Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-25
URGES THAT CITY ACQUIRE UNDEVOPED STREET INTERSECTION
SITES FOR BEAUTIfCAON PURPOSES BEFORE IT TOO LATE
RECOMMENDS USE OF
WATER IN FOUTAINS
SUGGESTS IMPROVEMENTS IN
RESIDENCE DISTRICTS
Charles Mulford Robinson Points Out
Rapid Growth Of Los Angeles
Makes Instant Action
Necessary

To prevent the diversion from pos
sibly beautifed sites to permanently
improved street intersections of the
ugliest type, Charles Mulford Robinson
presents in his report on the City
Beautiful suggestions Tor acquiring
corners where there are great possi-
bilities. These are Of special impor-
tance as applied to the business dis
trict, where they may become not only
pleasure spots but breathing spaces"
of great value in the congested Sec
tion.
Opportunities of this kind are pre-
sented at the functions of Spring street
and Broadway with Main street. These
are points Of great civic significance
as Mr.. Robinson says in comparing
them to the Paris streets conVerglng
where the Fontaine Moliere is placed.
A like improvement might be made at
more than one point in Los Angeles,
although If neglected year or SO
these may not be available.
Concerning this and similar improve
ments of street intersections, Mr..
Robinson says in his report:
Suggests Use of Water
For the junction of Main and
Spring streets, and of Broadway and
Spring, l here submit no plan. But
as the business districts extends to in
clude these points, as it must very
shortly do, they will become of IN
creasing Importance to the city. 1t
would be possible for the municipality
to treat them effectively, aud the far
conspicuousness of the narrow gore
to persons approaching them from the
south, makes them well worth deVel-
opment in the city's Identification.
IF left to private owners, they must
either remain practically unimproVed,
owing to- their small area and bad
shape, or they will present an archi-
tectural knife edge as unpleasant as
that of the Flatiron building in New
York. The city should acquire them. In
Paris such sharp corners are beauti-
fully utilized in the business districts
by fountains like the Moliere, and
when Los Angeles has the owens river
supply, it might well make a feature
of these. In fact, even now there might
be more use Of water visibly than
there is, considering the attraction Of
water in this climate. There would
be little waste In letting it flow out
of a pipe into a basin, and then from
the basin into pipe again for future
use; and that flow from pipe to basin,
whether it be a fall or a jet into the
air, can be made, in sight and sound,
an exceedingly attractive feature on
sunny streets.
Angle Needless and Ugly
1.-THE angle in Spring street, north
of First, is-as all such angles are
needless and ugly, and it must be
hoped that when a new building is
erected there. the turn will be made
in a curve.
''Main street, at Jefferson, is sud
denly narrowed. The great length of
this street, its fine development further
south, and its Importance should make
no argument necessary for its broad
ening here to a uniform width while
there is yet opportunity. From around
the historic little Plaza, the drays,
which now form an almost impenetra-
BILE barrier, should be ordered else
where.
What has been said of the cores in
the business section holds true in great
measure throughout the city The city
of Washington owes very much of its
beauty to the development Of such
spaces into little parks. There are
large numbers of them--as there are
here-and when improved they bring
beauty into the street system-which is
to say into the very structure of the
city-which nothing else will do.
when Los Angeles sets seriously