Modern cities : progress of the awakening for their betterment here and in Europe / by Horatio M. Pollock and William S. Morgan.

  • Pollock, Horatio M. (Horatio Milo), 1868-1950.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Modern cities : progress of the awakening for their betterment here and in Europe / by Horatio M. Pollock and William S. Morgan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    have arisen in the suburbs of cities to meet the public demand. Demand for Beauty.—The outdoor life of the people, together with increased wealth, has created a demand for beauty in the external features of the city. In response to this de- mand skilful landscape artists are employed to lay out parks and public gardens. Foresters are placed in charge of the trees in the public streets and in public building great care is exer- cised to produce artistic effects. The regulation of architecture is becoming general. The extreme individuality of Amer- ican cities has been the principal cause of the lack of harmony found on many of our business and residence streets. The individual built regardless of others. His taste, whether good or bad, mattered little as there was no effort to harmonize the work of one individual with that of another. In European cities the desir- ability of harmony in buildings on the same street has long been recognized. These cities compel the individual to conform to the public standard of beauty. American cities, on the other hand, have permitted great freedom to builders, but they are beginning to establish building departments with authority to regu- late architecture as well as materials and plumbing. City Planning.—The desire that the city it- [9]