1827.] Metropolitan Improvements. 123 



in Madrid, with the Quartier du Chapeau Rouge at Bourdeaux, or the 

 Place de Louis Quinze at Paris. We must, for the present, overlook the 

 defects of the architectural detail of this street, in the contemplation of tho 

 great and general improvement which its construction has produced in the 

 metropolis. 



Other streets are proposed by the same active genius under which Re- 

 gent-street has been accomplished ; the vile houses which surrounded and 

 hid the finest portico in London that of St. Martin's church are already 

 taken down ; a square is to be forme .1 round this building, with two large 

 openings into the Strand, and plans are already in agitation to lay open 

 other churches in the same manner. Even the economical citizens have 

 given us a peep at St. Bride's being ashamed again to hide beauties which 

 accident had given them an opportunity of displaying to greater advantage. 

 One street is projected from Charing Cross to the British Museum, termi- 

 nating in a square, of which the church in Hart-street is to form the centre ; 

 another is intended to lead to the same point from Waterloo Bridge, by 

 which this structure, which is at present almost useless, will become the 

 great connecting thoroughfare between the north and south sides of the 

 Thames : this street is, indeed, a desideratum to the proprietors of the 

 bridge, as well as to the public at large. Carlton House is already being 

 taken down by which means Regent-street will terminate at the south 

 end, with a view of St. James's Park, in the same manner as it does at 

 the north end, by an opening into the Regent's Park. 



Such is the general outline of the late and the projected improvements 

 in the heart of the metropolis ; but they have not stopped here. The king 

 has been decorating Hyde Park with lodges, designed by Mr. Decinaus 

 Burton, which are really gems in architecture, and stand unrivalled for 

 proportion, chasteness, and simplicity, amidst the architectural productions 

 of the age. 



Squares are already covering the extensive property of Lord Grosvenor 

 in the fields of Chelsea and Pimlico; and crescents and colonnades are 

 planned, by the architect to the Bishop of London, on the ground belonging 

 to the diocese at Bayswater. 



But all suburban improvements sink into insignificance, when com- 

 pared with what has been projected and attained within the last seven 

 years in the Regent's Park. This new city of palaces has appeared to 

 have started into existence like the event of a fairy tale. Every week 

 shewed traces of an Aladdin hand in its progress, till, to our astonishment, 

 we ride through streets, squares, crescents, and terraces, where we the 

 other day saw nothing but pasture land and Lords 1 Cricket Ground ; , 

 a barn is replaced by a palace and buildings are constructed, one or two of 

 which may vie with the proudest efforts of Greece and Rome. 



The projector, with true taste, has called the beauties of landscape to 

 the aid of architectural embellishment; and w r e accordingly find groves, and 

 lawns, and streams intersecting the numerous ranges of terraces and 

 villas ; while nature, as though pleased at the efforts of art, seems to have 

 exerted herself with extraordinary vigour to emulate and second the efforts 

 of the artist. 



In so many buildings, and amidst so much variety, there must, conse- 

 quently, be many different degrees of architectural excellence, and many 

 defects in architectural composition ; but, taken as a whole, and the short 

 time occupied in its accomplishment, the Regent's Park may be consi- 

 dered as one of the most extraordinary creations of architecture that has 



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