The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-05-18
BEST PLANNED CITY
L'Enfants Plan For Washington Of
 17O1 Is Still Followed

Nearly every, city is patchwork 1 founded upon an accidental beginning The city complete has never existed. In view of the rapid strides of science, trade, transportation, and the enormous increases in population-all of which this country has experienced simultane+ ously-the city compete cannot yet be 1 expected, but there are enough facts about cities now in existence to form the basis for a few primitive generali- cations, writes Felix Leman in the Sat urday Evening Post.
 We at least know that the best laid out city on earth either of ancient or of modern times is only 22S miles from New York, and that the plan was made in 1791 by Pierre Charles PEnfant, a French enfineer who served in the Revolutionary war, and approved by George Washington. We know that the city of Washington began as a mere village and that it has grown to one of the foremost cities of the world without altering the truth of the statement that it is the best laid-out city on earth.
 The streets vary in width from 80 to 160 feet, and are, on the whole, the widest streets of any city of all time. They are adorned with more than S5 900 shade trees, so that a bird 's-eye view of the national capital gives the unprecedented a beautiful park with the roofs of buildings showing indis- tinctly amid wealth of yerdure. The majestic transverse avenues from irreg- ular intersections with the rectangular streets, resulting in BOP squares and circles, comprising 407 acres, the most important of which is the capitol grounds. 9
 The height of buildings in both hhe residence and the business districts is restricted. The result has been a healthy tendency to spread out rather than to grow perpendicularly as Ne York has done with such uncomfortable results for those who must spend their working days in it's damp, dark, wind spread canyons. If the city pian of Washington has not made the impression it deserves to have had upon other municipalities, it certainly has stood the test of those best qulllfied to pass upon it-the residents of Washington.
 At various times there were encroach- ments upon the original outlines, but within very recent years houses have been moved in order to preserve the original plan. What more could be said in praise than that after a century of use, with all the changes that century ha sbrought in our mode of life, Wash ington's scheme of streets and avenues sgood enough to justify heavy epnendi- lures for preservation and to carry it out into outlying districts?
 Elsewhere I have had occasion to re- mark that true beauty combined with utility deies time and forms a basis of real estate value. Washington is one of the best examples of that fact. Its wide streets and sensible building regulations prevent any part of the city from choking to death with congestion. Moreover, those wide streets and nnmer- 9IB qo!qM ssIoI!o puB ssLBnbs aplU sno such an attractive adornment are also valuable checks to the spread of fire and are contributors to health in the form of fresh air.
 Back of the plan of Washington was something entirely new in cities-the purpose to make it beautiful and com fortable for the population. Strange as 1t may sound in this day of wonder cities, that idea was revolutionary All sorts of remarkable cities have been built, but never before had a thought of the people who were to live in the city played such prominent part.