THE CITY BEAUTIFUL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3183, 6 September 1917, Page 7

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL

AND THE.PURSUIT OF UGLINESS DEMAND FOR COMPULSORY GOOD TASTE (By "Sylvius.") , In liis roccul; lecturo on city beautih'cation, Air. S. Jlui-st-Soager, of Christchurch, iniido a point of the particular attention that should bo given, to the architecture oi' corner houses in. the residential parts of a cily, for they li-oro always moio or less conspicuous from at least two and sometimes lour anyleu. Illustrating what ho meant in picturw, t.ho lecturer shoived a nicely decorative and delightfully irregular Elizabethan house,' with an npuropriato fence, and a few trees to rolievo tho lower vertical lines of tho house. As against that he showed tho usual corner house in Xew Zealand, fronting one way, and leaving a blank wall .exposed to view on tho other eido, possibly ivith a bit of back yard prominent to enhance tho effect. At present there is no Jaw to provpnt. that sort of abomination, but tho Town-planning Bill, now beiug prepared for circulation, proposes to give powers to curb tJio speed-up buildorß in their work of perpetuating architectural ugliriese in I hose growing parts of '■eeidential Woltingtoii which should be paying most attention ,lo tho modern trend, towards the cily beautiful. Uuil should wp have to wait io snow at least a modicum of compulsory Rood taste in our qity.- and residential structures? In mid-city, say in Cuba Street, Manners Street, and Willis Street, tnero is not very much inducement to 6pcn(l money on architectural adornment up tho air where it will never be eeen, owing to the narrow limits of those Ihoroußhfares, but whore there is moio road space and a building can bo Been there eliould be a unanimous desire to make the best show artistically _ that oaa be made. Unfortunately, architects disagree among themselves as to tlio appropriateness of designs used, in city buildings, and when they fall out tho idoa of having a board of experts to coiir eult-whicb. is the English notion-must bo a sound one, -as the sane citizent or company, or Ciovenum-nt for that matter, who wishes to do .all possible to make the city attractive, vUI -make a provisothat tho .plans-must have the approval of the lioaixi, no. matter who the architect may-be. ■ ... Tho City Council could do much to nnwovo niattors, even with the limited powers it possesses. There are reserves such as those in Courtenay Place, Kent l.erlHce, Ktzherbert Terrace, and the Town Belt, which could be mado. pioturesquo icst-places such as Mr. Hurst-beager described, if only our civic fathers would get out of tho groove they move in. I TJicro was a prospect of BOmotbmg/easonable being done in tho Ulfection liidi- ' cakd with the Und-now a dusty waste —that was recently cleared by the demolition of the Manners Street Police Station and the old wooden Fire Brigade Station, but the montlia drag on, nnd the waste space remains the dreariest of wastes right in the centre 'of tho city! • The civio authorities <Ihd their officers as a rule .are inclined to resent criticism, but. in the light of what has been done in the past they certainly deserved the mild censure so gently administered by Mr. Hurst-Seagen. whoso ideas on beautifying a city found such, general approval last week. ~..,. When landxjn a block is pub-dmded by-streets and cut up into eeotions, the plan has to be approved by the, local authority before it frill consent to take over the streets when formed. With tho exercise of. a little tact and a study of the "configuration of the land, with a view , to getting the very'best out of it from an aesthetic standpoint, those authorities could do avast amount of good, and escape, now and again at least, the.drab and tedious parallelograms 'which elude all curves and which tire the eyes, with their dreary sainenessA In proposing a hearty voto ot tuanks to Mr. Seager, Mr. A. Leigh Hunt said that he was afraid there would have to. bo a good deal of- spade work done in. , Now Zealand beforo they could look tor results. Perhaps the -municipalities might bo inclined'to grasp the pick in anticipation of' the advent ot the, spade.