Roadtown— The Commuters' Utopia 



Vitalizing the country with arteries 

 of energy and life from the city 



By Max Fleischer 



MR. EDGAR CHAMBLESS, who has 

 devoted half a life-time to housing 

 problems, has conceived Roadtown, 

 which, if carried out, should give us all the 

 advantages of the country with none of its 

 disadvantages. The Roadtown plan of 

 housing may be compared with the modern 

 skyscraper hotel or office building. The 

 vast number of tenants occupying these 

 buildings, closely alined for economic dis- 

 tribution of light, heat, power, vertical 

 transportation, etc., by means which are 

 self-contained within the structure, make 

 it possible to rent an elegantly appointed 

 room or modern office at a very moderate 

 figure. But is it necessary to go up into 

 the clouds against gravity to minimize the 

 operating cost? 



To see Roadtown through the eyes of the 

 inventor, imagine a hotel skyscraper miles 

 in height, as many miles as you dare 

 imagine. Try five hundred miles at least. 

 Have it fully equipped with every conceiv- 

 able modern convenience, complete in 

 every detail. Now, carefully lay this build- 

 ing on its side until it reaches far across the 

 country. This is Roadtown — a continuous 

 unbroken line of 



Food kept cold in 

 this compartment 



^v Separating wall. 

 Cover - ^ 



two-story rein- 

 forced con- 

 crete residences 

 reaching hun- 

 dreds of miles 

 out into the 

 open country. 

 What were the 

 elevators in the 

 skyscraper are 

 now the Road- 

 town subways 

 running in a 

 trench under 

 the building. 

 The lighting, 

 heating and dis- 

 tribution prob- 

 lems for these 

 reoidences on the farm now solve them- 

 selves for you. In such a building it seems 

 possible to live in the country — with 

 every city convenience. 



One may live a hundred miles from his 

 office in the city and commute; for 

 distance along Roadtown should be calcu- 

 lated by time rather than by miles, since 

 it is planned to have, in addition to local 

 service, express trains traveling at terrific 

 speed (over 200 miles per hour is not an 

 impossibility with the Boyes Monorail), 

 and as silently as the skyscraper elevator in 

 its vertical plunge. Rows of screened 

 windows under the porches of the houses 

 will ventilate the subway. 



Referring to the illustration, it will be 

 noted that each house will have two 

 private front gardens, one on either side. 

 There will be no rears to these houses — 

 nothing erected to obstruct light and venti- 

 lation. Each house will be twenty-one feet 

 wide by twenty feet deep and contain seven 

 good-sized rooms. The walls, floors and 

 ceilings will be of cement and sound- 

 proof. Stairways will give access to the 

 subways and to the continuous roof, which 

 will be a roadway for pedestrians, skaters 

 and light, rubber-tired vehicles. It will be 

 illuminated at night with electric lights. 

 A covered promenade in the center of the 

 roof will pro- 



Food in containers kept hot 

 during transit in this 

 compartment. 



The automatic carriers which deliver meals already pre- 

 pared from the community kitchen to the consumer's home 



tect the pedes- 

 trians from 

 rain. In the 

 winter, it will be 

 steam-heated, 

 enclosed with 

 glass panels. 

 The promenade 

 will thus be con- 

 verted into a 

 continuous sun 

 parlor. At in- 

 tervals, towers 

 will be erected 

 which will be 

 used as social 

 and shopping 

 centers and con- 

 tain schools, 

 public service stations, libraries, theaters, 

 heating-plants, telephone centrals, etc. 

 The distance between these towers will be 

 determined principally by the operative 



Hot water 

 inlet 

 water 



Double wall 

 containing' 

 hot water. 



188 



