182 • The Street Architecture of London. 



rian, considers that two bridges of a moderate width would 

 be preferable to one wide one, we decidedly gave our vote 

 here in favour of the broad guage principle. . On. looking 

 over the parapet we hope we were mistaken as to a feeling of 

 vibration. 



The site for the new St. Thomas's Hospital was pointed 

 out to our visitor, and the plan of the buildings explained to 

 him. We believe he was more engaged in thinking of " Les 

 Invalides " on the Seine, than the proposed pavilion hospital on 

 the Thames, for " he made no sign/'' We returned by 

 London's "silent highway''' to London bridge, noticing a large 

 stock of warehouses on the Surrey side with a Venetian facade 

 next the river, and the fine old Tower of St. Mary Overys 

 rose in far greater dignity than more recent piles. We com- 

 pleted our days' lionizing by taking our places from Moorgate 

 Street in one of the comfortable carriages of the Metropolitan 

 Railway, and our underground works, and particularly the sta- 

 tion connecting the line with the Great Northern, were con- 

 sidered by our young friend as being of far superior merit to 

 many of our works aboveground ; the admirable plan and 

 arrangements, the excellent and careful construction, and the 

 good taste of the architectural features impressed our visitor 

 with a strong feeling of admiration for the talent displayed by 

 the engineer of this most important work. 



Upon our return home in the evening we chatted over what 

 we had seen ; and Avith regard to the architecture of cities, I 

 think we came to a cordial agreement that for the general view 

 from the environs, domes, and towers, and spires are most de- 

 sirable, as witnessed in the beautiful effects produced in the 

 large eastern cities from the outlines of the domes of mosques 

 and by the minarets. Our next point was that open spaces 

 are indispensable, and that they should intersect or be in close 

 continuity with long lines of thoroughfare, as in Regent Circus 

 and Cavendish and Hanover Squares, in respect of Oxford 

 Street. Perhaps the finest open space in London is Lincoln's 

 Inn Fields, disgraced by three of the most inferior entrances, 

 and the inlets from Holborn by two turnstiles. 



That streets should not always be laid out at right angles, 

 but that diagonal streets should be introduced as being favour- 

 able to the traffic, and as giving variety to the different points 

 of view must be conceded. Nothing we conceive can be more 

 monotonous than the laying out of New York in square blocks, 

 ad infinitum. Lines of thoroughfare need not always be 

 straight. The width of streets should not exceed eighty feet. 

 Pall Mall appears to us perfection for a street with important 

 buildings; an excess of width occasions the buildings to look 

 low, and dwarfed, and are most inconvenient lor passengers to 



