Evening star., 1936-03-21
ARCHITECTS URGED
TOSCAN PLANNING
City Changes Required by
Modern Conditions,
Peabody Says.

Architects are urged to make the re-
planning Of cities part OF ther pro-
fessional concern in q report to the
American Institute of Architects by
Arthur Peabody. president OF the
Madison, Wis, chapter.
Railroads, motor cars and airplanes
have resulted in the haphazard de-
velopment of cities, and sections
which have deteriorated in the process
must be reclaimed and their values
restored. declares Mr.. Peabody, who is
State architect Of Wisconsin.
Future city residents will not con-
tinue to live on streets thronging with
trafic, he predicts, but will move some
distance from the center Of the town,
necessitating two cars per family, and
raising the problem Of parking and
cities should, Mr.. Peabody suggests,
include 10-story garages at regular
intervals along the street and hangers
for family airplanes.
Certain towns in Wisconsin have
doubled in size and population during
the past 80 years." he says. If they
were well conditioned at one time,
they are not quite that now. What
was at least endurable then has be-
come difficult and wasteful Older
portions are now outmoded, and the
new portions do not fit in nicely, or at
all, with the originals. Certain dis
tricts have been invaded by industry
or commerce. Fine old residences have
become boarding houses and a few
have been torn down to avoid taxa
ton. The section has lost prestige.
Skilled PIanner Needed.
"One might say that clean sweep
would be the best solution. But could
not skilled city planner bring back
old-time values by some magic touch?
How much attention does the ar
chitect pay to the item of town devel-
opment? Does he concern himself at
all, or is his mind occupied with the
immediate design and erection of some
building upon certain plot of ground?
OF course, he is not in the real estate
business, and to give expression to
this or that could get him in wrong
AL ways 1lC ALOI CARCSb
Take for example the effect of
changing a residence street into busi-
ness street. Would that better bt
left to men in the city hall? But the
method of making the change should
be of great interest to the owner of a
proposed business structure.
IF the entire street is given over
to trade, travel will be greatly in
creased and congestion may very well
ensue to an extent which will affect
the success of buildings fronting upon
1t. The standard residence street is
usually provided with narrow road
way inadequate for the traffic of q
business thoroughfare.
Once Well Arranged.
"Time was when towns were rather
well arranged. There were two prin-
cipal features, the common-a pasture
ground, convenient and safe-and, al
a certain distance, the market place
The common, surrounded by the dwell
ings Of solid citizens, was presently
improved by shade trees and white
painted fence. The market place, after
WdTO hIOWA dS I11C OCtC4-
oped into the main business center
Here the court house or the city hall
was presently erected. Other impor-
tant buildings were the post Office, the
hotel, the church, the general store
and the blacksmith shop.
Between these two principal items,
the common and the square, there ex-
tended Main street, lined with dwell
ings, and from it at right angles other
streets and lanes of indefinite extent
Beyond all this, COW pastures, farms
and the cemetery. The town was COM
plete.
IF the world had stood still, as we
have imagined it to have done in an
cient days, all would be we'll"
The advent of the railroad destroyed
the essential unity of this plan. Mr.
Peabody continues. What had been
principal became secondary. Main
street, which had occupied first place,
sank in general opinion. The public
square was in the wrong location. The
city park, far from being the very
center, was left to one side and, being
rather near the railway, was exposed
to the noise and smoke of locomotives u