The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-29

IER, Landscape Artist
| the wage-earning citizen has 1t in his
power now largely to mould the future
standard of living conditions. He should
| investigate the building laws and the
! health regulations, etc, and he should
| insist upon these being strengthened by
private restrictions of the property, the
| design of streets, and open spaces and
the neighborhood in which he buys his
home. Think of 1t, in a certain distant
industrial community there is today a
| demand by wage-earners for home prop
| erty with a central open communal space
| In the rear of backwards reserved for a
| playground for small children, to be kept
| free from building and to be maintained
open and clean by the abutters. The To-
| cal real estate man could not place such
| a restriction either In the sales agreement
| or bond the deed unless the people de-
| manded 1t Otherwise the restriction
would kill the sale of the property. But
the people there do not want livery
stable or a saloon or a foundry to be
| their home or in the next lot to or nearby
their home and hence the restriction.
| They do not want cattle or swine to be
on equal terms with them in occupying
their lots and the attractive features they
| develop on these lots. They do not want
| alleys because they consider the rear of
the house the test of the home and al
leys are generally unkept, garbage and
ash strewn, disease-breeding nuisances
which as matter of fact add nothing of
service to the home but destroy the best
use of the backyard which can be made
| the most attractive part of the home
| The condition of alleys In Birmingham
| Is one parallel to the former condition
OF alleys in the city OF Washington which
| was made the subject of exhaustive
study by commission appointed by the
In hat oil A.
standard of living is such that the real
/ estate dealer will gladly furnish such
a condition written into deed because
the people want 1t and he of course will
give them just what they want or they
Will buy their homes from some who
will. These people insist that their chill
dren shall not be forced to play on the
street, and while there may be vacant
Lot nearby when they buy, yet they know
mat In any growing city sooner or later
such lots are to be built upon.
Ihat time Is at hand when the home
buyer, the home maintainer the aver
age wage-earning citizen of Birmingham
the type of man upon whom the industrial
output depends, the local man, whose
occupancy of the location, whose infiu-
ence as citizen, characterizes the aver
age demand for any pa rticular type or
standard of home or civic condition--the
time is at hand when he shall look into
these matters for himself because it is
surely by him at this particular stage
in the growth of the city that the flu
ture character of the city is being mould
ed. The city is In it's infancy and on
every hand there are evidences of great
development. There is a complex ad-
mixture of improvements taking place
but each contributing its part toward the
future Birmingham: some of them are
genuine improvements.
hQ fof ~
signs of the times, he foresees in adj
vance the demand of the pople He
realizes that 1t is at this time at least
up to him to provide the foundations for
home development along advanced lines
H realizes that he must show and set
down the future use of land that.athe
wage-earner may know whether he is in
vesting In home of the choice of him
self and his family or the backyard IF
a gas-house. So he plans the use of the
land according to the best demands of
his customers. Take the new model town
of Corey, for example.
We find that provision has been made
for Zoning system which Classics the
town into neighborhoods for the plir-
pose of formulating general restrictions
and valuation, provision for sites for
schools in convenient loca tons, and that
there will be park areas for Fairgrounds
surrounding; we find that the width of
streets Is such as to provide for con-
siderable traffic promised for the present
and the increased traffic of the future.
and the traffic is studied so that on
those streets which are only for resi-
dences the lot buyer will not pay for
great expanse of unattractive roadway
which is expensive to build and to main
tain and unhealthful because of dust.
Rather. the roadways are narrow and
the balance of space is turned into beau
shrubbery, and building lines established
so that each lot owner will know how
to do his part toward making a unified
beauty scheme of street. And further
than this, the buyer is informed of Just
which shrubs to place in front of his
home. the kind that will grow high
enough and not too high. the kind that
will grow In the shade or in the sun,
etc. the kind that will make a good
street scheme, and the shrubs are given
him that he may do his part in carry
ing out the beauty and unity of the gen.
eral scheme and thus increase the value
of his property and the balance which is
to be offered to other buyers who will
conform to the same conditions. We
find that In addition to study being given
to accessible sites for schools, that
great central open space is provided,
first a plaza off the junction of the two
main business streets facing which bus
mess buildings are designed as a unit
and assure him Of the beauty of the pub
lie square; here is provided a drinking
fountain and a trough designed for
beauty and use, and there is interior
walk made of materials pleasing and
restful to the eye, and seats where one
may sit in the shade of trees so placei
as to furnish architectural beauty We
find at the head of this plaza and open
to the view from the main business
corner the location for an imposing town