1845.1 



THE CIVir. ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



demolition of all tliis pmt of Westminster, requiring an expenditure 

 of at least i'SOO.OOO instead of X'5<1,0liii. The plan is a bold one, 

 and when it is viewed as the production of tradssnien in the neigli- 

 bonrliood, will not h" viewed with asperity. The juincipal f.Mtnr.s 

 are the rut de sue in Dean's Vurd, and the ingenuous avoidance of the 

 Houses of FarlianienI, which all i.ther lines have designed to open. 



On the plan which sh.iws the lini- A A A are marked some sugg.'sted 

 iinpiovemenls, w hicdi may be carried out at a comparative small eos(, 

 and which would elleot II iliy open the New Houses of Farliamejit, forming 

 drives for carriages aKen.liiig there: tlu- principal line would command 

 Victoria Tower. All discussion of the merits or demerits of the 

 proposed street nuist had to good, and when it is carried on by those 

 who aro really disinterestedly interested in the subjc^ct, even its im- 

 mediate proiiiolers should not be disappointed at objections, unless 

 when deprived of the right to oiler explanation to remove them. One 

 great outcry raiseil against the line about to be carried to parlianuint, 

 IS on account of its course tluoogli the churchyard jn tbc Broadway, 

 and a pari id' the press has been set to woik to protest against such a 

 desecration, although in other cases a sturdy advocai,. fui- ['^g removal 

 of the dead from crowded neighbourhoods, bu' "o interests clashed 

 on these occasions. 



"Dat veniani corvis, vexat censura colunibas." 



Willi respect to the cluuchyard, I ilesire to be silent, for were I to 

 give the commonest narrative of the horrors of that place, and its 

 management, your readers would give me credit fur plagiary from De 

 Koe ; suHice it to say that the subject received due consideration in 

 tiie proper quarter, and that the measure has received the sanction of 

 tlie Bishop of Loodon. Many dilliculties have been vexatiously thrown 

 in the way of our proceedings, but such is usually the case in these 

 matters, an<l I have recorded only those whicli appear to have some 

 sort of justification. 



A sketch of the present condition of tlie part of the city of West- 

 minster now about to be improved, will set at rest any question as to 

 the necessity for improvement, and leave for consideration only where 

 the axe should be first laid, and ujjon what course a new line of street 

 should be eflected. Upon this question there is a division, — one 

 parly insisting that vice, tilth, and misery should be at once uprooted, 

 and that a tliorougli ventilating line, which should ertectually drain 

 the district, ought to be carried : another parly desiring to make re- 

 spectability still more respectable, advocating the improvement of 

 old, rather than the creation of new thoroughfares, and asserting their 

 claims as rate-payers to the first draught from the cup of public 

 bounty. 



This difference of opinion, or rather this struggle for preferinent, 

 has existed for some years, and those who advocate the improvement 

 of York Street and Tothill Street, rather than the new line of street 

 now proposed to be made to the southward of these streets revive 

 part of a plan for which the Dean and Chapter of Westminster ob- 

 tained an act of parliament in the year 1S41, and subsequently aban- 

 doned as impracticable, while those who promote the other course 

 adopt the plan recommended to Parliament by the Committee of Im- 

 provement of the years 1832, 1S34, and ]33o, by the^ report to the 

 Lords Commissioners of the Treasury in 1837; and, finally, after due 

 consideration by the Metropolitan Improvement Commissioners, in 

 1844. 



The line adopted by the Dean and Chapter failed for want of funds, 

 the one often recommended by the Surveyor of Woods and Forests, 

 was as often strangled in its birth liy strings of figures, easy to write, 

 difficult to read, and impossible to meet in pounds sterling. These 

 two plans are neither incompatible nor antagonistic, and possibly the 

 one vvill eventually be the means of effecting both, but r)0,UUO/. is now 

 offered for the one, and a scramble is called for first chance by the 

 promoters of the otlier. The field of contest is a district, having York 

 Street and Tothill Street for the north bonndar}', and Great Peter 

 Strict for the south. York Street and Tothill Street are closely con- 

 tiguous to St. James's Park ; they are respectably occupied and well 

 veiililat<'d, but York Street on its south side is clused in by courts and 

 alleys, ilen^ely occupied by the labouring poor. These courts and 

 alleys are boiuided on the south liy the Broadway, and beyond this the 

 neighbourhood is more open and less densely populated. Through 

 this part runs the line C C C. 



At the Tothill Street End, on the South side, commencing at the 

 East, is a mass of infamous property, extending in a South-westerly 

 direction to the Horsefcrry Road, containing the Almonry, Orchard 

 Street, Duck Lane, Pye Street, and intersecting courts and alleys, too 

 numerous to mention, the resort of criminals, the very focus of vice, and 

 the foul spring of early depravity, — where disease and want, rife as 

 they are, lose their horrors in the contemplation of human souls 

 withering in a fearful pestilence of blasphemy, crime, violence, and 



ignorance. Seventy houses are occupied by some 800 of a class, whose 

 success in crime enables them to live and dress in a manner which 

 does not disgsut the common ol)server. Fifty other houses are occu- 

 pied by the lowest thieves and the most wretched and abandoned of 

 women, some five hundred in number. Korly other houses are either 

 unoccupied, or occasion ilh- resorted to by the utterly destitute, or by 

 those who. having tilled tli(?ir measure of crime, seek to elude the 

 law's last vengeaiure. Such is the distri<t through which the proposed 

 street 15 B B is designed to pass anil thus a great object would 

 be attained, namely, the annihilation of a dense mass of infamy. 

 In the other the object altained would be but the improvement 

 iif a neighbourhood iiaviug notliing to disgrace it but the 

 neglected wauls of the poor. A reference to the plans will 

 show the direction of both lines ; and it must be observed that in 

 each project only one 'street can possibly be carrieil into execution 

 with the allotted funds, and also that the cost of the northern line 

 would put it far beyond the sum allotted. 



Having laid before you a description of the district through which 

 the B B IJ line is proposed to be carried, 1 will lay before you a con- 

 cise statement in repudiation of the charge current that the scheme 

 is a job. 



It is well known that Mr. Uigby Wason, and other gentlemen, have 

 for many years laboured to alter the condition of Westminster, but it 

 is not generally known that Mr. Wason, Mr. Ashton Yates, and Mr. 

 Kiidiard llushton Preston, to promote the measure did, with the sanction 

 and privity of Lord Duncaunun, the then Chief Commissioner of Woods 

 and Forests, conjointly, purchase in aid of the schenu> an intervening 

 l)roperty on the line, and that this purchase now enables them to carry 

 out the "measure, and for a sum much less than one-half what Mr. Pcn- 

 nethorne estimated for a street 20 feet less in width, having the same 

 termini, but much more circuitous. To the liberality and perseve- 

 rance of these gentlemen may be attributed the advancement now made 

 in the arrangement for this line of street, and I refer your readers 

 to the evidence given before the Metropolitan Improvement Com- 

 missioners during the last session of Parliament as the best corrobo- 

 ration of this statement. 



In conclusion, the objects of the proposed line of street are. — 



1st. To destroy the infamous part of Westminster. 



2nd. To drain and ventilate it. 



3rd. To form a direct and handsome line of communication, 80 feet 

 wide, between Westminster and the north-west suburbs, and 

 to open the Houses of Parliament. 



4th. To provide healthy and commodious dwellings for the poor. 



The first object would most obviously be secured by the plan laid 

 down. As respects the second it must be observed that many parts of 

 the line are now below high-water mark, and that none are much 

 above it, that with regard to ventilation by the plan suggested, both 

 sides of Y'ork Street and Tothill Street would be ventilated instead of 

 one side only; and also the district South of the line extending to the 

 Horseferry Road, Palmer's Village, other parts also, now below drain- 

 acre and unwholesome, would be likewise improved. 



With respect to the required communication, it may be said thai 

 there is now no safe way at night from the Houses of Parliament to 

 the four or five thousand new houses in Belgrave Street and Hyde 

 Park Gardens, except by Charing Cross. With respect to the poor 

 on the line, all will agree that their claims should be well considered, 

 they have received notice thatj habitations will be provided for 

 them, properly drained and ventilated, at a moderate rate. Finally, 

 it may be observed, that the projectors give the public a large part of 

 the line of thoroughfare, and that were they not to do so, the street 

 could not be opened for the small sum for which we have undertaken 

 to complete it. I am, Sir, yours, ^c. 



Torrington Slnet, RiisuH Square, Henry Robeiit Abkauaii. 



Dec.lO, 1844. 



THE OXFORD CHORISTER'S SCHOOL COMPETITION. 



Siii, — If all the circumstances stated by " A Constant Reader" be 

 correct, 1 think they go to inculpate very strongly the high characters 

 of the parties who had to make the selection in the competition alluded 

 to; nor is it any excuse for them to attribute to a want of knowledge 

 of business on their part, what seems to have been nothing more or 

 less than a want of honour, honesty, and fair-dealing, and even a dis- 

 regard of appearance. What are we to make of the very startling 

 fact that in open violation of the implied contract with the rest of the 

 competitors, Mr. Derrick was allowed to send in his drawings at least 

 two weeks after the time specified, and when he had or might have had 

 access to the designs of Ins less favoured rivals? And the presump- 

 tion that he did not scruple to avail himself of the latter opportunity 



