New-York tribune., 1898-01-23
TO BEAUTIFY THE CITY.
SUGGESTIONS MADE AT THE REFORM
CLUB DINNER.
TALKS on MUNICIPAL ART rrs SCOPE. AIMS
AND USES. Q. A. WARD. F. s.
LAME W. A. COFFIN AND OTHERS
MAKE ADDRESSES.

A.
LAME. W. A. COFFIN AND OTHERS
MAKE ADDRESSES
The first Of the club dinners for The year was
held at the Reform Club. No. a33 Fifth ave. last
evening. under the auspices OF the Committee
on Municipal Administration John De WITT
Warner presided About 12i were present
After dinner a discussion took place on "Munici-
pal Art-Its Scope. Aims and Uses. The
chairman introduced the subject in brief
speech. in which he spoke Of the necessity Of
the consideration of the artistic in public work.
and said it was an entirely mistaken idea to
suppose thar because building anything else
to be devoted TO utilitaran purposes IT
must be necessarily plain ugly
Frederick g. Lamb was the first speaker He
spoke OF the absolute necessity for an artistic
supervision not only oyer statues. bur also over
buildings and bridges. The ideas Of the ma
iority Of engineers to design were common
place in the extreme. II the plans for the pro
posed East River Bridge over Backwels Island
were not protested against a great opportunity
would be missed Referring TO historic monu-
ments Mr.. Lamb said they were Of no value
unless placed in the position in which the
affair commemorated occurred 1t was possible
TO take a square city block. and not only change
its present form of construction into something
artistically excellent. but also at the same time
to make such change financially profitable.
J. O. A. Ward president Of the National
Sculpture Society. described the struggles for
r. censorship the public monuments of
New-York which had taken place and said
that the Commission provided for under the
charter for the enlarged city was retrogres-
sion to the state of thrgs which existed fifteen
years back The Commission should have ini
tiative power. and be able to arrange the gen
era adornment OF the city. The proportion Of
artists the Commission was entirely too
small The city should trust the artists. They
had proved worthy Of the trust reposed In them
in the past. and with a better and stronger
Commission the city could be made decent. If
not beautiful The artists ideal was always in
advance OF its realization, but that was only
an advantage. Referring to the statues in Cen
tral Park. the speaker said that many OF them
could certainly not be described a JOY for
ever. but you don't know what was suppressed
and rejected" O>aughter) The National
Sculpture Society had discharged It's duties con-
scientiously and without fear. The Plaza site.
for instance. had been preserved from unsuita-
bic monuments. The Heine group had been con-
sidered artstcally unsuitable for the position
by the society AS most people knew. the
committee In charge OF the erection OF the
monument had used every effort TO obtain It's
acceptance by the city. When the National
Sculpture Society. after mature deliberation. de
cided to oppose the erection OF the monument.
the committee had appealed from the socety's
decision. but he the speaker) was glad to say
that The appeal had been unsuccessful, and the
beautiful Plaza site had been saved for a more
suitable work. He trusted that in the future
some worthy object would ornament It. (Ap-
plauSe)
William A. Coffin thought that the great df1-
Guilty In the way OF municipal art was not op-
position. but Indifference. Material prosperity
was continually before the eyes OF every one.
but beauty was neglected. Speaking OF open
spaces, Mr.. Coffin said that in a city made I'D
nearly entirely OF rectangles "a New-York
every open space should be jealousy preserved.
The new Public Library was 10 be erected on
the site Of the old reservoir II would doubt
less he a magnificent building but would II not
nave been better 10 walt until there was money
enough to buy other land and make an open
space Of the site Of the reservoir? The sDaca
would he needed In the future and land would
cost more then He did not want his hearers
10 think that he was opposed to the Public
Library. 1t was a most necessary Institution
and would be housed in a splendid building. to
judge from the architects designs hut open
spaces were so absolutely necessary in New
York that he thought even at the cost of wait
ing for time. TIN morey could be found for
another site. the land upon which the reservoir
stands should have been preserved for the
people The work Of making New York a beau
tifui city would be q tremendously difficult one
1t would never shine with the kind of beauty
to he found in Venice.
Frederick Crowninsheld. speaking on The
Ideal City" compared the Rome Of the Caesars
with the New-YOrk of today contrasting the
arcades. porticoes. public baths and other mag
nifcent buildings Of the old city with the ugli-
ness and inconvenience of the modern or
course. he said. the ancients took more drastic
measures than were possible now. Nero did no,
burn Rome for destruction, but for construc-
ton. Now. things had to he taken as they were
The result was that there we're individual beau
uful things. but individual things spoiled gen
eral effects DR.. Parkhurst's church. Dict-
uresque In itself. was spoiled from its position
in the jaws Of the Metropolitan Life R,ildirc
also 4 fine structure In itself rho grea,
trouble" added Mr Crownnshjeld "is that
New-YOrkers don't love their city. II they don't
make her a little more beautiful soon they can
not love her"
j. Augustus johnson spoke Of varloue i'm,
provements. other than artistic which v,ero
necessary in New-YOrk. He thought thar tho
best way Of securing artistic cities in the f,rro
was by means OF educating the people to nor
ccive and appreciate the beautiful
f. Wellington Bruckstuhl and otb.rs oIso
spoke.
BISHOP POTTER C4LLS IT "PrBRJSH