258 Architecture in the United States. 



Turkish fountain with its soft gurgle, the huge plane overshad- 

 owing it, the rude bench beneath the tree, and the doves cooing in 

 the branches. But I have wandered from my object and return. 

 The fountain at Marseilles, from its position, belongs to both the 

 sti'eets of les Capuchins and Meilhan, and is an exquisitely beautiful 

 termination to the vista in both. At the point where Les Allees des 

 Capuchins meets Le Boulevard is a handsome obelisk, tlius an orna- 

 ment to both these streets. I was pleased with this method of multiply- 

 ing ornamental objects, and should keep it constantly in view in draw- 

 ing the first and main features in the plan of a city. A handsome 

 edifice with five streets diverging from it, would be equal to five such 

 edifices placed so as to have only one point of view. With so 

 many radiating lines, however, our city would be greatly cut up and 

 filled with sharp angles, and we must be extremely cautious how the 

 system is used. It would be best to have but a few points for nu- 

 merous radiating lines, but the principle might be employed on a 

 smaller scale through most parts of the city. Those few points should 

 be on eminences, for a handsome object always appears best on an 

 elevated position : the edifices placed there should be the most impor- 

 tant and beautiful in the city, and some of the streets diverging from 

 them, should be the widest and handsomest. To all these our main 

 attention should be directed : a few other points for a few radiating 

 streets and objects of less consequence should be selected, and the 

 remainder of the ground be filled up with rectangular or oblique 

 streets, as convenience might dictate, without however a total dis- 

 regard to beauty. 



The reader who has been at Washington will immediately think of 

 the plan of that city, and there is a very strong resemblance between 

 it and the one I propose. That of Washington has always been 

 greatly admired, and if ever filled up as seems to have been origi- 

 nally expected, will give us indeed a beautiful and splendid city. 

 Those who have not seen it, will readily understand the plan. The 

 Capitol and the President's house, a mile distant from each other, are 

 made radiating points for numerous wide streets which are called ave- 

 nues, and are named after the several states. The whole plan is near- 

 ly four miles in length, and the parts not thus occupied are supplied 

 with streets crossing each other at right angles, directed, I believe, to 

 the four points of the compass. The whole is worthy of our national 

 capital, and with some few exceptions, is an admirable plan. But 

 it is not suited to a smaller city or a town. The avenues occupy too 



