The Planning o! Open Spaces in the City 
.— — =_ _ _ - — 
Beyond the Place Stevin, its direction changes to the 
right, and it is the left side which develops the concave 
line. The view [fig. 39] is taken going from the 
Grande Place before reaching the Place Stevin. 
This, conformably with ancient use, is situated at the 
side of the street, and is not, as is nowadays custom¬ 
ary, traversed by it. A market or meeting can be 
held there without disturbance, for it is out of the line 
of traffic for carts or pedestrians. Its being placed 
on the concave side of the street is exceptional, for, as 
I have pointed out, the ancients interrupted the con¬ 
cave side of a street, where the buildings are well 
seen, as little as possible; the break in the frame is 
more apparent there than on the convex side. Here 
the effect of the break is minimised by the Tower of 
St. Sauveur which closes in and dominates the pic¬ 
ture. Turning backward, the view of the spectator is 
arrested by the belfry of the Market Place marking 
the other end of the street. 
1 he special character given to the street by these 
two towers is due in the first place to its curvature; 
each tower thrusting its height above the roof comes 
unawares upon our wondering vision. To-day it is 
thought fine to see, hundreds of yards ahead, a sin¬ 
gle tower, standing geometrical, at the end of a street 
which we despair of reaching. The desire to dis¬ 
play a lofty edifice or a natural effect to advantage is 
the reason for many of the windings of old streets. 
Note also, by the way, the fewness of the side streets 
which open into the “Rue des Pierres” and the ab¬ 
sence of any cross street. This may perhaps be im¬ 
practicable nowadays, but there should be found 
some happy mean between this old-world ideal 
and the mangled thoroughfares of our modern 
towns. 
Here, at “ Bruges la morte,” I must leave you, un¬ 
able, as I forewarned you, to do more than touch on 
one or two outlying points of my fascinating subject. 
Is it hopeless to suppose that in time our authorities 
may perceive that mere pulling down, aligning, and 
widening of streets will never meet our traffic re¬ 
quirements, and that what is needed is artistic and 
considered planning ? To the Institute students 
fig. 39 
especially do I commend this problem. Let them 
not be content to continue by mere tradition the 
measurement and study of the individual building 
and its details, important though these he. There 
lies a rich reward for those who will consider the com¬ 
bination, construction, and grouping by which effect 
is gained; and our Prizes Committee might perhaps 
judiciously stimulate synthetic as well as analytic 
investigation. —Journal of the Royal Institute of Brit¬ 
ish Architects. 
289 
