THE THEORY OF CITY DESIGN. 103 



them; and every endeavour should be made to prevent concentra- 

 tion into too narrow a focus for a commencement. 



While on the subject of parks, greens and open spaces, a custom 

 which obtains in many cities of the United States may be referred 

 to. It is no unusual thing in that great country to see public 

 parks, the domains enclosing State Capitols, the grounds surround- 

 ing the mansions of the wealthy, and even the gardens bordering 

 the stately rows of villa residences, on their tree lined avenues, 

 all entirely without gates or enclosures of any kind. A great 

 deal has been said about Washington, D.C., and it is certain that 

 any authorities that may be appointed, will not forget the lessons 

 to be drawn from it; but the great difficulty will be to design a 

 nucleus, with all the possibilities for expansion and extension, 

 which will not be what — "the city of magnificent distances" was 

 — a ragged and disjointed one for a generation or two at least. 

 When however, the positions of the streets are once settled on, 

 their borders planted and their roadways formed, then no other 

 authority than that charged with their maintenance, should be 

 allowed to pull them up again. We should insist that subways 

 should be imperative in the principal streets of the Capitol. 



Mr. J. H. Maiden. — Having had no time to make a set report 

 on the subject I can only offer a few remarks at present on my 

 colleague's valuable paper. I trust that the Federal City will not, 

 at an early stage (or indeed at any other), be overloaded with too 

 many fine buildings. A beautiful building need not necessarily 

 be a costly one and it is to be hoped that free use will be made of 

 bricks of various tints and colours, of tiled and shingled roofs, of 

 wooden outside beams, and other architectural features of wood. 

 In our sunny climate we particularly want lightness, brightness, 

 and colour, particularly in our domestic architecture; any excess 

 of brightness can be toned down by creepers or by judicious plant- 

 ings. The presence of large quantities of building stone does not 

 commend itself to me, in this connection, so much as abundant 

 supplies of first-class brick clays. 



