The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-08
COSMOPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE
New YOrk's Variegated Display of
 Foreign Designs in Building

New York is no less cosmopolitan in it's architecture than in it's population. Crowded together within the narrow boundaries of Manhattan Island will be found examples of every recognized architectural style and many which are
 not, often in violent contrast to each other says the New York Sun. A little search will reveal many interesting cor ners, sometimes a block or more of buildings which might have been trans planted bodily from some foreign city. | Many of these reproductions have been carried out with great fidelity, and the 1 Illusion of being in a foreign city Is l perfect. New York's famous sky line Is composed of lines borrowed from sev- eral countries. It is almost impossible, indeed, to walk for block on any street without meeting with some suggestion in the facades of the many countries from which the population is drawn. The styles
 are besides borrowed from many periods, many of them very ancient, so that the famous cities of the past, as well as the present, are represented.
 There Is more than a suggestion of
 ancient Rome in several New York streets. The colonade of the new post
 office, for example, with it's full score
 of great columns. would have been worthy of Rome at it's height. The colon
 made has been carried out with a clas- sic severity and correctness which would doubtless have won high praise from Ro-
 man critics. The colonnade before the
 new municipal building, although of somewhat more modern lines, would have l looked we'll facing the Roman forum.
 The facade of great bank on Broad
 street and familiar block on Lafayette place hold the same suggestion. The doorways, windows and other details of
 many modern office buildings have been so closely copied from the famous Ro- a Q O ho a x,f tAVt Rome would feel very much at home in such surroundings.
 No city has probably exerted greater influence upon New York's architecture
 than Paris. In many sections of the elder part the mansard roof. or some adaptation of it. lends a suggestion of
 Paris roof lines to entire blocks. There are hundreds of examples of modern
 Parisian architecture in all parts of the
 city Many of the newer apartment houses and hotels might have been trans
 planted bodily from Paris, so closely do they follow the originals Scores of ex- amples might be sighted of doorways in the newer office buildings, hotels and apartment houses which exactly repro duce Parisian originals. The beauties of the French chateaus have been freely borrowed. A famous chateau has been almost perfectly reproduced on River side drive, and the surrounding lawns anu llttS COiuplCtt tue plCtuTt.
 The influence of London on New York architecture has naturally been great, although less than that of Paris. Half a century ago many blocks of houses were built exactly reproducing London. One of the most interesting of these will be found in a narrow street in Greenwich village, which might have been transferred intact from White chapel. The bracket lanterns and the absence of a cornice of any kind give the block a surprisingly foreign appearance. In the neighboring streets and squares of Greenwich village one could easily imagine himself in London of the past generation. Several of the smartest shops on Fifth avenue and the side streets are closely copied from originals In Bond or Regent street. The sky line of New York Is broken by scores of church spires, more or less in the spirit of Sir Christopher Wren, and almost all of our church architecture strongly sug- gests English originals.
 The Italian influence is clearly shown in many of New Yorks newer resi- dences on the upper Eastside. The gem eral design of famous originals. espeoI- ally in Milan, has been freely used. The most notable example 's probably the new residence occupying the entire block on Fifth avenue. formerl:. the site of the Lenox library. The Italian loggia is the most beautiful of it's kind in the city.
 It is surprising that New York, be-
 cause of. it's Dutch ancestry, has not more of the architecture of Holland,
 either ancient or modern The original
 town of New Amsterdam has. of course,
 long since been buried and not single
 memorial remains. In recent years, how ever. an attempt has been made in sev- eral parts of the city to introduce the architecture of modern Holland.