428 EEPOET— 1891. 



but need this be so ? I think not ; and will therefore endea- 

 vour to indicate the lines on which improvement seems most 

 feasible. In the first place, as set forth in my paper on "The 

 Laying-out of Towns," wherever possible the principal Govern- 

 ment, municipal, and public buildings should be grouped in the 

 centre around an open reserve from which the main streets 

 radiate. If the " spider's- web " plan of town is not adopted, 

 then an arrangement of the public buildings as nearly ap- 

 proaching the above as possible would be desirable ; for an 

 aggregation of such structures would be to a modern town what 

 the Acropolis was to Athens — namely, the nucleus, or centre, 

 around which the whole of the city life revolves. On these 

 buildings the best in art might well be lavished, as no others 

 would be so much in public view or typify so well the city's 

 character. It is, pei'haps, needless to add that each building 

 should be absolutely detached, and thus seen on all four sides. 

 To give an example of what might be done in an existing city, 

 I will instance Sydney, which in the Outer Domain possesses 

 an unrivalled reserve almost in the centre of the community. 

 On the Macquarie Street side it is occupied by various Govern- 

 ment and private buildings of no architectural merit. Let 

 these be cleared av.ay as occasion demands, and a series of 

 structures be erected for public purposes, each detached, thus 

 showing off whatever beauty they may possess to the best 

 advantage, and affording vistas into the Domain beyond. On 

 the other side of the Domain the Art Gallery is already com- 

 menced ; and if another public building w^ere erected between 

 this and the gates a complete semicircle would be formed, 

 which, if well designed, would make a combination scarcely to 

 be excelled for stateliness and beauty. 



The next point to consider is the treatment of streets or 

 avenues leading up to the central reserve, or of main streets 

 with a definite and important terminal point. And here dif- 

 ference of opinion is sure to arise. One school will advocate a 

 symmetrical and uniform design, such as we see in the avenues 

 of Paris, while another will urge the claims of individual treat- 

 ment and picturesque diversity ; and there is much to be said 

 on both sides. For the symmetrical, it is urged that greater 

 dignity and power is obtained by the subordination of the units 

 of the design to the general lines of the composition ; and, 

 especially where a fine building, object, or outlook is the termi- 

 nal point, the enhancement of this so adds to the general effect as 

 to more than compensate for the loss of individuality in the 

 separate buildings of the group. On the other hand, the advo- 

 cates of the picturesque school point out that, at any rate 

 in the present condition of Australasian society, such ordered 

 design can only be accomplished by undue interference with 

 the rights of the individual, and that as a race we would not 



