The Portland daily press., 1875-10-27
The Model CITY.

ages men had quite rage for building them.
Material was cheap, and not few competent
architects were to be found, chiefly among the
Italian poets. Ariosto did great deal of
work OF this sort. Very good work it YVES,
too, standing the test of time as few material
towns can. Albracca perhaps rebounds more
to his credit than any other of his attempts.
Unfortunately for his reputation as an archi-
tect, his achievements in that direction are
quite thrown in the shade By his fame as
landscape gardener. OF late years the prac-
lice OF building cloud cities has fallen into
dlsuse, perhaps because people are so busy
putting up houses of stone and wood
Within few weeks, however, revival
has been started in this pleasant branch of
architecture. The man who ushers in the
renaissance is DR.. Benjamin Richardson, a
Fellow of the Royal Society, and the place
at which he began his mission was Brighton.
Before the Social Science Congress in session
there he rea La paper entitl ed ga Model City
of Health" This paper is given in the Lon
don Times of October 12. In it the author
states that he believes men can build city
which will give any stated mortality, from
nifty, or any number more, to five, or perhaps
some number less, in the 1000 annually. He
has therefore projected city-on paper of
course-that shall show the lowest mortality
The name Of this city is Hygeia. Fortunate
ly for the founder land is cheap in Cockayne,
and SO the density of population is placed at
twenty-five persons to an acre. The whole
population is 100000, living in 10000 houses,
built on 1900 acres of land. Fortunately
again the deductions of Malttus have no
force in towns built on Spanish estate, and so
this mattersof population is easily regulated.
In Hygeia no house is higher than sixty feet,
and each house is built on arches of solid
brickwork. The acreage allows room for
three wide main streets which run from east
to west. Beneath each of these is railway
along which heavy traffic is carried on. The
streets from north to south which cross the
main thoroughfares at right angles, aud the
minor streets, which run parallel, are all wide
and. owing to the lowness of the houses, are
thoroughly ventilated, and in the day are
filled with sunshine. They are bordered
with trees. All the interspaces between the
backs of houses are gardens. The streets
are epaved with wood set in asphalt. Churches,
hospitals, theatres, warehouses, other public
buildings, stables &c. Stand alone, also sur
rounded by garden space. There are no gut
ters. for the drainage is accomplished through
the sub-ways.
The houses of the ideal city are strangely
fashioned. The material is brick, glazed and
quite impermeable to water. The bricks are
perforated transversely, and at the end of
each there is wedge opening, into which
no mortar is inserted, and by which all the
openings are allowed to communicate with
each other. The walls are thus honey
combed, so that there is in them a constant
body of common air let in by side openings
in the outer wall, which air can be changed
at pleasure, and if required can be heated
from the fire CRATES of the house. The bricks
for the inner walls are glazed in different
colors, so that af.er-alornment is unneces-
sary. The chimneys are so connected by
central shafts that the free carbon is dis.
charged colorless into the open air. The
roofs are nearly fiat, covered either with
asphalt or tile, and by the aid of flowers are
made like the gardens of Babylon. The
kitchens are Immediately beneath the roofs,
so that they are lighted to perfection, and no
smell from cooking is ever disseminated
through the house. Hot and cold water is
tound in every room. The living rooms are
foored in oak, over which no carpet is
ever laid. The house Is served by dumb
walters. Twelve hundred cubic feet of space
are allowed for each sleeper, and from the
sleeping apartments all unnecessary articles
OF furniture and dress are vigorously ex-
cluded.
AS the Utopian treasury is always full to
oVerfiowing, the city is "gotten up regardless. !"
All the resources of science are brought to
bear in the matters of ventilation, sewerage,
laundries, hospitals, almhouses, gas service,
cemeteries, slaughter houses, water and gas
works. Into details of these the present ar
tice does not permit us to enter. Under the
fanclful guise of an ideal city DR.. Richardson
presents many tIuths, many considerations
of moral and sanitary nature, which are
worthy of the attentive consideration of
health boards, of architects, and of citizens
generally. In the main his suggestions are
eminently practical.
But in filling his dish our philosopher up
sets it. He throws doubt upon the possibili-
ty of his ideal city by two monstrous i'm
probabilities. In Hygeia men neither drink
nor smoke. The cigar and the sherry cob
bier are unknown. The smell of the empty
whiskey tumber never po.lutes the air, and
no pipe bowl is ever seen with the rich dis.
coloration caused by the juices of the great
plant. 1t is much to be feared that men are
too bad to ever become denizens of DR.. Rich
ardson's Kennaquhair. Few of US coult
pass an examination which would entitle u:
to naturalization papers. If our reformel
really desires to give to his airy nothing 10.
cal habtation and name he will do better
to compromise like those other great and
good reformers, the leaders of the Democracy,
and remand the questions of wine and tc
bacco ''to the different congressional dis
tricts."
The frame Of mind in which Gov. Hen
bricks continues to agonize upon the curren-
cy question is indicated by the financial plank
which his organ, the indianapolis Sentinel,
puts forward as the financial plank for the