The Society's Map, with Its Proposals for the Improvement of London Author(s): Aston Webb Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 51, No. 5 (May, 1918), pp. 273-287 Published by: geographicalj Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1780069 Accessed: 19-06-2016 23:58 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Geographical Journal

Vol. LI No. 5 May 1918

THE LONDON SOCIETY'S MAP, WITH ITS PRO? POSALS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF LONDON Sir Aston Webb, R.A.

Read at the Meeting of the Society, n Febniary 1918.

IAM misgivings, here this for evening while atI know the invitation you are accustomed of your President, to take the with whole some world under your purview, as is shown on your seal, I am going to ask you to-night to give attention to a small piece of land hardly any of it more than 15 or 20 miles from where we now are, yet so full of interest that I shall not be able to do more than just touch the fringe of my subject. Perhaps its very propinquity has been the cause of the casual and unconsidered growth of London. Roads are necessarily the backbone or main structure of any city, and so I will take the main arterial roads of London first. Their main scheme we owe to our conquerors, the Romans; and the lines they laid down still remain, though their surface has risen as much as 15 to 20 feet. From south to north is Watling Street, leading from Dover through Rochester to London, crossing the site of the present parks, and joining up with Edgware Road to Ghester. Another Stone Street from Chichester crossed Watling Street before reaching the Thames, and then joined Ermine Street, the great Northern Road to Lincoln and York. Thirdly, the great Western Road connected Silchester with Colchester and Harwich. The convergence of these great trunk roads on London is entirely due to the constructive genius of the Romans; but after the Romans, chaos fell on the development of London's roads, and chaotic it has ever since remained. In Saxon and Norman times the divisions of the kingdom tended to a local rather than a national view of roads. Religious houses took up the care of roads, and made local roads from one monastery to another ? and so things went on in a casual haph'azard way until 1666, when a great disaster came to London in the Great Fire, which destroyed nearly the whole of that portion of it within its walls, but also brought to London a great opportunity of reconstruction on fine lines. The very man was available and willing?Sir Christopher Wren?who prepared a noble plan

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 274 THE LONDON SOCIETY'S MAP, WITH ITS approved by both King and Parliament; but owing to the opposition o the citizens it was unfortunately never carried out. This plan proposed two main thoroughfares through the City, both starting from Fleet Street, one passing to the north of St. Paul's past the Royal Exchange to the Aldgate, and finally joining up with the Colchester Road; the other pass? ing south of St. PauFs and leading to the Tower; a great cross road from Cripplegate to the Thames was also suggested. A civic centre was to be formed round the Exchange, including the Bank, the Post Office, the Mint, the Excise Office, the Goldsmiths, etc. The Thames was to have been embanked the full length of the city, and the great City companies were to have had their halls upon the embankment facing the river. But the opportunity was lost, and the City was rebuilt on its old bad lines. About this time the alarming state of the roads throughout the country caused Charles II. to instruct his cosmographer John Ogilvy to survey and measure the roads of England and Wales, and the results were pub? lished 1675. There were then eight main or trunk roads out of London, all in a deplorable state. About this time a small tax was imposed by Parliament to keep the North Road in repair, and it encountered much opposition; the roads generally remained in much the same condition until 1750. In 1737 the king's private roads were taken over, including the private way from Whitehall to Hampton Court, vid King's Road, Chelsea, and Putney. About 1750 the first systematic attempt to im- prove the roads was made by the introduction of turnpikes, no less than fifteen hundred Turnpike Trusts being approved in the next sixty years. During that time many irregularities occurred. In 1763 the House of Commons appointed a Committee to inquire into the application of the money derived from these Turnpike Trusts; and in 1773 a general Turnpike Act was passed. Constant complaints were made of the de? plorable and almost impassable condition of the roads, and innumerable and unsuccessful remedies were proposed. In 1809 Sir John Sinclair, apparently in desperation, reported that the great roads of the metropolis were so perpetually pressed, harassed, and torn in every direction, that the only way to obtain a firm road in winter would be to pave them; and the Committee reported in favour of it. Up to this time the only material used for making roads was gravel, laid on the yielding clay, which soon sank and was lost. Happily at this moment (1810) Mr. McAdam came upon the scene with a remedy of broken granite coalesced under pressure and the action of water; this was proved to provide an excellent and durable road surface, which has been and still is extensively used. And so Mr. McAdam has achieved immortality, though perhaps it is not always recognized in talking of macadam to whom we are indebted for our macadam roads. With this improved road surface naturally came increased traffic and the rapid expansion of London, together with the necessity for increased communication across the Thames. Up to 1736 London Bridge stood

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PROPOSALS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF LONDON 275 alone; but Westminster Bridge was completed in 1750, Blackfriars in 1755, Richmond in 1774, Vauxhall in 1809, Waterloo in 1817, and South- wark Bridge in 1819. All were built of inadequate width, contour, and waterway; and all have been rebuilt since, excepting Waterloo, which remains and is admittedly the finest bridge across the Thames. The Corporation of the City of London freed London Bridge from toll in 1767, and since that time the whole have been freed. But the improvement in the condition of the roads proceeded slowly. The Kensington high-road to Brentford was not lighted or paved with macadam until 1833,anc* up to that time, less than one hundred years ago, we read that the road was not safe after dark; people going out from London to the country church of Kensington and returning after dark had to make up parties to return together as a protection against footpads. In 1833 a Select Committee strongly urged the consolidation of the Road Trusts; but railways were then rapidly coming in, and one by one these roads were handed back to the local authorities, in whose hands they remain; and so these main roads out of London are still without any central authority to direct or control them, and the last state of control of these roads is as bad as ever. The necessary street improvements in London have been carried out in much the same piecemeal and haphazard manner. Some great land- owners like the Crown, and public authorities like the City of London and London County Councii, have carried out splendid improvements; but they are necessarily invertebrate, and form no part of a general scheme. In 1756 the great new Marylebone and Euston Road was formed : a most useful road, and one which the County Councii are very desirous to extend both east and west. About the same time, possibly stimulated by this new street, John Gwynn in 1766 published a book entitled ' London and Westminster Improved,' in which he forcibly urged the importance of some general scheme for the extension of London, and himself made some very comprehensive suggestions in this direction, many of which have materialized; but as in 1666 so in 1766 no general scheme was attempted. His proposed widening of Swallow Street is certainly the germ of Regent Street; the prolongation of the Haymarket would have been invaluable; Trafalgar Square is suggested; the Embankment of the river, and the widening of the approaches to Covent Garden Market, greatly wanted. In the City Moorgate Street is suggested as subsequently carried out, and a much-needed widening of St. Swithin's Lane, though he does not suggest the clearing away of the houses in front of the Exchange?one of the greatest improvements ever effected in the City. Gwynn made many other suggestions subsequently carried out wholly or in part; but I men? tion Gwynn's book principally to show the power of suggestion, as it is a principle on which the London Society is founded ; to interest Londoners in London by suggestion. It is perhaps somewhat strange that it was in the anxious and disturbed

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 276 THE LONDON SOClfiTY'S MAP, WITH ITS times of the commencement of the nineteenth century that some of the more important improvements in London were carried out. The construction of Waterloo Place, the Quadrant, Regent Street, and Portland Place was a great work carried out by the Crown. Then about the same time we have Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, , Somerset House, and the Horse Guards. What would London be without them ? Returning to the main roads and the general management or mis- management of the Metropolis : Another Royal Commission was appointed in 1842, which reported in 1851, and resulted in the creation of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855, to whom we owe our splendid Thames Embankments (fragments only of a great scheme), and Queen Victoria Street, and Victoria Street and ?the latter one of the worst of our modern streets. In 1889 Mr. Balfour replaced the Board of Works by the , and at the same time consolidated the various vestries and created the Borough Councils now existing, giving them a veto over sundry very important matters, but giving no authority of general control to any body, and so leaving the management of the Metropolis in large matters almost as helpless as before and in the hands of no fevver than some forty-two authorities. The London County Council have given us Kingsway?a fine street spoiled by the Authority's timidity in not exercising over it any archi- tectural control?Aldwych, and the Strand improvements; but hardly any? thing as yet equal to the Thames Embankment made by the Metropolitan Board of Works. The railway invasion took London by storm before either of the bodies just mentioned was in existence. The companies carved and hacked the surface of London to their own sweet will, and threw bridges across the Thames that are a disgrace to us and our splendid river. Here again a general scheme would have saved immense sums of money and much disfigurement of the Metropolis. In spite of the carrying capacity of tubes and raiiways, the traffic on the roads has enormously increased (up to the outbreak of the war, since which, of course, with the limitation of petrol it has decreased). Electric power and petrol have multiplied buses and trams, which are found more convenient than trains for short distances, having short waits, no stairs, no lifts, and a set-down just where wanted. So the main roads round the Metropolis, with their rapid, heavy traffic, are proving totally inadequate. As a result yet another Royal Commission on " The means of locomotion and transport in London" was appointed in 1905. They reported in 1908 that " it is imperatively necessary that the means of locomotion and trans? port in London be improved," as " they are seriously defective " ; that the main obstacles to such improvement is " the narrowness of the streets, which are not laid out on any general plan," and they advised that " a comprehensive plan for the improvement and construction of main roads leading out of London should be prepared and arrangements made for them

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Town planning schemes in various stages (shaded) beyond the London County Councii area and subject to no Central Road Authority: reduced from plan published by London Traffic Branch, Board of Trade, 1913

Part of plan showing results of Traffic Census, 1913, for south-western area. The heavy bands represent trade vehicle traffic: the lighter bands alongside (faint in the reproduction) show the proportionate traffic in passenger vehicles

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Part of Index plan (not the Map) prepared by the London Society, showing proposed arterial roads, parks, parkways, and waterside reservations. (The original, in several colours, distin- guishes more clearly than does this reproduction, between existing and proposed features.)

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PROPOSALS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF LONDON 277 as financial considerations will allow": that " a Traffic Board should be appointed with jurisdiction over Greater London," " one of their duties being to report on the improvement of the main roads leading out of London." As a result of this report the London Traffic Branch of the Board of Trade was formed 1907 (but without the jurisdiction asked for), first under Sir Herbert Jekyll and later under Colonel Hellard. This branch prepared an excellent scheme for road-improvement, and issued annually a very valuable report up to 1914, when the department was most unfortunately suspended; and so London is still, in spite of all this effort, without an authorized comprehensive scheme for road improvement such as has been found necessary to regulate the orderly expansion of every other great city. In 1913 the Royal.Institute of British Architects, the London Society, and other bodies attended as a deputation on Mr. Asquith, the Prime Minister, to urge the importance of some central authority. The Prime Minister recognized the importance and urgency of the matter, but suggested that a series of conferences with all local authorities interested should first be held to endeavour to come to a general.agree? ment on the scheme. This has been done, and a general agreement come to, but the central authority is still wanting. Here is the scheme in connection with the main arterial roads as proposed by the traffic branch. The ten existing main roads are the Oxford, Bath, Basingstoke, Portsmouth, Brighton, Dover, Colchester, Norwich, Cambridge, Great North, and Coventry roads; the new roads proposed are the western and eastern avenues to relieve the Oxford road on the one side and the Colchester road on the other, and to provide a way across London without going through the centre; a new Cambridge road to relieve the present one at Tottenham and elsewhere; and a new Chertsey road to relieve the Basingstoke road. Then there are a bye- pass road to relieve Brentford; another to relieve Kingston; and others to relieve Sutton, Croydon, Bromley, and Eltham, with many smaller ones. Finally there are the north and south circular roads, which are much wanted to link up the radiating roads on that side of London. To go a little more into detail in one division: the main roads passing through the Kensington district are the Oxford, Bath, and Basingstoke roads. The Oxford Road is seriously congested in the High Streets of Notting Hill Gate. and Acton, and also in Ealing, Hanwell, and Uxbridge; and the western avenue formed practically in open country west of Notting Hill would relieve this traffic at these points and be of great advantage to these centres. The Bath road, commencing at Hyde Park Corner, is at once seriously congested in Knightsbridge, High Street Kensington, and again at Hammersmith and Brentford. The block at Brentford is perhaps the more notorious, though there are others nearly as bad. To relieve the Kensington Road it is proposed to continue Cromwell Road (which now stops short at the railway), parallel

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 278 THE LONDON SOCIETY'S MAP, WITH ITS to the Hammersmith Road through Chiswick, crossing the main road before reaching Brentford, to join the Brentford bye-pass which runs north of Brentford and joins the main Bath Road at Heaton, with a further extension to Staines. Of smaller but important proposals may be mentioned a relief road to Church Street, Kensington, vi& Vicarage Gardens and Brunswick Gardens to Notting Hill Gate; and secondly the much-needed improve- ment of the communication from Kensington to Victoria, first by the widening of Pelham Street to Sloane Avenue and the opening up of the other end of the Avenue into Sloane Street by the removal of two or three houses in King's Road, and also by the widening of Beauchamp Place into Pont Street, and a short road to connect the Fulham and King's Roads. The other districts round London have been dealt with in similar detail, but I have taken the west as more familiar to us. The proposals have only been made after the fullest inquiry into their necessity and an exhaustive analysis of the traffic. Two diagrams prepared by the Board of Trade show the heavy and light traffic over the various existing roads, over the bridges, and at certain fixed points. It is hardly necessary to point out the urgency of this matter?the blocks on these main roads must be known to all who travel over them. Mr. Balfour long ago said that the housing question was not a question of huge dwellings in the centres of population but of trams. But trams with roads as they are only make matters worse; they are vetoed in the city and in Kensington; and it is doubtful whether they are not already out of date. The enormous daily migration of the population towards the centre in the morning and outwards in the evening makes these relief roads urgent; so does the rapid increase in the population which is still going on; and so does the increase in the price of land. The general width of the roads aimed at is ioo feet clear between the houses. It is not asked of course that these new roads should all be made at once; but it is asked that their routes should be at once preserved over land not at present built over. For the increase of Greater London during one hundred years no extra facilities have been provided in the form of main roads. There is another matter wholly different which makes the laying down of these routes very urgent. London is rapidly being encircled by a series of town-planning schemes, and when these become law it will be impossible to carry out the roads unless their lines where they pass through these schemes are first included in them. For the movement of troops much importance, I believe, is attached to improved approaches to the metropolis, though we must hope they will never be required for the purpose. A Bill for the Brentford bye-pass has been obtained and awaits the conclusion of the war to be carried out. The eastern and western avenue

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PROPOSALS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF LONDON 279

has also, I believe, been arranged through the London County Council, including the setting back of the forecourts in the Euston and Marylebone Roads; but difficulties have arisen outside that area with Acton on the one side and Ilford on the other?difficulties which only emphasize the necessity for some central control authority. Before leaving this part of my subject may I read you a short extract from a speech by Dr. Gore when Bishop of Birmingham? "We walk through miles and miles of streets in our big cities without open spaces; with nothing except what Dickens called * an uninterrupted view over the way.' We want the whole mass of our cities to be reorganized, planned, laid out. Instead of that the cities grow at the will of the jerry-builder or the property owner, orderless, shapeless, without method, because there is no one to plan and forecast, and give a city space and dignity, room and order, something that can make it worthy to be called a city." And the other day, while thinking over this paper, I cut the following paragraph out of the Times : " The Birmingham City Council yesterday adopted by seventy-four votes to fifteen the report of the Public Works Committee recommending important improvements in the main arterial roads of the city. The proposal is to widen throughout the eight great arterial roads which run into the centre of the city with the four that lead off them. These roads will be widened to widths of no feet and 120 feet." May we not see here the firstfruit of the seed sown by the Bishop's suggestion some years before? Is it too much to hope that London will do some day what Birmingham is doing to- day ? Now I come to the work of the London Society, who when the war broke out had to consider what it could do with the help of those who for various reasons were not available for war services. They remembered the example of Paris: how in the terrible times of 1796 they drew up a plan for the improvement of Paris, the suggestions in which were largely drawn upon by Baron Haussman in his great work of the reconstruction of Paris in 1850. The London Society decided to draw up a plan of Greater London based on the 6-inch Ordnance sheets brought up to date, showing in detail the road improvements proposed by the Traffic Branch of the Board of Trade, together with the society's own proposals added to them, not only in regard to roads, but also parks, parkways, and waterside reservations (as so successfully carried out at Bournemouth and Kenilworth), open spaces, and other improvements. A Committee of Directors was formed (who gave their services), consisting of Prof. Adshead, Messrs. Arthur Crow, W. R. Davidge, H. Y. Lanchester, H. I. Leaning, and D. Barclay Niveri, with Mr. A. E. Richardson as Hon. Acting- Secretary. These gentlemen worked with great enthusiasm, got together a staff of capable draughtsmen, with Mr. Ernest Herbert at their head, and after two years' strenuous work produced, I believe for the first time, a map showing a complete scheme for the improvement and development of Greater London. The map measures some 15 feet square, and covers

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 2S0 THE LONDON SOCIETY'S MAP, WITH ITS some 600 square miles; the cost has been over ^1000, contributed from various sources and entirely expended on the draughtsmen employed. We had much kind help from Colonel Hellard, of the Traffic Branch, a member of your Councii, to whom we offer our thanks. The late Edward Stanford generously undertook the reproduction of the map, and the firm are continuing it. The road proposals are shown of exaggerated width, and lined with trees in order to make the new proposals clear. The parks, parkways, and waterside reservations are shaded to give them prominence. On the conclusion of peace it is intended that the plan should be exhibited as the society's war contribution towards the better- ordered development of Greater London in the future. Full of faults it may be, perfect it cannot be; but I claim for it to be an honest attempt to do something that was urgently wanted, and that has not been done (at any rate with the same completeness) before. After the war reproductions of the map in whole and in sections will be on sale at reasonable prices for those interested. The schemes shown are not merely dreams and ideals?though I hope these are not absent?but they are the considered proposals of practical men, some of whom have visited all the localities treated. Many of the schemes have long been recognized by a Government department as urgent, and have been generally agreed to by the local authorities in con? ference as already explained. We have willingly agreed not to publish the map till after the war, though I cannot help thinking it would greatly mystify and confuse the enemy if it got into their hands at the present time! The plan shows the society's proposals, in addition to those of the Traffic Branch as generally agreed with the local authorities. All secondary arterial roads are shown, and many important cross communications. Existing open spaces are defined from careful survey and proposals for connecting them where possible with belts of green as parkways or water? side reservations. Two large additional parks are also suggested; for while the centre of London is happily rather well supplied with open spaces by its parks and squares, portions of Greater London are in danger of having none. While N.E. London has the splendid open space of Epping Forest secured by the City Corporation, and S.W. London has Richmond Park, Hampton Court, and Bushey Park from the Crown, with Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath thrown in, the N.W. and S.E. of London have little provision of this sort. To balance Epping Forest on the north-east a great park and reservation at Stanmore is suggested for the north-west, where the Edgware Road joins the Stan? more Road and proceeds northwards to St. Albans by the old Roman road. It is proposed to include in this new park Harrow Weald Common and Stanmore Common, and northwards the beautiful Aldenham Reservoir. Ready access will be available by road and train and many magnificent yiews can be obtained in several directions. The area would be about

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PROPOSALS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF LONDON 281

2000 acres, and would provide a much-needed holiday resort for this quarter of London. It is proposed that the main lines should be laid down somewhat formally, with avenues of trees on a large scale as in Windsor Great Park, leaving extensive natural spaces in between untouched. Again, to balance Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common on the south-west, the acquisition of the beautiful Addington Park and Shirley Woods is suggested. This park is of large extent, lying between Croydon and Bromley, and was until recently a country retreat for the Archbishops of Canterbury. It would make a fine park as it stands. In the south-east is also a park of similar extent at Bexley, bordering on the River Cray and lying to the south-east of , which would provide recreation for the future industrial development of the district between Woolwich and Dartford. In addition to these important public parks certain waterside reserva- tions are suggested as parkways to link up, as far as possible, the present open spaces. Though it is unfortunately too late, owing to the rapid extension of London, to do this completely, yet a glance at the society's map shows how much may still be done by reserving the land on either side of the watercourses which in most cases have considerable natural charm, while the land is not very suitable for building purposes. One such course on the west starts at Stanmore, takes Harrow Weald Common, passing between Harrow and Pinner down to Hayes, and then following the line of the Crane till it reaches the Thames at Isleworth. Another parkway nearly parallel to the last is suggested from the Brent Reservoir, following the line of the Brent past Hendon and Neasdon, and so on to the Thames at Brentford and Kew. Another on the east side follows the Rodin through Chipping Ongar and Buckhurst Hill, Woodford, Wanstead, Ilford, to the Thames at Bushey. Another still further east runs from Romford through Rainham to the Thames. There is another to the south-west of London through Mitcham to Wandsworth on the Wandle, and one on the extreme south-west following the course of the River Mole to Molesey. It will naturally be said, But how is the money to be found for these parks and parkways? Well, money has been found for such purposes before, and no doubt will be again. But the London Society suggests that a Park Commission should be formed, as has been so successfully done in many places in America, with a power to levy a small rate on houses overlooking or benefiting from these open spaces. I believe that this plan materially assisted Wimbledon Common, which was secured to the public on some such arrangement. I fear I should weary you were I to go more into detail regarding the society's map; but I am sure it will be found full of interest to any one knowing a particular district and taking the trouble to study the particular section. The scale of the map?3 inches to the mile?was found to be too small

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 282 THE LONDON SOCIETY'S MAP, WITH ITS

to allow of the society's proposals for to be shown in detail upon it; and a further committee has been formed to formulate these proposals, commencing with the railway problem?an enormous one in itself. To one of the suggested improvements in London the society through its sub-committee has given much attention: the embanking of the south side?a problem which practically includes also the south side itself. It has been ascertained that the forming of this embankment would mean the reclamation of the mud-banks along the convex shore from to the Borough, an average width of some 166 feet, with no reasonable fear of a consequent fresh mud-bank, but on the contrary a probable improvement in the "flow" and "scour." It is felt that this embank? ment must necessarily be on somewhat different lines to that on the north side, and it is suggested that from the new County Hall to Southwark Bridge there could be a continuous embankment ioo feet wide with a limited introduction of the lagoon lock principle, which might leave the present river-side properties with their present water frontages practically unaltered. East of Southwark Bridge it is thought the width could be reduced to 60 feet roadway, producing an effect like the Amsterdam quays, and it appears that the ascertained cost of construction?^80 to ^100 per foot run for the road embankment?would be far more than covered by the value of the reclaimed land. Some such treatment as that sug? gested would, while giving splendour and dignity to the upper reach of the river, preserve some of the picturesqueness of the lower reach. In this connection the contentious question of the Railway Bridge and Station naturally arises, and it is one that appeared to the society so vital to the interests of London that they felt bound to join with others in opposing to the utmost of their power the proposals of the railway company to strengthen and so make permanent their bridge, to enlarge their station and so defer practically for all time what we hope to see: the removal of the station to the south side and the substitution of a fine road-bridge with spacious approaches on either side in the place of the present unsightly structure. In 1916 we opposed the Bill before the House of Lords Cqmmittee and it was subsequently thrown out in the Commons, thanks to the efforts of Mr. John Burns and others. Last year it was passed by the Commons, and we again opposed in the House of Lords Committee, who finally passed it with serious modifications, postponing any work of strengthening the bridge above high-water line for three years, and declining to sanction any enlargement of the station without further application to Parliament. The society regretted that such a question should be forced upon them during the war; but the action of the Railway Company compelled us, and there the matter for the moment rests. Various tentative schemes have been prepared for a monumental road bridge which might comrremorate the war, as Waterloo Bridge commemo-

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PROPOSALS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF LONDON 283 rates the great war of last century, but none of these schemes have been adopted for recommendation. Even the principle of a high or low level bridge is at present undecided. A fine scheme by Messrs. Niven and Davidson for a low-level bridge makes a continuation of across the river; and a plan by Mr. Reginald Blomfield for a high-level bridge to the east of the present bridge, has St. Martin's Church as a terminal at one end and St. John's at the other, with a large site for a new station to the west of the bridge. While on the subject of bridges one wonders once again at the absence of any protection from the weather for foot passengers crossing our river. In rain and wind no one crosses them who can help it; but with covered walks and shops they would form an attractive walk and be a large source of income. Old London Bridge was quite a town of itself, and was the foundation of the large income at present enjoyed by the Bridge House Estates Committee of the City Corporation. When the question of a site for the Lane collection of pictures in Dublin was under discussion, Sir Edwin Lutyens suggested that the gallery should be piaced in the centre of a bridge over the Liffey?a sug? gestion which in his hands would have doubtless led to a very picturesque result. Crossing Charing Cross Bridge brings us to Southwark, the further development of which must take place in the near future, for with im- proved communication across the river there seems no reason why this part of London should not become as valuable and prosperous as that on the north side of the river. A notable improvement has been begun by the L.C.C. in the erection of their County Hall at the foot of Westminster Bridge; though I fear this is as usual no part of a general scheme. It hardly yet seems realized that the nearest way from Westminster to the City would be by a road connecting Westminster and London Bridges. Much of the property is in comparatively few hands, and will have to be rebuilt in a few years' time, and therefore a great opportunity will present itself here. Many schemes have already been suggested, and one is shown on the society's map; but much will naturally depend on the ulti- mate decision in the matter of the Charing Cross Bridge and Station. The seemly connection of the Mall with Charing Cross is another matter about which there has been much discussion in committees and the press, but which stands in danger of being forgotten because it is no one's especial duty to remember it. The question of the markets of London is one that would require a paper to itself, and certainly demands an authority to itself. The markets are at present too much centralized in the crowded centre of London, are most insufficiently supplied with railway accommodation for supply and distribution, so much having to come into the centre only to go out again, while they now are approached by terribly crowded and congested streets.

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 284 THE LONDON SOCIETY'S MAP, WITH ITS

Gwynn in his proposals, it will be remembered, showed an extensive widening of the Covent Garden approaches, including Bow Street, Maiden Lane, and Bedford Street. But beyond the widening of Bow Street little has been done. Every year that the market remains where it is the matter becomes more urgent, and this applies to most of the other markets. The railways of London, now under Government control, have been allowed to come into London with practically no control whatever. I cannot speak of these to-night, except to point that one hundred years ago the railways began to come into London and paid no attention to its amenities in return for the privileges granted to them. Everything at that time had to give way to them, but now with the introduction of petrol and electric traction they will have to be prepared to meet new conditions and requirements. We shall ask for no more surface railways in the built- up portions of the metropolis; for the electrification of all trains within a certain radius of the centre ; and for very much improved cross communi? cation between the group of railway stations on the north and those on the south, so that it shall no longer be necessary for a passenger from the north of England to the south to have to change trains and drive across London in a cab in order to get from one point to another. The London Society hopes in due course to bring out a well-considered report on this subject. Of the parks and open spaces of London we are justly proud. It has often been said there is more green in London than in any city, and the parks are more centrally situated in the city. They are mostly prettily laid out in the landscape-garden fashion?except the Green Park, which can hardly be said to be laid out at all. Surely there is the opportunity for a beautiful garden with flowers, fountains, and terraces, after the fashion of the Tuileries Gardens in Paris. In connection with the Victoria Memorial a double avenue was formed across the Green Park with a broad walk down the centre. The latter has since been removed, but could easily be replaced. When this avenue has grown it will be a fine feature, and form a backbone to a further laying out. A suggestion was made by the late Mr. Willett, of " daylight saving " fame, by which he thought more enjoyment might be got out of the parks for the general public than at present. His theory was that out of a hundred people who passed the parks daily not more than one or two really saw anything of their beauty, and he wished to see the high park railings which hide so much from the street set back some 30 or 40 feet from the pave- ment, leaving the grass and trees unaltered. The obvious objection that the public would soon destroy the grass he was confident was a mistake, and that the public would protect rather than destroy beautiful things. Certain it is Mr. Willett found this to be so in his own experience, and it has also proved to be so in reference to the lawns and bbrders in front of Buckingham Palace. I am glad to take this opportunity of mentioning

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PROPOSALS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF LONDON 285

Mr. Willett's scheme. It would probably be met with the same opposition as his Daylight Scheme ; and perhaps finally end in a similar result. The proposal to widen Piccadilly by setting back the Park railings? a very desirable improvement?was successfully opposed, mainly on the score of the loss of trees; but this need not have been, for trees in that wide footway would be no more obstruction than they are down Con- stitution Hill. Of smaller parks one must remember the proposed Shadwell Park, which it is to be hoped will not be dropped. No fitter memorial, I venture to think, could be provided for so kindly and sympathetic a Sovereign as this quiet resting-place in this poor and densely populated district. Another little resting-place in the city that the society have their eye on is Princes Square, behind the Docks, nearly half an acre in extent, for which the society have obtained an option of purchase for a very limited time. The Swedish Church?a good specimen of eighteenth-century architecture?stands in the centre of the square, and there are trees and grass around it. The Bishop of Stepney, the Vicar of Whitechapel, the Borough of Stepney, and I believe the London County Council all favour its retention, and that there would be no difficulty in the maintenance if the small sum of ^3750 could be found for its purchase. Happily in most cases these open spaces are jealously looked after by two other societies. I cannot leave these open spaces without mentioning with gratitude the throwing open to the public of the garden of Lincoln's Inn Fields, one of the most beautiful in London, equal to if not surpassing Berkeley Square. Another great boon was the opening and laying out of Leicester Square, much less beautiful both in itself and its surroundings, but very much used and appreciated by the public. One appalling trouble of London, the remedy for which can be shown oh no map, is the smoke and dirt bf the town. The Japanese artist, Mr. Yoshio Markino, commenced a paper on " London of the Present" before our society by saying that he remembered places, though an artist, not by their colours but their smells. Paris smelt to him of coffee and garlic; London of smoke, giving him, he said, with Japanese politeness, an impression " very civilized " : a form of civilization we could dispense with. But London without smoke ought now to be possible by the sub- stitution of electricity and petrol for coal, gas, and steam. Fog is decreasing and I am told by those whose duty it is to analyze it that there is a marked yearly decrease of carbon in it. I have not touched for want of time 011 many important aesthetic questions, such as the placing and planning of our public buildings and monuments, the treatment of trees in our streets, the placing of our lamp standards down the centre of our streets, which is fatal to fast traffic, our refuges and public conveniences, all of which are of great importance for the orderly appearance and convenience of our streets.

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 286 THE LONDON SOCIETY'S MAP, WITH ITS

From what you have so patiently allowed me to say I think you gather that the whole of my argument is really in favour of a general scheme being laid down instead ofdoing bits independently one at a time; and before closing I want to draw your attention to a conspicuous instance for the necessity of a general scheme which I think may appeal to the members of the Geographical Society. There is a large plot of land at Kensington, now covered by buildings, bounded on the north by Kensington High Road, on the south by the Cromwell Road, on the west by Queen's Gate, and on the east by Exhi? bition Road. This site was purchased out of the money realized by the Great 1851 Exhibition, and vested in a body commonly known as the '51 Commissioners. The south frontage to Cromwell Road was disposed of to the Government for the Natural History Museum; the northern part was laid out for the Horticultural Society; and the Albert Hall was placed on the Kensington High Road frontage; while the greater part of the frontage to Queen's Gate and Exhibition Road was let out on building leases. After a time the Horticultural Society left, and two cross-roads were cut through from Queen's Gate to Exhibition Road, and the remaining land let, sold, or generously given for various public buildings, mainly of great national and educational importance. But the whole plot was laid out without any general scheme. At the north-east corner a Mr. Lowther built a very charming house from the designs of the leading architect of his time, with a delightful garden attached to it. But the tragedy of it was that almost before the house was occupied the land all down the western boundary of the site was let for flats, and a huge blank wall some 70 feet high was built right up to the boundary. Might I ask you to consider for a moment what the effect would have been had a great road been formed at the commencement through the centre of this site, from the Cromwell Road to the Albert Hall, the Natural History Museum being built facing Cromwell Road as at present, with the central road passing through it under a great archway leading into a great quadrangle surrounded by public buildings, passing through another archway across the Imperial Institute road, through an arch into another great quadrangle, and so following this central road, and crossing a second road into a third great quadrangle, and at the end the Albert Hall. Some such arrangement would have given London, without any additional expense, a group of educational buildings second to none, I venture to think, in the world. And now, gentlemen, I have only to thank you for listening to me so patiently, and perhaps to apologize for bringing such a matter before you at all during war time, but I venture to think it is the duty of us " stay-at- homes " to look after things at home, or what will our boys say to us when they return, as pray God they may, and ask for an account of our steward- ship ? As a final word may I say that many of us feel we have pushed this heavy load of arterial road improvement scheme through years of

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PROPOSALS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF LONDON 287

labour to the top of the hill. Will you help us to give it that little extra push which will send it down to fruition on the other side ?

Before the paper the President said : It is very pleasant once in a way to turn our thoughts from the war to geographical subjects very much nearer home. Sir Aston Webb is well known to most of you. No one can walk down the Mall from Buckingham Palace to the Admiralty Arch without in his heart thanking him for the wonderful reconstructive measures that have been taken to improve that royal approach to an imperial building which I consider equals that of any in Europe. Even Buckingham Palace itself, at Sir Aston's Webb's bidding, has put on a new face and looks quite a respect- able imperial residence. As most of you know the name and the fame of Sir Aston Webb I will not introduce him further, but ask him to give his lecture.

{Sir Aston Webb then read the paper printed above, anda discussion fallowed.) Colonel HELLARD : I would like to say a few words on the subject of other improvements that will have to be made in connection with any improve? ments you like to make in London, and that is the matter of regulation of the streets. At present all sorts of congestions arise in the streets of London for want of power ; it is not want of goodwill on the part of police or local authorities, but want of power to clear the streets of standing vehicles and all kinds of obstructions. No matter how much you spend on your improvements, if you do not make arrangements to leave the streets clear when those improve? ments are made, you will spend your money in vain. I may mention the Strand as an instance. When the Strand was widened by Aldywch, room for something like three lines of traffic was provided on each side of the refuge ; but at the present moment, owing to a block on the south side, there is room for only one line of traffic, and the money spent has really produced no effect on traffic bound from east to west. There are also such places as Aldgate, where there are stalls with which nobody likes to interfere ; but I suggest that if you paid each of seven costermongers ^ioo you might save ^70,000 which will otherwise have to be spent in widening that street. I mention these things because one often supposes that when improvements are carried out, there is an end of it; but it is not so by a long way. I should also like fo say that I do not think we ought to be frightened by the magnitude of some suggestions made, or by the extent of the cost at which they would have to be carried out, because if you look carefully round London you will find that many of these improvements must be made sooner or later, and every year's delay adds millions to their cost. It is only necessary to look at maps ten years old to see what could have been done ten years ago ; you then realize what will happen ten years hence, because London has been growing a great deal quicker everywhere, in comparison with a hundred years ago. Though the cost of some of the improvements may seem heavy, the indirect saving is tremendous. I should like anybody to go down the Victoria Dock Road and pass the White Gates level crossing over the Great Eastern Railway, and then by the swingbridge over the entrance to the tidal basin to get to the Docks and the North Woolwich Road. You may often see sixty vehicles held up in a queue waiting for another sixty vehicles to come across the bridge, and when you consider that trains have also to pass over this single-track bridge it is appalling. I am told that the waste of time of a van over that road is some? thing like one hour a day on an average, representing thousands a year. How

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Proposed Imperial Roadway over Thames, Charing Cross : design by Messrs. Niven and Davison

Charing Cross : How we treat our public monuments

This content downloaded from 140.211.127.19 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 23:58:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms