The Treatment of City Squares 
on Copley Square; it is well to preserve for 
greensward, however timidly, some area that 
might have been pavement; but, while 
adopting strictly urban treatment, it should 
have been carried a little farther and the 
furnishings ot the street made worthy their 
surroundings—not left like those of a frontier 
town. Such a change would make more 
difference than is commonly realized. 
At Sixtieth street and Fifth avenue in 
the city-bound the planting of Copley Square 
can mean verv little; there is no need to put 
a bench there. But this bed of bright flowers 
in New York means much to its neighbor¬ 
hood ; the country sunshine and freshness 
that was imprisoned in the bulbs is flooding 
the district, and all day a half dozen benches, 
their backs to the costly club, are occupied. 
Flowers are something that even a very small 
open space can bring with welcome to the 
SIXTIETH STREET AND FIFTH AVENUE 
NEW YORK 
New York there is an open space that is 
somewhat similar. But it has been treated 
wi th more courage and, for once, with better 
success than is the like condition in Boston. 
The lighting apparatus, standing out strongly 
against the white marble of the “ Millionaires’ 
Club ” is ornate and decorative. At either 
end of a grass plot stands an elm, offering 
no interference to the view of the archi¬ 
tecture, while the space that another grass 
plot might have occupied is converted into 
a gay bed of tulips, enclosed—unhappilv, if 
necessarily—but as lightly as possible. To 
city, if, instead of seeming to writhe in their 
new environment, they lie in their beds with 
unobtrusive, restful, comfort. 
There is another thing which the square 
may always bring with welcome. We spoke 
of it in the paper on squares in the busi¬ 
ness district; but it is as true of those among 
the residences. This is running water. Per¬ 
haps the most satisfactory device is a foun¬ 
tain. The playground’s shallow pool, how¬ 
ever, where children may wade or sail their 
boats, gives pleasure from many points of 
view, and though the playgrounds offer a 
302 
