Modern cities : progress of the awakening for their betterment here and in Europe / by Horatio M. Pollock and William S. Morgan.

  • Horatio Milo Pollock
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Modern cities : progress of the awakening for their betterment here and in Europe / by Horatio M. Pollock and William S. Morgan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    aspect of life on the part of the people became manifest in enlarged conceptions of city plans. Princes vied with each other in laying out and embellishing towns within their jurisdiction, usu- ally at the seat of govermnent. The formal layouts of Karlsruhe and Mannheim are ex- amples. One of the most noteworthy plans of the seventeenth century was that prepared by Sir Christopher Wren for the reconstruction of London after the great fire of 1666. We quote the description of this great plan given by Mr. Elmes in his life of Sir Cliristopher Wren. “In order therefore to a proper reformation Dr. Wren, pursuant to the Royal Conmiand immediately after the fire, took an exact sur- vey of the whole area and confines of the burn- ing, having traced with great trouble and hazard the great plain of ashes and ruins, and designed a plan or model of a new city in which the deformities and inconveniences of the old tovm were remedied by enlarging the streets and lands, and carrying them as near parallel to one another as might be; avoiding if compatible mth greater conveniences all acute angles, by seating all the parochial churches conspicuous and insular, by forming the most public places into large piazzas the centers of eight w'ays; by uniting the halls of twelve chief companies into one regular space annexed to the Guildliall; [20]