NOBLER LONDON

Evening Star, Issue 19786, 9 February 1928, Page 4

NOBLER LONDON

MOST MAGNIFICENT CITY, Very few Londoners could give a full and coherent account of tho architectural changes which have been brought about in their huge city during the last thirty years. The new and nobler London has grown up silently and invisibly, as an oak increases its girth and stature. Mr Harold Chinn, whose object has been to describe tho chief rebuilding operations, will be found an inspiring guide to tho various phases of a vast improvement (says the ‘Morning Post’). “Viewed from the standpoint of the elevation of its buildings,” thus he summarises the general effect of innumerable changes in what may bo called the urban scenery, “ London has grown upwards, generally speaking, by two stories, the average height of the new structures being six floors above the level of the street, as compared wilh tho four stone of the majority of the old buildings they have superseded.” London, it is true, now contains a number of taller buildings, which are upwards of lOOi't in height. But in this respect she is exceeded by Madrid, whoso splendid new street, tne Gran Via, recently driven through the city’s centre, has many structures of twelve and fourteen stories, the loftiest on the Continent. The rebnilders of Nineteenth Century London, however, have never competed with European capitals, much less with the great American cities, in the creation of sky-scraping edifices. Wisely, tho height of her new buildings has been restricted, as a general rule, to the width of the street affected, though the zoning system—necessary owing to the great value and scarcity of building sites—has permitted tho construction of higher buildings by moans of setting the upper stories further back from the street level. Stone or red brick have been . used to face most of the new buildings, because they withstand the corroding effects of the atmosphere better than the old yellow brick and stucco and have a better appearance. An American visitor, who recently investigated London from many standpoints, described our metropolis as “a, nortfolio of tho finest views in Europe.” His only serious criticism deal with tho “ bottlenecks ” which impede the flow of traffic in several troweled localities. Many street improvements and widening of thoroughfares, it is true, have been carried out in the period under survey, but a number of golden opportunities have been overlooked or turned down. The more glaring instance was the failure to eliminate the “bottleneck ” opposite the Holborn Restaurant, at the junction of the thoroughfare with Kingsway, which should have been done in 1898 during the rebuilding which then took place on that corner, where an enormous congestion of traffic has prevailed since the construction of Kingsway. Newgate street provides another example of a missed opportunity; but perhaps the most regrettable occunenco of the kind was the omission to create a broad new thoroughfare across the vacant quads of Christ’s Hospital, which are now covered by the new buildings of the General Post Office. Mr. Clunn mentions a number of practical street improvements which could be, and should be, carried out with as little delay as possible. He has no sympathy, however, with the wild schemes for the construction of overhead roads, which would cost many millions ami lead to dreadful disfigurements. Half a dozen of . the worst “bottlenecks” could be eliminated at much less cost. He points out, howesver, that traffic congestion is much less serious than it was in nineteenth century London. “In the old davs, when horse traffic predominated,” he observes, “and many leading thoroughfares, such as the Strand and Fleet street, were much narrower than at the present day, a journey, by horse omnibus from Piccadilly Circus to the Mansion House occupied a good half-hour, as against twenty minutes in a motor omnibus at the present time.” Mr Chinn’s book is full of interesting matter, and it will help to foster a reasonable pride in tho world’s only great capital which does not advertise its own attractions.