S TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA ° 
A • 
on each side./for the ( convenience of passen- 
_ gers, there is a footway paved with red brick. 
The-houses within the limits of the city are 
for the most part built of brick ; a few., and a 
few only, are of wood. 
In the old parts of the town they are in 
general smalt heavy, and inconvenient; but 
amongst those which have been lately erected^ 
many are to be found that are light, airj r , and 
commodious. In the whole city, however, 
there are only two or three houses that parti¬ 
cularly attract the attention, on account of 
their size and architecture, and but little beauty 
is observable in the designs of any of these. 
The most spacious and the most remarkable 
one amongst them stands in Chesnut-street^ 
but it is not yet quite finished. At present 
it appears a huge mass of red brick and pale 
blue marble, which bids defiance to simplicity 
and elegance. This superb mansion, according 
to report, has already cost upwards of fifty 
thousand guineas, and stands as a monument 
of the increasing luxury of the city of Phila¬ 
delphia. 
As for the public buildings, they are all 
heavy tasteless piles of red brick, ornamented 
■with the same sort of blue marble as that al¬ 
ready mentioned, and which but ill accord 
together, unless indeed we except the new 
Bank of the United States, and the presby- 
