation  of  his  rights  as  an  owner  of  property,  and 
that  the  majority  of  troubles  arise  through  land  disputes,  it  will  be 
seen  that  it  was  necessary  to  proceed  very  carefully  in  the  matter  of 
"  improvements,"  so  as  to  avoid  offence  to  nati\e  prejudices. 


!t>*^«A^U?*^  ' 


Rp 


i>':K^-ji^^V^f'  ^^0~^^-''j^~"''  .v^a^-^-^-I^W-T 


\* 


V 

s 


OMDURMAN 

-i'?TCUM    PR. 
SUDAN 


Fig,  8. — General  Plan  of  Omdvrmax. 

A  detailed  survey  of  the  town  was  first  taken  in  hand,  and  the 
general  plan  [fig.  8]  shows  the  extent  of  this  work,  which  is  now 
practically  completed.  There  are  over  12,000  compounds,  which  vary 
in  size  from  over  one  acre  down  to  100  square  yards.  These  com- 
pounds are  surrounded  and  sub-divided  by  mud  walls  about  10  feet 


The  Plannini^  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman. 


593 


"high  and  i  foot  thick,  and  contain  mud  houses  from  13  to  20  feet  high. 
These  mud  walls  are  built  at  every  conceivable  angle  and  irregular 
■curve,  and  the  streets  are  simply  vacant  spaces  left  between  the  com- 
pounds, being  perhaps  50  yards  wide  in  one  place,  converging  to  a 
Avidth  hardly  sufficient  for  two  pedestrians  to  pass,  and  often  blocked 
altogether.      In   fact,   without  a  guide  it  would  take  a  considerable 


■  ~  -  -^- — .*^  .'i..  ^^  O,   ,_i3^  V 


't 


•■  f  « 


^. 


■<  r^. 

1): 

z 

'^5- 

<] ' 

< 

"^  i  •  ■ 

^ 

K 

"T-  r- 

< 

3  1-- 

*-;.* 

X 

c  •■: 

'i; 

--I' 


Tig.  9. — Part  Plan  of  Cmdcrman,  Oricinau-State. 

time  for  a  stranger  to  get  out  of  some  of  the  mazes  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  market  {suk). 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that  the  survey,  which  was 
"begun  in  November  1906,  presented  a  somewhat  difficult  problem. 
An  attempt  was  made  to  survey  by  photography,  attaching  a  camera 
to  a  military  kite  ;  but  this  proved  impracticable,  and  the  work  has 


594  Transactions  oj  the  Tuivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

been  carried  out  bv  a  series  of  accurately  closed  traverses,  the  details 
being  filled  in  by  plane-table  and  chain  survey  on  a  scale  of  i  /500. 

The  town  is  divided  into  "  quarters,"  called  "  rubas,"  which  are 
ag-ain  sub-divided  into  "  haras."   The  plan  [fig.  9]  shows  "  Hara  "  1. 


"--•■«  ^-^■,. ,.„.,„    -^3|i| 


-. .  p- 


FiG.   10. — Part  Plan  of  O.mdurman,   Reconstructed. 

of  "  Ruba  "II.  in  its  original  state,  and  the  broad  roadway  made  by 
the  Khalifa  is  seen. 

As  each  section  was  surveyed  the  various  houses  or  enclosures  in 
it  were  numbered,  and  registered  with  the  name  of  the  proprietor. 
New  main  streets,  30  metres  and  20  metres  in  width,  and  narrower 


TJic  Planning  of  Kharloum  (t)ul  Ouulunnan .  5(^5 

secondary  streets  were  plotted  on  the  plan,  but  a  definite  scheme  of 
planning  or  "  la} -out  "  was  only  practicable  in  quarters  where  the 
land  was  sparsely  occupied. 

No  permits  are  issued  for  rebuilding  or  for  new  buildings  except 
on  the  new  alignment  which  is  set  out  on  the  ground  as  required. 
Consequently  the  town  is  gradually  becoming  transformed. 

The  plan  [fig.  10]  shows  "  Hara  "  IV.  of  "  Ruba  "  III.,  which  has 
been  dealt  with  in  this  manner.  The  system  of  roads  already  referred 
to  is  seen,  and  it  will  be  noted  that  a  space  is  reserved  for  public 
gardens.  The  houses  are  built  principally  of  mud,  so  that  their  recon- 
struction is  not,  of  course,  a  serious  matter;  and  if  a  plot  is  required 
for  roadway  purposes  the  owner  is  given  an  equivalent  plot  on 
Government  land.  The  scheme  has  the  co-operation  of  the  natives, 
who  realise  the  value  of  the  improvements,  and,  even  before  it  becomes 
necessary,  hasten  to  build  on  the  new  alignment  as  soon  as  it  is 
set  out. 

Referring  again  to  the  general  plan  [fig.  8]  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
old  Malazamin  quarter  has  been  laid  off  into  first-class  building  sites, 
in  the  centre  of  which  is  a  recreation  reserve,  while  several  other  parts 
of  the  town  have  been  already  reconstructed,  including  a  portion  of 
the  ne\V  market. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  this  scheme,  which  has  been  so 
successful  in  Omdurman,  is,  in  essence,  that  provided  for  bv  the 
recent  Town  Planning  Act  in  Britain. 

Mr.  A.  A.  R.  Boyce,  of  the  Survey  Department,  and  Mr.  A.  M. 
Asquith,  vSudan  Civil  Service,  have  been  responsible  for  this  work  in 
Omdurman,  and  to  their  efforts  the  success  of  the  scheme  is  largely 
due.  Mr.  Boyce  kindly  prepared  the  drawings  of  Omdurman  illus- 
trating this  Paper. 

The  municipal  services  in  Omdurman  include  a  conservancy 
system,  dealing  with  the  public  latrines  and  the  principal  houses  in  the 
town  ;  also  steam  tramways,  connecting  with  the  Khartoum  Ferry  and 
running  through  the  town  to  the  central  station  at  the  market,  and 
thence  to  connect  w  ith  the  Khartoum  North  Fcrr\-  at  .\bu  Rouf. 

The  successful  development  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman  is 
largelv  due  to  the  efforts  of  the  late  Governor,  Major  E.  .\.  Stanton, 
and  of  his  successor.  Major  C.  E.  Wilson,  who  ha\e  been  ever  loyally 
supported  by  the  various  officials  connected  with  the  work. 

The  author's  thanks  are  due  to  all  who  have  so  kindly  assisted  him, 
and  more  particularly  to  the  Inspector-General,  vSir  Rudolf  Slatin 
Pasha;  also  to  the  Go\ernor-General.  Sir  Reginald  Wingate.  for  his 
interest  in  and  permission  to  give  this  Paper  ;  and  to  Mr.  R.  Weir 
Schultz  for  kindly  reading  it  in  his  unavoidable  absence. 


596  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


^^:^f:, 


[  .     ,LRAL  \'iE\v,   Khartoum   {4outh-i:ast). 

DISCUSSION. 
Field-Marshal  Lord  Kitchener  of  Khartoum,  G.C.B.,  in  the  Chair. 

Lord  Kitchener,  addressing-  the  meeting  prior  to  the  reading 
of  Mr.  MacLean's  Paper,  said  :  Mr.  MacLean's  Paper  deals 
with  the  story  of  the  growth  of  the  city  of  Khartoum  and 
the  policy  pursued  as  regards  its  planning  and  development,  a 
ijubject  which  is  naturally  of  special  interest  to  myself.  I  well 
remember  the  dihkult  problem  that  had  to  be  determined  after  the 
conquest  of  the  countr}-,  iiow  best  to  evolve  out  of  the  ruined 
remains  left  by  the  Dervishes  a  practical  scheme  for  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  Khartoum  on  sanitary  lines.  And  it  is  a  matter  of  gratifi- 
cation that  the  plans  decided  on  have  proved  serviceable  and  have 
stood  the  test  of  time.  It  is  also  most  satisfactory  that  they  have 
been  found  to  be  in  general  accord  with  the  principles  of  town 
development  as  laid  down  in  the  recent  Town  Planning  Act  of  1909 
— principles  which  it  is  the  object  of  this  Conference  to  popularise 
throughout  the  world.  It  is  not  easy  for  you  to  form  a  fair  conception 
ot  the  difficulties  tha<^  have  had  to  be  overcome  before  a  scheme  of  this 
sort  could  be  carried  out  in  the  centre  of  Africa.  First  and  foremost, 
careful  consideration  had  to  be  given  to  the  susceptibilities  of  a  natur- 
ally uneducated  IMoslem  population,  to  whom  such  ideas  are  abso- 
lutely loreign,  and  to  whose  conservative  minds  most  necessary  modern 
regulations  are  repugnant.  I  believe  I  am  correct  in  saving  that 
no  trouble  on  this  account  has  arisen,  and  that  the  native  population 
have  agreed  with  the  measures  adopted,  and  now  realise  the  fact 
that  reasonable  regulations  mean  increased  length  of  life  and  in- 
creased prosperity.  That,  in  comparison  with  former  conditions,  a 
revolution  has  been  effected  is  beyond  dispute.  The  old  Khartoum 
was  an  African  pest-house,  in  which  every  tropical  disease  throve 
iind  was  rampant ;  now  malaria  is  almost  unknown,  though  mosquito 


The  Planning  of  Khartoum  and  Omdurman.  597 

curtains  are  not  in  use  ;  and  last  }  ear  there  were  only  eleven  cases 
of  malaria  in  a  town  of  50,000  inhabitants.  I  do  not  think  that  such 
results  have  been  achieved  in  any  other  British  dependency,  and  this 
excellent  work  in  Khartoum  does  not  stand  alone  in  the  Soudan, 
where  sanitary  conditions  generally  prevail,  and  demonstrate  to  the 
thorough  efficiency  of  the  administration  of  the  country.  I  can,  of 
course,  only  claim  to  have  sketched  out  the  rough  outlines  of  this 
scheme.  The  work  itself  has  been  carried  into  effect  and  adapted  to 
varying  conditions  by  my  successor.  Sir  Reginald  Wingate,  who, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  not  able  to  be  present  with  us  to-day  owing  to 
his  recent  return  to  duty  in  the  Soudan.  Let  me  recall  a  few  of  the 
names  of  the  men  who  have  been  responsible  for  the  new  Khartoum. 
Most  of  them  have  been  old  comrades  and  brother  officers  of 
my  own.  The  first  names  that  occur  to  me  are  those  of  Colonels  Gor- 
ringe  and  Friend  and  Captain  Kennedy  ;  then  that  of  Major  Stanton, 
who  as  Governor  of  Khartoum  for  nearly  ten  years  did  so  much  for  its 
development ;  and  that  of  Colonel  Drage,  who  performed  the  heavy 
task  of  carrying  into  effect  the  Land  Acquisition  Ordinance,  and  of 
Major  Wilson,  who  succeeded  Major  Stanton  as  Governor.  Perhaps  as 
prominent  a  figure  as  any  is  that  of  Dr.  Balfour,  who  has  been  long  as- 
sociated with  the  Gordon  College  research,  and  whose  name  is  a  house- 
hold word  wherever  tropical  sanitation  is  discussed.  I  would  also 
mention  the  names  of  Dr.  Christopherson,  and  two  native  officers. 
Bimbashi  Ghuleb  Effendi  and  Yusbashi  Mahammed  Effendi  Samaha. 
I  say  nothing  of  the  Municipal  Engineer,  the  author  of  this 
Paper,  who  has  had  such  a  large  share  in  recent  developments. 
Perhaps,  however,  I  might  mention  what  good  work  he  is  doing 
in  lecturing  on  civil  engineering  at  the  Gordon  College — an  institu- 
tion in  which  I  feel  sure  you  all  take  a  lively  interest.  Much  of  the 
work  inAolved  in  the  preparation  of  the  plans  accompanying  the 
Paper  has  been  done  by  the  engineering  students  at  the  Gordon 
College  ;  and  I  am  delighted  to  see  that  their  technical  training  is 
of  no  mere  bookish  kind,  but  is  closely  connected  with  practical 
utilities. 

Major  E.  A.  Stantox.  late  Governor  of  Khartoum,  rising  at  the 
invitation  of  Lord  Kitchener,  said  :  I  feel  it  a  great  honour  to  be 
called  upon  to  add  a  few  words  to  Mr.  ^L'^cLean's  splendid  Paper 
which  Mr.  Schultz  has  just  read  to  us.  I  feel  that  there  is  very 
little  really  to  say  ;  but  I  should  like  to  thank  Lord  Kitchener  for 
his  kind  remarks  about  myself.  I  feel  that  I  do  not  exactly  deserve 
them,  for,  after  all,  I  only  did  my  dut\  by  him  and  his  successor. 
Sir  Reginald  \\'ingatc,  and  to  my  King  and  country,  as  you  would 
expect  of  anv  other  British  officer.  I  hear  that  I  am  credited  with 
having  stated  tiiat  Khartoum  will  one  day  be  the  largest  town  in 
.\fri(  a.  I  should  like  rather  to  say  that  some  day  it  will,  in  my 
opinion,  be  one  of  the  largest  towns  in  .\frica.  I  am  perfectly 
certain  that  in  vears  to  come,  it  may  be  fifty  years,  or  a  hundred 
years  even,  Khartoum  will  be  as  big  as,  if  not  bigger  than,  Alex- 
andria and  Cairo,  both  in  population  and  in  prosperity.  In  "  Khar- 
toum," of  course,  I  include  Omdurman  and  Khartoum  North. 
Their  population  is  already  over  100,000. 


5Q8   Transactions  of  tJic  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Fig.   12. —  Khartoum:    Law  Courts, 


Fig.   13. — Khartoum  :  War  Office. 


Fig.  14 — Khartoum  :  The  Palace  fro.m  the  River. 


Tlic  Plunuiui!;  of  Khartoum  aud  Omilurmcni .  500 


Fig.    16. — Khartoum  :    Gordon'  College  vi-rom  ihe  Solth), 


Fig.   17. — Khartoim        i 


Goo  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910^ 

I  do  not  think  that  the  extent  of  the  Sudan  is  altogether  realised 
in  England.  The  Sudan  covers  close  on  a  million  square  miles, 
and  is  as  large  as  France,  Germany,  Austria,  Italy,  Spain,  Portugal, 
and  our  own  Great  Britain  all  rolled  into  one.  It  is  true  that  a 
great  deal  of  this  large  extent  of  country  is,  as  the  late  Lord 
Salisbury  on  one  occasion  remarked,  "  somewhat  light  soil,"  in  other 
words,  sandy  wastes ;  but  still  there  are  very  large  districts  and 
areas  which  only  require  irrigation  to  become  splendid  agricultural 
lands.  There  is  one  district  called  the  Gezireh,  between  the  White 
Nile  and  the  Blue  Nile,  covering  some  nine  million  acres,  which 
only  requires  water  to  become  one  of  the  finest  cotton-fields  the 
world  can  produce.  So  much  is  this  a  fact  that  only  yesterday  that 
distinguished  engineer  and  educationist,  Sir  William  Mather,  read 
a  Paper  before  the  Liverpool  cotton-spinners  pointing  out  to  them 
the  great  advantages  and  benefits  that  would  accrue  to  them  if  they 
were  to  undertake  to  grow  their  cotton  under  the  British  flag  in  the 
Sudan.  When  this  happens  Khartoum  will  progress  by  leaps  and 
bounds  ;  but  until  it  does  happen  I  am  afraid  it  will  remain,  as  a 
distinguished  French  traveller  described  it  one  day  after  I  had 
shown  him  round  the  town  :  "  C'est  tres  joli,"  he  said,  "  mais  il 
n'y  a  pas  de  mouvement. "  It  is  perfectly  true  that  at  present  there 
is  no  business,  or,  I  should  say,  that  there  is  insufficient  business,, 
in  Khartoum,  and  that  life  there  is  rather  dull. 

I  have  heard  the  width  of  the  streets  somewhat  criticised  ;  but 
I  think  that  people  who  have  had  to  live  in  Khartoum  during  the 
months  of  April,  May,  June,  and  July,  and  who  know  the  awful 
temperature  that  the  walls  stand  in  during  the  day,  sometimes  over 
150°  Fahrenheit  in  the  sun,  will  realise  that  the  heat  is  radiated  off 
at  night  often  ten  and  even  twelve  feet  away,  and,  consequently,  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  the  streets  should  be  of  sufficient  width 
to  allow  a  passage  of  cool  air  to  moderate  the  radiated  heat.  Vou 
have  already  seen  a  picture  of  one  of  the  dust  storms  which  sweep 
over  Khartoum.  If  science  could  find  some  method  of  preventing 
them  it  would  materially  assist  the  population  of  the  country. 

One  of  the  greatest  advantages,  or,  rather,  one  of  the  pleasantest 
features  of  Khartoum,  is  the  extraordinary  way  in  which  trees  and 
avenues  grow.  Lord  Kitchener  will  remember  a  row  of  trees  which, 
when  he  was  last  there,  were  little  striplings.  Some  few  were  placed 
about  and  planted  close  by  the  palace.  These  trees  are  now  not 
only  over  thirty  feet  high,  but  they  have  stems  of  o\er  two  feet  in 
circumference. 

Time  will  not  allow  me  to  say  much  more.  I  should  only  like 
to  remark  in  conclusion  that  Khartoum  not  only  owes  its  plan  to 
Lord  Kitchener,  but  its  prosperity  also,  and  in  years  to  come  the 
generations  will  be  as  proud  of  its  appearance  as  we  to-day  are 
proud  of  the  great  soldier  who  died  there,  and  the  still  greater 
soldier  who  has  taken  its  name  for  liis  title,  and  to  whom  it  owes 
so  much. 

'  Major  Staxtox  then  exhibited  and  explained  a  number  of  lantern 
slides,  a  selection  from  which,  by  his  kind  permission,  are  here 
reproduced   [figs,   ii-igl. 

I    Colonel  Plunkett  :   I   should  like  to  say  a  few  words  upon   Mr. 


The  Planning  of  Kharluum  and  Omdurman.  601 

MacLean's  Paper,  which  has  been  as  interesting'  as  an\thing  we 
have  heard  during-  the  whole  of  the  Conference.  One  thing-  that 
interested  me  particuhirly  was  the  view  of  the  public  building  which 
is  being  built  with  the  verandahs  that  have  been  found  so  suitable 
in  Khartoum.  In  Cairo  among  the  mediaeval  buildings  there  are 
many  streets  and  houses  which  are  peculiarly  well  suited  to  the 
climate,  and  beautiful  in  every  \\  ay,  whereas  only  too  many  of  those 
in  the  new  quarter  of  Cairo  are  not  only  ugly,  in  the  style  of 
the  outskirts  of  a  third-class  Mediterranean  town,  but  are  absolutely 
unsuited  to  so  hot  a  climate,  where  there  is  a  considerable  number 
of  European  residents.  It  is  very  gratifying  to  see  that  they  are 
building  in  Khartoum  houses  which  are  suitable  to  the  climate  and 
will  meet  the  requirements  of  the  place — buildings  that  are  handsome 
and  pleasant  to  the  eye,  so  that  the  town  will  not  be  an  eyesore  to 
those  who  dwell  there.  There  is  one  other  thing  to  remember,  viz. 
the  interior  of  the  houses.  That  is  a  point  with  which,  as  your 
Lordship  knows  very  well,  it  is  very  difficult  in  the  East  to  interfere 
in  any  way.  The  Government  cannot,  perhaps,  influence  the 
builders  by  direct  means,  but  indirectly  they  can  do  much,  I  am 
referring  to  Cairo  simply  because  it  is  the  city  in  Egypt  which  is 
best  known  to  Europeans.  There  you  find  many  mediaeval  buildings, 
such  as  the  old  Cadi's  house,  with  interiors  which  were  magnificent 
in  every  way,  with  marble  floors,  and  with  rippling  fountains  at  the 
end  of  the  room,  and  everything  to  make  the  place  cool  and 
luxurious.  Then  there  are  the  smaller  buildings,  such  as  the  one 
which  Lord  Kitchener  will  remember  probably  much  better  than  I 
can,  where  some  ladies  have  a  school  for  the  blind.  The  house 
has  a  little  courtyard  with  deep  verandahs  round.  I  have  been  there 
in  the  months  of  May,  June,  and  July,  and  it  was  cool,  compara- 
tively, and  pleasant,  and  suited  to  its  purpose,  and  beautiful  in 
every  wa\'.  I  was  struck  with  all  the  arrangements  of  the  town, 
which  have  been  so  carefully  thought  out.  Although,  as  I  say, 
it  is  impossible  for  the  Government  to  give  orders  about  interiors, 
they  can  order  what  the  outside  should  be,  only  the  orders  must  be 
judiciously  given.  Orders  can  be  given  as  to  the  height  of  the  walls 
of  the  courtyard,  and  as  to  the  materials  for  building ;  but  as  regards 
the  interior  you  can  only  work  by  example.  I  hope  that  those  who 
have  taken  the  place  of  Lord  Kitchener  and  his  immediate  entourage 
will  keep  that  in  mind,  and  that  by  example  and  influence  they  will 
teach  the  traders  and  others  who  will  certainly  become  rich  in  the 
near  future  in  Khartoum  that  they  can  make  the  interiors  of  their 
houses  beautiful  and  suitable  to  the  country  if  they  will  take  as;  a 
model  the  Egyptian  houses  of  two,  three,  or  m.ore  centuries  ag-o  In 
Cairo,  for  instance,  instead  of  copying  everything  which  they  think 
is  European,  and  making  of  the  interiors  of  their  houses  an  inferior 
copy  of  a  third-rate  modern  Mediterranean  town. 

Alderman  Bennett  :  It  is  most  appropriate  that  we  should  have 
had  at  the  closing  session  of  this  most  interesting  and  historic  Con- 
ference such  an  interesting  account  of  what  has  been  achieved  by 
Lord  Kitchener  and  his  fellowtworkers  in  Khartoum  and  Omdurman. 
I  should  like  to  point  what  seems  to  me  to  be  the  moral  of  the 
lecture.     It    seems  that   in  the   heart  of  darkest   Africa  they    have 

R  R 


6o2   Trciiiscictions  of  iJie  Toicii  Planning  Conference,  Del.  igio. 

evohcd  a  beaulilul  cit}',  and  I  think  that  we  ought  to  take  the  lesson 
to  heart.  What  has  been  possible  in  the  heart  of  darkest  Africa 
ought  to  be  possible  in  the  heart  of  "  darkest  Lancashire,"  with  all 
its  wealth  and  its  immense  resources.  If  we  take  this  lesson  to 
heart,  then,  I  think,  we  shall  not  only  ha\e  had  the  privilege  of 
listening  to  a  very  interesting  Paper,  but  we  shall  go  forth  with 
fresh  inspiration  for  the  work  which  lies  before  us  in  our  respective 
localities. 

Mr.  R.  Weir  Schultz  :  May  1  be  allowed  to  make  one  remark 
in  reference  to  Mr.  MacLean's  Paper?  He  refers  to  mud  walls, 
and  says  :  "  Mud  walls  are  quite  satisfactory,  and  they  certainly 
have  the  advantage  in  that  they  do  not  retain  and  radiate  the  heat 
like  stone  or  brick  walls."  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  while  mud  is 
used  in  these  tropical  countries  as  a  suitable  material  to  keep  out 
the  heat,  a  similar  material  was  used  in  this  countrv  to  keep  out   the 


I-IG.    lb. —  KllAKlul  M  :      ThL     H.MBANKMtNT    ROAD — TrELS    ONLY    PLANTED    IN    I90I. 

cold.  The  old  cottages  in  Devonshire  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
country,  even  in  Scotland,  were  built  of  blocks  of  clay,  and  in  other 
places  blocks  of  chalk  were  used.  We  now  suffer  from  most  absurdly 
and  unnecessarily  restrictive  bye-laws,  even  in  country  districts,  which 
make  it  almost  penal  to  build  cottages  of  the  simple  and  economical 
material  at  hand.  The  result  is  that  the  whole  face  of  the  country 
in  many  parts  is  being  disfigured  by  ugly  brick  cottages  which  do  not 
harmonise  with  the  landscape  at  all,  while  there  is  at  hand  this  cheap 
material  which  could  still  be  used  to  construct  buildings  that  would 
harmonise  with  the  landscape  and  with  the  old  buildings  around. 
The  cottages  in  Devonshire  and  elsewhere  that  were  built  of  these 
blocks  of  clay  are  most  comfortable  cottages  to  live  in.  They  are 
cool  in  summer  and  warm  in  winter.  To  keep  out  the  damp  they 
are  often  covered  with  two  or  three  coats  of  lime-wash,  which  act 
specially  well  in  keeping  the  moisture  from  penetrating  the  walls. 
I  do  not  think  that  this  Conference  ouglit  to  disperse  without  making 
a  definite  and  clear  i)rotest  against  these  unnecessary  restricti\e 
bye-laws.  The  President  of  the  Local  Government  Board  is  President 
of  this  Conference.     He  has  constantly  expressed  his  readiness  to  help 


The  Plaiiiiiii:^  of  K Imrloum  aiul  (Jnulitrnuin .  Got, 

us,  and  he  docs  undoubtedly  do  a  great  deal,  but  I  have  been 
personally  connected  with  an  association  that  has  for  its  object  the 
alteration  of  these  bye-laws  so  as  to  make  them  more  workable,  and 
I  know  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  get  any  modifications  through  ;  there 
are  all  sorts  of  difficulties  thrown  in  the  way.  I  think  that  this  Con- 
ference ought  not  to  close  without  making  some  definite  protest 
against  these  bye-laws  with  the  object  of  getting  them  altered,  so  that 
they  may  be  interpreted  in  a  common-sense  way.  Materials  are 
g^oing  up  in  price  ;  the  cost  of  building  is  increasing  every  year ;  yet 
we  could  build  at  a  moderate  price  quite  satisfactorily  if  we  were 
allowed  to  do  so  in  a  reasonable  way. 

Mr.  BiiRNARD  Gibson  asked  the  Chairman  if  he  could  tell  them 
what  the  trees  were  which  grew  so  splendidly  about  Khartoum. 
Were  they  acacias  or  eucalyptus? 

The  Chairman:  The  trees  are  the  acacia,  called  the  Lubbock. 
Ordinary  gum-trees  also  are  planted,  and  grow  well  there.  I  feel 
sure  that  all  present  have  been  very  much  interested  in  hearing  how 
Khartoum  has  increased  and  prospered  and  developed  in  the  last 
few  years.  I  only  hope  that  the  development  will  culminate  in  the 
cathedral  being  finished  before  long.  I  greatly  regret  that  time 
has  not  permitted  of  the  reading  of  Mr.  Sulman's  Paper  '  ;  but  I  hope 
that  you  will  study  it  when  it  is  published.  It  gives  an  account  of 
what  is  necessary  with  regard  to  the  Federated  capital  to  be  erected 
in  Australia.  I  should  like  to  propose  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the 
authors  of  the  two  Papers,  and  I  would  like  to  associate  with  them 
the  name  of  Major  Stanton,  who  has  given  us  such  a  very  excellent 
account  and  shown  such  splendid  photographs  of  the  existing-  state 
of  aiTairs  in  Khartoum.      His  remarks  have  been  most  interesting'. 

Mr.  Lkonard  Stokes  :  It  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  remind 
the  meeting  how  mucli  we  owe  already  to  Lord  Kitchener.  He  has 
this  afternoon  placed  us  under  a  fresh  obligation.  I  am  sure  that 
you  would  not  wish  him  to  leave  this  room  without  your  having  an 
opportunity  of  expressing  to  him  your  thanks,  first  of  all  for  coming 
here  this  afternoon  and  presiding  o\er  the  meeting,  and,  secondly, 
and  perhaps  even  more  heartily,  for  having  introduced  to  us  such 
a  splendid  example  of  a  well-planned  town  as  we  have  had  shown 
to  us  this  afternoon.  I  beg  formally  to  move  a  very  hearty  vote 
of  thanks  to  his  Lordship. 

The  \'ote  of  thanks  was  carried  by  acclamation,  ant!  briefly  re- 
sponded to. 

'  "  The  Federal  Capital  of  Australia,"  which  follows  overleaf. 


R  R 


(So4  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(3)  THE  FEDERAL  CAPITAL  OF  AUSTRALLV. 

By  John  Sulman,  F.R.LB.A.,  Consulting  Architect,  Sydney, 
New  South  Wales. 

Whex  the  Commonwealth  of  Australia  was  proclaimed  at  Sydney  on 
the  first  day  of  the  present  century  to  the  strains  of  martial  music, 
the  thunder  of  guns,  and  the  cheers  of  a  vast  concourse  of  citizens, 
many  bright  anticipations  were  formed  of  its  future.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  most  of  these  are  still  only  anticipations  ;  but  now,  as  we 
are  nearing  the  completion  of  the  first  decade  of  our  history,  there 
appears  to  be  a  reasonable  prospect  of  fruition  for  two*  of  the  most 
discussed,  viz.  adequate  national  defence  and  the  foundation  of  a 
Federal  Capital.  By  a  specific  clause  in  the  Constitution  the  latter 
was  to  be  in  the  Mother  State  of  New  South  Wales,  but  not  less 
than  100  miles  from  Sydney.  Meanwhile  the  Federal  Parliament  was 
to  sit  in  Melbourne.  After  much  discussion  and  many  attempts  to 
evade  a  distinct  undertaking,  a  site  has  been  chosen  in  New  South 
Wales,  about  150  miles  to  the  south-west  of  Sydney,  70  miles  from 
the  sea  coast  (both  as  the  crow  flies),  and  elevated  about  2000  feet 
above  the  sea-level. 

Australians  do  not,  I  think,  realise  as  yet  the  unique  opportunity 
that  is  thus  presented  to  them  of  planning  a  fine  city  ab  uiitio,  and 
at  first  there  was  a  possibility  tliat  it  might  drift  into  the  hands  of 
permanent  oflicials  whose  knowledge  of  city  planning  and  its  possi- 
bilities was  conspicuous  by  its  absence.  Many  new  towns  have  been 
oflficially  surveyed  and  laid  out,  but  they  almost  universally  followed 
the  prosaic  chessboard  model,  and  contours  have  been  almost  entirely 
ignored.  The  only  notable  exception  is  Adelaide,  in  which  some 
attempt  at  the  formation  of  a  Civic  Centre  was  made,  a  belt  of  park 
lands  pro\  ided,  and  suburbs  grouped  around  the  central  nucleus. 

During  the  whole  of  my  professional  career  the  subject  of  citv 
planning  has  keenly  interested  me,  and  when  I  migrated  to  this 
country  twenty-five  years  ago  the  prosaic  character  of  the  town  plans 
made  a  forcible  impression.  In  1890  I  therefore  commenced  an 
attempt  to  interest  Australians  in  the  subject  by  reading  a  paper  on 
"The  Laying-out  of  Towns  "  to  the  Australian  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  at  its  Melbourne  meeting,  which  advocated 
the  radial  and  concentric,  or  spider-web  method  of  planning  ;  follow- 
ing this  up  by  others  on  allied  subjects  and  by  articles  in  the  daily  and 
weekly  Press.  The  subject  has  thus  been  kept  before  the  public  and 
interest  aroused,  especially  in  "  Ihe  Improvement  of  Sydney,"  which 
is  now  being  commenced. 

Realising  that  tlie  subject  of  conscious  city  planning  is  (-ompara- 
tively  new  in  Australia,  and  thai  it  is  not  likely  the  best  result  would 


I 


The  Federal  Capital  of  .Australia.  605 

be  attained  by  local  effort  owing  to  lack  of  experience,  I  have  there- 
fore strenuously  advocated  throwing  open  the  planning  of  the  Federal 
Capital  to  world-wide  competition,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  know  that 
the  late  Deakin-Cook  Government  had  decided  to  adopt  this  course. 
A  complete  contour  survey  of  the  chosen  site  has  been  prepared,  levels 
have  been  taken  for  drainage,  the  site  of  an  irrigation  sewage-farm 
determined  upon,  and  sufficient  territory  acquired  to  ensure  ample 
water-supply.  The  data  necessary  for  competitors  is  in  course  of 
compilation,  and  it  only  now  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  present 
Government  will  carry  out  the  expressed  intentions  of  its  predecessor. 
By  the  time  this  Paper  is  read  its  decision  will,  no  doubt,  have  been 
made  public.  Believing  that  it  will  be  LivourablCj  I  have  thought 
that  it  might  be  useful  to  my  confreres,  who  may  be  intending  to 
compete,  if  I  give  some  idea  of  the  special  conditions  that  will  have  to 
be  met. 

In  the  first  place,  let  me  say  that  Australia  has  its  own  distinguish- 
ing characteristics,  climatic,  political,  racial,  social,  and  constructive, 
that  differentiate  it  from  any  other  country  in  the  world.  Because  we 
are  almost  entirely  of  Brito-Irish  descent  it  must  not  be  assumed  that 
"  Home  "  ideas  and  traditions  are  necessarily  current.  Nor  can  we 
be  classed  as  similar  to  the  other  Dominions  of  the  Empire,  and  still 
less  are  we  in  harmony  with  the  ideas  of  other  nations.  We  are  just 
ourselves,  and,  though  a  young  nation,  have  developed  our  own 
idiosyncrasies  very  rapidly  owing  to  our  isolation  from  the  rest  of 
the  world.  Wc  are,  of  course,  more  British  than  anything,  but  with 
a  difference.  And  this  difference  it  behoves  every  competitor  to  learn 
and  estimate  at  its  full  value  if  he  is  to  make  a  suitable  and  successful 
city  plan.  I  strongly  recommend  everyone  who  can  afford  the  time 
to  visit  the  country  and  study  its  conditions  on  the  spot  before  he  puts 
pencil  to  paper.  For  those  who  cannot,  the  following  hints  mav  be 
of  service. 

The  chosen  site  of  the  Federal  Capital  is  at  Canberra,  between 
the  towns  of  Queanbeyan  and  Yass,  in  the  State  of  New  South  Wales. 
It  is  situated  appropriately  enough  on  the  broad  backbone  of  the 
continent,  a  range  of  hills  or  mountains  that  stretches  from  Cape 
York  in  the  extreme  north,  more  or  less  parallel  to  the  eastern  and 
southern  coasts  till  it  sinks  down  into  the  plains  in  the  vicinity  of 
Adelaide.  Its  average  height  is  only  about  4000  feet,  and  nowhere 
does  it  rise  much  above  7000  feet,  so  that  compared  with  other 
countries  Australia  is  decidedly  flat.  Its  whole  interior  is  a  vast 
slightly  rolling  plain.  The  actual  site  of  the  capital  is  barely  2000 
feet  above  the  sea,  on  a  narrow  rolling  plain  surrounded  by  hills  and 
ranges  of  moderate  elevation.  The  plain  slopes  down  to  the  Molonglo 
River,  a  small  stream  which  falls  into  the  Murrumbidgee,  an  impor- 
tant branch  of  the  main  river  system  of  .Australia.  Within  a  mile  or 
two  of  the  site  a  position  has  been  seleced  for  a  weir  on  the  Molonglo, 
above  which  it  would  be  turned  into  an  artificial  lake,  an  asset  in 
city  planning  of  the  utmost  value.  About  thirty-five  miles  away 
the  Murrumbidgee  itself  is  being  dammed  at  Barren  Jack,  and  an 
enormous  body  of  water  will  be  impounded,  second  only  in  extent  and 
volume  to  the  Nile  above  Assouan.  It  is  intended  for  irrigation  of  the 
rich  plans  of  the  Riverina  district  of  Xew  South  Wn',es,  and  .nlthough 


6o6  Trctnsdclioiis  of  Ihc  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

ot  no  practical  \  aluc  to  the  Federal  Capital  it  will  be  a  source  of 
delight  to  all  visitors  and  residents,  who  will  find  on  its  surface  and  in 
its  mountainous  surroundings  a  pleasure-resort  of  unique  interest. 

The  ranges  above  referred  to  approach  each  other  \\ithin  about 
three  miles  just  where  the  city  is  to  be  located.  On  the  south-west  a 
bold  hill  called  the  Black  Mountain  is  prominent,  while  to  the  north- 
east Mount  Ainslie  rears  its  conical  mass  high  into  the  air.  It  rises 
about  800  feet  above  the  plain,  and  from  its  summit  a  most  glorious 
panorama  of  the  whole  range  of  the  southern  mountains  unfolds 
itself;  even  down  on  the  level  fine  views  may  be  obtained,  and  they 
should  be  carefully  taken  into  account  and  utilised  in  the  planning  of 
the  city. 

The  outstanding  feature  of  the  Australian  climate  is  its  abundant 
sunshine  and  clear  atmosphere.  In  the  district  under  consideration 
the  rainfall  is  fairlv  good,  sufficient  in  most  seasons  to  produce  a  good 
coat  of  grass,  and,  where  the  soil  is  suitable,  to  raise  cereals  and  other 
crops  with  success.  But  in  the  main  the  district  is  pastoral.  During 
three  months  in  summer  the  heat  is  considerable,  and  shade,  there- 
fore, would  be  grateful ;  but  owing  to  its  elevation  the  nights  would 
always  be  comparatively  cool.  In  winter  the  south  and  west  winds 
are  very  cutting,  and  shelter  therefrom  of  very  great  importance. 
Hence  the  selection  of  the  site  to  the  north-east  of  the  Black  Moun- 
tain and  a  further  reason  for  the  w^iolesale  planting  of  evergreen 
trees,  which  will  give  shelter  from  the  winter  winds  as  well  as  shade 
from  the  summer  sun.  Night  frosts  are  frequent,  and  there  are 
occasional  light  falls  of  snow,  but  they  do  not  last,  the  bright  winter 
sunshine  quickly  dispersing  them.  The  nearest  approach  to  these 
conditions  in  European  countries  may,  I  think,  be  found  in  the  Tuscan 
portion  of  Italy  or  on  some  of  the  lower  plateaux  of  Southern  Spain. 

As  regards  political  considerations,  it  must  be  carefully  borne  in 
mind  that  the  Australian  Government  is  one  of  the  most  democratic 
in  the  world.  Our  rulers  of  to-day  may  have  been,  and  now  mostly 
are,  the  labourers  and  skilled  artisans  of  yesterday,  with  some  repre- 
sentatives of  the  professional  and  mercantile  classes.  But  the  former 
are,  of  course,  picked  examples  of  their  class,  or  rather  possess  in  a 
marked  degree  the  necessary  qualifications  and  aptitudes  for  political 
life.  Hence  they  are  not  fenced  off  by  custom  and  privilege  from  the 
populace,  as  are  the  ruling  classes  of  many  old-world  countries.  As 
in  the  United  States,  the  highest  fiinctionaries  are  as  accessible  to 
every  citizen  as  the  duties  of  their  position  permit.  Hence  there  need 
be  no  special  segregation  of  official  buildings,  but  only  such  ordered 
grouping  as  will  facilitate  administration.  Military  guards,  or  even 
the  necessary  policemen,  are  conspicuous  by  their  absence  from  offi- 
cial quarters  throughout  Australia.  But  this  docs  not  indicate  that 
anything  like  meanness  in  structures  or  surroundings  is  countenanced 
or  desired.  On  the  contrary,  our  public  buildings  are  more  important 
in  comparison  with  population  than  they  are  in  Britain.  In  providing 
for  the  Governor-Cjeneral,  the  representative  of  the  Empire,  the  above 
considerations  do  not  apply.  He  is  naturally  selected  from  the  ruling 
and  aristocratic  class,  and  as  our  guest,  as  well  as  our  ruler,  he  is, 
and  should  be,  provided  for  in  a  generous  w-ay,  in  harmonv  with  his 
previous  life  and  surroundings. 


I'hc  Federal  Capita]  of  Auslralia.  607 

Our  social  life  is  also  much  more  free  and  unconventional  than 
that  of  Europe,  owing-  perhaps  to  the  more  equal  diffusion  of  wealth. 
There  is  no  extremely  rich  class,  with  its  necessary  corollary  of  a 
substratum  of  extreme  poverty.  At  any  time  everyone  who  chooses 
to  work  may  be  sure  of  food  and  shelter,  and,  in  ordinary  times,  of  a 
substantial  measure  of  comfort.  There  is  consequently  not  so  much 
to  differentiate  classes  as  elsewhere,  and  the  universal  State  school 
education  also  tends  to  level  up  the  mass.  Generally  diffused  pros- 
perity, shorter  hours  of  labour,  and  a  genial  climate  naturally 
encourage  outdoor  amusements,  in  which  sport  in  all  its  forms  takes 
the  predominant  place.  Hence  a  racecourse,  sports  grounds  for 
cricket,  football,  and  other  games,  running-tracks,  swimming-pools, 
rowing-courses,  &c.,  are  an  absolute  essential  to  a  representative 
Australian  city.  Drill-grounds  for  the  proposed  citizen  forces  based 
on  universal  service  will  also  be  needed.  Quite  apart  from  these  an 
ample  supply  of  parks  should  be  provided,  where  the  women  and 
children  may  saunter  at  will  and  whole  families  take  the  air.  We 
Australians  like  to  live  out  of  doors,  but  not  in  the  Continental 
manner.  The  boulevard,  as  a  public  resort,  with  its  numerous  caf^s, 
is  unknown,  and  would  be  unappreciated,  more  especially  as  in  a 
somewhat  dry  and  sunny  country  the  dust  nuisance  is  always  with 
us.  Our  choice  is  rather  the  picnic,  the  outdoor  meal  taken  al  fresco 
in  some  shady  semi-rural  retreat  away  from  the  city  streets.  Special 
children's  playgrounds  it  would  be  hardly  necessary  to  provide,  for  it 
will  no  doubt  be  ordained  that  each  dwelling-  shall  have  sufficient 
space  attached  to  fulfil  such  a  purpose.  .\s  to  dwellings,  I  may  as 
well  call  attention  to  tlie  fact  that  the  Australian,  of  whatever  degree, 
generally  prefers  what  we  call  "  a  cottage."  That  is  to  say,  a  one- 
story  building,  however  large  it  may  be.  In  England  it  is  known  as 
the  bungalow  type.  "  A  house  "  with  us  is  a  building  of  two  stories, 
howe\er  small  its  capacity. 

In  a  pastoral  and  agricultural  country  like  Australia  another 
important  feature  of  every  city  and  town  is  the  "  show  ground," 
where  all  kinds  of  live-stock  and  produce,  as  well  as  implements  and 
machinery,  may  be  exhibited  at  least  annually.  Show-week  is  the 
great  social  event  of  the  year  throughout  the  country  districts,  at 
which  all  classes  congregate  from  the  whole  country-side.  The 
serious  business  of  the  festival  is  lightened  by  horse-jumping  contests, 
dog  trials,  and  even  by  the  military  displays  and  tournaments  of 
squads  of  citizen  soldiers.  The  more  serious  side  of  life  must,  of 
course,  be  provided  for,  and  ample  provision  made  for  school 
buildings,  large  playgrounds,  and  school  gardens.  Possibly  even  a 
university  ma}'  be  needed  in  the  future,  and  undouljtedly  a  high  school 
for  secondary  education  and  a  technical  school  for  training  in  the  arts 
and  trades.  Sites  for  public  halls,  institutes  (schools  of  art  they  are 
called  here),  meeting  halls  for  trades  organisations  and  friendly 
societies,  and  for  the  churches  of  all  denominations  should  also  be 
set  apart  in  appropriate  positions,  but  they  should  one  and  all  be 
ample  in  size  to  allow  of  present  beautification  by  trees  and  shrubs 
and  future  expansion.  .\  site  for  one  theatre  may  be  reserved,  but  it 
is  doubtful  whether  for  many  years  to  come  it  would  pay  a  good 
theatrical  companv  to  appear  for  more  than  a  short  season.      This  is 


6o8  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

due    not  onlv  to  the  outdoor  habits  of  the  people,   but  also    to  the 
character  of  the  city. 

It  will  be  very  largel\-  peopled  by  a  transitory  population  consisting 
of  members  of  Parliament  and  their  families,  and  those  of  the  public 
whose  interests  are  more  or  less  affected  by  the  politics  and  legislation 
of  the  moment.  Influence  by  deputation  is  a  recognised  form  of 
impressing  the  popular  wi^hes  on  Ministers  and  members,  and  it  is 
verv  largely  availed  of.     In  addition,  there  would  be  a  considerable 


A  Radially  Planned  Citv. 

This  plan  shows  a  system  of  radinl,  ring,  and  diagonal  avenues,  which  gives  the  greatest  facility  for 
intercommunication  between  all  the  different  parts  of  the  city.  In  the  centre  portion  only  are  the 
minor  streets  indicated,  and  in  one  section  only  are  the  building  areas  blacked  in  to  show  the  relative 
areas  covered  by  buildings  and  left  open  for  streets  and  reserves. 

number  of  travellers  and  visitors.  Hence  during  the  session  a  large 
floating  population  must  be  provided  for  by  hotels  or  boarding  houses 
(pensions).  The  permanent  population  will  consist  mainly  of  officials 
and  the  traders,  &c.,  who  will  supply  their  wants  and  the  workers 
engaged  in  actual  construction.  The  Federal  Capital  is  never  likely 
to  become  a  manufacturing  city,  as  it  possesses  neither  a  coalfield  nor 
sufficient  water  to  generate  more  power  than  will  be  required  for 
tramways  and  lighting.      But  a  space  should   be  set  apart  for  the 


The  Federal  Capital  of  Aiistralia. 


609 


storing"  and  easy  handling"  of  building"  materials  and  the  goods  and 
produce  that  are  needed  in  daily  life.  These  will  come  by  railway,  on 
a  branch  line  connecting"  Yass  and  Queanbeyan,  with  a  possible  exten- 
sion to  the  sea  at  Jervis  Bay. 

Possessing  many  attractions  in  the  way  of  climate  and  scenery, 
and  being  the  headquarters  of  the  Governor-General,  it  is  probable 
that  the  capital  will  gradually  attract  a  permanent  population,  as 
Washington  has  done,  ^yhat  its  ultimate  size  may  be  no  one  can 
tell,  but  my  impression  is  that  for  many  years  to  come  it  will  not 
exceed  50,000,  while  it  may  grow  in  course  of  time  to  100,000.  Any 
possible  increase  beyond  that  number  is,  I  think,  so  far  in  the  future 
that  we  may  leave  later  generations  to  deal  with  the  problem. 


\-/ 


A  Fan-Shapf.d  Plan. 

This  plan  embodies  the  same  Keneral  ideas  as  the  one  pre%'iously  ilhistrated,  but  the  Pailiament 
House,  instead  of  forming  the  central  feature,  is  here  the  culminating  point  on  one  side,  and  would  look 
best  if  backed  up  by  a  range  of  hills.     The  railway  station  forms  an  important  secondary  feature. 

It  is,  unfortunately,  not  in  my  power  to  illustrate  this  Paper  by 
plans  or  views,  as  the  only  ones  at  present  available  are  in  the  hands 
of  the  Commonwealth  Government ;  I  have  therefore  written  to  the 
Minister  for  Home  Affairs  suggesting  the  desirability  of  forwarding 
to  the  Conference  any  plans,  views,  or  photographs  that  it  may  be 
possible  to  send.  Had  the  last  Government  remained  in  power  it  is 
more  than  likely  that  not  only  plans  and  views,  but  full  particulars 
of  the  competition  for  laying  out  the  capital  would  have  been  avail- 
able. In  view  of  this  possibility  I  made  the  following  suggestions  in 
an  article  in  the  Daily  Tclef,n-aph   (Sydney)  of  March  5  :-  — 

"  The  information  should  comprise  a  contour  survey  plan,  which 
is  already  being  prepared  ;  but  it  should  also  include  groups  of 
trees   worth  preserving,    and   any   ornamental   waters   that   may   be 


6io  'rnnisaclions  of  Ihc  Toivn  Planning  Con  former,  Oct.  1910. 

contemplated.  Supplementan  to  this  should  be  numerous  photographs 
of  the  more  salient  features,  surrounding  hills,  and  points  of  view,  and 
a  panorama  of  the  distant  country.  The  station  points  from  which 
they  are  taken  should  be  marked  on  the  plan.  A  geological  map  is 
also  desirable,  and  full  particulars  are  essential  of  the  upper  layers  of 
soil,  their  depth,  capacity  for  supporting  vegetable  life,  and  also  for 
sustaining  buildings.  Available  building  materials  and  their  cost 
should  be  carefully  scheduled.  The  probable  route  of  the  railway 
within  a  specific  limit  of  variation,  and  the  general  direction  of  the 
main  roads  to  connect  with  the  surrounding  country  are  needed.  The 
position  of  the  service  reservoir  for  water-supply  must  be  fixed  and 
the  amount  available  should  be  given,  as  also  the  probable  amount  of 
power  and  the  point  to  which  drainage  should  be  taken.  Full  infor- 
mation is  needed  in  connection  with  the  weather,  such  as  amount  and 
distribution  of  rainfall,  intensity  and  duration  of  winds,  maximum, 
minimum,  and  average  temperature,  and  amount  and  distribution  of 
sunshine  throughout  the  year.  In  connection  with  the  area  Itself  it 
will  be  needful  to  know  the  approximate  total  population  to  be  pro- 
vided for,  the  greatest  density  allowable,  the  proportionate  amount 
of  roads  and  open  spaces  to  the  total  area,  the  relative  areas  required 
for  the  official,  business,  manufacturing,  and  residential  quarters,  and 
the  suggestion  of  alternative  sites  for  the  Parliament  House,  the 
Governor-General's  residence,  and  the  railway  station.  vSome  idea 
should  also  be  given  of  the  area  required  for  educational  and  religious 
purposes,  and,  for  the  benefit  of  non-Australian  competitors,  a  hint 
as  to  the  general  character  of  Australian  dwellings." 

It  only  remains  for  me  to  say  that  I  hope  the  Information  Indicated 
will  be  fully  given,  and  that  these  notes  may  be  helpful  to  Intending 
competitors.  As  to  my  own  aIcws  on  the  planning  of  the  Federal 
Capital,  they  are  given  in  outline  'n  a  pamphlet,  to  be  found  In  the 
Institute  Library  and  also  in  the  Journal  of  the  Institute.'  But  they 
are  only  in  outline,  and  were  written  for  the  general  public  of 
Australia  to  show  the  merits  of  radial  planning  as  compared  with 
the  rectangular.  In  actual  work  the  general  idea  would  be  modified 
by  contours  and  developed  in  detail  to  such  an  extent  that  only  the 
general  lines  would  be  recognisable  ;  but  In  essence  they  would  be 
there.  It  Is  not,  however,  my  intention  to  enter  the  lists,  and  my 
confreres  are  welcome  to  any  information  I  can  give,  as  my  sole  aim 
is  to  facilitate  the  acquisition  by  the  Government  of  the  best  plan  the 
experts  of  the  world  can  produce. 

'"The  Federal  Capital,"  by  John  Sulman,  Journal  R.I.B.A.,  28th  August, 
1909,  pp.  679-687,  from  which  are  reproduced  the  two  plans  given  herewith,' 
pages  608  and  609. 


6ii 


(4)  GREATER  LONDON. 

ByG.  L.  Pepler,  F.S.I. 

The  title  of  this  Paper  is  comparative,  but  a  very  brief  consideration 
of  the  subject  makes  evident  its  superlative  magnitude.  If  it  were  not 
for  its  supreme  importance  apology  might  be  needed  for  introducing 
it  at  this  Congress,  as  so  much  ground  has  to  be  covered  before 
the  architectural  side  can  be  considered  at  all.  It  is  in  one  sense, 
however,  peculiarly  fitting  that  it  should  be  discussed  here,  because 
we  are  happy  in  the  presence  of  professional  brethren  from  over 
the  water  who  have  had  so  much  experience  in  similar  problems. 
London  is,  however,  unique  in  its  enormous  size,  a  size  far  greater 
in  proportion  to  its  population  than  any  Continental  city. 

The  area  of  the  County  of  London  alone  is  117  square  miles, 
with  a  population  of  over  4I  millions,  and  with  Greater  London, 
which  is  usually  taken  as  the  Metropolitan  Police  area  and  is  un- 
divided from  London  itself  except  by  administration,  has  a  popula- 
tion of  7^  millions  and  an  area  of  700  square  miles.  The  most 
modest  forecast  of  the  population  in  1931  is  9^-  millions.  Within  the 
fifteen-mile  radius,  to  which  distance  and  beyond  London  has  already 
thrown  out  sturdy  feelers,  there  are  eighty-two  authorities  with  town- 
planning  powers.  It  is  obvious  that  these  areas  are  not  in  this 
matter  isolated  units,  but  are  closely  bound  up  in  each  other. 

This  brings  us  at  once  to  what  I  think  must  be  the  starting- 
point  of  all  investigation,  viz.  that  the  main  problem  must  be  con- 
sidered as  a  whole,  largely  irrespective  of  administrative  boundaries. 
In  its  essence  the  problem  is  one  of  traffic,  a  problem  that  is  daily 
getting  more  acute.  In  1907  in  the  County  of  London  the  police 
dealt  with  17,055  people  injured  by  traffic,  of  whom  283  were  killed. 

Not  only  is  traffic  daily  increasing  in  volume,  but  it  also  gets 
faster  and  faster.  Much  heavy  traffic  that  would  formerly  have  gone 
by  rail  now  swiftly  lumbers  along  the  roads,  much  to  their  detriment 
and  that  of  the  people  using  them,  and  we  find  London  retail  firms 
with  daily  deliveries  as  far  out  as  twenty-five  miles.  It  is  no  good 
merely  to  bewail  this  fact,  but  what  we  must  do  is  to  consider  the 
best  way  to  adapt  ourselves  to  the  new  conditions.  At  this  time  of 
day,  too,  we  probably  ought  to  keep  our  minds  open  to  the  possi- 
bilities of  aviation,  and  how  it  is  likfely  to  affect  the  traflfic  problem, 
perhaps  in  the  near  future. 

Another  cause  of  congested  traffic  is  the  poor  arrangement  of  most 
of  the  railway  termini  and  the  fact  that  traffic  must  concentrate  at 
certain  times  for  certain  trains  ;  although  this  difficulty  will  probably 
be  alleviated  in  the  near  future  by  the  railway  companies  sending 
much  more  frequent  short  trains,  most  likely  by  electricity,  so  that 


6i2  Transactions:  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

passengers  will  not  have  to  assemble  at  set  times,  but  will  find  a  train 
at  almost  any  time  to  all  important  places.  This  is  the  present  ten- 
dency of  suburban  traffic,  and  will  doubtless  be  extended  further  and 
further. 

Fortunately,  in  studying-  this  problem  of  traffic  we  have  available 
the  g-reat  fund  of  information  compiled  by  the  Royal  Commission  on 
London  Traffic  of  1905,  and  the  later  report  of  the  Traffic  Branch  of 
the  Board  of  Trade,  1908.  Also,  for  up-to-date  statistics,  we  have  the 
wonderful  compilation  of  Mr.  Harper,  of  the  London  County  Council. 
The  first  point  the  Royal  Commission  lays  stress  on  is  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  problem  and  its  rapidly  increasing  and  changing  diffi- 
culties, and,  of  course,  since  1905  the  speed  alone  of  traffic  has 
increased  enormously.  Up  to  March  1905,  4,559  motors  had  been 
registered  in  London  County  ;  by  March  1909  the  total  had  reached 
26,994  (including  both  light  and  heavy  traction). 

The  problems  of  the  County  of  London  will  be  dealt  with  by  those 
having  more  knowledge  of  its  peculiar  difficulties  than  I  possess,  but 
the  problem  of  Greater  London  is  so  closely  allied  that  one  must  needs 
refer  to  both.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  Royal  Commission  at 
once  realised  that  their  inquiries  could  not  be  confined  to  the  adminis- 
trative area  of  London,  and  so  took  the  larger  district  served  by  the 
Metropolitan  Police  as  their  field  of  research. 

A  glance  at  the  map  shows  us  that  whereas  London  appears  fairly 
well  served  with  radial  roads,  concentric  communication  is  bad. 
Radial  railways  also  abound,  but,  except  for  the  Underground,  cir- 
cumferential communication  is  not  well  catered  for.  The  same 
remark  applies  also  to  trams. 

In  detail  many  of  these  shortcomings  are  being  gradually  rectified, 
but  the  Town  Planning  Act  gives  scope  to  look  ahead,  so  that  plans 
can  be  made  to  meet  the  growing  evils  and  prevent  their  happening 
in  new  districts.  No  doubt  we  most  of  us  know  particular  districts 
with  certain  peculiar  needs  in  this  respect,  but  for  Greater  London 
a  definite,  bold,  comprehensive  scheme  is  required. 

I  have  referred  to  the  big  increase  of  population,  but  the  interest- 
ing point  to  note  in  regard  to  this  is  that  the  increase  is  far  larger  in 
Greater  London  than  in  the  centre.  The  reason,  of  course,  is  that 
improved  transit  is  enabling  the  worker  to  get  out  to  the  more 
spacious  suburbs,  where  land  is  cheaper ;  and,  as  the  Royal  Commis- 
sion Report  states,  this  tendency  is  one  to  be  encouraged.  Also,  if 
the  means  of  transit  are  improved,  regulations  against  overcrowding 
in  the  centre  can  be  more  rigidly  enforced.  On  the  other  hand,  these 
workers,  be  they  rich  or  poor,  remain  Londoners  while  their  work  is 
there,  and  it  only  aggravates  the  pressing  problem  of  finance  if  by 
living  outside  they  avoid  contributing  their  share  to  the  upkeep  of 
the  city. 

It  is  obvious  that  central  improvements  would  be  greatly  simplified 
if  the  disturbed  population  might  be  rehoused  under  better  conditions 
outside,  and  this  should  be  encouraged  and  facilitated.  A  whole 
Paper  might  profitably  be  written  on  this  problem  of  the  gradual 
shifting  of  the  population  from  the  centre  to  the  outskirts.  There 
is  a  great  deal  of  inside  property  that  has  been  practically 
abandoned,  partly  because  it  is  out  of  date  and  partlv  because  it  was 


Cireatcr    London.  613 

laid  out  without  any  preconceived  general  plan  and  without  any  care 
to  preserve  amenities.  In  1901  there  were  16,000  empty  houses  in 
the  county,  by  1907  the  total  had  risen  to  41,600,  and  it  is  not  in  the 
county  alone  that  there  is  this  epidemic  of  empty  property  ;  the  same 
problem  has  to  be  faced  in  the  outer  suburbs,  where  it  is  often  caused 
by  over-production,  and  is  another  example  of  the  need  to  consider 
London  as  a  whole. 

The  chief  difficulty  arises  when  property  is  in  the  transition  stage, 
having  gone  out  of  fashion  as  regards  its  old  use  and  yet  not  being 
ready  for  its  new  one.  Brixton  is  an  example  of  a  district  that  has 
gone  through  this  stage  and  come  out  again,  and  values,  which  a  while 
ago  were  right  down,  have  in  many  cases  more  than  recovered. 

A  present  instance  of  the  effect  of  improved  transit  is  afforded  by 
the  boom  at  Golder's  Green  and  other  northern  suburbs,  which  new 
tube  railways  have  opened  up,  contrasted  with  most  of  the  South 
London  outer  suburbs,  where  development  has  largely  stood  still  for 
some  time,  and  where  empty  houses  are  counted  by  the  thousand  in  by 
no  means  crowded  areas. 

Perhaps  at  this  point  it  would  be  instructi\e  to  note  how  mis- 
leading mere  limitation  of  so  many  houses  to  ihe  acre  may  be.  It 
is  something  of  a  shock  to  find,  for  instance,  that  Hammersmith  has 
only  6.9  houses  to  the  acre,  which  is  better  than  most  garden  suburbs, 
until  we  look  at  the  map  and  see  what  a  large  part  of  the  borough 
is  occupied  by  Wormwood  Scrubbs. 

London  County  has  an  area  of  6,620  acres  of  parks  and  open 
spaces,  or  about  one-eleventh  of  its  whole  area,  but  unfortunately  it 
needs  a  special  excursion  to  get  to  most  of  them,  partly  because  of 
their  position  and  partly  because  traffic  is  not  allowed  through  them, 
as  in  Continental  cities. 

One  could  find  many  more  examples  of  the  difficulties  that  confront 
one  as  soon  as  one  begins  to  study  the  great  London  problem,  but 
time  does  not  permit,  and  I  think  that  enough  at  least  have  been  cited 
to  make  clear  that  the  problem  must  be  tackled  as  a  whole,  and 
tackled  soon.  This  is,  of  course,  no  new  idea,  as  the  Traffic  Com- 
mission laid  the  utmost  emphasis  on  it,  and  the  only  divergence  of 
opinion  is  as  to  who  the  central  authority  should  be.  Moreover,  the 
Town  Planning  Act  has  given  the  opportunity  for  the  matter  to  be 
tackled,  not  only  from  a  traffic  basis  but  also  on  the  broad  lines  of 
general  amenity  and  convenience. 

In  Greater  London  we  have  at  present  areas  almost  if  not  quite  as 
congested  as  any  in  the  centre,  both  with  regard  to  traffic  and  habita- 
tion. It  is  obviously  no  use  for  London  to  make  its  workroom  clean 
if  the  bedrooms  are  not  properly  looked  after.  The  Town  Planning 
Act  gives  full  scope  for  the  prevention  of  the  perpetuation  of  these 
conditions,  and  to  a  small  extent  facilitates  their  improvement, 
although  in  this  respect  the  Act  might  be  strengthened.  That  the 
mere  giving  of  general  town-planning  powers  will  solve  the  problem 
is,  unfortunately,  not  the  case,  as  has  been  clearly  shown  by  the 
example  of  Berlin. 

Berlin  and  many  of  the  municipalities  round  have  exercised  town- 
planning  powers  for  a  considerable  time,  but  because  each  authority 
has  exercised  these  powers  quite  independently  of  its  neighbours  the 


6i-i    Tninsactions  of  the  Toicii  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  Kjio. 

general  result  has  been  chaos.  .  Berlin  has,  liowever,  awakened  to 
this  difficulty,  and  the  result  has  been  that  great  town-planning  com- 
petition, some  of  the  splendid  drawings  sent  in  for  which  we  have 
the  privilege  of  seeing  at  the  Conference."  It  is  instructive  to  note 
that  the  area  given  for  consideration  comprised  Berlin  and  the  out- 
lying suburbs  to  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles,  and  that  these  authorities 
together  put  up  /.Sooo  for  the  competition,  of  which  about  ;£,6ooo 
was  awarded  in  prizes. 

Now  we  have  the  Town  Planning  Act,  Giant  London  must  wake 
up,  enlarge  its  looking-glass,  and  take  stock  of  itself  as  a  whole. 
This  does  not  mean  that  all  life  and  energy  in  this  great  district  must 
concentrate  in  the  centre  alone.  It  is  one  of  the  disadvantages  of 
most  of  the  suburbs  that  local  activities  receive  poor  support.  We 
want  rather  to  encourage  separate  civic  centres,  but  as  flourishing 
members  of  one  family,  and  not  mere  poor  relations  shy  of  each  other 
and  the  head  of  the  family,  whom  they  fear  while  not  able  to  dispense 
with  his  favours.  There  is  at  least  one  existing  tie  of  a  purely  pleasing 
character  in  that  the  City  and  the  County  already  together  own  7445 
acres  of  open  space  in  Greater  London  outside  their  own  boundaries 
(6454  and  991  acres  respectively). 

We  ha^"e  considered  some  of  the  trials  of  Greater  London  ;  let  us 
now  ponder  over  possible  improvements.  The  chief  suggestion  of  the 
Advisory  Board  of  Engineers  to  the  Royal  Commission  was  that  two 
great  avenues  should  be  driven  through  London,  each  140  feet  wide. 
The  one  from  West  to  East  was  to  be  4f  miles  long  and  connect 
Bayswater  with  Whitechapel ;  that  from  North  to  South  to  be  4^  miles 
long  and  connect  HoUoway  with  the  Elephant  and  Castle.  The  first 
was  estimated  to  cost  ;^i5,5oo,ooo  and  the  second  ;^8, 500,000. 
They  were  to  have  trams  on  the  surface  and  trains  immediately  under 
the  surface. 

The  engineers  made  out  a  perfect  case  for  the  project,  and  yet  the 
cost  has  been  considered  prohibitive,  the  London  County  Council 
reporting  that  they  had  already  incurred  liabilities  to  the  full  extent 
of  their  existing  means  of  revenue.  Cost,  indeed,  seems  to  be  an 
extinguisher  to  most  of  our  hopes,  and  yet  up  to  March  1908  the 
London  County  Council  and  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  had 
incurred  a  net  expenditure  of  ;^^i4, 2 14,544  on  street  improvement, 
without  reckoning  5!  odd  millions  on  bridges  and  tunnels.  Yet  for 
this  expenditure  there  is  very  little  to  show,  as  it  has  been  spent  in 
rectifying  mistakes  of  the  past  and  not  in  making  provision  for  the 
future. 

This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  a  project  that  should  relieve 
existing  traffic  pressure  in  the  centre  and  at  the  same  time  make  pro- 
vision for  the  future.  The  suggestion  I  wish  briefly  to  elaborate,  and 
of  course  it  is  one  that  has  previously  been  made  in  various  forms 
and  has  recently  been  most  clearly  put  forward  bv  Mr.  D.  B. 
Niven,  is  for  a  great  girdle  round  London.  Central  improvements 
are  so  costly,  although  the  traffic  problem  grows  more  serious  everv 
day,  that  it  would  appear  wise  to  consider  a  scheme  that  might  do  a 
lot  to  relieve  central  congestion  and  at  the  same  time  profitably  con- 
serve a  belt  of  green,  link  up  existing  suburbs,  and  make  provision 

See  "  The  Greater  Berlin  Competition,"  by  Professor  Eberstadt,  sii/^ra,  p.  313. 


TOWN  PLAl  lEATER  LONDON.     [G.  L.  PEPLER.J 


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I  be  noted  on   the  south  of  Thames  some  built-upon  area  has  to  be 

^  a  at  Richmond,  but  from  there  to  Brighton  Road.  Croydon,  it  would  be 

"ee  of  houses,  although  much  of  the  land  will  be  built  upon  unless  the 

WoAos   1  quickly  put  in  hand.    After  Croydon,  which  we  pass  at  a  fairly  clear 

un  is  mostly  open  till  we  get  to  Woolwich.    The  gradient  need  nowhere 


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?  north  side  there  is  rather  a  congested  district  from  the  docks  to 
Flats,  and  we  here  follow  existing  road.  From  Wanstead  Flats  we  nin 
Prtv^-te  k  FbBLic  flPPine  Forest,  and  get  a  fairly  clear  way  as  far  as  Ponders  End.  Enfield 
)y  a  by-pass  road,  and  thence  our  way  is  clearer  right  round  to  below 
nd,  indeed,  on  to  Hanwell  right  up  to  Brentford,  where  we  are  able  to 
oi)en  way  to  the  river, 
luble-dotted  lines  indicate  one  or  two  possibilities  of  linking  up  existing 

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PLAN    SHOWING    PROPOSED    RING    AND    OTHER    SUGGESTED    IMPROVEMENTS 
OF   CONCENTRIC    COMMUNICATION. 


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Greater  London .  615 

lor  the  luturc.  Also  a  far  greater  area  than  the  present  county  would 
be  affected,  and  therefore  the  possibilities  of  raising  revenue  also 
enlarged.  At  present  means  of  concentric  communication  are  so  poor 
that  a  great  deal  of  traffic  has  to  come  in  and  out  again  merely  because 
it  cannot  go  direct. 

Curiously  enough,  also,  while  many  London  dormitories  are  a 
great  deal  further  out  than  ten  miles,  there  is  round  London  at  about 
the  ten-mile  radius  an  almost  complete  ring  of  very  open  country, 
a  lot  of  it  at  present  being  used  for  agriculture.  I  have  been  over 
most  of  this  ground  with  a  view  to  this  Paper,  and  on  the  map  have 
traced  out  the  line  that  I  think  this  girdle  should  take. 

The  line,  as  far  as  possible,  follows  open  country,  utilises  existing 
bridges,  which  of  course  would  have  to  be  widened,  and  avoids  steep 
levels,  or  where  they  are  inevitable  follows  the  line  of  a  good  existing 
road.  Fortunately  also  for  its  purpose,  the  suburbs  it  would  cut 
through  have  developed  longitudinally  rather  than  laterally,  so  that 
the  proposed  road  could  be  steered  to  cross  at  the  narrowest  parts. 
An  instance  of  this  is  at  Croydon,  where  approaching  from  the 
west  I  get  right  to  the  main  Brighton  road  without  crossing  built- 
upon  land.  Also  in  many  cases  I  have  diverted  it  round  built-upon 
areas,  in  preference  to  widening  the  existing  road,  which  is  a  method 
strongly  urged  by  the  Traffic  Branch  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 

In  a  Paper  such  as  this  on  the  general  problem  of  Greater  London 
it  is  not  possible  to  go  into  the  fullest  detail  of  one  suggested  remedy, 
but,  briefly,  some  of  the  advantages  of  such  a  ring  road  would  be  : — 

1.  To  provide  a  means  by  which  a  great  deal  of  fast  traffic  could 
circle  London  instead  of  passing  through. 

2.  Generally  to  link  up  existing  radial  roads  and  outer  suburbs. 

3.  To  open  up  a  great  deal  of  fresh  land  which,  if  properly  town- 
planned,  could  form  an  almost  continuous  garden  suburb  round 
London,  with  the  ring  as  its  basis. 

4.  Open  land  adjoining  the  ring  could  in  many  cases  be  preserved 
as  park  land,  so  that  if  boldly  conceived  and  properly  made  it  would 
form  a  great  parkway. 

5.  It  would  assist  the  forming  of  outer  markets  and  so  save  much 
produce  going  into  London  only  to  come  out  again. 

(On  this  point  the  Traffic  Commission  reported  as  to  the  great 
difficulty  of  creating  new  market-places,  and  the  problem  in  this 
respect  would  require  bold  handling.) 

As  to  the  form  I  would  suggest  :  That  it  should  link  up  all  means 
of  traffic  by  road,  tram,  and  rail.  Especially  In  the  latter  case  would 
it  be  valuable  and  relieve  central  congestion,  and  If  the  motive  power 
of  the  railway  were  electric  its  proximity  to  the  boulevard  would  be 
but  little  nuisance,  as  it  could  be  put  In  a  shallow  cutting  so  as  to  go 
under  all  cross-roads,  and  be  crossed  by  frequent  level  foot-bridges. 

With  regard  to  road  traffic  :  I  would  have  one  smooth  paved  road 
reserved  for  fast  traffic  only,  with  a  penalty  for  use  by  vehicles  unable 
to  go  at  least  twelve  miles  an  hour,  which  would  be  a  great  encourage- 
ment to  motorists  to  use  it  in  view  of  the  almost  continuous  ten-mile 
speed  limits  on  most  of  our  radial  roads. 

Another  road  should  be  reserved  for  heavy  mechanical  traction, 
and  specially  paved  to  that  en<l. 


6i6  Transactions  of  the  Touni  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

The  section  shows  the  whole  suggested  arrangement  of  the  boule- 
vard, which  may  be  ambitious;  but  even  if  some  parts  of  it  are  in 
advance  of  present  needs,  now  is  the  time  to  buy  the  land,  or  at  least 
prepare  the  scheme  and  fix  the  values,  carry  out  what  is  immediately 
necessary,  and  only  carry  out  the  further  developments  when  they 
become  imperative.  It  could  quite  well  be  made  in  sections  between 
radial  roads,  and  would  form  a  grand  opportunity  of  apportioning 
labour  to  fit  in  with  phases  of  unemployment,  as  recommended  by  the 
Poor  Law  Commission. 

We  must  have  plenty  of  grass  and  trees,  and  those  of  us  who  have 
seen  the  Berlin  trams  running  through  grass  would  welcome  the  same 
plan  here,  both  on  the  score  of  beauty  and  important  economy  in 
construction. 

In  the  section,  to  make  the  drawing  clear,  I  have  shown  houses 
fronting  this  road,  but  probably  in  most  cases  in  future  suburban 
development  we  should  aim  for  improved  highways  with  few  houses 
directly  fronting  them,  but  rather  set  back  round  greens,  or  facing 
narrow  and  inexpensive  side  roads  only  constructed  for  the  purely 
domestic  traflfic  of  the  houses  facing  them.  By  this  means  our  houses 
will  be  free  from  dust,  and,  in  the  aggregate,  building  estates  will  be 
capable  of  quite  as  much,  if  not  rather  more  economical  development 
than  at  present. 

Now  as  to  cost  :  The  Development  and  Road  Improvement  Funds 
Act  has  established  the  principle  that  highways  are  a  national  as  well 
as  a  local  matter,  and  it  is  obvious  that  a  great  road  such  as  this, 
linking  up  so  many  highways  to  all  parts,  has  an  especial  national 
flavour.  May  I  also  point  out  while  on  this  question  that  London 
itself  is  also  a  national  and  imperial  concern?  We  see  other  nations 
and  other  portions  of  our  Empire  making  their  capitals  national 
monuments,  and  surely  London  has  paramount  claims  to  such  treat- 
ment. Compare  the  size  and  importance  of  London  with  Paris,  and 
at  the  same  time  remember  that  Paris  has  recently  entered  into  a 
scheme  of  improvements  costing  ;;{^36,ooo,ooo. 

The  Development  Act  has  also  established  the  principle  that  when 
a  new  highway  is  made  the  authority  making  it  may  purchase  the 
land  on  either  side  of  it  to  a  distance  of  220  yards.  The  first  thing 
therefore  would  be  to  purchase  a  strip  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide  for 
the  whole  length  of  the  road,  which  is  about  sixty  miles  long  :  or  a 
total  area  of  9600  acres.  The  average  price  of  this  land,  balancing 
one  thing  against  another,  should  not  exceed  ;!^5oo  an  acre,  or  a  total 
of  ;^4,8oo,ooo.  Of  this  the  actual  way,  including  roads,  pleasance, 
and  railway,  would  only  take  up  a  width  of  326  feet,  or  a  total  area 
of  2371  acres,  leaving  7229  acres  to  be  resold  or  leased.  No  doubt 
sufficient  land  for  oases  could  be  retained  and  the  balance  sold  to 
bring  in  an  a\erage  of  £'800  an  acre  on,  say,  7000  acres,  making  a 
total  return  of  _;^5,6oo,ooo.  The  probable  profit  on  the  land  at  a 
modest  estimate  would  therefore  be  ;^8oo,ooo,  which  would  certainly 
pay  for  the  mere  road  construction  and  pleasances,  and  the  trams  and 
railways  should  be  treated  separately  as  business  concerns  paying  for 
their  own  construction.  I  am  not  forgetting  that  there  would  be 
considerable  loss  of  interest  on  the  capital  invested  in  the  land  while 
it  remained  undeveloped,  but  on  land  acquired  in  comparatively  rural 


<4i 


UODi 


■-f- 


4% 


--^- 


iCBEi 


f- 


ss 


6i8  Transactions  of  the  Toiiui  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

areas  this  loss  would  be  much  less  than  in  central  districts.  While 
the  land  remained  undeveloped  some  revenue  would  be  obtainable 
from  rents,  and  when  the  road  came  to  be  made  no  doubt  much  of  it 
could  be  leased  for  small  holdings  pending  its  ripening  for  building. 
Some  of  the  ideas  suggested  by  Capt.  Swinton  for  creating  a  Garden 
Road  fringed  with  small  holdings,  thereby  made  more  accessible  to 
the  markets,  might  very  well  be  adopted.  At  the  worst  there  seems 
no  reason  why  any  loss  should  not  be  confined  to  the  actual  cost  of 
making  the  road,  if  we  place  the  profit  from  the  sale  of  the  land 
against  loss  of  interest.  This  would  practically  amount  to  selling 
the  land  at  its  cost  price  and  throwing  in  the  road.  Such  an  estimate 
can  only  be  rough,  and  has  left  out  of  account  where  the  land  would 
be  taken  from  existing  public  lands  ;  but  if  all  such  matters  were 
taken  into  account  I  think  the  estirriate  will  give  a  very  fair  guide. 

As  regards  construction  :  The  two  extravagances  are  a  new  bridge 
at  Richmond  and  a  tunnel  at  Woolwich.  With  regard  to  the  former, 
it  is  a  needed  improvement  -  with  regard  to  the  latter,  it  would  be  a 
great  boon,  and  a  foot  tunnel  is  already  in  hand.  If  these  together 
cost  at  the  outside  ;^2,5oo,ooo,  it  would  be  the  only  part  of  the  scheme 
that  would  not  pay  for  itself,  and  the  amount  is  less  than  the  probable 
ultimate  net  cost  of  the  Holborn  to  Strand  Improvement. 

In  the  matter  of  cross-river  communication  London  compares  un- 
favourably with  Paris,  which  has  twenty-five  road  bridges  to  London's 
eighteen  road  bridges  and  tunnels  (not  counting  the  proposed  St. 
Paul's  Bridge)  in  a  respective  river  frontage  of  :  Paris,  7^  miles  ; 
London,  22  miles.  My  own  view  is  that  if  the  cost  of  a  tunnel  were 
considered  prohibitive,  the  other  conveniences  would  be  so  great 
that  traffic  users  would  not  be  put  off  even  if  there  were  only  a  well- 
arranged  ferry.  If  the  whole  scheme  of  roads,  trams,  and  rail  is  too 
ambitious  at  the  moment,  the  time  is  nevertheless  ripe  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  site  and  the  making  of  a  good  highway,  and  the  authority 
would  then  be  in  the  happy  position  of  being  able  to  cope  with 
increasing  and  varying  traffic  demands  as  they  arose  without  the 
prospect  of  costly  "  improvements."  It  will  be  noticed  that  in  several 
cases  the  ring  would  usefully  link  up  tangential  roads — e.g.  with  but 
little  expense  of  new  road  Enfield  could  be  directly  connected  to 
Uxbridge,  the  road  passing  through  the  Northwood  estate  that  it 
has  been  decided  to  town-plan.  Also  by  linking  up  existing  roads  an 
inner  arc  could  be  formed  from  Woodford  to  Sudbury,  although  an 
improvement  to  it  would  be  to  make  a  fresh  parkway  from  Hendon  up 
the  Brent  Valley,  and  so  preserve  that  charming  natural  feature  which 
is  in  danger  of  spoliation. 

A  careful  study  of  the  map  discloses  many  possible  improve- 
ments and  straightenings  out  of  existing  connections  that  might  well 
receive  consideration.  For  instance,  on  the  south,  a  road  now  con- 
nects the  Brighton  Road  at  Streatham  with  Wandsworth,  running 
alongside  and  linking  up  Tooting  Common  and  Wandsworth  Com- 
mon. If  straightened  out  at  Streatham  it  would  make  further  com- 
munication with  the  Crystal  Palace,  and  so  on  to  Southend,  situated 
on  the  main  road  to  Eastbourne  and  Hastings. 

If  the  great  cross  thoroughfares  recommended  by  the  Advisory 
Board  of  En|^ineers  are  permanently  out  of  court,  then  it  is  clear  that 


i 


Greater  London.  619 

either  other  less  ambitious  relief  roads  will  soon  have  to  be  made  {e.g. 
the  continuation  of  Pall  Mall  across  the  Green  Park  to  Hyde  Park 
Corner  as  a  relief  to  Piccadilly),  or  the  problem  faced  in  some  definite 
way.  In  any  case  the  sugg-ested  ring  road  stands  on  its  own  merits,  and 
would,  I  feel  sure,  not  only  attract  more  and  more  fast  traffic  because 
of  its  facilities,  but  would  inevitably  lead  to  the  improvement  of  some 
of  the  main  arteries,  so  as  to  diffuse  the  traffic  as  evenly  as  practicable 
and  link  up  tramway  communication.  The  major  portion  of  traffic 
will,  of  course,  always  be  to  and  from  the  centre,  and  the  chief  imme- 
diate need  in  this  respect  is  increased  facilities  in  the  centre  ;  but  the 
point  to  be  remembered  is  that  by  treating'  London  as  a  whole  we  can 
avoid  the  old  mistakes,  caused  by  lack  of  foresight,  that  have  cost 
the  centre  so  dear,  and  now  make  proper  provision  in  the  outskirts  for 
increasing  traffic  demands. 

In  the  past  we  have  too  freely  permitted  railways  to  sever  our 
country  without  reserving  sufficient  cross-communication,  and  in  this 
respect  we  must  therefore  bear  in  mind  the  proposed  line  from 
Wimbledon  to  Sutton,  which  will  open  up  a  large  area  of  unbuilt-upon 
land.  The  projected  extension  of  che  Great  Northern  Railway  from 
Enfield  to  Stevenage  has  all  been  settled  on  paper,  but  even  now  it 
must  be  cheaper  to  make  any  arrangements  for  cross-connection 
before  all  the  actual  construction  has  been  put  in  hand. 

There  is  not  time  to  elaborate  schemes  further,  and  the  ring  is 
only  one  suggestion  to  alleviate  the  growing  perplexities  of  Greater 
London,  but  it  may  at  least  suffice  again  to  remind  us  of  the  need  for 
immediate  action.  The  scheme  itself  is,  of  course,  only  roughly  out- 
lined, and  on  closer  inxestigation  many  amendments  would  no  doubt 
suggest  themselves.  Let  us  not  forget,  however,  that  behind  it  all 
there  are  questions  far  removed  from  the  practical  points  we  have 
been  considering. 

In  this  country  our  form  of  government  ordinarily  prohibits  con- 
tinuous polic\ ,  although  at  Hull,  I  believe,  they  did  re-elect  one  mayor 
five  times  while  his  roads  improvement  scheme  was  being  carried 
through  ;  we  do  not  have  rule  for  the  people  but  by  the  people.  It  is 
therefore  the  people  we  must  educate  in  this  matter.  The  Royal 
Commission  proposed  the  formation  of  an  Advisory  Board  merely, 
although  it  seems  to  be  obvious  that  the  whole  subject  must  be  tackled 
ultimately  by  a  body  w  ith  executive  powers.  Our  real  need  at  the 
moment  appears  to  be  rather  for  a  Propaganda  Board  to  pave  the 
wav  for  the  executive.  Such  a  Board  could  collect  all  information 
and  prepare  such  an  overwhelming  case  for  action  that  if  properly 
put  before  the  public  that  action  would  be  demanded. 

I  have  elaborated  this  suggestion  elsewhere,  and  so  will  not  refer 
to  it  here  at  any  length,  but,  briefly,  the  suggestion  is  that  this 
Propaganda  Board  should  be  formed,  and  in  order  to  collect  informa- 
tion Greater  London  should  be  divided  up  into  six  sections,  purposely 
not  divided  by  administrative  boundaries  ;  over  each  of  these  sections 
an  expert  should  be  placed  in  charge  to  collect  information.  By 
keeping  in  touch  with  one  another  these  heads  of  sections  would  be 
able  eventually  to  arrive  at  some  idea  of  the  real  needs  to  be  met. 

It  is  not  only  a  question  of  traffic,  it  is  a  question  of  treating 
Greater  London  as  a  whole,  to  consider  immediate  and  future  need* 

S  s  2 


620  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 

for  the  entire  area,  and  to  make  equitable  provision  for  them.  In 
many  cases  there  are  particular  parks  and  objects  of  interest  that  are 
an  asset  to  a  far  wider  neighbourhood  than  the  administrative  dis- 
trict in  which  they  are  situate,  and  which  ought  to  be  preserved,  but 
often  cannot  be  on  account  of  the  lack  of  means  of  the  particular 
district  in  which  they  happen  to  be,  and  adjoining  authorities  are  not 
always  so  far-sighted  as  Coombe  and  the  Maidens  in  the  case  of 
Beverley  Brook. 

Co-ordination  is  also  wanted  as  to  questions  of  sewerage  and 
sewage  disposal,  water-supply,  hospitals,  Poor-law  administration, 
and  the  allotment  of  districts  for  special  purposes,  such  as  workmen's 
cottages  and  factories.  For  instance,  south  of  London,  where  the 
water  is  largely  pumped  from  the  chalk,  we  find  the  water-supply  of 
one  authority  threatened  by  the  erection  of  pumping  stations  by  a 
company  supplying  an  outside  area. 

We  find  petitions  from  the  dwellers  near  the  Wandle  asking  to 
have  stopped  the  depletion  of  the  river  by  the  interception  of  its 
original  sources.  We  find  disputes  between  neighbouring  authorities 
as  to  sewage  disposal,  and  the  allegation  that  the  water-supply  of  one 
town  is  in  danger  of  pollution  by  the  defective  cesspools  in  a  neigh- 
bouring district.  We  find  much-needed  tramway  extensions  impeded 
and  delayed  on  account  of  disputes  between  adjoining  authorities  ; 
and  many  other  difficulties  of  the  like  nature,  which  are  all  a  hin- 
drance to  the  convenience  of  London  and  its  dormitories. 

Having  all  this  in  view,  is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  among  the 
large  number  of  Londoners  to  whom  the  welfare  of  this  great  city  is 
some  concern  there  would  be  found  plenty  to  subscribe  funds  to 
support  a  body  formed  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  so  impor- 
tant ground  work  of  inquiry  and  for  the  education  of  public  opinion, 
without  which  nothing  will  be  done?  Li  1905  the  Traflfic  Commission 
reported  on  the  urgency  of  the  traffic  side  of  the  matter.  In  1908  the 
Board  of  Trade  reported  as  to  its  increasing  importance.  Years  have 
gone  by  and  little  has  been  done  ;  but  we  have  at  last  obtained  a  Town 
Planning  Act  and  Road  Development  Act  (both  largely  non-party 
measures),  and  our  excuse  for  inaction  has  gone.  In  one  respect  the 
Town  Planning  Act  gives  Great  Britain  a  good  lead  over  its  neigh- 
bours in  this  matter,  as  it  particularly  facilitates  co-operative  action 
between  the  authorities  and  between  these  and  the  owners,  thus 
making  easy  the  settling  of  the  lines  of  new  roads  and  the  carrying 
out  of  any  scheme  at  a  minimum  cost. 

Some  people  think  that  London  has  nearly  reached  its  limit  of 
population.  What  if  it  has?  While  some  parts  are  so  unhealthily 
crowded,  the  hospitals  so  crammed  with  the  results  of  both  disease 
and  accident,  the  streets  no  more  congested  than  now,  it  is  clear  that 
there  is  ample  scope  for  present  London  to  spread  itself  a  little,  and 
for  its  population  to  regain  health  and  vigour  among  fresh  woods  and 
pastures  new.  If  for  this  rearrangement  we  can  get  added  the  power 
of  architectural  control  it  will  then  be  possible  to  make  London  the 
most  beautiful  as  it  already  is  the  greatest  city  in  the  world. 


SUCCL5TE 

•  roc  COLLECT 
•OFTOVJ^N  •  PL 


OREATER  LONDON,  r©.  L.  PEPLER.] 


5UCCL5TED  ■  DIVISION  OF-  Ct^tATEB-  LONDON 

•fOB- COLLECTION   Of    INTOEMATION- IN   ANTICIPATION 
•OFTOVi'N     PLANNING   SCHEME 


c 


TC 


GREATER  LONDON.  IG.  L.  PEPLER.] 


S  IN  GREATER  LONDON, 
RS. 


c 


PLAN  SHOWING  AREAS  OF  DIFFERENT  AUTHORITIES  IN  GREATER  LONDON, 
WITH    TOWN-PLANNING    POWERS. 


Greater  Loiuloii.  621 


DISCUSSION'. 

Mr.    Edwin  T.    Hai.l,   F.R.I.B.A.,   in  thr  Chair. 

Mr.  Joseph  Fkls  :  I  should  like  to  ask  the  Chairman,  or  the  author 
of  this  particular  Paper,  as  to  who  he  may  think  should  have  the 
enormous  values  created  by  the  improvements — who  should  own  those 
improvements?  If  the  county  of  London  is  to  go  to  this  enormous 
expense  of  fifteen  and  a  half  millions  in  one  direction  and  eight  and  a 
half  millions  in  another  direction,  for  whose  benefit  is  it  to  be  done? 
Is  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  motorists  and  the  travellers  generally,  or  for 
the  benefit  of  the  whole  people?  I  take  it  that  unless  the  county 
itself  shall  have  the  benefit  of  those  improvements,  it  is  playing 
into  the  hands  of  the  landowners  and  the  monopolists.  This  is  a 
matter  which,  so  far  as  I  know,  has  not  been  taken  into  consideration 
at  all  in  any  of  the  Papers  that  have  been  delivered  at  the  Conference. 
But  if  we  are  not  to  consider  who  will  own  them  before  making 
these  enormous  improvements,  whether  tlie  county  of  London  will 
own  them,  these  improvements  will  be  of  an  extremely  ephemeral 
character.  The  congestion  in  various  parts  of  London  is  not  caused 
by  reason  of  the  towns  being  hampered  in  the  matter  of  travel  and 
facilities,  but  is  absolutely  caused  by  the  monopoly  of  land  ownership. 
Only  about  8^  per  cent,  of  Hampstead  is  taken  up  by  buildings,  and 
there  is  only  Sh  per  cent,  of  the  population  at  Hampstead  that  there 
might  be  under  right  conditions.  That  is  by  reason  of  the  fact  that 
the  landowner  is  holding  up  Hampstead  for  the  increased  land  values 
that  must  necessarily  come  with  the  addition  of  buildings  and  with  the 
addition  of  population.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  question  of  the 
public  ownership  of  land  values  is  of  such  an  important  character  that 
in  considering  the  improvement  of  London,  in  considering  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  city,  in  considering  the  improved  conditions  of  the  city, 
and  all  that,  we  are  but  building  our  house  on  sand,  because  after  we 
have  made  all  these  improvements  the  landlord  comes  in  and  sweeps 
in  the  benefit.  (Cries  of  "  No.")  I  say  Yes,  and  I  am  a  landlord 
myself,  and  I  know.  (Laughter.)  I  wish  to  put  in  my  protest  here 
against  anv  city  planning,  any  city  improvement,  and  enlargement 
of  area,  anv  enrichment  of  the  landlord,  that  does  not  consider  who 
these  values  belong  to,  and  promptly  take  steps  to  get  them.  I  do 
not  believe  that  London  will  ever  be  improved  by  any  improved  build- 
ings or  laying-out  of  streets  or  things  of  that  kind  until  you  get  to  the 
bottom  of  the  whole  thing. 

The  Chairman  :  I  do  not  like  to  interrupt  you,  but  you  must 
remember  we  have  a  Town  Planning  Bill.  Parliament  has  concluded 
that  towns  can  be  developed.  I  do  not  think  we  can  have  a  political 
discussion.  Let  us  try  and  see  if  we  cannot  be  more  practical. 
(Hear,  hear.)  Having  got  the  Act  of  Parliament,  let  us  see  what  wc 
can  do  to  facilitate  the  convenience  of  the  public  generally  by  using 
that  Act.      (Hear,   hear.) 

Mr.  Herbert  Frevberg  :  I  have  listened  with  very  great  interest 
to  the  Paper  which  has  been  read  to  us,  because  I  recognise  the  very 


622   Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

great  pains  and  trouble  that  ha\c  been  taken  in  putting  together  those 
ideas  and  pointing  out  tlie  xarious  difficulties  that  are  likely  to  arise. 
One  of  the  difficulties  that  is  likely  to  arise  has,  I  think,  been  illus- 
trated by  the  temper  of  the  last  speaker.  I  speak  as  a  member  of  a 
borough  council  with  very  nearly  ten  years'  service.  One  of  the 
great  difficulties  we  have  always  had  with  regard  to  public  improve- 
ments has  been  that  side  issues  have  been  raised  such  as  those  raised 
by  my  predecessor ;  but  I  venture  to  think  that  the  majority  of  the 
people  are  only  too  anxious  to  administer  this  Act,  so  far  as  it  is 
possible,  for  the  benefit  of  everybody.  There  are  many  difficulties  in 
the  way,  and  therefore  I  would  say  to  my  friend  who  has  just  sat  down 
that,  instead  of  enlarging  on  those  difficulties  or  indulging  in  criticisms, 
it  would  be  better  to  see  how  we  can  meet  the  spirit  of  the  Act  by 
coming  into  contact  with  the  owners.  From  my  own  experience  I 
must  say  that  the  landowner  in  general  is  anything  but  an  impossible 
person.  My  friend  asked  a  question,  and  in  reply  I  will  give  a  con- 
crete instance.  In  the  Borough  of  Kensington,  which  I  represent,  we 
have  had  to  deal  with  various  properties  which  we  had  to  purchase. 
We  had  no  compulsory  powers  ;  we  were  in  the  hands  of  the  vendors. 
We  had  to  deal  with  a  big  landowner  who  lived  in  Leicestershire,  and 
when  the  owner  came  up  to  London  and  saw  the  property  for  the  first 
time  he  said  he  was  ashamed  to  own  it,  and  as  it  was  a  good  work 
that  we  were  doing  we  might  have  it  at  exactly  what  it  cost  him. 
That  was  the  landowner — -the  monopolist.  What  I  want  to  em- 
phasise is  this — that  it  is  possible  to  get  landlords  together,  and  with 
their  co-operation  to  carry  out  the  benefits  that  will  accrue  to  the 
public  generally. 

Another  point  is,  various  councils  and  authorities  are  given  powers 
in  this  Bill  to  meet  together  and  to  carry  out  a  plan  together,  but  our 
experience — it  may  be  our  own  fault — has  not  been  very  happy  in  that 
regard.  At  the  present  moment  there  seems  to  be  narrow-mindedness 
about  local  authorities.  The  first  thing  that  is  asked  is,  "  What  is 
this  improvement  going  to  do  for  our  particular  borough  ?  "  We  must 
get  rid  of  that  spirit,  and  we  must  look  at  the  thing  as  a  whole.  It  is 
that  point  that  I  want  to  enlarge  upon.  Each  borough  and  local 
authority  should  not  say,  "  What  are  we  particularly  going  to  gain 
by  this?  "  but,  "  What  is  London  as  a  whole  going  to  gain  by  it?  " 
We  are  simply  members  of  one  large  family  under  the  parentage  of 
the  London  County  Council.  We  should  endeavour  to  do  everything 
we  can  not  to  raise  difficulties,  but  to  smooth  them  away,  and  under- 
take this  task  with  which  the  Town  Planning  Act  entrusts  us. 

Mr.  Watkins  :  I  did  not  quite  understand  whether  the  lecturer 
intended  that  the  whole  of  the  vehicular  traffic,  say,  on  the  north 
side  should  go  by  his  circular  road  to  the  south  side.  That  was  the 
impression  he  conveyed  to  my  mind  ;  if  so,  I  think  it  would  be  almost 
impossible  to  carry  out  a  suitable  scheme  in  that  way.  The  lecturer, 
I  think,  was  speaking  more  of  the  suburbs  round  London,  but  in 
doing  that  I  think  we  ought  to  consider  for  whom  we  are  making 
those  plans  and  for  whom  we  are  trying  to  extend  the  boundaries. 
I  presume  it  is  for  all  classes,  and,  if  so,  what  consideration  are  we 
giving  to  those  poor  classes  whose  wages  are  very  low  and  whose 
families  are  very  large?     If  you  put  them  far  out  in  the  suburbs  it  is 


Greater  London.  623 

impossible  for  them  to  get  to  their  work  in  the  centre.  Therefore, 
I  think  that  in  all  town-planning"  schemes  we  should  take  into  con- 
.sideration  whether  we  ought  not  to  do  something-  in  the  centre  to 
help  those  persons  who  cannot  afford  to  li\e  in  the  outer  suburbs  of 
London. 

Dr.  Frhm WTLF,  :  I  speak  as  a  representative  of  one  of  the  counties 
which  would  be  included  in  this  ring^  road.  I  am  extremely  glad  to  have 
heard  this  idea  brought  forward  so  clearly  by  the  reader  of  the  Paper 
and  by  Mr.  Barclay  Macmillan.  I  suppose  many  people,  like  the  reader 
of  the  Paper  and  Mr.  Macmillan,  have  entertained  the  idea  and  tried 
to  put  it  forward,  but  one  of  the  advantages  of  a  Conference  like  this 
is  that  it  brings  people  together  who  otherwise  would  not  be  able  to 
co-operate  in  order  to  forward  a  scheme  which  is  in  their  minds. 
Hertfordshire  reaches  to  within  ten  miles  of  London  Bridge,  but  for 
those  who  wish  to  communicate  from  one  side  of  Hertfordshire  to  the 
other,  for  all  practical  purposes  it  is  best  to  come  to  London.  That  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  the  County  Council  hold  a  very  large  number 
of  their  committee  meetings  in  London,  and  I,  as  one  of  the  officers, 
live  in  London  because  it  is  easier  to  communicate  with  all  parts  of  the 
county  in  that  way.  If  we  had  this  ring  road  there  would  be  direct 
communication  between  certain  parts.  One  of  the  reasons,  and 
perhaps  it  was  one  of  the  least  of  the  reasons  for  this  idea  of  a  ring 
round  London,  is  the  point  which  the  last  speaker  raised,  and  a  very 
correct  point  to  raise,  as  to  the  extent  to  which  it  is  going  to  benefit 
the  masses  of  the  people  living  in  London.  That  is  an  essential  point, 
and  I  should  like  to  answer  it.  I  happen  to  be  connected  with  the 
Garden  City  and  Town  Planning  Association  as  Treasurer,  and  it  is  a 
matter  which  we  have  very  near  at  heart,  and  for  this  reason  :  we  feel 
that  if  we  are  able  to  create  such  a  road  as  this  it  will  complete  a 
system  of  intercommunication  as  suggested  by  the  reader  of  the  Paper, 
and  it  would  be  to  the  advantage  not  only  of  small  holders  to  be  estab- 
lished along  such  a  road,  and  also  for  residential  purposes,  but  it  would 
give  a  great  possibility  of  attaining  that  which  is  the  idea  of  the 
(iarden  City  Association — namely,  the  establishing  of  industries  out- 
side the  populous  centres  of  London  in  a  place  in  which  you  could 
provide  the  amenities  of  life  for  those  who  are  working  in  the  fac- 
tories. If  you  could  see  the  advantages  of  such  a  ring  road  from  that 
point  of  view,  I  think  they  are  considerable.  At  the  present  time, 
owners  of  industries  in  the  centre  of  London  who  wish  to  extend  their 
factories  find  the  cost  of  extension  prohibitive ;  but  if  they  were  to 
have  the  facilities  which  would  be  conferred  by  a  ring  road  of  this 
kind,  with  intercommunication  by  rail  and  motor,  surely  it  would  be 
of  very  great  advantage  to  them  to  establish  branch  industries,  if  not 
to  move  out  the  whole  of  their  industry,  on  to  this  ring  road  ;  and 
around  that  ring  road  they  would  be  able  to  provide  for  the  whole  of 
the  population  working  in  connection  with  their  Industry.  I  think 
that  is  another  side  that  should  be  considered.  But  over  and  above 
that,  such  a  ring  road  would  promote  commercial  intercommunication  ; 
and  if  you  promote  commercial  intercommunication,  in  one  way  or 
another  you  promote  commerce  and  you  save  time  ;  and  in  promoting 
commerce  you  are  promoting  the  welfare  of  all  those  who  are  engaged 
in  commerce  in  the  City  of  London.      That,  I  think,  shows  in  simple 


(.24   Transactious  of  the  Toivn  l^Uiuuiug  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

outline  why  we  believe  such  a  ring  road  would  be  of  infinite  advantage 
in  the  future,  and  it  would  cost  infinitely  less  now  than  it  would  cost 
in  the  future. 

Mr.  C.  J.  Jenkin-  :  I  think  that  many  people  who  are  living  in  the 
suburbs  of  London  are  rather  afraid  that  a  Greater  London  scheme 
may  mean  coming  under  the  control  of  the  County  Council.  If  this 
ring  road  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  district,  I  think  everybody  will  approve 
of  it ;  but  we  have  heard  of  cases  where  such  improvements  are  carried 
out  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  London  County  Council  to  benefit. 
In  my  own  district  (Finchley)  we  have  the  dead  population  of  three 
London  boroughs  deposited  in  our  midst,  and  in  another  district  the 
labouring  population  of  the  County  Council  is  deposited  in  their 
midst.  The  working  population  must  be  provided  for,  but  it  should 
be  done  with  some  regard  to  the  requirements  and  amenities  of  Outer 
London.  I  think  that  is  a  very  important  point  to  be  borne  in  mind 
if  the  assistance  of  the  outside  districts  is  to  be  obtained. 

Mr.  Harold  Williams  :  Another  point  that  strikes  me  in  this 
matter  of  the  town  planning  of  Greater  London  is  one  that  I  have 
not  seen  mentioned  before,  and  that  is  the  question  of  water  com- 
munication. For  the  establishment  of  industries  on  the  outskirts  of 
London  I  think  it  is  essential  in  many  cases  that  canals  should  be 
brought  into  use.  The  cost  of  water  carriage  as  compared  with  rail 
carriage  is  a  very  great  factor  in  the  building  of  factories,  and  should, 
I  think,  be  taken  into  consideration  in  any  action  that  is  taken. 

Mr.  Frederick  W.  Platt  (Salford)  :  As  a  provincial,  perhaps,  I 
may  be  allowed  to  express  an  opinion  upon  London.  I  have  long  held 
the  opinion  that  the  more  communicating  roads  you  can  get  to  a  manu- 
facturing area  the  more  commerce  you  will  have  in  that  particular 
area.  But  the  thought  that  came  to  my  mind  when  I  saw  the  pictures 
upon  the  screen  was  this  :  Is  this  great  ring  road  too  far  from  the 
centre  of  London  to  be  of  great  benefit?  It  seemed  to  me,  looking 
at  it  on  the  screen  and  estimating  its  great  length  and  distance  from 
the  centre  of  London,  that  it  would  not  be  the  great  advantage  which 
it  ought  to  be.  In  these  days  we,  as  officers  or  members  of  local 
authorities,  must  not  spend  money  unless  we  can  show  those  to  whom 
we  are  responsible  that  we  are  going  to  give  them  an  adequate  return 
for  their  money,  and  I  am  very  much  afraid,  speaking  as  a  provincial, 
and  looking  at  it  with  my  limited  knowledge  of  London,  that  the 
scheme  we  have  had  so  very  elaborately,  explicitly,  and  entertain- 
ingly put  before  us  will  not  be  that  great  benefit  to  London  which  it 
ought  to  be. 

I  have  had  an  illustration  since  I  came  up  to  town  this  time  of 
what  a  change  of  road  may  do.  I  wanted  to  get  from  the  Strand 
to  the  Guildhall  to  hear  the  Right  Hon.  John  Burns.  I  got  into  a 
taxi-cab  in  the  Strand,  and  I  naturally  thought  the  driver  would  take 
me  along  the  Strand  and  up  Ludgate  Hill,  but  instead  of  that  he  took 
the  first  turning  to  the  right,  along  the  Embankment,  and  I  was  at 
the  Guildhall  before  I  knew  where  I  was.  There  are  instances  in  our 
own  town — not  quite  on  the  outskirts,  but  just  suflficiently  near  to 
get  into  close  touch  with  the  centre  of  the  town — where  traffic 
has  been  diverted  from  old  to  new  roads,  and,  with  the  divergence  of 
traffic,  the  increase  of  ground  values  in  the  area  served  by  the  new 


(ireater  London.  625 

roads.  1  think  the  sug^gestion  of  the  reader  of  the  Paper  that  the 
local  authorities  or  central  authority  should  take  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
of  land  is  the  most  valuable  suggestion  he  has  made.  Referring  to 
the  experience  of  the  City  of  Manchester  :  in  Whitworth  Street,  which 
was  formerly  the  area  where  Sir  Joseph  Whitworth  had  his  works, 
there  was  nothing  but  slum  property.  It  is  now  the  best  building 
area  of  Manchester,  simply  because  the  Manchester  Corporation  had 
the  foresight  to  drive  a  great  road  through  the  slum  area,  and  on  that 
road  some  of  the  finest  buildings  in  Manchester  have  been  erected. 
I  think  that  the  suggestion  that  the  local  authority  should  obtain  the 
benefit  of  the  improved  ground  values  by  taking  a  strip  of  some 
width  on  each  side  of  the  proposed  road  is  the  most  \  aluable  sugges- 
tion in  the  Paper. 

Mr.  Bassett  :  In  suburban  town-planning  in  the  future  I  would 
suggest  that  at  least  one-eighth  of  an  acre  be  allowed  to  build  a 
house  upon,  and  that  those  houses  should  be  built  of  such  a  nature 
that  you  can  make  a  conservatory  of  them,  as  it  were,  where  flowers 
and  shrubs  could  be  grown  if  necessary.  I  also  suggest  that  the 
avenues  should  be  planted  with  fruit  trees,  though  it  would  add  a 
little  more  to  the  police  duties.  (Laughter.)  The  fruit  might  be 
taken  over  by  jam  factories  of  such  magnitude  as  nobody  has  dreamt 
of.  It  seems  to  me,  too,  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  the  monopoly  of  the 
land  to  be  a  thing  of  the  past.  I  think  the  land  was  sent  bv  the 
Creator  for  good  use,  and  no  land  ought  to  be  abused,  for,  if  it  is  not 
well  used,  it  is  naturally  abused.  I  would  suggest  that  the  Local 
Government  Board  should  immediately  appoint  officials  for  town  and 
city  planning  in  the  United  Kingdom  for  the  purpose  of  concentrating 
the  ideas  of  the  Conference. 

The  Chairman:  No  one  yet  has  proposed' a  vote  of  thanks  to 
the  author  of  the  Paper,  so  perhaps  you  will  permit  me  to  do  so.  I 
am  sure  it  is  a  Paper  containing  so  much  information  and  so  much 
that  is  interesting  on  the  subject  that  is  before  us,  that  we  shall  read 
it  again  and  again  with  the  very  greatest  interest  after  the  meeting. 
(Hear,  hear.)  I  think  Mr.  Pepler  has  laid  a  very  good  scheme  before 
us  from  this  point  of  view.  He  has  not  suggested  for  a  moment — and 
that  is  an  answer  to  one  of  the  speakers — that  the  London  County 
Council  should  do  all  this.  The  theory  is  that  the  local  authorities 
should,  by  co-operation,  get  a  great  ring-road  scheme  around  London. 
There  have  been,  as  you  probably  know,  many  conferences  between 
representatives  of  the  local  authorities  within  a  radius  of  fifteen  miles 
of  London  ;  they  have  met  under  the  National  Town  Planning  a?gis, 
and  have  considered  this  question.  The  difficulty  appears  to  be  to 
know  where  to  begin  ;  but  I  think,  when  once  it  is  faced,  the  difficulty 
will  be  got  over.  It  is  a  mere  question  of  allocating  districts  to 
an  advisory  committee,  or  an  authority  that  shall  be  elected  as  a  com- 
mittee, giving  them  the  control  of  the  roads  as  a  starting-point, 
and  letting  them  then  together  devise  schemes  that  shall  touch  each 
section  it  goes  through  until  you  have  completed  the  whole.  In 
fact,  the  land  is  laid  out  like  an  ordinary  child's  puzzle, 
divided  into  squares,  and  you  have  certain  points  at  which  you  will 
have  to  meet,  and  then  you  have  got  your  scheme  in  embryo  ;  but 
it  will  not  be  done  in  a  day.        Mr.   Pepler  has  suggested  that  there 


626  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference.  Oct.  1910. 

should  be  a  board  of  six  created,  which  should  take  the  whole  of 
London,  so,  as  it  were,  to  override  the  small  subdix  isions  of  which 
there  are  such  a  vast  number.  Now  that  will  be  difficult  to  do  unless 
it  is  done  by  Act  of  Parliament.  I  think  if  the  local  authorities  do 
meet  and  delegate  representatives  who  desire  to  carry  through  this 
scheme,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  scheme  can  be  put  on  a 
sound  basis.  I  will  not  go  into  the  details  of  Mr.  Pepler's 
scheme,  because  he  has  laid  it  so  fully  before  you  ;  but  the  same 
thought  struck  me  that  one  of  the  speakers  has  referred  to,  and  that  is 
that  it  is  a  very  large  ring — sixty  miles  long.  The  scheme  for  dealing 
with  Berlin  provides  for  three  concentric  ways,  and  Mr.  Pepler  has 
himself  almost  suggested  a  second  one,  but  in  his  linking-up 
lines  he  has  stopped  short.  If  he  had  continued  his  linking-up  lines 
I  think  he  w^ould  have  got  a  second  ring  inside,  though  it  would  be 
a  little  lopsided.  I  have  no  doubt  that,  if  you  could  start  with  a  big 
ring  like  this,  inner  concentric  rings  would  follow  almost  as  a  matter 
of  course,  but  they  can  hardly  follow  until  there  is  some  building  land 
for  that  which  you  displace  by  the  inner  ring.  If  Mr.  Pepler's  scheme 
can  be  carried  out,  you  can  transfer  the  people  there,  and  then  you 
can  talk  about  inner  rings.  The  question  of  canals  would,  I  am  sure, 
be  dealt  with  in  any  scheme  of  this  sort,  just  as  Mr.  Pepler  suggested 
the  linking-up  of  the  railways.  The  canals  would  be  useful  for  many 
purposes,  because  we  hope  to  see  motor  barges  replace  the  slow 
method  of  progress  which  we  at  present  have  on  our  canals.  That 
would  in  itself  be  opening  up  almost  a  new  industry,  but  it  w'ould  be 
competing  to  some  extent  with  the  railways,  which  would  be  for  the 
general  benefit  of  the  consumer.  With  regard  to  the  workmen's 
houses,  to  which  Mr.  Watkins  referred,  on  a  road  which  is  sixty  miles 
long  I  think  w^e  may  fairly  say  there  will  be  innumerable  places  for 
erecting  houses,  and  there  will  be  vast  districts  for  industries.  Those 
of  you  who  have  studied  the  scheme  for  the  rebuilding  of  Berlin  will 
see  that  the  authors  have  laid  out  districts  alongside  railway  stations 
and  alongside  canals  and  rivers  where  the  industries  would  be  appro- 
priately placed.  That  would  be  the  sort  of  scheme  that  this  would 
have  to  be. 

Mr.  Pepler,  responding  to  the  vote  of  thanks,  said  :  I  am  very 
much  obliged  by  the  kind  attention  the  meeting  has  given  to 
my  Paper,  and  for  the  remarks  and  criticisms  that  have  been  made 
since.  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  very  much  for  me  to  answer, 
because  most  of  the  speakers  themselves  gave  information  rather 
than  levelled  criticisms  or  asked  questions.  Mr.  Pels  rather  unjustly 
saddled  me  with  the  wish  to  spend  15^  and  8 J  million  pounds, 
whereas  I  quoted  these  figures  as  the  estimated  cost  of  the  two  great 
avenues  proposed  by  the  advisory  board  of  engineers.  My  scheme  is 
much  more  modest  in  outlay.  With  regard  to  the  suggestion  that 
the  proposed  ring-road  is  too  far  out,  I  do  not  think  that  it  is.  You 
must  tackle  the  question  where  there  is  open  land  and  where  you  can 
get  it  at  a  reasonable  figure.  The  price  recently  agreed  by  the 
vendors  for  the  172  acres  of  the  Wimbledon  Common  Extension  was 
;^3o6  per  acre,  so  that  you  see  my  figures  should  be  well  within  the 
mark.  The  point  is  that  what  seems  far  out  to-day,  to-morrow, 
with  extending  means  of   communication,   will  seem  quite  near  in. 


Greater  London.  627 

With  regard  to  my  suggested  propaganda  board,  I  only  wished 
to  put  that  forward  because  I  think  we  are  beyond  the  days  of  gcne- 
rahties.  In  many  meetings  we  have  had  put  forward  the  advantages 
of  town  planning,  and  I  think  if  we  are  going  to  do  anything  in 
London  the  time  is  now  ripe  to  suggest  definite  schemes  and  go  into 
questions  of  detail.  I  do  not  think  there  is  much  need  to  convince 
people  as  to  general  principles,  but  there  may  be  a  great  deal  of 
difficulty  in  convincing  them  of  the  desirability  of  any  particular 
scheme.  In  conferences  of  local  authorities  especially  I  think  it  is 
time  to  go  into  details  and  leave  generalities.  Dr.  Fremantle's 
statement  with  regard  to  Hertfordshire  very  clearly  showed  one  of 
the  great  reasons  for  this  ring  road,  viz.  to  avoid  coming  in  and  out 
as  one  must  do  in  order  to  cross  between  points  near  on  the  circum- 
ference, but  with  no  communication  other  than  by  way  of  the  centre. 


The  following  letter  has  been  addressed  to  the  Secretary-General 
of  the  Conference  : — 

De.ar  Sir, — I  have  before  me  a  report  of  Mr.  G.  L.  Pepler's  Paper 
on  "  Greater  London  "  read  before  the  Town  Planning  Conference  on 
Wednesday  ;  and  I  also  send  with  this  a  reprint  of  an  article  written 
by  me  on  "  An  Open  Zone  round  London,"  which  was  published  in 
the  Architectural  Reviev  and  other  papers  in  January  of  this  year. 

Mr.  Pepler  e\  idently  thinks  well  of  my  proposal  for  a  zone  round 
London,  and  in  fact  this  is  practically  the  only  cure  which  he  sug- 
gests for  the  congested  traffic  problem  described  in  the  first  portion 
of  his  Paper. 

Mr.  Pepler  does  me  the  honour  absolutely  to  adopt  my  original 
proposals  in  all  their  details,  including  the  radius  (ten  miles),  the 
zone  \  mile  wide,  the  proposed  bridge  at  Richmond,  and  the  tunnel 
at  Woolwich,  &c.  The  only  difference  between  us  is  the  anticipated 
value  of  the  land  to  be  purchased,  my  figures  being  more  con- 
servative than  his. 

I  am  very  glad  that  the  matter  has  been  revived  by  Mr.  Pepler's 
Paper  before  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  and  I  quite  agree  with 
him  that  if  the  scheme  is  considered  too  ambitious  for  the  moment, 
the  County  Council  should  at  least  take  steps  to  secure  an  option 
over  the  zone  in  question,  to  enable  them  to  control  this  open 
belt  encircling  the  Metropolis  ;  and  I  would  suggest  that  there  is 
nothing  which  would  form  a  more  worthy  memorial  to  our  late 
King  Edward  \TI.  than  the  inauguration  of  this  great  improvement, 
which  would  be  of  benefit  not  only  to  London  but  to  every  town 
and  village  connected  with  it. 

Yours    faithfully, 

David   B.arclav   Nive.v. 
Gwydir  Chambers.  104  Hioh  Holborn, 
14th  October  1910. 


628  Transactions  of  the  Toia^n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(5)  L'AMENAGEMENT  DES  FORTIFICATIONS  ET  DE 
LA  ZONE  DES  SERVITUDES  MILITAIRES,  PARIS. 

Communication  de  M.  Louis  Dausset,  Ancien  President  du  Conseil 
Akmicipal  de  Paris,   Rapporteur  General  du  Budget. 

Les  fortifications  de  Paris  se  composent  : — 

1.  De  la  rue  militaire  incorporee  aux  boulevards  connus  sous  la 
designation  de  boulevards  militaires. 

2.  U'un  talus  ^leve,  protege  par  des  remparts  construits  en 
meuli^re  et  en  pierre  de  taille. 

3.  D'un  fosse. 

4.  Et  d'un  autre  talus,  moins  eleve  que  le  premier,  se  trouvant  de 
I'autre  cote  du  fosse. 

Quatre-vingt-quatorze  bastions  sont  espaces  le  long  des  33  kilo- 
metres des  fortifications. 

Telles  sont  les  fortifications  proprement  dites,  qui  occupent  en 
largeur  une  surface  variant  entre  130  et  135  metres.  Mais  11  convient 
d'y  ajouter  la  zone  militaire,  large  de  245  metres  en  moyenne,  et  qui 
en  forme  une  dependance  naturelle. 

Cette  zone  militaire,  situee  au  dela  du  fosse,  a  ete  etablie  par  le 
service  du  Genie  Militaire,  afin  qu'aucune  construction  ne  genat  le 
tir  des  canons  places  sur  les  remparts  et  ne  nuisit  a  I'observation  des 
mouvements  de  Tennemi.  C'est  pourquoi  la  zone  est  frapp^e,  dans 
toute  son  etendue,  d'une  servitude  non  aedificandi,  c'est-a-dire  d'une 
interdiction  complete  de  batir.  Les  proprietaires  de  ces  terrains  ne 
peuvent  y  elever  que  des  constructions  precaires  en  bois  et  de  peu  de 
hauteur,  et  encore  sont-ils  obliges  de  les  detruire  sans  indemnite  a  la 
premiere  requisition  de  I'autorite  militaire. 

Le  sol  occupe  par  les  fortifications  proprement  dites  appartient  a 
I'Etat,  mais  fait  partie  du  territoire  de  Paris.  Au  contraire  le  sol  de 
la  zone  militaire  appartient  a  des  milliers  de  proprietaires  priv^s  et 
depend  administrativement  du  territoire  des  diverses  communes  qui 
entourent  la  Capitale. 

Depuis  longtemps,  I'opinion  publique  reclame  la  suppression  de 
renceinte  fortifiee  qui  ne  repond  plus  aux  besoins  pour  lesquels  elle  a 
(^te  creee,  et  depuis  plusieurs  annees  deja  la  desaffcctation  du  front 
nord-ouest  a  ete  acceptee  par  I'autorite  militaire. 

C'est  pourquoi  depuis  une  quinzaine  d'ann^es  environ,  I'Etat  a 
engag^  des  pourparlers  avec  la  Villa  de  Paris  pour  lui  ceder  la  portion 
des  fortifications  comprise  entre  la  Seine  (Point  du  Jour)  et  le  Canal 
Saint-Denis. 

Mais  au  debut,  I'Etat  ^tait  uniquement  pr^occup^  de  realiser  un 


L' Anienagenient  des  Fortifications  de  Paris.  629 

gros  benefice  de  cette  vente,  et  ce  n'est  que  recemment  que  ses  preten- 
tions ont  baisse  lorsque  sous  TimpuLsion  de  I'opinion  publique,  il  a 
etc  reconnu  qu'il  fallait  profiler  de  I'alienation  des  fortifications  pour 
accroitre  les  espaces  libres  de  Paris. 

Dans  des  livres,  des  journaux,  des  congres,  des  hommes  de  science 
avaient  en  effet  denonc6  le  manque  d'espaces  libres  dans  les  grandes 
agglomerations  urbaines,  comme  une  cause  certaine  de  I'accroissement 
des  maladies  contagieuses  et  du  taux  de  la  mortalite.  Le  role  vivifiant 
des  arbres  et  des  fleurs,  les  bienfaits  des  courants  d'air  pur  perpe- 
tuellement  renouveles  dans  les  pares  et  dans  les  jardins  d'assez  vaste 
etendue,  Taction  si  etficace  du  jour  et  du  soleil  avaient  ete  clairement 
demontres. 

Les  pares  et  les  jardins  urbains  nc  doi\ent  done  pas  etre  con- 
sideres  uniquement  comme  une  parure  charmante,  mais  aussi  comme 
de  veritables  instruments  d'hygi^ne  et  d'utilite  sociale. 

Done  si  nous  laissions  lotir  les  terrains  des  fortifications,  nous 
supprimerions  la  derni^re  reserve  d'air  naturelle  qui  s'offre  a  Paris,  et, 
dans  un  avenir  relativement  prochain,  il  faudrait  creer  des  espaces 
libres  en  expropriant  des  espaces  d^j^  habitus,  c'est-a-dire  en  depen- 
sant  des  centaines  de  millions.  N'oublions  pas,  en  effet,  que  c'est 
desormais  une  necessite  sociale  de  reserver  a  la  population  laborieuse 
et  pauvre,  a  laquelle  les  deplacements  sont  interdits,  la  possibilite  de 
se  reposer  et  de  respirer  a  Pair  libre  sur  place. 

C'est  alors  que  j'eus  Phonneur  de  presenter  au  Conseil  Municipal 
le  nouveau  projet  sur  lequel  portc  aujourd'hui  loute  la  discussion 
engagee  sur  cette  importante  question. 

En  voici  Peconomie  essentielle  : — 

1.  Acquisition  par  la  Ville  a  I'Etat,  cii  uii  seiil  ct  luiique  lot,  de  la 
totalite  de  Penceinte  fortifice,  sous  reserve  de  proceder  par  etapes 
successives  au  paiement  du  prix  d 'achat  et  aux  operations  d'amen- 
agement. 

2.  Maintien  sur  la  zone  militaire  de  la  servitude  tion  acdificamli 
pour  cause  d 'hygiene  et  de  salubritc  publiques. 

3.  Expropriation  des  terrains  de  la  zone  scniitaire  en  vue  de  la 
creation  d'espaces  libres,  pares  et  terrains  de  jeux. 

4.  Annexion  a  Paris  des  terrains  expropries. 

Je  me  suis  attache,  en  serrant  de  tres  pres  les  evaluations,  a 
demontrer  que  cette  vaste  operation  etait  finanei^rement  realisable. 
Car,  tout  en  posant  ces  principes,  je  ne  devais  pas  perdre  de  vue  que 
les  ressources  du  budget  de  Paris  sont  limitees  et  qu'on  ne  saurait 
faire  subir  aux  contribuables,  meme  pour  une  oeuvre  d'utilite  aussi 
generale,  un  sureroit  important  d'impositions  nou\eIles. 

D'autrc  part,  j'ai  pense  qu'il  y  avait  avantage  a  resoudre  la 
suppression  des  fortifications  en  une  seule  fois  et  qu'il  n 'etait  pas 
admissible  de  favoriser  une  partie  de  la  capitale  sans  arreter  en  meme 
temps  un  plan  d 'ensemble  definitif. 

Ce  projet  fut  accueilli  avec  faveur  par  P.Assemblee  Munieipale  et 
renvoye  pour  etude  a  la  Commission  des  fortifications  qui,  a  I'unani- 
mite,  y  compris  ses  membres  Conseillers  generaux  de  la  banlieue, 
s'est  ralliee  a  I'id^e  de  Paequisition  et  de  Pannexion  des  terrains  de 
la  zone  en  vue  de  leur  transformation  en  pares,  pelouses,  ou  terrains 
de  jeux. 


632   Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

II  reste  a  indiquer  I'economie  financiere  de  mon  projet  : — 

Defenses. 

Achat  des  terrains  des  fortifications,  soit  environ           .  3,500,000  mq.  m^moire 

Achat  de  terrains  zoniers,  soit  environ  ....   4,780,000  mq.  143,000,000 

Achat  de  parcellcs  exterieures  ji  la  zone,  soit  environ  .  568,010  mq.  2,000,000 
Frais  de    nivellement,    chemin   de   ronde   pour   I'octroi, 

fiais  de  viability,  et  d'am^nagement  de  pares,  pelouses 

et  terrains  de  jeu.x,  etc.          ......  85,000,000 


Soit  non  compris  le  prix  des  fortifications,   un  total  de  230,000,000 

Recettes. 
Revente  des  terrains  des  fortifications  apr^s  lotissement, 

soit  environ  ........  2,595,000  mq.     270,000,000 

Recouvrement  de  frais  de  viabilite  sur  les  proprietaires 

riverains  des  voies  nouvelles  .....  25,000,000 


Soit  un  total  de     .....         .  295,000,000 

Les  recettes  laisseraient  done  sur  les  depenses  un  benefice 
d'environ  65  millions  qui  servirait  a  payer  le  prix  arrete  d'accord  avec 
I'Etat  pour  Tachat  de  I'enceinte  fortifiee. 

La  campagne  cngagee  en  faveur  des  espaces  libres  a  amene 
d'autre  part  dfes  le  debut  de  1909  la  formation  en  dehors  de  toute 
preoccupation  d'ordre  politique  ou  financier,  de  la  "  Ligue  pour  les 
espaces  libres,  I'assainissement  et  les  sports."  Cette  Ligue  est  com- 
posee  de  toutes  les  grandes  societes  de  sport  ou  de  tourisme  de 
France,  aussi  bien  que  des  groupements  les  plus  importants  de  com- 
mercants,  d 'artistes,  d'architectes,  ou  de  contribuables,  a  qui  sont 
venus  se  joindie  dV-minentes  personnalites  du  monde  scientifique  ou 
litterairc. 

La  Ligue  pour  les  espaces  libres  a  de  son  cote  poursuivi  la  solution 
du  probl^me  des  fortifications,  et  ses  etudes  I'ont  conduite  a  adopter 
les  grandes  lignes  dc  mon  projet. 

Sans  doute,  cette  Ligue  a-t-elle,  dans  son  souci  d'accroitre  le 
plus  possible  les  futurs  pares  et  jardins,  envisage  la  possibilite  d'y 
incorporer  une  partie  des  terrains  de  I'enceinte  fortifiee,  mais  si 
I'on  considere  que  mon  projet  assure  a  Paris  un  supplement  de  550 
hectares  d 'espaces  libres,  on  n'aper9oit  pas  la  necessite  pour  y  ajouter 
une  quarantaine  d'hectares,  de  surcharger  une  operation  qui  comporte 
deja  beaucoup  d'aleas  et  qui  doit,  en  quelque  sorte,  se  suf^ire  a  elle- 
meme,  sans  entrainer  un  surcroit  de  charges  pour  la  population 
parisienne. 

L'accueil  fait  a  mon  projet  par  les  pouvoirs  publics,  le  Conseil 
Municipal  et  I'opinion  publique,  me  permettent  d'ailleurs  d'en  esperer 
une  prochaine  realisation,  et  j'aurai  ainsi  la  conviction  d 'avoir  con- 
tribue  a  ameliorer  I'etat  sanitaire  de  Paris  aussi  bien  qu'a  accroitre 
sa  splendeur. 
Paris:  le  5  Octohre  1910. 


CKk 


[Translation  of  M.  Dausset's  Paper.] 

THE   MAIXTENANCK   OF   THE   FORTH  ICATIOXS   AM) 

OF   THE    ZONE   SUBJECT   TO    MHJTARV 

REGULATIONS  AT  PARIS. 

Thk   fortifications  of   Paris  consist  of  : — 

1.  The  military  road  incorporated  with  the  boiilc\  ards  which  are 
known  under  the  designation  of  Military  Boulevards. 

2.  An  elevated  talus,  protected  b\'  ramparts  constructed  in  sand- 
stone and  freestone. 

3.  \  fosse. 

4.  A  second  talus,  of  less  height  than  the  former,  raised  above 
the  further  side  of  the  fosse. 

There  are  ninet\-four  bastions  erected  at  interxals  throughout 
the  33  kilometres  over  which  these  fortifications  extend. 

Such  are  the  fortifications  of  Paris,  properly  so-called,  occupying 
a  zone  whose  width  varies  between  130  and  135  metres.  To  this, 
however,  should  be  added  the  military  zone,  with  an  average  width 
of  245  metres  and  forming  a  natural  appendage  to  the  foregoing". 

This  military  zone,  situated  on  the  outer  side  of  the  fosse,  was 
created  by  the  Department  of  Military  Engineering  in  order  that  no 
buildings  might  be  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  training  of  the  guns 
placed  upon  the  ramparts,  while  at  the  same  time  it  ensured  that 
there  should  be  nothing  to  prevent  the  proper  observation  of  an 
enemy's  movements.  To  achieve  this  object  the  zone  has  been  made 
subject,  for  its  whole  extent,  to  a  regulation  fioii  aedificanJl  :  that  is 
to  say,  buildings  of  whatsoever  kind  are  prohibited  within  this  area. 
The  owners  of  the  land  may  only  erect  low  temporary  buildings  of 
wood,  and  these  they  are  compelled  to  pull  down  without  compensation 
at  a  moment's  notice  upon  request  made  by  the  military  authorities. 

The  ground  occupied  by  the  fortifications  proper  belongs  to  the 
wState,  although  it  forms  part  of  the  territory  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  citv  authorities  of  Paris.  The  land  composing  the  military 
zone,  on  the  other  hand,  is  divided  up  among  thousands  of  private 
owners,  and  the  several  portions  of  it  fall  within  the  administrative 
jurisdiction  of  the  different  corporations  which  surround  the  capital. 

Public  opinion  has  long  demanded  the  suppression  of  a  belt  of 
fortifications  which  are  no  longer  sufficient  to  serve  their  intended 
purpose,  and  for  several  years  past  the  military  authorities  have 
refrained  from  enforcing  the  existing  regulations  with  respect  to  the 
north-west  side  of  the  city.  The  State,  therefore,  has  been  engaged 
for  about  fifteen  years  in  negotiating  with  the  City  of  Paris  for  the 
purchase  bv  the  latter  of  the  portion  of  the  fortifications  1\  ing  between 
the  Seine  (Point  du  Jour)  and  the  Canal  vSaint-Denis. 

But  in  the  earlier  stages  of  these  negotiations  the  State  was 
entirelv  possessed  by  the  idea  of  making  a  large  profit  out  of  the 
proposed  sale;  and  it  is  only  of  late  that  their  demands  have  grown 
less  exorbitant  ;  that  is  to  say,  since  the  general  consensus  of  public 
opinion  has  made  it  clear  that  the  opportunitv  afforded  by  the  suppres- 


634  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

sion  of  the  fortifications  must  be  utilised  to  increase  the  open  spaces 
of  Paris.  In  books,  in  newspapers,  and  in  conferences  our  men  of 
science  had  condemned  the  insufficiency  of  the  open  spaces  existing  in 
our  great  cities  as  being  one  of  the  causes  contributing  to  the  spread 
of  contagious  diseases  and  to  the  increase  of  the  death-rate.  The 
health-giving  part  played  by  trees  and  flowers,  the  beneficial  effects 
to  be  derived  from  the  currents  of  fresh  air  which  are  perpetually 
renewed  in  parks  and  gardens  of  considerable  extent,  and  the  whole' 
some  action  of  the  winds  of  heaven  and  of  the  sun  had  been  clearly 
demonstrated. 

The  parks  and  gardens  of  our  towns,  then,  are  not  to  be  considered 
merely  as  a  charming  decoration,  but  also  as  a  means  towards  main- 
taining the  public  health  and  promoting  the  welfare  of  the  community. 
If,  then,  we  were  to  allow  the  ground  on  which  these  fortifications 
stand  to  be  divided  up  into  small  lots  we  should  do  away  with  the 
last  reserve  of  fresh  air  which  is  still  available  in  Paris ;  and  in  the 
not  far-distant  future  it  would  be  found  necessary  to  create  open 
spaces  by  clearing  sites  which  are  already  built  over — that  is  to  say, 
at  a  cost  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  francs.  Let  us  not  forget,  indeed, 
that  from  henceforth  it  is  incumbent  upon  the  community  to  ensure 
that  the  working  population  and  the  poor,  who  cannot  move  from 
place  to  place,  shall  be  enabled  to  rest  and  to  breathe  fresh  air 
on  the  spot. 

It  was  in  view  of  these  considerations  that  I  had  the  honour  of 
laying  a  new  scheme  before  the  Municipal  Council ;  and  this  schente 
has  become  the  basis  of  all  discussions  arising  from  so  important  a 
question. 

The  principal  economies  which  would  result  from  this  scheme 
are  as  follows  : — 

1.  The  purchase  by  the  City  of  Paris,  as  one  indivisible  plot  of 
land,  of  the  whole  area  covered  by  the  fortifications,  with  the  reserva- 
tion that  the  purchase  money  should  be  made  payable  by  instalments 
and  that  the  work  of  transformation  should  be  carried  out  in  sections. 

2.  The  maintenance  of  the  regulation  no)i  aedificandi  over  the 
military  zone,  for  reasons  of  public  health  and  hygiene. 

3.  The  compulsory  acquisition  of  lands  within  the  hygienic  zone, 
in  view  of  the  formation  of  open  spaces,  parks,  and  playgrounds  in 
the  future. 

4.  The  annexation  by  the  City  of  Paris  of  the  lands  compulsorily 
acquired. 

I  have  endeavoured,  by  means  of  a  carefully  calculated  estimate 
of  cost,  to  show  that  this  vast  project  is  quite  possible  from  the 
monetary  point  of  view ;  for  in  establishing  the  governing  principles 
of  the  scheme  I  was  not  justified  in  shutting  my  eyes  to  the  fact  that 
the  resources  of  the  Parisian  budget  are  limited,  and  that  it  would 
not  be  practicable  to  impose  a  considerably  increased  rate  upon  the 
taxpayers,  even  for  an  undertaking  of  such  general  utility  as  that 
under  consideration. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  considered  that  it  would  be  of  advantage  to 
deal  with  the  suppression  of  the  whole  of  the  fortifications  at  one 
and  the  same  time  :  also  that  it  would  not  be  advisable  to  benefit 
any  one  portion  of  the  capital  without  at  the  same  time  drawing  up 
a  complete  and  definite  scheme  for  the  whole  area. 


open  Spaces  for  Paris.  O35 

The  project  was  received  with  favour  by  the  Municipal  Assembly 
and  sent  by  them  for  consideration  to  the  Commission  of  Fortifica- 
tions ;  and  the  latter,  with  whom  were  also  the  Councillors-General 
for  the  suburbs,  unanimously  adopted  the  idea  of  acquiring  and 
-annexing-  all  lands  within  the  given  zone,  with  a  view  to  their  trans- 
formation into  parks,  grass-plots,  and  playgrounds. 

It  now  remains  for  me  to  point  out  the  saving  that  would  be 
effected  by  my  proposal. 

Outlay.  Francs 

Purcliase  of  siie  of  fortifications,  about  3,500,000  square  metres 

Purchase  of  lands  within  the  zone,  about  4,780,000  square  rjietres  .  .  143,000.000 
Purchase  of  small  properties  outside  the  zone,  about  56,800  square  metres  2,000,000 
■Cost  of  levelling,  circular  road  for  the  town  dues  (oclroi),  making  up  of 

roads,  laying  out  of  parks,  grass-plots,  playgrounds,  &c.  .  .  .  85,000,000 
That  is  to  say,  exclusive  of  the  value  of  the  fortifications,  a  total  of  .     230,000,000 

Receipts. 
Sale  of  site  of  fortifications   after  division  into   lots,  an    area   of  about  Francs 

2,595,000  square  metres  ........     270,000,000 

Amount   to   be    recovered    by    contributions   from  owners    of  property 

adjoining  new  roads  for  the  making  of  the  r^ads  ....  25,000,000 
That  is  to  say,  a  total  of         .......  .  295,000,000 

The  receipts,  therefore,  would  show  an  excess  of  about  sixty-five 
million  francs  over  and  above  the  amount  of  the  outlay,  and  this 
would  be  available  for  paying  off  the  purchase  money  for  the  fortified 
2one,  the  price  of  which  would  have  to  be  settled  by  agreement  witli 
the  State. 

The  campaign  in  favour  of  open  spaces  has  furthermore  led  to 
the  formation,  since  the  beginning  of  1909,  of  a  "  League  for  the 
Promotion  of  Open  Spaces,  Health  and  Outdoor  Sports,"  a  society 
which  is  in  no  way  influenced  by  political  or  financial  considerations. 
This  League  is  composed  of  all  the  great  sporting  and  touring 
Associations  of  France,  as  well  as  of  the  more  important  institu- 
tions organised  by  business  men,  artists,  architects,  and  contribu- 
tory bodies  :  and  it  has  recently  been  joined  by  men  of  eminence  in 
the  scientific  and  literary  world. 

The  League  for  the  Promotion  of  Open  Spaces  has  also  endea- 
voured to  solve  this  problem  of  the  fortifications,  and  the  result  of 
their  deliberations  has  been  that  they  have  adopted  my  project  in  its 
main  lines.  In  its  anxiety  to  increase  the  future  extent  of  our  parks  and 
gardens  as  much  as  possible,  this  League  has  doubtless  taken  into 
consideration  the  possibility  of  incorporating  therein  some  portion 
of  the  site  covered  by  the  fortifications  ;  but  when  it  is  remembered 
that  my  project  would  endow  Paris  with  an  additional  open  space 
of  550  hectares,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  the  necessity  for  increasing  this 
amount  by  another  forty  hectares  or  so,  thereby  placing  additional 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  a  project  which  is  already  sufficiently  specu- 
lative and  which  ought  in  some  degree  to  pay  its  own  way  without 
entailing  an  increase  in  the  rates  paid  by  the  inhabitants  of  Paris. 

The  favour  with  which  my  project  has  been  received  by  the 
public  authorities,  by  the  Municipal  Council,  and  by  the  public  at 
lar^e  encourages  me  moreover  to  hope  that  it  will  .soon  be  carried 
out,  and  I  >hall  have  the  satisfaction  of  feeling  that  I  have  done 
something  to  improve  the  hygienic  conditions  obtaining  in  Paris  and 
have  contributed  towards  the  increase  of  her  splendour. 

Paris:  October  ^tli,  1910. 

T  T   2 


636  Transactions  of  the  To%vn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(6)  BRUXELLES  AUX  CHAMPS. 

Par  E.  Stasse,  Ing-cnieur,  et  H.  De  Brlvxe,  Architecte. 

L'exorbitante  et  irresistible  poussee  des  capitales  modernes  devait 
inevitablement  soulever  des  preoccupations  et  des  problemes  inconnus 
de  nos  percs.  Les  exig-ences  de  leur  circulation  etaient  moindres, 
evidemment  ;  le  de\eIoppement  urbain,  plus  lent  et  son  processus^ 
autre ;  les  conditions  h}g-ieniques  de  la  vie,  meconnues  ;  I'esprit  col- 
lectif,  moins  developpe  peut-etre  et,  en  tout  cas,  dirige  vers  des  soucis- 
plus  graves.  Mais,  c'est  aussi  que  la  nature  n'avait  pas  autant  a 
reparer  des  nerfs  affines  et  surmenes  et  que,  toujours  toute  proche, 
derriere  les  remparts,  elle  ne  faisait  pas  desirer  sa  presence. 

Chose  inconcevable,  nous,  qui  savons  avoir  besoin  de  cette  bonne 
mere,  qui  lui  avons  reconnu  un  culte  solenncl  et  plante  deja  pas  mal  de 
baliveaux,  nous,  fils  inconsequents  perdus  dans  nos  speculations  im- 
mobilieres,  au  lieu  de  la  rapprocher  de  nous,  nous  I'avons  ecartee, 
sans  nous  reserver  toujours  la  possibilite  d'aller  a  elle  pretextant  meme 
de  trams  electriques,  reducteurs  de  distance,  pour  I'eloigner  davan- 
tage. 

De  fait,  que  sont  devenucs  nos  belles  chaussees,  apparemment  si 
larges,  il  y  a  quelques  annees  a  peine,  lorsqu'elles  promenaient  libre- 
ment  leur  ombre?  De  longues  rues  malpropres  et  cagneuses,  des 
rangees  ouvrieres  sans  joie,  des  devantures  de  chatelains  en 
denrees  coloniales,  de  cauchemarantes  coulees  de  batisses  s'insinuent, 
se  rejoignant,  nous  etouffant.  Entre  ces  tentacules  de  briques,  on  eut 
du  opposer  des  tentacules  champetres  ;  des  oasis  restaient,  par  ou  I'air 
scrait  venu  effleurer  les  levres  de  la  cite  ;  on  eut  pu,  tout  au  moins,  par 
de  g-randes  avenues,  y  dedoubler  les  chaussees  vieillies ;  on  eut  pu 
meme  se  contenter  de  reunir  par  des  chemins  continus  quelques  bou- 
quets d'arbres,  de  favoriser  innombrablement  I'eclosion  et  I'acc^s  de 
clairs  logis. 

On  n'y  songea  pas,  sans  doute.  On  les  laissa  s'etioler,  s'avilir  k 
toutes  les  promiscuites  faubouriennes,  jusqu'au  jour  oij,  lot  par  lot, 
elles  furent  livrees  a  des  bureaux  sans  ame  et  depecees  a  la  regie  ad- 
ministrative ou  electorale.  Et,  sans  tre^■e,  s'entassent  les  rues  preten- 
dument  modernes  ne  sachant  se  diriger,  ne  sachant  qu'exprimer, 
n'ayant  peut-etre  rien  a  exprimer  que  des  comptes  de  notaire,  toutes 
identiquement  et  courtement  pretentieuses,  egalitaires  sans  fraternite, 
sans  entr'aide,  sans  sacrifice  a  I'ideal  commun  qui  vivifie.  Et  sans 
treve,  facticement  resserres,  anemies,  malgre  les  alentours  immenses, 
se  haussant  a  I'envi,  les  maisons,  s'allongent  egoistement  les  palaces 
commer^ants,  griffeurs  de  ciel,  \olcurs  de  notre  air  et  de  notre  lumi^re. 

Cependant,  parmi  les  hommes  dont  la  fonction  est  de  voir  plus 
haut  et  plus  loin,  ou  qui  voient  plus  alYectueusement,  les  plus  clair- 


Briixcllcs  aiix  Champs.  637 

voyants  s'effrayerent  de  la  cuirasse  de  pierre  sV-paississant  sur  le 
coeur  des  cites.  On  chercha  par  quoi  enra\er  ou  compenscr  le  mal. 
On  etudia.  Meme,  une  litterature  nouvelle  surgit,  avec,  a  I'etranger, 
les  Gaudet,  les  Glenn  Brown,  les  Stiibben  et  les  Sitte,  chez  nous  les 
Buls,  les  Cloquet  et  d'autres,  qui  voulut  dechiffrer  le  secret  de  la 
Beaute  urbaine.  11  y  eut  deux  theories,  I'ancienne  ou  classique,  rec- 
tiligne  et  centralisante,  et  la  nouvelle  ou  g-ermanique,  savamment 
pittoresque.  On  inventa  le  "  Park  System  "  et  on  doubla,  en  les 
reunissant,  la  bienfaisance  des  jardins  publics.  On  e\  entra.  On  previt 
aussi  tant  soit  peu,  car  on  s'etait  aviso  qu'il  oonviendrait  dorenavant 
de  prevoir.  II  y  eut  une  louable  emulation  universelle.  Le  jeune  et 
pratique  .Amerique  ne  fut  pas  la  derniere  a  s'inquic'-lcr.  Supputant  la 
valeur  marchande  de  la  \'ie  et  de  la  Beaute,  prenant  des  lecons  de  la 
\'ieille  Europe  et  comparant  les  fantastiques  depcnses  que  vaut  a 
Londres  son  incurie  passce  avec  la  prevoyance  artislique  dont  Paris 
paya  son  avenue  fameuse,  ellc  decreta  des  embellissements.  Washin^j- 
ton,  qui  revient  aux  plans  classiques  de  son  i'^''  architecte,  L'Enfant; 
Chicag-o,  stimule  par  son  exposition  ;  et  San  Francisco,  la  courageuse, 
s'y  disting-uent  par  I'ampleur  de  leurs  conceptions.  En  Europe,  toutes 
les  grandes  villes  rivalisent ;  Londres  etudie  pour  plus  d'un  demi  mil- 
liard de  travaux  ;  Paris,  qui  sait  ce  que  lui  rapportent  les  etrangers, 
vient  de  voter  900  millions  d'embellissement.  La  studicuse  Allemagnc 
s'est  jetee  dans  le  mouvement  avec  une  juvenile  ardeur.  Dresde, 
Francfort,  Hambourg,  Cologne,  Darmstadt,  Munich  ont  fait 
d'enormes  sacrifices  et  Berlin,  qui  n'hesite  pas  a  afl'ecter  100,000  francs 
de  prix  a  un  simple  concours  de  projets,  a  fait  quasiment  peau  neuve  : 
elle  serait  allee  jusqu'a  lancer  des  avenues  sans  but  defini  s'arretant 
en  plein  champ.  En  Belgique  aussi  de  grands  efforts  furent  faits,  et 
Bruxelles  en  connait  qui  furent  magnifiques.  Mais,  que  peuvcnt 
quelques  beaux  elans  mal  secondes  ou  sans  lendemain  !  Xotre  boule- 
\  ard  de  Grande  Ceinture  n'est  pas  termine,  que  les  memes  errements 
continuent,  en  deca  comme  au  dela,  que  les  memes  accumulations  de 
rues  a  lotir  se  presentent,  maquis  impuissant. 

C'est  done  une  lutte  sans  tr^ve  qu'il  faut  soutenir  et  c'est  une 
bataille  decisive  qu'il  faudrait  gagner.  Mais  c'est  aussi  tout  le  grand 
public  a  evangeliser,  et  ses  elus,  ceux  surtout  de  I'urne  communale,  a 
eduquer.  Helas,  nous  reprochons  aux  anciens  traceurs  de  villes  de  ne 
pas  avoir  prevu  les  besoins  insoupconnes  de  Tavenir  et  nous  ne  savons 
meme  tenir  compte  des  necessites  actuelles  les  plus  flagrantes.  Com- 
bien  sont-elles  nos  grandes  arteres  rayonnantes,  par  ou  fuir  aisement 
I'etreinte  urbaine?  Certes,  la  superbe  Avenue  de  Tervueren  pourra 
€tre  rendue  plus  accessible,  par  exemple  par  les  rues  Joseph  II  et  du 
Luxembourg  prolongees ;  I'Avenue  Fonsny,  elargic ;  le  plateau  de 
Koekelberg,  ramifie  ;  la  royale  Avenue  de  Meysse,  surtout,  aisement 
et  equitablement  atteinte  par  I'un  ou  I'autre  des  flancs  du  Pare  de 
Laeken.  II  n'en  est  pas  moins  vrai  que  nous  n'avons  encore  a 
Bruxelles  qu'un  seul  reel  exutoirc.  Chacun  a  nomme  le  Bois  de  la 
Cambre  et  I'Avenue  Louise.  Non  pas  qu'il  soit  parfait,  comme  veut 
bien  le  dire  M.  Magne,  I'esthete  de  la  couleur ;  mais  tout  de  meme  ne 
difffere-t-il  pas  trop  de  ce  que  devrait  etre  un  vrai  exutoire,  c'est  a  dire 
une  succession  de  pares  et  d'avenues  conduisant  agreablement  petit 
ou  grand  promeneur,  par  de  progressives  gradations  toujours  hur- 


638  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

monisees  aux  milieux,  depuis  la  fournaise  trepidante,  jusqu'au  plein 
air,  la  nature  tranche,  la  verdure  profonde,  I'espace  infini.  Mais 
r Avenue  Louise  fut-elle  parfaite,  eut-elle  des  soeurs  aux  quatre  points 
cardinaux  de  la  capitale,  que  le  probl^me  ne  serait  pas  resolu.  Ses 
plus  jolis  squares  ne  sent  pas  la  campagne  et  les  plus  rapides  a\"enues 
sent  bien  longues  pour  qui  peine  tout  le  jour.  S'ils  n'ont  pas  fait 
faillite,  les  grands  excutoires  modernes  n'ont  pas  donne  ce  qu'ils 
avaient  promis,  lis  n'ont  ni  democratise  le  cottage,  ni  rapproche  de 
nous  la  nature  environnante  ;  tot  encercles  eux-memes,  ils  y  devers^- 
rent  au  contraire  et  sans  prevoyance  le  flot  de  la  batisse,  ils  furent  les 
artisans  certains  de  son  alteration,  ils  ne  se  contenterent  plus  de  la 
refouler  sous  la  poussee  peripherique  des  faubourgs,  ils  I'amoindri- 
rent,  sur  des  etendues  immenses,  par  tous  les  flancs.  Non,  ce  n'est 
pas  quelques  ilots  de  verdure,  meme  fortement  reunis  qui  empecheront 
la  mer  de  pierre  de  nous  submerger.  Ce  qu'il  faut,  c'est  briser  son 
ourlet  frontal  par  de  grands  caps  de  verdure,  a  profonde  penetration, 
c'est  transformer  I'extension  circulaire  de  I'agglomeration  en  exten- 
sion etoilee  entre  les  rayons  de  laquelle  on  feralt  inviolables,  a 
jamais,  de  fraiches  et  bruissantes  digues,  prometteuses  d'enivrants 
au-dela. 

Pouvons-nous  creer  de  ces  grands  caps  de  verdure,  ou,  plutot, 
existe-t-il  encore  de  ces  reserves  champetres  que  Ton  pourrait 
proteger  et  embellir,  et  qu'un  avenir  plus  ou  moins  lointain  joindrait, 
si  pas  au  centre  meme — car  11  serait  impardonnable  de  traiter  le 
coeur  de  la  cit^  comme  un  banal  faubourg — mals  du  moins  aux 
boulevards  exterieurs?    Oui,  il  en  est  encore  trois,  en  tout  cas. 

Un  simple  coup  d'oeil  sur  la  carte  de  Bruxelles,  les  montre 
s'enfoncant  comme  des  coins  entre  les  surfaces  baties.  Deux  d'entre 
elles  s'enclavent  le  long  de  la  Senne,  en  amont  et  en  aval ;  la  dernifere 
est  inseree  entre  les  chaussees  d'Haecht  et  de  Louvain. 

Xous  avons  deja  touche  un  mot  de  la  zone  sur  la  Senne  aval,  qui 
est  celle  des  installations  maritimes  et  du  Pare  de  Laeken.  Une 
superbe  promenade  s'y  creera  un  jour,  ayons-y  fol.  Au  reste,  son 
avenir  est  parfaitement  sauvegarde. 

On  n'en  peut  dire  autant,  malheureusement,  des  belles  prairies 
(.n  amont  de  Bruxelles  :  Une  intervention  urgente  y  est  necessaire. 
Cependant,  cette  urgence  est  plus  grande  encore  pour  la  troisieme 
zone. 

Miraculeusement,  peut-on  dire,  grace  aux  difficultes  d'acces  qu'il 
faudrait  precisement  resoudre,  elle  s'est  conservee  quasi  intacte 
entre  les  deux  lignes  d'attaque  qui  I'ecrasent,  par  Evere  et  Schaer- 
beek,  sur  un  flanc,  St.  Josse  et  le  quartier  Dailly  sur  I'autre,  et  qui 
menacent  de  la  contourner  par  le  boulevard  de  Ceinture  en  construc- 
tion.    C'est  la  fin,  si  on  ne  lui  vient  vivement  en  aide. 

Deja,  il  est  vrai,  on  y  a  veille  :  tout  un  ravin  vient  d'etre  sauve. 
Mais  ce  n'est  pas  seulement  transversalement,  en  bordure  du  boule- 
vard Lambermont,  qu'il  aurait  fallu  allonger  le  Pare  Josaphat ;  c'est 
radicalement,  face  a  I'ennemi,  en  maintenant  un  solide  contact  avec 
le  gros  lointain  des  reserves,  en  enfongant,  d'autre  part,  aussi  avant 
que  possible  vers  la  ville,  sa  pointe  avancee,  et  en  lui  donnant  I'espoir 
d'une  brillante  trouee  jusqu'aux  anciens  remparts. 

C'est  la  le  programme  en  trois  phases  et  trois  parties  disjonctives. 


1 


Briixelles  aux  Champs. 


639 


V 


@Sv  -  -j:z- 


Emi"'a..M'       r 


Pi.AV  d'Exsemble  et  I'rofil  ex  Long  delaJomctiov   des   Boulevards  de  1'  Ceinture  avec 

CEUX     DE     I"    CeINTURE. 


640  Triuisactions  of  the  Toivn  Planiiiiig  Conjcrence,  Oct.  1910. 

a  quoi  s'emploie  le  projet  "  Bruxcllcs  aux  Champs,"  prcsente 
dernierement  a  I'exposition  annuelle  et  publique  de  la  Socicte  Cen- 
trale  d'Architecture. 

La  plus  urgente  des  trois  phases  c'est  d'exproprier  la  languette 
de  terre  encore  libre,  pour  pousser  le  Pare  Josaphat  jusqu'a 
I'Avenue  et  la  future  Gare  Rogier,  de  fagon  a  en  rapprocher  I'entree 
de  Bruxelles;  quitte  d'ailleurs,  si  une  compensation  financiere  ctait 
jugee  necessaire,  a  reduire  a  un  simple  rideau  d'arbres  les  extremites 
du  pare  continues  aux  deux  chaussees  qui  Tenserrent. 

La  seconde  partie  du  programme,  la  premiere  par  ordre  d'impor- 
tance,  intcresse  les  etendues  situees  au-dela  du  boulevard,  dans  la 
direction  de  Saventhem.  II  s'agit  essentiellement  d'y  continuer, 
autant  que  besoin,  une  bande  indefinie,  variable  de  largeur  et 
d'aspect,  pouvant  se  ramifier  et  envelopper  des  enclaves  appropriees, 
et  passant  progressivement  du  pare  citadin  decoratif,  a  I'aimable 
laisser-aller  des  pelouses,  vergers,  patures,  taillis  et  futaies, 
jusqu'aux  simples  champs  agricoles. 

Le  but  poursuivi  est  triple  :  promenades,  extension  de  ville, 
communications. 

Comme  promenades,  chacun  y  pourrait  trouver  son  compte  : 
avenues  qui  se  pavanent,  terrasses  froulroutantes,  lacets  reveurs, 
raccourcis  besogneux,  chemins  qui  chantent  entre  les  haies  et  piquc- 
niquent  sous  bois,  metairies  accueillantes,  clairieres  pour  les  enlants, 
quinconces  pour  les  bonnes,  plaines  et  pavilions  de  sport,  toute  la 
lyre. 

On  devine  assez  ce  que  serait  aussi  son  importance  comme  centre 
d'extension,  tant  par  son  attrait  propre  que  par  I'etendue  des  terrains 
environnants  qu'elle  mettrait  en  valeur. 

Non  seulement  clle  se  rehausserait  d'un  luxueux  pourtour,  mais 
elle  se  prolongerait  en  gaies  cites,  jardins  et  quartiers  modernes  de 
tous  genres,  pour  s'approfondir,  plus  avant,  en  cottages  ou  groupe- 
ments  ouvriers  salubres,  aisement  ravitailles  par  les  chaussees 
voisines. 

La  plus  grande  di\ersite  y  serait  desirt-e  et  toutes  les  possi- 
bilites  menagees  :  ensembles  arretes  par  les  administrations  ou  par 
des  societes  puissantes,  agglomerations  cooperatives,  rues  loties  des 
entrepreneurs,   no3'aux  spontanes  accrus  au  jeu  des  mille  facteurs. 

Un  peu  de  tout  cela  figure  sur  le  projet ;  mais  uniquement  pour 
fixer  les  idees,  car,  c'est  un  principe  admis  par  les  auteurs  que, 
seules,  generalement,  les  grandes  directions  peuvent  etre  fixees  a 
priori. 

Contrairement  aux  routines  tatillonnes  reglementant  les  details 
mais  impuissantes  a  diriger  les  lignes  essentielles,  toute  la  liberte 
possible  serait  done  laissee  aux  caracteres  particularistes,  tandis  que 
la  continuity  des  penetrations  arterielles  serait  largement  imposee. 

Le  trait  d'union,  du  tout,  serait  naturellement  la  grande  avenue 
formant  en  quelque  sorte  I'epine  dorsale  de  la  bande  de  verdure 
projetee.  D'une  seule  largeur  a  son  origine,  elle  se  subdiviserait 
bientot  en  autant  de  pistes  propres  que  de  genres  d'usagers,  pour  se 
reformer  de  loin  en  loin,  aux  grands  carrefours.  Sur  elle  pourraient 
se  greffer  plus  tard  les  voies  principales  de  communication  rayon- 
nante  dont  le  besoin  viendrait  a  se  faire  sentir  dans  tout  le  secteur 


Bruxellc's  aux  Clunnp.';, 


64, 


•  'u.ccR  oven  ncM'.arjj. 


Bruxelles  aux  Champs. 


642   Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Nord-Est  de  la  banlieue  bruxelloise  :  nouvelle  voie  vers  V'ilvorde  dont 
la  recente  avenue  s'annonce  exclusivement  industrielle ;  voie  vers 
Saventhem,  encore  isolc ;  vers  le  vallon  du  Wesembeek  et,  plus  loin, 
Tervueren,  ainsi  dou(^  d'un  retour ;  d'autres  encore,  sans  compter 
le  bienfaisant  dedoublement  des  vieilles  chaussees  d'Haecht,  d'Evere 
et  de  Louvain. 

D'autres  chaussees,  modernes,  vers  le  Nord-Est  de  la  Belgique  et 
au  dela,  y  trouveraient  aussi  une  amorce  toute  indiquee  lorsque  la 
multiplication  des  divers  et  foudroyants  vehicules  actuels  ne  per- 
mettra  plus  de  differer  la  construction  du  reseau  international  dont 
se  preoccupent  les  esprits  avertis  et  qu'il  faut  savoir  prevoir.  Enfin, 
les  grands  champs  de  repos  de  Schaerbeek  et  de  Bruxelles  y 
gagneraient  une  entree  mieux  appropriee,  plus  loyale  et  plus  digne. 

Mais,  il  ne  suffit  pas,  pour  pouvoir  transformer  ainsi  la  Vallee 
de  Josaphat  en  coeur  vivant,  indefiniment  extensible,  de  tout  le  vaste 
plateau  encercle  par  la  Senne  et  la  Woluwe,  d'en  faire  le  centre 
d'un  syst^me  arteriel  divergent,  il  faut  aussi  y  faire  aboutir,  un 
svstfeme  arteriel  convergent,  il  faut  qu'on  puisse  I'atteindre  facile- 
ment  de  divers  points  de  I'agglomeration  bruxelloise. 

Ces  communications  existent  deja  en  bon  nombre  a  la 
peripheric. 

Ce  sont  principalement  : 

Les  nouveaux  boulevards  de  Grande  Ceinture  et  ceux  qui 
escortent  la  ceinture  ferree  ;  la  rue  de  la  Loi  et  I'Avehue  de  Corten- 
berg,  I'Avenue  Rogier,  et  enfin,  I'Avenue  Bertrand.  De  plus, 
moyennant  quelques  mesures  preventives  ou  curatives,  en  tout  cas, 
desirables,  la  situation  pourrait  etre  sensiblement  amelioree, 
notamment  pour  le  quartier  Nord-Est,  pour  la  no;ivelle  Avenue 
Huart-Hamoir  montant  de  la  Gare  de  Schaerbeek  et  pour  le  futur 
boulevard  de  la  Senne,  dont  les  au-dela  semblent  avoir  ete,  jusqu'a 
present,  quelque  peu  perdus  de  vue.  Le  projet  indique  quelques-unes 
de  ces  mesures  ;  mais,  manifestement,  sans  y  insister,  soit  qu'il  n'est 
lie  a  aucune  d'elles,  soit  que  des  inconnues  restent  a  determiner. 

"  Bruxelles  aux  champs  "  se  devait,  d'ailleurs,  de  porter  toute 
son  attention  sur  la  possibilite  d'acces  directs  de  la  cite  meme.  Sans 
vouloir  en  exclure  d'autres,  il  souligne  deux  solutions.  La  premiere, 
grace  a  une  simple  percee  diagonale  entre  la  Place  de  la  Reine  et 
I'Avenue  Rogier,  a  Tangle  de  la  rue  Josaphat,  relierait  aisement  la 
nouvelle  entree  proposee  pour  le  pare  avec  I'eglise  Ste-Marie  et 
meme,  par  consequent,  avec  la  Gare  du  Nord.  On  sait,  en  effet, 
que  cette  derniere  et  plus  difficile  percee  est  a  I'etude,  tant  est  devenu 
intolerable  le  damier  a  pic  enfante  par  d'imprevoyantes  autorites. 

Quelques  minutes  suffiraient  done  pour  se  rendre  directement 
soit  de  la  Porte  de  Schaerbeek,  soit  du  Nord  et  meme  de  la  Place  de 
Brouck^re  jusqu'a  la  Gare  Rogier. 

Plus  nette  encore  et  autrement  grandiose,  surtout  dans  sa 
variante  preferee,  mais  aussi  plus  onereuse,  est  la  deuxi^me  solution 
entrevue  par  les  auteurs  du  projet  dans  un  avenir  plus  ou  moins 
lointain  et  dont  ils  supplient,  tout  ou  moins,  de  ne  pas  aggraver  les 
difficultes  futures.  Du  Jardin  de  I'Ancien  Observatoire,  qui  pourrait 
etre  notablement  agrandi  et  soude  au  Jardin  Botanique,  devalerait, 
d'un  seul  et  doux  mouvement,  une  large  avenue  rectiligne  enjambant 


I 


Bruxclli's  aux  Champs. 


643 


644  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Plannini^  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

les  rues  Potagere  et  des  Coteaux,  penetrant  dans  le  pare  au  niveau 
de  I'Avenue  Rogier,  pour,  au-dela,  se  relever  lentement,  franchir  le 
ravin  sur  un  pont  monumental,  atteindre  le  boulevard  de  Grande 
Ceinture  dans  I'axe  meme  du  Palais  des  Sports,  et  s'epanouir  en 
tous  sens. 

Que,  maintenant.  Ton  veuille  bien  songer  a  loute  Taccentuation 
que  donnera  a  la  Porte  de  Schaerbeek  la  percee  admise  en  principe 
entre  ce  carrefour  et  le  centre,  ainsi  qu'a  Pimposante  expression 
esthetique  que  trouverait  le  pauvre  coudc,  si  desempare  actuellement, 
du  boulevard  Bischoffsheim.  Que  Pon  se  represente  ce  sommet 
vivant,  couronne  d'un  palais,  ceint  de  frondaisons  et  de  fleurs  et 
dominant  deux  arteres  monumentales  accrochees  avec  des  souplesses 
de  guirlandes,  Pune,  au  plateau  de  Koekelberg,  sous  les  degres  de  la 
Basilique  Nationale,  Pautre,  par-dessus  la  \'^allee  de  Josaphat,  au 
peristyle  du  Temple  de  la  Culture  physique,  a  I'oree  de  toutes  les 
verdures.  L'on  se  rendra  mieux  compte  ainsi  de  toute  la  signi- 
fication du  projet,  reunissant  deux  noeuds  circulatoires  essentiels 
ainsi  que  les  flancs,  actuellement  si  distants,  du  IMaelbeek  et  amenant, 
a  travers  des  faubourgs  informes,  les  espaces  lointains  a  portee  meme 
de  la  cite.  II  ne  repeterait  pas  PAvenue  Louise,  ni  PAvenue  de 
Tervueren  ;  il  rivaliserait  avec  elles  en  completant  le  cycle. 

Et  si  tant  d'avantages  ne  sont  pas  decisifs,  il  reste  encore  quelque 
chose  a  ajouter. 

La  presente  exposition  s'erige  la-bas,  au  Solbosch,  loin  deja.  Ou 
sera  la  suivante,  quand  cet  emplacement  n'existera  plus?  Au  Pare 
de  la  Woluwe,  plus  loin  peut-etre? 

"  Bruxelles  aux  champs  "  resoud  definitivement  la  question.  A 
jamais,  un  vaste  espace  resterait  la,  disponible,  tout  proche,  supcrbe- 
ment  encadre  d'eau  et  de  verdure,  desservi  par  une  serie  de  gares, 
dont  deux,  les  Gares  Rogier  ct  Josaphat,  mouch^teraient  son  seln 
meme  ;  accessibles  non  pas  par  une  seule  avenue  monumentale,  mais 
de  tous  les  cotes  a  la  fois  ! 

Et  il  n'y  aurait  pas  que  les  ephemeres  feeries  des  grands  tournois 
internationaux  qui  pourraient  y  folatrer  a  Paise  ;  petites  expositions 
et  concours  de  toute  saison  y  trouveraient  aussi  un  abri  permanent, 
soit  dans  le  Palais  des  Sports,  soit  dans  les  halls  dont  se  debarras- 
serait  le  Pare  du  Cinquantenaire,  ainsi  rendu  a  son  unite  artistique. 

\'eut-on  maintenant  comparer  les  distances?  Des  entrees  du 
Pare  Josaphat  et  du  Pare  du  Cinquantenaire,  jusqu'a  la  rue  Royale 
interieure,  respeeti\  ement  1200  et  1700  m.  De  ees  memes  entrees 
jusqu'aux  vegetations  des  Boulevards  Exterieurs,  respectivement 
875  et  1250  m.  Soulignons  ce  chiffre  :  875  m.,  moins  d'un  kilomfetre, 
10  minutes  a  pied  !  Comparons  aussi  les  entrees  des  halls  ;  elles  sont 
respectivement  a  1500  et  a  1800  m.  du  meme  ruban  arborescent. 
Comparons  enfin  les  distances  a  ^  ol  d'oiscau  de  PHotel  de  \'iHe  de 
Bruxelles  jusqu'aux  divers  emplacements  d 'exposition  :  Pare  de  la 
Woluwe,  5800  m.  ;  Solbosch,  4200 ;  Pare  Josaphat,  2400  m.  seule- 
ment  :  une  demie  heure  a  pied,  moins  d'un  quart  d'heure  en  tram  ! 
Oui,  a  jamais,  tout  proche,  des  espaces  infinis,  de  I'herbe  a  pleins 
bras,  de  I'air  a  pleins  poumons  ;  et  aussi  des  terrains  a  batir,  tant 
qu'on  \eut,  des  gares  empressees,  des  avenues  a  toute  vitesse,  une 
iirtere   monumentale,    un   square   triomphal,   un  panorama  magnifie ; 


BruxcUcs  mix  Llun)ips.  645 

et  dc  la  lumiere,  et  encore  de  Fair  ct  dc  la  lumierc,  toujours  ;  et  pour 
toujours  brisee,  la  cuirasse  de  pierre  qui  ctreint  le  coeur  des  cites. 

Ce  que  ca  couterait.  Qu'importe,  c'est  necessaire.  Cela  seul 
demandait  a  etre  demontre  et  bien  compris.  Tout  depend  d'ailleurs 
de  la  solution  adoptee,  des  moyens,  du  temps.  Temps  et  prevo}  ance 
sont  les  grandes  depenses  a  faire,  cela  a  ete  dit. 

Esquissons  tout  de  meme  le  cote  financier,  en  separant  les  trois 
parties  du  projet. 

On  I'a  dejii  vu,  la  ire  partie,  celle  qui  consiste  a  donner  une 
entrte  sur  I'Avenue  Roi^ier,  ne  couterait  quasiment  rien.  II  suffit  de 
modifier  la  forme  du  Pare,  en  re\endant  d'un  cote  la  petite  super- 
ficie  a  acheter  de  I'autre. 

Plus  difficile  est  le  calcul  des  nou\elles  reserves  proposees, 
puisque  ce  prolongement  est  par  principe  indefmi.  Cependant,  il  est 
certain  qu'il  y  aurait  a  acquerir  prochainement  la  zone  a  front  du 
Boulevard  jusqu'a  I'extremite  la  plus  eloig^nee  du  cimeti^rc  de 
Schaerbeek  et  jusqu'a  la  nouvelle  lig-ne  de  Hal.  Encore,  faudrait-il 
equitablement  en  retrancher  un  tiers  pour  les  Halls,  Palais  et  plaines 
de  Sport,  soit  qu'on  les  envisag"e  comme  une  aftaire  soit  qu'ils 
devraient  lout  de  meme  trouver  un  emplacement  ailleurs.  Mais 
passons,  et  comptons  larg-ement  30  hectares  a  5  fr.  le  metre  carre, 
soit  I  million  et  demi  pour  toute  la  premiere  zone.  Au-dela  de  cettc 
zone,  le  dang"er  disparait,  du  moins  pour  lonj^temps. 

II  suffit  done  d'v  preparer  la  besog^ne,  a  nos  neveux,  par  tous  les 
moyens  que  pourront  imaginer  les  specialistes  :  options,  promesses 
de  vente  a  long-  terme,  echange  de  services  avec  les  riverains,  simple 
placement  de  fonds  en  terrains  agricoles  qui  seraient  donnes  a  bail  et 
pourraient  rapporter  des  benefices.  Remarquons  d'ailleurs  qu'il  est 
permis  de  compter  sur  I'initiative  d'entreprises  privees  et  que,  grace 
au  systtjme  pittoresque  des  encla\  es,  la  surface  reelle  pourrait  etre 
fort  inferieure  a  la  surface  apparente.  Quoi  qu'il  en  soit,  meme  en 
admettant  pour  la  bande  projetee  une  largeur  moyenne  de  400  metres 
et  un  prix  de  1.50  fr.  !e  metre  carre,  le  kilometre  d'avancement  ne 
re\iendrait  encore  qu'a  600,000  fr. ,  a  payer  seulement  dans  un 
avenir  plus  ou  moins  eloigne,  au  fur  et  a  mesure  qu'on  le  desirait. 

En  somme  done,  abstraction  faite  des  depenses  d'appropriation, 
necessaires  en  n'importe  quelle  hypothese,  I'ensemble  des  deux 
premieres  parties  du  projet,  c'est  a  dire  tout  ce  que  cehii-ci  contient 
</'((»-irt'Hf  et  d'esseutiel,  reviendrait  a  un  ou  deux  willions.  C'est  le 
seul  chiffre  a  retenir. 

Cependant,  il  peut  etre  intt'ressant  d'y  ajouter  quelques  autres 
relatifs  aux  deux  percees. 

La  premiere,  qui  relierait  Sainte-Marie  a  la  Gare  Rogier  et  qui  est 
purement  utile,  se  tient  modestement  vers  les  trois  millions  et  demi. 
Par  contre,  la  seconde,  celle  de  I'.Ancien  Observatoire,  atteint  tout  de 
suite  les  grandes  hauteurs.  Passe  encore  pour  la  percee  elle-meme 
qui  se  tient  vers  les  quinze  millions,  mais  les  embellissements  de  son 
amorce  a  I'Ancien  Observatoire  exigent  a  eux  seuls  le  double.  C'est 
done  un  ensemble  de  50  millions,  et,  c'est  bien,  a  ne  pas  nier,  une 
solution  de  luxe.  Et,  en  effet,  a  cote  d'une  utilite  surpassant  celle 
de  la  premiere  solution,  le  luxe  est  nettement  avoue  et  poursuivi. 
Mais  le  luxe,  le  luxe  de  bon  goijt,  n'est-il  pas  aussi  une  utilite? 


646  Transactions  of  the  Toiicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Quel  pedagogue  averti  jugera  indifferent  de  s'entourer  de  laideur  ou 
de  Beaute,  de  vivre  dans  le  desordre  ou  I'harmonie,  dans  I'inco- 
herence  uniforme  des  faubourgs  ou  Tunite  variee  des  vieilles  cites  et 
des  ensembles  modernes,  de  ne  voir  qu 'insouciance,  hasard  et  petitesse 
ou  de  contempler  la  poursuite  tenace  de  larges  plans  longuement 
prevus. 

Bien  plus,  le  luxe  n'est-il  pas  un  besoin  chez  le  plus  humble, 
legitime  quand  il  est  proportionne  ;  n'est-il  pas  meme  une  necessite 
sociale  autant  que  privee?  pouvons-nous  ne  suivre  que  mollement  le 
mouvement  d'embellissement  qui  s'accentue  dans  les  deux  mondes? 
Places,  comme  on  I'a  dit,  au  carrefour  geographique  et  linguistique 
des  nations,  trait  d 'union  indique  entre  toutes,  a\ons-nous  le  droit 
de  ne  pas  donner  toute  la  valeur  humainement  possible  aux  richesses 
qui  nous  furent  confiees.  Est-ce  trop  qu'une  cinquantaine  de  millions 
pour  alimenter  eternellement  d'air,  de  lumiere,  de  verdure,  de  sante, 
de  joie  et  de  grandeur,  une  agglomeration  de  7  a  800,000  habitants, 
qui  a  decuple  en  un  si^cle,  qui  batit  plus  de  2000  maisons  par  an  et 
qui,  demain,  fera  bloc  avec  un  des  plus  grands  ports  du  monde? 
Mais  c'est  moins  que  ce  que  fut  paye  le  symbole  de  la  Place  de 
Poelaert. 

Et  encore  une  fois  tout  ce  qu'on  demande  c'est  de  reserver 
I'avenir,  c'est  de  la  prevoyance,  du  temps  et  une  obole  de  un  ou 
deux  millions. 

Mais,  hasardera-t-on  peut-etre,  voila  de  nouveau  un  bien  grand 
chambardement ;  n'est-ce  pas  modifier  la  physionomie  de  tout  un 
faubourg  et  abimer  encore  une  fois,  du  certain  pour  faire  de  I'incer- 
tain  !  Chambarder,  modifier?  IMais  precisement.  Detruire?  On 
le  sait,  Mademoiselle,  la  oi^i  il  n'y  a  rien,  le  Roi  perd  ses  droits. 


[Translation  of  Messrs    Stasse  and  De  Bruyne's  Paper.] 

RCRAL  BRUSSELS. 

It  was  inevitable  that  the  great  and  irresistible  expansion  of 
modern  days  should  raise  problems  and  questions  unknown  to  our 
forefathers.  Their  requirements  as  regards  traffic  were,  of  course, 
less,  the  development  of  towns  slower,  and  its  methods  different. 
The  hygienic  conditions  of  life  were  ignored,  the  co-operative 
spirit  perhaps  less  developed,  and  in  any  case  directed  towards 
matters  of  greater  moment.  Moreover,  rural  nature  was  not  required 
in  the  same  way  for  the  restoration  of  the  overwrought  and  delicate 
ner\ous  system,  and  being  always  at  hand  beyond  the  fortified  walls, 
its  absence  within  the  city  Avas  of  less  importance.  It  is  the  more 
curious  that  we,  who  recognise  our  need  of  this  kindly  mother,  who 
constantly  proclaim  our  belief  in  her,  and  symbolise  her  bv  the 
planting  of  many  trees,  have,  thoughtlessly  immersed  in  our  land 
speculations,  thrust  her  from  us  instead  of  drawing-  her  to  us,  with- 
out so  much  as  providing  possibilities  of  reaching  her,  alleging  the 
need  of  tramways  to  increase,  instead  of  shortening,  her  distance 
from  us. 


Rural  Brussels.  647 

We  may  well  ask  what  has  become  of  our  beautiful  highways, 
which,  but  a  few  years  ago,  appeared  so  wide  when  the  sun  reached 
them  freely.  Long,  dirty,  and  narrow  streets,  dismal  rows  of 
workmen's  dwellings,  the  warehouses  of  produce  merchants,  shock- 
ing alleys  of  brickwork  wind  about  us  in  a  suffocating  network. 
Between  these  tangles  of  brick  should  have  been  interposed  some 
strips  of  verdure.  Some  spaces  remained  by  which  air  might  have 
been  brought  to  the  lungs  of  the  city  ;  at  least  the  old  highways 
might  have  been  widened  into  great  avenues;  it  would  have  even 
sufficed  to  join  up  the  scattered  clumps  of  trees  by  road-ways  which 
would  have  greatly  tended  to  the  provision  of,  and  access  to,  sunny 
dwellings. 

It  would  seem  not  to  have  been  thought  of.  They  were  allowed 
to  decay,  to  be  degraded  by  all  the  hazards  of  the  suburb,  until, 
parcel  by  parcel,  they  were  handed  over  to  a  soulless  bureaucracy 
and  cut  up  according  to  official  or  electoral  requirements  ;  and  from 
day  to  day  the  would-be  modern  streets  accumulate  without  system 
or  plan,  expressing  nothing,  perhaps  having  nothing  to  express  but 
solicitors'  bills— all  alike  pretentious,  equally  without  community  of 
interest,  without  contributing  to  any  common  ideal  of  life  ;  and  day 
by  day,  while  the  houses  are  artificially  crowded,  piled  up  without 
light  and  air,  in  spite  of  immense  waste  of  space,  commercial  palaces 
spread  themselves  selfishly,  and  sky-scrapers  rob  us  of  our  air  and 
our  light. 

Nevertheless,  among  the  men  gifted  with  greater  forethought  and 
sympathy,  the  more  clear-sighted  are  alarmed  at  this  cuirass  of  stone 
solidifying  around  the  heart  of  our  cities.  Much  study  and  thought 
has  been  devoted  to  the  means  of  removing  or  remedying  the  evil. 
.\  new  literature  has  arisen  with  which  arc  associated  abroad  the 
names  of  Gaudet,  Glenn  Brown,  Stiibben,  and  Sitte,  and  with  us 
those  of  Buls,  Cloquet,  and  others  who  have  endeavoured  to  unfold 
the  secret  of  urban  beauty. 

Two  theories  have  been  propounded — the  old  or  classical,  based 
on  rectilinear  and  centralising  principles,  and  the  new  or  Germanic, 
which  is  studiously  picturesque.  The  "  park  "  system  was  invented, 
and  the  value  of  public  gardens  doubled  by  linking  them  up.  Open 
spaces  were  formed  with  such  foresight  as  was  practicable,  for  it  was 
perceived  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  plan  for  the  future.  There 
was  a  universal  and  praiseworthy  emulation.  Young  and  practical 
America  was  not  behind  in  this  movement.  Reckoning  the  com- 
mercial value  of  life  and  beauty,  taking  their  examples  from  ancient 
Europe,  and  comparing  the  fantastic  outlay  which  her  carelessness 
in  the  past  has  cost  London  with  the  artistic  foresight  which  gave 
Paris  her  famous  avenues,  they  resolved  upon  improvements.  Wash- 
ington, reverting  to  the  classical  plans  of  its  first  architect  L'Enfant, 
Chicago,  stimulated  by  its  Exhibition,  and  courageous  San  Francisco, 
are  all  remarkable  for  the  fulness  of  their  conceptions. 

In  Europe  all  great  cities  vie  with  one  another  ;  London  is  engaged 
upon  a  scheme  for  over  twenty  millions  of  pounds.  Paris,  who  well 
knows  the  value  to  her  of  her  visitors,  has  recently  voted  thirty-six 
millions  for  improvements.  Lion-hearted  Germany  has  thrown  her- 
self  into   the   reform   with     a    young    heart.       Dresden,     Frankfort, 


648  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Cologne,  have  \ oted  enormous  figures  ;  and  Berlin,  which  does  not 
hesitate  to  offer  ;£,'4000  in  prizes  lor  competitive  schemes,  is  almost 
metamorphosed  :  she  even  contemplates  tiie  plan  of  avenues  without 
a  definite  objectixe,  leading  into  the  open  country. 

In  Belgium,  and  especially  in  Brussels,  great  and  e\en  splendid 
efforts  have  been  made,  but  of  what  avail  are  her  million  efforts, 
however  splendid,  if  they  are  ill-supported  and  without  result?  Our 
Boulevard  de  Grande  Ceinture  remains  unfinished,  while  the  same 
errors  are  repeated  both  within  and  without,  the  same  congestion  of 
street  lots  presents  its  familiar  jungle.  There  is  therefore  an  un- 
ceasing struggle  to  be  carried  on  until  we  can  win  a  decisive  victory. 
Furthermore,  it  is  the  public  at  large  that  we  have  to  convert,  and 
their  elected  local  representatives  especially  that  we  have  to  educate. 
We  blame  former  town-planners  for  having  failed  to  make  proper 
provisions  for  future  needs,  and  yet  we  do  not  even  provide  for  the 
most  pressing  demands  of  the  present  day.  How  many  large 
radiating  arteries  have  we  which  can  enable  us  to  evade  the  pressure 
of  the  town  ?  Undoubtedly  the  splendid  Avenue  of  Tervueren  could  be 
made  more  accessible  by  extending,  for  instance,  the  Rue  Joseph  II. 
and  the  Rue  de  Luxembourg  ;  the  Avenue  Fonsny  might  be 
enlarged  b\-  extending  the  I-Coekelberg  Plateau  ;  and  the  Royal  Avenue 
de  Meysse  especially  might  be  easily  and  profitably  connected  to  one 
or  other  of  the  wings  of  the  Pare  de  Laeken.  It  is  none  the  less  true 
that  in  Brussels  we  have  but  one  main  artery.  We  mean,  of  course, 
the  Bois  de  la  Cambre  and  1' Avenue  Louise  ;  not  that  it  is  perfect 
from  the  point  of  view  of  colour  as  Mr.  Magne  makes  out,  but  it 
does  not  depart  too  much  from  what  a  real  Avenue  should  be  ;  that 
is  to  say,  a  series  of  parks  and  avenues  pleasantly  leading  the  pedes- 
trian by  successive  changes,  always  adapted  to  the  surroundings, 
from  the  reverberating  furnace  of  the  centre  to  the  open  air,  the  green 
depths  of  Nature  and  infinite  space.  If  they  have  not  entirely  failed, 
the  great  modern  avenues  have  none  the  less  not  given  what  they 
have  promised  us.  They  have  not  "  democratised  "  the  cottage  nor 
brought  surrounding  Nature  nearer  to  us.  Acting  blindly  as  a  mere 
conduit  for  the  flood  of  buildings,  they  themselves  were  the  means 
of  its  degradation  ;  thev  have  been  responsible  for  their  alterations, 
and,  no  longer  able  to  push  them  back  towards  the  pressure  of  the 
suburbs,  they  have  simply  hemmed  them  in  all  round.  It  is  not  a 
few  patches  of  verdure,  even  if  close  together,  that  will  prevent  that 
sea  of  stones  from  swallowing  us  up.  What  we  w  ant  is  to  break  up 
this  frontal  border  by  means  of  big,  wedge-like  plantations,  pene- 
trating far  in  ;  to  transform  the  circular  expansion  of  the  town  into  a 
star-like-shaped  figure,  between  the  points  of  which  would  be  pre- 
served for  ever  bright  and  breezy  intervals  promising  better  things 
beyond. 

Can  we  create  such  great  headlands  of  greenery  with  plantations? 
Or  rather,  are  there  still  some  rural  spots  left  which  could  be  pre- 
served and  beautified,  and  which  could  be  connected  at  some  future 
date,  if  not  with  the  centre  itself  (because  it  would  be  an  unpardon- 
able blunder  to  deal  with  the  heart  of  a  city  as  we  deal  with  a  common 
suburb)  at  least  with  the  outer  boulevards?  Yes,  there  are  still 
three  of  them  at  any  rate.     A  cursory  glance  at  the  plan  of  Brussels 


Rural  Brussels.  649 

shows  them  penetrating  the  building  areas  like  wedges.  Two  are 
dove-tailed  along  the  Senne,  both  up  and  down  the  river,  and  the 
third  is  hedged  in  by  the  Haecht  and  Louvain  roads. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  zone  down  the  Senne,  the  zone 
of  the  "  Maritime  Installations,"  and  of  the  Pare  de  Laeken.  A 
superb  avenue  will  be  formed  there  some  day,  we  may  be  certain,  and 
its  future  is  indeed  practically  assured. 

Unfortunately  we  cannot  say  the  same  of  the  beautiful  meadows 
above  Brussels.  Steps  should  be  taken  without  delay,  although 
measures  are  still  more  urgently  needed  in  the  case  of  the  third 
zone. 

By  a  sort  of  miracle,  and  thanks  to  the  difficulties  which  would 
have  to  be  dealt  with,  that  zone  has  been  kept  almost  intact  between 
the  two  lines  which  hem  it  in  (Evere  and  Schaerbeek  on  one  side  and 
St.  Josse  and  the  Dailly  quarter  on  the  other),  and  threaten  to  enclose 
it  behind  the  Boulevard  de  Ceinture  now  in  course  of  construction. 
If  help  is  not  promptly  at  hand  it  will  be  lost  altogether. 

It  is  true  that  the  matter  is  receiving  attention,  and  that  a  whole 
ravine  has  just  been  saved.  But  it  is  not  only  transversely  along  the 
Boulevard  Lambermont  that  the  Pare  Josaphat  should  have  been 
extended  :  it  should  have  been  prolonged  right  through,  whilst  being 
kept  in  close  contact  with  the  main  part  of  the  open  grounds  beyond, 
and  its  foremost  point  should  have  been  extended  as  far  as  possible 
towards  the  town  with  the  prospect  of  prolonging  it  as  far  as  the  old 
ramparts.  This  is  the  scheme,  divided  into  three  phases  and  three 
separate  parts,  of  "  Bruxelles  aux  Champs,"  recently  submitted  to 
the  "  Societe  Centrale  d' Architecture. " 

The  most  urgent  of  these  three  phases  is  the  acquisition  of  the 
strip  of  land  which  is  still  unoccupied,  foi  the  purpose  of  extending 
the  Pare  Josaphat  up  to  the  Avenue  and  the  projected  Gare  Rogier, 
so  as  to  bring  it  into  closer  connection  with  the  approaches  to 
Brussels,  subject,  in  the  event  of  financial  compensation  being  deemed 
necessary,  to  reducing  the  ends  of  the  park  next  to  the  two  roofs  which 
encircle  it,  to  a  mere  screen  of  trees. 

The  second  part  of  the  programme,  which  is  really  first  in  order 
of  importance,  deals  with  the  spaces  situated  beyond  the  boulevard 
in  the  direction  of  Saventhem.  Substantially  the  object  is  to  continue 
these  as  may  be  needed  by  a  belt  of  varying  width  and  appearance, 
which  might  extend  so  as  to  include  suitable  prospects,  gradually 
passing  from  an  ornamental  town  park  to  the  simple  freedom  of 
lawns,  orchards,  meadows^  shrubberies,  and  woods,  and  finally 
tilled  fields.  The  purpose  in  view  is  a  triple  one,  to  provide  walks, 
extend  the  town,  and  form  means  of  communication. 

As  regards  the  walks,  they  would  benefit  everyone.  There  would 
be  stately  avenues,  breezy  terraces,  quiet  ways,  useful  short  cuts, 
roads  between  gay  hedges  and  rustling  woods,  hospitable  farms, 
glades  for  the  children,  resting-places  for  nurses,  greens  and  pavilions 
for  sport,  and  so  forth. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  important  this  would  be  as  a  centre  of 
expansion,  both  as  regards  its  own  attraction  and  the  enhanced 
value  it  would  give  to  the  surrounding  lots. 

The  greatest  variety  should  be  aimed  at,   and  every  possibility 

u  u 


6jSo  Tniiisactiuns  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  itjio. 

made  use  ot  ;  the  whole  checked  by  the  local  authorities  and  pow eriul 
societies  and  co-operative  associations ;  the  streets  let  out  to  con- 
tractors,  self-formed  centres  resulting  from  many  influences. 

Some  of  all  this  is  actually  indicated  in  the  scheme,  but  merely  to 
give  a  general  idea,  for  its  authors  admit  the  principle  that  the  main 
directions  alone  can  be  determined  beforehand. 

Instead  of  following  a  blind  routine,  fixing  details  while  incap- 
able of  indicating  the  main  lines,  full  scope  would  be  allowed  to 
individuality,  whilst  continuity  in  the  main  arteries  would  be  generally 
adhered  to. 

The  connecting  link  between  all  those  elements  would,  of  course, 
be  the  great  avenue  which  would,  so  to  speak,  form  the  backbone  of 
the  proposed  belt  of  greenery.  Of  the  same  width  throughout  at  the 
start  it  would  afterwards  become  subdivided  into  as  many  different 
by-paths  as  would  be  required  by  the  different  classes  of  users,  blend- 
ing again  at  the  main  cross-roads.  The  principal  radiating  thorough- 
fares which  are  so  much  needed  throughout  the  north-eastern  section 
of  suburban  Brussels  could  be  connected  with  it  later  :  a  new 
thoroughfare  leading  to  Vilvorde,  where  the  avenue  recently  opened, 
appears  to  have  become  exclusively  industrial ;  another  avenue 
running  in  the  direction  of  Saventhem,  which  is  still  isolated  ;  and 
another  leading  to  the  Vallon  du  Wesembeek,  and,  further  on,  to 
Tervueren,  thus  forming  a  loop  ;  others  again,  without  counting  the 
useful  doubling  of  the  old  Chaussees  d'Haecht,  d'Evere,  and  de 
Louvain. 

Still  other  modern  roads  towards  the  north-east  of  Belgium  and 
beyond  would  also  find  here  a  suggested  beginning  when  the  multi- 
plication of  the  already  considerable  vehicular  traffic  will  no  longer 
allow  the  construction  of  that  international  road  system  to  be  de- 
ferred which  already  is  occupying  the  attention  of  far-seeing  men. 
Furthermore,  the  great  cemeteries  of  Schaerbeek  and  Brussels  would 
be  provided  with  more  appropriate  and  imposing  approaches. 

But  it  is  not  sufficient,  in  order  to  transform  the  Josaphat  Valley 
into  a  throbbing  centre  capable  of  including  ever  more  and  more  of 
the  vast  spaces  enclosed  by  the  Senne  and  the  Woluwe,  to  make  it 
the  nucleus  of  a  diverging  arterial  system ;  it  is  necessary  that  it 
should  be  the  head  of  a  converging  system,  and  also  that  it  should 
be  easily  accessible  from  the  various  Brussels  centres. 

A  good  number  of  such  communications  exist  already  at  the 
circumference.  The  principal  ones  are  the  new  Boulevard  de  Grande 
Ceinture  and  those  running  along  the  railway  line,  the  Rue  de  la 
Loi,  the  Avenue  de  Cortenberg,  the  Avenue  Rogier,  and  the  Avenue 
Bertrand.  Furthermore,  by  adopting  certain  preventive  or  curative 
measures  which  in  any  case  would  be  desirable,  the  position  might 
be  much  improved,  especially  for  the  north-eastern  quarter,  the  new 
Avenue  Huart-Hamoir  leading  up  to  the  Schaerbeek  station  and 
Boulevard  de  la  Senne,  of  which  the  spaces  beyond  seem  to  have,  so 
far,  been  left  out  of  account.  The  scheme  indicates  some  of  these 
measures,  but  naturally  without  emphasising  them,  partly  because  it  is 
not  especially  associated  with  any  one  of  them,  partly  because  their 
details  still  remain  unknown. 

The  authors  of  the  Bruxelles  aux  Champs  scheme  have,  moreover. 


I 


Rural  Brussels.  651 

to  fix  their  attention  on  the  pro\  idiny'  of  direct  access  Irom  the  city 
itself.  Without  excludinj^  the  adoption  of  other  plans  they  emphasise 
two  solutions  in  particular  :  the  first,  by  means  of  a  simple  diagonal 
opening  between  the  Place  de  la  Reine  and  the  Avenue  Rogier  at  the 
corner  of  the  Rue  Josaphat,  would  easily  connect  the  proposed 
entrance  to  the  park  with  the  church  of  St.  Mary,  and  even,  as  a 
corollary,  with  the  Gare  du  Xord.  It  is  in  fact  known  that  this  last 
and  more  difHcult  opening-up  is  under  consideration,  so  intolerable 
has  become  the  chess-board  design  laid  out  by  unthinking  authorities. 
A  few  minutes  would  then  be  sufficient  to  reach  either  the  Porte  de 
Schaerbeek  or  that  of  the  du  Nord,  and  even  the  Place  de  Brouckere, 
right  up  to  the  Gare  Rogier. 

Still  simpler  and  far  finer,  especially  in  its  preferable  alternative, 
but  also  more  diflficult,  is  the  second  solution  suggested  by  the  authors 
of  the  scheme  for  a  more  or  less  distant  future,  and  for  which  they 
beg  that  at  least  future  difficulties  shall  not  be  increased.  From 
the  Jardin  de  I'Ancien  Observatoire,  which  might  be  considerably 
enlarged  and  connected  with  the  Botanical  Gardens,  a  long,  straight 
avenue  could  be  drawn  right  across  the  Rue  Potag^re  and  the  Rue  des 
Coteaux,  entering  the  park  on  a  level  with  the  Avenue  Rogier,  so  as 
to  rise  gently  at  a  point  beyond  and  span  the  ravine  by  a  monumental 
bridge,  after  which  it  would  join  the  Boulevard  de  Grande  Ceinture 
in  the  axis  of  the  Palais  des  Sports  itself,  and  branch  ofi  in  different 
directions. 

Let  us  now  consider  carefully  the  characteristic  stamp  which 
would  be  given  to  the  Porte  de  Schaerbeek  by  the  opening  already 
adopted  in  principle  between  this  junction  and  the  centre,  as  well  as 
of  the  impressive  aesthetic  effect  which  would  be  produced  by  the 
slight  curve  of  the  Boulevard  Bischoffsheim,  now  so  meaningless.  Let 
us  now  picture  before  us  such  a  summit,  full  of  life,  adorned  by  a 
palace  and  surrounded  by  gardens  and  trees,  commanding  two  mag- 
nificent avenues  gracefully  linked  up,  the  first  to  the  Plateau  Koekel- 
berg,  below  the  steps  of  the  National  Basilica,  the  other  passing  over 
the  Josaphat  Valley  to  the  peristyle  of  the  Temple  of  Physical  Cul- 
ture. This  will  furnish  a  more  comprehensive  idea  of  the  importance 
of  this  scheme  which  would  unite  the  two  main  centres  with  the  sides 
now  so  far  apart,  and  bring  through  the  formless  suburbs  the  dis- 
tant spaces  of  the  country  to  the  reach  of  the  city  itself.  It  would  not 
be  a  repetition  of  the  Avenue  Tervueren  ;  it  would  vie  with  them  in 
completing  the  cycle.  If  so  many  advantages  are  not  convincing, 
there  is  still  something  to  be  added. 

The  present  Exhibition  is  already  built  far  enough  away  at  the  still 
far  distant  Solbosh.  Where  will  the  next  be  when  this  site  is  no 
longer  available?    At  the  Pare  de  Woluwe,  or  perhaps  further  still? 

The  "  Bruxelles  aux  Champs  "  scheme  would  definitely  settle  the 
question.  It  would  provide  us  permanently  with  extensive  grounds 
in  the  immediate  vicinity,  magnificently  framed  in  water  and  wood- 
land, served  by  several  railway  stations,  two  of  which,  the  Rogier 
and  the  Josaphat  stations,  would  be  in  the  centre  itself,  and  accessible 
not  only  by  one  monumental  avenue  but  from  all  sides  at  once. 

It  would  not  then  be  the  mere  passing  phantasy  of  great  inter- 
national rivalries  which  would  find  there  a  convenient  environment ; 


652   Tmiisactiuns  uj  the  Tuivn  Planning  Cunjcrence,  Oct.  1910. 

we  could  also  have  smaller  exhibitions  and  competitive  shows  all  the 
year  round,  either  in  the  Palais  des  Sports  or  in  the  halls  removed 
from  the  Pare  du  Cinquantenaire,  which  would  then  be  restored  to 
its  purely  artistic  functions. 

Now,  if  we  want  to  compare  distances,  we  find  that  from  the  gates 
of  the  Pare  du  Cinquantenaire  up  to  the  inner  Rue  Royale  the  dis- 
tances are  respectively  1200  and  1700  metres.  From  these  same 
gates  to  the  trees  of  the  outer  boulevards  they  are  respectively  875 
and  1250  metres.  Let  us  note  the  distance  :  875  metres,  less  than  a 
kilometre;  ten  minutes'  walk  !  Let  us  also  compare  the  distances  to 
the  gates  of  the  halls;  they  are  respectively  1500  and  1800  metres 
from  the  same  line  of  trees.  Finally,  let  us  compare  the  distances  as 
the  crow  flies  from  the  Brussels  Town  Hall  to  the  various  Exhibition 
grounds,  which  are  as  follows  :  To  the  Pare  de  Woluwe,  5800  metres  ; 
to  Solbosh,  4200 ;  and  to  the  Pare  Josaphat  2500  only,  a  half-hour's 
walk  or  less  than  fifteen  minutes  by  tram.  We  have  thus  in  perfection 
fine  open  spaces,  abundance  of  grass,  abundance  of  air,  as  well  as 
building  sites  at  discretion,  stations,  roads  for  fast  traffic,  a  splendid 
main  thoroughfare,  a  large  square,  and  the  country  brought  within 
reach  of  the  city  itself,  while  the  stone  cuirass  which  stifles  the  heart 
of  our  city  would  be  broken  once  for  all. 

As  to  the  expense,  what  can  this  matter  when  it  is  a  necessity? 
This  only  needs  to  be  demonstrated  to  be  clearly  understood.  Besides 
everything  depends  upon  which  scheme  will  be  adopted,  and  upon  the 
means  and  the  time  available  Above  all,  as  we  have  said  already, 
time  and  foresight  must  not  be  spared.  Let  us  nevertheless  give  an 
outline  of  the  financial  side  of  the  question,  taking  the  three  parts  of 
the  scheme  separately. 

We  have  already  stated  that  the  first  part,  which  consists  in 
providing  approaches  to  the  Avenue  Rogier,  would  practically  involve 
no  expense.  It  would  be  sufficient  to  alter  the  shape  of  the  park, 
selling  on  one  side  a  small  extent  and  buying  on  the  other. 

More  difficult  is  the  calculation  of  the  new  spaces  it  is  proposed  to 
reserve,  since  the  essence  of  the  scheme  is  that  the  extension  should 
be  indefinite.  Nevertheless,  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  acquire,  at  an  early  date,  the  zone  along  the  boulevard  up  to 
the  furthermost  extremity  of  the  cemetery  of  vSchaerbeek  and  the  new 
Hal  line.  But  (hen  we  should  have  to  deduct  one-third  of  the  cost 
for  the  halls  and  sporting  grounds,  whether  we  look  upon  it  as  a 
matter  of  business  or  whether  we  consider  that  we  should  have  to 
find  a  place  fc^r  them  somewhere  else.  But,  however  it  may  be,  let 
us  allcw  a  wid«^  margin,  and  reckon  30  hectares  at  the  rate  of  5  francs 
per  sqi  are  metre — ^^60,000  for  the  whole  of  the  first  zone.  Beyond 
that  zone  there  is  no  further  danger,  at  least  for  a  long  time  to  come. 

It  is  therefore  sufficient  to  trace  out  the  work  for  our  descendants 
by  every  means  that  specialists  can  devise  :  option,  promises  to  lease 
for  a  long  term  of  years,  mutual  agreements  with  occupiers,  invest- 
ments of  funds  in  agricultural  land  let  on  lease  and  capable  of  yielding 
profits.  Let  us  observe  also  that  we  may  rely  upon  the  initiative  of 
private  enterprise,  and  that,  thanks  to  the  picturesque  enclosure 
system,  the  actual  could  be  much  less  than  the  apparent  area.  But, 
however  it  may  be,  even  bv  allowing  for  the  required  strip  of  land  an 


Rural  Brussels.  653 

average  width  of  400  metres  at  the  price  of  1.50  franc  per  square 
metre,  the  cost  per  kilometre  would  not  come  to  more  than  ;{,'24,ooo, 
and  that  sum  would  be  payable  only  at  some  more  or  less  distant  date, 
and  as  and  when  desired. 

In  conclusion,  therefore,  if  we  leave  aside  the  purchase  price,  which 
is  necessary  in  any  event,  the  two  first  parts  of  the  scheme  together, 
i.e.,  all  in  it  which  is  urgent  and  essential,  would  amount  to  some 
;£j"40,ooo  to  ;^8o,ooo.     This  is  the  figure  to  remember. 

At  the  same  time  it  may  be  interesting  to  add  a  few  more  particu- 
lars with  regard  to  the  two  openings. 

The  first,  which  would  connect  St.  Mary  with  the  Gare  Rogier,  and 
which  is  purely  utilitarian,  represents  the  modest  cost  of  ;^i40,ooo 
only ;  the  second,  that  by  the  old  Observatory,  would  run  at  once  into 
high  figures.  Leaving  for  a  moment  the  cutting  itself,  which  would 
cost  somewhere  near  ;^'6oo,ooo,  the  beautification  of  its  connecting  up 
with  the  old  Observatory  would  itself  require  nearly  double.  In  fact, 
although  the  utilitarian  result  would  be  greater  still  in  this  case  than 
in  the  other,  the  pursuit  of  beauty  is  clearly  admitted  and  even  sought 
after.  But  is  not  beauty,  the  beauty  of  good  taste,  also  a  question  of 
utility?  What  wise  man  will  consider  it  a  matter  of  indifference 
whether  we  are  surrounded  by  ugly  or  beautiful  things,  whether  wc 
live  in  a  state  of  chaos  or  order,  in  the  dismal  uniformity  of  suburbs, 
or  in  the  harmonious  blending  of  old  cities  with  modern  require- 
ments? Which  is  better  :  to  have  no  air,  to  be  governed  by  chance 
and  prettiness,  or  to  have  forethought  and  follow  a  consistent  policy? 
Moreover,  is  not  beauty  a  need  felt  by  the  humblest  amongst  us,  and 
a  legitimate  need  when  it  is  not  exaggerated?  Is  it  not  also  a  social 
as  well  as  a  private  necessity?  Can  we  follow  half-heartedly  the 
movement  for  the  beautification  of  our  cities  which  asserts  itself  in 
the  West  as  well  as  the  Eastern  world  ?  Occupying  as  we  do  the 
geographical  and  linguistic  crossing  of  nations,  and  being,  as  it  were, 
the  connecting  link  between  them  all,  have  we  the  right  to  refuse  to 
give  all  the  value  humanly  possible  to  the  riches  entrusted  to  us? 
Are  a  couple  of  million  sterling  too  much  to  provide  for  ever  with  air, 
light,  vegetation,  health,  joy,  and  greatness  a  population  of  from 
700,000  to  800,000  people,  which  has  multiplied  tenfold  within  the  last 
century,  which  builds  more  than  2000  houses  a  year,  and  which  to- 
morrow will  rank  as  one  of  the  largest  ports  of  the  world?  Let  us 
remember  that  the  sum  is  less  than  was  spent  for  the  symbolic  Place 
de  Poelaert.  And,  once  more,  all  that  we  ask  is  to  keep  the  future 
open.  It  is  a  matter  of  foresight,  time,  and  a  trifle  of  one  or  two 
millions.  But  it  may  perhaps  be  said — this  is  going  to  be  another 
great  disturbance.  Are  you  not  going  to  change  the  appearance  of  a 
whole  suburb  and  destroy  the  certain  for  the  uncertain?  Disturb? 
Change?  Destroy?  Yes,  certainly.  "  Mais  la  nit  il  )i'y  a  rien.  le 
Roi  perd  ses  droits." 


654    Transaclions  of  the  Tcnvn  Phiuuing  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(6)  GLASGOW  CITY  IMPROVEMENTS. 

By  A.   B.  McDonald,  M.Inst.C.E.,  City  Engineer,  Glasgow. 

The  Corporation  of  Glasgow  have  always  been  regarded  by  municipal 
authorities  in  England  as  pioneers  in  the  endeavour  to  ameliorate 
the  conditions  of  life  in  urban  localities.  As  early  as  1846  the  Cor- 
poration laid  aside  the  sum  of  ;^30,ooo  to  be  applied  in  purchasing 
unhealthy  dwellings  within  the  more  congested  areas  of  the  city  and 
demolishing  those  places  which  had  become  centres  of  zymotic 
disease.  Later  on,  the  impulse  of  advanced  sanitary  opinion  caused 
the  Town  Council  of  Glasgow  to  bring  forward  the  great  measure  of 
city  improvements,  which  dealt  in  what  may  be  described  as  an  heroic 
manner  with  the  older  parts  of  the  City  of  Glasgow,  and  received  the 
sanction  of  Parliament  in  1866. 

This  important  measure,  devised  by  the  late  Mr.  John  Carrick, 
became  the  model  on  which  was  based  similar  legislation  in  recon- 
stituting all  the  great  centres  of  population  in  England,  including 
the  Metropolis,  and  enabled  the  Corporation  to  clear  eighty  acres  of 
unhealthy  dwellings,  to  widen  sixteen  old  streets,  to  form  twenty-nine 
new  streets,  and  to  provide  open  spaces  in  different  areas  of  the  city, 
which  absorbed  about  100,000  square  yards  of  ground  formerly 
occupied  densely  by  squalid  habitations.  Later,  in  1872  and  1877, 
other  statutes  for  the  improvement  of  the  streets  of  Glasgow  enabled 
the  Corporation  to  make  very  ample  provision  for  the  future  require- 
ments of  the  city.  LInder  the  terms  of  these  separate  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment no  less  than  ;^2,ooo,ooo  has  been  laid  out  by  the  Corporation 
of  Glasgow. 

Second  only  in  importance  to  the  improvement  schemes,  the  opera- 
tions conducted  under  the  authority  of  the  Glasgow  Parks  and 
Galleries  Acts  have  exercised  potent  influence  on  the  external  aspect 
of  the  city.  For  generations  prior  to  1846  Glasgow  Green  was  the 
only  open  space  available  for  the  recreation  of  the  inhabitants.  Since 
that  time  the  area  of  136  acres  comprising  Glasgow  Green  has  been 
increased  by  purchase  and  development  by  no  fewer  than  forty- 
eight  parks  and  open  spaces  within  and  beyond  the  city,  having  a 
gross  area  of  1115  acres,  acquired  for  the  most  part  by  purchase 
at  a  cost  of  upwards  of  ;^650,ooo.  This  large  acreage  contrasts  with 
the  restricted  municipal  area  of  Glasgow  itself,  which  is  only  12,975 
acres.  In  the  environment  of  these  parks  wide  areas  of  land  have 
been  laid  out  for  residential  purposes  on  the  most  advanced  modern 
principles. 

One  of  the  most  recent  purchases  for  the  enlargement  of  park 
space  is  shown  on  the  plan  now  submitted,  which  exhibits  how  the 
residual  land  is  laid  off  for  residential  purposes  on  a  very  liberal  scale. 


1 


Glasgow  City  Improvements. 


655 


It  will  be  observed  that  the  lands  of  Bellahouston  and  Mosspark, 
shown  on  the  phin,  are  intersected  by  a  leading-  thoroughfare,  a  mile 
in  length  and  115  feet  in  width,  which  provides  direct  and  improved 
communication  between  the  suburban  district  of  Pollokshields  and 
the  Halfway  district  at  Paisley  Road,  which  is  the  great  leading 
thoroughfare  between  the  City  of  Glasgow  and  its  principal  industrial 
suburb. 


■*^ '  JCC" 


K  L  L  A  II  o  r  s    Toy 


'.'<••  .%'^V.i^  •/ 


:n^v^ 


r" 


It  will  be  noticed  that  the  land  is  laid  out  very  liberally,  with 
wide  streets  and  a  large  proportion  of  space  devoted  to  recreation  and 
decorati\e  purposes.      In  laying  out  these  lands  ;^23,ooo  has  already 


been  expended. 


05C)    Trunsaclioiis  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(7)    THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF  TRAFALGAR  SQUARE. 
By  Wm.  Woodward,  F.R.I.B.A. 

The  question  of  some  sort  of  alteration  or  rebuilding  of  Tra- 
falgar Square  has  been  before  the  public  for  many  years,  and  I 
personally,  as  perhaps  some  of  you  know,  have  for  the  last  five-and- 
twenty  years  taken  great  interest  in  this  question.  I  have  prepared  a 
drawing  of  the  general  view  [fig.  2,  p.  659],  showing  not  only  my 
proposed  rebuilding  of  Trafalgar  Square,  but  also  what  I  conceive  to 
be  very  necessary  improvements  at  the  entrance  to  the  Mall  from 
Charing  Cross. 

You  know,  of  course,  Sir  Aston  Webb's  work  there,  and  you  also 
know  probably  that  in  consequence  of  some  difference  of  opinion 
between  the  Government,  the  London  County  Council,  and  the  City 
of  Westminster,  Sir  Aston  Webb's  work  is  practically  hidden  away 
from  Charing  Cross  and  from  the  neighbourhood.  That,  I  think,  is 
a  state  of  things  which  could  not  exist  in  any  other  country  but 
England.  While  we  spend  millions  of  pounds  on  things  upon  which 
many  of  us  do  not  desire  to  spend  thousands,  the  Government  will 
not  put  its  hand  in  its  pocket  for  any  sort  of  public  improvement. 
The  entrance  to  the  Mall  and  Charing  Cross  is  an  instance  of  what 
will  take  place  in  consequence  of  the  attitude  of  a  Government  which 
will  not  find  any  money  for  such  improvements,  and  also  in  conse- 
quence of  differences  of  opinion  between  the  Government,  the  London 
County  Council,  and  the  City  of  Westminster. 

The  main  feature  I  would  suggest  for  the  improvement  of  the 
Mall  is  what  would  occur,  I  think,  to  everybody,  and  that  is  the  re- 
moval of  Drummond's  Bank,  the  removal  of,  say,  half  a  dozen  houses 
to  the  west  of  the  present  entrance,  and  the  formation  of  a  large 
place  in  front  of  the  entrance  to  the  Mall,  where  provision  would  be 
made  for  lines  of  traffic — and  you  are  aware  that  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  traffic  passing  through  that  particular  point.  That  is  the  prin- 
cipal suggestion  I  make  with  regard  to  the  Mall ;  but  my  great  object 
is  to  direct  attention  to  the  rebuilding  of  Trafalgar  Square. 

I  suppose  everyone  in  this  room  knows  Trafalgar  Square.  You 
know,  for  example,  the  two  corner  entrances  from  the  terrace  on  to 
the  Square.  Those  two  corner  staircases  I  propose  to  remove  entirely 
and  to  carry  the  terrace  right  through.  In  place  of  those  two  stair- 
cases I  suggest  a  large  central  staircase  about  the  same  length  as  the 
portico  of  the  National  Gallery,  so  that  you  would  have  your  terrace 
running  right  through  and  your  central  entrance  at  the  opening  by 
the  portico  of  the  National  Gallery.  I  then  suggest  that  you  should 
remove  the  two  existing  fountains,  and  put  in  their  place  two  better- 


f 


The  Improvement  of  Trafalgar  Square.  657 

designed  fountains,  with  provision  for  the  picturesque  play  of  jets  of 
water  which  oae  finds  at  Versailles  and  other  places.  At  the  present 
moment  all  you  get  is  what  have  been  termed — in  fact,  I  think  I 
invented  the  term — "  squirts."  We  want  to  get  rid  of  those  squirts 
and  to  substitute  fountains  worthy  of  the  locality. 

In  the  next  place  I  propose  to  take  up  the  asphalte  and  to  lay  the 
whole  of  the  area  with  marble  very  similar  in  design  to  the  marble 
of  the  Piazza  of  St.  Mark's  at  Venice. 

Then  the  great  idea  I  have  is  to  make  Trafalgar  Square  represent 
the  naval  history  of  this  country.  I  propose  to  remove  all  the  mili- 
tary statues  and  place  them  in  St.  James's  Park.  I  think  you  might 
make  St.  James's  Park  a  representation  of  the  military  history  of  the 
country,  and  confine  Trafalgar  Square  entirely  to  naval  matters. 

I  will  give  you  a  brief  outline  of  my  idea  of  the  naval  centre.  On 
each  of  the  four  great  piers — north,  south,  east,  and  west — would  be 
placed  sculptural  groups,  representing  respectively  the  naval  victories 
of  the  sixteenth,  seventeenth,  and  eighteenth  centuries,  Trafalgar 
being  the  culminating  point  in  i<So5.  The  present  Nelson  Column 
would  remain  untouched.  The  larger  piers  on  the  east  and  west  walls 
would  be  adorned  by  minor  groups,  and  the  smaller  piers  by  bronze 
electric-lamp  standards.  The  intervening  spaces  would  be  filled  with 
wrought-iron  railings,  with  gilded  spear-heads.  The  present  foun- 
tains would  be  removed,  and  new  ones  of  better  plan  substituted. 

With  regard  to  the  entrance  to  tTie  "  Tube  "  station,  we  cannot 
get  rid  of  that ;  but  to  make  that  sightly,  I  propose  to  have  two  open 
wrought-iron  domes  so  as  to  give  some  little  effect  to  the  entrance  to 
the  station.  Then,  on  the  other  side,  I  propose  to  have  a  correspond- 
ing wrought-iron  dome,  with  a  drinking  fountain  under  it,  so  as  to 
make  some  use  of  it.  A  grand  staircase,  equal  in  length  to  the  portico 
of  the  National  Gallery,  should  be  formed  in  the  centre  of  the  north 
front.  Upon  the  two  main  piers  of  this  staircase  allegorical  figures, 
standing  on  gilded  globes,  should  be  placed — one  with  palms,  repre- 
senting "  Peace,"  the  other  with  laurels,  representing  "  Honour." 
On  the  side  walls  of  this  staircase  should  be  placed  bronze  bas-reliefs 
— similar  to  those  on  the  Nelson  Column — representing  individual 
gallantries,  such  as — 

John  Davis  forcing  the  North-West  Passage. 

Drake,  first  navigator,  rounding  the  Horn. 

The  famous  game  of  Drake  at  Plymouth. 

Sir  Richard  Grenville  and  the  Revenge. 

Raleigh's  offer  to  King  James. 

Death  of  Blake. 

Lord  Sandwich  blown  up  with  his  flagship. 

Benbow's   bravery. 

Admiral  Byng's  famous  record. 

The  exploit  of  the  Monmouth,  &c. 

Then  I  propose  to  place  marble  seats  all  round  the  square  and 
plant  shrubs  in  various  places.  I  say  shrubs  for  this  reason  :  that  a 
scheme  that  was  proposed  and  very  nearly  carried  through  for  deahng 
with  Trafalgar  Square  was  entirely  upset  in  this  way.     This  is  not  a 


658  Traiisaclions  of  the  Tozvn  Planning  Coufcrcucc,  Oct.  kjio. 


66o  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

political  meeting,  but  the  Radicals  said,  and  they  were  supported  by 
the  Minister  in  authority  at  that  time  :  "  You  are  not  to  do  anything 
to  destroy  the  people's  forum."  Therefore  in  this  scheme,  bearing 
that  in  mind,  I  have  not  destroyed  the  people's  forum,  but  I  have 
simply  suggested  the  embellishment  of  the  Square  with  shrubs  and 
so  on,  which  can  be  moved  away  at  any  time. 

I  show  here  a  drawing  [fig.  2]  representing  fully  my  scheme.  That 
scheme  is  now  before  the  Lord  Mayor  as  one  of  the  suggestions  for  a 
memorial  to  King  Edward  ;  and  when  you  know  that  I  have  been  work- 
ing at  the  scheme  for  five-and-twenty  years  you  can  understand  that 
I  should  be  very  pleased  if  by  any  means  something  could  be  done — 
whether  bv  myself  or  by  somebody  else  is  not  of  very  much  moment — 
but  I  do  think  that  something  should  be  done  to  make  Trafalgar 
Square,  which  is  known  to  be  the  finest  site  in  Europe,  worthy  of  its 
position. 

DISCUSSION. 

Mr.  F.  G.  Painter,  F.C.A.,  in  the  Chair. 

The  Chairman  :  I  am  sure  we  are  all  very  much  obliged  to 
Mr.  Woodward  for  his  interesting  address.  We  all  feel  that 
Trafalgar  Square  is  one  of  the  finest  sites  in  the  world.  I  have  had 
the  pleasure  of  travelling  in  South  America,  where  there  is  not  quite 
so  much  money,  perhaps,  as  in  England,  and  every  small  town  has  its 
large  squares  and  beautiful  trees,  and  there  is  a  great  deal  of  atten- 
tion paid  to  the  laying  out  of  "  places,"  so  that  you  may  see  what  is 
to  be  seen.  I  cannot  imagine  anything  more  dreadful  than  this  curved 
hidden  entrance  to  that  grand  promenade  towards  Buckingham 
Palace.  We  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  it.  I  suppose  most  of  us  are 
ashamed  of  it.  What  we  can  do  I  do  not  know,  but  I  think  we  ought 
to  agitate  until  the  matter  is  taken  up  in  a  spirit  which  will  preserve 
that  wonderful  site.  I  trust  something  will  come  of  this  Paper,  At 
any  rate  we  must  go  on  until  something  is  done.  We  must  not  allow 
such  a  beautiful  thing  to  be  left  hidden  in  that  hole-and-corner  way. 

Alderman  Fildes  (Bowdon)  :  I  should  like  to  ask  one  question  of 
Mr.  Woodward  :  Are  we  to  wait  long  before  we  see  that  magnificent 
arch  in  perfection  from  the  Square,  and  is  it  not  possible  in  some  way 
to  deal  with  that  property  otherwise  than  by  giving  something  pos- 
sibly so  extravagant  that  even  the  Government  would  not  venture 
upon  it?     Is  it  a  question  of  waiting  until  the  leases  expire? 

Mr.  Woodward  :  My  scheme,  of  course,  is  a  very  much  larger 
one  than  is  necessary  for  the  adequate  view  of  Sir  Aston  Webb's 
work.  But  there  are  leases,  and  obviously  the  leases  and  the  free- 
holds have  to  be  purchased,  and  there  is  no  doubt  they  would  cost  a 
great  deal  of  money.  But  so  it  must  be  in  regard  to  every  improve- 
ment. So  it  must  be  if  you  wish  to  enlarge  your  own  premises  :  you 
must  acquire  the  freehold  and  the  leasehold  of  the  adjoining  property. 
All  you  have  to  do  is  to  insist  upon  the  Government  doing  what  they 
ought  to  do,  and  what  they  ought  to  have  done  years  ago,  and  that  is 
to  put  their  hands  in  their  pockets  and  purchase  the  freeholds  and  the 
existing  leaseholds.  It  is  simply  a  question  of  pounds,  shillings,  and 
pence. 


SECTION  VU.— LEGISLATIVE  CONDITIONS  AND 
LEGAL  STUDIES. 

(i)  The  Growth  oi-  Legal  Control  over  Town  Develoi'Ment  in 
England.     By  H.  Chaloner  Dowdall,  M.A.,  B.C.L. 

(2)  Town  Planning  and  Land  Tenure.     By  C.    H.     B.    Quennell, 

F.R.LB.A. 

Discussion. 

(3)  The  Public  and  the  Private    Surveyor  :    their    respective 

PARTS    under    the    HoUSING    AND    ToWN    PLANNING    ACT,     I909. 

By  Sir  Alexander  R.  Stenning,  F.R.LB.A. 

(4)  The  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act,  1909  :  the  Possibilities 

OF  Section  44.     By  Harry  S.  Stewart. 

(5)  Town  Planning  ab  initio.     By  Ebenezer  Howard. 

(6)  Town  Planning  Work  and  Legislation  in  Sweden  during  the 

LAST    Fifty   Years.     By    Dr.    Ing.    Lilienberg-,    of   Goteberg, 
Sweden. 

(7)  La  Legislazione  Italiana  in    Materia  de    Piani    Regol.\tori 

Edilizii.    By  Aw.  Mario  Cattaneo  (Milan).     With  translation. 


4 


663 


(i)  THE  GROWTH  OF  LEGAL  CONTROL  0\'ER  TOWN 
DE\ELOPMENT  IN  ENGLAND,  WITH  OBSERVATIONS 
ON  THE  ENPENSE  INCURRED  BY  LOCAL  AUTHOR- 
ITIES IN  CARRYING  OUT  A  SCHEME  UNDER  THE 
TOWN  PLANNING  ACT. 

By  H.  Chaloner  Dowdall,  M.A., 
of  the  Northern  Circuit,  Barrister-at-Law. 

There  are  three  ways  in  which  the  State  may  control  action  within 
its  territory  : — 

First,  the  State  may  estabhsh  conditions  of  general  appUcation 
and  rely  on  the  action  of  individuals  acting  within  those  conditions  to 
produce  results  beneficial  to  the  State.  This  may  be  called  the  com- 
mon-law method. 

Secondly,  the  State  may  confer  on  local  authorities  power  to  lay 
down  conditions  of  local  application,  or  power  to  acquire  and  control 
property  within  their  locality.  This  may  be  called  the  local  govern- 
ment method. 

Thirdly,  the  State  may  itself  lay  down  conditions  of  local  applica- 
tion, or  may  itself  acquire  and  control  property.  This  may  be  called 
the  method  of  direct  State  control. 

Each  of  these  methods,  either  singly  or  in  combination,  operates 
in  the  sphere  of  land  development,  in  which  town  planning  occupies 
an  increasingly  important  position. 

The  ancient  agricultural  township  was  doubtless  developed  in 
accordance  with  the  resolutions  of  the  town  moot ;  whether  the  State 
or  county  which  laid  on  all  the  burgh-bot,  or  obligation  to  repair 
boroughs,  also  designed  these  primitive  fortresses  I  do  not  know.  The 
earliest  system  of  land  development  with  which  we  are  concerned  is 
that  which  was  introduced  and  matured  by  feudalism,  namely,  the 
common-law  system,  which  governed  all  land  development  in  Eng- 
land until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  which  still 
remains  in  force,  subject  onlv  to  those  statutory  limitations  which 
have  been  introduced  since  that  time.  By  that  system  all  land  is  held 
by  some  proprietor  in  fee  who  has  the  right  to  develop  his  land  as  he 
thinks  best,  subject  only  (a)  to  the  obligation  which  lies  upon  all  not 
to  create  a  nuisance,  either  by  interfering  with  highways  or  by  other- 
wise acting  in  such  a  way  as  to  interfere  with  other  people's  enjoy- 
ment of  their  property,  and  subject  also  (b)  to  certain  contractual 
limitations  agreed  to  by  the  proprietor  or  his  predecessor  in  title,  such 
contracts  being  either  of  a  temporary  nature,  such  as  leases,  or  of  a 
more  or  less  permanent  nature,  such  as  restrictive  covenants. 

It  is  impossible  to  deny  that  much  of  the  land  of  this  country,  both 


664  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

urban  and  rural,  has  been  and  is  being-  admirably  developed  under 
this  system.  A  country  gentleman  of  the  eighteenth  century  often 
bestowed  as  much  interest  and  intelligence  in  the  development  of  his 
estate  as  a  great  manufacturer  does  on  his  factory  to-day  ;  and  the 
squares,  terraces,  and  semi-public  parks  of  London  and  the  pro- 
vincial towns  are  in  many  cases  achievements  which  command 
admiration.  More  recent  developments  of  unfettered  enterprise  arc 
of  even  greater  interest  :  model  factories,  model  villages,  garden 
cities,  and  the  like  are  rising  up  in  every  part  of  the  country,  affording 
in  many  instances  both  the  ideals  for  town  development  and  also 
encouraging-  illustrations  of  the  fact  that  an  enlightened  proprietor 
may  combine  conditions  of  public  beneficence  with  satisfactory  finan- 
cial return. 

Before  discussing  the  limitations  which  Parliament  has  introduced, 
a  word  should  be  said  as  to  the  common-law  system  of  highways. 
At  common  law  a  landowner  may  dedicate  the  use  of  his  land  as  a 
highway  to  the  public,  and  land  which  is  so  used  is  presumed  to  have 
been  so  dedicated,  the  parish  in  each  case  being  liable  to  repair  the 
road.  The  repair  of  bridges  and  their  immediate  approaches  has,  on 
the  other  hand,  since  Anglo-Saxon  times  lain  on  the  county.  There 
is  no  common-law  method  by  which  a  highway  can  be  acquired  other- 
wise than  by  the  actual  or  presumed  dedication  by  the  landlord. 

It  was  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  more  particularly  under  the 
stress  of  growing  manufacturing  industry,  that  the  common-law 
system  was  felt  to  be  inadequate.  Villages  grew  into  towns,  traffic 
increased,  and  accommodation  had  to  be  found  for  a  fast-multiplying 
population  ;  landlords  in  urban  districts,  desiring  the  fullest  return 
from  their  land,  often  built  houses  closely  packed  together,  without 
proper  ventilation,  accommodation,  or  access ;  the  roads  in  bad 
weather  became  almost  impassable. 

The  eighteenth  century,  even  in  England,  was  not  great  at  repre- 
sentative institutions,  but  the  Parliament  of  that  time  thoroughly 
understood  trusts  and  private  Bills,  and  the  remedy  was  sought 
through  those  means.  A  vast  number  of  Improvement  Acts  and 
Turnpike  Acts  and  Canal  Acts  were  passed  whereby  a  corresponding 
number  of  bodies  of  commissioners  or  trustees  were  authorised  in 
each  instance  to  execute  the  trusts  specifically  reposed  in  them.  These 
trusts  generally  involved  power  of  widening  or  making  roads,  and 
this  carried  with  it  an  invasion  of  the  landowner's  rights  in  the  shape 
of  a  power  compulsorily  to  acquire  his  land  for  the  purposes  of  the 
trust,  full  compensation,  however,  being  made  to  him.  In  time,  too, 
it  became  common  to  authorise  improvement  commissioners  to 
require  that  new  streets  should  be  of  a  minimum  width.  A  great 
number  of  the  clauses  inserted  in  these  innumerable  private  Acts  of 
Parliament  were  naturally  inserted  in  each,  and,  having  assumed  a 
common  form,  were  ultimately  embodied  in  public  statutory  form  so 
that  they  might  collectively  be  incorporated  in  any  private  Act  sub- 
sequently passed.  Acts  of  this  kind  specially  bearing  on  the  present 
subject  are  the  Lands  Clauses  Consolidation  Act  of  1845,  which 
regulates  the  way  in  which  land  may  be  compulsorily  taken  and  com- 
pensation assessed,  and  the  Towns  Improvement  Clauses  Act  of  1847. 
Sections  57  to  60  of  the  latter  Act  empowered  improvement  com- 


Groivth  of  Legal  Conlrnl  over  Toivn  Development.       665 

mlssioners  to  fix  the  level  of  new  streets,  r\nd  Section  63  ordinarily 
fixed  the  width  of  a  new  rarriage-way  at  a  minimum  of  30  feet  and 
that  of  other  new  streets  at  a  minimum  of  20  feet.  Section  67  gave 
commissioners  power  to  buy  land  to  widen  streets,  and  Section  68 
gave  power  to  prescribe  a  line  to  be  observed  on  the  rebuilding  of 
houses,  subject  to  compensation. 

Public  improvements  are  still  often  effected  under  powers  conferred 
by  the  local  Acts  which  every  year  pass  through  Parliament,  but  by 
the  time  that  the  Towns  Improvement  Clauses  Act  was  passed  in 
1847  one  may  say  that  the  great  period  of  special  Improvement  Acts 
promoted  for  each  particular  locality  was  drawing  to  a  close  ;  for  the 
Reform  Act  of  1832  had  been  followed  by  the  Poor  Law  Act  of  1834 
and  the  Municipal  Corporations  Act  of  1835,  ^^^^  t'^^  principle  of 
carrying-  on  local  government  by  some  uniform  scheme  of  popularly 
elected  representative  bodies  was  now  admitted. 

In  1848  was  passed  the  first  Public  Health  Act,  and  under  the 
general  powers  which  it  conferred  it  was  possible  for  different 
localities  to  establish  Local  Boards  of  Health,  popularly  elected  on  a 
uniform  system.  To  these  Local  Boards  were  entrusted  powers  even 
wider  than  those  which  had  ordinarily  been  conferred  on  Improve- 
ment Act  Commissioners,  but  these  powers  were  in  some  instances 
subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  General  Board  of  Health  in  London,  a 
body  corresponding  to  the  present  Local  Government  Board,  which 
was  subsequently  established  by  an  Act  of  1871.  By  the  Public 
Health  Act  of  1872  every  municipal  borough,  local  board  district,  and 
Improvement  Act  area  was  constituted  an  Urban  Sanitary  District, 
and  similar  powers  were  conferred  on  Town  Councils,  Local  Boards, 
and  Improvement  Commissioners.  These  powers  were  more  clearly 
defined  and  consolidated  by  the  Public  Health  Act  of  1875,  and 
extended  in  regard  to  matters  with  which  we  are  here  concerned  by 
Acts  of  1888  and  1907.  By  the  Local  Government  Act  of  1894  a 
uniform  tvpe  of  more  popularly  elected  Urban  District  Council  was 
substituted  for  the  Local  Boards  of  Health  and  Improvement  Com- 
missioners, which  were  thereby  abolished,  the  Town  Councils  remain- 
ing as  the  Urban  Sanitary  Authority  for  the  Boroughs. 

Leaving  on  one  side  all  that  concerns  the  construction  and  repair 
of  roads,  sewers,  and  buildings  from  the  sanitary  point  of  view,  and 
touching  only  on  that  which  concerns  the  planning  and  replanning  of 
towns,  one  may  say  that,  apart  from  the  Town  Planning  Act  and  apart 
from  Special  Local  Acts,  the  powers  of  a  Borough  or  Urban  District 
Council  are  shortly  as  follows  :  i.  The  Council  may,  with  the 
approval  of  the  Local  Government  Board,  make  bye-laws  regulating 
the  level,  width,  and  construction  of  new  streets,  and,  with  reference 
to  the  suflSciency  of  the  space  about  buildings,  to  secure  a  free  circu- 
lation of  air  (P.  H.  Act,  1875,  s.  157).  2.  The  Council  may  buy  land 
in  order  to  widen,  open,  or  enlarge  streets,  or,  with  the  sanction  of 
the  Local  Government  Board,  in  order  to  make  new  streets  ;  provided 
that  where  compulsory  powers  of  purchase  are  sought  they  must  be 
obtained  by  Provisional  Order  and  are  subject  to  the  Lands  Clauses 
Act  (P.  H.  y\ct,  1875,  ss.  154,  175,  and  176).  3.  The  Council  may 
prescribe  a  line  beyond  which  no  new  or  reconstructed  building  may 
be  erected  or  rc-erected,  conpensation  being  paid  to  the  landowner 

X  X 


6C6  Transciclinns  of  the  Toivn  Phnini)^  Conjcrcncc,  Oci.  1910. 

for  the  loss  he  sustains  (P.  IT.  Act,  1875,  s.  155).  4.  The  Council  may 
to  some  extent  control  the  frontage  of  buildings  (P.  H.  (Ruildings  in 
Streets)  Act,  1888).  5.  The  Council  may  vary  the  intended  position, 
direction,  termination,  or  level  of  any  projected  new  street  in  order  to 
secure  direct,  easy,  and  convenient  communication  (P.  H.  Act,  1907). 

It  must  not,  however,  be  forgotten  that  although,  apart  from  the 
Town  Planning  Act,  these  are  the  principal  powers  of  a  Council  in 
controlling  the  action  of  others,  yet  the  Council,  or  one  or  other  of  its 
allied  public  bodies,  has  enormous  facilities  for  increasing  the  health, 
appearance,  and  amenity  of  a  district  by  the  power  it  possesses  of 
itself  constructing  parks,  museums,  libraries,  schools,  institutes,  baths, 
markets,  and  other  public  buildings,  and  in  carrying  out  housing 
schemes  for  the  working  classes. 

Perhaps  a  word,  too,  should  be  said  in  passing  as  to  the  wide  and 
interesting  special  powers  accjuired  by  the  City  of  Liverpool  under  its 
Act  of  1908,  by  which  landowners  may  be  compelled  to  submit  a 
scheme  of  the  whole  area  under  development,  and  required  to  make 
streets  of  any  required  width  and  buildings  any  required  distance 
apart,  provided  that  the  corporation  must  pay  for  the  excess  if  they 
require  a  main  thoroughfare  to  be  more  than  80  feet  wide  and  the 
buildings  therein  more  than  96  feet  apart,  or,  in  the  case  of  other 
streets,  36  feet  and  43  feet  respectively.  The  Act,  too,  contains  many 
minor  provisions  of  considerable  importance. 

And  now,  having  very  briefly  sketched  the  growth  of  local  govern- 
ing bodies  and  the  ppwers  they  possessed  previous  to  1909  with 
reference  to  town  planning  and  replanning,  a  word  must  be  said  in 
conclusion  as  to  the  nature  of  the  Town  Planning  Act  of  that  year. 
It  w^ill  be  remembered  that  for  the  century  previous  to  1848  control 
had  been  exercised  by  Private  Acts  of  Parliament,  and  that  since  that 
date  control  has  chiefly  been  exercised  by  local  governing  bodies, 
subject,  however,  in  many  instances,  to  the  approval  of  the  Local 
Government  Board,  and  subject  also  to  the  sanction  of  Parliament 
when  compulsory  powers  of  purchase  are  required. 

The  Town  Planning  Act  relates  to  land  in  course  of  development 
or  likely  to  be  used  for  building,  and  in  certain  cases  to  land  adjacent 
thereto,  whether  already  built  upon  or  vacant,  and  it  introduces  a  new 
and  ingenious  method  of  procedure;  the  effect  of  a  "scheme" 
approved  under  the  Act  is  that  of  a  Private  Act  of  Parliament,  but 
the  "  procedure  regulations,"  which  take  the  place  of  standing  orders 
in  Private  Bill  or  Provisional  Order  procedure,  are  specially  adapted 
to  the  requirements  of  the  case ;  the  central  criticism  and  control, 
instead  of  being  exercised  by  a  committee  of  either  House  or  by  Par- 
liament itself,  will  be  exercised  by  an  expert  department  of  the  Local 
Government  Board,  Parliament  only  reserving  to  itself  a  right  of  veto 
in  certain  circumstances.  The  local  authority  also,  which  for  this  pur- 
pose may  be  either  a  Rural  or  Urban  or  Borough  Council,  or  a  com- 
bination of  them,  appears,  either  spontaneously  or  possibly  under 
compulsion,  as  promoter  of  the  scheme  and  as  responsible  for  its 
execution.  As  to  the  matters  which  may  be  included  in  a  scheme,  the 
Act  contains  no  limitations,  though  presumably  they  will  relate  to 
those  set  out  in  general  terms  in  the  fourth  schedule  of  the  Act.  The 
"general  provisions"   will  presumably    take  the  place  of  common 


Grnivlh  of  T^cij^a]  Cmilrnl  nvrr  Tnivn  Dcvc]i)pmcul.       667 

form  clauses  in  private  .\rts,  and  it  is  clear  that,  not  only  on  account 
of  the  substance  of  the  matters  with  which  it  deals,  but  also  on 
account  of  the  constitutional  precedent  which  it  has  made,  the 
operation  of  the  Act  will  be  followed  with  keen  interest  on  all  hands. 
The  Act,  in  short,  gives  to  the  Local  Government  Board  a  perfectly 
general  power  to  make  local  Acts  of  Parliament,  called  "  schemes," 
with  reference  to  streets,  roads,  and  other  ways,  including  stopping- 
up  or  diversion  of  highways;  buildings,  structures,  and  erections; 
sewerage;  lighting;  water-supply ;  ancillary  works;  extinction  and 
variation  of  private  easements  ;  and  all  incidental  powers.  The  only 
limitations  on  this  legislative  power  vested  in  the  Local  Government 
Board  are,  first,  that  if  anyone  interested  gives  notice  of  objection  to 
any  scheme,  or  if  the  scheme  suspends  any  enactment  of  a  public 
general  statute,  then  either  House  of  Parliament  may  within  a  limited 
time  exercise  a  veto;  and,  secondly,  any  person  injuriously  affected 
must  be  compensated,  such  compensation,  however,  being  assessed 
by  a  Local  Government  Board  arbitrator.  This  power  of  interference 
with  private  rights  by  a  Government  Department  is  in  England  and 
within  modern  times,  I  think,  quite  unprecedented  in  magnitude,  and 
the  situation  is  one  fraught  with  immense  possibilities. 

This  short  account  of  the  nature  of  tlie  Town  IManning  Act  would 
be  incomplete  without  some  reference  to  the  Development  Act  of  the 
same  year.  It  was  said  at  the  beginning  of  this  Paper  that  public 
control  may  be  exercised  not  only  by  common  law  and  not  only  by 
local  government,  but  also  by  the  Central  Government  either  passing 
special  Acts  of  local  application  or  itself  executing  or  controlling 
works.    The  Development  Act  illustrates  this  last  method. 

Leaving  on  one  side  those  provisions  which  deal  with  the  construc- 
tion or  subsidy  of  light  railways,  harbours,  inland  navigation,  affores- 
tation, drainage,  and  so  forth,  the  road-improvem?nt  clauses  estab- 
lish under  the  Treasury  a  Road  Board,  with  power  to  construct  and 
maintain  new  roads  or  to  subsidise  the  construction  or  improvement 
of  roads,  principally  in  rural  districts,  to  which  the  powers  of  Urban 
District  and  Borough  Councils  do  not  apply. 

The  common  law  of  highways  has  already  been  alluded  to ;  the 
Highway  Act  of  1835  gave  Highway  Authorities,  now  County  Coun- 
cils, power  to  enlarge  existing  roads  and  to  construct  new  roads,  but 
in  order  to  construct  new  roads  no  power  was  given  to  acquire  land 
compulsorily.  The  Development  Act  gives  the  Road  Board  power  com- 
pulsorily  to  acquire  land  for  the  construction  of  new  roads,  and  also 
to  acquire  land  some  220  yards  on  either  side  of  the  new  roads,  the 
arbitrator  for  compensation  in  such  cases  being  appointed  by  the  Lord 
Chief  Justice  and  the  general  control  kept  in  the  hands  of  the  Trea- 
sury. This  Act,  therefore,  also  illustrates  the  bureaucratic  period  of 
government  upon  which  we  are  now  entering,  though  it  will  be  noticed 
that  in  this  case  authority  in  a  kindred  matter  is  entrusted  to  a 
different  department,  the  Local  Government  Board  controlling  local 
legislation  and  the  Treasury  controlling  the  local  execution  of  national 
works  of  domestic  utility. 


668  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  PJanninfi;  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Otiservations  on  the  Expense  incurred  by  Local  Authorities  in 
carrying  out  a  Scheme  under  the  Town  Planning  Act. 

I  have  been  specially  asked  to  make  some  observations  on  the 
expense  which  will  be  incurred  by  local  authorities  in  carrying  out  a 
scheme  under  the  Town  Planning-  Act. 

Having  carefully  perused  the  x-^ct,  it  appears  that  the  cost  will  fall 
under  three  heads  : — 

1.  Cost  of  preparing  and  promoting  a  scheme.— Nothing  is  said 
as  to  this  beyond  the  provision  of  Section  65  (2),  that  expenses  will  be 
charged  on  the  general  district  rate.  Perusal  of  the  Procedure  Regu- 
lations does  not  suggest  that  the  cost  of  promotion  need  be  very 
heavy. 

2.  Cost  of  compensatio)!  io  property  oiv}iers  for  i)ijiirious  affection 
(Sections  58  and  59). — This  compensation,  failing  agreement,  is  to  be 
assessed  by  a  single  Local  (lovcrnment  Board  arbitrator,  and  is  quite 
general.  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  the  scheme  provides  for  a  car- 
riage-way twice  the  ordinary  bye-law  width  :  this  would  not  only 
deprive  the  landowner  of  part  of  his  land,  but  would  also  throw  on 
him  a  double  burden  of  street  works,  and  might  also  leave  him  with  a 
piece  of  land  of  quite  unmarketable  proportions.  The  Local  Govern- 
ment Board,  in  their  circular  of  May  3,  1910,  suggest  that  the  amount 
of  compensation  payable  may  generally  be  reckoned  as  the  difference 
between  the  value  of  tlie  property  unrestricted  by  the  scheme  and  the 
value  of  the  property  burdened  by  the  conditions  which  the  scheme 
imposes.  The  amount  of  compensation  is,  however,  greatly  limited 
by  Section  59,  which  provides  that  provisions  in  a  scheme  prescribing 
the  space  about  buildings,  limiting  the  number  of  buildings,  or  pre- 
scribing their  height  or  character,  shall  not  give  rise  to  compensation 
if  such  provisions  are,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Local  Government  Board, 
reasonable  to  secure  the  amenity  of  the  land  included  in  the  scheme 
or  any  part  thereof.  Thus  such  conditions  as  arc  often  imposed  by 
restrictive  covenants  may,  if  reasonably  necessary  for  the  amenity 
of  the  area,  be  imposed  by  the  scheme  free  of  charge.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  the  standard  of  amenity  is  to  be  judged  with  reference  to 
the  area  comprised  in  the  scheme  or  any  part  thereof,  and  it  may  be 
important  for  local  authorities,  in  determining  on  an  area  for  a 
scheme,  to  bear  this  consideration  in  mind. 

No  compensation  is  payable  for  any  provision  of  a  scheme  which 
might  have  been  enforced  by  bye-law ;  thus,  in  Liverpool,  where 
80  feet  may  be  required  for  a  main  thoroughfare,  no  compensation 
would  be  payable  for  such  a  requirement. 

Against  the  cost  of  compensation  must  be  set  off  one-half  the 
increase  in  the  value  of  any  property  which  is  affected  bv  the  scheme, 
and  this,  apparently,  whether  that  property  is  or  is  not  included  in 
the  scheme. 

Cases  may  occur  \\  liere  a  well-considered  scheme  mav  be  of  great 
public  benefit  and  entail  no  expense  for  compensation  at  all. 

3.  Cost  of  land  purchased  hy  the  local  authority  for  the  purpose 
of  a  scheme  (Section  60). — It  may  bo  that  the  scheme  includes  the 
laying-out  of  parks  or  open  spaces ;  or  in  certain  cases,  as,  for 
instance,   when   a   wide  boule\ard   is  contemplated,   or  one   cutting 


Growth  <>t  Lci^al  Control  over  I Oivn  Development.       069 

awkwardly  into  buikiing  land,  or  in  many  other  cases,  it  might  be 
more  convenient  for  the  local  authority  to  buy  than  to  compensate  ; 
or  again,  the  local  authority  might  prefer  to  purchase  an  entire  large 
site  for  development  by  builders  in  accordance  with  its  requirements, 
thus  keeping  the  whole  control  in  its  own  hands  ;  in  any  such  cases 
Section  60  provides  easily  for  purchase  of  the  land,  the  statute  referred 
to  in  that  section  providing  that  compulsory  powers  of  purchase  may 
be  exercised  by  order  of  the  Local  Government  Board  without  statu- 
tory confirmation,  unless  an  impartial  public  inquiry  shows  that  the 
land  is  unsuitable  f(.>r  the  required  purpose,  or  that  it  cannot  be 
acquired  without  undue  detriment.  The  price  to  be  paid  for  the  land 
is  to  be  assessed  by  a  single  Local  (iovernment  Boarfl  arbitrator,  no 
additional  allowance  being  made  for  the  purchase  being  compulsory. 
It  may  be  doubtful  whether  land  required  by  the  local  authority  lor 
schools,  libraries,  or  other  public  buildings  within  the  area  would  be 
land  required  "  for  the  purpose  of  the  scheme." 

I  think  it  is  clear  that  a  scheme  does  n<;t  necessarily  invoke  the 
local  authority  in  the  purchase  of  land. 


C)70   Transaciioits  of  the  Toxvii  PUuining  Cunfcrcncc,  Ocl.  ujio. 


(2)  TOWN  PLANNING  AND  LAND  TENURE. 

By  C.   H.   B.   QuENNELL,   F.R.LB.A. 

As  pen  is  put  to  paper  one's  subject  looms  up  somewhat  over- 
whelming- ;  on  the  one  hand,  town  phinning  holds  all  the  chances 
there  arc  that  our  towns  and  cities  may  be  regulated  into  some 
measure  of  beauty  ;  on  the  other,  land  tenure  is  a  tale,  beginning- 
witn  the  principles  which  our  forbears  brought  away  with  them  from 
the  banks  of  the  Weser,  and  the  last  of  its  serial  numbers  that  have 
been  published  may  be  instanced  in  the  Finance  Act  of  1909-10. 
If  one  has  the  subject  at  heart,  it  seems,  at  the  moment  of  being 
asked,  that  perchance  it  may  be  possible  to  jot  down  one's  discon- 
nected musings  into  some  series  of  connected  facts  that  may  be 
helpful,  but  in  the  doing  it  proves  hard.  These  notes,  then,  must 
be  prefaced  by  an  apology,  and  they  are  written  only  in  that  so  much 
as  a  good  portion  of  the  writer's  work  has  taken  the  form  of  suburban 
development,  a  recapitulation  of  some  of  the  difficulties  experienced 
may  prove  helpful,  as  they  are  such  as,  sooner  or  later,  must  be 
encountered  by  all  town  planners. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  the  facts  that  have  led  up  to  the  Housing 
and  Town  Planning  Act  of  1909.  The  unlo\  el}-  zone  of  derelict  country 
awaiting  the  encroaching  rows  of  ugly  villas,  the  total  lack  of  all 
the  amenities  of  existence,  are  a  heritage  from  the  \'ictorian  days,  to 
which  one's  senses  have  been  so  dulled  by  their  constant  repetition 
that  they  excite  no  comment.  In  the  nineteenth  century  we  seemed 
to  lose  our  sense  of  the  road  as  an  artery,  and  become  enamoured  of 
the  rail ;  in  the  twentieth  the  road  springs  again  into  life  and  being, 
probably  because  of  the  newer  forms  of  traction,  and  coupled  with 
this  is  the  sociological  side  of  the  matter,  and  a  renewed  desire  that 
all  classes  should  have  their  chance  of  sharing  in  the  amenities  of 
existence.  It  is  a  remarkable  addition  to  the  Town  Planning  Act 
that  it  should  suggest    that  the  amenities  be  considered. 

The  nineteenth-century  towns  and  suburbs,  then,  ma}-  be  said  to 
have  been  laid  out  without  any  road  sense,  and  were  a  mere  con- 
geries of  houses,  swarming  like  bees  in  a  cluster,  at  the  side  of  the 
railway.  And  the  amenities  were  little  considered  in  the  days  that 
held  a  surplus  of  cheap  labour  to  be  desirable,  and  which  went  well 
with  the  doctrine  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  anct  the  hindmost  to 
the  de\  il. 

The  facts  have  been,  and  arc  still,  unlovely,  but  opinion  differs 
considerably  as  to  the  causes  which  have  led  up  to  them.  The  Town 
Planning  Act  may  be  taken  as  an  acknowledgment  that  hitherto  our 
towns  and  suburbs  have  been  allowed  to  grow  in  haphazard  fashion. 


Toicn  Planniiii(  ami  Lund  Tenure.  671 

Admirable,  however,  as  the  measure  is,  it  does  not  contain  within 
its  sections  any  powers  to  alter  the  causes  that  in  the  past  ha\e  had 
the  effect  of  producing  the  old,  bad,  commonplace  suburbs. 

Town-planning-  schemes  will  not  .deal  wholly  with  suburban 
development.  Civic  centres  may  be  re-planned  so  that  the  actual 
heart  of  the  town  may  serve  its  function,  but  the  outer  fringe,  that  so 
continually  encroaches  on  the  pleasant  country,  will,  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
do  so  in  more  seemly  fashion  than  hitherto. 

Briefly,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  Town  Planning:  Act  offers  two 
ways  by  which  town-planning-  schemes  can  be  carried  through.  The 
one  where  local  authorities  buy  land  and  develop  it  themselves  ;  the 
other  where,  after  consultation  with  landowners  and  other  interested 
parties,  a  town  plan  is  prepared  which  is  left  to  private  enterprise  to 
be  carried  out.  Of  the  two  alternatives  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  the 
latter  will  be  the  one  generally  adopted,  as  being-  more  in  sympathy 
with  English  traditions.  Suburban  development,  then,  will  proceed 
on  much  the  same  lines  as  before,  excepting  only  that  each  detail 
will  form  part  of  an  ordered  scheme,  bearing  its  proper  relation  to 
the  whole.  But  the  provision  of  the  necessary  capital  and  the  details 
of  land  tenure  remain  unchanged  under  the  Act. 

Now  it  is  just  these  same  very  utilitarian  details  that  have  ship- 
wrecked many  a  good  scheme  in  the  past,  and  it  is  proposed  in  these 
notes  to  recapitulate  them  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  not  be 
familiar  with  them. 

Much  depends  on  the  spirit  in  which  the  interested  parties — land- 
owners and  others — are  prepared  to  lend  their  support  to  the  local 
authorities.  If  a  sufficient  measure  is  forthcoming,  well  and  good; 
if  not,  then  the  later  developments  of  town-planning  must  rest  with 
the  local  authorities  in  buying  land  and  developing  it  themselves. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  these  local  authorities  have  had,  under 
the  recent  Finance  Act,  a  very  powerful  weapon  added  to  their 
armoury  in  land  valuation,  and  the  price  fixed  for  the  time  being  will 
form  the  basis  of  the  bargain  by  which  it  may  be  acquired  for  improve- 
ment schemes. 

One  very  considerable  section  of  the  electorate  may  consider  thi.s 
to  be  rank  Socialism,  but  when  we  consider  the  difficulties  to  be 
encountered  in  any  improvement  scheme,  under  the  ordinary  con- 
ditions, it  must  be  confessed  that  State  ownership  would  have  certain 
advantages. 

To  revert,  however,  to  the  causes  that  have  had  the  effect  of 
producing  the  bad  old  towns  and  suburbs.  These  may  be  briefly 
outlined  now,  and  later  on  criticised  in  detail.  The  first  may  be 
instanced  in  the  methods  which  have  hitherto  been  used  by  land- 
owners in  the  development  of  their  estates  and  the  general  disregard 
of  all  the  amenities. 

The  fairly  general  practice  has  been  to  lay  out  each  separate 
building  estate  as  a  thing  apart,  and  with  little  relation,  if  any,  to 
its  surroundings,  and  within  tlie  confines  of  its  boundaries  to  crowd 
in  as  many  regulation  rectangular  building-plots  of  the  minimum 
width  and  depth  as  could  possibly  be  planned  to  abut  on  its  roads. 
In  so  doing,  trees,  levels,  old  hedges  or  landmarks  were  utterly 
disregarded.      Howe\er,    there    is    no    need    to    further    particularise 


672   Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Plauu'nig  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

proceedings  with  which  we  are  all  painfully  familiar.  In  justice  to  the 
builder,  then,  this  must  be  emphasised  :  that  it  is  generally  the  land- 
owner who  is  at  fault.  One  is  familiar  with  the  appeal  of  the  Press 
that  such  and  such  a  beauty  spot  or  fine  view  be  saved  from  the 
vandal  builder,  and  subscriptions  may  be  in\ited  to  this  end,  whereas 
the  actual  state  of  affairs  generally  is  that  a  landowner,  who  is 
desirous  of  selling  his  land  to  the  builders,  is  inviting  them  to  come 
there  by  means  of  boards  and  other  advertisements. 

It  has  become  the  fashion  to  use  the  speculating  builder  as  the 
whipping-boy  for  the  landowner,  whereas,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
damage  has  nearly  been  completed  by  the  landowner  before  the 
builder  turns  up  to  complete  the  horror  of  the  scene  with  his  stock- 
pattern  villa.  The  builder,  then,  it  must  be  admitted,  is  not  as  a 
rule  the  offender  so  far  as  the  lay-out  of  the  average  building-estate 
is  concerned,  and  seldom  has  anything  to  do  with  roads  or  with  their 
disposition. 

The  builder,  when  he  does  turn  up,  takes  up  land  on  a  building 
agreement  at  a  ground  rent  of  so  much  per  foot  frontage ;  he  will 
be  charged  only  a  peppercorn,  or  nominal  rent,  during  the  shortest 
time  that  it  is  estimated  he  can  build  his  houses.  His  ground  rent 
commences  at  the  expiration  of  the  peppercorn,  and  he  can  then  take 
up  leases  for  the  houses,  or  purchase  the  freehold  at  so  many  years' 
purchase  of  the  ground  rent. 

There  are  further  provisions  as  to  payment  of  fees  to  agents  for 
approving  plans,  and  in  the  generality  of  cases  such  persons  have 
little,  if  any,  of  the  requisite  knowledge  to  decide  whether  the  houses 
are  good  or  bad  from  the  architectural  point  of  view.  In  short,  the 
amenities  are  not  considered.  The  builder  puts  up  his  houses,  and 
if,  as  is  usual,  he  is  a  struggling  man,  has  to  borrow  money  and  pay 
interest,  with  survey  fees,  for  each  advance.  This  is  arranged  by  a 
temporary  mortgage,  which  is  called  in  when  the  house  is  completed  ; 
and  if  the  house  is  unsold  the  money  is  again  lent  to  him  as  a  per- 
manent mortgage,  and  the  builder  in  the  end  will  have  had  to  pay 
at  about  the  rate  of  10  per  cent,  and  upwards  for  the  capital  borrowed. 
In  addition,  the  ground  rent  has  now  started  ;  the  builder  will  have 
improved  this,  say,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  from  five  shillings  to 
six  shillings  per  foot  frontage,  and  so  is  enabled  to  offer  his  purchaser 
the  house,  either  leasehold  or  freehold,  and  his  profit  on  the  land 
is  contained  in  this  improvement,  or  its  capitalised  value  of  about 
twenty-five  years'  purchase.  This  improvement,  though,  is  held  by 
the  ground  landlord  until  all  the  land  is  covered,  and  in  the  event  of 
failure  to  do  so  is  forfeited,  or  may  be  swallowed  up  in  ground  rent 
if  the  builder  takes  longer  than  the  agreed  time  to  build  the  houses. 

The  peppercorn  arrangement  is  quite  a  fair  and  good  one  for  the 
builder  assuming  that  he  sells  his  houses  readily,  but  it  bears  very 
hardly  on  him  when  the  reverse  is  the  case,  and  in  what  should  be 
a  joint  venture  the  landowner  has  much  the  better  of  the  bargain. 

But  assuming  that  the  builder  has  good  luck,  and  his  houses  sell 
readily,  he  is  not  by  any  means  at  the  end  of  his  costs  and  charges. 
There  remains  the  question  of  the  proof  of  his  or  the  landowner's 
title.  He  may  have  signed  his  agreement  in  happy-go-lucky  fashion, 
without  knowing  if  the  vendor  had  in  reality  a  good  title.      If  he 


To%^^'ii  Phuiiiin<^  and  Land  '['enure.  673 

is  a  careful  man  he  will  not  have  neglected  this  precaution,  and  in 
any  event  each  and  all  of  his  purchasers  will  be  required  by  their 
lawyers  to  investigate  the  title  before  completing  the  purchase. 

A  criticism  may  be  made  that,  under  existing  conditions,  the 
occupier  of  the  small  house  is  seldom  its  owner,  and  one's  reply  to 
this  is  that  the  general  public  have  better  taste  frequently  than  they 
are  supposed  to  possess.  At  present  there  is  little  to  tempt  a  man 
to  own  a  small  house  in  the  usual  suburb.  The  hope  is  that  in  the 
future  conditions  may  be  so  improved  that  people  will  wish  to  become 
actual  owners,  and  that  it  may  be  possible  for  them  to  do  so.  This 
aspect  will  be  dealt  with  later,  under  the  question  of  provision  of 
capital  to  the  buyer. 

To  revert,  though,  to  the  system  of  land  tenure  in  this  country. 
Under  what  is  known  as  the  private  deed  system  it  is  necessary, 
when  purchasing  land,  to  prove  the  vendor's  title  to  the  same.  To 
do  this  there  is  the  necessity  of  going  back  forty  years,  and  ascertain- 
ing that  the  estate  is  not  encumbered  in  any  way.  The  abstract  of 
title  which  is  provided  by  the  vendor's  solicitor,  and  which  is  in 
reality  a  more  or  less  lengthy  precis  of  the  deeds,  has  to  be  verified 
by  comparison  with  them,  with  the  added  complication  that  they  may 
be  in  several  hands.  All  probates  of  wills  must  be  looked  into,  and 
possibly,  as  well,  certificates  of  births  and  marriages,  and  with  the 
new  deed  that  has  to  be  prepared  there  is  an  enormous  amount  of 
unnecessary  work  that  has  to  be  repeated  every  time  a  purchaser 
comes  along,  assuming  that  estate  development  is  in  hand. 

The  legal  side  of  land  tenure,  then,  must  amount  to  a  considerable 
first  charge  on  any  estate  ;  and  it  may  be  of  interest  here  to  note  that, 
in  the  case  of  railways,  the  companies'  official  advisers  lia\e  generally 
estimated  the  cost  of  the  preliminary  negotiations  and  transfer  of 
land  to  cost  about  10  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  land  so  acquired. 
Such  estimate  is  based  on  actual  experience,  and  can  be  verified  ;  and 
any  town-planning  scheme  which  is  opposed  by  the  landowners  will 
be  in  much  the  same  position  as  a  railway  company  trying  to  get 
its  scheme  passed  by  a  Parliamentary  Committee  in  the  face  of  oppo- 
sition. Unless,  then,  town-planning  schemes  are  to  meet  with  a 
larger  measure  of  support  from  landowners  than  the  railways  have, 
it  may  cost  _;^iooo  to  obtain  _£,  10,000  worth  of  land. 

The  last  stage  of  the  transaction  will  probably  be  the  provision 
by  the  purchaser  of  the  necessary  capital  for  the  purchase.  If  he,  or 
she,  is  so  fortunately  placed  that  the  money  is  at  hand,  or  easily 
realisable  by  the  sale  of  stocks,  well  and  good  ;  but  in  a  large  propor- 
tion of  cases,  and  for  a  variety  of  reasons,  the  usual  one-third  will 
be  paid  in  this  way  and  the  balance  raised  on  mortgage. 

Again  the  title  must  be  proved  before  the  mortgagee  can  be 
assured  that  he  has  a  proper  security,  with  additional  costs  and 
charges  for  so  doing,  which  must  again  be  incurred  if  it  is  at  any 
time  desired  to  clear  the  property.  It  should  be  remembered  that  a 
mortgage,  even  when  paid  off,  is  an  incubus  to  the  title,  in  that  for 
the  next  forty  years  in  all  dealings  with  the  property  it  must  be 
proved  that  it  no  longer  exists. 

Thus  we  come  to  the  end  of  our  jjreliminary  description  of  the 
stages  that  must  be  passed  through  in  suburban  dexelopment.     Out 


674  Transactions  of  the  T<>i<:n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

of  these  conditions,  and  the  abuse  of  them,  have  evolved  those  dreary 
tracts  that  surround  our  towns  :  the  j^rey,  serried  ranks  of  villas 
wherein  a  larg^e  proportion  of  us  pass  our  existence.  They  stand  as 
gloomy  sentinels,  drab,  dull,  and  miserable,  of  the  utter  lack  of 
regard  for  the  amenities  that  characterised  the  nineteenth  century. 
It  is  poor  logic  to  put  it  all  down  to  the  speculating  builder ;  the 
unlovely  villas  and  the  builders  were  the  genuine  product  of  their 
times,  in  exactly  the  same  way  that  all  other  types  and  styles  of 
building  have  been  typical  of  the  periods  that  produced  them. 

We  may,  then,  summarise  the  proceedings  we  have  enumeratec* 
as — 

(i)  The  landowner's  first  responsibility  as  to  the  laying-out  of 
the  estate,  and  the  amenities  thereof. 

{2)  The  building  agreement,  by  which  the  builders  who  follow  take 
up  the  land. 

(3)  The  provision  of  capital  for  builders. 

(4)  The  details  of  land  tenure  and  the  methods  by  which  the  pur- 

chasers will  buy  the  houses  and  hold  the  land. 

(5)  The  provision  of  capital  for  purchasers. 

Having  previously  given  an  outline  of  these  stages,  it  may  be  of 
interest  to  see  how  far  they  will  obtain  in  the  future,  and  the  pos- 
sibilities that  exist  for  improving  them. 

As  to  the  item  Xo.  i.  The  Town  Planning  Bill  has  been  called 
into  being,  in  a  very  large  measure,  because  the  landowner  has  been 
hitherto  content  to  look  on  his  estate  rather  as  an  accretion,  or 
perhaps  a  better  word  is  excrescence,  added  to  the  body  of  the  town, 
without  any  regard  to  the  latter  as  an  organic  whole.  It  is  not 
alleged  that  the  landowner  has  caused  all  these  things  to  be  done  in 
the  past  out  of  sheer  malice,  but  rather  that,  gradually,  as  the  costs 
and  charges  have  been  continually  increasing,  so  the  necessity  has 
arisen  of  giving  less  and  less  land  and  fewer  of  the  amenities  as  time 
has  gone  on.  .Again,  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  eventual  pur- 
chaser prefers  his  miserable  little  villa  to  have  only  the  minute  strip 
of  garden,  because  such  supposition  could  only  be  erroneous  when 
one  bears  in  mind  the  success  of  the  garden  cities  at  Letchworth  and 
Hampstead.  It  is  one  of  the  pleasantest  traits  in  the  English  charac- 
ter, this  love  of  flowers,  and  the  railways  afford  one  opportunities  of 
glimpses  into  tiny,  grubby  back-yards  in  the  slums  where  really 
heroic  attempts  are  made  to  gratify  such  tastes. 

This  question  of  size  of  plots  and  the  number  of  houses  to  the 
acre  is  touched  upon  in  sub-section  59  of  the  .Act,  where  provision  is 
made  for  limiting  the  number  of  houses  according  to  what  the  Local 
Government  Board  think  reasonable.  .Admittedly  it  is  an  admirable 
idea,  and  one  that  has  worked  well  in  the  garden  cities,  where  they 
have  been  helped  by  the  provision  of  capital  on  xeiy  easy  terms  and 
by  a  reduction  of  costs  and  charges  throughout.  And  in  the  ordinary 
case  it  will  be  only  on  these  lines  (in  a  private  scheme)  that  it  will  be 
at  all  possible.  One  hopes  that  development  will  still  proceed  on 
private  lines,  but  to  approved  town  schemes,  as  the  alternative  is  the 
one  initiated  by  the  municipal  authorities  employing  the  public  funds. 

As  touching  on  the  desirability  of  landowners  doing  all  they  can 
to  help  the  Act,   one  verv  noticeable  addition    is    to    be    found    in 


Toivii  Planning  and  Land  Tenure.  675 

vScction  58  (3),  by  which  authorities  arc  to  receive  oiie-hall  of  any 
increment  accruing-  to  hmd  by  reason  of  its  inclusion  in  a  town- 
phmning-  scheme.  Now  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  proper  scheme 
w  ill  undoubtedly  have  the  effect  of  improving-  a  locality.  The  land- 
owner, then,  should  realise  that,  from  the  strictly  business  point  of 
view,  the  .'Vet  is  far  more  likely  to  enhance  his  values  than  if  the  old 
haphazard  method  of  development  were  allowed  to  remain.  There  is 
not  a  town  in  England  that  cannot  point  with  regret  to  whole  areas 
where  the  rateable  value  has  been  lowered  by  a  total  lack  of  regard 
for  the  amenities. 

The  second  step  in  a  development  scheme  is  the  preparation  of 
the  building  agreement,  or  preliminary  contract  between  the  land- 
owner and  builder.  Its  usual  conditions  have  been  outlined,  and, 
while  binding  the  builder  to  build,  it  yet  allows  him  certain  latitude 
and  freedom  in  the  way  of  the  peppercorn.  Its  main  disadvantage 
is  that  it  helps  to  keep  the  leasehold  system  going,  in  that  a  ground 
rent  is  usually  the  basis  of  the  bargain,  and  the  price  of  the  freehold 
is  computed  by  so  many  years'  purchase  of  the  ground  rent.  One 
cannot  but  feel  that  leasehold  is  a  very  qualified  form  of  ownership, 
and  the  payment  of  the  annual  ground  rent  is  a  charge  better 
capitalised  at  the  start.  The  leasehold  is  not  such  a  good  security, 
and  more  difficulty  is  experienced  in  raising  money  on  it  than  is  the 
case  with  freehold. 

The  main  consideration  in  ag-reements  has  hitherto  been  the  pay- 
ment of  fees  for  approving  plans  to  persons  not  properly  qualified  to 
judge  of  their  merits,  the  landowner's  idea  being  to  get  the  land 
covered  w  ith  anything  that  would  pass  muster,  the  only  usual  condition 
being-  one  as  to  value,  and  in  some  cases  senseless  stipulations  as  to 
certain  classes  of  materials,  not  in  themselves  at  all  suitable,  little, 
if  any,  regard  being  paid  to  plan  or  architectural  fitness. 

The  question  oi  pro\ision  of  capital  passes  us  on  to  stage  Xo.  3. 

Details  ha\e  pre\  iously  been  gi\en  of  the  methods  builders  usually 
employ  to  raise  capital,  while  building,  by  means  of  temporary  and 
permanent  mortgages,  costing  in  all,  with  survey  fees,  as  much  as 
10  per  cent,  and  upwards  on  the  loan. 

It  has  often  been  a  source  of  wonder  to  the  writer  how  the 
struggling-  man,  considering  the  excessive  costs  he  is  put  to,  does 
manage  to  make  two  ends  meet. 

In  the  worst  type  of  development  one  cannot  help  feeling  that 
the  struggling  man  is  preferred,  and  the  process  seems  to  be  that  he 
is  allowed  to  build  the  houses  on  what  credit  he  may  possess,  plus 
scanty  advances,  and  when  the  moment  comes,  as  it  speedily  must, 
and  he  is  in  difficulties,  foreclosure  is  promptly  resorted  to  and  the 
houses  pass  to  the  mortgagee.  The  wonder  is  that  with  such  a 
narrow  margin  of  safety  the  small  builder  ever  succeeds  at  all. 
However,  the  better  conditions  to  come  may  attract  more  substantial 
men,  having  some  working  capital  of  their  own,  and  such  being  the 
case  land  registration  may  well  help.  Assuniing  the  land  can  be 
obtained  readily  and  cheaply  under  this  s\-stem,  with  an  absolute  title, 
the  builder  will  then  have  a  more  negotiable  security  than  the  ordinary 
building  agreement,  which  only  undertakes  to  lease,  or  convey  when 
called  upon,  a  certain  parcel  of  land,  which  each  purchaser  will  wish 


676  Transactions  of  the  Toivii  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

to  pro\e  the  title  of.  Banks  wlio  ha\  e  been  hitherto  timid  may  come 
forward  with  more  alacrity,  and  if  private  enterprise  cannot  be  found, 
then  it  is  a  moot  question  whether  the  State,  by  establishing  credit 
banks,  could  not  help  the  builder,  as  there  is  now  talk  of  the  farmer 
being-  aided.  But  as  a  fundamental  first  principle  to  have  land,  or 
to  be  in  possession  of  an  agreement  that  you  are  to  possess  land, 
registered  in  an  absolute  title,  is  to  be  in  a  fa\  oured  position  from  the 
borrowing'  point  of  view. 

As  to  No.  4,  or  the  details  of  land  tenure.  Notes  have  already 
been  given  how,  under  the  private  deed  system,  it  is  necessary  to 
prove  the  title  back  for  forty  years.  It  is  work  for  the  skilled  con- 
veyancer; it  may  be  very  lengthy,  and  abstracts  of  title  running  into 
folio  after  folio  are  quite  common.  Every  little  detail  that  has  hap- 
pened during  all  these  years  must  be  carefully  noted.  This  must  be 
done  by  any  builder  who  is  contemplating  taking  up  land  for  develop- 
ment, and  it  must  be  done  all  over  again  by  each  of  his  subsequent 
purchasers  if  they  wish  to  enjoy  any  security  under  this  system,  or  to 
be  in  a  position  to  re-sell  with  advantage.  That  such  a  system  exists 
amounts  to  an  anomaly,  because  we  have  at  the  same  time  an 
extremely  efficient  system  of  land  registration  in  England,  run  on 
very  similar  lines  to  those  in  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  and 
Australia.  The  only  explanation  that  can  be  given  as  to  why  land 
registration  has  not  become  entirely  general  is  that  we  are  an 
extremely  law-abiding  people,  having  great  respect  for  our  law- 
makers and  lawyers,  and  that  as  the  latter  are,  taken  as  a  whole, 
distinctly  antagonistic  to  land  registration  we  have  the  common 
occurrence  of  clients  buying  land  which  has  been  registered  with  an 
absolute  title,  and  so  guaranteed  by  the  State,  being  advised  by  their 
lawyers  that  such  a  system  is  unsound,  and  consequently  being  put 
to  all  the  trouble  and  inconvenience  and  delay  of  proving  the  title 
again,  at  considerable  expense,  be  it  noted — a  sort  of  useless  plough- 
ing of  the  sands  which,  if  it  were  not  pathetic  and  very  like  John  Bull, 
would  approximate  to  pure  comedy. 

Land  registry  may  be  summarised  briefly  as  the  giving  by  the 
State,  through  its  Land  Registrar,  of  an  absolute  title,  or  a  possessory 
or  leasehold  one,  as  the  case  may  be  and  the  occasion  requires. 

It  is  doing  the  work  once  for  all,  and  though  errors  may  creep  in, 
there  is  no  more  chance,  if  as  much,  as  in  the  work  done  by  the 
private  conveyancer. 

The  place  of  the  lengthy  deed  is  taken  by  a  simple  certificate,  on 
which  all  charges  or  mortgages  have  to  be  endorsed,  and  one  great 
advantage  accrues — that  an  actual  register  is  kept  at  the  Land 
Registry  offices  of  all  the  owners  and  all  charges.  Forgery  of  deeds 
then  becomes  impossible,  as  one  only  has  to  go  to  the  Land  Registry 
and  inspect  the  register  to  find  who  is  the  actual  owner,  and  whether 
the  land  is  unencumbered. 

However,  the  subject  is  an  extremely  complex  one,  and  land  tenure 
in  England,  with  all  its  centuries  of  strife,  must  necessarily  be  com- 
plicated. From  the  days  when  the  freeman  was  the  freeholder  and 
the  landless  man  a  sla\e  to  the  feudalism  introduced  by  William  the 
Conqueror  and  the  beginning  of  its  breakdown  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, right  down  to  our  own  times,  the  history  of  land  tenure  is 
almost  the  history  of  Enp-land. 


Tnii.'n  PUnmiiis^  and  Land  Tenure.  677 

It  is  not  a  subject  to  be  lightly  adventured  upon  by  the  layman, 
but  land  reg^istry  appears  to  hold  within  its  powers  some  hope  for 
those  who  deal  in  land,  and  anyone  who  is  particularly  interested  in 
the  subject  may  be  referred  to  the  evidence  given  before  the  Royal 
Commission  on  the  Land  Transfer  Acts,  held  between  October  and 
December,  1908,  which  can  be  bought  in  Blue-book  form.  It  should 
carry  weight  and  help  forward  the  cause.  The  impression  given  on 
reading  through  it  is  that  much  ignorance  exists  as  to  the  working  of 
registration.  While  one  party  laud  it  to  the  skies  and  think  it  the 
only  means  of  salvation,  others  are  equally  set  against  it. 

But  it  is  a  useful  measure,  and  one  calculated  to  facilitate  dealing 
in  land,  and  as  such  is  surely  entitled  to  the  utmost  consideration. 
If  one  may  be  permitted  a  "  bull,"  it  may  be  stated  that  land  should 
be  as  fluid  a  commodity  as  possible,  and  all  industry  and  commerce 
must  benefit  where  it  is  readily  and  cheaply  transferable.  Registra- 
tion has  not  gained  in  favour  with  lawyers,  perhaps  because  it 
appears  to  be  upheld  by  some  as  a  means  of  dispensing  with  lawyers 
altogether.  The  exact  inverse  should  be  the  case  ;  a  sale  of  land  is 
nearly  always  the  basis  of  a  business  operation,  necessitating  con- 
tracts, and  so  on. 

In  Germany  it  appears  to  work  well  under  such  varying  condi- 
tions as  the  cities  with  their  town-planning  schemes,  the  enormous 
agricultural  estates  of  the  interior,  contrasted  again  with  the  minute 
subdivisions  of  the  Rhineland  vineyards. 

The  members  of  the  Congress  hardly  need  reminding  that  the 
Germans  are  the  most  enthusiastic  of  town  planners ;  it  is  therefore 
interesting  to  remember  that  both  land  registration  and  valuation 
are  held  favourably  with  them,  and  its  influence  on  town  planning 
must  be  to  reduce  charges,  and  facilitate  transfer  and  simplify  nego- 
tiations where  municipal  authorities  wish  to  acquire  land  for  improve- 
ments. Bearing  in  mind  the  rate  at  which  the  railways  were  made 
to  pay,  land  valuation  becomes  a  necessary  adjunct  to  town  planning. 
Of  course,  it  is  a  sad  interference  with  the  liberty  of  the  subject  that 
he  shall  no  longer  be  able  to  check,  or  mulct,  a  public  improvement, 
but  be  compelled  to  sell  at  his  own  valuation — there  is  humour, 
though,  in  it. 

As  to  the  last  stage,  No.  5,  or  the  question  of  the  provision  of 
capital  for  the  purchaser,  the  same  argument  may  be  advanced  as 
from  the  builder's  point  of  view.  Bankers  look  much  more  favour- 
ably at  advancing  overdrafts  and  the  like  on  the  security  of  a  land 
certificate,  which  can  be  readiU'  verified  at  the  Land  Registry  as 
being  unencumbered,  and  on  which  they  can  themselves  place  a 
caution  that  so  much  has  been  advanced. 

Another  most  interesting  development  in  buying  houses  is  that 
wherein  life  insurance  is  made  part  of  the  transaction,  and  this 
method  appears  to  be  very  suitable  and  likely  to  be  helpful  for  small 
properties.  Hitherto  the  young  man  thinking  of  wedding  has  pre- 
ferred renting  a  house  to  buying  one,  because  of  the  obvious  disad- 
vantage that  in  the  event  of  his  early  death  his  widow  might  be  left 
with  small  resources  and  a  house  perhaps  only  half  paid  for,  or 
mortgaged,  with  the  certainty  of  foreclosure  if  interest  be  not  kept 
paid  up.     An  insurance  policy  on  the  endowment  principle  has  seemed 


G-jS,  Transaclions  of  Ihr  Toivn  Plannhig  Conjercncc,  Oct.  iqio. 

a  safer  method  of  saving-.  Policies  are  now  devised  though,  by 
which  a  house  can  be  bought  and  hfe  assured  at  the  same  time,  with 
repayment  of  capital,  interest,  and  premium  lumped  tog^ether  to  be 
repaid  over  a  certain  period  of  years,  which  is  one  of  those  altog-ether 
admirable  ideas  that,  once  mooted,  awakens  wonder  why  it  was  not 
thoug-ht  of  centuries  ago. 

Such  a  system  is  in  operation  at  the  Hampstead  Garden  Suburb, 
and  works  admirably  ;  but  here  the  companies  know  the  conditions 
of  the  land  and  its  tenure.  The  practice,  one  hopes,  will  become  very 
extended  in  its  working-;  and  here  ag-ain  land  registration  would 
facilitate  the  operations  of  the  insurance  companies,  giving  them  the 
same  sense  of  security  and  ease  of  reference  that  it  affords  to  the 
bankers. 

The  details,  then,  by  which  the  Town  Planning  Act  can  be  assisted 
in  its  working  here  in  England  may  be  summarised  as — 

(i)  By  the  landowner  awakening  to  his  responsibilities  and 
helping  the  Act  forward  by  being  prepared  to  fall  in  with 
the  details  of  the  town  plan. 

(2)  Simplification  of  land  transfer  by  the  abolition  of  the  private 

deed  system  in  favour  of  land  registration,  which  has 
already  had  its  trial  and  has  worked  well. 

(3)  The  reduction  of  costs  which  may  be  expected  from  the  fore- 

going, and  the  more  general  sense  of  security  that  will 
consequently  be  engendered. 

The  writer,  then,  need  no  longer  grub  through  all  these  dreary 
details,  but  turn  with  pleasure  to  that  other  side  of  the  Act,  the  one 
that  will  interest  the  architect  members  of  the  Conference,  and  that  is 
the  admission  by  the  measure  that  amenity — or  shall  we  say  beauty? 
— is  once  more  to  be  recognised  as  a  quality,  an  elusive  charm  to  be 
sedulously  guarded  where  we  have  it  and  sought  after  where  it  is 
non-existent.  Amenity  may  be  construed  as  the  quality  of  being 
pleasant ;  and  that  an  Act  of  Parliament  should  recognise  such  a 
state  of  things  as  being  desirable  is  a  confession  that  mere  utility 
henceforth  is  not  to  be  acclaimed  as  the  sole  virtue.  As  architects, 
then,  an  opportunity  is  offered  us,  that  we  may  so  wed  utility  and 
beauty  that  we  may  dignify  ourselves  as  artists. 

That  the  Act,  then,  can  fail  is  unthinkable  ;  it  has  that  gleam  of 
imagmation  in  it  which,  coupled  with  its  author's  profound  knowledge 
of  English  local  government,  should  be  sufficient  to  move  on  one  side 
the  mountains  of  prejudice  and  interest  that  have  hitherto  stayed  the 
development  of  our  towns. 


Legislative  Conditions.  679 


DISCUSSION. 

Mr.    Leslie    X'ioers,    President   of   the    Surveyors'    Institution, 

in  the  Chair. 

Mr.  Isaac  Edwards  (.Mcrthyr  lydlil)  :  I  do  not  know  whether  it 
would  be  in  order  for  a  layman  to  interfere  in  this  discussion  after 
the  ironical  applause  the  last  speaker  had  when  reading"  his  Paper  for 
I  presume  ha\  ini;  ventured  to  criticise  the  profession  ;  but  as  one 
who  has  appreciated  to  the  full  all  the  points  in  Mr.  Quennell's  Paper, 
I  would  like  to  move  a  very  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to  him  and  to 
Mr.  Chaloner  Dowdal).  The  last  Paper  was  the  one  I  heard  in 
full  ;  I  was  not  here  in  time  to  hear  the  first,  and  this  Paper  of 
Mr.  Quennell's  is  the  one  that  has  appealed  to  me  as  touching^  the 
practical  problems  that  fa<^e  us  who  are  taking  part  in  the  administra- 
tion of  public  affairs  in  various  localities  in  this  country,  and  who 
arc  greatly  interested  in  housing-  the  working^  classes.  All  the  points 
mentioned  by  the  last  speaker  should  be  taken  up  and  seriously  con- 
sidered, because  he  has  shown  very  practically  the  difficulties  that 
confront  anyone  who  tries  to  house  the  public  of  a  community  to 
their  advantage  and  upon  the  lines  set  out  by  the  leaders  of  the 
Conference  which  is  being  held  this  week.  All  the  five  items  which 
he  has  enumerated  face  us  one  by  one,  and  they  are  practical  difli- 
culties  that  have  to  be  overcome.  In  some  districts  he  said  a  lease- 
hold title  is  not  known.  Well,  I  come  from  a  district  where  freehold 
is  hardly  known,  but  when  builders  of  houses  do  get  an  opportunity  of 
securing  some  freehold  land  there  is  a  rush  for  it.  Hut  it  is  this 
great  difficulty  and  expense  of  satisfactorily  proving  a  title  that  I 
desire  to  refer  to,  and  if  we  here  to-day  could  only  influence  some 
even  of  the  Government  Departments  to  be  more  reasonable  in  their 
requirements,  it  might  help  those  of  us  who  are  trying  to  put  on  the 
ground  houses  fit  for  people  to  live  in.  I  want  to  refer  to  what  a  Govern- 
ment Department  has  done  recently.  There  was  a  sale  of  property 
under  the  Order  of  the  Master  in  Chancery,  and  when  that  freehold 
title  was  sent  up  to  a  publi(^  department,  they  sent  it  back 
asking  for  more  particulars  than  were  in  the  deed,  which  had  been 
drawn  up  under  the  conditions  of  sale  and  approved  by  the  Master  in 
Chancerv.  Now  that  was  throwing  a  good  deal  of  cost  upon  the 
people  who  had  bought  this  land  and  built  the  houses.  That  is  only 
one  illustration  of  what  a  great  public  department  will  do,  and  what 
many  other  lesser  authorities  are  doing,  to  hamper  those  persons  who 
a-e  doing  their  best  to  build  houses  as  cheaply  as  they  can.  One 
other  point  I  will  refer  to,  and  that  is  this  :  The  speaker  advocated 
the  building  of  houses  by  the  public  rather  than  the  erecting  of  them 
bv  the  local  authoritv.  In  this  I  entirely  agree.  If  we  could  onlv 
impress  upon  all  local  authorities  this  principle — that  they  should  do 
everything  in  their  power  to  encourage  individuals  in  the  com- 
munities to  build  for  themselves  rather  than  throw  an  additional 
burden   upon   the  municipality  or  the  local  authority  by  asking  the 


6<So  Transactions  of  the  Toix.ni  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

authority  to  do  it  for  them,   it  would  go  a  very  long  way  towards 
relieving  this  very  great  problem. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Hope  (Sunderland)  :  I  am  sure  we  have  appreciated 
the  Paper  given  by  the  lawyer  on,  shall  I  say,  a  technical  subject, 
and   the    Paper   given   by   a   layman   on   a   legal   subject.     What    I 
should  have  liked  to  have  heard  following  those  Papers  would  have 
been  a  criticism  of  the  layman's  Paper  by  the  gentleman  who  read 
the  legal  Paper,   and  vice  versa.      I  am  concerned,   perhaps,  more 
with   the  legal  aspect  of  the  question,   which  has  been   treated  by 
both  speakers,  than  the  practical.      I  just  rise,  not  in  any  spirit  of 
criticism   with   regard   to   the  latter   Paper,   because,   consi'dering  it 
is  written  by  a  layman,  I  am  not  going  to  say  that  it  shows  a  won- 
derful grasp  of  the  subject,  but  it  puts  very  moderately  the  difficulties 
that  laymen  regard  as  insurmountable  in  regard  to  land  transactions. 
Now  with  regard  to  the  evidence  that  was  given  on  the  considera- 
tion of  title  and  the  desirability  of  having  land  registered  :  the  writer 
of  the  second  Paper  has  rather  coupled  up  the  subject  with  two  or 
three  commercial  ventures,   one  of   them  being  life   insurance.      He 
has  gone  on  to  say  that  that  is  in  operation  in  the  case  of  garden  cities. 
An  owner  may  be  stricken  down  by  death,  and  his  wife  may  be  in  the 
advantageous  position  through  a  life  insurance  agency  of  becoming 
the  owner  of  the  property.      Why  I  mention  this  matter  is  that  it  will 
ser\'e  to  test  somewhat  the  accuracy  of  the  writer  of  the  Paper,     He 
said  that  system  is  in  vogue  in  the  Hampstead  Garden  Suburb.     Well, 
I  was  there  this  morning,  and  I  was  informed  that  there  under  no 
circumstances  can  you  become  a  freeholder  or  an  absolute  owner.      I 
just  apply  that  as  a  test  as  to  how  far  a  layman  can  be  trusted  on  a 
legal  matter.     I  have  said  at  the  outset  that  it  is  marvellous  how 
little  wrong  a  layman  has  strayed  in  tackling  this  difficult  subject  of 
legal  tenure.     May  I  say  that  there  will  be  the  same  necessity  for  a 
deed  of  covenants  after  your  town-planning  scheme,  with  or  without 
land  registration,  or  any  other  device  that  you  like  to  adopt,  comes 
into  operation  ! — and  for  this  reason.      I  will  illustrate  it  by  the  case 
of  the  Hampstead  Garden  Suburb.      If  you  can  point  to  one  plot  of 
land  in  this  country  where  there  are  more  restrictive  covenants  than 
there  are  at  Hampstead  Garden  Suburb  I  should  be  glad  to  know  the 
place.     Although  the  local  title  has  been  established,  whose  is  the 
property?     The  freehold  is  the  property  of  the  Trust,  of  the  Syndi- 
cate,   and    not   the    property    of   the    occupier   who    has    agreed    to 
purchase.     An  owner  knows  where  he  is  at  present ;  but  does  he  know 
where  he  is  under  these  co-partnership  S3Stems?     The  future  alone 
will  demonstrate  that.      I  hear  my  friend  say  "  Yes."     What  is  his 
position?     He  may  find  that  out  by  first  of  all  taking  the  articles 
of  association — and  he  must  be  a  lawyer  to  go  through  those.     To 
begin  with,  a  layman  would  not  be  able  to  go  through  them.     He  must 
take  all  the  agreements  affecting  that  land  which  have  been  entered 
into  by  the  co-partnership  association,  and  the  grant  to  the  associa- 
tion, if  he  wishes  to  investigate  the  title  of  the  Trust.      Of  course,  it 
is  all  dispensed  with  at  once  if  you  take  it  on  trust  ;  but  if  a  man  wants 
to  inquire  into  the  title  of  his  owner.ship  in  a  plot  of  land,   or  his 
quasi-ownership,  his  equitable  right,  or  his  right  as  one  of  an  asso- 
ciated body,  he  can  explore  a  morass  of  legal  documents  that  are 


Legishilivc  Conditions.  68 1 

in  the  custody  of  the  association  in  order  to  find  his  true  position. 
Now,  I  do  not  want  to  frighten  would-be  purchasers  under  the 
scheme.  I  will  even,  if  they  will  leave  it  all  to  me,  assure  them  that 
all  will  be  well,  just  as  all  has  been  well  in  the  past  if  they  have  left 
it  to  lawyers — but  do  not  get  away  from  the  fact  that  lawyers  will 
be  necessary.  Let  me  illustrate  by  the  case  of  the  Workmen's 
Compensation  .\ct.  Mr.  Chamberlain  told  us  :  "  Xow  there  will  be 
an  end  of  it.  There  is  a  common-sense  Act,  which  will  be  put  ort  the 
Statute-Book,  which  will  be  interpreted  as  any  reasonable  lavman 
would  interpret  it,  and  there  is  an  end  of  the  matter."  Well,  gentle- 
men, we  never  had  a  greater  har\est  as  the  result  of  legislation. 
But  I  do  not  want  to  explore  this  subject  too  far.  I  merely  want 
to  say  that  this  service  will  be  necessary  with  town  planning  and 
with  or  without  land  transfer  in  dealing  with  restrictive  covenants 
in  the  future.  Vou  will  have  those  imposed  more  and  more,  and 
you  will  have  to  investigate  them  more  and  more,  and  these  very 
agencies  which  land  registration  is  supposed  to  dispense  with  will 
be  more  and  more  than  ever  essential.  I  would  like  to  sav  a  word 
or  two  with  regard  to  the  legal  Paper  that  was  read  bv  tlie  first 
speaker.  I  could  have  wished,  as  one  who  is  interested  in  rural 
areas,  that  a  little  clearer  distinction  had  been  drawn  between  the 
application  of  many  of  these  Acts  that  were  so  lucidly  applied, 
between  rural  areas  and  urban  areas.  Because 'if  we  followed 
through  Mr.  John  Burns'  speech  yesterday,  the  difficulty  in  his 
mind  is  not  so  much  with  the  urban  districts.  The  momentary 
application  of  these  powers  is  in  urban  districts,  but  the  anticipated 
application  will  be  in  rural  districts.  Whereas  our  efforts  at  the 
present  time  are  reaching  mainly  a  section  of  the  community,  they 
are  intended  to  be  preventive,  and  that  prevention  can  only  take  place 
in  the  rural  areas  where  the  mischief  originates  in  the  suburbs  and 
outskirts  of  towns.  Perhaps  I  am  asking  for  technical  advice 
from  counsel  in  asking  that  they  should  be  a  little  clear.  I  apologise 
if  it  is  so,  but  I  do  not  know  whether  counsel  would  consider  the 
wisdom  of  just  making  a  little  expansion. 

Mr.  DowDALL  :  \  should  be  very  glad  to  answer  any  questions 
that  are  put. 

.Mr.  ICnw  IN  T.  H.\I-L  :  The  Papers  that  we  have  had  this  after- 
noon are  exceedingly  interesting,  and  they  are,  I  think  we  may  say, 
historical  Papers,  which  bring  us  to  the  position  in  which  we  find 
ourselves  to-dav.  The  reader  of  the  first  Paper  has  told  us  what  the 
local  authorities'  rights  and  powers  now  are,  and  he  has  led  us  up 
from  that  to  the  power  which  will  exist  under  the  new  town-planning 
scheme.  I  should  like  just  to  make  this  observation  in  order  to  clear 
the  ground.  What  is  popularly  called  the  Town  Planning  .Act  is 
rather  a  Town  Extension  .Act.  It  docs  not  deal  w  ith  the  planning  of 
a  new  citv,  but  it  deals  with  the  laying-out  of  land  which  is  ripe  for 
building  and  which  is  the  extension  of  that  which  has  already  been 
developed.  That  is  an  important  distinction,  and  it  helps  us  very 
much,  I  think,  in  considering  the  whole  question.  I  will  not,  of 
course,  pretend  to  discuss  the  legal  aspect.  The  last  speaker  has 
told  us  that  the  lawyers  have  done  well  for  us  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt 
thcv  have  ;  but  if  anyone  in  this  room  thinks  he  is  going  to  deal  w  ith 


6S2   Transaclioiis  of  ihe  Towu  Phiuniiii^  Conjcrcucc,  Oct.  tqio. 

land  without  the  la\v\cr,  lie  is  i^rcatlv  mistaken.  He  is  a  gentleman 
who  is  present  with  us  and  always  will  be.  There  is  just  one  point 
on  which  I  should  like  to  speak  with  regard  to  the  compensation 
under  the  Ait.  It  is,  I  think,  a  practical  difficulty.  Mr.  Dowdall 
told  us  how  it  works,  and  he  told  us  the  margin  on  which  compen- 
sation will  be  calculated.  But  therc^  is  one  case  that  I  do  not  think 
the  Act  provides  for,  and  that  is  where  it  is  necessary  absolutely  to 
take  the  whole  of  a  man's  property  from  him.  I  am  thinking-  of  a 
roadside  cottager,  a  man  who  may  have  been  a  squatter  originally. 
For  the  amenity  of  the  district  it  is  undoubtedly  desirable  that  his 
property  should  be  removed  ;  but  I  do  not  see  how  under  the  Act  that 
is  going  to  be  dealt  with.  One  of  the  other  difliiculties  that  wc  have 
to  consider  is,  of  course,  the  Regulations  ;  but  that,  I  suppose,  is 
not  before  the  meeting  to-day.  Now  I  will  turn  to  Mr.  OuenncH's 
Paper,  which  was  exceedingly  interesting,  because  he  gave  us  all 
the  difficulties  w^hich  have  existed  in  the  past  and  up  to  the  present 
in  dealing  with  land.  But  I  would  venture,  w'ith  great  respect  to 
him,  to  say  that  it  is  not  in  the  leasehold  system  any  more  than  it 
is  in  the  freehold  system  that  you  get  all  these  misfortunes  for 
anybody  who  deals  with  land.  The  leasehold  system  is  very  much 
blamed,  but  I  think  the  leasehold  system  has  been  the  only  system 
on  which  the  ordinary  poor  man  could  possibl}'  build  at  all.  wSee 
how  convenient'  it  is.  Instead  of  having  to  pay  down  a  large  sum 
for  land  he  pays  by  the  instalment  system  for  the  possession  of 
the  land  for  a  long  period  :  in  other  words,  he  pays  what  is  commonly 
called  a  rental.  Instead  of  getting  the  actual  fee-simple  for  ever 
and  ever,  he  gets  the  beneficial  occupation  for  loo  years,  or  as  the 
case  may  be.  The  convenience  of  that  is  great.  I  have  had  within 
my  own  practice  a  case  where  a  client  of  mine  built  a  very  large 
building.  He  had  purchased  the  freehold,  but  as  soon  as  he  had 
finished  the  building  it  was  convenient  to  him  to  convert  it  into 
a  leasehold,  and  he  elected  to  pay  a  ground  rent  because  it  paid  him 
better  than  to  hold  the  fee-simple.  In  this  way,  on  the  basis  of 
ground  rent,  he  got  money  for  3  per  cent,  which  he  could  use  for 
other  purposes  to  pay  him  10  per  cent.  That  shows  that  the  lease- 
hold system  is  not  such  an  iniquity  as  some  people  say.  Further, 
the  leasehold  system  has  the  great  advantage  that  it  is  practically 
the  only  system  by  which  one  owner  is  protected  from  an  adjacent 
owner  doing  him  an  injury.  Let  me  give  you  an  illustration.  vSuppose 
I  bought  the  fee-simple  of  a  house  in  Belgrave  Square,  and  I  chose 
to  make  it  into  a  draper's  shop.  That  would  be  a  gross  breach  of 
the  amenities  of  the  district.  It  would  send  down  the  value  of  all  the 
property  round  immensely,  and  all  the  character  of  the  place  would 
be  destroyed  ;  but  by  taking  a  lease  I  am  prevented  from  injuring  my 
neighbour.  Therefore  the  leasehold  system  has  many  advantages 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  person  who  occupies  the  house,  and 
that  is  the  point  of  \icw  which  I  think  the  majority  of  us  would  rather 
consider  than  the  point  of  view  of  the  owner.  Then  Mr.  Quennell 
spoke  of  another  thing — namely,  that  in  developing  an  estate  it 
always  led  to  increase  in  value.  That  is  a  happy  result  which  I 
am  sure  every  landowner  would  hope  for,  l)ut  I  will  give  you  an 
illustration  that  is  witliin  the  knowledi?e  of  ever\]wdv  round  London. 


Lc^islalive  Cojuiilious.  683 

Take  Sydenham  Hill,  take  Denmark  Hill.      It  is  no  exagg^eration  to 
say  that  the  house  values  of  those  places  have  gone  down  certainly 
50  per  cent,  within  the  last  thirty  years.     I  know  of  many  cases.     I 
know,  for  instance,  of  a  case  where  the  cost  of  building  was  between 
;^,30,ooo   and   ;^,"4o,ooo,    and    the   price   realised   was   only   ;£^io,ooo. 
There   is   a   house   at    Dulwich   which   cost  ;^50,ooo  which   has   just 
been  sold  for  ^,12,000.     That  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  leasehold 
system  ;   it  has   nothing  to  do  with  the  development   system.      It   is 
simply   that   the    fashions   of  people   have   changed.     The   man   who 
wanted    to    Vwv    within    live    miles    of    London    now    goes    out    much 
further,  and  the  result  is  that  all  suburban  values  go  down.     So  the 
development  does  not  come  in  a  (hange  in  the  method  c>f  holding 
land.      It  comes  in  the  ordinary  expansion  of  a  city  in  the  direction  in 
which  its  needs  will  go.      A  suggestion  was  made  as  to  a  scheme  of 
insurance  for  Ijuying  houses.     As  the  last  speaker  has  told  you,  the 
principle  on  which  the  (iarden  City    Trusts  go  is  that  no  man  may 
become  his  own  owner.      I  think  I  am  right  in  saying,  and  I  shall  be 
corrected  if  I  am  wrong,  that  on  the  Hampstead  Estate  and  on  other 
similar  estates  the  theory  of  th(>  matter  is  to  promote  a  community  of 
interest  in   it   for  everybody,   and  that  everybody  should  become  an 
owner  in  common  with   all  the  other  people  on  the  estate,   so  that 
nobody  has  his  own  house,  but  everybody  has  a  little  piece  of  every 
house  on   the  estate.     That   is   the  principle  which   it   is  hoped  will 
draw  people  closer  together,  and  will  make  the  man  who  pays  ;^ioo 
a  year  and  the  man  who  pays  ;^^30  a  year  have  the  same  interest  in 
common — the  interest  of  the  estate.      I  hope  and  think  that  it  has  a 
great  future  before  it;  but  it  is  all  an  argument  against  a  private 
person   buving    llie   particular   house    in    whic-h    he   lives.      I    am    not 
saying  that  that  is  wrong,  but  I  think  it  is  quite  right  that  a  man 
should  have  his  own  house  if  he  is  able  to  buy  it,  but  if  he  does  buy  it 
he  ought  to  buy  it  subject  to  restrictive  covenants  so  that  he  cannot 
injure  his  neighbour.      With  regard  to  the  amenities  of  the  district, 
we  must  remember,  as  Mr.  Rurns  reminded  us  yesterday,  that  in  the 
past  these  amenities  were  largely  considered.      He  told  us  that  there 
were  400  open  squares  in  the  heart  of  London,  and  that  they  were  so 
left  by   the  enlightened   self-interest  of  the  landowner.        That  is  a 
perfectly   legitimate   thing,   becau.se   it   means   not  considering   your 
own  selfish  ends,  but  trying  to  consider  everybody  around  you  when 
vou  are  dealing  with  your  own  interests.      It  is  that  which  has  made 
Knglishmen  move  the  world.     There  are,  of  course,  large  numbers  of 
landowners  who  simply  buy  a  piece  of  land  in  order  to  create  ground 
rent.     Now  those  are  the  people  v/ho  liave  made  landowning  a  re- 
proach.    They  simply  buy  land  in  order  to  make  as  much  out  of  it  as 
they  can,  and  they  permit  houses  to  be  crowded  on  it  in  a  way  which 
is  disgraceful  and  discreditable   in  order  that  they   may  get   large 
ground  rents.     Rut  they  are  not  the  landowner  as  he  is  generally 
known.     They  are  the  commercial  persons  who  buy  land  just  as  they 
would  boots,  or  nuts,  or  sugar,  or  anything  else,  to  make  as  much 
profit  as  they  can  out  of  it.      It  is  they  who  have  brought  discredit 
upon  landowners.     The  bigger  landowners,  whether  they  are  public 
bodies     or     private     individuals,    generally   put   conditions    on    th.  ir 
land    so    that    vou     shall    not    build     so    close    as    to    create    slum 


684  Tram^octious  of  the  Tniini  Plauuiu^  C(^uicrcucc,  Oci.  iqio. 

properties,  and  that  you  sliall  have  abundant  air  all  round  vour 
buildings.  I  think  I  may  venture  to  put  a  little  personal  note  into 
the  matter.  I  have;  the  honour  of  being-  Chairman  of  the  (lovernors 
of  the  Dulwich  Colleg^e  Estates,  and  there  not  only  do  we  act  up 
to  these  rules,  but  every  plan  of  a  house  is  submitted  to  the  actual 
Board  of  Governors  before  it  is  accepted  ;  and  we  reject  a 
plan  immediately  if  it  is  not  everything  that  it  should  be  in  regard 
to  hygienic  matters  ;  and  we  are  striving  to  raise  the  artistic  level  also. 
We  have  lo-acre  pieces  of  land  all  o\er  the  estate  for  plaving  fields 
interspersed  amongst  our  houses.  That  is  the  way  in  which  large 
estates  are,  and  should  be,  developed,  and  it  is  on  those  lines  that  I 
hope  garden  cities  and  similar  undertakings  will  proceed.  \\'e  shall 
then  get  a  great  benefit  from  this  Act,  because  I  do  look  upon  this  Act 
as  a  very  valuable  .\c\.  indeed.  I  look  with  great  hope  to  a  future 
when  we  shall  see  our  people  living  in  more  comfort ;  they  will  be 
spread  further  out,  and  they  will  have  pleasurable  surroundings  such 
as  will  raise  the  tone  of  the  boys  and  girls  and  the  fathers  and  mothers 
of  the  future,  and  we  shall  be  a  hardier,  a  noisier,  and,  I  hope  ever, 
a  thoroughly  loyal  race. 

Mr.  Howard  IMartix  :  I  am  glad  to  take  this  opportunity  of  ex- 
pressing what  1  think  is  the  feeling  of  everyone  here  in  regard  to  the 
readers  of  the  two  Papers  who  have  opened  this  discussion.  As  a 
layman  I  feel  very  great  diffidence  in  saying  anything  as  to  the  legal 
Paper,  but  I  .should  like  to  say  that  there  is  very  great  truth  in  one 
remark  at  any  rate,  and  that  is  that  the  common-law  system,  the 
system  by  which  our  leasehold  estates  have  been  developed,  has  only 
broken  down,  where  it  has  broken  down,  because  of  the  limited  areas 
over  which  it  has  been  exercised.  I  thought  there  was  one  mistake 
in  that  Paper,  if  I  might  be  bold  enough  to  say  so.  I  understood  the 
reader  of  the  Paper  to  say  that  the  compensation  payable  to  a  land- 
owner in  respect  of  a  scheme  was  to  be  arrived  at  by  taking  the  value 
of  the  estate  before  the  scheme  was  made  and  afterwards,  and  the 
difference  would  be  the  compensation.  Some  qualifications  followed 
which  I  did  not  quite  catch,  but  I  did  not  hear  one  qualification 
mentioned,  and  that  is  that  the  Act  of  Parliament  provides  that  no 
compensation  is  to  be  paid  to  a  landowner  in  respect  of  any  damage 
his  estate  may  suffer  in  value  on  account  of  limitations  under  the  scheme 
of  the  character  or  the  number  of  houses  which  are  to  be  put  upon 
it.  Now  it  is  quite  possible  that  a  landowner's  land  might  be  very 
seriously  depreciated  in  value  by  there  being  required  to  be  put  on  the 
whole  area  including  his  land  a  class  of  house  for  which  his  land  was 
not  most  valuable.  That,  I  suppose,  is  an  inevitable  result.  An  Act 
like  this,  of  course,  is  for  the  public  good,  and  it  is  unavoidable  that 
some  people  should  suffer  by  it,  and  those  who  suffer  in  that  way  must 
take  their  loss  with  public  spirit ;  but  it  may  be  a  very  real  loss,  and  I 
think  I  am  right  in  saying  that  the  Act  most  distinctly  provides  that 
no  compensation  is  to  be  paid  for  a  loss  caused  in  that  way.  I  think 
tliat  we  cannot  take  to  ourselves  any  hope  that  the  valuations  under 
the  Finance  Act  1910  are  going  in  any  way,  or  to  any  consider- 
able extent,  to  affect  prices  paid  for  land  taken  under  compulsory 
powers  hereafter.  Valuations  are  to  be  made  as  on  a  particular  date, 
30th  April  1909.     A  good  deal  of  water  flows  under  the  bridges  in  a 


Legislative  LoiidUioiis.  685 

year,  and  it  does  not  take  loiii,^  to  alter  the  conditions  of  the  value  of 
land — in  urban  districts,  at  any  rate — very  considerably.  It  might 
well  be  that  a  very  few  years  hence  the  valuations  made  in 
1909  will  prove  to  be  very  little  guide  as  to  the  compensation 
which  would  have  to  be  paid  by  public  authorities  or  by  other 
bodies  possessing  compulsory  powers  for  land  which  thev  wish  to 
acquire,  especially  as  those  valuations  must  necessarily  exclude  from 
consideration  a  great  many  matters  which  would  have  to  be  taken 
into  account  in  assessing  the  compensation  in  such  circumstances. 
I  must  confess  I  could  not  quite  agree  with  the  doleful  view  which 
was  taken  by  the  reader  of  the  second  Paper,  who  seems  to  have  had 
a  painful  experience.  His  experience  of  building  so  far  has  evidently 
been  in  regard  to  estates  developed  by  mere  speculators,  who,  as  the 
last  speaker  said,  are  men  who  buy  building  land  and  deal  with  it  as 
they  would  with  sugar  or  tea  or  indiarubber,  men  who  desire  to  get 
the  last  pound  out  of  their  speculation,  without  any  reference  to  decent 
feeling  for  their  lessees  or  neighbours  or  for  anybody  else ;  with 
architects  acting  as  surveyors  to  the  estates  who  did  not  know  a  good 
house  from  a  bad  one  ;  with  persons  financing  the  estates  who  were 
so  lost  to  their  o\\  n  best  interests,  to  say  nothing  of  decent  feeling  for 
their  fellow-creatures,  that  they  desired  to  get  poor  builders  on  to 
the  estates  so  that  they  might,  when  they  failed,  get  their  houses  into 
their  own  hands.  If  that  has  been  his  experience  one  cannot  wonder 
that  he  takes  an  extremely  doleful  \\c\\-  of  the  effect  of  our  present 
system.  Iiut  there  is  another  view.  The  leasehold  system  properly 
administered  on  large  estates  has  done  exactly  in  other  localities 
what  the  Town  Planning  Act  is  now  going  to  do ;  and,  as  the  last 
speaker  very  wisely  said,  it  is  precisely  because  the  Town  Planning 
Act  secures  the  freeholders  of  large  estates  against  injury  from  small 
speculators  and  small  freeholders,  whom  the  reader  of  the  second 
Paper  so  eloquently  described,  that  the  Town  Planning  Act  is  so 
desirable.  If  you  take,  for  instance,  the  town  of  Eastbourne,  it  is 
practically  owned  by  two  freeholders  and  developed  entirely  on  the 
leasehold  s}stem.  It  is  a  town  without  a  slum,  and  an  example  of 
town  planning  that  any  town  might  envy.  Look  at  the  improvements, 
without  the  assistance  of  a  penny  of  public  money,  made  on  the 
Grosvenor  Estate  in  Grosvenor  Gardens,  the  rebuildings  round  Mount 
Street  and  on  other  parts  of  the  estate.  That  was  only  possible,  as  the 
reader  of  the  first  Paper  \ery  wisely  said,  because  non-limitation  of 
the  area  is  necessary  for  the  beneficial  working  of  the  common-law 
svstem,  and  in  these  cases  it  was  to  control  a  large  area.  Again,  to 
go  dow  n  to  smaller  property,  some  of  the  worst  slums  of  London  have 
been  swept  away  on  the  Bedford  School  Estate,  and  replaced  by 
excellent  houses  for  working  men,  by  the  operation  of  the  leasehold 
system,  enabling  comparatively  large  areas  to  be  dealt  with  at  one 
time,  unaffected  by  the  speculative  operations  of  the  kind  of  gentleman 
with  whom  the  reader  of  the  second  Paper  has  so  unfortunately  been 
brought  into  contact.  1  feel  a  great  difficulty  in  speaking  about 
registration  of  title.  We  have  been  reminded  very  severely  that 
laymen  ought  not  to  talk  about  law.  I  can  only  say  that  all  the 
experience  I  have  had  of  registered  titles  is  directly  contrary  to  the 
experience  of  the  reader  of  the  Paper.     I  ha\e  known  estates  where 


686  Trausactiuus  of  the  Touui  Phiujiiiig  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

much  was  expected  Iroin  the  registration  of  the  title,  in  which  the 
delays  attending  the  sale  of  small  plots,  owing  to  the  difliculty  of 
altering  the  registers  and  getting  certiiiccites  and  so  forth,  ha\e  been 
so  long  and  the  expense  has  been  so  great  that  the  land  has  been 
deliberately  taken  out  of  the  register  of  title,  and  sold  with  the  title 
which  it  first  had.  As  far  as  my  experience  goes,  and  it  is  somewhat 
long,  I  ha\e  found  it  exceedingly  rare  to  ha\e  to  investigate  forty 
years  of  title  of  urban  property.  The  title  is  generally  limited  to 
something  \ery  far  short  of  that  by  the  reasonable  conditions  of  con- 
tract. And  perhaps  I  ought  not  to  say  so,  but  the  enormous  delays 
and  expense  and  trouble  that  used  ttj  be  incurred  in  old  days  in  prox  ing 
title,  when  lawyers  were  paid  by  the  trouble  they  took  and  not  by 
scale  on  the  amount  of  the  purchase  money,  are  said  to  have  wonder- 
full}  diminished  since  the  mode  of  payment  has  been  altered.  I  am 
told  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  expenses  of  dealing  with  land,  as 
you  go  on  dividing  and  subdividing  it  in  the  case  of  a  registered  title, 
are  far  greater  than  has  been  the  case  in  ordinary  reasonable  circum- 
stances in  dealing  with  land  under  the  old  system. 

Mr.  John  Lindsay  (Glasgow)  :  It  is  a  matter  of  great  regret  to 
me  that  I  was  not  fortunate  enough  to  get  beforehand  copies  of 
the  two  very  interesting  Papers  which  have  been  read  this  afternoon, 
because  one  would  have  followed  with  much  greater  appreciation  the 
points  made  by  the  gentlemen  who  read  those  Papers.  In  regard  to 
the  discussion  that  has  followed,  the  subjects  are  in  themselves  \  ery 
interesting,  but  I  venture  to  think  that  they  do  not  touch  the  more 
important  questions  affecting  representatives  of  corporations  as  to 
the  benefits  that  we  are  told  are. to  be  derived  from,  as  also  the  cost  of, 
carrying  into  operation  the  recent  Town  Planning  Act.  I  happen  to 
be  u  Scottish  lawyer  and  a  Scottish  official,  and  I  therefore  have  an 
academic  interest  in  the  discussions  that  have  taken  place  here  to-day 
in  regard  to  freehold  and  leasehold  and  registration  of  title,  but  here 
my  main  purpose  on  behalf  of  the  Corporation  that  I  represent  is  to 
ascertain  what  is  the  practical  good  that  is  to  accrue  to  the  Corpora- 
tion from  the  operation  of  this  statute.  Now  I  have  considered  the 
statute  very  carefully,  and  I  have  discussed  it  with  other  Scottish 
officials,  and  I  have  had  the  benefit  and  the  pleasure  of  discussing  it 
with  English  officials  and  English  representatives,  and  it  seems  to 
me  that  everyone  is  more  or  less  in  a  state  of  doubt  and  uncertainty  ; 
and  therefore  I  think  tlie  question  that  this  Congress  ought  to  direct  its 
special  attention  to  is  the  remo\al  of  that  doubt  and  that  uncertainty. 
This  Act  has  been  heralded  with  a  great  shouting,  as  if  it  were  to 
create  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  but  all  the  shouting  has  been 
in  vague  generalities.  When  aou  come  down  to  particulars  and  to 
discuss  the  various  sections  of  the  Act  you  find  that  the  difficulties 
arise,  and  that  the  dilFiculties  will  be  practically  as  great,  and  the 
cost  certainly  not  much  less,  if  anything,  than  hitherto.  As  far  as 
I  can  gather,  practically  it  seems  this  :  that  the  local  authority 
will  be  entitled  to  take  an  area,  and,  after  satisfxing  the  Local 
Government  Roard  and  getting  their  consent,  will  be  entitled  to 
proceed  to  lay  out  this  ground.  Now^  at  present  in  Scotland 
if  we  want  to  carry  out  any  improvements  we  can  do  it  by  satis- 
fying   the    Sheriff    of    the    countv,     and     if    he    is    satisfied    that    0 


Legislative  Conditions.  687 

public    iniprovcmcnl    will    be    clTcctrd    he    yivcs     his    aulhoril\,    and 
then    you    proceed    as    under    the    Lands    Clauses    Act.        Hut    here 
you    have    to    satisfy — and    we   in    Scotland    arc   required    to   satisfy 
for    the    first  time    practically — the    Local    Government    Hoard  ;    but 
thereon    the    procedure    is    practically    the    same,    and    the    expense 
really  again  comes  back  on  the  ratepayer,  as  at  present.      Now  the 
dilHculties  are  increased,   and  the  improbability  of  carrying   out  the 
provisions  of  this  Act  is  also  increased  when  you  consider  that  it  is 
pro\  Ided  that  one  local  authority  may  endeavour  to  carry  out  a  scheme 
that  encroaches  on   the   territory  of   another  local   authority  ;   or,    it 
may  be,  carry  out  a  scheme  that  is  wholly  within  the  territory  of  an 
adjoining  local  authority.     It  seems  to  me  that  there  grave  difliculties 
will  arise,   and  to  clear  away  these  difficulties  should   really  be  the 
purpose  of  such  a  Congress  as  this.     I  do  confess  that  I  cannot  say, 
even  after  yesterday's  public  lecture  in  the  Guildhall  or  the  discussion 
to-day,  that  much  of  my  difficulty  and  doubt,  if  any,  has  been  removed, 
and  it  seems  to  me,  as  in  a  higher  aspect  of  another  question,  that 
each  local  authority  and  each  official  will  require  to  work  out  their 
own  salvation  under  this  Act,  if  they  are  going  to  get  it  through  the 
medium  of  this  Act.     At  the  same  time,  I  appreciate  very  much  the 
Papers  that  were  read  to-day,  especially  that  by  Mr.  Dowdall  on  the 
cjuestion  of  compensation,  and  I  look  forward  with  very  great  interest 
to  getting  a  copy  of  that  Paper,   so  as  to  give  it,   along  with  Mr. 
Quennell's  Paper,  that  careful  attention  which  it  deserves  and  which 
the  subject  demands.      I   suggest,   however,   that  any  speakers  who 
follow  might  try  to  get  over  the  difficulties  that  do  present  themselves. 
Even  the  bye-laws  by  the  Local  Government  Board,  which  have  been 
the  subject  of  a  special  conference,  are,  as  it  seems  to  me,  an  outrage 
upon  the  subject,  and  show  the  difficulties  at  the  very  threshold  of 
trying  to  get  at  the  alleged  benefits  under  this  Act. 

Mr.  J.  A.  Crowther  (Southampton)  :  Mr.  Chairman,  I  speak  on 
behalf  of  another  Council.  I  am  glad  my  friend  from  Scotland 
attempted  to  divert  the  tide  of  this  discussion  into  a  channel  which, 
however  interesting  to  many  of  us,  I  think  was  getting  rather  wide  of 
the  mark  ;  I  mean,  we  are  getting  a  little  too  far  ahead  of  the  question. 
Now  representatives  of  local  authorities  have  initial  difficulties  to 
face  before  they  get  to  the  question  of  investigating  title,  speak- 
ing from  a  practical  consideration  of  the  measure.  The  matter 
that  appeals  to  my  Council,  or  to  the  committee  of  my  Council, 
is  the  question  of  cost.  They  have  to  face  ratepayers,  and  un- 
doubtedly the  first  question  they  will  ask,  as  representatives  of  those 
ratepayers,  is  :  How  much  of  this  is  going  to  be  charged  upon  the  dis- 
trict rate?  That  is  one  of  the  first  estimates  that  I,  as  clerk  to  a  local 
authority,  in  administering  this  Act,  have  to  lay  before  my  Council. 
Another  difliculty,  I  think,  that  we  have  to  face  is  the  maze  into 
which  the  Local  Government  Board  have  led  us  with  regard  to  these 
Regulations.  I  think  that,  seeing  this  is  a  measure  promoted  by 
the  Local  Government  Board,  at  all  events  they  might  have  attempted 
to  have  simplified  the  procedure.  I  am  not  attempting  to  criticise  the 
writer  of  the  first  Paper,  but  he  passed  over  those  Procedure  Regula- 
tions in  a  very  calm  manner.  I  think  if  he  comes  to  study  them  care- 
fullv  he  will  not  be  quite  so  satisfied  that  they  are  as  easy  as  he  made 


688   7'raiiscictioiis  of  the  Toioii  Pluiiniiig  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

out  to  be.  At  all  excnts,  1  think  that  upon  that  point  w  c  might  have 
expected  the  Local  Government  Board  to  have  simplified  the  procedure 
that  we  have  to  go  through.  Now  with  regard  to  the  point  raised 
by  m\  friend  from  Scotland  which  referred  to  the  question  of  invading 
the  territory  of  another  local  authority  :  of  course,  this  is  a  compre- 
hensive measure,  and  it  is  not  altogether  satisfactory  to  plan  out  land 
in  our  own  district,  but  we  have  to  consider  how  it  will  be  affected  by 
land  in  an  adjoining  district  which  may  eventually  be  brought  into  our 
district ;  and  therefore  from  that  point  of  view  it  is  quite  natural — in 
fact,  it  is  imperative — that  we  should  consider  the  question  of  the  ad- 
joining territory.  Of  course,  we  cannot  deal  with  that  territory  without 
the  adjoining  Council  having  a  right  of  appeal  to  the  Local  Government 
Board,  so  I  think  in  that  respect  the  adjoining  local  authority  is  pro- 
tected. Now  .there  is  one  aspect  of  this  question  which  I  thought 
perhaps  the  writer  of  the  first  Paper  might  have  touched  upon  a  little 
more  than  he  did,  and  that  is  the  question  between  the  Town  Planning 
Act  and  the  Developments  and  Improvements  Act.  I  do  not  agree  with 
the  writer  of  the  first  Paper  that  this  Developments  and  Improvements 
Act  is  essentially  a  rural  Act.  To  my  mind  it  deals  with  urban  areas, 
because,  of  course,  you  remember  that  in  this  Act,  where  you  get  an 
urban  area  where  the  streets  are  so  congested  that  the  through  traffic 
has  difhculty  in  passing,  there  is  a  possibility  under  the  Act  of  getting  a 
grant  towards  making  a  loop  or  a  by-pass  road.  Now  here  is  where 
the  two  Acts  may  work  in  operation.  In  forming  a  by-pass  or  loop 
road  naturally  you  go  on  the  outskirts  of  your  town,  and  you  possibly 
go  through  undeveloped  land.  Now  in  my  case  we  are  endeavouring 
to  work  the  two  Acts  together.  I  have  been  in  communication  with 
the  Road  Board,  and  they  rather  appreciate  the  view  that  I  take — • 
that  if  my  authorit}',  in  constructing  this  new  loop-road  through  un- 
developed land,  can  bring  together  a  town-planning  scheme  and  have 
this  road  as  one  of  the  thoroughfares  to  be  dealt  with  under  the 
scheme,  at  all  events  we  shall  be  doing  a  very  good  thing.  I  simply 
throw  out  that  suggestion  to  other  local  authorities  for  their  con- 
sideration. I  do  not  wish  to  detain  you  any  further,  but  I  thought 
that  I  might  possibly  turn  the  course  of  the  discussion  to,  at  all  events, 
a  point  that  might  be  a  little  more  interesting  to  local  authorities  than 
it  was  at  the  outset. 

Mr.  Henry  W.  Robinson  (Wallasey)  :  There  is  one  point 
I  would  like  to  mention.  The  first  speaker,  I  understood, 
meant  to  say  that  if  a  man's  property  was  interfered  with  to 
his  disadvantage  he  would  receive  no  compensation.  I  presume 
he  meant  that  he  would  be  paid  the  value  of  his  property, 
but  would  receive  no  further  compensation.  Now  if  that  is 
so  where  you  have  to  deal  either  with  local  authorities  or  with 
proprietors  of  land,  I  think  that  the  sense  of  fair  play  which 
on  the  whole  exists  in  all  governing  bodies  throughout  the  country 
would  prevent  the  application  of  the  Town  Planning  Act  if  it  inter- 
fered with  a  man's  property  without  properly  compensating  him.  We 
have,  of  course,  as  all  other  members  have,  to  deal  with  good  land 
proprietors  and  bad  land  proprietors.  The  local  authority  of  our  dis- 
trict— Wallasey,  Liverpool — has  increased,  I  think,  more  than  any 
other  district  in  England  for  its  area ;  it  has  had  the  honour  of  receiv- 


Legislative  Conditions.  bSc, 

ing  the  Hrst  Charter  oi  Khig  George  V.,  and  we  Iiave  had  to  deal  with 
all  kinds  of  landlords,  some  good  and  some  bad  ;  but  I  think  the 
opinion  that  any  local  authority  would  hold  w  ould  be  that  even  a  bad 
landlord  should  not  be  treated  unjustly  and  his  property  taken  without 
compensation. 

Mr.  Hawkswokj  II  :  Mr.  Chairman,  I  only  want  to  raise  two  ques- 
tions. One  is  with  regard  to  a  point  mentioned  by  Mr.  Dowdall.  I 
understood  him  to  say  that  it"  a  local  authority  purchased  land  under 
this  scheme  they  would  be  compelled  to  sell  it,  and  could  not  erect 
houses  for  the  working  classes  on  that  land. 

Mr.  Chalonkk  Dowdall,  replying  to  points  raised  in  the  discus- 
sion,   said  :    I   have   a   great  many   questions   to  answer,   and    I   w  ill 
deal   with   them    as   rapidly    as    I   can.      The   first   speaker   has   said 
that  I  have  not  distinguished  sufficiently  between  rural  and  urban 
districts.     Well,  I  tried  to  do  so.     The  powers  that  are  given  by  the 
Public  Health  Act,  to  which  I  alluded,  are  powers  applying  to  urban 
districts  only.     Rural  districts  have  practically  no  powers  in  regard  to 
matters  of  this  kind.     The  highway  authorities  in  rural  districts  have 
power  to  buy  land  to  enlarge  a  road,  but  not  in  order  to  make  a  new 
road,  and  that  power  is  given  by  the  Development  Act.     That  was  one 
of  my  reasons  for  saying  that  I  thought  the  De\elopment  Act,  although 
in  its  terms  applicable  both  to  rural  and  urban  districts,  would  probably 
apply  to  rural  districts,  because  in  urban  districts  there  already  exists 
power  in  the  urban  authority  to  widen  roads  and  to  make  new  roads. 
Another  speaker  alluded  to  the  re-planning  of  towns.      He  said  that 
the  Town  Planning  Act  concerned  only  land  which  was  in  process  of 
development.     Well,  to  begin  with,  it  does  not ;  that  is  to  say,  there 
is  power  to  include  in  the  area  of  the  scheme  land  which  is  already 
built  upon  if  it  is  necessary  to  do  so  for  the  purposes  of  the  scheme. 
As  regards  re-planning,   apart  from  that  provision,  the  main  power 
undoubtedly  lies  in  urban  aulhoritjes  and  in  the  powers  that  they  have 
apart  from  the  Town  Planning  Act.     They  have  the  powers  to  which 
I  have  alluded  ;  they  can  buy  land  to  make  and  widen  streets ;  they 
are  obliged  to  erect  public  buildings ;  and  they  have  power  to  develop 
housing  schemes.     In  all  these  ways  they  have  a  power  of  re-planning 
towns,  though  undoubtedly  where  compulsory  power  is  required  they 
have  to  get  either  Parliamentary  power  or,  what  is  the  same  thing, 
power  under  a  provisional  order.     Another  speaker,  the  gentleman 
from  Wallasey,  referred  to  compensation.     He  said  I  had  suggested 
that  circumstances  might  arise  where  a  scheme  might  be  promoted 
without  anv  compensation  being  payable.     I  think  that  is  so  ;  but  the 
experience  of  many  landowners  and  of  some  corporations  has  been 
that  the  best  way  to  develop  property   is  often  the  most  profitable 
financially  ;  and  it  may  be  that  no  injury  would  be  done  to  a  landowner 
by  putting  certain  restrictions  upon  the  land  that  he  is  de\cloping. 
It  often   happens,    as   we   know,    that   a   man   developing   land   puts 
restrictions  on  the  leases  which  he  makes  and  the  agreements  whicii 
he  makes  for  the  express  purpose  of  maintaining  the  value  of  the  land. 
But  undoubtedly  some  loss  may  fall  upon  a  landowner  for  which  he 
will  receive  no  compensation  ;  that  is  to  say,   where  conditions  are 
reasonable  for  the  amenity  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  yet  those  con- 
ditions are  put  in  circumstances  where  they  will  not  make  a  financial 


6yo   1  raiisacliDiis  oj  Ihc  T()U')i  I'lciiiiiing  Coujcrcncc,  Oct.  1910. 

return.  I'herc  tlie  landowner  w  ill  sulTcr  and  he  will  ^et  no  compensa- 
tion. Another  .speaker,  from  Scotland,  said  that  the  tow  n-plannini^ 
scheme  was  reall}'  a  luxury,  because  there  are  alread\-  powers  of  im- 
provement which  can  be  put  in  force,  in  Kng^land  under  Provisional 
Orders,  and  in  Scotland  through  the  Sheriff.  But  the  Town  Planning 
Act  is  not  only  to  effect  impro\ements  in  existing-  areas  ;  it  is  also  to 
control  the  development,  and  principally  to  control  the  development, 
of  new  areas.  Now  at  the  present  time — in  England,  at  least,  and,  I 
thinlv',  in  Scotland — the  only  powers  that  you  have  to  control  the 
de\elopment  of  new  areas  are  the  powers,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  of 
making  bye-laws  and  controlling  the  direction  of  streets,  and  so  on  ; 
beyond  that  there  is  no  power.  The  new  power  that  is  given  here  is 
the  power  to  put  restrictions  upon  the  general  character  of  the  land 
development.  -  Another  speaker  alluded  to  the  Regulations,  and  he 
rather  suggested  that  I  might  not  have  perused  them.  I  have  not 
only  perused  them,  but  I  have  abstracted  them  in  a  form  which 
seemed  to  me  to  be  brief  and  intelligible,  and  I  have  with  me  here  a 
little  pamphlet  that  I  wrote  shortly  explaining-  the  nature  of  the  Town 
Planning  Act  in  popular  words,  and  also  a  note  on  the  Procedure 
Regulations.  AYith  the  leave  of  the  Chairman  I  will  put  a  bundle 
of  them  on  the  table,  and  if  anyone  cares  to  have  a  copy  he  is  at 
liberty  to  take  one.  The  last  speaker  said  something  about  selling  of 
land,  which  I  am  afraid  I  did  not  quite  follow.  Perhaps  he  would  ask 
the  question  again. 

Mr.  Hawksworth  :  In  the  case  of  land  purchased  under  a  scheme, 
can  the  local  authority  utilise  it  for  parks  or  for  the  erection  of  houses 
for  the  working  classes  ?  I  gather  from  your  remarks  that  they  could 
not  do  so.  You  seemed  to  differentiate  between  the  Housing  of  the 
Working  Classes  Act  and  the  Town  Planning  Act. 

Mr.  DowDALL  :  I  think  there  is  in  fact  a  difference.  I  think  that  an 
authority  can  buy  land  for  the  purposes  of  the  Town  Planning  Act, 
and  when  they  have  bought  the  land,  undoubtedly  they  can  use  it 
for  their  own  purposes  for  parks  and  housing  schemes  and  things  of 
that  kind  ;  but  if  a  local  authority  bought  a  piece  of  land,  and  said, 
"  We  are  going  to  build  p£^8o  villas  on  this  land,"  my  impression  is 
that  the  Local  Government  Board  would  not  let  them  borrow-  the 
money  to  do  it.  That  is  my  impression,  but  I  do  not  commit  myself 
to  the  opinion  ;  it  is  only  my  view.  They  certainly  would  not  ha\e 
done  it  before,  and  I  do  not  think  they  will  do  it. 

Mr.  W.  T.  NiCHOLLS  (Gloucester)  :  If  it  is  thought  tliat  a  district 
or  a  town  requires  a  garden  suburb  in  its  near  vicinity,  and  its  local 
authority  does  not  feel  like  taking  up  the  matter,  has  a  private  indi- 
\idual  or  company  the  power,  like  a  local  authority,  to  obtain  compul- 
sory powers  \\'ith  respect  to  land  for  the  construction  of  a  garden 
suburb? 

Mr.  DowDAi.L  :  Yes,  certainly,  ])ut  indirectly.  The  position  is  this. 
A  town-planning  scheme  may  be  promoted  either  by  the  local  authority 
or  group  of  local  authorities,  or  it  may  originate  with  landowners  or 
others  and  be  forced  on  to  the  local  authority.  As  regards  compulsory 
purchase,  that  is  derived  from  the  town-planning  scheme,  which  has 
the  force  of  an  Act  of  Parliament,  and  if  land  has  to  be  bought  for  the 
purposes  of  the  scheme  it  will  be  bought  under  the  scheme,  -u^hoever 


Legislative  Cuiiditious.  691 

may  be  the  original  promoter.  An\onc  may  yo  to  the  Loeal  Govern- 
ment Board  and  make  representations  that  a  town-phmniny^  seheme 
ought  to  be  made  lor  a  eertain  place.  If  the  Local  Government 
Board  think  it  ought  to  be  made  they  can  compel  it  to  be  made. 

The  Chairman  :  Now,  gentlemen,  we  will  oiler  to  the  writers  of 
the  Papers  the  vote  of  thanks  which  has  been  proposed  and  seconded. 
For  myself,  I  express  to  them  my  thanks  for  the  information  which  I 
ha\e  gleaned  from  their  Papers.  It  was  of  great  interest  to  me  to  hear 
Mr.  Dowdall's  Paper,  and  it  has  been  of  assistance,  I  think,  to  all  of 
us.  Some  of  Mr.  Quennell's  fears  I  have  not  realised  myself  during 
my  practice  ;  but  I  do  receive  this  Act  with  a  somewhat  large  amount 
of  pleasure  because  I  lTa\e  liad  so  much  difficulty  myself  at  different 
periods  in  dealing  with  estates  controlled  by  more  than  one  local 
authorit}-.  I  am  ver\  glad  to  hear  that  we  as  individuals  can  advise 
the  owners  of  estates  to  promote  a  scheme,  and  through  the  Local 
Government  Board  force  it  upon  the  local  authorities.  There  are  two 
estates  not  many  miles  from  Croydon  where  we  are  anxious  to  make 
roads  and  sewers  and  everything-  else  entirely  at  our  own  expense, 
but  unfortunately  we  come  within  three  local  authorities,  and  we 
cannot  get  the  three  local  authorities  all  of  the  same  mind  on  all  the 
points  at  the  same  time,  and  I  have  been  for  about  three  years  at  this 
task,  and  I  cannot  get  it  through.  Now  I  ha\  e  a  ray  of  hope  that  this 
Act  is  going  to  help  me  to  get  that  scheme  through  at  an}-  rate. 


0y2    rransiictioiis  oj  Ihc  Tuicn  Plan  inn  ^  dniicrcnce,  Oct.  1910. 


(^,)  THli  PUBLIC  AND  THE  PRIVATE  SURVEYOR; 
TIIEIR  RESPECTIVE  PARTS  UNDER  THE 
HOUSING    AND    TOWN    PLANNING    ACT,    Kjoy. 

By  Sir  Alex.  R.  Stenninc;,  F.R.M^.A.,  Past  President  ol  the 
Surveyors'  Institution. 

As  the  title  of  the  above  Act  indicates,  its  provisions  are  not  confined 
to  Town  Planning,  Part  L,  dealing  with  the  Housing  of  the  Working 
Classes,  containing  iiiuch  that  will  prove  of  value  in  furthering  the 
objects  of  previous  Housing  Acts  and  in  giving  local  authorities 
more  ample  powers  in  the  case  of  insanitary  houses  and  unhealthy 
areas.  There  is,  doubtless,  an  intimate  connection  between  these 
matters  and  the  subject  of  this  Conference,  and  there  can  be  few  of 
my  profession  who  do  not  s\  mpathise  with  the  principle  underlying 
them  ;  but  I  feel  that  I  must  confine  my  remarks  more  particularly  to 
Part  n.  of  the  Act,  which,  as  intimated  by  its  heading,  deals  with 
Town  Planning. 

1  hope  I  may  not  be  suspected  of  ha\  ing  an  axe  to  grind  when  I 
confess  that  my  object  in  troubling  )ou  with  these  few  notes  has 
mainly  been  to  rescue  from  obli\  ion  that  great  body  of  men  who  have 
already  done  so  much  for  the  improvement  and  better  de\  elopment  of 
our  towns  :  I  mean  the  surveyors  to  great  estates. 

My  reading  of  the  Act,  and  the  debates  upon  it  to  which  I  have 
listened,  lead  me  to  conclude  that  the  promoters  of  the  measure 
looked  in  the  main  to  the  surveyors  to  local  "authorities  to  anticipate 
the  future  needs  of  the  community,  and  to  make  provision  for  such 
means  of  access  and  air  spaces  as  may  be  required.  But,  although  I 
wish  to  be  the  first  to  acknowledge  the  services  of  these  gentlemen, 
especially  in  connection  with  the  sanitation  of  our  crowded  cities,  I  do 
not  think  their  training  is  such  as  to  make  them  the  most  fitting 
persons  to  ad\ise  on  these  matters,  nor,  as  a  rule,  do  the  multifarious 
duties  they  are  called  upon  to  perform  give  them  the  leisure  necessary 
to  study  successfully  the  problems  inseparable  from  the  cle\elopment 
of  urban  estates. 

Such  problems,  however,  have  daily  lo  be  dealt  with  by  tlie  sur- 
veyors who  act  for  landed  proprietors,  whose  estates  are  either  already 
entering  the  building  area  or  may  be  expected  to  do  so  in  the  near 
future.  It  is,  I  venture  to  think,  to  the  experience  of  these  men  we 
must  look  rather  than  to  the  surveyors  of  local  authorities  if  the 
objects  of  the  new  Act  are  to  hv  successfully  acliieved.  Where  a  num- 
ber of  estates  are  concerned  in  tlie  development  of  a  town,  \aluable 
work  will  doubtless  be  done  by  the  surxeyors  to  the  local  authorities, 
but  it  will,  I  believe,  be  rather  in  the  direction  of  securing  co-operation 


Thr  Public  aud  Ihc  Private  Surveyor.  G<)p^ 

between  the  representatives  of  the  different  landowners  for  the  future 
benefit  of  the  community  than  in  themselves  attempting^  to  draw  up 
planning-  schemes.  I  have  every  confidence  in  saying  that  in  this 
direction  a  wide  field  for  their  energies  has  been  opened  out  by  the 
Town  Planning  Act. 

Much  has  already  been  done  indi\idually  ;  and  in  planning  new 
towns,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  (iarden  City  at  Lctchworth,  where 
something  like  a  thousand  acres  has  been  laid  out  and  a  new  town 
brought  into  being,  a  freer  hand  is  given  to  those  responsible  for  the 
plans  ;  but  such  opportunities  are  rare.  Bournville  and  Port  .Sunlight 
are  almost  similar  examples,  though  these  were  Taid  out  by  individuals 
with  the  object  of  supplying  dwellings  for  the  workers  in  their  great 
industrial  enterprises.  The  example  at  Hampstead,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  merely  an  extension  of  the  north-west  part  of  London,  and, 
though  dignified  b}-  the  title  garden  city,  is  really  only  a  building 
estate  of  so  many  acres  laid  out  on  modern  principles.  Eastbourne, 
Bournemouth,  and  Folkestone,  to  mention  a  few  only,  afford  instances 
of  the  development  of  mere  villages  into  large  towns,  in  a  manner 
most  beneficial  to  the  community,  and  with  little  or  no  assistance  from 
the  local  authorities,  through  the  broad-minded  and  generous  policy 
of  landowners  in  conjunction  \vith  the  foresight  and  knowledge  of 
their  surveyors.  In  these  towns,  anil  in  many  of  the  estates  surround- 
ing London,  great  care  has  been  shown  in  taking  advantage  of  everv 
natural  feature  of  the  ground,  hard  rectangular  lines  being  avoided 
in  laying  out  the  roads,  and  buildings,  suitable  for  all  classes,  being 
set  back  with  a  view  to  future  possibilities,  and  planned  with  every 
consideration  of  outline  and  good  architectural  treatment. 

In  discussing  this  question  of  town  planning  there  arc  two  points 
which  must  not  be  overlooked.  First,  that  the  area  of  land  built  upon 
annually  in  connection  with  any  given  centre  is  comparatively  small. 
For  instance,  statistics  I  collected  recently  showed  that  the  land 
actually  covered  annually  in  large  towns,  such  as  Liverpool,  Man- 
chester, Bristol,  and  Brighton,  only  approximated  about  lOO  acres 
each,  and  when  it  is  remembered  that  this  amount  is  usually  distri- 
buted over  several  quarters  of  the  town,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  work 
of  town  planning,  while  no  doubt  demanding  a  definite  scheme  for 
main  arterial  routes,  does  not  call  for  detailed  plans  for  any  particu- 
larlv  wide  area.  And,  secondly,  one  must  remember  that  "  the  best- 
laid  schemes  o'  mice  and  men  gang  aft  agley,"  and  that  this  is  not 
less  frequentlv  the  case  in  connection  with  town  planning  than  in  other 
mundane  affairs. 

In  my  experience  of  forty  years  T  can  point  to  many  cases  v.  here 
land  has  been  laid  out  for  building,  and,  in  spite  of  all  that  can  be  done 
to  attract  the  public,  remains  bare  and  unprofitable,  while  each  year 
deferred  interest  makes  greater  Inroads  into  the  capital  which  has 
been  expended  thereon.  \or,  unfortunately,  can  the  reason  for  the 
failure  be  defined  with  certainty  in  the  majority  of  cases.  The  land 
mav  have  appeared  ripe  for  building,  the  owner  may  have  acted  on 
the  best  professional  advice,  but  a  change  of  fashion  or  a  streak  of 
bad  trade  may  upset  the  most  carefully  thought-out  calculation.  For 
these  reasons  I  would  deprecate  local  authorities  pressing  forward 
schemes  affecting  considerable  areas,  necessitating  the  laying  out  of 


6()4   Jransdclions  oj  the  Toiiui  l^Utiniifii^  Coiifc mice,  Oct.  i<jio. 

roads  and  expenditure  of  a  large  amcauit  of  capital,  while  the  move- 
ment of  the  population  is  still  a  matter  of  conjecture. 

In  saying  this  I  must  not  be  taken  to  offer  an  objection  to  pro\  ision 
being  made  for  the  main  roads  which  will  carry  the  through  traffic  of 
the  future.  Such  proxision  I  look  upon  as  of  the  greatest  importance, 
and  both  surveyors  to  local  authorities  and  those  representing  private 
interests  should,  in  my  opinion,  co-operate  to  secure  this  without 
delay.  Existing  roads,  so  far  as  possible,  should  be  adopted  for 
arterial  routes,  and  bye-laws  should  be  made  by  municipal  bodies, 
urban  district  councils,  and  rural  authorities  to  prevent  building  up  to 
the  present  frontages*  for  a  very  considerable  distance  from  all  exist- 
ing centres  of  population.  By  this  means  future  widening  could  be 
secured  at  a  fractional  part  of  the  cost,  which  has  now  so  often  to  be 
provided  in  consequence  of  the  haphazard  conditions  whicli  have  pre- 
vailed in  the  past. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  different  quarters  of  a  town  should  be 
allocated  to  different  classes  of  buildings — one  part  to  manufactories, 
another  to  shops,  and  others  to  dwelling-houses  for  artisans,  profes- 
sional men,  and  the  well-to-do  respectively,  and  the  project  is  certainly 
a  taking  one  at  first  glance.  But  here  Dame  Fashion,  of  who.se 
vagaries  I  have  already  spoken,  again  steps  in  and  refuses  to  be 
driven.  Many  instances  suggest  themselves  of  estates,  which  at  the 
time  of  laying  out  were  considered  suitable  for  a  particular  class  of 
property  and  on  which  large  sums  of  money  were  expended,  losing  the 
character  for  which  they  were  planned  owing  to  an  alteration  in  the 
tastes  and  habits  of  the  community  rendering  them  unsuitable  for 
pre.sent-day  requirements.  With  these  examples  before  us,  I  cannot 
think  that  it  would  be  justifiable  to  impose  upon  owners  the  strict 
limitations  suggested  in  the  development  of  their  property.  Provided 
that  proper  precautions  are  taken  against  overcrowding,  I  think  that 
the  details  of  development  .schemes  may  safely  be  left  to  individual 
initiative,  except,  perhaps,  in  very  special  cases.  I  freely  acknow- 
ledge that  difficulties  might  arise  in  the  case  of  building  estates  pur- 
chased by  speculators,  whose  main  idea  is  to  lav  out  a  number  of 
roads  in  parallel  lines  with  the  object  of  getting  as  man\-  houses  to 
the  acre  as  possible,  and  whose  operations  might  have  an  adverse 
effect  on  adjoining  estates  managed  on  more  enlightened  lines.  But 
speculative  properties  are  usually  limited  in  area,  and  might  well,  I 
think,  be  dealt  with  under  the  powers  given  to  local  autliorities  under 
the  Town  Planning  Act.  At  the  same  time  the  mistake  of  so  manv 
building  by-laws  should  be  avoided,  main  principles  only  being  laid 
down,  and  the  rest  left,  as  I  have  indicated,  to  individual  initiative. 

In  this  Paper  I  have  purposely  refrained  from  going  into  details 
of  town  planning,  such  as,  for  example,  whether  trees  should  be 
planted  in  streets,  whether  artisan  dwellings  should  be  provided  with 
gardens,  and  the  like,  although  I  have  strong  views  on  these  subjects  ; 
my  object  in  putting  together  these  few  notes  being  to  remind  mv 
readers  that  with  the  passing  of  the  Town  Planning  .\ct  the  matter 
has  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  doctrinaire  and  the  theorist  (good 
work  though  they  have  done  in  focussing  the  attention  of  the  public 
on  the  importance  of  the  su1)jcct),  and  must  be  carried  to  a  successful 
issue  by  the  energy,  foresight,  and  experience  of  the  practical  man. 


695 


(4)  TIIK  IIOL'SrXG  AXD  TOWN  PLAXXIXC;  ACT  1909— 
THE  POSSiBILITIRS  OF  SGCTIOX  44. 

By  Harry  S.   Stf.wart. 

Many  local  authorities  are  now  considering-  the  dcYelopmcnt  of  land 
on  what  are  known  as  town-planning-  principles,  either  on  their  own 
initiati\c  or  else  because  a  priYate  owner  has  put  forward  a  scheme. 
In  most  of  such  cases  there  are  proposals  which  are  inconsistent  with 
existing  by-laws,  and  therefore  the  statement  is  usually  made  that  it 
will  be  necessary  to  apply  to  the  Local  Government  Board  for  power 
to  make  a  town-planning-  scheme.  This  application,  with  the  subse- 
quent procedure,  which  has  never  yet  been  g-one  througfh,  appears  to 
iuYolve  so  much  loss  of  time,  and  also  so  much  breaking  of  new 
ground,  that  local  authorities  are  charv  of  beginning-. 

There  is,  however,  another  wa\-,  which  docs  not  so  far  seem  to 
have  been  much  noticed.  The  good  reason  for  desiring-  a  town- 
planning-  scheme  is  probabh  in  most  cases  that  the  existing^  by-laws 
are  objected  to.  A  proposal  for  development  on  wise  and  healthy 
lines  mig^ht  be  carried  out  without  a  town-planning;  scheme  but  for 
the  fact  that  the  streets,  or  some  of  them,  are  of  less  width  than  the 
by-laws  allow,  or  that  the  method  of  constructing  the  houses,  or  of 
ventilating  them,  is  not  in  conformity  with  the  regulations  made  to 
minimise  the  bad  effects  of  allowing  forty  or  fifty  houses  to  the  acre. 

If,  then,  the  existing  by-laws  are  the  obstacle  and  the  housing  of 
the  working  classes  is  the  object,  there  is  a  possible  way  through 
whi(di  mav  be  simpler  than  the  method  of  a  town-planning  scheme, 
with  its  minimum  total  of  twenty-three  weeks  of  expiring  notices. 
Section  44  of  the  Housing,  Town  Planning,  &'C.,  Act  1909  is  not  in 
that  part  of  the  Act  devoted  to  town  planning,  yet  it  offers  a  very 
distinct  opportunity  of  adopting  town-planning  principles,  at  least  in 
cases  where  local  authorities  are  either  on  the  one  hand  favourably 
disposed,  or  on  the  other  hand  rigidly  adhering  to  obsolete  by-laws. 
An  enterprising  local  authority  could  have  its  scheme  in  six  weeks  ; 
an  obdurate  local  authority  might  have  its  by-laws  superseded  by  the 
Local  Government  Board  in  four  months  ;  a  lukewarm  local  authority, 
taking  no  steps  itself,  would  be  the  only  one  to  escape.  Section  44 
is  as  follows  : — 

"  If  the  Local  Government  Board  are  satisfied,  by  local  inquiry  or 
otherwise,  that  the  erection  of  dwellings  for  the  working  classes 
within  anv  borough  or  urban  or  rural  district  is  unreasonably  impeded 
in  consequence  of  any  by-laws  with  respect  to  new  streets  or  buildings 
in  force  therein,  the  Board  may  require  the  local  authority  to  revoke 


6<j6  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  iqto. 

such  bv-l;i\vs,  or  to  make  such  In-laws  as  the  Board  may  consider 
necessary  for  the  remo\  al  ot  the  impe(h'mcnt.  If  the  local  .authority  do 
not  within  three  months  after  such  requisition  comply  therewith,  the 
Board  mav  themselves  revoke  such  by-laws,  and  make  such  new 
by-laws  as  they  may  consider  necessary  for  the  removal  of  the  impedi- 
ment, and  such  new  by-laws  shall  have  effect  as  if  they  had  been  duly 
made  by  the  local  authority  and  confirmed  by  the  Board." 

It  is  not  necessary  that  the  desired  scheme  should  be  one  solely  for 
working--class  houses;  it  is  enough  that  the  erection  of  working-class 
dwellings  is  unreasonably  imjieded  by  the  by-laws.  If  a  local  authority 
or  a  private  landowner  can  show  that  a  demand  for  working-class 
dwellings  exists,  that  a  scheme  for  dexeloping  an  area  would  provide 
a  certain  number  of  such  dwellings — it  may  be  along  with  other  houses 
of  a  larger  class — and'that  the  scheme  would  be  carried  out  if  the 
by-laws  were  altered,  then  there  is  at  least  a  prima  facie  case  for  the 
consideration  of  the  Local  Government  Board.  The  Board  may  then 
order  the  local  authority  to  revoke  the  objectionable  by-laws,  or  to 
make  new  ones,  and  this  must  be  done  within  three  months,  when  the 
way  would  be  clear  to  develop  the  area.  Of  course,  it  will  often 
happen  that  an  alteration  in  the  by-laws  will  not  do  all  that  is  required, 
but  it  is  well  that  the  possibilities  of  this  section  should  be  clearly  seen 
as  an  alternative  to  the  more  comprehensive  and  lengthy  process  of  a 
town-planning  scheme. 

In  conclusion,  there  are  given  from  actual  practice  three  instances 
of  the  kind  of  case  which  could  be  met  by  Section  44  : — 

1.  The  Hendon  Urban  District  Council  has,  like  most  authorities, 
by-laws  regulating  the  construction  of  streets  and  buildings.  Into 
the  area  of  this  local  authority  came  a  new  thing,  the  Hampstead 
Garden  Suburb,  voluntarily  binding  itself  not  to  allow  more  than 
eight  houses  per  acre  on  its  land.  Because  of  this  limitation  the 
Hendon  Council  has  in  its  revised  by-laws  made  special  concessions 
relating  only  to  houses  on  the  Garden  Suburb.  The  meaning  of  this 
is  that  the  old  by-laws,  in  the  words  of  Section  44,  '*  unreasonably 
impeded  "  the  erection  of  houses  on  the  Garden  Suburb,  and  so  the 
Local  Government  Board,  anticipating  the  Town  Planning  Act, 
allowed  the  old  b3-laws  to  be  amended. 

2.  The  second  instance  is  from  the  Rural  District  Council  of 
Hawarden,  Flintshire.  A  scheme  was  put  before  the  Council  for  the 
development,  with  a  limited  number  of  houses  to  the  acre,  of  about 
50  acres  on  lines  approved  by  a  leading  expert.  The  scheme  was 
promoted  by  large  employers  of  labour,  who  knew  the  necessity  of 
providing  more  houses.  The  Council,  sympathetic  though  they  may 
have  been,  found  that  they  had  no  power  under  their  by-laws  to 
sanction  the  internal  roads,  which  were  shown  less  than  36  feet  wide, 
although  through  traffic  was  amply  provided  for  by  a  40-feet  road  all 
round  the  area  and  an  80-feet  boulevard  through  its  centre.  The 
scheme  is  now  again  before  the  Council,  with  the  roads  widened  to 
meet  the  by-laws  and  consequently  to  raise  the  rents.  This  is  another 
clear  case  in  which  the  erection  of  working-class  dwellings  is  un- 
reasonably impeded  in  consequence  of  existing  by-laws.  The  opera- 
tion of  Section  44  would  put  matters  right. 

3.  The  third  case  is  the  one  which  is  often  met  with,  when  a  height 


The  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act.  697 

of  ceiling  is  prescribed  which  may  be  necessary  in  crowded  areas,  but 
which  could  well  be  modified  where  houses  are  sparse.  It  is  obvious 
that  a  restriction  such  as  that  which  operates  alike  in  the  slum  areas 
and  in  the  open  fields  of  Liverpool,  requiring-  every  part  of  the  ceilings 
of  living  rooms  and  first-floor  bedrooms  to  be  9  feet  from  the  floor, 
tends  to  impede  the  erection  of  working-class  dwellings,  or,  indeed, 
any  dwellings.  \\'hatever  increases  the  cost  of  building  impedes, 
building.  The  difficulty  caused  by  a  too  great  minimum  height  of 
ceiling  is  thus  another  example  of  the  use  to  which  Section  44  might 
be  put — not  in  Liverpool,  it  is  true,  which  possesses  Acts  instead  of 
by-laws,  but  in  any  place  where  so  drastic  a  restriction  is  embodied  in 
by-laws. 


z  z 


698  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(5)  TOWN  PLANNING  AB  INITIO. 
By  Ebenezer  PIoward. 

Town  Planning-  may  be  regarded  from  two  points  of  view.  One  may 
consider  existing  towns,  and  devise  plans  for  their  reconstruction  or 
extension ;  one  may  also  devise  plans  for  the  creation  of  entirely  new- 
towns.  1  propose  to  deal  with  the  latter  problem,  but  in  the  light  ot 
a  few  essential  principles  rather  than  from  the  point  of  view  of  an 
expert  in  architecture  or  engineering. 

In  an  old  country  like  England,  when  "  town  planning  "  is  men- 
tioned, existing  towns  and  their  development  are  nearly  always 
thought  of.  For  the  average  man  cannot  readily  bring  himself  to 
believe  that  entirely  new  towns  are  likely  to  be  built  in  this  country, 
except,  perhaps,  in  a  ver)^  few  special  cases.  I  suggest  this  is 
entirely  erroneous  :  that  ere  many  years  have  passed  the  art  of  town 
planning  ab  initio  will  be  practised  on  a  large  scale  in  this  country, 
and  that  this  will  give  a  great  impetus  to  the  practice  of  town  plan- 
ning of  existing  cities,  throwing  also  a  flood  of  light  upon  many 
other  problems.  This  belief  is  based  on  a  few  simple  facts  and  easily- 
established  propositions  : — 

1.  London  is  already  far  too  large  and  too  overcrowded  to  be 
either  as  healthy,  beautiful,  or  desirable  for  business,  pleasure,  or 
residence  as  the  magnificent  site  on  which  it  stands  fully  entitles  it 
to  be. 

2.  Our  country-sides  are  depopulated,  and  need  for  their  proper 
development  some  of  the  excess  of  population  of  London  and  other 
overcrowded  cities. 

3.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  the  twin  problems  of  overcrowded 
city  and  depopulated  country  should  be  dealt  with  simultaneously, 
and  that  population  should  be  attracted  from  places  where  it  is  in 
excess  to  places  where  it  is  deficient. 

4.  This  may  be  done  by  acquiring,  in  districts  where  land  can  be 
obtained  at  a  comparatively  low  cost,  large,  suitable,  and  compact 
areas,  and  by  laying  out  on  such  areas  well-planned  towns  adapted 
to  their  special  features. 

5.  The  chief  features  of  such  plans  would  be  :  (a)  the  assignment 
of  special  areas  (with  suitable  railway  and,  if  possible,  water-carriage 
facilities)  for  factories  and  workshops  ;  for  general  trade  and  busi- 
ness ;  for  cottages  and  larger  houses  ;  for  water,  gas,  and  electric 
power  works ;  for  sewage  disposal ;  for  parks  and  open  spaces  ;  for 
public  buildings,  (b)  Main  arteries,  if  not  already  existing,  should 
be  laid  down,  giving  ready  access  to  neighbouring  towns,  (c)  The 
number  of  cottages  per  acre  should  be  limited.  (d)  Each  town 
should  be  surrounded  by  its  agricultural  belt. 


I'oivn  Planning  ab  inilio.  699 

6.  This  method — now  known  as  the  garden-city  (as  distinct 
from  the  garden-suburb)  method — has  been  adopted  at  Letchworth, 
and,  under  the  very  difficult  conditions  which  naturally  arise  with 
work  done  in  a  new  and  untried  field,  has  already  proved  most  suc- 
cessful and  economical. 

7.  What  has  been  done  at  Letchworth,  on  a  small  scale  and  with 
very  insufficient  resources,  can  and  will  be  repeated  on  a  far  larger 
scale  and  with  more  adequate  resources  of  capital  and  of  talent, 
to  the  great  advantage  of  our  country,  and  perhaps  especially  of 
London. 

If  these  propositions  are  true — and  every  one  of  them  can  be 
clearly  established — it  inevitably  follows  that  the  would-be  planner 
of  London  and  other  over-crowded  cities  should  address  himself  to 
this  method  of  ah  initio  town  planning,  as  supplementing  the  most 
far-reaching  schemes  of  town  planning  within  and  near  such  cities. 

A  few  words  as  to  the  history  of  the  concerted  movement  of  indus- 
trial populations.  In  1884  Professor  Alfred  Marshall  wrote  in  the 
Contemporary  Review  :  '*  Whatever  reforms  be  introduced  into  the 
dwellings  of  the  London  poor,  it  will  still  remain  true  that  the  whole 
area  of  London  is  insufficient  to  supply  its  population  with  fresh  air 
and  the  free  space  that  is  wanted  for  wholesome  recreation.  A  remedy 
for  the  overcrowding  of  London  will  still  be  wanted.  There  are  large 
classes  of  the  people  of  London  whose  removal  into  the  country  would 
be,  in  the  long  run,  economically  advantageous.  It  would  benefit 
alike  those  who  move  and  those  who  remain  behind.  ...  Of  the 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  or  more  hired  workers  In  the  clothes- 
making  trades  by  far  the  greater  part  are  very  poorly  paid  and  do 
work  which  it  is  against  all  economic  reason  to  have  done  where 
ground  rent  is  high." 

In  1887  Messrs.  Lever  Brothers  adopted  this  principle.  Finding 
their  site  at  Warrington  too  small  for  their  growing  business,  they 
gradually  acquired  and  systematically  laid  out  230  acres  of  land,  ot 
which  90  are  now  occupied  by  their  works  and  140  by  the  village  of 
Port  Sunlight. 

In  1889  Messrs.  Cadbury,  "  crowded  out  "  of  Birmingham,  re- 
moved their  works  to  Bournville,  a  few  miles  distant,  and  there  laid 
the  foundations  of  another  garden  village — Bournville — now  extend- 
ing over  468  acres. 

These  two  villages,  Port  Sunlight  and  Bournville,  embodied  on  a 
bolder  and  more  generous  scale  than  had  been  seen  in  this  country  for 
manv  years  some  of  those  principles  of  foresight  and  care  for  the 
well-being  of  the  people  that  are  the  very  essence  of  town  planning  ; 
and  the  work  there  done  prepared  the  way,  as  no  amount  of  theorising 
could  have  done,  for  yet  more  comprehensive  action. 

The  next  stage  in  the  process  of  organised  migration  from 
crowded  centres  to  new  areas  was  to  broaden  the  idea  of  a  well- 
planned  village  of  one  industry  into  the  idea  of  a  well-planned  town  ■ 
of  many  industries,  and  to  introduce  also  the  added  elements  of  resi- 
dential and  agricultural  populations,  so  as  to  give  more  life,  colour, 
variety,  and  stability  to  the  enterprise,  and  to  combine  the  advantages 
of  town  and  country  life. 

To  carry  out  such  a  conception  necessarily  involved  the  purchase 

z  z  2 


700  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

of  a  larg-e  area.  The  site  for  a  garden  city  must  be  large  enough 
not  only  for  a  good-sized  town  of  30,000  to  50,000  persons,  but  also 
to  provide  a  wide  belt  around  the  town,  for  allotments,  small  hold- 
ings, large  farms,  dairies,  &c. 

This  idea  I  set  forth  at  some  length  in  "  Garden  Cities  of 
To-morrow,"  published  in  1898,  and  soon  afterwards  I  founded  the 
Garden  City  Association,  which,  in  turn,  formed  the  First  Garden  City 
Limited.  As  a  result  of  about  seven  years'  practical  work  there  have 
been  attracted  to  the  Garden  City  at  Letchworth  (which  consists  of 
3,818  acres)  numerous  and  varied  industries — printing,  bookbinding, 
engineering,  motor-cars,  Swiss  embroidery,  weaving,  photographic 
paper,  lenses,  bioscopes,  sawmill,  steam  laundry,  pottery,  confec- 
tionery, organs,  corsets,  ge3Sers,  scientific  instruments,  joinery,  and 
agricultural  specialities^  And  these  industries  have  migrated  to 
Letchworth  for  business  reasons — have  been  drawn  thither  by  the 
solid  advantages  it  offered.  These  are  :  (i)  Land  at  low  cost,  on  which 
factories  can  be  built  on  the  one-story  principle,  securing  better  light 
and  ventilation  with  easier  supervision  ;  (2)  sites  near  to  railway  sid- 
ings ;  (3)  cheap  water,  gas,  and  electricity  ;  (4)  low  rates ;  (5)  sites  on 
which  cheap  houses  can  be  erected,  so  that  workmen  may  live  in 
cottages  near  to  their  work  and  near  to  their  play,  thus  saving  long, 
tiresome,  and  somewhat  expensive  journeys  twice  a  day,  and  so  that 
they  may  also  be  able  to  take  their  mid-day  meals  with  their  families 
— an  important  point  which  advocates  of  the  garden-suburb  method 
sometimes  overlook. 

The  housing  of  the  working  people  has  been  diflficult,  but  on  the 
whole  has  been  fairly  well  grappled  with.  The  chief  agencies  towards 
the  solution  of  this  problem  have  been  the  Garden  City  Tenants  (a 
co-operative  society),  the  Letchworth  Cottages  and  Buildings  Com- 
pany Limited  (a  subsidiary  company,  which  issues  4  per  cent,  prefer- 
ence shares,  guaranteed  by  the  parent  company,  which  also  subscribes 
15  per  cent,  of  the  capital,  taking  therefor  ordinary  shares)  ;  two 
Cheap  Cottage  Exhibitions,  which  have  been  held  on  the  estates  by 
the  enterprise  of  speculative  builders  and  friends  of  the  movement. 
Still,  I  regret  to  say  that,  owing  to  insufficiency  of  capital,  there  are 
not  a  few  people  working  on  the  estate  who,  at  close  of  day,  go  off 
on  foot  or  bicycle  or  by  rail  to  the  small  towns  and  villages  around. 
This  is  a  pity  ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  shows  conclusively  that,  with 
ample  capital,  Letchworth  would  now  have  had  a  much  larger  popula- 
tion, and  that  the  enterprise  would  have  been  in  every  way  yet  more 
successful.  On  the  other  hand,  the  growth  of  population  in  the 
neighbouring  villages,  and  the  establishment  of  numerous  small  hold- 
ings on  the  Garden  City  estate,  shows  how  mucii  can  be  done  by 
ab  initio  town  planning  to  deal  with  the  problem  of  rural  depopulation. 

A  few  words  as  to  the  organisation  which  has  secured  this  result, 
Bournville  and  Port  Sunlight  were  the  work  of  individual  capitalists 
■  and  employers  of  labour.  Letchworth  is  the  child  of  the  First  Garden 
City,  Limited,  of  which  the  Chairman  is  Mr.  Aneurin  Williams,  M.P. 
The  subscribed  capital  has  gradually  risen  from  ^75,000  to  ^173,000, 
the  loan  capital  being  somewhat  less.  B}-  the  Articles  of  Association 
the  dividend  on  the  capital  is  limited  to  5  per  cent,  cumulative,  and  any 
profits  beyond  these  are  to  be  expended  for  the  benefit  of  the  town  and 
its  inhabitants.     The  land  is  let  uDon  long-  leases. 


Tuivn  Planning  ab  initio.  701 

A  question  of  prnclical  importance  now  arises.  Has  the  enterprise 
paid?  In  the  sense  usually  understood  it  has  not,  up  to  the  present — 
that  is,  the  shareholders  have  not  yet  received  a  dividend,  though,  of 
course,  interest  has  been  regularly  paid  upon  all  loans  as  well  as  to 
the  shareholders  of  the  Cottage  Company.  But,  in  another  and  very 
real  sense,  the  enterprise  has  paid,  for  the  assets  of  the  Company  are 
now  worth  at  least  ;£rioo,ooo  more  than  has  been  expended  upon  the 
estate. 

But  the  founders  of  the  Garden  City  did  not  enter  upon  this  enter- 
prise so  much  with  a  view  to  an  immediate  personal  return  as  with  a 
view  to  earning  a  dividend  for  the  State.  And  already  a  very  large 
dividend  has  accrued  to  the  State  ;  while  the  dividend  to  the  share- 
holders is,  as  they  fully  anticipated  it  would  be,  only  deferred,  and 
is  already  secured.  Seldom  has  money  been  better  invested  or  yielded 
more  substantial  results.  Look  at  our  bill  of  health.  With  a  popu- 
lation increased  in  seven  years  from  400  to  7000,  the  infantile  mor- 
tality rate  of  Letchworth  in  1909  was  31.7  per  thousand  births,  while 
in  London  it  was  107.9  ^"^  in  Manchester  134.  As  most  of  the  chil- 
dren born  in  Letchworth  are  children  of  the  working  population,  this 
is  really  a  marvellous  result,  while  by  creating  conditions  favourable 
to  low  infantile  mortality,  we  are  also  creating  conditions  producing  a 
low  rate  ot  mortality  in  youth  and  through  adult  life. 

London  is  increasing  at  an  enormous  rate.  The  annual  excess 
of  births  over  deaths  amounts  to  about  60,000  persons.  There  is 
also  a  flow  of  population  towards  London,  as  well  as  a  flow 
of  industrial  and  residential  population  from  London.  Travelling  on 
the  main  lines  of  railway,  one  sees  factory  after  factory  springing 
up — factories  which  have  removed  from  London  for  business  reasons. 
But  this  migration  of  factories  and  of  residential  population  is 
taking  place  without  any  attempt  at  town  planning,  or  anything  that 
approaches  scientific  method,  and,  unless  something  be  speedily  done 
on  a  really  large  scale  to  organise  this  haphazard  movement  of 
factories  and  of  residential  population,  further  grave  evils  must  ere 
long  confront  us,  and  golden  opportunities  be  lost  of  creating  really 
good  conditions  on  sound  practical  lines. 

Letchworth  has  shown  conclusively  how  this  problem  can  be  dealt 
with.  It  has  in  some  important  ways  advanced  upon  the  very  fine 
examples  of  Bournville  and  Port  Sunlight,  and  the  question  now 
arises,  Is  not  the  nation  ready  to  make  an  advance  upon  Letchworth? 
Surelv  the  time  for  this  has  now  fullv  come. 


702  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(6)  TOWN  PLANNING  AND  LEGISLATION  IN 
SWEDEN  DURING  THE  LAST  FIFTY  YEARS. 

By  Dr.  Ing.  Lilienberg,  of  Goteberg-,  Sweden. 

When  dealing-  with  Swedish  towns  one  has  to  consider  the  great 
difference  between  them,  and  the  towns  of  most  other  countries  as  far 
as  concerns  the  impression  on  their  growth  of  government  and  legis- 
lation. English  towns  have  specially  developed  more  freely,  and 
as  a  result  of  private  enterprise,  than  those  in  Sweden,  which  are 
more  like  German  towns. 

Perhaps  most  of  you  know  that  one  of  the  main  reasons  why 
Sweden  in  the  seventeenth  century  could  have  been  one  of  the  most 
powerful  of  the  European  States  was  that  its  government — thoug^h 
always  democratic — was  strong-,  while  the  organisation  of  Russia  and 
Germany  was  unsettled.  When  Sweden  had  lost  its  greater  political 
power  its  government  always  kept  up  the  influence  over  the  internal 
conditions  and  regulated  the  forming  of  the  towns  as  well  as  the 
construction  of  the  buildings. 

And  so  we  see  that  since  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
towns  in  Sweden  have  been  built  according  to  fixed  plans.  A  great 
number  of  towns  were  then  laid  out  by  the  order  of  the  sovereign,  and 
the  royal  charters  were  usually  accompanied  not  only  by  drawings 
and  plans  that  were  to  be  followed,  but  also  by  regulations  as  to  how 
these  towns,  generally  speaking-,  were  to  be  built.  In  the  case  of 
newly-laid-out  towns,  as  w^ell  as  in  those  already  existing,  a  grant 
was  made  of  the  ground  required  by  the  inhabitants  for  their  future 
main  means  of  sustenance  ;  and  in  this  we  see  the  beginning  of  the 
great  landed  properties  usually  owned  by  Swedish  towns. 

As  a  consequence,  the  governing  powers  had  a  very  direct  and 
powerful  influence  on  the  life  and  future  of  the  towns ;  but  this 
patriarchal  time  is  over.  There  was  a  long  period  of  transition  in 
Sweden,  which  may  be  said  to  have  had  its  actual  beginning  in  the 
public  law  of  1734,  in  which  was  anticipated  a  special  law  touching- 
the  building  of  towns,  and  which  lasted  until  such  a  one  was  forth- 
coming— viz.  in  1874,  or  140  years  later.  But.  during  these  140  years 
of  waiting  building-  operations  were  fortunately  of  such  a  compara- 
tively insignificant  nature  that  one  did  tolerably  well  with  royal  cir- 
culars and  building  by-laws  for  the  various  towns  and,  as  a  rule, 
by  working  out  the  plan  for  the  development  of  a  town  and  sub- 
mitting it  to  the  king  for  confirmation.  In  several  cases  these  urban 
building-  by-laws  contained  not  only  technical  stipulations,  but  also 
certain  general  ordinances  for  the  regulation  of  the  economic  rela- 
tions between  the  communities  and  the  private  landowners,  such  as 
by-laws  concerning  the  surrender  of  property  by  compulsion  for  the 


Town  Planning  in  Sweden.  703 

carrying  out  of  street  arrangements.  But  after  the  introduction  of 
the  ordinance  of  1845,  concerning  general  expropriation,  most  of  the 
building  by-laws  included  clauses  for  its  application  to  the  require- 
ments of  street  arrangement. 

However,  in  the  fifties  the  towns  began  to  develop  more  rapidly 
than  before,  and  in  1866  large  extension  plans  were  approved  for 
Stockholm  and  Gottenberg,  as  well  as  other  places,  which  plans  were 
expected  to  be  followed  by  a  large  number  of  plans  for  smaller  towns. 
The  desire  to  get  stability  and  uniformity  into  the  by-laws  for  the 
building  of  the  various  places  now  became  inevitable,  and  forced  on 
the  Building  Law  for  Towns  of  1874.  As  an  administrative  law, 
it  could  not  contain  any  laws  for  the  regulation  of  the  economic 
differences  between  the  communities  and  private  landowners  arising 
from  the  execution  of  the  schemes,  inasmuch  as  similar  laws  in  other 
legislative  departments  had  received  the  character  of  civil  laws — 
i.e.  had  been  passed  by  the  Riksdag. 

Consequently,  the  Building  Law  for  Towns  of  1874  embraced 
only  the  technical  regulations  for  the  planning  and  building  of 
towns  in  conformity  with  the  requirements  of  hygiene,  comfort,  com- 
munication, and  protection  from  fire  ;  but  a  civil  law  for  the  regula- 
tion of  the  juridical  differences  that  might  arise  between  the  different 
economic  interests  that  were  of  a  conflicting  nature  in  the  execution 
of  the  town  plan  was  not  forthcoming  until  the  year  1907. 

It  is  my  object  to-day  to  give  a  somewhat  more  detailed  account 
of  the  contents  of  these  two  laws,  and  to  show  how  town-planning 
work  in  Sweden  has  developed  under  their  protection. 

So  far  as  I  know,  the  law  of  1874  is  the  first  building  and  town- 
planning  law  applicable  to  a  whole  country  ever  drawn  up,  which 
included  all  the  various  subdivisions  I  have  just  enumerated.  It  is 
true  that  at  the  moment  it  is  being  recast,  as  not  being  in  all  respects 
in  conformity  with  the  times,  but  in  very  many  respects  it  is  still  a 
pattern  for  a  law  of  this  description,  since  it  is  dictated  by  a  broad 
regard  for  the  requirements  of  the  citizens  for  easy  communications, 
comfort,  air,  and  light. 

The  law  begins  by  saying  : — 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  building  commissioners  to  see  that 
the  law  and  the  urban  building  by-laws  are  enforced,  and  to 
deal  with  all  those  matters  to  which  the  law  and  the  by-laws 
apply  and  which  do  not  come  into  the  province  of  another  set 
of  commissioners. 
It  is  express!}-  enacted  that  the  commission  shall  take  care  : — 

That  all  possible  improvements  shall  be  carried  out  in  the 
town  plan  and  that  the  arrangements  indicated  in  it  shall  be 
fully  carried  into  effeci ; 

That  the  regulations  respecting  sites  for  buildings  shall 
be  fully  enforced  so  that  sites  may  be  of  adequate  size  ; 

That  the  plan  for  each  site  shall  provide  for  a  spacious 

and   wholesome  yard,    and   that   all   such   provisions  .shall   be 

included  in  the  building  by-laws  as  are  necessary  to  ensure 

the  suitable  development  of  the  town. 

For  every  town  there  shall  be  prepared  a  plan   for  its  general 

arrangements  and  of  the  building  within   it,    including  the   streets, 

the  markets,  and  other  public  places. 


704  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  igto. 

It  shall  be  adopted  by  the  town  council  and  finally  submitted  to 
the  king,  who  has  to  approve  or  refuse  it,  unless  the  matter  in  ques- 
tion is  of  small  importance,  such  as  the  determination  of  the  boun- 
daries of  a  building-  site,  in  which  case  the  plan  decided  on,  if  it  has 
the  approval  of  the  local  government,  may  be  carried  into  effect 
without  bei;ig  submitted  to  the  king. 

All  the  town  plans  shall  be  carefully  drawn  on  the  scale  of  one 
two-thousandth  part  of  the  actual  dimensions.  On  the  plan,  or  on  a 
supplementary  plan,  particulars  of  the  height  and  slope  of  all  parts 
of  the  ground  shall  be  indicated  by  the  use  of  appropriate  means. 
The  plan  shall  be  accompanied  by  the  necessary  explanations,  and 
when  the  plan  is  sent  in  for  approval  the  explanations  must  also  be 
sent. 

When  it  has  been  approved  an  accurate  copy  of  it  and  of  the 
explanations  relating  to  it  must  be  sent  to  the  Home  Office  for  pre- 
servation there. 

Of  course,  one  of  the  most  interesting  sections  of  the  law  is  that 
which  says  how  a  town-planning  scheme  has  to  be  made. 

The  town  plan  must  be  so  prepared  as  to  ensure,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, that  the  requirements  of  traffic,  in  respect  of  ample  space  and 
convenience,  shall  be  supplied ;  that  the  light  and  air  needed  for 
health  shall  be  provided ;  that  danger  from  fire  shall  be  guarded 
against ;  and  that  there  shall  be  the  open  spaces,  the  variety  of  con- 
struction and  the  beauty  necessary  for  aesthetic  reasons.  For  this 
purpose  care  must  be  taken,  amongst  other  things  : — 

That  streets  shall  be  wide  and  shall  run  in  the  directions 
most  suitable  for  traffic  ; 

That  large  and  suitable  sites  shall  be  provided  for  markets, 
harbours,  and  other  places  where  there  will  be  much  traffic  ; 

That  wide  promenades  (or  boulevards),  with  shrubberies 
in  the  middle  and  roadways  on  each  side,  or  with  other  suit- 
able arrangements,  shall  traverse  the  town,  if  possible  in 
various  places,   and  in  different  directions  ; 

That  as  many  as  possible  other  public  planted  open  spaces 
shall  be  provided  in  the  town  ; 

That,   where   this   is   found   to  be  possible,    lines  of  back- 
gardens  shall  be  so  arranged  in  the  residential  districts  of  the 
town  that  there  shall  be  on  each  side  of  the  gardens  a  line  of 
building  sites  ;  and  also  that,  where  this  is  found  to  be  desir- 
able and   possible,   there   shall  be  front  gardens  between   the 
houses  and  the  streets. 
In  new  towns  or  new  districts  of  towns,  streets  must,  as  a  rule, 
have  a  width  of  not  less  than  59  English  feet  ;  but  where  special  cir- 
cumstances make  exceptional  treatment  desirable,  short  streets  may 
have  a  width  of  not  less  than  39  English  feet.     When  permission  to 
make  a  street  of   this  exceptional  width   is   sought  the  reasons  for 
desiring  a  diminution  of  the  normal  wadth  must  be  stated. 

Within  a  period  of,  at  the  latest,  two  years  from  the  coming  mto 
force  of  the  law  it  was  stated  that  there  should  be  prepared  for  every 
town  in  the  kingdom  a  statement  showing  for  what  parts  of  the 
district  a  plan  has  been  prepared,  or  if  it  was  intended,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  law,   to  extend   the   schemes  to  some  districts  of  the 


s-       e2l5S--5=-'3.     5-S      |E      =s- 
-   ,— 5  g  c  -         -T3       a£:o    2^ 


jl^^^ii 


5=s--ai-^     -5 


■job  TnDisacLions  oj  the  Toicii  Planning  Conjercnce,  Oct.  1910. 

town.  The  said  statement  should  within  the  period  stated  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  king  for  approval,  together  with  a  plan  of  the  town, 
which  must  show  clearly  both  the  boundaries  of  the  districts  and  the 
degrees  in  which  the  various  districts  are  covered  with  buildings. 

When  a  new  plan  is  prepared,  or  an  existing  plan  is  altered,  for 
the  regulation  of  one  or  more  districts  of  a  town,  regard  must  at  the 
same  time  be  had  to  the  future  regulation  of  other  town  districts 
which  may  possibly  come  into  existence,  so  that  a  harmonious 
arrangement  of  the  whole  town  may  be  obtained. 

I  conclude  herewith  my  extract  from  the  law,  the  remaining  para- 
graphs thereof  not  having  any  direct  bearing  on  town  planning,  but 
simply  referring  to  detailed  instructions  as  to  the  minimum  widths 
of  the  yards  round  the  buildings  and  the  minimum  area  of  each  side, 
upon  which  no  buildings  may  be  erected  ;  as  a  rule  this  part  is  one- 
third  of  it.  Specially  detailed  instructions  for  the  erection  of  the 
buildings  are  given  in  separate  by-laws  for  each  town. 

Since  the  passing  of  the  law  about  600  plans  have  been  made  in 
accordance  therewith  and  have  received  the  sanction  of  the  king, 
and  it  is  obvious  that  this  has  been  very  valuable  to  the  Swedish 
towns. 

But  as  the  law  is  formulated  it  directly  favours  the  rectangular 
system,  which  was  considered  as  the  best  when  the  law  was  passed, 
and  the  result  has  been  that  most  of  the  plans  have  been  made 
according  to  this  unpractical  and  monotonous  type  of  plan  until  about 
1900.  The  worst  is,  however,  that  these  "  gridiron  "  plans  were 
even  forced  on  the  old  irregular  inner  parts  of  towns,  thereby 
destroying  many  a  beautiful  or  picturesque  street  or  place.  Fortu- 
nately the  plans  were,  as  a  rule,  found  to  be  too  expensive  to 
execute  where  they  greatly  violated  the  existing  conditions  or 
ignored  the  levels  of  the  land.  The  revision  of  the  plans  that  com- 
menced at  the  end  of  the  last  century  resulted  in  just  as  good  schemes 
with  regard  to  hygiene,  though  more  satisfactory  with  regard  to  the 
traffic,  amenity,  and  economy,  because  they  respected  the  existing 
conditions  and  the  character  of  the  ground. 

In  Swedish  towns  a  private  landowner  may  not  send  a  plan  for  his 
property  to  the  Government  for  approval.  He  has  to  apply  to  the 
surveying  department  of  the  town,  and  the  scheme  will  not  be  sent 
to  the  Government  unless  it  has  been  adopted  by  the  town  council. 

On  the  other  side,  the  town  council  has  the  right  to  make  a 
scheme  for  a  part  of  a  town  without  any  demand  of  the  owner. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  in  carrying  out  such  plans  a  good 
deal  of  friction  may  arise  between  the  community  and  the  private 
landowners.  The  difficulties  to  remove  these  without  the  assistance 
of  special  prescriptions  of  law  were,  however,  very  great,  and  ever 
since  the  law  of  1874  came  into  force  endeavours  were  made  to 
obtain  special  legislation  to  obviate  them.  After  all,  such  a  law 
(1907)  was  adopted  by  the  Riksdag — that  is  to  say,  the  Swedish 
Parliament — and  approved  by  the  king — a  law  that  has  to  a  great 
extent  influenced  the  English  Town  Planning  Act  of  1909. 

This  Town  Planning  Act  is  very  clear  and  distinct,  beginning  as 
it  does  with  a  definition  of  the  word  "  scheme,"  and  providing  that 
special  and  general  regulations  with  regard  to  the  use  of  the  building 
plots  might  be  adopted  and  approved  in  connection  with  the  plan. 


7o8  Transactions  of  the  Toii:n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

In  these  general  building'  regulations  provision  is  to  be  made,  for 
instance,  as  to  the  heig'hts  of  the  building's,  whether  they  should  be 
in  blocks  or  detached,  the  prohibition  of  industrial  establishments 
to  be  erected  within  the  dwelling  districts  and  vice  versa,  prohibi- 
tion of  buildings  on  certain  parts  of  a  building  area  intended  to  be 
front  gardens  or  unoccupied  yards,  also  the  maximum  number  of 
families  which  a  house  may  accommodate,   and  so  on. 

The  schemes  and  the  general  building  regulations,  when  approved 
by  the  king,  have  the  same  effect  as  if  they  were  enacted  in  the  Act. 

The  towns  are  responsible  for  enforcing  the  observance  of  the 
schemes  and  building  regulations,  and  in  the  following  sections  of 
the  Act  the  local  authorities  are  given  all  the  power  they  need  for 
carrying  them  out. 

In  order  to  facilifate  the  working  out  of  a  schem.e  and  to  stop 
speculation  the  community  may  claim  a  prohibition  of  erecting 
buildings  on  a  certain  area  that  is  to  be  planned.  In  Sweden  such 
restraint  cannot  be  imposed  for  a  longer  time  than  six  months,  while, 
for  instance,  in  the  law  of  Saxony  it  may  last  for  two  years. 

"No  new  building  must  be  started  during  the  time  intervening 
between  the  adoption  by  the  tovvn  of  the  plan  and  the  approval  by  the 
king,  and  no  obligations  will  be  imposed  upon  the  town  on  account  of 
eventual  alterations  in  respect  of  the  conditions  of  ownership  that 
might  have  set  in  since  the  community  adopted  the  plan. 

When  the  law,  then,  proceeds  to  divide  the  costs  of  the  carrying 
out  of  the  plans  between  the  owners  and  the  community,  and, 
besides,  to  settle  all  disputes  between  these  two  parties,  it  is  taken 
for  granted  that  not  only  the  town  but  also  the  private  owners 
will  derive  benefit  from  the  scheme  being  carried  out.  The  burdens 
have  therefore  been  divided  between  the  landowners  or  those  who 
are  building  and  the  community  in  this  w^ay  :  that  the  former  have 
to  bear  the  costs  of  the  street  ground  up  to  the  normal  width, 
59  English  feet,  whereas  the  town  has  to  pay  for  all  the  ground  over 
this  normal  width. 

Further,  the  town  has  the  obligation  to  construct  the  streets  as 
the  building  of  houses  proceeds,  but  it  has  no  obligation  to  furnish 
them  with  water-  or  drain-pipes,  &c.  Finally,  the  town  has  to  unify 
the  plots  belonging  to  different  owners  into  accord  with  the  units 
fixed  by  the  plan  and  the  division  of  sites. 

The  manner  in  which  the  town  has  to  take  out  the  value  of  the 
street  ground  from  the  owner  of  the  site  must,  unfortunately,  be 
rather  complicated,  inasmuch  as  the  owner  of  a  site  is  not  always 
also  the  owner  of  the  street  ground  or  of  that  particular  part  thereof 
that  ought  to  belong  to  his  lot.  Thus  the  law  does  not  make  pro- 
visions for  the  owners  to  supply  the  town  with  street  ground,  but 
it  has  made  the  town  a  sort  of  administrative  authority,  which  has 
to  advance  the  funds  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  plan  as  building 
<ievelopment  takes  place. 

It  is  incumbent  on  the  town  to  redeem  the  street  ground,  and  as 
the  building  on  the  sites  proceeds  to  indemnify  itself  from  the  builder 
to  the  amount  corresponding  to  the  value  of  the  street  ground 
fronting  his  site  at  the  time  of  building. 

The  town  has,  however,  no  obligation  immediately  after  the  ratifi- 


CO 


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710  Transactions  oj  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

cation  of  the  plan  to  make  itself  the  owner  of  all  the  street  ground 
and  to  construct  the  streets  included  in  the  plan,  as  such  an  obliga- 
tion would  involve  the  advancing  of  a  large  capital  sum,  on  which  it 
would  be  unable  to  obtain  any  return  for  a  long  time. 

The  law  has,  therefore,  made  the  town  liable  to  redeem  street 
ground  chiefly  only  in  the  following  two  instances  : — 

1.  When  the  owner,  after  detaching  the  street  ground,  has  not 

a  whole  site  left  on  the  side  of  the  street. 

2.  When  the  town  is  obliged  to  effect  the  laying-out  or  the  ex- 

tending of  a  part  of  a  street,  an  obligation  which  in  the 
former  instance  is  incurred  only  when  one-third  of  the  lines 
of  a  building  area  is  built  on,  and  in  the  latter  as  the  exten- 
sion is  being  made. 

In  carrying  out  a-  scheme  Swedish  towns  are  greatly  helped  by 
being  allowed  to  acquire  a  right  of  expropriation,  not  only  for  the 
carrying  out  of  a  complete  plan,  but  also  of  a  whole  town  district, 
where  it  is  insanitary  or  overcrowded.  Such  right  the  town 
also  has  on  unbuilt-upon  land,  if  the  owner  thereof  is  holding  part  of 
it  from  building  to  the  detriment  of  the  development  of  the  town. 

The  right  of  expropriation  may  also  be  acquired  by  a  town  in 
order  to  secure  main  roads  for  traffic  over  certain  districts  not 
included  in  the  town  plan.  With  regard  to  such  districts  the  town  has 
the  right  to  get  general  rules  laid  down  relating  to  the  building  thereon 
without  the  necessity  of  drawing  up  a  scheme  for  the  streets. 

A  difficult  question  to  decide  with  reference  to  the  extension  of  a 
town  is  the  question  of  value  of  the  street  ground.  Speculators  very 
often  get  hold  of  the  property  required  for  the  streets,  and  our 
Swedish  law  enacts  that  the  expropriation  commissions  must  not 
take  into  consideration  the  increase  in  value  which  has  resulted  from 
the  carrying-out  of  a  town  planning  scheme. 

These  are  the  leading  features  of  the  Swedish  laws.  At  the 
making  of  town-planning  schemes  they  are,  of  course,  always  neces- 
sary ;  but  that  part  of  the  later  Act  which  regulates  the  judicial 
differences  between  the  town  and  the  landowners  has  not  yet  been 
much  used,  because  most  of  those  differences  have  been  settled  by 
negotiations  between  the  two  parties. 

And  even  for  such  negotiations  the  law  has  a  great  importance, 
as  having  once  for  all  defined  the  rights  and  obligations  of  both 
parties.  Specially  it  is  significant  for  Swedish  town  planning  that 
the  landowners,  by  the  law,  have  got  other  duties  to  consider  than 
their  own  economic  interests. 


P- 


w, 


^^liSi 


712   TransactioMS  oj^tlic  To'H'n  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

i 


DISCUSSION. 

Mr.  John  Belcher,  R.A.,  F.R.I.B.A.,  in  the  Chair. 

The  Chair.man  :  We  have  Hstened  to  a  very  interesting  Paper, 
and  we  are  much  indebted  to  Dr.  Lilienberg  for  having  so  clearly  put 
before  us  matters  in  connection  with  th,e  Swedish  town-planning  law. 
We  have  been  learning  a  great  deal  from  Sweden,  and  the  Act  in 
this  country  has  been  based  more  or  less  upon  what  has  been  done  in 
Sweden.  We  shall  watch  with  still  further  interest  all  that 
takes  place  there,  and  learn  frorri-  their  experience  what  modifications 
to  make  in  our  own  law.  We  l^ave  seen  many  excellent  plans, 
representing  a  vast  amount  of  work,  and  there  are  so  many  points 
that  have  been  raised  in  the  Paper  and  on  the  plans  that  I  feel  grave 
doubt  about  entering  upon  them  in  detail  at  this  hour.  I  think  my 
first  duty,  therefore,  will  be  to  call  upon  anyone  who  wishes  to  discuss 
what  we  have  heard  to  take  this  opportunity  of  doing  so. 

Mr.  T.  C.  HoRSFALL  (Macclesfield)  :  I  rise  at  once  to  speak  on 
this  subject,  because,  such  is  human  vanity,  I  have  a  sort  of  sense  of 
proprietorship  in  Swedish  town  planning.  At  the  time  of  the  last 
Housing  Congress  in  London  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  a 
Swedish  architect,  to  whom  I  was  able  to  render  some  little  service ; 
he  offered  to  help  me  in  return,  and  I  asked  him  for  a  copy  of  any 
laws  that  they  had  regulating  town  planning  in  Sweden.  He  sent  me 
a  copy  of  the  Act  of  1874.  I  put  that  into  the  hands  of  an  Englishman 
who  knew  Swedish,  and  he  made  a  translation  of  it.  Now  I  assure 
you  that  when  it  was  translated  it  was  almost  as  incomprehensible  to 
the  layman  as  if  it  had  been  in  the  original  Swedish.  I  had  studied  the 
German  laws,  especially  the  Prussian  Act  of  1875,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  and  by  virtue  of  what  knowledge  I  had  of  the  technicalities  of 
the  subject  I  was  able  to  put  this  first  English  into  second  English, 
which  I  believe  is  comprehensible,  and  I  had  the  honour,  I  believe,  of 
publishing  the  first  account  which  appeared  in  England  of  that  invalu- 
able Swedish  Act  of  1874.  I  think  that  we  must  realise  to-day  more 
clearly  than  ever  before  how  much  we  suffer  from  not  learning  foreign 
languages  more  commonly  than  we  do.  Here  we  have  an  Act  of  the 
greatest  possible  utility,  worked  out  with  extraordinary  sagacity, 
passed  in  1874 — an  Act  far  more  urgently  needed  in  Great  Britain  in 
the  year  1874  than  it  was  in  Sweden — and  it  really  is  only  to-day  that 
we  are  learning  something  about  it  from  the  admirable  Paper  that  Dr. 
Lilienberg  has  given  us. 

Dr.  Lilienberg  has  spoken  about  it  most  modestly,  but  in  my 
opinion  the  passing  of  this  Act  has  been  the  greatest  achievement  with 
regard  to  the  progress  of  human  civilisation  that  we  owe  to  any 
country,  because  this  has  been  eminently  an  age  of  great  towns,  and 
the  country  that  showed  municipalities  how  to  deal  with  the  extension 


Toivn  Planning  in  Siveden.  713 

of  their  towns  was  doing-  the  best  service  that  could  possibly  be  done 
at  the  time  to  the  human  race.  We  have,  in  my  opinion,  more  to 
learn  from  Sweden  than  we  have  directly  from  Germany  with  regard 
to  town  planning.  The  Act  of  1874  is  a  better  Act  than  the  Prussian 
Lines  Act  of  1875 — in  this  respec  t,  among  others,  that  it  was  a  com- 
pulsory Act.  It  said  clearly  that  every  town  must  have  a  town  exten- 
sion plan.  The  Act  also  gave  municipal  authorities  the  power  of 
effecting  great  improvements  in  the  older  parts  of  the  town.  Dr. 
Lilienberg  has  told  us  that  some  of  those  provisions  could  not  be 
enforced  on  account  of  the  expense  that  they  involved ;  but  that  part 
of  the  Act  has  been  by  no  means  useless.  Xow  what  would  have 
happened  in  this  country  if  we  had  known  of  this  Swedish  Act  in 
1874?  If  Mr.  Burns  had  lived  in  contact  with  people  who  knew  about 
this  Act,  would  he  have  imposed  upon  the  municipalities  of  this 
country  the  almost  intolerable  diflficulties  that  are  imposed  upon  them 
by  the  .Act  of  1909?  Sweden  says  clearly  :  Every  town  must  have  a 
town  plan  ;  therefore  the  municipality  can  set  to  work  to  prepare  plans, 
and  it  is  only  when  it  is  preparing  the  plans  that  negotiations  with 
landowners  have  to  be  gone  through.  That  is  the  logical  time  for 
having  them — not  when  you  are  applying  for  permission  to  prepare  a 
town  plan.  Then,  again,  the  Swedish  Act  of  1874  deals  witli  the  ameni- 
ties of  the  town.  It  recognises  that  it  is  not  legislation  for  oxen  or  for 
asses  or  for  horses,  but  for  human  beings,  who  cannot  keep  in  health 
unless  their  minds  are  fed  as  well  as  their  bodies.  Their  minds  require 
feeding  with  beauty  of  scenery,  natural  beauty,  and  beauty  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  human  brain.  The  Swedish  law  recognised  what  was 
necessary  for  human  beings  who  need  beauty,  and  it  said  towns  must 
be  made  beautiful.  It  provided  for  boulevards  and  for  lines  of  back 
gardens.  It  is  an  admirable  Act.  It  is  the  best  Act  that  I  know  of 
the  kind  anywhere.  One  fault,  I  believe,  it  has.  It  has  insisted  too 
much  upon  the  wide  street,  and,  though  I  have  never  been  in  Sweden, 
I  believe  that  it  has  thus  had  the  bad  effect  of  promoting  the  erection  of 
tenement  buildings,  and  that  is  a  serious  drawback.  But  now  I  want 
to  point  out,  if  I  am  not  trespassing  too  long  upon  your  attention, 
that  this  Act  has  anotber  great  merit.  It  was  part  of  an  intelligent 
attempt  to  raise  the  level  of  human  life  in  Sweden  :  it  did  not  stand 
alone.  Dr.  Lilienberg  will,  I  am  sure,  pardon  my  referring  to  a 
painful  fact  in  the  history  of  his  countr)' — an  evil  which  they  have 
partly  overcome,  though  we  are  still  the  victims  of  it  in  this  country. 
Eighty  or  ninetv  years  ago  Sweden  suffered  more  from  drunken- 
ness than  even  Great  Britain  does  at  the  present  time,  and  that  is 
using  very  strong  language.  I  knew  a  man  who  lived  in  Malmo 
a  shorter  time  ago  than  that,  and  he  assured  me  that  he  could 
not  send  a  man  out  from  his  mill  on  an  errand  without  the  man's  think- 
ing it  necessary  to  reinforce  his  strength  by  taking  a  draught  of  corn 
brandv.  Sweden  entered  upon  the  struggle  against  bad  licensing, 
just  as  it  did  on  the  struggle  against  bad  towns.  It  has  reformed 
its  licensing  system  ;  it  has  reformed  its  towns  ;  and  it  has  done  also 
this  extraordinarily  important  thing  :  it  has  remembered  that  in  pre- 
paring good  dwellings  for  the  inhabitants  of  Sweden,  it  must  also 
prepa're  the  inhabitants  of  Sweden  to  be  good  occupants  of  wholesome 
dwellings.     It  has  elaborated  the  finest  system  of  physical  training 

3  A 


714  Transticlioiis  nf  the  To'ii'n  Pkoiniu^  Conjcrcucc,  Oct.  1910. 

known  in  the  world,  and  you  cannot  consider  the  system  of  housing 
and  of  town  planning  and  of  licensing  in  Sweden  without  taking  into 
account  the  good  physical  training  given  to  :d1  its  people.  But  for 
the  good  physical  training  gi\en  in  wSweden  and  in  (iermany  to  all  the 
young  men,  and  to  the  young  women  also,  those  two  countries  would 
suffer  far  more  than  they  do  from  their  tenement  dwellings  ;  but  they 
counteract  the  bad  effects  of  tenement  dwellings  by  giving  good 
phvsical  training  to  all  their  }oung  people.  I  think  we  must  con- 
gratulate Dr.  Lilienberg  on  having  rendered  one  of  the  greatest 
services  that  could  be  rendered  to  Englishmen  by  gi\  ing  this  admirable 
Paper  describing  a  most  admirable  piece  of  legislation. 

Mr.  J.  Fei.s  (London)  :  I  should  like  to  ask  the  author  of  the 
Paper  that  we  have  had  read  to  us  whether  since  1874  there  have 
been  an}-  laws  enacted  in  Sweden  dealing  with  the  unearned 
increment  on  land  values  caused  by  tlie  increase  of  population 
and  the  improvement  of  cities?  Much  to  my  liking,  the  Paper 
touches  upon  the  improved  values  given  to  land  through  which  streets 
arc  forced,  improvements  are  made,  beautiful  buildings  are  erected, 
good  roads  are  made,  better  transportation  is  supplied,  and  so  forth  ; 
and  I  should  like  to  know  whether  there  have  been  any  additional 
laws  since  that  Act  of  1874  with  regard  to  the  taking  by  the  public 
of  those  values  created  by  the  public?  I  am  myself  tremendously 
interested  in  the  land  question  from  that  point  of  view,  and  I  am 
seeking  information.  I  take  it,  that  every  street  that  is  forced 
through  a  city,  every  good  institution  that  is  built,  every  time 
one  brick  is  laid  on  top  of  another  with  a  view  to  a  public  improve- 
ment, every  time  a  school  is  built,  a  city  hall  is  erected,  or  a  theatre 
for  the  people  is  put  up,  it  adds  that  much  to  the  value  of  the  real 
estate,  the  land  in  the  city.  I  for  one  am  alive  and  keen  to  the 
fact  that  in  my  country,  America,  we  have  done  about  all  we  could 
to  make  it  impossible  for  an  ordinary  man  to  live  in  a  city.  There- 
fore, I  am  so  keen  to  get  what  information  I  can  as  to  u^hat  other 
countries  are  doing  for  the  improvement  of  their  cities — I  mean  a 
downright  improvement  in  the  cities  from  the  base — because  if  we 
build  these  beautiful  houses,  if  we  erect  these  lovelv  boulevards  and 
do  a  lot  of  other  things  for  the  amenities  of  the  people,  we  are  simplv 
building  our  houses  on  sand  unless  we  recognise  that  increment  in 
land  values  created  by  the  public. 

Dr.  LiLiENRERG  :  We  are  preparing  such  a  law  as  Mr.  Pels  asked 
about.  We  think  that  we  need  it  very  much  ;  and  I  think  in  the 
Riksdag  (that  is  our  Parliament)  the  law  will  be  passed  next  year. 

Mr.  J.  LosEBV  :  I  understood  the  lecturer  to  state  that 
the  council  paid  compensation  to  the  landowner  for  the  making 
of  the  extra  width  of  the  street.  He  then  said  that  the  corporation 
got  that  compensation  back  from  the  builder.  I  could  understand 
the  landowner  getting  it  back,  but  I  cannot  understand  how  the 
council  could  also  get  it  back  from  the  builder. 

Dr.  Lilienberg  :  It  is  in  this  way.  If  a  town  has  bought  the  street 
ground,  then  when  some  person  is  building  on  the  side  of  the  street 
that  person  has  to  pay  the  town  the  cost  of  the  street,  but  he  has 
not  to  pay  the  cost  for  the  street  ground  beyond  the  normal  width  of 
the  street. 


Toiiui  PUninnig  in  Siinnlru.  715 

The  Chairman-,  in  askin^^  the  meetin£j  to  second  a  vote  of  thanks 
to  Dr.  Lvlienberi;-  lor  his  admirable  Paper,  congratulated  the  author 
on  his  excellent  I'^ni^lish.  'i'his  was,  he  understood,  Dr.  Lilienberjj's 
first  visit  to  England,  and  he  had  made  himself  perfectly  understood. 
They  might  also  congratulate  Sweden  on  setting  a  good  example  in 
not  copying  from  other  nations,  but  following  lines  of  her  own. 
They  should  watch  the  (le\clopnicnt  of  Swedish  schemes,  and  all  that 
was  done  in  .Sweden,  with  considera])le  interest. 


A  2 


7i6  Transactions  of  the  Tni^^ui  Planning  Cnnjcrcncc,  Oct.  1910. 


(7)     LA  LKGTST.AZTONE  ITALTANA  TN  MATERIA  DI 
PIAXI   RK(;OLATORI   KDIEIZII. 

Rclaziono  del  Aw.  INTario  Catt.weo  (Milano). 

Ti'TTA  la  vnsta  c  iniportantissima  materia  del  piani  rcgolatori  edilizi, 
trova  in  Italia  le  sue  norme  disciplinatrici  nella  Icg-ge  25  t^iiigno  1865 
N.  2359  di  espropriazione  per  causa  di  pubblica  utilita. 

Ed  invero,  non  pun  non  recar  meraviglia  il  fatto  che  nelT  intenso 
lavorio  legislative  che  si  e  andato  svolgendo  in  Italia  in  questo  primo 
cinquantennio  di  vita  politica,  non  sia  mai  apparsa  I'opportunita  di 
una  riforma  anchc  della  legge  del  1865,  che  meglio  la  adattasse  ai 
bisogni  attuali. 

Anzi,  de\esi  ammettere  da  parte  dei  legislatori  nostri  una  speciale 
rilluttanza  a  toccare  questo  argomento,  poiche  a  tutt'  og'g'i,  e  cio^  dopo 
piu  di  40  anni  dalla  sua  promulgazione,  questa  legge  non  ottenne 
ancora  il  suo  regolamento. 

La  ragione  di  tale  fatto  risulta  del  resto  assai  evidente,  dalla  con- 
siderazione  che  trattasi  di  una  legg^e  che  investe  il  principio  della 
proprieta  privata,  principio  solenne  nel  quale  I'odierna  societa  trova 
ancora  uno  dei  suoi  principali  fondamenti. 

D'altra  parte,  la  legge  del  1865,  pur  non  essendo  scevra  dl  difetti, 
h  senza  alcun  dubbio  una  delle  migliori  leg"gi  italiane,  sia  per  la 
intrinseca  bonta  di  molte  delle  sue  disposizioni,  sia  perchfe  (e  cio  forse 
h  anche  da  ascriversi  alia  mancanza  del  regolamento)  non  vincola 
eccessivamente  I'attivita  deg'li  enti  pubblici  con  norme  troppo  minute. 
vSe  a  questo  si  agg"iunge  che,  sotto  la  spinta  constante  degli  enti 
interessati,  si  e  andata  mano  mano  costituendo  attorno  alia  legge 
stessa  una  giurisprudenza  practica,  la  quale  in  non  pochi  casi  fe  valsa 
a  sopperire  agli  errori  o  alle  manchevolezze  sue,  si  comprender^i  come 
essa  possa  essere  portatn  a  contenere  e  disciplinare  quell'  immensa 
opera  di  transformazione  edilizia,  specialmente  nei  grandi  centri 
urbani,  che  e  una  delle  precipue  manifestazioni  del  grande  sviluppo 
ottenuto  dal  nostro  paese  dall'  epoca  della  sua  costituzione  ad  unita. 

Xon  numcrose  sono  le  disposizioni  che  la  legge  del  1865  detta  a 
regolare  la  materia  dei  piani  regolatori  edilizii  e  di  ampliamento. 
I  Comuni,  in  cui  trovasi  riunita  una  popolazione  di  diecimila  abitanti 
almeno,  possono,  per  causa  di  pubblico  vantaggio  determinata  da 
attualc  bisogno  di  provvedere  alia  salubrita  ed  alle  neccssarie  com- 
municazioni,  far  un  piano  regolatore  nel  quale  siano  tracciate  le  linee 
da  osservarsi  nella  ricostruzione  di  quella  parte  delF  abitato  in  cui  sia 
da  rimediare  alia  viziosa  disposizione  degli  edifici  per  raggiungere 
rintento. 

I  Comuni  nei  quali  sia  dimostrata  I'attuale  necesslta  di  estendere 


Legislaoiunc  Italiana.  717 

I'abitato,  possono  adottare  un  piano  rej^^olatore  di  anipliamento,  in 
cui  siano  tracciale  Ic  norme  da  osscrvarsi  nell'  ediHcazionc  di  nuuvi 
edifizii,  affine  di  provvedere  alia  salubrita  dell'  abitato  cd  alia  piu 
sicura,  comoda  e  dccorosa  sua  disposizionc. 

Se  per  Tesecuzione  del  piano  di  anipliamento,  il  Coniune  de\c 
procedere  alia  coslruzione  dellc  vie  pubbliche,  i  proprietari  saranno 
obbligati  a  cedere  il  terreno  necessario  senza  formalita. 

Diventato  definiti\o  il  piano,  dal  giorno  della  sua  publjlicazione, 
i  proprietari  dei  terreni  e  degli  edifizii  in  esso  compresi,  volendo  far 
nuove  costruzioni  o  riedificare  o  modificare  quelle  esistenti,  sia  per  la 
volonta  loro,  sia  per  necessita,  debbono  unilormarsi  alle  norme  Irac- 
ciate  nel  piano. 

Queste  le  norme  fondamentali  j^oste  dalla  leyi^e  a  base  del  diritto 
dei  coniuni  di  diriyere  e  disciplinare  il  proprio  sviluppo  euilizio  e  di 
prowedere  al  vanta^gio  delle  collettix  ita,  senza  che  la  loro  azione 
possa  essere  in  alcun  modo  arrestata  od  ostacolata  dal  privato 
interesse. 

Pertanto,  I'avere  subordinata  la  lacolta  dei  Comuni  di  esigere  un 
regolatori,  le  formalita  di  esecuzione,  la  determinazione  dell'  indennita 
di  esproprio,  ece.,  la  legge  non  da  norme  speciali  richiamando  quelle 
da  essa  dettate  per  tutte  quante  le  espropriazioni  per  causa  di  [jubblica 
utilita. 

I  progetti  di  piani  rcijolatori,  redatti  dalle  amminislrazioni 
comunali  ed  appro\  ati  dalle  autorita  tutorie,  dopo  essere  stati  pub- 
blicati  onde  permettere  alia  cittadinanza  di  prenderne  esatta  coijni- 
zione  cd  ai  proprietari  degli  stabili  colpili  di  muo\ere  quelle  opposi- 
zioni  od  eccezioni  che  fossero  loro  suggcrite  dal  proprio  interesse, 
sono  trasmcssi  al  Governo  al  quale  solo  spetta  di  renderli  esecutorii, 
o  promuovcndo  una  apposita  legge  dal  Parlaniento,  o  ottenendo  il 
decreto  reale  di  approvazione. 

Giova  infatti  notare  come  la  legge  del  i8<)5  stabilisca  di\ersi  modi 
per  la  dichiarazione  di  pubblica  utilita  e  cioi  : 

1"  la  legge  ;  2"^  il  decreto  reale  ;  3*"  il  decreto  prefettizio  :  e  prc- 
scritta  la  dichiarazione  con  legge,  quando  per  I'esecuzione  di  un'  opera 
debbasi  imporre  un  contributo  ai  proprietari  dei  beni  confinanti  o 
contigui  all 'opera  stessa,  in  ragione  del  mag^gior  valore  che  vengono 
ad  acquistare  le  loro  proprieta. 

Tale  disposizione,  ispirata  appunto  ad  un  concetto  di  tutela  del 
privato  interesse,  costituisce  in  fatto  uno  dei  principali  difetti  della 
legge  in  quanto  ritlette  i  piani  regolatori  cdilizii.  E  evidente  che 
I'esecuzione  di  un  piano  regolatore,  mcntre  g^rax  a  fortemente  sul 
bilancio  comunale,  determina  nella  maggior  parte  dei  casi  un  incre- 
mento  note\ olissimo  di  valori'  per  i  terreni  compresi  nel  piano  stesso  ; 
I'apertura  di  strade,  alia  quale  tien  scmpre  dietro  I'esecuzione  di  pub- 
blici  servizii,  come  I'acqua  potabile,  la  fognatura,  il  prolungamento 
delle  linee  tramviarie,  ecc.  ecc,  fa  salire  di  assai  il  valore  dei  terreni 
residui  ed  h  quindi  conforme  a  giustizia  che  sempre  i  proprietari  dei 
terreni  stessi  siano  chiamati  a  rimborsare  alia  col!etti\  it:i,  sotto  forma 
di  contributo,  una  parte  di  quel  guadagno  che  loro  deriva  esclusix  a- 
mente  dall'  azione  e  dal  sacrificio  della  collettivita  stessa. 

Pertanto,  I'avere  subordinata  la  facolta  dei  Comuni  di  esigere  un 
contributo,  all'  ottenimento  di  una  legge  speciale,  e  a  ritenersi  misura 


7i8   Transactions  of  the  Town  Phnniing  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

cccessi\  amcnte  prudentc  ccl  errata.  Xon  scmprc,  anclic  assai  di  ratio, 
il  Parlamento  e  in  grado  di  rendersi  esatto  conlo  delle  condizioni 
spccialissimc  in  cui  un  dato  Comune  puo  tro\arsi,  c  quindi  di  pro- 
nunciarsi  con  piena  cognizione  di  causa  ;  inoltre,  e  evidentc  come  una 
leg'ge  dello  State  richieda  una  preparazione  ed  una  procedura  di 
durata  assai  maggiore  che  non  un  seinplice  decreto  reale.  Gli  incon- 
venienti  pratici  di  tale  disposizione  si  sono  ben  presto  manifestati  c 
sono  apparsi  cosi  gra\i  e  diBicili  a  superarsi,  da  indurre  non  poche 
volte  i  Comuni  a  rinunciare  al  diritto  al  contributo  nei  modi  consentiti 
dalla  legg'e,  slorzandosi  di  ottencre  il  concorso  dci  pri\ati  interessati 
per  mezzo  di  amichevoli  contrattazioni,  o  ricorrendo  a  sistemi  in- 
diretti. 

Merita  a  quest'  yltimo  riguardo  di  essere  accennato  I'indirizzo 
seguito  dai  Comuni  maggiori  italiani  nella  compilazione  dei  piani 
regolatori,  col  fare  larg"a  applicazione  della  facolta  concessa  dalla 
legge,  in  modo  in  verita  assai  limitato,  della  espropriazione  per  zona. 

Dispone  infatti  I'art.  22  della  legge  del  1865  che  possono  com- 
prendersi  nella  espropriazione  non  solo  i  beni  indispensabili  aH'csecu- 
zione  dell'  opera  pubblica,  ma  anche  quelli  attigui,  in  una  dcterminata 
zona,  I'occupazione  dei  quali  conferisca  direttamente  alio  scopo  prin- 
cipale  deir  opera  predetta.  In  questo  disposto  i  Comuni  non  tardarono 
a  vedcre  un  modo  indiretto  di  ottenere,  senza  osservare  le  pesanti 
formalita  prescritte  dalla  legge,  il  conseguimento  a  tutto  vantaggio 
della  coUettivita,  di  buona  parte  dei  benefici  derivanti  dall'  opera  pub- 
blica,  diminuendo  notevolmente  I'onere  del  bilancio  comunale. 

Infatti,  nelle  citta  ove  il  constatato  e  progressive  sviluppo  econo- 
mico  e  I'incremento  della  popolazionc,  consentono  la  certezza  che  i 
terreni  contigui  a  nuove  strade  aperte  o  residuanti  dalle  demolizioni 
verranno  ben  presto  appetiti  dalla  privata  speculazione  per  destinarli 
a  nuo\e  fabbriche,  le  amministrazioni  comunali  tendono  a  rendersi 
esse  medesime  proprietarie  di  tali  terreni  per  rivenderli  poi  a  terzi  ad 
un  prezzo  che  comprenda,  oltre  il  valore  di  costo,  anche  I'aumento 
determinato  dall'  opera  eseguita.  N^  in  cio  soltanto  consiste  il  van- 
tag'g'io  deir  applicazione  di  tale  sistema,  poiche  devesi  pur  notare 
come  non  poche  volte  un  piano  di  risanamento  interne  di  un  quartiere 
cittadino,  o  I'apertura  di  una  nueva  arteria  attraversante  il  fitto 
deir  aggregate  urbano,  si  presenti  cosi  eneroso  per  le  finanze  comunali 
da  apparire  di  impossibile  attuazione,  se  all'  azione  pubblica  non  si 
aggiungc  come  collaberatrice  I'iniziatixa  privata.  In  questi  casi,  le 
amm.inistrazioni  comunali  potranno  facilmente  trovare  rappoggio  e 
il  concorso  di  grandi  societa  edilizic,  di  istituti  finanziarii,  o  di  pri\  ati 
cittadini,  quando  siano  in  grade  di  mettere  a  disposizione  di  questi 
lore  cellaberatori  una  gran  parte,  se  non  la  tot.ilita,  dei  terreni  e  degli 
stabili  a\\antaggiati  dalla  nuo\a  opera  pubblica,  affinche  su  di  essi  si 
eserciti  la  privata  speculazione.  Inline,  ultimo  vantaggio  del  sistema 
di  espreprio  per  zona,  e  questa  velta  esclusi\  amente  di  interesse 
generale,  e  quelle  di  censentirc  che  anche  la  riedificazione  venga  fatta 
con  criterii  pcrfettamente  conformi  ai  concetti  informatori  del  piano 
adottato. 

L'impoi-tan/a  grandissima  del  principle  come  sopra  ammesso, 
non  era  sfuggila  al  compilatore  della  legge  del  1865,  poiche  nella 
relaziene  che  hi  precede  e  dette  :     "  Di  C)uesta  rnaggiore  facolta  che 


Lesj^ialazlone  Italiana.  719 

vienc  dalla  prcscnte  leg^gc  conccssa  aH'cspropriantc,  era  urgcnle- 
mente  sentito  il  bisogno,  e  da  essa  si  ripromettono  grandi  vantaggi 
le  citta  italiane  per  compiere  spccialmente  quel  rilevanti  lavori  stradali 
neir  interno  dell'  abitato  che  debbono  crescerne  la  salubrita,  agevo- 
larne  le  comunicazioni  ed  aumentarne  il  decoro. "  A  che  pro  infatti  i 
Municipii  si  avventurerebbero  a  sopportare  enormi  spese  per  aprire 
nuove  vie  o  per  fare  piii  ampie  e  regolari  quelle  esistenti,  se  non 
avesseio  un  mezzo  efficace  per  rcndere  anche  sani  gli  edifizi  frontcg- 
gianti  e  ridurli  in  istato  da  correspondere  all'  importanza  dell'  opera 
eseguita,  togliendo  quegli  abituri  insalubri,  quegli  avanzi  di  ediHzii, 
quelle  aree  senza  costruzioni,  che  nuocciono  all'  igiene  pubblica  e 
deturpano  I'aspetto  della  citta? 

La  legge  deve  assecondare  e  promuovere  Timpulso  che  il  potente 
sortio  di  liberta  diede  all'  Italia,  la  quale  piu  non  si  arresta  all'  oziosa 
contemplazione  delle  sue  glorie  passate,  ma  batte  ardita  per  la  via  del 
progresso  per  a\  er  posto  fra  le  piii  civili  e  progredite  nazioni. 

Xondimeno,  la  presente  legge,  mentre  soddisfa  alia  ragione 
deir  interesse  pubblico  permettendo  I'espropriazione  per  zone  nel  mode 
il  piu  ampio  seguito  in  altri  paesi,  intende  ad  impedire  che  della  con- 
cessa  facolta  si  abusi,  facendola  strumento  ad  ingorde  speculazioni, 
ad  ingiusti  guadagni.  A  questo  intento  fu  introdotta  un'  altra 
aggiunta  al  progetto  parlamentare,  prescrivendo  che  la  facolta 
anzidetta  debba  concedersi  o  nell'  atto  di  dichiarazione  di  pubblica 
utilita,  o  con  posteriore  Reale  decreto. 

Malgrado  pero  gli  ottimi  intendimenti  espressi  nella  citata  rela- 
zione  governativa,  in  questi  ultimi  anni  si  ^  manifestata  da  parte  del 
Governo  una  eccessiva  severita  nel  concedere  la  facolta  dell'  esproprio 
per  zona,  per  un  concetto  di  grande  rispetto  alia  proprieta  prixata  ; 
questo  indirizzo,  cosl  contrario  agli  interessi  comunali,  ha  determinato 
vive  lagnanze  da  parte  delle  amministrazioni,  e  tuttora  insistente- 
raente  si  chiede  che  la  legge  del  1865  venga  per  questo  riguardo 
riformata  estendendo  di  molto  e  chiarendo  la  portata  del  disposto 
deir  art.  22. 

Uno  dei  punti  capitali  della  legislazione  in  materia  di  esproprio  e 
senza  dubbio  quello  che  riflette  la  determinazione  dell'  indennita  da 
concedersi  agli  espropriati  :  la  legge  del  1865  stabilisce  che  nei  casi 
di  occupazione  tolale  I'indennita  dovuta  all'espropriato  consistera  nel 
giusto  prezzo  che  a  giudizio  dei  pcriti  avrebbe  avuto  I'immobile  in 
una  libera  contrattazione  di  compra-vendita.  Xei  casi  di  occupazione 
parziale,  I'indennita  consistera  nella  differenza  del  giusto  prezzo  che 
avrebbe  avuto  I'immobile  avanti  I'occupazione  e  il  giusto  prezzo  che 
potra  avere  la  residua  parte  di  essa  dopo  I'occupazione.  Considera 
altresi  la  legge  la  circostanza  che  dair  esecuzione  dell'  opera  pubblica 
derivi  un  vantaggio  speciale  cd  immediato  alia  parte  del  fondo  non 
espropriato,  e  in  questo  caso  determina  che  il  detto  vantaggio  sara 
estimato  e  detratto  dalla  indennita,  pero  aggiunge  che  se  il  vantaggio 
stesso  sarii  estimato  a  piii  di  un  quarto  dell'  indennita,  il  proprietario 
espropriato  potra  abbandonare  all'  espropriante  I'intero  immobile  per 
il  giusto  prezzo.  L'espropriante  puo  esimersi  dall'  accettare  questo 
abbandono,  pagando  una  somma  non  minore  di  3/4  dell'  indennita. 
In  ogni  caso  pero,  I'indennita  dovuta  al  proprietario  non  potra  essere 
mai  minore  della  meta  di  quella  che  e  rapprcsentata  dal  giusto  prezzo, 
a  giudizio  dei  periti. 


■J20  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

Anche  queste  disposizioni,  pur  essendo  per  s^  disponent!  teorica-. 
mente  a  giustizia,  non  si  sono  in  pratica  manifestate  perfette,  ed 
invero,  nei  molti  anni  di  applicazione  della  legge,  grandissimo  e 
stato  il  numero  delle  controversie,  le  quali  hanno  dato  argomento  al 
formarsi  di  una  giurisprudenza  incerta  e  contradditoria.  Sopratutto, 
il  sistema  adottato  nei  riguardi  dell'  apprezzamento  del  vantaggio 
derivante  al  private  dell'  opera  pubblica  e  dai  piu  ritenuto  eccessiva- 
mente  timido,  e  davvero  non  risponde  a  quel  concetti  sociali  che 
sembrano  ormai  prevalere  in  questa  materia. 

Cosi,  I'aver  abbandonato  completamente  al  criterio  dei  periti  la 
determinazione  dell'  indennita,  senza  stabilirc  alcuna  norma  direttiva 
di  massima,  e  considerato  errore  della  legge,  in  quanto  costringe  i 
Comuni  a  subire  le  conseguenze  di  referti  affatto  personal!,  impedendo 
loro  di  formare  i  pre^'entivi  di  spesa  sopra  basi  solide  e  sicure,  ed 
esponendoli  a  sorprese  sgradite. 

Una  prima  modifica  al  concetto  informatore  della  legge  del  1865 
per  quanto  riguarda  la  determinazione  dell-  indennita,  noi  troviamo 
accolta  dal  legislatore  nella  legge  15  gennajo  1885  per  il  risanamento 
della  citta  di  Xapoli.  L'articolo  13  di  detta  legge,  dopo  a\er  affer- 
mato  il  diritto  del  Municipio  di  Napoli  di  espropriare  a  suo  profitto 
le  zone  lateral!  alle  nuove  strade,  stabilisce  che  I'indennita  dovuta  a! 
proprietar!  degli  immobili  sara  determinata  suUa  media  del  valore 
\  enale  e  dei  fitti  coacervati  dell'  ultimo  decennio,  purche  essi  abbiano 
la  data  certa,  corrispondente  al  rispettivo  anno  di  locazione.  In 
difetto  di  tali  fitti  accertati,  I'indennita  sara  fissata  sull'  imponibile 
netto  agli  effetti  dell'  imposta  sui  terreni  e  sui  fabbricati.  A  tale 
modifica,  invero  gravissima,  del  metodo  normale,  il  legislatore  si 
era  determinate  nella  considerazione  dell'  enorme  importanza  dell' 
opera  a  cui  la  citta  di  Napoli  si  accingeva  et  dei  vantaggi  morali, 
igienici  e  sociali  che  al  compimento  dell'  opera  stessa  andavano  uniti. 
In  seguito  pero,  noi  troviamo  che  la  disposizione  della  legge  per 
Napoli  viene  richiamata  in  altri  casi.  Le  leggi  20  luglio  i8go,  7  luglio 
1902  e  infine  quella  dell'  11  luglio  1907,  tutte  riguardanti  provvedi- 
menti  per  la  citta  di  Roma,  stabiliscono  appunto  che  le  indennita 
dovute  ai  proprietari  degli  immobili  che  il  Comune  di  Roma  fosse 
costretto  ad  espropriare  per  la  formazione  della  rete  stradale  del  nuovo 
piano  regolatore  di  ampliamento  della  citta,  saranno  valutate  a  norma 
delle  disposizioni  contenute  negli  articoli  12  e  13  della  legge  15 
gennajo  1885. 

Infine,  l'articolo  20  del  T. U.  delle  leggi  per  le  case  popolari, 
pubblicato  il  20  febbrajo  igo8,  dispone  che  i  Comuni  nei  quali  si  e 
riconosciuta  la  necessita  di  risanare  i  quartieri  insalubri  o  di  provve- 
dere  alia  deficienza  di  alloggi  e  di  case  popolari  o  economiche, 
debbano  compilare  i  relativi  piani  regolatori  e  di  ampliamento.  Per 
I'esecuzione  di  quest'  ultimo,  i  Comuni,  qualora  non  abbiano  aree  dis- 
ponibili,  sono  autorizzati  a  domandare  I'espropriazione  dei  terreni 
compresi  nei  piano  medesimo.  Anche  qui  dunque  si  riafferma, 
ampliandolo,  il  principio  della  espropriazione  per  zona  ;  si  aggiunge 
poi  nei  riguardi  dell'  indennita  di  espropriazione  delle  arce  da  destinare 
alia  costruzione  di  alloggi  o  di  case  popolari,  che  queste  saranno 
valutate  a  norma  delle  disposizioni  contenute  negli  art.  12  e  13  della 
Itigge  15  gennajo  1885. 


Legislazione  Italiana.  721 

Se  la  norma  di  eccezione  accolta  dalla  k-.e^se  P^'''  Napoli,  giustificata 
come  era  dal  supremo  interesse  pubblico,  non  sollcvo  troppc  opposi- 
zioni,  la  tendenza  dimostrata  dal  legislature  di  estendere  tale  norma 
ad  altri  casi,  non  dove\  a  mancare  di  richiamare  rattenzione  e  le 
acerbe  critiche  degli  interessati.  La  Associazione  dei  proprietari  di 
case  di  Milano,  in  una  mcmoria  redatta  appunto  a  proposito  dell'  art. 
20  dclla  legge  per  le  case  popolari,  non  esita  ad  afiermare  che  tale 
disposizione  sia  in  aperto  contrasto  coUe  piii  elementari  norme  di 
equitii,  riesca  di  danno  irreparabile  ed  ingiusto  alia  proprieta  immo- 
biliare  ed  al  commercio,  violi  le  disposizioni  statutaric  intorno  alia 
proprieta,  di  qualunque  natura  essa  sia,  e  rappresenti  non  un'  espro- 
priazione,  ma  una  confisca  parziale  dei  beni  colpiti.  La  dimostrazione 
di  cio  viene  fornita  coi  seguenti  dati  : 

1°  La  media  tra  il  valore  venale  e  i  fitti  coaccrxali  dell'  ultimo 
decennio,  importa  per  I'appunto  una  gra\issima  diniinuzione  del 
valore  venale,  o,  in  altre  parole,  di  quel  giusto  prezzo  che  dalla  legge 
fondamentale  dell'  espropriazione  per  utilita  pubblica  e  dallo  Statuto 
e  posto  come  criterio  assoluto  di  giudizio. 

Infatti,  supposto  I'immobile  del  reddito  netto  di  L.  25  mila,  il  suo 
valore  capitale  sara  al  5  per  cento  (ad  un  tasso  gia  superiore  al  legale) 
di  L.  500  mila.  Supposto  ancora  che  i  fitti  lordi  sommino  annual- 
mente  a  L.  35  mila,  avremo  che  la  loro  somma  per  un  decennio 
corrispondera  a  L.  350,000. 

La  media  tra  il  valore  venale  e  i  fitti  concervati  darii  cosi  L.  425,000 
e  cioe  L.  75,000  in  meno  del  prezzo  che  il  proprietario  a\  rebbe  riscosso 
in  una  qualsiasi  libera  contrattazionc.  Kvidentemente  la  difterenza, 
o  meglio  la  perdita  di  L.  75,000,  altro  non  e  se  non  una  confisca  a 
vantaggio  del  Comunc  ed  a  danno  del  proprietario. 

La  confisca  assume  proporzioni  anche  piu  gra\  i  quando  si  muti  il 
tasso  di  capitalizzazione  del  reddito.  Cosi,  capitalizzando  al  sei  per 
cento  un  immobile  del  reddito  netto  di  L.  25,000  e  lordo  di  35,000,  la 
confisca  sarebbe  di  circa  L.  go,ooo. 

Quanto  un  si  dice  per  i  fabbricati,  vale  anche,  e  in  proporzioni 
ancor  piu  onerose,  per  i  terreni  da  costruzione. 

Per  questi,  poiche  I'affitto  non  rappresenta  che  in  minima  parte  il 
reddito  dell'  investimento  del  capitale,  la  confisca  diventa  gigantesca. 
Infatti,  data  ad  esempio  la  citta  di  Milano,  ed  un  terrene  alia  perifcria 
del  \  alore  medio  di  L.  10  al  mq.,  affittato  all'  enorme  somma  di  L.  100 
alia  pertica  metrica,  avremo  che  il  valore  \enale  alia  pertica  metrica 
importa  L.  10,000  ;  la  somma  degli  atfitti  in  un  decennio,  L.  1000  e  in 
totale  L.  1 1,000. 

La  media  sarebbe  cosi  rapprcsentata  da  L.  5500,  con  una  confisca 
a  danno  del  proprietario  di  L.  -I.500. 

Tutto  cio  neir  ipotesi  di  favore  che  nel  decennio  gli  affitti  si  siano 
mantenuti  inalterati. 

Ma,  quando  si  pensi  che  in  quasi  tutte  le  cittii  d'ltalia  si  e 
verificato  in  questi  ultimi  anni  un  sensibilissimo  aumento  degli  aflfitti, 
che  a  Milano,  almeno  per  alcune  zone,  rappresenta  qualche  volta 
il  100  per  cento,  si  dovra  concludere  che  la  somma  degli  affitti  del 
decennio  diminuisce  ancor  piii  il  \  alore  venale,  sicche  I'esproprit 
diventa  disastroso.  Si  aggiunga  che  per  colmo  di  fiscalita,  la  legge 
pretende   per   ciascun   anno    del   decennio,  un  affitto  con  data  certa, 


722   'rrciusaclii)iis  of  the  Town  Plainiinji;;  Cunjcrcncc,  Oct.  1910. 

sostituciiclox  i  in  dilctto  il  t-ritcrio  dell'  iinponibilc  netto.  K  lutli 
saiino  che  rimponibile  netto  e  sempre  inferiore  al  reddito  effettivo, 
sicche  anche  per  questa  ragione  la  media  subisce  una  nuova  ridu- 
zione. 

Abbiamo  ^•oluto  riportare  con  qualche  ampiezza  alcune  delle  argo- 
mentazioni  addotte  dagli  interessati,  perche,  pur  non  \olendo  ammct- 
terle  completamente,  e  pur  d'uopo  riconoscere  die  esse  abbiano 
qualche  londamento.  E  cio  apparira  con  maggiore  evidenza,  sempre 
nei  riguardi  della  legge  per  le  case  popolari,  ove  si  consideri  che 
I'art.  20  di  detta  legge  consente  ai  Comuni  di  espropriare  le  aree 
fabbricabili  anche  per  venderle  o  cederle  temporaneamente  a  terzi. 
Disposizione  questa  che  ha  suscitato  vive  speranze  nei  fautori  della 
formazione  del  Domanio  comunale  dei  terreni,  e  i  timori,  non  troppo 
ingiustificati,  dei  pri\  at!  proprietari.  Xoi  riteniamo  che  sia  a  deside- 
rarsi  che  il  legislatore,  abbandonando  la  politica  del  caso  per  caso,  si 
decida  a  modificare  sostanzialmente  le  disposizioni  della  legge  del 
1865,  consentendo  ai  Comuni  di  richiedere  agli  espropriati  un  mag- 
giore  concorso  all'  opera  pubblica,  in  relazione  al  ^  antaggio  ad  essi 
derivante  dall'  opera  stessa,  oppure,  come  abbiamo  gia  detto,  accord- 
ando  ai  Comuni  maggiori  facolta  nei  riguardi  dell'  esproprio  per  zona, 

Concludendo  :  la  legislazione  italiana  in  materia  di  piani  regola- 
tori  edilizi,  rappresentata  dalla  legge  fondamentale  25  giugno  1865, 
e  a  ritenersi  buona  nei  suoi  principi  informatori,  ma  richiede  sollecite 
riforme  intese  ad  agevolare  ai  Comuni  I'esecuzione  dei  piani  stessi 
col  permettere  loro  di  devolvere  a  proprio  prohtto  la  maggior  parte 
dei  vantaggi  che  da  tale  esecuzione  derivano. 


[Translation  of  Signor  Cattaneo's  Paper.] 

ITALIAN    LEGISLATION    RESPECTING  THE 
PLANNING    OE    BUILDING   AREAS. 

1  HE  whole  of  the  extensive  and  highl}  important  legislation  which  regu- 
lates the  planning  of  building  areas  in  Italy  is  based  upon  the  enact- 
ments contained  in  the  Act  of  25th  June,  1865,  No.  2359,  dealing  with 
the  compulsory  acquirement  of  property  for  reasons  of  public  utility. 

If  the  truth  be  admitted.  It  cannot  but  cause  surprise  that  although 
this  first  fifty  years  of  Italian  political  life  has  witnessed  the  greatest 
legislative  activity,  no  opportunity  has  arisen  for  reforming  this  Act  of 
1865  in  such  a  manner  as  to  bring  it  more  into  conformity  with  the  needs 
of  the  day.  Indeed,  it  must  be  admitted  that  our  legislators  have  shown 
a  quite  remarkable  reluctance  to  deal  with  the  matter,  since  even  at  the 
present  day — that  is  to  sa}-,  fort_\  }  ears  after  its  promulgation — this  law 
has  not  yet  been  modified. 

In  other  directions  the  reason  for  this  delay  is  self-evident,  since  the 
Act  is  one  which  undermines  the  principle  of  private  property — a  sacred 
principle  still  forming  an  important  part  of  the  basis  upon  which  the 
whole  fabric  of  modern  societv  rests. 

On  the  other  hand,  although  the  Act  of  1865  is  not  free  from  defects, 
it  is  one  of  the  best  of  our  Italian  laws,  both  in  respect  of  the  intrinsic 
soundness  of  many  of  its  prox  isions,  and  because  (though  this  may  per- 
haps be  due  to  its  not  having  been  reformed)  it  does  not  unduly  fetter  the 


Italian  Legislation   respecting  Planning  oj  Ihdlding  Areas,  "ji^, 

action  of  public  bodies  by  an  intinitx  ot  petty  restrictions.  And  if  to 
this  it  be  added  that,  under  the  constant  impulsion  of  interested  bodies, 
there  has  steadily  grown  up  around  this  Act  a  practical  jurisprudence 
which  in  many  cases  has  been  strong  enough  to  override  the  blunders 
in,  and  supply  the  deficiencies  of,  the  said  Act,  it  will  be  understood  in 
what  degree  this  Act  is  potent  to  restrain  and  govern  that  immense  work 
of  transforming  built-over  areas,  especially  in  the  great  cities,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  notable  manifestations  of  the  progress  made  in  this 
country  since  the  days  of  her  first  union  under  one  ruler. 

The  enactments  in  the  law  of  1865  which  deal  with  the  laying  out 
of  building  areas  and  with  their  extensions  are  few  in  number.  Com- 
munal towns  with  a  total  population  of  at  least  10,000  inhabitants  may, 
for  reasons  of  public  advantage  which  must  be  determined  by  the  actual 
need  for  safeguarding  health  and  ensuring  proper  inter-communiration, 
draw  up  a  general  site  plan  indicating  the  building  lines  which  are  to  be 
adhered  to  in  the  reconstruction  of  such  portions  of  the  inhabited  area 
as  it  is  necessary  to  rc-plan  on  a  more  hygienic  basis  in  order  to  secure 
the  object  aforesaid. 

Communes  in  which  the  immediate  necessities  of  the  case  render  an 
extension  of  the  inhabited  area  imperative  may  draw  up  a  general  site 
plan  for  any  such  extension,  showing  the  lines  which  must  be  adhered 
to  in  the  erection  of  new  buildings  in  order  to  ensure  proper  hygienic 
conditions  within  the  said  area,  together  with  the  safest,  most  con- 
venient and  most  satisfactory  grouping  of  the  several  units. 

If,  in  carrving  out  anv  such  plan  of  extension,  the  commune  is  com- 
pelled to  construct  public  roads,  the  several  proprietors  shall  be  obliged 
to  surrender  the  necessary  land  without  further  formality. 

When  once  the  said  plan  has  been  definitely  adopted,  and  from  the 
dav  that  such  adoption  has  been  publicly  announced,  no  owner  of  lands 
or  of  structures  comprised  within  the  area  covered  by  the  said  plan 
who  desires  to  erect  a  new  structure  or  rebuild  or  alter  any  existing 
structure,  either  of  free  will  or  being  compelled  thereto,  may  carry 
out  anv  such  building  or  structural  alteration  unless  it  be  in  entire 
conformity  with  the  dispositions  of  the  said  plan. 

Such  are  the  fundamental  regulations  laid  down  by  the  .\ct  as  a  basis 
enabling  the  several  communes  to  direct  and  regulate  the  development 
of  their  own  building  areas,  and  to  ensure  that  any  action  taken  by  them 
for  the  general  advantage  of  the  public  at  large  shall  neither  be  hindered 
nor  hampered  by  the  intervention  of  private  interests. 

For  all  that  concerns  the  procedure  to  be  adopted  in  approving  such 
site  plans,  the  formalities  to  be  observed  in  putting  them  into  execution, 
the  amount  of  indemnity  to  be  paid  for  expropriated  lands,  and  similar 
details,  the  Act  lays  down  no  special  regulations  ;  calling  in  properly 
qualified  persons  to  arbitrate  upon  all  questions  of  indemnity  arising 
from  the  expropriation  of  lands  for  the  benefit  of  the  community. 

The  drawings  of  these  site  plans  as  prepared  by  the  municipal 
council  and  approved  by  the  higher  authorities,  after  being  publicly 
exhibited  in  order  that  the  citizens  may  make  themselves  acquainted 
with  their  exact  scope,  and  also  in  order  that  the  proprietors  of  lands 
(M)ncerned  therein  may  be  enabled  to  raise  such  opposition  or  objections 
as  mav  be  suggested  to  them  by  their  own  interests,  are  then  submitted 
to  the  Government,  which  alone  has  the  power  to  authorise  the  carrying 


724   Traiisdctioiis  ol  the  'J'oiai  I'ldiiiiiiii^  Conjercncc,  Oct.  1910. 

into  ctl'cct  ol  llic  said  plans  ;  oblainiiii;  lor  this  purpose  cither  a  special 
Act  ol  Parliament  or  a  Royal  decree  of  approval. 

It  may  be  ol  interest  to  mention  the  several  means  ]j\  w  hich  the  pro- 
mulgation ol  measures  undertaken  lor  the  pu]:)lic  beneiit  are  established 
by  the  Act  of  1865.  1  hey  are  established,  firstly,  by  Act  of  Parliament ; 
secondly,  by  Ro}  al  decree  ;  and,  thirdly,  by  a  decree  of  the  Prefecture. 
The  declaration  is  established  by  law  when  the  performance  of  a  given 
work  entails  the  levying  of  a  contribution  from  the  owners  of  lands 
adjoining  or  contiguous  to  the  said  work  whose  lands  aforesaid  will 
acquire  an  increase  of  value  from  the  execution  of  such  works. 

'J'his  provision,  itself  based  upon  the  principle  of  safeguarding 
private  interests,  ct)nstitutes,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  one  of  the  chief  defects 
of  the  Act  so  far  as  the  planning  of  inhabited  areas  is  concerned.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  putting  tnto  force  of  any  such  plan,  while  it  constitutes 
a  heavy  drain  upon  the  civic  purse,  must  in  a  great  number  of  indixidual 
cases  add  considerably  to  the  site  value  of  lands  included  within  the  area 
covered  by  the  said  plan.  New  streets  w  ill  be  opened  up,  which  will 
entail  the  execution  of  other  public  works,  such  as  the  laying  down  of  a 
water  supply,  sewerage  schemes,  and  extension  of  the  tramway  system 
and  similar  projects.  The  increase  of  value  accruing  to  adjacent  pro- 
perties from  such  works  is  very  considerable,  and  it  is  therefore  only 
just  that  the  owners  of  these  same  properties  should  be  called  upon  to 
reimburse  the  remainder  of  the  community  by  paying  back  some  portion 
of  the  advantage  which  they  alone  will  reap  as  the  result  of  an  action 
undertaken  and  a  sacrifice  made  b}'  the  whole  community. 

The  fact,  howe^'er,  that  all  powers  of  levying  any  such  contribution 
by  the  commune  are  made  dependent  upon  the  passing  of  a  special  Act 
of  Parliament  must  be  considered  an  over-prudent  and  mistaken  pre- 
caution :  for  Parliament  is  not  always  in  a  position  (and,  indeed,  it  is 
very  rarely  in  such  a  position)  to  appreciate  to  the  full  the  special  condi- 
tions with  which  a  given  commune  has  to  deal,  and  consequently  is 
imperfectly  qualified  to  adjudicate  upon  the  requirements  of  the  case ; 
while  it  is  manifest  that  an  Act  of  Parliament  involves  far  more  elabo- 
rate preparation  and  a  more  protracted  procedure  than  is  necessary  in 
the  case  of  a  simple  Decree  of  Ro}  al  Approval.  The  practical  draw- 
backs presented  by  this  mode  of  procedure  are  so  obvious,  A\hile  the 
obstacles  to  be  overcome  are  so  serious  and  forbidding,  that  not  unfre- 
quently  the  communes  concerned  prefer  to  forego  their  right  of  levying 
contributions  according  to  the  regulations  laid  down  by  the  Act,  and 
endeavour  instead  to  bring  all  the  Aarious  private  interests  into  line  by 
means  of  friendly  agreements,  or  by  proceeding  to  indirect  methods. 

With  reference  to  the  method  last  mentioned,  it  will  be  worth  while 
to  note  the  course  of  action  adopted  b\-  the  larger  Italian  communes 
when  drawing  up  their  site  plans,  by  applying  in  a  wider  sense  the  too- 
limited  powers  of  "  expropriation  by  districts  "  {c,ona),  conferred  upon 
Ahem  by  the  Act. 

Section  22  of  the  Act  of  1865  directs  that  not  only  ma\-  the  properties 
which  are  indispensable  to  the  execution  of  the  proposed  public  works 
be  included  in  any  expropriation,  but  that  this  expropriation  may  be  ex- 
tended to  such  adjacent  properties  within  the  aflected  zone  as  are 
directly  contributory  to  the  main  object  of  the  said  works.  Profiting 
by  the  opportunity  aflorded  by  this  section  of  the  Act,  the  communes 


Ualiau  L(\i^islali()i}  rrspccliiic;   Planning;  nj   Ihiiliiiiii^  .\  rra.'s. -ji^ 

were  not  slow  to  perceive  that  an  indirect  course  of  proi-edure  lay  open 
to  them,  without  having-  to  observe  the  cumbersome  formalities  pre- 
scribed by  the  said  Act,  from  which  they  might  win  for  the  community 
the  desired  advantage  and  retain  the  greater  share  of  the  benelils  which 
would  accrue  from  the  execution  of  these  public  works,  while  appreci- 
ably reducing-  the  burden  placed  upon  public  resources. 

Indeed,  in  cities  where-  manifest  and  regular  expansion  coupled  with 
an  increase  of  population  rendered  it  practically  certain  that  lands  adja- 
cent to  newly  constructi'd  roads  or  remaining  after  the  demolition  of  the 
older  structures  would  soon  attract  the  attention  of  prixate  speculators 
as  being  well  adapted  for  the  re-erection  of  new  buildings,  the  town 
councils  have  shown  a  tendency  towards  themselves  acquiring  rights  of 
ownership  over  the  said  properties,  with  the  object  of  again  selling  them 
to  third  parties  at  such  a  price  as  will  recoup  them  for  the  original  cost 
of  the  said  properties,  plus  the  increment  accruing  from  the  execution 
of  the  new  public  works.  Nor  is  this  the  only  adxantagc  gained  from 
the  adoption  of  this  system  ;  for  it  must  be  common  knowledge  that  not 
unfrequently  the  task  of  rcplanning  a  populous  section  of  any  city,  or 
the  cutting  of  a  new  main  road  through  an  urban  district  where  the  pro- 
perties are  let  on  leases,  presents  such  immense  financial  difficulties  as 
to  appear  impossible  of  realisation  were  not  public  action  in  the  matter 
ably  supported  by  private  initiative.  In  such  cases  the  civic  adminis- 
tration has  little  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  co-operation  and  assistance 
of  wealthy  building  societies,  financial  corporations,  and  private  citi- 
zens, since  they  are  in  a  position  to  cede  to  these  auxiliaries  the  greater 
part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  the  lands  and  holdings  whose  value  has  been 
enhanced  by  the  new  public  works,  thereby  enabling  the  said  auxiliaries 
to  develop  them  as  a  private  speculation.  Finally,  the  last  of  the  ad- 
vantages to  be  derived  from  the  system  of  expropriation  by  districts, 
and  one  that  concerns  the  general  public  exclusively,  is  that  by  its  means 
even  the  manner  in  which  the  new  buildings  are  to  be  erected  may  be 
controlled  and  brought  into  entire  agreement  with  the  principles  under- 
lying the  general  plan  adopted. 

The  far-reaching  importance  of  this  principle  as  set  forth  above  did 
not  escape  the  compiler  of  the  Act  of  1865,  since  the  preamble  contains 
the  following  remarks  :  "  The  extended  powers  conceded  to  the  expro- 
priator by  the  present  Act  were  felt  to  be  urgently  needed,  and  it  is 
believed  that  the  cities  of  Italy  will  reap  the  very  greatest  benefit  from 
it,  especially  with  regard  to  works  involving  the  construction  of 
new  roads  within  the  limits  of  the  inhabited  area,  the  object  of  which  is 
to  improve  the  hygienic  conditions,  simplify  the  means  of  intercom- 
munication, and  add  to  the  impressiveness  of  the  said  cities."  For 
what  purpose,  otherwise,  would  the  governing  bodies  of  our  cities 
venture  to  incur  the  enormous  expense  of  opening  new  roads  or  of 
widening  or  altering  those  already  in  existence,  pulling  down  the  old 
insanitary  erections,  removing  the  decaying  ruins,  and  doing  away 
with  the  vacant  sites  which  constitute  a  danger  to  the  public  health 
and  are  a  blot  upon  the  face  of  the  city,  if  they  were  given  no  ade- 
quate power  to  enforce  that  the  structures  fronting  the  said  roads 
should  be  sanitary  and  constructed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  conform  to 
the  importance  of  the  works  already  carried  out? 

The  law  must  aid  and  encourage  that  impulse  which  the  benevolent 


726  Transiiclions  <>j  the  To-aui  Phiuuiiifi;  Confcuncc,  Oct.  1910. 

breath  of  lilicrty  first  gave  to  Italy  :  she  can  no  longer  rest  in  idle  con- 
templation of  her  past  glories,  but  must  struggle  boldly  forward  along 
the  path  of  progress  in  order  to  w  in  a  place  among  the  most  ci\  ilised 
and  progressi\  e  of  nations. 

The  present  Art,  nevertheless,  while  it  satisfies  the  requirements  of 
public  utility  b)'  permitting  the  expropriation  of  land  in  zones  in  as  wide 
a  sense  as  it  is  permitted  in  other  countries,  tends  to  foster  abuses  in  its 
application  by  laying  it  open  to  become  the  instrument  of  greedy  specu- 
lation and  of  dishonest  profits.  To  counteract  this  a  further  provision 
was  added  to  the  Parliamentary  proposals,  enacting  that  the  powers 
already  described  must  be  conceded  either  by  the  "  Act  of  Declaration 
of  Public  Utility  "  itself,  or,  later,  by  a  Royal  decree. 

In  spite,  however,  of  the  very  excellent  intentions  expressed  by  the 
Government  in  the  provisions  cited,  the  Government  itself  has,  during 
the  last  few  years,  shown  excessive  severity  when  conceding  these 
powers  of  expropriation  by  zones,  as  the  result  of  an  unnecessary 
respect  for  private  interests.  This  condition  of  affairs,  being'  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  the  interests  of  the  general  public,  has  given 
rise  to  serious  objections  on  the  part  of  the  various  municipal  bodies, 
while  at  the  present  time  there  is  an  insistent  demand  that  the  Act  of 
1865  shall  in  this  respect  be  altered,  and  that  Article  22  of  the  said 
Act  shall  be  amplified  and  its  import  clearlv  defined. 

One  of  the  chief  points  to  be  considered  in  respect  of  legislation  deal- 
ing with  the  expropriation  of  property  is  unquestionably  that  of  deter- 
mining the  amount  of  indemnity  payable  to  the  expropriatee.  The  Act 
ot  1865  enjoins  that  in  cases  where  the  whole  of  an}-  property  is  annexed 
the  sum  to  be  paid  to  the  expropriatee  as  indemnity  shall  be  such  reason- 
able amount  as,  in  the  opinion  of  qualified  experts,  the  said  property 
might  be  expected  to  fetch  if  sold  in  the  ordinary,  non-compulsory 
manner.  \\'here  only  a  portion  of  any  property  is  so  annexed  the 
amount  of  the  indemnity  is  to  be  assessed  at  the  difference  between  the 
estimated  value  of  the  property  as  a  whole  in  its  original  state  and  the 
estimated  value  of  the  residue  when  the  expropriated  portion  has  been 
duly  annexed.  The  Act  also  takes  into  consideration  the  circumstance 
that  the  performance  of  these  public  works  confers  a  special  and  imme- 
diate benefit  upon  the  unexpropriated  portion  of  such  lands,  and  in  such 
cases  directs  that  the  said  benefit  shall  be  assessed  at  its  just  value  and 
the  amount  of  the  indemnity  reduced  by  the  said  sum.  It  provides, 
however,  that  if  the  benefit  aforesaid  shall  be  considered  worth  more 
than  a  quarter  of  the  indemnitv,  then  the  expropriated  owner  shall  be  at 
liberty  to  abandon  the  whole  of  the  property  to  the  expropriator  at  a 
reasonable  price.  The  expropriator  may  free  himself  from  all  obliga- 
tion to  purchase  the  abandoned  property  by  paying  over  a  sum  equal  to 
not  less  than  three-fourths  of  the  indemnity.  In  every  case,  however, 
the  amount  of  the  indemnity  recoverable  by  the  owner  must  never  be 
less  than  one-half  of  the  reasonable  \alue  of  the  property,  as  assessed 
by  properly  qualified  persons. 

Hut  even  these  provi.^ions,  although  in  theory  they  are  just,  have  not 
proved  to  be  perfect  when  put  into  practice  :  indeed,  during  the  many 
years  that  the  .\ct  has  been  in  force  there  has  arisen  so  nuuh  contro- 
versy on  this  head  that  the  legal  procc^dure  in  such  cases  has  become 
involved  in  a  mass  of  contradictions  and  uncertainties.     Above  all,  the 


Ilaliiiii  T.cs^ishilion  n'specliim  Plannins:  ni  Buildins:  Areas. -2"; 

system  adopted  in  assessing^  the  value  of  the  benefit  derived  by  a  private 
owner  from  the  execution  of  public  works  is  considered  by  manv  to  be 
exceedingly  half-hearted,  and  certainly  does  not  correspond  with  the 
general  ideas  on  such  matters  which  seem  to  prevail  at  the  present  day. 

Thus,  the  complete  abandonment  to  the  judgment  of  qualified  per- 
sons of  all  share  in  assessing  the  indemnity,  without  establishing  any 
maximum  limit,  is  held  to  constitute  a  flaw  in  the  Act,  since  it  compels 
the  communal  authorities  to  bear  the  consequences  arising  from  reports 
which  are  of  necessity  personal,  while  preventing  the  said  authorities 
from  drawing  up  their  estimates  of  cost  upon  fixed  and  certain  data, 
and  exposing  them  to  unpleasant  surprises. 

A  first  modification  of  the  fundamental  idea  underlying  the  Act  of 
1865,  with  regard  to  the  assessment  of  indemnities,  is  to  be  found  em- 
bodied by  the  Legislature  in  the  Act  of  15th  January,  1885,  dealing  with 
the  preservation  of  the  public  health  in  Naples.  Section  13  of  this  .\ct, 
after  confirming  the  right  of  the  civic  authorities  in  Naples  to  expro- 
priate to  their  own  uses  the  properties  lying  on  either  side  of  the  new 
streets,  establishes  that  the  indemnity  to  be  paid  to  the  owners  of  pro- 
perty shall  be  determined  on  the  basis  of  the  mean  between  the  saleable 
value  and  the  sum  total  of  the  rentals  during  the  previous  ten  vears,  pro- 
vided that  the  necessary  data  referring  to  the  said  period  be  forthcom- 
ing. In  default  of  such  ascertained  rental  values  the  indemnity  is  to  be 
assessed  on  the  basis  of  the  net  rateable  value  as  assessed  in  the 
schedules  of  taxation  on  lands  and  buildings.  Such  a  modification  of 
the  original  provisions — and  this  modification  is  indeed  a  very  impor- 
tant one — was  determined  upon  by  the  Legislature  in  view  of  the  vast 
importance  of  the  works  which  the  city  of  Naples  proposed  to  under- 
take, and  of  the  moral,  social,  and  sanitary  benefits  which  would  go 
hand  in  hand  with  the  execution  of  the  project.  Later  on  we  find  the 
provisions  of  the  Naples  Act  cited  in  other  cases.  The  .Acts  of  20th 
July  1890  and  7th  July  1902,  and  even  that  of  nth  July  1907,  each  of 
them  referring  to  the  provisions  made  for  the  city  of  Rome,  all  enforce 
that  the  indemnity  to  be  paid  to  the  owners  of  property  which  the  com- 
mune of  Rome  has  been  compelled  to  expropriate  for  the  formation  of 
the  network  of  new  streets  according  to  the  dispositions  of  the  site  plan 
governing  the  extension  of  the  city,  shall  be  valued  on  the  basis  of  the 
conditions  laid  down  in  Sections  12  and  13  of  the  .Act  of  15th  Januarv 
1885. 

In  fine.  Section  20  of  the  T.l'.  of  the  laws  for  the  regulation  of 
dwelling  houses,  promulgated  on  20th  F"ebruary  1908,  enacts  that 
communal  towns  wherein  it  shall  be  found  necessary  to  remodel  insani- 
tary areas,  or  to  provide  a  number  of  lodging-houses,  dwellings,  or 
tenements,  shall  be  compelled  to  draw  up  a  suitable  site  plan  controlling 
the  erection  of  such  structures  and  any  extension  thereof.  In  order  to 
carry  out  the  latter  portion  of  this  provision  su(-h  communes  as  have  not 
the  necessary  space  at  their  disposal  already  are  empowered  to  ask  for 
the  expropriation  of  such  lands  as  are  marked  down  for  that  purpose  on 
the  aforesaid  site  plan.  Here,  again,  we  find  the  principle  of  expropria- 
tion bv  zones  once  more  asserted  and  its  intention  widened  at  the  same 
time  ;  while  it  is  further  provided  that  with  regard  to  the  Indemnity  for 
anv  such  expropriation  of  property  destined  for  the  erection  of  lodging- 
houses  or  of  dwelling-houses,  the  said  indemnity-  shall  be  assessed 


728  Trausaclious  nj  the  Toii'n  Phwiiiijig  ('niifcrrncc,  Oct.  1910. 

iiccordin^-  to  the  proxisions  (-ontaincd  in  Sections  12  and  13  of  the  Act 
of  15th  January  1885. 

If  the  course  adopted  in  the  Neapolitan  Act,  justified  as  it  was  by  the 
vast  importance  of  the  pubhc  benefits  to  be  obtained  by  its  means,  met 
with  no  very  serious  opposition,  the  tendency  of  our  legishitors  to 
extend  its  provisions  to  meet  other  cases  has  by  no  means  failed  to 
attract  the  attention  and  hostile  criticism  of  the  interested  parties.  The 
Association  of  House  Owners  in  Milan,  in  a  memorial  drawn  up  in  con- 
nection with  Section  20  of  this  Act  dealing-  with  dwelling-houses,  has 
not  hesitated  to  assert  that  such  a  provision  is  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  most  elementary  principles  of  equity,  is  in  its  action  irreparably 
damaging  and  unjust  to  both  landed  interests  and  to  commerce,  vio- 
lates the  statutory  enactments  dealing  with  property — no  matter  what 
the  nature  of  the  property  may  be — and  is,  in  actual  fact,  a  confiscation 
of  the  properties  concerned  rather  than  an  expropriation  of  them. 
These  assertions  are  then  illustrated  by  the  arguments  here  following  : 

The  mean  between  the  saleable  value  and  the  sum  total  received 
in  rental  during  the  last  ten  years  preceding  entails,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
a  very  serious  reduction  in  the  saleable  value  ;  or,  in  other  words,  a 
serious  reduction  of  that  reasonable  value,  as  prescribed  in  the  original 
Act  of  expropriation  of  properties  for  the  public  advantage,  which  the 
said  statute  sets  up  as  the  absolute  criterion  in  such  transactions. 

Suppose,  for  example,  that  a  given  property  yields  a  net  return  of 
25,000  lire  ;  its  capital  value  at  5  per  cent,  (a  percentage  which  is  already 
in  excess  of  the  legal  rate)  would  be  500,000  lire.  Suppose,  also,  that 
the  gross  annual  rental  is  35,000  lire,  then  the  total  rental  for  the  ten 
years  would  amount  to  350,000  lire. 

The  mean  between  the  saleable  value  and  the  sum  total  of  the  rental 
would  therefore  be  425,000  lire — that  is  to  say,  75,000  lire  less  than  the 
owner  would  have  received  under  any  non-compulsory  deed  of  sale.  It 
is  obvious  that  this  difference,  or,  rather,  loss,  of  75,000  lire  is  nothing 
else  than  an  act  of  confiscation  for  the  benefit  of  the  commune  at  the 
expense  of  the  said  OA\ner. 

This  confiscation  assumes  still  graver  proportions  if  the  capital  tax 
upon  the  yearly  revenue  be  altered.  Thus,  if  the  capital  tax  upon  a 
property  yielding  a  net  return  of  25,000  lire  and  a  gross  return  of  35,000 
lire  be  increased  to  6  per  cent.,  the  sum  confiscated  would  amount  to 
about  90,000  lire. 

What  has  been  said  with  regard  to  structures  applies  also,  but  with 
graver  import,  to  building  land. 

As  far  as  these  latter  are  concerned,  since  the  rental  represents  but 
an  infinitesimal  portion  of  the  revenue  accruing  from  the  capital  in- 
vested, the  amount  of  the  confiscation  becomes  positively  colossal. 
Take,  for  example,  the  case  of  a  plot  of  land  in  the  city  of  Milan  with  a 
mean  surface  value  of  10  lire  per  square  metre  which  is  let  out  at  the 
enormous  rental  of  100  lire  for  every  metric  perch  of  its  area  ;  we  shall 
then  have  a  saleable  value  per  metric  perch  of  10,000  lire,  while  the  sum 
of  the  rentals  for  the  ten  years  will  amount  to  1000  lire,  making  a 
total  of  11,000  lire. 

The  mean  would  thus  be  represented  by  a  sum  of  5500  lire, 
entailing  a  confiscation  of  4500  lire  at  the  expense  of  the  owner. 


Italian  Legislation  respecting  Planning  of  Building  Areas.  729 

These  calculations  are  all  based  upon  the  assumption  that  during^ 
the  said  ten  years  the  amount  of  the  rental  has  remained  constant. 

But  when  we  consider  that  in  nearly  every  city  of  Italy  these 
last  few  years  have  witnessed  a  very  evident  increase  in  rental 
values,  and  that  in  Milan — at  least  in  certain  sections  of  the  city — 
the  increase  has  risen  to  100  per  cent.,  we  are  driven  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  sum  of  the  rentals  for  the  ten  years  will  still  further 
decrease  the  saleable  value,  so  that  the  expropriation  becomes  dis- 
astrous. It  should  be  added  that,  as  the  climax  of  its  subtlety,  the 
Act  assumes  a  fixed  rental  value  for  each  one  of  the  ten  years,  sub- 
stituting- in  default  thereof  the  net  amount  of  the  assessment  for 
taxation.  And  everybody  knows  that  the  assessment  for  taxation  is 
less  than  the  actual  rental,  so  that  the  mean  value  suffers  a  still  further 
reduction. 

We  have  considered  it  advisable  to  bring-  forward  in  considerable 
detail  some  of  the  arguments  adduced  by  the  parties  interested 
because,  even  thoug;h  they  may  not  meet  with  entire  approval,  they 
must  be  admitted  to  have  some  foundation.  And  this  becomes  the 
more  apparent  when  we  investigate  the  provisions  of  the  law  in 
respect  to  dwelling-houses,  since  Section  20  of  the  Act  cited  further 
empowers  the  civic  authorities  to  expropriate  building-  sites  in  order 
that  they  may  be  sold  or  leased  temporarily  to  third  parties.  This 
provision  has  aroused  the  most  lively  hopes  in  the  breasts  of  those 
who  are  in  favour  of  the  adoption  of  State  ownership  for  all  landed 
property,  while  it  has  g-iven  rise  to  apprehensions,  which  are  not 
entirely  unjustified,  on  the  part  of  private  owners.  What  is  wanted, 
we  maintain,  is  that  our  Legislature  should  abandon  the  practice  of 
making-  special  provision  for  each  separate  case,  and  effect  a  radical 
reform  in  the  Act  of  1865  by  g-ranting-  wider  powers  to  the  civic 
authorities,  enabling-  them  to  force  the  expropriatees  into  g-iving- 
more  substantial  support  to  the  oft-mentioned  public  works,  propor- 
tionate to  the  benefits  they  will  themselves  derive  therefrom  ;  or, 
rather,  as  we  have  already  said,  by  according-  to  the  civic  authorities 
extended  powers  with  respect  to  expropriation  by  zones. 

In  conclusion,  Italian  leg-islation  in  matters  concerning  the  lay- 
ing-out of  building  areas,  as  represented  by  the  original  or  funda- 
mental Act  of  25th  June  1865,  may  be  considered  good  in  the 
principles  that  underlie  it ;  but  it  is  imperative  that  immediate  revi- 
sion should  be  undertaken  with  a  view  to  smoothing  the  path  of  the 
communal  authorities  in  the  execution  of  the  schemes  aforesaid  by 
enabling  them  to  retain  for  their  own  use  the  greater  share  of  the 
benefits  which  must  accrue  from  the  carrying  out  of  these  said 
schemes. 


3B 


PART  III. 


EXHIBITION  OF   MAPS,    PLANS,    DRAWINGS, 
AND   MODELS. 

THE  ROYAL  ACADEMY. 

Opening  of  the  Exhibition. 
Descriptive  and  Critical  Notices. 
Reproductions  of  Exhibits. 

THE  GUILDHALL. 

List  of  Principal  Exhibits. 

THE  ROYAL  INSTITUTE  OF  BRITISH  ARCHITECTS. 
Description  of  Exhibits. 
Old  Views  of  London  Docks. 
Exhibition  of  Lantern  Slides. 


3B  2 


733 


EXHIBITION  OF  MAPS,  PLANS,  DRAWINGS.  AND 
.MODELS  AT  THE  ROYAL  ACADEMY. 

Monday,   loth  October. 

Mr.  Leonard  Stokes,  P.R.I.B.A.,  in  declaring  the  Exhibition 
open,  said  the  occasion  gave  him  a  pubhc  opportunity  of  thanking  in 
a  dual  capacity  the  President  and  Members  of  the  Royal  Academy 
for  lending  their  Galleries.  First  of  all  as  President  of  the  Confer- 
ence he  should  like  to  thank  the  Academy,  because  without  the  loan 
of  the  Galleries  he  did  not  see  how  they  could  have  held  the  Exhibition, 
and  without  the  Exhibition  the  Conference  would  have  been  rather  a 
tame  affair.  As  President  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects 
he  should  also  like  to  thank  the  Royal  Academy,  because  he  felt 
that  they  had  with  open-handed  hospitality  enabled  architecture  in 
its  very  broadest  sense  to  take  a  step  forward  that  day  which  might 
be  of  the  greatest  benefit  in  the  future  to  everyone  concerned.  The 
drawings  exhibited,  he  asked  them  to  remember,  were  not  produced 
as  works  of  art  in  the  first  instance,  though  many  of  them  were  highly 
interesting  and  extremely  well  executed.  Their  first  object  was  to 
express  to  the  public,  in  the  only  way  that  architects  had  of  expressing 
themselves,  the  architects'  idea  of  what  they  would  like  to  see  carried 
out  in  bricks-and-mortar.  Members  had  been  handed  a  very  good 
catalogue,  and  he  thought  it  was  greatly  to  Mr.  Ravmond  Unwin's 
credit  that  this  catalogue  had  been  prepared.  They  owed,  indeed,  a 
deep  debt  of  gratitude  to  Mr.  Unwin  for  getting  this  collection 
together.  It  had  been  a  colossal  work,  and  the  labour  in  connection 
with  it  had  fallen  almost  entirely  on  Mr.  Unwin's  shoulders.  Mr. 
Eaton,  the  .Secretary  of  the  Royal  .\cademy,  had  been  most  kind  and 
helpful,  and  in  proposing  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Royal  Academy 
for  lending  their  Galleries,  he  should  like  to  include  the  name  of  Mr. 
Eaton  for  the  great  kindness  he  had  shown  them. 

The  vote  of  thanks  having  been  warmly  accorded, 
Mr.  John  Belcher,  R.A.,  thanked  the  President  for  his  apprecia- 
tive reference  to  the  Royal  Academy.  The  Members  of  the  .Academy 
were  fully  alive  to  the  importance  of  the  subject  before  the  Conference, 
and  were  glad  to  be  able  to  do  anything  to  further  the  good  work  of 
serving  humanity  in  our  towns  and  cities.  The  Exhibition  should 
convince  the  most  careless  and  indifferent  of  the  great  opportunities 
before  the  maker  of  roads  and  builder  of  cities.  Passing  round  the 
rooms  and  viewing  the  drawings  and  plans  of  the  great  cities  and 
towns,  with  their  beautiful  picturesque  effects,  he  thought  every  artist 
Avould  be  interested  in  town  planning,  whether  he  were  painter, 
sculptor,  or  architect.  The  painter  would  find  picturesque  effects 
Avhich  delight  him,   and  on  which  he  would  be  able  to  give  advice  ; 


734  Transactions  of  the  Tou^n  Plainiiiig  Conference,  Oct.  1910^ 

the  sculptor  would  Had  suitable  positions  for  monuments  or  statues  ; 
and  the  architect  would  find  his  opportunity  of  bring-ing^  into  play  those 
forces  which  go  to  make  a  healthy,  prosperous,  and  attractive  city. 

The  formal  part  of  the  proceedings  concluded,  the  assembly  dis- 
persed to  view  the  exhibits. 

NOTES   OX    THE    EXHIBITS.^ 
B\  H.  \'.  Laxchester,  F.R.I.B.A.,  and  Raymond  Uxwix,  F.R.I.B.A. 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  exhibition  at  the  Royal 
Academy  marked  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  architectural  progress,  for, 
after  all  is  said  and  done,  it  is  as  a  branch  of  architecture  that  the 
Town  Planning  movement  will  go  down  to  posterity,  and  the  collection 
brought  together  at  Burlington  House  w'as  more  comprehensive  in  its 
character  than  any  hitherto  held.  Though  it  may  be  admitted  that 
England  cannot  take  first  place  in  the  world  of  art,  we  can,  however, 
fairly  claim  to  have  been  early  in  the  field  in  organising  an  inter- 
national exhibition  of  town  planning.  That  the  intention  was  abso- 
lutely realised  cannot  be  contended,  but  that  the  attempt  came  as  near 
as  it  did  is  something  to  be  proud  of.  All  the  nations  that  have  done 
effective  work  in  this  direction  were  represented,  and,  if  their  exhibits 
were  not  quite  proportionate,  the  relative  representation  approximated 
more  nearly  to  the  correct  one  than  in  the  exhibition  held  in  the 
summer  at  Berlin. 

The  Royal  Academy  are  to  be  congratulated  on  their  prescience  in 
making  this  the  first  occasion  on  which  the}-  had  granted  the  use  of 
their  galleries  to  another  body,  and  their  liberality  in  so  doing  deserves 
the  warmest  recognition.  The  Exhibition,  it  is  true,  left  something 
to  be  desired  in  the  matter  of  arrangement,  but  only  those  unaware  of 
the  difficulties  with  which  Mr.  Raymond  Unwin  and  his  coadjutors  on 
the  hanging  committee  had  to  contend  would  feel  inclined  to  cavil ;  it 
is  understood  that  nearly  the  whole  of  the  German  section  arrived  but 
three  clear  days  before  the  opening  of  the  Exhibition,  so  that  it 
involved  working  by  night  as  well  as  by  day  in  order  to  get  the  works 
arranged  and  hung. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  Germany  and  Austria  were  well 
represented,  while  the  United  States  took  a  leading  position.  Eng- 
land was  much  as  one  would  expect,  but  France  and  Italy  were  dis- 
appointing as  to  modern  work,  the  former  showing  little  beyond  a  fine 
series  of  plans  of  Paris  and  M.  Henard's  studies  of  civic  improve- 
ments, while  the  latter's  exhibit  was  limited  to  a  series  of  plans  of 
Rome,  Milan,  and  Turin. 

As  the  various  nationalities  were  arranged  to  occupy  contiguous 
galleries,  it  will  be  convenient  to  take  these  in  numerical  order  and 
to  point  out  the  leading  features  in  each. 

Gallery  I. — Italiax  axd  Exglish. 

la  Gallery  I.  the  left-hand  side  was  devoted  to  Italy,  and  here  were 

to  be  found  a  series  of  old  plans  and  views  of  Rome,  contributed  by 

Dr.  Ashby,  Director  of  the  British  School.      These  were  followed  by 

the  oflicial  plans  showing  recent  developments  and  modern  extensions 

'  Reproductions  of  some  of  the  exhibits  appear  on  pp.  745  to  802, 


The  Roval  .Icademv  Exhibitiun. 


/3d 


of  the  city.  Plans  of  Turin  [figs,  i,  2]  and  Milan  [figs.  3,  4j  were  also 
exhibited.  To  the  right  of  the  exit  door  were  to  be  seen  reproductions 
of  M.  Jean  Hulot's  wonderful  drawings  of  Selinonte,  lent  by  Mr.  John 
W.  Simpson.  The  right-hand  walls  of  this  gallery  were  allotted  to 
English  work.  Here  were  exhibited  a  series  of  drawings  and  photo- 
graphs of  Cheyne  Walk,  by  Mr.  C.  R.  Ashbee  and  Messrs.  Wratton 
&  Godfrey,  showing  the  combination  of  old  and  new  houses  along  the 
river  front,  together  with  work  not  yet  cairied  out,  but  which  is 
designed  to  complete  this  picturesque  and  varied  group  of  buildings. 
Below  these  were  plans  illustrating  the  proposal  of  the  Further  Strand 
Improvement  Committee,  which  was  so  ill-advisedly  rejected  by  the 
London  County  Council,  together  with  two  brilliant  sketches  by  Mr. 
W.  Walcot  showing  the  effect  of  the  proposal  [fig.   10]. 

Professor  Beresford  Pite  was  represented  by  his  sketch  for  the 
approach  to  St.  Paul's  from  the  proposed  bridge  [fig.  7]  and  a 
design  for  a  memorial  bridge.  Sir  Aston  Webb  showed  his  plan  of  the 
Mall  rearranged  as  the  National  Memorial  to  Queen  \'ictoria  [fig.  8], 
and  Mr.  Leonard  Stokes  added  a  suggestion  as  to  the  completion  of 
the  entrance  into  Trafalgar  Square.  The  President  of  the  Royal  Insti- 
tute of  British  Architects  also  exhibited  a  plan  for  the  alignment  of 
St.  Paul's  Bridge  at  right  angles  to  the  cathedral,  and  a  view  of  his 
competition  design  for  the  Strand  front  of  the  Aldwych  site.  Messrs. 
Collcutt  &  Hamp  showed  their  design  for  a  bridge  over  the  Thames, 
[fig.  9],  and  one  for  the  improvement  of  Battersea  Park. 

Messrs.  Lanchester  &  Rickards  exhibited  a  design  for  a  monumental 
garden  at  Geneva,  and  views  of  a  memorial  fountain  at  Newmarket, 
executed  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Henry  Poole.  The  other  exhibits 
included  a  design  for  a  building  now  in  course  of  erection  which  forms 
a  terminal  feature  to  Half  Moon  .Street,  Piccadilly,  a  sketch  for  a 
public  hall  and  monument  terminating  an  important  avenue,  several 
spirited  drawings  of  monuments  from  the  hand  of  Mr.  E.  .A.  Rickards, 
and  a  series  showing  some  treatments  of  incidents  in  civic  design. 
Mr.  ^\'.  D.  Caroe  showed  his  suggested  scheme  for  the  northern 
approaches  to  London  Bridge. 

Gallery  II. — English  and  Colonial. 

In  Gallery  II.  were  a  number  of  plans  of  colonial  towns,  including 
new  developments  of  an  important  character,  such  as  the  new  group 
of  Union  Buildings  at  Pretoria,  placed  in  an  exceptionally  favourable 
position  on  the  side  of  a  hill.  Messrs.  Herbert  Baker  &  Fleming  also 
showed  a  plan  of  miners'  quarters  at  Johannesburg.  Messrs.  Nichol- 
son &  Corlette  showed  a  view  of  their  Government  buildings  at 
Kingston,  Jamaica  [fig.  12] ,  with  a  site  plan  showing  the  relationship 
of  the  new  building  to  the  general  lay-out  of  the  town  [fig.  11] . 

The  Sudan  Government  lent  an  interesting  exhibit,  consisting  of 
plans  of  Old  and  New  Khartoum  and  sections  of  avenues  and  streets, 
laid  out  by  Mr.  McLean;  photographs  of  Old  Khartoum  taken  in 
General  Gordon's  time,  and  one  showing  Gordon's  ruined  palace, 
taken  in  1898  after  the  Battle  of  Omdurman  ;  map  of  Khartoum  and 
Omdurman  showing  their  relative  positions  ;  photographs  of  New 
Khartoum,  including  views  of  the  Gordon  statue,  the  Cathedral,  the 
Gordon  College,  and  the  principal  avenues,  &c.     Of  Omdurman  were 


7^6  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

shown  plans  of  part  of  the  town  in  its  original  state  and  as  proposed 
to  be  reconstructed  ;  plan  of  part  as  reconstructed  ;  photographs  of 
Omdurman,  including  one  of  the  Mahdi's  tomb,  taken  after  the  Battle 
of  Kerreri  (Omdurman)/ 

The  plan  by  Mr.  C.  Stanley  Peach  for  Port  Argentine,  Samborom- 
bon  Bav,  looked  a  very  promising  one,  and  Messrs.  Brett  &  Hall's 
building  plan  for  Prince  Rupert's  Town  displayed  considerable  skill  in 
the  adaptation  of  a  somewhat  difficult  site  to  the  purposes  of  a  city. 
This  gallery  also  contained  some  fine  old  prints  of  London  squares  and 
other  subjects  lent  by  Mr.  B.  T.  Batsford,  Mr.  F.  W.  Speaight's 
schemes  for  Hyde  Park  Corner  and  the  Horse  Guards  Parade,  and  a 
most  interesting  collection  of  old  plans  and  prints  giving  the  history 
of  Regent  Street  and  Regent's  Park  from  their  inception  to  their 
completion,  lent  by  Mr.  Arthur  Ashbridge  [figs.  5,  6].  At  the  end 
of  the  room  were  placed  the  designs  by  Mr.  Norman  Shaw  for  Regent 
Quadrant  and  the  Piccadilly  Hotel ;  with  these  were  drawings  show- 
ing a  further  development  of  Mr.  vShaw's  scheme  [fig.  13]  for  the 
improvement  of  Piccadilly  Circus,  prepared  by  Mr.  John  Murray  and 
exhibited  by  the  Office  of  Woods  and  Forests  [figs.  14-15].  Here 
also  were  to  be  found  Professor  Adshead's  drawings  embodying  his 
suggestions  for  Liverpool  [fig.  32],  the  British  Museum  [fig's.  15A, 
15B]  and  the  Marble  Arch. 

Mr.  T.  H.  Mawson  exhibited  an  effective  group  of  drawings- — for 
the  grounds  to  the  Peace  Palace  at  The  Hague,  for  buildings  in 
Pittencrieff  Park  and  Glen,  Dunfermline  [fig.  16] ,  and  other  public 
works.-  The  bird's-eye  view  of  Mr.  Prestwick's  winning  design  for 
improvements  at  Port  Sunlight  deserved  especial  notice   [fig.  17'. 

Gallery  IIa. — British  Garden  Cities  and  Suburbs. 

The  room  known  as  the  ^\'ater  Colour  Room  was  devoted  mainly 
to  illustrating  garden  city  and  garden  suburb  work  in  England,  and 
the  development  of  this  branch  of  work,  both  in  extent  and  character, 
was  very  evident.  Drawings  and  photographs  illustrated  the  indus- 
trial suburb  of  Bournville  [fig.  19],  with  its  ample  gardens  and  many 
charming  open  spaces  and  recreation  grounds  ;  as  also  Port  Sunlight 
[fig.  18],  with  its  more  architectural  treatment  of  groups  of  buildings 
and  generally  greater  central  control  of  the  front  gardens  and  details 
of  the  scheme.  The  pioneer  work  of  Mr.  W^illett  in  suburban  treat- 
ment, and  the  great  pioneer  scheme  of  town  planning  at  Letchworth 
[fig.  20],  inspired  by  Mr.  Kbenezer  Howard,  were  both  represented. 
In  connection  with  the  latter  scheme  plans  illustrated  the  provision 
made  for  industrial  enterprises  Avhich  may  settle  at  Letchworth,  and 
for  all  the  necessary  parts  for  a  city  which  it  is  intended  shall  grow 
to  have  a  population  of  about  30,000  inhabitants. 

The  growth  of  the  co-partnership  movement  and  its  developing 
ideas  were  well  shown  in  a  plan  of  Ealing,  the  first  estate  developed 
by  the  Co-partner.ship  Tenants'  Society  ;  and  plans  of  their  estates  at 
Harborne  [fig.  21]  near  Birmingham,  Stoke-on-Trent,  Sealand  near 
Chester,  in  addition  to  the  areas  developed  by  them  both  at  Letch- 
worth and  Ilampstead  [figs.  22,  23],  were  among  the  exhibits. 

See  re})roductions  of  this  exhibit  in  Mr.  :\IcLean's  Paper,  supra,  pp.  575  sqq. 
^  See  his  Paper,  "  PubHc  Parks  and  Gardens,"  supra,  p.  434. 


The  Royal  Academy  Exhibition.  737 

Among  schemes  on  the  estates  of  private  owners  may  be  specially 
mentioned  the  plan  for  Alkrington  [fig.  25]  on  the  estate  of  the 
Lees  Trustees;  that  for  Knebworth,  on  the  Lvtton  estate  ;  that  at 
Fallings  Park,  Wolverhampton  [fig.  26] ,  on  land  belonging  to  .Sir 
Richard  Paget;  Cutteslowe,  near  Oxford;  Gidea  Hall,  Romford 
[%•  -7]  ;  ^t.  Budeaux,  near  Devonport  ;  part  of  the  Pitreavie 
estate  at  Rosyth ;  and  the  Woodlands  Colliery  village,  near  Don- 
caster  [fig.  28].  Each  and  all  provided  interesting  exhibits;  and 
special  mention  must  be  made  of  the  cardboard  counter  model  of 
the  Knebworth  and  the  wood  contour  model  of  the  St,  Budeaux 
estates,  both  admirable  examples  of  models  made  for  the  guidance  of 
the  expert ;  while  the  plaster  models  of  the  Hampstead  Garden  Suburb 
[fig.  22]  illustrated  by  sample  areas,  in  a  way  appealing  more  easilv 
to  the  general  public,  the  character  of  development  there  adopted  for 
•cottages,  larger  houses,  and  the  central  square.  A  series  of  speciallv 
prepared  photographs,  with  a  plan  showing  the  position  from  which 
they  were  taken,  well  illustrated  the  character  of  the  streets  and  street 
A'iews  developed  by  the  type  of  planning  at  the  Hampstead  Garden 
Suburb.  Two  of  the  prize  designs  for  the  laying-out  of  the  estate  at 
Swansea  for  the  Cottage  Exhibition,  and  the  lay-out  of  several  estates 
of  block  dwellings  and  cottages  for  the  Sutton  Trustees,  the  planning 
•of  the  Boys'  Garden  City  at  Woodford  Bridge,  Messrs.  Rowntree's 
rural  village  at  Earswick,  plans  showing  the  use  of  paths  and  small 
roads  in  the  development  of  industrial  villages  and  showing  the  lay- 
out of  the  Bellahouston  and  Mosspits  estates  in  Glasgow,  must  also 
be  mentioned  ;  and  the  very  interesting  plans  prepared  by  the  Man- 
■chester  Society  of  Architects  for  the  laying-out  of  the  suburb 
of  F^llowfield,  in  Manchester,  stand  out  prominently,  both  for  the 
•character  of  the  work  and  the  drawings   [figs.  2q,  30,  31^. 

In  the  same  room  were  included  drawings  illustrating  the  County 
Council's  parks  and  housing  schemes,  some  of  the  Liverpool  work- 
men's dwellings,  and  large  diagrammatic  drawings  illustrating  the 
wide  avenues  of  different  types  which  ha\e  been  and  are  being  laid  out 
:nround  the  city  of  Liverpool. 

Gallery  IIb. — Civic  Slrvkv  of  Edinblrgh. 

The  exhibit  in  Gallery  Hb,  and  its  purpose,  is  dealt  with  by  Professor 
<jeddes  in  his  Paper  on  "  The  Cixic  Survey  of  Edinburgh  "  [supra, 
P-  537]- 

(iALLHRv  III. — American. 

In  Gallerv  III.  were  hung  a  series  of  plans  of  Chicago  and  Wash- 
ington, contributed  to  the  Exhibition  by  Mr.  D.  H.  Burnham. 

The  designs  for  Washington  are  based  on  the  original  plans  of 
L' Enfant,  plans  that  had  been  to  a  large  extent  obscured  and  de- 
g-raded  during  years  of  neglect  in  the  last  century.  Railways  had 
been  allowed  to  take  positions  destructive  of  the  lines  of  L'Enfant's 
scheme,  and  the  principal  station  actually  encroached  on  the  fine  open 
space  known  as  The  Mall,  which  runs  from  the  Capitol  westward 
towards  the  river.  One  of  the  first  objects  of  the  plan  prepared  under 
the  auspices  of  Messrs.  Burnham.  McKim,  St.  Gaudens,  and  Olm- 
stead  was   to  rearrange  the   railway  routes  so  that  they   should  no 


738  Transactiu)is  of  the  To-ivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

longer  interfere  with  the  fine  surrounding-s  of  the  Capitol ;  and  this 
has  been  done  by  bringing  them  together  at  a  point  about  half  a 
mile  to  the  north-east  of  the  Capitol,  where  one  of  the  avenues 
radiating  from  this  centre  terminates  in  a  magnificent  semicircular 
place,  the  forecourt  of  the  great  joint  station,  which  is  mainly  a  ter- 
minus, though  the  lines  running  south  are  continued  through  and  pass 
under  the  Capitol  square  towards  the  Potomac  river  by  means  of  a 
tunnel.  Thus  all  the  railways  have  been  cleared  out  of  the  central 
area  of  the  city,  and  one  of  the  most  detrimental  features  removed. 

The  Mall  itself  and  the  fine  park  crossing  it  at  right  angles,  about 
the  centre  of  its  course,  had  never  been  laid  out  and  planted  in  a  suit- 
able fashion,  while  the  buildings  fronting  it  were  out  of  alignment  and 
architecturally  unworthy.  These  areas  demanded  ,a  complete  re- 
modelling, and  the  manner  in  which  this  is  now  being  carried  out 
was  shown  in  the  series  of  drawings  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Aca- 
demv  [figs.  33-36] .  Many  other  problems  are  linked  up  with  this 
great  central  improvement,  and  some  of  the  other  drawings  showed! 
how  it  is  proposed  to  deal  with  these,  while  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  though  in  this  portion  a  definitely  formal  treatment  is. 
adopted,  in  the  little  valleys  in  the  outskirts,  such  as  Rock  Creek 
and  Piney  Branch,  an  avowedly  naturalistic  effect  is  preferred. 

The  City  of  Washington  has  made  more  actual  progress  in  the 
materialisation  of  its  civic  scheme  than  any  other  in  the  United  States. 
Chicago,  by  comparison,  has  hardly  begun,  and  offers,  moreover,  a 
much  less  inspiring  problem  to  the  designer,  the  site  being  level  and 
the  existing  town  most  monotonous  in  its  lay-out,  besides  being  cut 
up  in  all  directions  by  the  multitude  of  railway  tracks  necessary  to 
the  conduct  of  its  large  business  as  a  manufacturing  and  commercial 
centre.  All  the  more  credit,  therefore,  to  those  citizens  who  have 
had  the  courage  to  Initiate  and  prepare  the  comprehensive  scheme 
shown  on  the  walls  of  Burlington  House.  This,  again,  begins  with 
the  reorganisation  of  the  railway  system,  a  work  deserving  of 
especial  notice.  The  numerous  lines  are  gathered  to  one  great  ex- 
change yard,  by  which  means  more  than  half  the  bulk  of  goods  now 
passing  through  the  city  could  be  transferred  and  sent  on  its  way 
without  interfering  with  the  local  requirements.  From  this  exchange 
yard  lines  pass  on  the  north  and  south  sides  of  the  central  area  to  the 
lake  front  habours.  Provision  is  also  made  for  dealing  with  passenger 
traffic  in  a  manner  that  appears  adequate. 

As  regards  the  street  plan,  this  great  scheme  hardly  conveys  the 
same  sense  of  finality.  One  must,  of  course,  recognise  the  difficulty 
of  dealing  with  the  monotonous  checker-board  plan  extending  over 
the  huge  area  of  Chicago,  but  to  cut  the  necessary  diagonal  roads 
through  this  without  taking  steps  to  reconcile  the  conflicting  frontage 
lines  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  a  solution  of  the  problem  from  the 
aesthetic  standpoint. 

Perhaps  it  is  fairest  to  regard  the  general  scheme  as  of  the  nature 
of  a  sketch,  as  we  find  that  where  sections  of  the  plan  have  been 
worked  out  in  detail  a  marked  degree  of  skill  is  displayed  in  treating 
awkward  problems.  In  considering  the  proposals  as  a  whole,  how- 
ever, we  cannot  help  feeling  a  doubt  as  to  whether  the  effects  indi- 
cated  in  the  drawings  are  ever  likely  to  be  attained  in  actuality.     It 


TJie  Royal  Academy  Exhibition.  739 

appears  to  be  essential  to  the  digriity  these  desig"ns  suggest  that  a 
certain  uniformity  of  height  should  be  adopted  in  the  buildings.  The 
height  shown  is  based  on  the  present  limit  for  buildings  in  Chicago, 
but  is  it  likely  that  this  central  area  of  several  square  miles  can  be 
entirely  filled  by  buildings  of  this  height,  and,  if  it  were,  what  satis- 
factory provision  can  be  made  to  overcome  the  awkward  transition 
from  these  to  the  two-  or  three-story  dwellings  that  stretch  for  miles 
around  them?  \\'ould  it  be  practicable,  in  the  U.S.A.,  to  introduce 
any  ordinance  ensuring  uniformity  of  height  in  any  given  street  or 
area,  and  without  this  how  can  even  the  most  monumental  plan  secure 
that  ordered  dignity  of  effect  essential  to  the  great  city? 

Some  details  should  be  given  of  the  great  scheme  for  the  improve- 
ment of  Chicago  prepared  under  the  auspices  of  the  Commercial  Club. 
The  plans  enable  a  good  idea  to  be  formed  of  the  general  character 
of  the  suggested  remodelling  of  the  city,  of  which  the  main  features 
are  :  the  provision  of  lake  shore  drive  and  lagoons  along  the  lake 
front,  with  a  central  harbour  for  yachts,  &c.  ;  the  improvement  of  the 
rivers  and  their  banks  ;  the  rearrangement  of  the  railways  ;  the  forma- 
tion of  a  civic  centre,  from  which  radiate  a  number  of  new  streets, 
and  of  two  encircling  boulevards,  the  inner  polygonal  and  the  outer 
segmental  on  plan  ;  the  provision  of  parks  at  various  points,  and  the 
reservation  of  large  areas  as  park-lands  further  out,  but  still  within 
easy  reach  of  the  city   [figs.  37,  38,  39,  40,  41,  42^ . 

The  rest  of  the  American  exhibits  were  shown  in  Gallery  I\'., 
which  they  shared  with  Northern  Europe.  Scandinavia  is  in  the  front 
rank  in  regard  to  systematic  town-planning,  and  the  two  models  from 
Gotenburg  were  worthy  of  the  closest  attention  as  skilful  studies  for 
the  arrangement  of  buildings  emphasising  the  characteristics  of  the 
somewhat  irregular  sites. 

Galleries  I\'.  and  \'. — Dutch,  Belglax,  Scandixw  i ax,  and 

austrlax. 

Among  the  exhibits  from  Continental  countries,  that  from  Ger- 
many was  by  far  the  most  extensive,  but  many  other  countries  were 
also  well  represented,  and  some  of  the  exhibits  were  of  exceptional 
interest  and  importance. 

According  to  the  building  law  of  Holland,  every  town  of  more 
than  10,000  inhabitants  must  make  an  extension  plan,  and  this  plan 
must  be  examined  and  revised  every  ten  years.  The  plan  that  was 
made  under  this  law  for  the  city  of  Amsterdam  by  H.  P.  Berlage  in 
1902,  with  detailed  drawings  of  portions  of  the  work  to  a  large  scale, 
and  the  extension  plan  for  The  Hague  made  in  1908  by  the  same 
architect,  were  of  special  interest  [fig.  43].  The  latter  included  a 
suburb  proposed  on  the  flat  land  behind  the  sand-hills,  laid  out  in  a 
very  o-eometrical  and  formal  manner.  The  Municipality  of  Antwerp 
sent  an  interesting  exhibit  showing  the  historical  development  of  the 
citv  [fig-  44] »  together  with  the  extension  plan  of  1908,  while  Mr. 
Cu'ypers  exhibited  a  plan  made  under  the  same  law  in  1908  for 
Hemestede. 

From  the  neighbouring  country  Dr.  Stiibben.  of  Berlin,  sent  a 
series  of  drawings  showing  the  alterations  proposed  to  the  Belgian 
city  of  Louvain   [see  pp.  Z\2n,  3120,  312/)]. 


740  TraiKsaciions  of  the  To%vii  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

The  exhibit  from  Sweden  was  of  special  interest.  Stockhohn  was 
particularly  well  represented.  The  city  was  laid  out  in  the  thirteenth 
century  by  Birger  Jarl.  The  first  plan  for  the  regularisation  of  the 
growth  of  the  city  was  made  in  1866,  and  was  a  very  early  example 
among  modern  towns.  In  1909  a  new  Town  Planning  Commission 
was  instituted,  and  the  prize  design,  for  one  of  the  most  difficult  areas, 
that  around  the  Katherina  Church,  was  illustrated  by  plans  and  models. 
Other  plans  explained  the  policy  of  the  town  as  to  land  purchase,  by 
which  during  the  last  five  years  the  municipal  authority  has  been 
rapidly  acquiring  land  and  now  owns  7,220  acres.  From  the  interest- 
ing citv  of  Gotenburg  was  sent  the  prize  design,  by  Nils  Gellerstedt, 
in  the  first  international  competition  held  in  Sweden  in  1901  ;  while  the 
work  of  the  present  City  Engineer,  Dr.  Lilienberg,  in  co-operation 
with  A.  B.  S.  Ericson  and  Tengbom-Torulf,  architects,  afforded  some 
admirable  examples  of  town  planning  in  most  difficult  and  hilly 
country,  produced  with  a  view  not  only  to  satisfy  the  convenience  of 
the  inhabitants,  but  also  to  take  advantage  of  the  nature  of  the  site  to 
produce  the  best  architectural  effects.'  A  comparison  of  the  plans  and 
models  of  the  same  area  made  clear  the  value  of  models  to  the  town 
planner  when  dealing  with  difficult  country. 

The  fifty  photographs  of  other  Scandinavian  plans  exhibited 
by  D.  Kallmann  formed  another  notable  exhibit.  The  city  of  Copen- 
hagen was  represented  by  a  building  plan  by  Nils  Gellerstedt,  by 
some  town  improvement  schemes  of  much  interest,  and  by  the  plans 
and  photographs  of  an  interesting  co-operative  colony  constructed  for 
the  Frederiksberg  Gas  Workers'  Society. 

The  exhibit  connected  with  Vienna  was  one  of  the  most  extensive, 
illustrating  the  development  of  the  town,  its  acquisition  of  the  magni- 
ficent hill,  wood,  and  meadow  girdle,  with  the  sixteen-mile  drive  for 
giving  access  to  it.  This  exhibit  included  many  detail  plans  of  the 
laying-out  of  suburbs  and  of  the  treatment  of  some  of  the  main  roads  ; 
and  perhaps  as  interesting  as  anything  was  the  series  of  drawings  illus- 
trating the  efforts  successfully  made  to  regularise  the  Karlsplatz  in 
relation  to  the  old  Karls  Kircke  [figs.  45,  46,  47] .  In  1894  a  competi- 
tion was  held  for  the  la}ing-out  of  this  difficult  area,  and  the  four  prize 
designs  by  Dr.  Stiibben,  Dr.  Otto  Wagner,  Professor  Meyreder,  and 
Professor  Simony  Bach,  with  Engineer  Reinholdt,  were  shown. 
Official  designs  were  afterwards  made  by  Professor  Meyreder  and 
further  studied  for  modifications  by  Dr.  Otto  Wagner  and  Professors 
Ohmann  and  Goldemund.  Many  of  Professor  Ohmann's  drawings 
and  a  model  were  exhibited,  all  showing  the  very  great  care  and  pains 
that  have  been  taken  by  the  City  of  \'ienna  to  try  and  make  the  best 
of  its  difficult  problem. 

The  most  important  exhibit  was  contributed  by  Oberbaurat 
Goldemund,  of  the  Municipality  of  \'ienna.  It  included  a  large  map, 
or  site  plan,  of  X'ienna  and  its  surroundings,  showing  the  park  and 
Avoodland  reservations  which,  by  a  law  passed  in  1905,  are  to  be  pre- 
served for  public  use  as  a  green  girdle  to  the  city.  The  scheme  includes 
the  wooded  heights  to  the  north-west  of  the  city  and  a  considerable 
tract  of  land  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Danube,  and  should  effectually 
preserve  the  amenities  of  the  outskirts  of  the  city.  The  scale  of  the 
1  See  Dr.  Lilienberg's  Paper  and  Illustrations,  siipi-a,  pp.  702-715. 


I 


Tlic  Royal  Academy  Exhibition.  741 

map  is  1-10,000,  and  being;  coloured  in  different  shades  of  green  for 
gardens,  meadows,  and  woods,  it  is  effective  and  easily  understood. 
It  is  the  sort  of  map  that  we  should  like  to  see  prepared  for  Greater 
London. 

The  design  for  the  museum  by  Oberbaurat  Otto  Wagner  not 
being  considered  altogether  satisfactory,  a  full-sized  model  was  con- 
structed and  placed  in  position  in  order  to  judge  of  the  result.  The 
effect  of  this  model  was  shown  by  a  series  of  eight  photographs. 

The  procedure  here  adopted  to  obtain  the  best  results  is  most 
interesting,  and  a  striking  contrast  to  our  own  methods.  The  import- 
ance of  the  matter  is  fully  recognised.  Nothing  is  considered  final 
while  improvement  is  possible,  and  neither  time  nor  expense  is 
spared,  while  a  system  seems  to  obtain  whereby  the  best  minds  can 
be  brought  to  bear  on  the  subject  and  to  contribute  ideas  to  the 
common  fund.  It  is  probable  that  the  better  result  obtained  in  Con- 
tinental cities  is  not  altogether  due  to  the  superior  training  and  wider 
experience  of  the  architects,  but  owes  something  to  the  methods 
employed  in  obtaining  designs. 

Examples  of  "  town  regularisation  plans  "  for  various  suburban 
districts  of  Vienna,  such  as  Hetzendorf  and  Trottenbachtal,  show 
what  is  being  done  in  this  direction,  and  that  the  size  and  type  of  the 
houses  are  controlled  by  the  authorities,  and  a  general  scheme  made 
to  take  advantage  of  contours  to  obtain  gardens  in  the  valleys  and 
view  points  from  the  heights. 

A  residential  quarter  has  been  planned  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  large  asylum  laid  out  and  built  b}-  Oberbaurat  Wagner,  and  it  is 
noticeable  that  the  local  authorities,  influenced  by  its  fine  lay-out, 
have  widened  the  High  Street  in  front  of  it  by  taking  in  large  gardens, 
and,  so  as  not  to  obstruct  the  view,  have  reduced  the  height  of  the 
adjoining  building  to  two  stories. 

Two  most  useful  and  interesting  studies  were  the  diagrams,  one 
showing  the  development  of  \'ienna  since  1848,  in  which  the  old  and 
new  buildings,  public  as  well  as  private,  are  distinguished  by  different 
colours,  and  the  othei"  giving  the  town  extension  from  the  early 
Roman  settlement  to  its  present  expansion  into  nearly  4^  million 
acres,  the  various  extensions  being  shown  by  different  colours. 
Here  again  we  have  examples  of  the  sort  of  preliminary  study,  frcm 
which  information  may  be  acquired,  which  we  should  do  well  to  pre- 
pare of  London  before  beginning  to  work  on  any  general  scheme  of 
improvement. 

The  really  difficult  problem  in  \'ienna  seems  to  be  the  treatment 
of  the  old  town  within  the  Ring  Strasse,  where  the  streets,  with  few 
exceptions,  are  narrow  and  tortuous,  and  contain  numerous  fine 
old  buildings  of  the  mediaeval  and  early  Baroque  periods.  A  plan 
is  shown  for  a  new  street  parallel  with  the  Karntnerstrasse,  in  which 
every  effort  has  been  made  to  preserve  the  old  buildings  and  the 
picturesque  views  of  the  streets. 

The  lav-out  of  a  small  lake  in  Marienthal  by  the  late  Camillo  Sitte 
to  create  a  summer  resort  is  of  special  interest  at  the  moment,  as 
the  site  in  this  respect  resembles  that  chosen  for  the  new  Australian 
capital.  In  both  cases  the  river  is  dammed  up  to  create  a  lake 
following  the  contour  lines  of  the  surrounding  hills. 


74^   Transactiuns  of  the  Tinvii  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

In  the  plan  for  the  improvement  of  the  old  part  of  Salzburg  we 
see  the  same  problem  as  exists  in  the  old  part  of  \'ienna,  and  it  is 
satisfactory  to  know  that  a  definite  scheme  preserving-  the  old  and 
interesting-  features  of  Salzburg  has  been  prepared  by  Professor  Carl 
Meyreder,  of  Vienna,  and  Professor  Karl  Hofmann,  of  Darmstadt. 

It  seems  a  pity  that  the  Municipality  of  Buda-Pesth  did  not  send 
more  than  a  few  maps  and  views  of  Tatan — the  quarter  behind  old 
Buda  between  the  palace  and  the  fort.  Buda-Pesth  has,  perhaps,  as 
magnificent  a  situation  as  any  city  in  Europe,  and  there  is  much  of 
special  interest  in  the  treatment  of  the  slopes  of  the  heights  of  Buda 
on  the  outer  curve  of  the  river,  and  the  main  thoroughfares  and  park 
of  Pesth  on  the  flat  land'on  the  inner  curve,  as  well  as  endless  possi- 
bilities in  the  way  of  future  improvements.  The  only  definite  scheme 
of  improvement  that  was  exhibited  was  a  design  for  a  workmen's 
colony  at  Kispest,  on  the  southern  outskirts  of  Pesth. 

In  this  gallery  was  placed  a  plan  for  the  improvement  of  Manilla 
by  Mr.  Burnham,  of  Chicago. 

Galleries  \T.  to  XI. — German  and  French. 

In  Gallery  \T.  perhaps  the  most  important  exhibits  were  the  draw- 
ings in  the  competition  for  the  general  lay-out  of  Greater  Berlin  [see 
Professor  Eberstadt's  Paper,  pp.  313-333],  which  was  arranged  by 
the  combined  action  of  all  the  local  authorities  of  the  districts  sur- 
rounding the  city.  Four  prize  designs  were  exhibited,  as  well  as 
one  other  by  Albert  Gessner,  which  was  bought  by  the  Municipality, 
It  was  difficult  to  form  any  judgment  as  to  the  relative  merits  of  these 
designs,  but  all  were  distinguished  by  that  painstaking  thoroughness 
with  which  we  are  accustomed  to  credit  our  German  confreres.  It 
is  interesting  to  note  the  manner  in  which  small  suburban  centres 
seem  to  be  dotted  about  the  district,  where  they  may  eventually 
develop  according  to  their  individual  needs  and  work  out  their  own 
intercommunication. 

A  particularly  interesting  and  useful  exhibit  was  a  model  showing 
the  relative  density  of  the  traffic  in  the  streets  of  Berlin.  This  was 
built  up  on  a  map  of  Berlin  in  which  the  actual  width  of  the  different 
streets  was  raised  up  from  the  surface  to  a  height  corresponding  to  the 
density  of  the  traffic,  the  general  effect  being  somewhat  like  a  collec- 
tion of  skyscrapers  grouping  up  to  their  highest  point  in  the  centre 
of  the  city.  The  raised  parts  were  shown  in  different  coloured  strata, 
each  colour  representing  a  certain  number  of  passengers  per  day. 

Adjoining  this  model  were  some  diagrams  giving  the  extent  of 
traffic  on  the  tramways ;  the  traflfic  of  the  Potsdamer  Platz,  both  for 
one  hour  and  for  sixteen  hours,  and  of  the  Konigstrasse  for  every 
hour  from  6  a.m.  to  10  p.m.,  showing  details  of  the  different  kinds 
of  traffic ;  also  a  plan  of  the  means  of  traffic  and  transport,  separa- 
ting the  local  passenger  and  goods  traffic  from  that  of  the  main  lines. 
This  was  prepared  at  the  oflfices  of  the  Berlin  Street  Railways  by 
the  employees  of  the  different  lines,  and  is  another  example  of  the 
Si-;ientific  thoroughness  of  the  German  methods. 

The  growth  of  Berlin  from  about  1250  to  the  present  day  was 
shown  by  a  series  of  interesting  old  maps  and  views,  as  well  as  by 
specially  coloured  maps  giving  the  dates  of  growth. 


The  Royal  Academy  Exhibition.  743 

Dr.  Stiibben  exhibited  several  town  extension  plans  [see  pp.  312a 
to  312s] .  That  of  Posen  shows  that  the  circumvallations  of  the  town 
are  to  be  demolished,  and  a  cheap  cottage  district  of  285  acres  is  to 
be  laid  out.  Of  this  58  per  cent,  will  be  built  upon,  25  per  cent,  laid 
out  as  roads,  and  17  per  cent,  reserved  for  parks. 

Other  designs  by  Dr.  Stiibben  showed  plans  for  extensions  of 
Antwerp  [page  3125]  involving  the  raising  of  2,450  acres  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  Scheldt  so  as  to  be  over  high-water  level ;  and  for 
Chemnitz  [fig.  51],  showing  a  new  quarter  with  a  wide  promenade 
carrying  the  pipes  for  the  water-supply  of  the  town. 

The  Central  Hall  contained  a  large  model  of  the  garden  city  at 
Hellerau,  near  Dresden,  which  is  organised  on  lines  somewhat 
similar  to  those  in  this  country.  A  number  of  the  leading  architects 
have  designed  the  houses,  and  the  general  effect  shows  a  regard  for 
consistency  and  a  logical  treatment  of  the  problem. 

The  exhibit  from  the  City  of  Cologne,  illustrating  as  it  does  the 
development  of  the  various  styles  of  modern  town-planning,  culmi- 
nating in  the  thoroughly  modern  work  of  Dr.  Rehorst,  was  of  special 
value,  as  also  was  the  exhibit  from  Diisseldorf. 

Dr.  Otto  March,  to  whose  public-spirited  work  both  Germany 
and  the  town-planning  movement  owe  much,  sent  some  interesting 
drawings,  while  a  very  beautiful  series  of  photographs  of  old  German 
towns,  carefully  selected  by  Dr.  Brinckmann  as  illustrating  points 
in  the  subject,  were  a  feature  as  valuable  as  beautiful;  and  some 
interesting  and  instructive  contrasts  arranged  by  Professor  Schultz- 
Naumberg  may  also  be  mentioned  as  illustrating  a  telling  way  of 
enforcing  points.  Munich,  with  its  many  bridges,  places,  and  other 
architectural  arrangements ;  Mannheim  and  Frankfurt,  with  their 
astonishing  development  of  municipal  docks  and  harbours  ;  Crefeld, 
showing  growth  from  a  very  formal  ancient  plan,  and  its  efforts  to 
make  itself  into  a  Rhine-fronting  town  [figs.  52,  53]  ;  Essen,  that  great 
hive  of  industry  where  workmen's  colonies  have  been  and  are  being 
developed  both  by  the  city  and  by  Messrs.  Krupp,  the  great  employers 
of  30,000  workmen,  all  sent  valuable  exhibits  deserving  of  much  study. 
From  Barmen  came  a  series  of  drawings  showing  how,  by  the  giving' 
of  prizes  and  by  the  influence  of  the  City  Architect  on  submitted  plans 
of  new  buildings,  a  determined  effort  to  improve  the  architecture  of 
the  town  is  being  made  ;  while  the  work  of  such  well-known  town 
planners  as  Theodor  Goecke,  K.  Henrici,  Otto  Lasne,  Professor 
Hocheder,  Professor  von  Thiersch,  Professor  Putzer,  and  many 
another  enriched  the  Exhibition. 

The  photographs  and  drawings  of  the  500-year-old  garden  suburb 
of  Nuremberg  were  both  charming  and  suggestive.  The  best  type 
of  modern  German  architecture  was  exhibited  in  the  proposals 
for  the  town  hall  and  adjacent  buildings  of  Heme.  From 
Stuttgart,  Nuremberg,  and  many  other  towns  were  sent  draw- 
ings, photographs,  and  models  illustrating  the  care  that  has  been 
exercised  to  try  and  provide  for  modern  traiBc  conditions,  while 
destroying  as  little  as  possible  the  beauty  of  the  older  parts  of  the 
town.  From  Bremen,  Miinster,  and  many  other  towns  there  W'erc 
drawings  and  photographs  illustrating  the  preservation  as  a  park 
belt  of  the  area  once  devoted  to  fortifications ;  while  the  great  work 


744  Tratisuclions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 

carried  out  in  Ulm  by  the  Oberburg-ernieister  von  Wagner,  by  which 
he  has  soug"ht  to  preserve  for  his  city  its  character  as  a  cottage- 
dwelling-  town,  was  very  fully  illustrated.  From  Hamburg  a  very 
beautiful  series  of  drawings  illustrated  the  designing  of  parks  and 
open  spaces,  a  branch  of  town-planning  work  which  was  also 
represented  in  the  exhibits  of  many  of  the  towns  mentioned  in 
other  connections. 


Treillage  surrounding  Beethoven  Platz,  Vienna. 


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746  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


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Fig.  2.— City  of  Turin  :  The  Extension   Plan  for  the  S.W.  Quarter. 


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Fig.  3. — Part  of  Plan  of  Milan,  1910. 


748  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


(i/.pju:/-  CITY    ;» 


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Fig.  4. — Plan  of  a  Garden  City  on  the  Outskirts  of  Milan. 


-Mogg's  New  Plan  of  the  Regent's  Park  and  Gardens  of  the  Zoological  Societv. 
(Publiihf-d  Sth  April,  1S28.  by  E.  Mogg,  No.  14  Great  Russell  Slrce;,  Covent  Garden.) 


j.,o.  o. — Plan  bv  John  Nash  for  LAViNG-ott  Regeni  s  Park,  iSi; 


750  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


I'G-  7— Dr.sicN   FOR  Approach  from  St.   Pai-l's  BRiDcr. 
Hy  Professor  Beresford  Pite,  F.R.I.B.A- 


The  Roved  Academy  Exhibition. 


753 


754  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


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756  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


The  Royal  Academy  Exhibition. 


757 


Fig.   14. — Wlst  Side,  Piccadilly   Circvs. 
(Mr.  John  Murray,  H.M.  Office  of  Woods  and  Forests.) 


758  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Fig.   14A. — Piccadilly  Circus  :   Plan  as  Proposed. 


Fig.   14B.— Piccadilly  Circus  :   Plan  as  Existing. 


ON 


760  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


3D 


762  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


The  Royal  Academy  Exhibition. 


76: 


SUPS^ARCHED  EWDGE  '. 
Cfi0551NG  GLEN  FROM 
OOMELfY  BANK     :  : 


Fig.  16. — Design  by  Mr.  T    H.  Mawson  for  Du.vfermline. 


3    D    2 


764  Transactions  of  the  Town  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Fig.  17. — A  View  of  Port  Sunlight,  in  accordance  with  the  premiated  design  for  the  Central  Boulevard 

Public  Library  and  Museum,  by  Mr.  E.  Prestwich,  as  seen  from  the  railway. 

From  a  Drawing  by  Mr.  Robert  Atkinson. 


766   Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


BOURNVrLLE,   1909 


lanal  DewefitpvcJ Shetvn  -thus  ^,___,^ 

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Fig.  29.— a  Suburban  Den-elopment  suggested  by  the  Town  Planning  Act. 
(The  Manchester  Society  of  Architects.) 


77<J  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


■^  V*  s-.K  Jmk.?" 


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The  Roval  Acatlcmv  Exhibition, 


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77<^   Transactions  of  the  I'own  Planning  Conjcrcncc,  Oct.  1910. 


jSo  Trunsactioijs  of  the  Toii'ii  Plauui)ig  Cunjerencc,  Oct.  1910. 


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782   Trausuciions  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


The  Roval  Academy  Exhibition. 


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784  Transactions  of  the  Toicn  Plan)iing  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


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The  Roval  Acinlemv  Exhibition. 


7«5 


Fig.   ,9.-Cmicago  •.   Pro.-osed  Boulevard  continuing  Michigan  Avenue  northward.     (From  a  Llrawiiig  by  Jul-*  Guerin.) 


786  Tniusactions  of  the  Tim^n  Planiiiii<^  Conference,  Oct.  igio. 


Fig.  40. — Chicago:    Plan  of  Proposed  Park  at  Intersection  of  Western  Boulevard 
AND  Garfield  Boulevard. 


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-Chicago  :    Plan  of    Proposed  Park  at  Interskction  di    Western   Boulevard 

AND    GraCELAND    AvENUE. 


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787 


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792   TriDisactious  of  the  Toivn  Plauuing  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


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The  Royal  Acade^ny  Exhibition. 


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Bcbouu  njipla  "  -  InlMUiY 


Fic.  51.— Town  Extension  of  Chemnitz  :  A  New  Quarter  about  to  be  Built. 
(Dr.  Stubben.) 


The  Royal  Academy  Exhibition. 


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8oo  Transactions  of  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Fig.  55. — Xak'Cy  in  1873. 


The  Roval  Acadetnv  Exhibition. 


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EXHIBITION     AT    THE    GUILDHALL. 

The  Exhibition  of  Maps  and  Plans  ot  London,  lent  from  the  City 
Collections  bv  the  courtesy  of  the  Corporation,  and  arranged  by  the 
Citv  Surveyor,  Mr.  Sydney  Perks,  F.R.I.  B.  A.,  F.S.A.,  was  held  in 
the  Guildhall  from  the  loth  to  the  12th  October.  .Amony;-  notable 
exhibits  were  the  following"  : — 

Map  of  the  City  of  London  in  the  time  of  the  .Saxons  (about  the  year  1000),  com- 
piled from  the  most  authentic  documents  :  based  upon  Stukeiey's  Plan  of  Roman 
London,  dated  1722. 

Antonv  \'an  Den  Wynyaerde's  \'ie\v  of  London  (.c.  1550J  :  a  pen-and-ink  sketch 
of  the  original  in  the  Sutherland  collection,  Bodleian  Library,  made  by  X.  \\'ittock  : 
the  earliest  authenticated  representation  of  London  as  a  whole. 

Hoefnagel's  Plan  of  London,  from  Braun  and  Hogenburg's  Civltates  orbis  ler- 
rarum,  published  at  Cologne  in  the  year  1572.  This  plan  shows  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 
with  its  spire,  which  was  destroyed  in  1561. 

Civitas  Londinum  :  a  Survey  of  the  cities  of  London  and  Westminster,  of  the 
bt^rough  of  Southwark  and  parts  adjacent,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  by  Ralph  Agas. 
Only  two  copies  of  this  map-view  are  known,  one  of  which  is  in  the  Guildhall  Library, 
the  other  being  in  the  Pepysian  collection  at  Magdalene  College,  Cambridge. 

\'isscher's  \'iew  of  London.     Printed  at  Amsterdam  (1616). 

Mew  of  London  from  Gottfried's  Neuwe  Archontologia  Cosmica,  third  edition. 
Engraved  by  Matthew  Merian  of  Basle  (1638).  Merian  is  credited  with  being  the 
master  of  Hollar. 

Profil  de  la  ville  de  Londre  capitalle  du  Royaume  d'Angleterre.  Boisseau  excudit 
1(143,  H.  Picart  fecit.  This  view  includes  the  Swan  and  Globe  theatres,  and  was, 
therefore,  taken  from  an  earlier  map. 

Hollar's  View  of  London,  \\'eslminster,  and  Southwark.  Published  in  Antwerp 
in  1647. 

Newcourt's  Exact  delineation  of  the  cities  of  London  and  \\'estminster,  and  the 
SI  burbs  thereof  .  .  .  William  Faithorne  sculpsit  (1658).  Engraved  from  the  original 
by  tjeorge  Jarman,  1857. 

An  exact  surveigh  of  the  streets,  lanes,  and  churches  comprehended  within  the 
ruins  of  the  City  of  London,  first  described  in  six  plats,  10  Decemb.  A.v.  1666,  by  the 
order  and  directions  of  the  Right  Hon.  the  Lord  Mayor  .  .  .by  John  Leake  [and  other 
surveyors],  and  reduced  into  one  intire  plat,  by  John  Leake,  for  the  use  of  the  Com- 
missioners for  the  regulation  of  streets,  lanes,  &c.  Engraved  by  George  Vertue  for 
the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  1723. 

Sir  John  Evelyn's  Plan  for  rebuilding  the  City  of  London  after  the  Great  Fire 
in  1666. 

Sir  Christopher  Wren's  Plan  for  rebuilding  the  City  of  London  after  the  Great 
Fire  in  1666. 

London  actually  survey 'd,  in  twenty  .sheets,  by  John  Ogilby  and  William  Morgan. 
His  M.ijesty's  Cosmographers  (1677).  This  plan,  drawn  to  a  scale  of  100  feet  to 
the  inch,  does  not  extend  beyond  the  City  boundary.  Some  of  the  plates  were  etched 
by  Hollar. 

London,  &c.,  accurately  survey'd  by  Rob.  Morden  and  Philip  Lea  (c.  1690).  Dedi- 
cated to  William  and  Mary. 

\'euc  et  perspective  de  la  ville  de  Londre,  Westminster  et  Pare  St.  Jacques.  John 
Kip  delineavit  et  sculpsit  (c.   1700). 

.\  new  map  of  the  cityes  of  London,  Westminster,  and  the  burrough  of  Southwark. 
together  with  the  suburbs  as  they  are  now  standing  .\nno  Dom.  1707.  From  Hatton's 
New  \'iew  of  London. 

Thomas  Bowles'  new  and  exact  plan  of  ve  citv  of  London  and  suburbs,  with  th- 
addition  of  the  new  buildings,  churches,  &c.,  to  this  present  year  1734. 


I 


Exhibition  at  the   (iuildhaJl.  803 

Rocqut's  Plan  of  the  cities  of  London  and  Westminster  and  borouf:;h  of  Soutli- 
wrrk.     Engraved  by  Joiin  Pine  (1737-174(3). 

Bow.n's  Plan  of  the  cities  of  London  and  W.stminster  and  the  borough  of  South- 
wark,  to  this  present  year  1738. 

A  n.\v  and  accurate  plan  of  the  cities  of  London  and  borough  of  Soulhwark,  with 
the  new  roads  and  new  buildings.  &c.,  to  1765. 

Horwood's  Plan  of  the  cities  of  London  and  Westminster,  with  the  borough  of 
Southwark,  in  which  every  dwelling-house  is  described  and  numbered  (1799-1813). 
Third  •  dition  published  by  Faden. 

In  addition  to  these  were  a  number  of  seventeenth,  eighteenth,  and 
nineteenth  century  phins  in  the  Oirice  of  the  City  Surveyor.  These 
comprised  Ordnance  .Survey  sheets  of  the  City  of  London,  plans 
showing  the  lay-out  of  various  estates  and  buildings  in  the  Metropolis, 
and  of  improvements  in  the  City  carried  out  during  the  past  century. 
The  following-  were  among-  the  more  important  exhibits  : — 

Plan,  dated  1653,  of  property  at  Lewisham. 

An  old  plan,  undated,  showing  the  water  supply  at  the  corner  of  Hyde  Park,  etc. 

.\  Drawing,  dated  1745,  showing  a  scheme  for  the  r4?-erection  of  buildings  on 
London   Bridge 

.\  Drawing,  dated  1757,  for  a  temporary  bridge,  erected  during  alterations  to 
London  Bridge 

A  Plan,  dated  173O,  showing  the  Lord  Mayor's  Banqueting  House  and  Stables 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Stratford  Place,    Oxford  Street. 

A  Plan,  about  '750,  showing  the  Conduit  Mead  Estate  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Bond  Street. 

A  Survey,  dated  17<)(>,  made  in  the    mighbourhood  of  Tottenham  Court    Road. 

A  Plan  showing  the  estate  as   laid  out  by  George  Dance. 

Plans,  dated  about   1S07,  showing  portions  of  the  Conduit    Mead   Estate. 

A  Plan,  dated  about  1809,  showing  the  streets  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Obelisk  in  the  Borough  of  Southwark. 

Plans  prepared  by  Cieorge  Dance,  with  suggestions  for  dealing  with  property 
in  the  Borough  of  Southwark,  and  for  improvements  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
London   Bridge  and  St.   Paid's  Cathedral. 

A  Plan,  dated  1829,  showing  th(>  approaches  to  London  Bridge  and  surrounding 
properties. 

A  Plan,  daled  1850,   showing  improvements   carried  out  at  Clerkenwell. 

A  Plan,  dated  1866,  showing  the  Holborn  Valley  Improvement  carried  out  by 
the  Corporation. 

.\  Book  containing  sketches  madi-  by  George  Dance  for  the  laying  out  of  (he 
Finsbury  Est;ite. 

Specially  printed  copies  of  Mr.  Sydney  Perks'  Paper  read  at  the 
Royal  .Societv  of  .Arts,  on  "  The  Restoration  and  Recent  Discoveries 
at  the  (iuildhall,  London,"  were  kindly  placed  at  the  disposal  of  mem- 
bers by  the  author,  both  at  the  Guildhall  and  at  the  headquarters  of 
the  Conference. 


8o4   Trunsactious  of  the  Toicn  Planning  Conjcrcncc,  Oct.  ujio. 


EXHIBITION  AT  THE  ROYAL  INSTITUTE  OF 
BRITISH  ARCHITECTS. 

This  Exhibition,  arrang'ed  under  the  direction  of  the  Librarian  of  the 
Institute  (Mr,  Rudolf  Dircks),  comprising-  over  150  drawing^s,  plans, 
&c.,  chiefly  of  historic  interest,  was  held  in  the  rooms  of  the  Listi- 
tute  Library.  The  exhibits  shown  in  the  main  library  were 
mostly  drawn  from  examples  of  planning  undertaken  or  projected  at 
various  times  within  the  last  two  hundred  }ears  either  in  the  city 
or  county  of  London.  These  included  George  Dance's  scheme  of 
1796  for  a  double  bridge  to  replace  the  then  existing  London  Bridge 
[fig.  i],  as  well  as  some  of  the  same  architect's  schemes  for  new 
docks  and  warehouses  connected  with  the  Port  of  London  ;  Professor 
Donaldson's  design  for  the  Albert  Memorial ;  George  Gutch's  plan  for 
the  laying  out  of  the  Paddington  estate  ;  John  Nash's  plan  for  the  new 
thoroughfares  from  Waterloo  Place  to  Regent's  Park  (carried  out  in 
Regent  Street,  Portland  Place,  Regent's  Park,  and  its  adjacent  ter- 
races) ;  John  Turner's  design  for  the  improvement  of  Holborn  Hill ; 
Philip  Hardwick's  entrance  front  for  Euston  Station  ;  and  many  other 
schemes  of  past  times  of  considerable  interest.  Among  the  exhibits 
of  maps  w'ere  to  be  seen  those  of  John  Visscher  (a.d.  1616),  Antony 
Van  den  Wyngaerde  (a.d.  1550),  Wenceslaus  Hollar  (a.d.  1647),  and 
Braun  and  Hegenberg's  (a.d.  1572).  Designs  for  terraces  for  the 
sea  fronts  of  Dover  and  Brighton  respectively  by  Philip  Hardwick 
and  Decimus  Burton,  were  included  among  the  general  exhibits  in  the 
same  room,  as  well  as  plans  of  the  cities  of  Bath  and  Chester.  The 
South  Room  was  mainly  devoted  to  maps  and  plans  of  Paris  and  its 
departments  ;  the  chateaux  of  Versailles,  Marly,  and  Fontainebleau  ; 
plans  of  \'ienna  at  various  periods,  and  some  spacious  views  of  the 
Prado  at  Madrid  and  other  examples  of  the  lay-out  of  towns  in  Spain. 
In  the  West  Room  were  a  large  number  of  Zocchi's  Florentine  and 
other  Italian  views  ;  Vasi's  view  of  Rome  ;  \'illamorna's  ancient 
map,  together  with  schemes  of  restoration  by  Ashpitel  and  others.  A 
large  number  of  maps,  dating  from  1830  to  1840,  of  foreign  cities 
were  also  shown.  Among  the  most  important  features  of  the  Exhibi- 
tion were  four  large  water-colour  drawings  showing  views  of  the  town 
of  Palestrina,  with  remains  of  the  buildings  of  ancient  Prteneste,  as 
well  as  designs  for  the  restoration  of  the  Temple  of  Fortune  and  other 
buildings  at  Pra^neste,  by  Hadfield  and  Colonna,  in  1791. 


Exhibition  at  the  Roval  Institute  of  British  Architects.     H05 


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<S()6  Tnnisaclions  of  the  Toxcn  Phiiini)ig  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


Exhibition  at  the  Royal  lustiliite  of  British  Architects.     Soj 


"11 

Exhibition  at  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects.      809 


3G 


Sio  Transactions  oj  the  Toivn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910. 


3ii 


INFORMAL  MHETIXCS:    EXHIBITION  OF 
LANTERN  SLIDES. 

On  the  evenings  of  the  nth  and  14th  October,  informal  meetings 
were  held  for  the  exhibition  and  description  of  plans  and  views  shown 
by  the  lantern  and  illustrating  various  features  of  interest  and  import- 
ance connected  with  the  subject  of  the  Conference.  The  scheme  for  the 
Garden  City  of  Munich-Perlach  was  described  and  illustrated  by  the 
architects,  Messrs.  Berlepsch-X^alendas  and  Hansen,  of  Munich.  The 
city,  which  is  to  accommodate  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  consists 
of  six  principal  streets  18  metres  wide,  secondary  streets  10  to  12 
metres  wide,  and  small  streets  6  to  8  metres  wide.  The  types  of 
houses  include  the  "  Wohnhof,"  consisting  of  14  detached  houses  for 
41  families,  each  dwelling  comprising  either  three  or  four  rooms,  with 
kitchen,  scullery  and  bath  ;  another  t}  pe  ot  "  Wohnhof  " — 13  detached 
houses  to  accommodate  25  families  (three  and  four-room  dwellings)  ; 
the  little  "Wohnhof" — 25  four  and  five-room  one-family  houses; 
the  "  Wohngang  " — 40  four-room  one-family  houses ;  another  type  of 
^*  Wohngang  " — 42  four  and  five-room  one-family  houses,  with  central 
wash-house  ;  the  Reichenhiiuser — block  dwellings  to  accommodate  two 
families,  four  rooms  to  each  family  ;  and  a  similar  type  of  one-family 
house.     Every  house  has  its  garden  of  from  80  to  150  square  metres. 

M.  Augustin  Rey,  of  Paris,  delivered  a  lecture  entitled  "  The 
Dark  Town  as  it  is  to-day  ;  the  Luminous  Town  as  it  will  be  to- 
morrow," and  showed  a  numerous  series  of  lantern  slides,  several  of 
them  in  colours. 

Mr.  Raymond  L'nwin  showed  slides  illustrating  the  systems  of 
planning  adopted  at  Karlsruhe  and  Mannheim,  and  contrasted  them 
with  Rothenburg  and  other  cities. 

Dr.  Brinckmann,  of  .\ix-la-Chapellc,  deli\ered  a  short  lecture  in 
•German  on  the  foundation  of  Frencli  and  English  Gothic  towns — 
■"  villes-neuves  "  or  "  bastides  " — in  the  south  of  France.  A  transla- 
tion of  the  lecture,  with  a  selection  of  the  illustrations,  is  appended  to 
his  Paper  on  the  "  Evolution  of  the  Ideal  in  Town  Planning  since  the 
Renaissance  "  [pp.   166-167  of  this  volume  I. 

Mr.  H.  y.  Lanchester  showed  slides  illustrating  his  ideas  for  an 
improved  lay-out  of  streets  and  parks.  As  a  remedy  for  congestion  of 
traffic  he  proposed  a  duplication  of  streets  so  as  to  divide  the  traffic — 
one  street,  for  instance,  taking  the  traffic  going  north,  and  the  parallel 
■street  the  traffic  in  the  opposite  direction.  This  would  have  the  effect, 
too,  of  preserving  valuable  buildings  that  would  have  to  be  sacrificed 
should  the  street  it  is  desired  to  relieve  be  widened.  Instancing 
Bond  Street  he  showed  how  a  second  street  could  be  contrived  by 
carrying  .Albemarle  Street  straight  through  to  Woodstock  Street.* 

*  JocRXAL  R.I.B..\.  20  February  1909,  p.  269. 


Si 2   Transactions  of  the  Tozvn  Planning  Conference,  Oct.  1910, 

Radial  parks  he  considered  superior  to  ring-  parks,  and  he 
demonstrated  the  practicability  of  linking  up  the  existing  parks  of 
North  London,  and  also  those  south  of  the  Thames.  In  the  general 
discussion  which  took  place  Mr.  Harpur,  of  Cardiff,  suggested  that 
tramways  should  be  carried  along  the  sides  of  roads,  the  centre 
being  left  free  for  fast  traffic.  He  was  strongly  in  favour  of  water  in 
parks,  but  it  should  not  be  adjacent  to  houses  as  it  is  apt  to  be  made 
a  receptacle  for  refuse.  Mr.  Brodie,  of  Blackpool,  approved  of  tram- 
ways being  placed  at  the  side  ;  he  had  carried  out  this  arrangement 
with  success  at  Blackpool.  Mr.  Raymond  Unwin  thought  that  the 
cars  would  be  hindered  by  the  slow  traflfic,  which  usually  clung  to  the 
curb.  Mr.  Lanchester,  continuing  with  his  slides  and  showing  a  number 
of  illustrations  of  the  application  of  sculpture  in  the  decoration  of 
public  buildings,  emphasised  the  necessity  of  architect  and  sculptor 
working  in  harmony,  and  of  the  architect's  exercising  a  general  control 
over  the  work.  Notable  examples  shown  were  the  Opera  House, 
Paris,  the  Pont  Alexandre  HI.,  the  Gare  d'Orleans,  the  great  hall 
of  the  Palais  de  Justice,  and  the  Hotel  Carnavalet,  Paris.  He 
commended  the  use  of  fountains  for  the  adornment  of  streets,  places^ 
market  places,  squares  and  gardens,  and  illustrated  some  beautiful 
examples  at  Paris,  Vienna,  and  other  Continental  cities. 


The  Screen,  Hvde  Park  Corner.      De'imus  Burton,  Architect. 


ADVERTISEMENTS 


NOW  IN  THE   PRESS 


Containing  about  375  pages,  illustrated  by  two  coloured  diawiiigs  and  upwards  of  250 

collotypes  and  process  illustrations.     Crown  folio  (size  15  in.  by  10  in.). 

Art  Canvas  Gilt.     Price  £2  10s.  net. 


Civic  Art 

Studies  in  Town  Planning,  Parks, 
Boulevards,     and     Open     Spaces 

By  T.  H.  MAWSON 

Hon.  A.R.I.B.A. 

Lecturer  on  Landscape  Design  at  the  University  of  Liverpool. 

Author  of  "  Tfie  Art  and  Craft  of  Garden  Making." 


This  important  work  will  be  divided  into  four  sections.  The  first  will  treat  of  the 
ideals  and  aesthetics;  the  second  with  the  main  practical  aspects  of  Town  Planning  and 
Civic  Art.  In  the  third  section  will  be  given  six  original  examples  of  Town  Planning ; 
and  in  the  last  section  six  examples  of  Public  Parks  and  Gardens. 

While  emphasizing  the  aesthetic  aspects  and  broad  principles  of  Town  Planning,  the 
book  will  cover  a  wide  field  of  practical  work,  illustrated  by  classic  examples  and 
original  designs  ;  and  further  to  enforce  the  importance  of  street  furniture  and  equip- 
ment, a  large  number  of  designs  will  be  included  of  tram  and  promenade  shelter.s, 
bandstands,  clock  towers  and  street  clocks,  conveniences,  electric  and  gas  standards. 
The  practical  setting  out  and  planting  of  boulevards,  and  the  design  of  public  squares 
and  town  gardens  will  be  amply'dealt  with,  and  lists  of  the  trees  and  shrubs  suitable  for 
varying  conditions  will  be  given. 

The  design  of  public  parks  and  boulevards  has  never  before  been  so  exhaustively 
treated,  nor  has  such  a  mass  of  practical  information  relative  to  this  department  of  Civic 
Art  been  brought  together.  It  is  hoped,  therefore,  that  this  work  may  prove  of  use  to 
the  Civic  Designer,  Municipal  Kngineer,  Architect  and  .Surveyor — most  of  all,  that  the 
large  number  of  illustrations  may  lead  our  local  representatives  to  seek  and  demand 
a  still  higher  standard  of  Civic  Art. 


LIST  OF  CHAPTERS. 


The 
I 
II 

III, 
IV 

The 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 
X 

XI 

XII 


Examples  of  Town  Planning. 

1.  The   City  of  Westminster,   Proposed 
New  Royal  Way. 

2.  Dunfermline,  a  Survey  of  Resources. 

3.  Dunfermline,         Improvement       and 
Expansion. 

4.  Bolton,  Improvement  Scheme. 

5.  City  of  Perth,  a  Small  Town  Square. 

6.  Port  Sunlight. 

7.  GlynCory,  a  Model  Village. 


Theory  of  Civic  Art. 

The  place  of  the  Ideal  in  Civic  Art. 
Civic   Design,  its   Study  and   Tech- 
nology. 
Town  and  Country,  a  comparison. 
,  The  .Esthetics  of  Civic  Art. 

Practice  of  Civic  Art. 

Town  Survey  and  Traffic  Circulation. 
.  Park  Systems. 

Civic  Centres,    Gardens   and    Open 
Spaces. 

Public  Monuments  and  Street  Equip- 
ment. 
.  Boulevards  and  .Street  Planting. 

Design   and  Construction  of  Public 
Parks. 

Adornment      and      Equipment      of 
Public  Parks. 

The    Property    Owner    and    Town 
Development. 

Appendices. 

1.  Deciduous  Trees  for  the  Park. 

2.  Evei  green  Trees  for  the  Park. 

3.  Evergreen  Ornamental  Flowering  Shrubs  for  Town  Planting. 

4.  Deciduous  Flowering  and  Ornamental  Shrubs  for  the  Town. 
s!  Trees  for  Street  Planting. 

6.  Trees  and  ."^hrubs  for  Special  Positions  and  Soils. 


Examples   of    Public    Parks    and    Town 
Gardens. 

1.  The  Hague,  Palace  of  Peace. 
2    Pittcncrieff  Park  and  Glen, 

3.  Southport  Improvement  Scheme. 

4.  Hanley  Public  Park. 

5.  Cleethorpes  Recreation  Ground. 

6.  Lever  Park,  Bolton. 


B.    T.    BATSFORD,     Publisher,    94    High    Holborn- 


ADVERTISEMENTS 


The 


Question 


Architects  and  Enginee's  are  earnestly  requested   to  investigate 
closely  the  merits  of 

ZINC  OXIDE  PAINTS 

which   possess  great   advantages,  not    the   least    of   which   is  that 
they  are  absolutely 

Non-Poisonous 

They  are  cheaper  than  any  other  Paints  because  they  cover  better 

and  last  longer,  and   they  withstand  conditions    such   as   sea-air, 

sulphur  fumes,  &c.,  which  utterly  destroy  lead  paint. 

Please  Study  the  following  Comparison  of  Facts  : — 


WHITE  LEAD  is  : 

Very  poisonous,  the  cause  of  much  illness 
and  many  deaths. 

ZINC  OXIDE  is: 

Absolutely  innocuous. 

Changes  colour  m  the  presence  of  sulphur 
compounds,  which    aie    found  in   the 
smoky  air  of   all   large   towns,   and   in 
lavatories,  and  near  stables,  etc. 

Is   wholly  unaffected   by   impure  air  or 

gases. 

It  is  a  yellowish   white,  which   spoils  the 
hue  of  the  colour  with  which  it  is  mixed. 

Is  srow   white,  and   maintains  its  purity 

of  tint. 

Covers,    i.e.   spreads   better   than  many 
Paints. 

Covers,  /.".  spreads,  25  per  cent,  farther 
than  white  lead. 

Cannot     be    mixed     with     Ultramarine, 
Cadmium      Yellow,     or     any     other 
pigment  co.ntaining  sulphur. 

Can  be  mixed  with  any  pigment,  without 
affecting  or  being  affected  by  it. 

Durability  under  normal  conditions — poor. 

Durability  under  nearly  every  condition 
— excellent. 

Cost  of  sufficient  to  cover  a  given  area,  1 1 
shillings. 

Cost  to  cover  the  same  surface,  7  shillings. 

100  lbs.  of   white   lead    produces,  under 
normal  conditions,  6  gallons  of  Paint. 

100  lbs.   of    ZINC  OXIDE  produces 

10  gallons  of  Paint. 

Possesses,  when  mixed  as  a  Paint,  a  very 
unpleasant     odour,     disagreeable      to 
most   people,   and  positively  injurious 
to  some. 

When  mixed  as  a  Paint,  is  almost  free 
from  odour. 

SEND   FOR    FREE    BOOKLET. 

"  Zinc  Oxide ''  Room  366, 

No.  329    High  Holborn,  W.C. 


ADVERTISEMENTS  ix 


PAINT  IS  A  NECESSITY 
FOR  EVERY  BUILDING ! 

The    Best    Paint  costs  no  more    to  apply   than  the  worst. 
The  Best  and  Most  Durable  Paint  is  therefore  the  Cheapest. 


ZINC  OXIDE  makes  the  best  and  cheapest  Paint.  £7 
spent  in  Zinc  Oxide  will  do  as  much  as  £11  spent  in 
White  Lead,  when  the  durability  of  the  Paint  is  taken 
into  account. 

ZINC  OXIDE  costs  a  little  more  than  white  lead,  but  it 
spreads  so  much  farther,  i.e.  covers  so  much  greater 
surface,  that   the  difference  is  more  than  equalised. 

ZINC  OXIDE  PAINT  stands  sea-air,  so  destructive  to 
other  Paints. 

ZINC  OXIDE  PAINT  is  unaffected  even  by  sulphur  fumes. 
Quite  a  small  quantity  of  sulphur  in  the  air  produces 
marked  discoloration  of  white  lead. 

ZINC  OXIDE  when  bought  in  the  usual  condition,  ground 
stiffly  in  oil,  should  be  thinned  with  refined  boiled  oil  and 
a  little  turpentine  only.  If  driers  are  required,  use  Zinc 
Oxide  driers. 

ZINC  OXIDE,    ground   in  oil,  is  supplied  by  all  large  Paint 

manufacturers. 

ZINC  OXIDE  is  non-poisonous.  White  lead  poisoning 
renders  an  employer  liable  under  the  Workmen's  Com- 
pensation Act  in  case  of  illness  or  death  from  lead 
poisoning. 

SE.\D    FOR     FREE    BOOKLET. 

"  Zinc  Oxide,"  Room  366 

No.  329   High  Holborn,    W.C. 


ADVERTISEMENTS 


BRINDLE  RED  FACINGS 

ive  Shades,  full  size,  2\  in.  and  2  in.  Thii 
meet  the  requirements  of  Architects  des 
represent  OLD  FASHIONED  WORK 


Made  PLAIN  TILES 
(nibbed  and  holed), 
HIDGE,  FINIAL,  PAN 
TILES,  and 
CORRUGATED  TILES. 

STOCK 
FACINGS 

WHITE  FACINGS, 
SPLAYED,  BEADED  & 
MOULDED  BRICKS  to 
any  design. 

AGRICULTURAL 
DRAIN  PIPES 

IIMNEY 


Washed  Stones 


FILTRATION 

purposes.  Cement 
Paving  and  Stone- 
Dashing,  thoroughly 
washed  and  ready 
for  use. 
HARD    SAND  FACED 
BRICKS  for  Internal 
Work  and  Facing^a. 
Wire  cut  Bricks.  RED 
Moulded  Bricks  made 
to  any  design. 
Sand  and  Ballast  for 
Building.     Hoggin  for 
Garden  Paths. 
Binding   &  Washed 
Shingle  for  Carriage 
Drives.   Flower 
A  X  Pots  and  Garden 

y  V^  ^"'• 


CRANHAM 

PARTITION  BLOCKS  &  FIXING  BRICKS 

.^Hents  for  Cranhaiii  Goods  : 
I.   S.\XKP:Y  cSf   SON,   Ltd.,  Cannins  1 


WHEN     PLANNING     A 


Laundry  or  Kitchen 


consult 


SUMMERSCALES  UNITED, 


who    specialise    in    LAUNDRY    MACHINERY    and    STEAM 
COOKING     APPARATUS. 


Illustrated      Catalogue 
Free. 


Plans  and  Estimates 
Free. 


Works  : 

PHOENIX  FOUNDRY, 

KEIGHLEY. 

London  OHice  &  Showroom  : 

PHSNIX  HOUSE, 
Dacre  Streetr 
WESTMINSTER. 


N'A9010  T6  8  1910 

Town  Planning  Conference 

(  1910  : 
Transactions 


1 


be  !l!6uiI^e^  '"^ludes  in  its  range  of  subjeds  everything  connected  with  the 
art,  science,  and  business  of  "  Building."  in  the  wide^  sense  of 
the  word,  from  Greek  archaeology  to  drainage —from  arti^ic  and 
architectural  criticism  to  the  records  of  building  sales. 


PC    JVUUOCr      is  the  journal  to  which  the  leading  architects  and  architectural 

amateurs    of  the   day   naturally    address    themselves   on    subjeds   of 
professional  intere^. 

DC    JOUlI^C^      is  of  importance  to  students  of  architecture. 

be  JBlU^^Cr  numbers  among^  its  contributors,  English  and  foreign,  names  of 
world-wide  celebrity  in  art-criticism  and  in  practical  science  : 
while  every  subject  treated  in  its  columns  is  dealt  with  by  a 
writer  selected  for  his  special  acquaintance  with  such  subjed. 

K  JOnU^CV  illu^rations  exhibit  much  arti^ic  intereA  as  well  as  exceptional 
excellence  and  variety  of  method,  inc  >ding  photc  -lithography, 
engraving,  and  several  processes  for  r«  producing  coloured 
drawing?   Vom  original  work. 

)C_3buUt>Cr  is  the  ±.  st-established,  as  it  is  emphatically  the  leading. 
journal  >       s  class. 


^e_J5uU^C^      has  a    la 

other  pro' 

C_ffiuUt>Cr  therefo) 
produc* 
cmployt 


and    far   more  influential  circulation    than  any 
•lal  or  trade  journal. 

's  the  best  medium  of  comnyinication  between  the 
the  consumer — the  manufacturer  d  the  archited— the 
nployer — or  the  owner  of  property  .nd  the  purchaser. 


shed    by    J.    MORGAN,  the    Office,  4  Catherine    Street.        rand.   London,    W.C. 


yNIVERSITY  OF  CA.    R|VER5ipE  LIBRARY 


3  1210  00984  9140 


^ 


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