Show 00 P ED r 0 TT T ij T W T 7 ra T 7 laj A I 1 t t k Y 5 f 2 1 4 I 1 I 1 11 ill it 11 fp 14 1 p 4 7 r 4 v A tf 0 Z 14 01 y 37 11 g 91 ir A M ri V fsr 4 3 P y X W er 0 1 lo 10 f x ley hj r Z 1 4 17 la is but little over a year ago at the time when ben king edward lay IT in state in westminster hall that thousands of londoners Lon doners made their first acquaintance with the liver riverside side district which lies between Vaux vauxhall ball and lambeth bridges no one tie who witnessed the Nond wonderful erful spec bacle presented by the vast crowds that thronged thron ged grosvenor road mill atilt bank street and abingdon street in their patient pilgrimage can ever torget forget it joining the multitude at or even beyond Vaux vauxhall hill bridge those who walked step liy by step felt that when at lat they reached lambeth bridge the goil goal go il was nas almost in sight for just beyond the great victoria ictoria tower was the royal death chamber liew few paused to notice the rather squal id appearance of the approach by mill bank street to the houses of parlia ment and old palace yard as compared with the splendor of the opposite ap along thi spacious ways of whitehall and the embankment and few knew much of the proposed scheme destined to transform this part of london and make it worthy of the imperial center of tho the its in the old days the river banks here on n both sides were ere lonely marshland here lambeth bridge now spans the stream there was vas an ancient horse feiry Horse ferry road preserves its name the reNe revenues revenue nue of which belonged to the archbishops arch bishops of canter bury whose palace of lambeth lies opposite on the surrey side just outside the southern wall of the abbey precincts there arose in later times a little suburb much favored by the gen try of the days of anne and the borges college street cowley street ind barton street still show the quaint dignified facades of these in harming arming specimens of eighteenth cen tury domestic architecture here flere in 1716 in smith square was built the singular church of st john with its four belfry to towers iNers which was admired and abused more perhaps than any church in london some likened it to a parlor table upset with its legs in the air a chet chef d oeun re ot of the ab of its architect rhomas arch er others spoke or of it as an orna ment to the city of westminister West minister and regretted that a vista had not been opened up from old palace yard to show its beauty nowadays perhaps wo we are better able to appreciate its merits the originality of its design and its massive construction st johns john church Is the central feature of the millbank improvement scheme now dow being carried out at immense cot by the london county council fills great scheme known as the thames embankment extension and westminister West minister improvements at mill atilt bank was nas proposed thirteen years ago in a resolution of the council that a plan should be prepared for the era em ban kment of the thames from the vie vic torla tower garden to lambeth bridge including the widening of millbank sit beet in 1901 provision was nas made for the scheme by a capital vote of 7 of which the sum of 5 was the estimated cost of ac quiring the properties east and west of millbank street and for widening the west nest side of the street itself while was reserved for the re housing of the laboring classes dis lodged by so extensive a sweeping ping away of the unsightly dwellings oc cupy trig the site the most important part of the scheme Is the construction or of the new gardens between the existing victoria tower gardens and lambeth bridge the extension of the embankment be tween the house of parliament and the bridge and the ni widening dening of mill atilt bank street which will thus form a broad and spacious approach appi from tho the south the new gardens and embank ment will take the place of old rows of wharves and breweries few how ever will regret that stateliness and spaciousness have dispossessed the picturesque squalor which was nas once the characteristic feature of this part of london above lambeth bridge may still be seen some or of the thames barges and the wooden piers beloved by artists but eventually the present I 1 bridge will give place to one more lore worthy of the site it was waa by the horse ferry hole heie mat mary of modena and james 11 II crass d the thames in their flight from ung land the king throwing int the stream the great seal which was waa afterwards brought up in a fisher mans net old prints show tile the place as it then was with the timber guardhouse built in the time of the commonwealth mon wealth and the long stretch of 0 millbank walk with pollard willows lining the river side bide and cows feeding in the meadows lord peterborough Peter borough a 3 house and grounds was tile the last place in london up the river from westminster and the walk malk between it and old palace yard was the fashionable promenade la in the palmy days of the queen antis anie suburb of smith square 1 and the streets adjacent it Is still a favorite neighborhood especially with those whose business lies in the parliament houses bouses when the vast scheme of improvement Is s comp completed ete an and t the e new bridge r go allt years hence this district of riverside rivers alvers de london will hold its own for quiet charm with any other part ot of the long majestic shore from chelsea to tho the tower |