Architecture in the United States. 253 



is so plain, that if our practice were not so universally on the wrong 

 side, it would seem to deserve no discussion at all : reprobation is 

 perhaps the more proper word. But this I must leave to the feeling 

 of the public, and pass now to consider the best rules for planning a 

 city or town. 



This subject is still more important than the other. We may choose 

 our ground well, but if it is not well used the choice loses half its 

 worth. The ground too for many of our cities is already chosen, 

 and they cannot be removed ; but they are extending their limits 

 every year : New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, have doubled 

 their circuit in the last twenty years ; our other cities have increased 

 theirs rapidly : Cincinnati has quadrupled hers in the last twelve or 

 fifteen, and so with many other of our western cities — and all this is 

 still going on and will go on, for many years to come. Our towns also 

 are enlarging with a rapidity this huge world, old as it is, never knew 

 before. Much, very much then can still be done, and the question, 

 as I said, is a very important one — what is the best mode of planning 

 a town ? I shall endeavor to go into it at considerable length. 



Our practice here too is beginning to set strongly towards one 

 mode, that of squares or rectangular parallelograms. Philadelphia 

 is laid out so, and it is a handsome city : Cincinnati is in the same 

 fashion : I believe nearly all our western towns are so, and the cus- 

 tom is every year extending more and more. ^ I am sorry to see it, 

 and I hope the reader will be so too before we dismiss the subject. 

 Experience shall be our guide in the discussion. 



Convenience and beauty should be our governing principle in form- 

 ing the plan of a city ; — and for the first. The citizens of New York I 

 understand, complain on this score ; the numerous sharp angles, they 

 say, give their houses, and consequently, the rooms and furniture, an 

 inconvenient shape. The shape may sometimes admit of tasteful lines, 

 and may be agreeable enough to those who own their dwelling and 

 are permanently settled ; but for those who are not so well off, it is 

 found difficult to adjust the carpets, furniture and hangings, to such a 

 variety of forms. The rooms also have often an unsightly character. 

 A triangle may be a pretty diing in geometry, but it is difficult to be 

 managed in a house, particularly if its angles be acute. The yard and 

 other grounds they say are also badly adapted for their comfort. 1 

 have heard no complaints from Boston, or Baltimore, or Washing- 

 ton, where such angles are common, but the thing seems reasonable 

 enough, and should by no means be disregarded. The rectangular 



