100 Proposal for a new System 



formed into shells, fans, &c., providing at once safenesS 



from fire, durability, strength, and beauty. 



That the stairs may be disposed with great advantage in 

 the centre of the building (fig. ]. F), affording the readiest 

 communication to all parts of the house, lighted from the 

 top of the dome by a lantern of the most simple or beautiful 

 form ; while the well, spiral, or circular staircase is con- 

 fessedly the most beautiful and the strongest. Tn these latter 

 particulars, however, there is the greatest latitude for varia- 

 tion to which fancy, convenience, or even prejudice, may 

 prompt : nor is it necessary in a mere sketch to show how 

 the apartments may be laid out,, the stairs and passages dis- 

 posed, the fireplaces and chimneys arranged, ventilation 

 carried on, or water conducted, &c. tl'iroughout t'tiis form 

 of building; suffice it that it is susceptible of all the varia- 

 tion of other buildings in these respects, and with some 

 peculiar advantages, as might be shown were I intent upon 

 entering minutely into the subject. 



Such are the advantages of this form in individual build- 

 ings; such as are unequalled in general by other forms for 

 strength, beauty, and convenience. 



Nor are the advantages of this form confined to the indi- 

 vidual structure, but extend to general and even universal 

 use ; analogous to other cases physical, moral, and.political, 

 in which that which benefits the individual is also good for 

 the many. 



First, then, as to its general use, a circle of circular 

 houses (fig. 4.) has the following advantages : 



That this arrangement oF buildinos, in common with the 

 individual, is stronger than any other. 



That, as there are certain proportions of height to \h« 

 diameter in individual structures which best satisfy the de- 

 mands of taste, and arc called harmonic, and as in towns 

 and cities the value of horizontal space is such as to occasion 

 houses to be built much higher than those which stand de- 

 tached in the country, so the diameter of these circles would 

 enable us to carry the individual houses to a great height with 

 much solidity, agreeably to these demands of taste, in one 



uniform 



