The Evolution of the Street — II. 
an arched subway of brickwork, twelve feet 
in width and seven feet six inches in height, 
with the object of accommodating the gas, 
water and other pipes, to which access was 
thereby given, tor the purpose of laying, 
examination and repair, without breaking up 
the surface of the road. Entrances of suf¬ 
ficient size for lowering large mains were 
provided, the openings being covered with 
perforated cast-iron plates, which served to 
ventilate and light the interior of the sub¬ 
way. These entrances were paved round 
and protected by granite curbs and guard 
posts, and served the purpose of refuges for 
foot passengers at the road crossings. The 
subway was further lighted and ventilated 
by openings in the crown of the arch, two 
feet in diameter, covered with cast-iron grat¬ 
ings, and access for workmen to the subway 
was afforded by an arched passage, carried 
under the road and communicating with the 
surface of the footway by a descending shaft 
closed with an iron cover Side arched gal¬ 
leries each three feet wide were built under 
the carriage way from the subway to the 
vaults which were placed under the footway, 
and these served to carry the service pipes, 
both gas and water, to the houses erected on 
either side of the street, and gas to the street 
service, so that these also were accessible 
from below and could be examined and re¬ 
paired without interference with the surface. 
. . . Provision was made for the drainage 
of the road by a sewer four feet high and two 
feet eight inches wide, constructed under the 
subway, and accessible therefrom, and the 
drainage from the houses was conveyed into 
this sewer by pipes laid in the side passages 
before referred to, so that these also could be 
reached from the subway.” 
H ere, then, was a street of very elaborate 
construction, below ground as well as above. 
H ow far the ideal had progressed from that 
merely of a passage, or from that of a pas¬ 
sage made pleasant! It now served many ends. 
Its invisible functions had become as impor¬ 
tant as those that were visible. The street was 
now a girder in the structure of the city. 
So we come to the last step in the evolu¬ 
tion. It is the crowning phase. It ever 
puts the finishing touch upon the thorough¬ 
fare of which the importance to the com¬ 
munity and to the physical city is recognized, 
for this step is the deliberate adorning of 
the street, in acknowledgment of its value. 
The step may be taken before the street has 
attained that complete scientific construction 
which is now desired, as many an ancient 
thoroughfare was embellished elaborately 
before there was thought of the public ser¬ 
vice it might perform beneath the pave¬ 
ment. But it comes only with appreciation 
of the street’s importance and in recognition 
that the current constructive ideal has been 
nearly reached. As this ideal rises, the last 
step becomes more and more significant of the 
progress of the evolution. I n the Champs Elys- 
ees, with its sculptured entrance and the great 
arch at its crown, we find perhaps the modern 
ideal of the show street, nobly planned, scien¬ 
tifically built, and beautifully embellished. 
In saying this, however, there must be at 
once the reservation that it is the show 
street; that it is the ideal of the street in 
the abstract rather than of a concrete thor¬ 
oughfare that may serve one of a dozen 
special purposes. It would not do for a 
business street; it is too wide for a minor 
residential street; it is too urban for a park¬ 
way ; but it fittingly marks the climax of 
the evolution of that street which began 
simply as a “ way of going.” 
The Entrance to the Champs Elysces.-—The Arc de Triomphe at its crown 
268 
