The Detroit times., 1910-03-26
BEAUTY BOARD HAS
s4,000,000PR0JECT
Wants Council To Purchase Block
in Heart of City as Site for
Public Buildings.

BY far the most important act of
the city plan and Improvement com
mission to date Is the submission OF
the report which goes to the council
next week in which the commission ad-
vises that Detroit. in line with other
large cities, adopt q civic center and
begin the process OF grouping the pub
lie buildings.
AS an, initial step. the commission
would have the city acquire the city
block bounded by Cadillac-sq.. Ran.
dolph, Farmer and Bates-sts.. and
erect thereon new building for the
municipal courts and police head
quarters.
The cost OF this project would be,
1t is roughly estimated by other city
officials, In the neighborhood Of 3d..
SOC. 900 to 100000.
When there was talk of cutting q
slice off Cadillac-sq., some years age
to permit a view of the county build
ing from the Campus. the cost OF this
small piece Of land was estimated al
not less than $238,000. This Is but q
fraction OF the block proposed to be
taken and In the Intervening years,
the Burns hotel has been erected In
this block and other buildings cover
ing II have been greatly improved.
The suggestion of the city plan and
Improvement commission, made
through Secretary Frank c. Baldwin,
comes as a result of request by the
common council for an opinion as to
he luis ~ N n OF n a mr.
part of the city block bounded by st.
Antoine, Beaubien, Macomb and Gin
ton-sts., for the purposes Of erecting
q new court building and police head
quarters there. This plan Is disap-
proved Of.
In its report the commission calls
attention to the immense sums being
spent by other cities such as Chicago,
Boston, San Francisco. Philadelphia.
Baltimore. Minneapolis and Washing
ton TO improve their arrangement and
street plans, and to group their pub
lie buildings and enlarge their park
systems. Cleveland has condemned
tract several city blocks In area.
and is grouping It's postoffice, city
hail. county building, public library
and central railroad station at a cost
which runs into more than a score OF
millions. Boston Is spending $33,000,-
600, In one plan Of city improvement.
while Philadelphia, Washington and
Chicago are out-doing even the two
cities first mentioned.
Almost every city In the country
Is now engaged In securing the order
ly and convenient arrangement Of its
public buildings" says the report.
These cities realize that the remark
able increase in their population calls
for new and improved means OF COM
munication within the business dis
trict and the convenient grouping OF
their public buildings, to which great
numbers of their citizens are called
In their daily business.
Detroit Is now confronted with a
rapid increase In its public and semi
public structures. A new public
library, a new art museum, new
union railway station, new quarters
for its police department and its
municipal courts are among the build
ings which must be provided for.
when this city was laid out after
the fire Of 1906, the new plan provid-
ed sites for public buildings, multi
tude OF small parks within the city,
broad streets diverging from common
centers; In a word, for a harmonious.
coherent and well-arranged city.
Through carelessness and indiffer-
ence, these plans suffered mutiliation
and when additions were made, the
new subdivisions were plated with
little or no reference to the older city.
No provision was made to secure
those small parks and open spaces
which were features Of the original
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