The Washington herald., 1910-05-16
The Model City.

The Model City.
/ Editor The Washington Herald:
As eternal vigilance is the price ot lib
erty, so eternal protest seems 70 be the
price OF escaping essential wrong in civic
administration
I write 20 protest against the new ar
rangement permitting buildings 10 be
higher than the width Of the street which
they face. and the proposed allowing OF
"A height OF l35 feet. or thereabouts on
/ Pennsylvania avenue. Artistic consldera-
/ tlons cannot be expected 10 appeal 20
| those who evidently know nothing ABOUT
/ them, so I VIII begin by presenting rea-
/ sons which, possibly they may under
| stand
! The first Is commercial arguH ent.
/ Where there are no skyscrapers. bust
ness centers extend sideward and not
upward. as n result OF encToaching rap
! idly upon residence districts, with the ef-
: feet, in a very few years. of doubling
/ and quadrupling values. This fact en-
| ables large numbers 20 make safe IN
vestments. which. I'm short time, may
/ bring them a fortune, SkysCrapers never
| benefit large numbers. but only a Few
! They greatly enhance the price Of land
Immediately surrounding themselves. but
! the higher taxation Of this land renders
| many Of the inferior buildings near
| them, some Of which may have been
/ bringing in 10 or L per cent. practically
! valueless.
Their owner. therefore must tear them
/ down and build skyscrapers. For this he
must obtain a mortgage at I or 8 per
/ cent; but when his building is finished.
unless exceptionally well situated. It may
bring him in less than per cent. have
| been told that this IS true Of one large
| building. at least. in this city: and I NY
| self had a small interest in a sSyscraper
at the very center Of business in Chi
| cago. which had to be sold in order 70
pay the mortgage on It. Besides this.
! every one. perhaps. who rents an Office
/ in such a building has 70 pay a little
more for similar accommodations than in
smaller building. Skyscrapers. there
| fore. as a rule. lessen the opportunities
| for making money on the part of the
many, bring financial ruin 10 not few,
! diminish the relative income Of those
whom they do not ruin. and increase the
| yearly expenditures of those who occupy
| them.
/ Now let us consider some sanitary rea-
sons. A city full Of houses two stories
in height never has sufficient fresh air
and sunshine to make 1t as healthful as
the open country. What. then, IL the
city, or sections Of it. be filed with high
! buildings the halls Of which are never
ventilated, and many Of the rooms Of
which, and of buildings overshadowed by
them. never see a ray Of sunshine7 Then
think of the crowds pouring down into
the streets when such buildings are
emptied! No number of elevated or sub
way conveyances will ever render it pos
sible for a New York business man to
avoid spending an hour or two every
day in the fOulest Of atmospheres in
street cars, TO say nothing Of the strain
upon his muscles and nerves caused by
jostling and standing. Why should our
business men have their lives shortened
and the conditions Of life while they are
living made almost as bad as those Of
workers In coal mines?
| A word now with reference to esthetio
reasons. Everybody who understands
the subject knows that these accord
universally with those that. owing to
other considerations, are practical and
wise. 1t is so in this case. All authori-
ties ascribe the beauty Of the streets IN
Paris and other European cities mainly
to the law limiting the height Of build
ings to the width OF the street-ln most
cases OF the distance between curb and
curb. When this limit is set. the height
is not so great but that all can afford 70
build up to 1t, and they do so. producing
thus a uniform sky line. This law has
now been, or is expected to be. abolished
/ In Washington. One editorial that I read
last week speaks approvingly OF a Penn
sylvania avenue with low government
] buildings on one side Of the street and