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Show B Make The City Beautiful. B We hope there will be a determined effort to B make a more beautiful San Francisco than the old B one was, that there will be better drives, a few B wider streets, that at least one public plaza can B be made in the business district around which the B retail trade may cluster, and that at least two or B three reservoirs for sea water may be made sure, B and so constructed that no ordinary twist of an B earthquake can drain them. In the matter of jB drives the city has always been most deficient, B ono had to go either to the Cliff House or to Gol- B den Gate Park, or take a ferry for the county B across the bay. That surely ought to be improved B upon. Then the Spanish plan of public squares B around which business may concentrate is good B for many reasons. Those squares are breathing B places, and are a great protection against fires. If H a city would give one-sixth of Its space to public B squares, it would never have a great fire like the B Chicago, Boston or Baltimore fire. They are good, B too, from a sanitary standpoint. They are great B air purifiers and if they have grass and trees, B the relief to the eye is in itself a factor- of health. B We hope that the Government in constructing new B buildings in San Francisco will bo generous in B purchasing sites for them. A steel building in the B conter of a five acre block would go far toward B arresting a lire coming from either direction. City B hospitals should be located the same way. Na- B ture should be called upon to help in every way HB in the city's recreation, for, we suspect, the rule will be plain fronts arid1 roofs for buildings with- fl 3ut rich cornices or any outward adornments that fl an earthquake might shake off. There will prob- fl ably be no stone columns and less iron columns, jfl The columns are probably what caused the city hall to collapse so soon, and the embellishments B of Mrs. Stanford's memorial church helped de- jjfl stroy it. The new style will all be severely plain. B Jt Is possible that the effect of earthquakes in Greece caused, finally, the perfection of the slm- JB pie, but beautiful architecture of that county. IB Then broad avenues, 4ined by trees, are a great B protection against fires, and San Francisco should bBB have a system of such boulevards, for not half the people who visited San Francisco in the old days ever half appreciated the wonderful beauty of its site, or what, under artistic hands, it might be made to be. We hope the new city will strain its credit to the limit to increase the beauty, the comforts and the safety of the great metropolis. |
