The "Treatment of City Squares 
THE NEW MAIN STATION COLOGNE 
park; constructively, the train-shed’s location 
parallel to the street iterates the fact that this 
is not a terminal—though in the direct view 
this effect is somewhat negatived by the great 
arch of the main entrance. In spite of the 
latter, however, the impression as a whole 
may certainly be said to be rather that of a 
splendid way-station than of the gate that 
marks the end of the city and the beginning 
of the railroad. The facade is so long that 
length instead of breadth can accommodate 
the traffic, and so the open space before the 
station is laid out like a broad street with 
cross streets leading up to it. The spaces 
between these cross streets are set out as 
grass plots, adorned with shrubs and flowers, 
and making a very pleasant introductory to 
the town. It is worth while to note, inci¬ 
dentally, that every curb corner is rounded 
—a familiar device that makes much for the 
convenience of travel; and that the ornate 
electric light posts are put inside the grass 
enclosures, where they can be given suitable 
bases without infringing on pavement space. 
The whole problem has been well handled 
here, considering the course adopted, and the 
latter is illustrative of an important type. 
And yet there was an opportunity which was 
not availed of, but which is still discernible 
and suggestive. The tracks entering the 
Cologne station are elevated, and the main 
floor of the station would be naturally above 
the level of the street. That the architects 
were embarrassed by this to some extent is 
clear from the high basement plan which 
they adopted. If, instead of doing as they 
did, they had built their station at the track 
level, and had persuaded the municipality to 
lay out the space before the station in terraces, 
they could have added vastly to the impres¬ 
siveness of the structure. The terracing of 
the station square is an arrangement that 
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