Morning journal and courier., 1883-06-25
COMMUNICATIONS.
The Vsxed Question.

Ih9 v tSxed Question
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 Evidently the last word has not yet been
 said upon the State House question. The
 best way as you have suggested, is to let the
 public freely speak it's mind, and, in the con-
 fiict of opinion, the most rational view will,
 it is to be hoped, prevail. It is B question
 on which there will inevitably be 8 radical
 difference of sentiment, and it should there
 fore be discussed in calm and amiable spirit
 and on it's solid merits. One may here differ
 with his best friend without offence.
 The great ornament of New Haven is it's
 Green. Visitors are impressed with this, and
 always speak warmly about it. while we who
 live here are not perhaps so alive to the
 real superiority of New Haven in this respect
 Like few fine old towns in England such
 as Shrewsbury Lichfeld and Wells, and on
 the continent, like Dresden and Leip-
 sic, by some most happy ckance,
 this broad space in the ,ioosona
 of our busy city with it's expanse of green
 grass shaded by lofty elms, has been left
 open amid the onrush of material progress
 which usually swallows up all that is natural
 and beautiful. What would London becomg
 without Hyde Park and Kensington Gar dens It would be aa intolerable pl ace to live In and still the demand is for more such open spaces. Even in old Rome at this present instant, great sums are spent in laying out broader squares, and we know what has been done of late years in Paris This is the case with every city where the people are beginning to recognize the ines timable blessings of space, pure air and wholesome sunshine, and to assert their claims for the enjoyment Of 8 common nature. To see poor children playing on our Green is better than to see the Connecti- cut legislature filing into the State House. This is question of human ity. The clearer the Green is of and buildings the more it's great benefits will be experienced by all. As to buildings already upon the Green, the three churches stand there by right of util- ity higher than good taste and by reason of sacred associations; but this is not the case with the State House. Its occupation is gone. Its use is over. It is like hulk stranded on the shore taking up valuable space. It would be an immense improvement to remove 1t entirely, thus increasing the area of open park and and letting in more light, air and sunshine. As to the ediice itself I, for one, have no prejudice or spleen against it. It has served it's purpose and has been in some sense characteristic feature of the city. It Is fine classic model built by an able archi- tect at time when the classic style both in civic and domestic architecture was the fash ion. But it should be remembered that the temple of Theseus at Athens, after which it was copied, had a majestic peripteraI colonnade which the State House has not; it WAS lalso decorated with the most exquisite sculptured bas-reliefs while the State House has nothing to relieve it's plain and grim severity and the temple of Theseus was built of Pentelican marble while the State House is 8 structure which, though excellent in outline, is reared of cobble stones and stucco. If 1t were built of honest mar ble or granite we would say let it stand; but doubts as to it's constructive solidity especi- ally in its lower portions have been raised by