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PUBLICATIONS OF 
 
 THE MUNICIPAL ART SOCIETY 
 
 OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT 
 
 BULLETIN No. 7 
 
 CITY IMPROVEMENT 
 
 from the Artistic Standpoint 
 AN ADDRESS BY 
 
 JOHN M. CARRERE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 Or«ani«ed 1904 
 
 HARTFORD, CONN. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 
 
 1908 
 
PUBLICATION NOTE 
 
 The author of the following address on Municipal and Civic 
 Improvement was graduated from the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1882. 
 Two years later he formed a partnership with Mr. Thomas Hastings of 
 New York under the firm name of CarrSre & Hastings. In 1885 they 
 drew the plans for the Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, 
 and a little later designed the Alcazar Hotel and the Flagler Memorial 
 Church. The reputation of the firm has grown steadily since then until it 
 is today recognized as one of the first firms of architects in this country. 
 Mr. CarrSre had a large share in the landscape and architectural work 
 for the Buffalo Exposition, and is one of the architects of the remarkable 
 municipal improvements now in progress in Cleveland, Ohio. The 
 great Public Library now approaching completion on Fifth Avenue and 
 Forty-second Street, New York, is the work of Messrs. Carrere & 
 Hastings. The following address was delivered before the Twentieth 
 Century Club of Hartford on the evening of October 11, 1907. The 
 Mayor of the city, the Board of Aldermen, the Common Council, the 
 Park Board and the City Plan Commission were guests of the Club. 
 Mr. CarJrre has generously given this address to the Municipal Art 
 Society of Hartford and it is now published as Bulletin No. 7. 
 
 Publication Committee. 
 
 January, 1908. 
 
JOHN M. CARRERE 
 
Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 It was not without considerable hesitation that I accepted 
 the invitation of your Committee to talk to you tonight on the sub- 
 ject of "City Improvement" from the artistic standpoint, with 
 special reference- to public buildings and the layout of public parks 
 and streets, and other features tending to "beautify" a City. 
 
 You are undoubtedly aware that comparatively little has been 
 written on subjects dealing with art, and most of the writings, such 
 as they are, deal with the historical or statistical side of the subject 
 and are mostly theoretical, for the reason that the artist's mind 
 is not trained to write or to talk. He expresses his thoughts through 
 his art, and if he be a true artist and in earnest about his work, you 
 will find his mind occupied in dreaming and theorizing, it is true, 
 but when he conveys his dreams and his theories to his fellow men 
 he is very sure to do it by the aid of his brush, his chisel, or his pencil. 
 
 It would therefore seem dangerous to accept as authoritative 
 an artist's opinion which is expressed verbally or in writing. It is 
 the artist's work that we must study if we would fully understand 
 him. 
 
 That the problem of beautifying our cities is uppermost in the 
 minds of our people throughout the United States at the present 
 time, is most encouraging because the interest in this phase of Munici. 
 pal improvement is usually the forerunner and the first step in the 
 direction of better public art, and by the inverse process of educating 
 the general public, has always led to a very wide-spread appreciation 
 of and interest in all kinds of art. 
 
 Pasteur, probably the greatest of French scientists and a man 
 of genius, in a discourse before the French Academy of Science said: 
 
 "Great discoveries — the manifestations of thought in Art, 
 in Science and in Letters, in a word the disinterested exercise of 
 the rdind in every direction and the centres of instruction from which 
 it radiates, introduce into the whole of Society that philosophical 
 or scientific spirit, that spirit of discernment, which submits every- 
 thing to severe reasoning, condemns ignorance and scatters errors 
 and prejudices. They raise the intellectual level and the moral 
 sense, and through them the Divine idea itself is spread abroad and 
 intensified." 
 
 In the early days of our country, the planning and development 
 of our cities was undertaken without much forethought and with 
 
no anticipation of the rapid and unprecedented development and 
 growth of our centres of civilization. No provision was made for 
 this growth, even during later years when it was unmistakably 
 upon us, with the possible exception of the City of Washington, so 
 ably and wisely planned by Major L'Enfant. 
 
 It is a great misfortune that the splendid precedent established 
 by the City of Washington was not more widely followed elsewhere, 
 but even in Washington, the very center of public influence, the 
 plan was soon lost sight of with the rapid growth of the city, and 
 it is only at the present time that a serious and determined effort 
 is being made to prevent further mischief, and in a measure to correct 
 some of the mischief already done. 
 
 You cannot stop of course the legitimate and healthy growth 
 and development of a locality when it is once started, but you can 
 and you should control it, and this we have utterly failed to do. 
 
 Many of our cities have been boomed — the development for 
 some cause or other has come too soon — it has really been forced on 
 speculative lines, and no end of mischief has resulted from the de- 
 struction of natural opportunities which cannot in most instances 
 be restored, and the substitution in their place of ill devised and 
 thoroughly inartistic streets, avenues and buildings, which can 
 only be removed by heroic measures and not until they have stood 
 for years as a blemish upon the locality. 
 
 Aristotle has defined the city: — "As a place where men live a 
 common life for a noble end" — and are we not accomplishing this 
 very end, when we make our city so attractive and so beautiful that 
 it spreads its beneficent influence over our homes and our entire 
 life? Have we attained this end, when every selfish and material 
 interest for self-preservation and personal comfort and profit has 
 been developed to the fullest extent, if we have neglected the spiritual 
 side of life and have done nothing to make our homes and their 
 various surroundings beautiful and elevating, if we have not ap- 
 pealed to the imagination, and through it to all that is highesf and 
 best in us, if we have not provided the most natural and wholesome 
 and direct means of recreation of the kind that is immediately within 
 the reach of everyone, and which by process of assimilation influences 
 our entire life ? 
 
 The struggle of living, especially in our cities, has been so in- 
 tense with us that we have devoted too much time to it and not 
 enough to recreation, and we are only now recovering from this state 
 of mind and are just learning that it is not necessary to wait until 
 the labors are done to find enjoyment in life, but that this enjoyment 
 
can be found around us while we are toiling, and that every man is 
 made better to the extent that ^^his^surroundings are made better. 
 When his imagination reaches beyond the point of mere cleanliness 
 and bodily comfort and begins to hunger for the beautiful, as well 
 as for the useful, you have done much to put real happiness within 
 his grasp. 
 
 In city building the first step toward attaining this end is by 
 developing your entire system of parks within and without your 
 city on intelligent and practical lines. 
 
 A beautiful park awakens a desire for a lovelier home-garden, 
 and the wish for a beautiful home grows into the wish for a beautiful 
 street and every other development will be influenced by it and 
 will follow in its train. 
 
 If it were possible to control definitely the destiny of the entire 
 country surrounding a city with all its beautiful scenery and wonder- 
 ful natural advantages, it would then be possible to establish a com- 
 plete circle of parks around the city, each beautiful according to 
 the development or even the preservation of its characteristic scenery. 
 
 Starting from the heart of your city, you could then establish 
 beautiful avenues, radiating in every direction toward these parks, 
 which with frequent interconnecting avenues would be the means 
 of controlling the development of the city toward the park, and 
 gradually you would bring a great deal of the park into the city. 
 
 If your avenues were built in advance of the development of 
 your city, in accordance with true principles of beauty, as is the case 
 in some of the fine avenues of Buffalo, Washington, your own and 
 many other cities, you would then, to a great extent control the 
 character of the development of the city in the same direction. 
 Even when the buildings are uninteresting, or even ugly, as is un- 
 fortunately the case in so many of our cities, the general result is 
 apt to be beautiful. If the buildings could eventually be made 
 beautiful also, then your ultimate aim would be attained. 
 
 Coming back to the city of Buffalo, how beautiful Delaware 
 Avenue is, and how satisfactory it is to travel from the very heart 
 of the business part of the city through this beautiful avenue, then 
 through Lincoln Parkway into the park and finally through the 
 park into the country, or by way of other beautiful avenues to the 
 Humboldt Parkway System. 
 
 Let me give you another example, the greatest of all examples: 
 Start from the Place de la Concorde, the very heart of Paris, then 
 through the Champs Elysees to the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, 
 and finally to the Park, and in this case from the park to the country 
 
and to the rural districts and finally into the forests, whether of 
 Meudon, St. Cloud, Versailles or St. Germain. 
 
 In the case of Paris, the buildings are beautiful. The scheme 
 has been developed to its fullest extent. Monuments have been 
 placed everywhere — most beautiful in themselves and most effective 
 in their influence upon the entire perspective and you will note that 
 should you start from the forests in. their primeval state you would 
 come to the cultivated fields and rural country, — the first step of 
 human progress, from the rural districts to the park, which we may 
 consider as representing in a formal way the forest brought nearer 
 to the city, and from the park through an avenue having mainly 
 the character of a beautiful drive, which is not strictly formal and 
 where architecture is of secondary importance. We are still out- 
 side of the city, though the city has extended somewhat beyond 
 its boundaries. The Arc de Triomphe, the gate to the city, is a 
 point of transition where the landscape becomes more formal — 
 nature is gradually subsiding and architecture becoming more im- 
 portant — so that by degrees we reach the transition when traveling 
 down the Champs Elysees we arrive at the Place de la Concorde, 
 and we feel that we are in the very heart of the city. 
 
 From this point on nature becomes entirely secondary and a 
 mere incident. The trees in the wider avenues or boulevards add 
 beauty to their appearance and their shade adds comfort to the 
 use of the wider streets. At intervals open squares are introduced; 
 serving to accent certain localities, affording greater space at cross- 
 ings of important streets or becoming merely an ornament to the 
 street. Occasionally these become larger and trees or perhaps 
 even gardens, shrubbery and fountains appear, and then as in the 
 case of the Tuilleries and the Luxembourg Gardens, or of the larger 
 parks, they give relief to the city and bring within the daily and 
 hourly reach of the people all the beauties and comfort of nature 
 of the more remote parks. 
 
 This is but one of the many examples to be found throughout 
 Europe. I have mentioned Paris in this and other instances be- 
 cause it combines more important features and in principle is more 
 applicable to what we have to do in this country than the detached 
 examples to be found elsewhere. In the city of Buffalo, though in 
 a different way, the same thing is true, and it is not impossible to 
 conceive that Buffalo with its plan and with what it already possesses 
 will develop in time into a city full of interest and beauty. 
 
 This sort of art has been so far neglected in our cities that unless 
 they are commercially or otherwise active, they have no attraction 
 
PARIS— PLACE DE LA CONCORDE 
 
 PARIS-LUXEMBOURG GARDENS 
 
 Showing Formal Treatment of Sunken Garden and Rose Planted Embankment 
 
for the traveler and so little attraction for their own inhabitants 
 that they seek amusement and recreation elsewhere — ^not for the sake 
 of variety, which would be natural and wholesome, but as a matter 
 of necessity. Surely it is within our power to make our cities so 
 beautiful and so attractive, that we will find at home most of the 
 pleasures which we now seek abroad, and others will come to us 
 seeking these same pleasures. 
 
 To return from these pictures of the ideal to some strictly prac- 
 tical considerations, I find that the more I study the subject, the 
 more apparent it is to me that there are a few cardinal principles 
 which should underlie all city planning.. 
 
 1st. Circulation: Convenient, adequate and direct circula- 
 tion, by which I mean providing ample facility for every sort of 
 traffic, so arranged as to connect every point of the city in the most 
 direct and adequate possible manner with any other point no matter 
 how distant. 
 
 2d. Hygiene: That is to say, the promotion of health by 
 providing for every scientific means of sanitation, drainage, and 
 especially of natural ventilation, by which I mean that a certain 
 proportion should be established throughout every city between 
 the voids and the solids, the areas covered by buildings and other 
 improvements and those reserved for air and light, whether they be 
 parks, parkways, squares, streets or other spaces. 
 
 3d. Art, by which I mean the science of solving the two first 
 problems and all other problems dependent thereon, in the most 
 practical and the most artistic way. 
 
 In our cities, and in fact in our whole mode of life, we separate 
 work from pleasure, the practical from the beautiful, instead of 
 blending them as is so skillfully done by the older nations of the 
 world. A street is apt to be nothing but a thoroughfare, so that 
 we must go and come and travel upon it without enjoyment, which 
 we must seek elsewhere at given points laid aside for this particular 
 purpose. 
 
 In the same manner we do not combine work and pleasure suffi- 
 ciently, with the result that both our work and pleasures are strenu- 
 ous in character and often become excesses. 
 
 But there is no reason why our streets should not be thorough- 
 fares and breathing spaces and pleasure grounds all in one. Neither 
 is there any reason why we should not get as much pleasure in travel- 
 ing through our streets during working hours as at other times. 
 
 Take Paris and almost any large European city as an example, 
 and you will find that their main thoroughfares are beautiful avenues. 
 
parks in themselves — cool and shady, with plenty of air and light 
 and all manner of attraction. The beauty of a street induces beauty 
 in buildings and adds beauty to life, whereas the confusion of streets 
 and jumble of buildings that surround us in our American cities 
 contribute nothing valuable to life; on the contrary, it sadly dis- 
 turbs our peace of mind and destroys that repose within us which 
 is the true basis of all contentment. 
 
 A French painter, who spent some time in this country, in 
 discussing American life with me was quite enthusiastic about many 
 features of it, but the thing that he missed the most after the day's 
 work was a quiet and aimless stroll through the streets of the city, 
 which had become a part of his daily life at home, such as we take 
 across the country or, through the woods, not knowing and not caring 
 where he was going, but sure to find at every turn something to in- 
 terest him and to rest his tired mind. In America, he said, people 
 run; they have but one object, to arrive as quickly as possible at 
 their destination, because there is nothing in transit to attract their 
 attention or to make it worth while to linger. 
 
 In the case of the painter who sits by his easel all day long, 
 it was the evening hour that was dull and stupid, but in the case of 
 most of us who are out and about much of the day, the loss is even 
 more serious. 
 
 What should be aimed at, in the remodelling of our cities, is 
 the creation of as many centers of interest throughout the city as 
 possible, which you will find has been done in every beautiful city 
 throughout the world. Certain sections of every city must of neces- 
 sity be ugly and forbidding, and such centers are a refuge and a 
 relief. We must then aim at an interesting and attractive and 
 beautiful way of getting from any one important point in the city 
 to the next point of interest, so that in whatever direction we may 
 travel we may find recreation and rest. Our avenues are the most 
 important factors in accomplishing this purpose, but we must en- 
 deavor to have as many of our secondary streets as possible, made 
 likewise interesting. 
 
 The greatest encouragement should be offered to the people 
 m planting trees wherever possible, especially in the wider streets. 
 They should be instructed as to the best varieties and how to plant 
 them, and if possible the authorities should undertake to do it for 
 them on well established lines. 
 
 A tree once planted ought to be well cared for under the super- 
 vision of the authorities. Some degree of uniformity is absolutely 
 necessary to obtain satisfactory and lasting results, and there are 
 
PARIS— CHAMPS ELYSEES 
 
 Seen from Arc de Triomphe, showing City Avenue with Three Roadways 
 separated hy rows of Trees 
 
 PARIS-CHAMPS ELYSEES 
 Showing Formal Avenue of Trees with a Monument at end of Vista 
 
so many beautiful examples, whether abroad or in this country from 
 which to draw inspiration that there is little or no excuse for igno- 
 rance or indifference on this point, and whether it be the horse- 
 chestnut or the rows of clipped sycamores of the Paris Boulevards, 
 or the "elm trees of our New England villages, or as we approach 
 the rural districts, the poplar trees of Italy, Switzerland and France, 
 the beautiful roads with avenues of trees and well-kept sod gutters 
 and hedges of hawthorne and other varieties of France and England 
 and some parts of this country, or the wonderful avenues of Crypto- 
 maria and Bamboo of .Japan, or the avenues of palms of Brazil and 
 Egypt, they are all suggestive and most of them possible of adapta- 
 tion in our midst. 
 
 In Europe, in Japan and in other countries these avenues of 
 trees extend from city to city. They are planted not only for beauty 
 but because of the shade and the shelter from the storm which they 
 afford the traveler, and because the moisture which they preserye 
 on the road has proven to be good economy in the maintenance of it. 
 
 Hedges are more beautiful than fences. They need relatively 
 little care and in a very short while become a real economy. 
 
 But planting is not the only artistic consideration in laying 
 out an avenue — the proportions of the width of the road bed of an 
 avenue to its sidewalks, and the treatment of the road bed and the 
 sidewalks, the number of rows of trees, their character and height 
 and spacing, the breaking of the avenues at stated points for cross 
 avenues or lanes, the introduction of architectural features, statuary, 
 vases, terraces', pergolas, occasional formal treatment of gardens, 
 shrubbery or flowers, and where possible in the proximity of water, 
 the harmonious treatment of the driveway and the water, so as to 
 obtain the reflection of the landscape in the water, the introduction 
 of bridges -with proper approaches, the .cutting out of vistas at special 
 points, and the placing of important objects of interest in the line 
 of these vistas or in the line of an avenue, are all important. It is 
 possible with careful study and discrimination to make color even 
 an accessory to the development of every kind of landscape, whether 
 in the choice of different colors of foHage, which will often help to 
 lengthen a perspective or to accent a feature or whether in the color 
 of the buildings, approaches and accessories. 
 
 Every avenue should lead to some object of interest when 
 possible and should be the approach to this object, be it building or 
 monument. When crossed by another avenue, no hesitation should 
 be felt now and then in interrupting the vista by 'a monument,— on 
 the contrary, no opportunity should be 1(jsc of placing a monument 
 
10 
 
 at such an intersection. In the same manner every important 
 building should center on an avenue leading from it when possible 
 and should not be placed so that the approach to it is really not 
 toward- the building but past the building. 
 
 Nothing is more tiresome in cities like New York for instance 
 than this very parallelism and interminable lack of interruption, 
 and nothing is more charming than the opposite effect in Washington 
 or in Paris. No one regrets seeing the Capitol at the head of Penn- 
 sylvania Avenue or a public square with a monument interrupting 
 almost every avenue in Washington, no more than one regrets seeing 
 the Arc de Triomphe at the head of the Champs Elysees or the Opera 
 at the end of its avenue. Trinity Church at the head of Wall Street 
 is almost a solitary example of this principle in the great city of 
 New York. 
 
 Can we find anywhere a better example, a more complete and 
 beautiful picture, combining every sort of avenue and street, vista 
 and grouping, square and park, — monuments, quays and water 
 front, — bridges, — commercial, residential and public architecture, 
 than the. Place de la Concorde in Paris, so beautiful in itself as to 
 scheme, proportions and detail, with its superb arrangement of 
 roadways, sidewalks, balustrades, railings, fountains and statuary, 
 with the obehsk as the center of the whole composition. Looking 
 up the Champs Elysees, which is a real Park Avenue, and perhaps 
 the most wonderful one to be seen anywhere in the world, in^the 
 center we have a wide pleasure drive flanked on either side in its 
 entire length with rows upon rows of trees forming veritable parks 
 in which .are to be found all manner of places of amusement and 
 recreation, whether for adults or children, for people of refinement 
 and culture or for the populace, for we have here picture galleries, 
 theatres, museums, also the -circus, Punch and Judy shows, open 
 air music, croquet grounds, bowling greens and many other varieties 
 of innocent sport. Flowers, shrubs, fountains and statuary are 
 introduced here and there in the greatest profusion and with the 
 greatest art. Two secondary streets, one on each side of the avenue, 
 out beyond the trees, serve as thoroughfares leading to the houses 
 facing the Champs Elysees, many of them with beautiful gardens 
 and many of them famous for the art of the buildings and their 
 surroundings. 
 
 At the head of the avenue, which rises slightly, is the great 
 Arc de Triomphe, which is the central feature of a large circular 
 plaza surrounded with buildings of uniform architecture and from 
 which radiate twelve different avenues leading for miles in every 
 
PARIS-LUXEMBOURG GARDENS, FOUNTAINE DE MEDICIS 
 
 Showing Formal Fountain and Reflecting Pool of Water in Park 
 
 PARIS-PALAIS ROYAL 
 
 Showing Sunken Garden and Formal Tree Planting and Formal Architectural Background 
 
11 
 
 direction, — avenues which were planned many years ago and which 
 have developed and grown gradually, some of them extending to 
 neighboring towns, like Versailles, St. Cloud and Meudon. 
 
 If you turn in the opposite direction, the wonderful gardens 
 of the Tuileries, with the Tuileries and the Louvre Palaces in the 
 back ground; or if you face the river, with its beautiful quays and 
 wonderful bridge dedicated to Concorde, you see before you on the 
 opposite bank of the river the impressive, classical building of the 
 House of Representatives, flanked on one side by the Foreign Office 
 with its gardens, and on the other with the most charming Palace 
 of the Legion of Honor with its gardens. If you face in the fourth 
 direction, turning your back to the river, you look up the Rue Royal 
 with its beautiful row of shops and with the Temple of Madeleine, 
 as a background, with its superb Corinthian colonnade, sixty feet 
 high, and its pediment with its wonderful carvings; and in the 
 foreground on the right and left of the Rue Royal, facing the square-, 
 are the two most wonderful Renaissance buildings that France has 
 ever produced, both alike in every particular — on the left the Garde 
 Meuble, on the right the Ministry of Marine. 
 
 The development of this whole scheme was gradual, it is true, 
 but it was carried out according to a general plan conceived on 
 consistent and logical lines of practical utility according to the highest 
 standards of art and beauty. The Place de la Concorde itself, with 
 its two wonderful buildings and its entire setting is the master- 
 piece of one of the greatest of French architects, Jacques Ange 
 Gabriel. 
 
 Need I refer to other beautiful groupings scattered all over the 
 world from which inspiration can be sought for the treatment of 
 our cities? Is there any reason why we should not have in our 
 cities squares as beautiful as the Palais Royal, or parks developed 
 so as to-be as beautiful as the Luxembourg Gardens or the Tuileries? 
 Think of the variety that is to be found within the Luxembourg 
 Gardens, and not a feature that is not in some way interesting, 
 not a statue or vase or fountain that is not worthy of its place, — 
 the trees nursed and well cared for, the flowers planted with the 
 greatest art, not so that each individual plant will develop to its 
 fullest and most perfect growth, which is the ambition of the florist 
 and of the average landscape gardener, but so that the entire mass 
 forms a beautiful picture where each color is grouped so as to help 
 the general efEect, just as each note is a part of a musical harmony. 
 All of this work is intensely formal in conception but in reaHty it 
 is full of variety, and even picturesqueness. Its main beauty lies 
 
12 
 
 in the fact that the initial idea and the composition were the main 
 objects in view, then the development of the detail, and lastly the 
 execution of the whole within reasonable bounds, so as to make 
 it possible to maintain and to develop the work once created. 
 
 Denman W. Ross, in his interesting book, "A Theory of Pure 
 Design," writes: "While I am quite unable to give any definition 
 or explanation of Beauty, I know where to look for it, where I am 
 sure to find it. " The Beautiful is revealed, always, so far as I know, 
 in the forms of order, in the modes of harmony, of balance, or of 
 rhythm. While there are many instances of harmony, balance 
 and rhythm which are not particularly beautiful, there is, I believe, 
 nothing really beautiful which is not orderly in one or the other, 
 in two, or in all three of these modes. In seeking the beautiful, 
 therefore, we look for it in instances of order, in instances of. har- 
 mony, balance and rhythm. We shall find it in what may be called 
 supreme instances. This is perhaps our nearest approach to a defi-- 
 nition of beauty; that it is a supreme instance of order, intuitively 
 felt, instinctively appreciated." 
 
 This is what we feel in the presence of the beautiful setting 
 which I have just tried to describe and we are impressed almost 
 beyond words by the beautiful order, harmony, balance and rhythm 
 of the entire setting. The formality and similarity of some of its 
 parts, far from being monotonous, on the contrary give you an 
 intense sense of repose notwithstanding the great variety of its 
 parts and the continuous motion of the thousands of people and 
 vehicles within sight. 
 
 In the old world the growth and development of cities was 
 very gradual and coincident with the development of civilization 
 and the advancement of art. The remodeling of cities was brought 
 about by rather violent methods — sometimes by the necessity of 
 rebuilding the cities that were devastated or ruined by the con^ 
 quering hordes, at other times by the ambition of the conqueror 
 to reproduce in his own land the wonders that he has seen abroad, 
 and so we travel through the ages from Egypt to Greece, to Rome, 
 to France, to Germany, to Spain and England and the rest of Europe. 
 
 The important points to note are, that the utilitarian and the 
 ideal conditions of city building were developed side by side, and 
 that art was not promoted by public opinion, though it was greatly 
 influenced thereby, but by individuals having the ambition and 
 the power to bring about a new order of things without hindrance. 
 
 With us, on the other hand, cities far surpassing in size the 
 largest cities of the old world, have grown so rapidly, that the utili- 
 tarian side has forced itself upon the people and taken all of their 
 
13 
 
 energy, means and thought, leaving no opportunity for art excepting 
 of the most perfunctory and casual character, so that we are now 
 confronted with the necessity from the artistic point of view (from 
 the point of view which interests us here tonight) of remodeling 
 practically all of our cities, not by the will of the Caesars, of a Napoleon 
 or even of a Haussmann, but by the will of 80,000,000 people of 
 different races and with different views, a large majority of whom 
 have no appreciation of the subject and are moreover sordid and 
 thinking of the present without any consideration for the future. 
 
 This is what makes the task so difficult and at times so very 
 discouraging, for with our democratic institutions men are moving 
 in and out of office, policies are being changed, and a great scheme 
 of municipal improvement is no sooner thought of and partly worked 
 out than it is completely upset by a mere change of administration 
 and the lack of that continuous personal element which has always 
 been indispensable as the force behind any creative movement. 
 
 I venture to say that there is hardly a practical solution of a 
 single municipal development which is presented, that cannot be 
 made less expensive within a very few years by the development of 
 the artistic side and possibilities of the problem, whether by creating 
 entirely new civic centers, whether by adding to the beauty and 
 attractiveness of these centers and thereby enhancing the value of 
 property and increasing the tax levy, or whether only by making an 
 improvement which is permanent and capable of indefinite develop- 
 ment, so that the first cost is not an absolute waste of money. 
 
 I am afraid that I have wandered back and forth through my 
 subject and perhaps caused some confusion in your minds. 
 
 My object has been mainly to suggest in every possible way 
 the charm to be obtained from the proper treatment on artistic lines 
 of every civic development, the desirability of having such a treat- 
 ment in your city and the possible means of getting it with the 
 greatest degree of permanency, and you should remember that 
 these improvements have a value not only on altruistic grounds but 
 from a purely commercial and economic point of view. PubHc art 
 has proven in every country of Europe to be the very best of invest- 
 ments, and not only the large cities of Europe but the most remote 
 spots attract the stranger and hold his interest and obtain from 
 him enormous profits merely because of the beautiful things that 
 they possess and have to show him, and every improvement of 
 this kind not only draws the stranger within your gates but 
 greatly enhances the value of the property in its immediate vicinity. 
 
14 
 
 The improvements undertaken under Napoleon III. in Paris, 
 under the direction of Baron Haussmann, cost 500,000,000 francs, or 
 $100,000,000, and statistics show, on a conservative estimate, that 
 this is about the amount that is spent annually in the City of Paris 
 by tourists and visitors who go there to a great extent because of 
 these improvements. 
 
 In carrying out your work, let me warn you to avoid the specialist, 
 who seeing much in little does not see very far, who in his zeal for 
 the perfection of the detail, loses sight of the great principles involved, 
 but on the other hand you must encourage the artist who usuaHj^ 
 suffers from lack of popular appreciation. Give him every encourage- 
 ment that is needed, and do not hesitate, as in the case of the musician 
 or the actor, to give him applause. Every artist is helped by it. 
 He needs the public for support and encouragement and the public 
 needs him in order that public monuments may have dignity and 
 that private life may have beauty. 
 
 Beware, in the development of your city of the specialist, be 
 he artist or other, who is not enthusiastic and thoroughly in love 
 with his work, and who has not the power to arouse in you the same 
 enthusiasm and love for his art that he himself feels for it. 
 
 What we need in civic improvement is real leadership. When 
 the country years ago began to think of and to want parks Frederic 
 Law Olmstead appeared on the scene. What we needed then was 
 the object lesson which Olmstead gave the country, and with the 
 completion of his first park, and under Olmstead's leadership, the 
 whole country was soon covered with beautiful parks, most of them 
 designed by Olmstead, but many by his followers and imitators. 
 
 So it was with expositions. No one dreamed that such a con- 
 ception and such a picture as the Chicago World's Fair could be 
 produced by American artists under American conditions. The 
 object lesson was so far-reaching that it has been felt in every hamlet 
 in the land, and our people throughout the country have been made 
 to realize the significance, the beauty and the nobility of a great 
 architectural setting like the Court of Honor at Chicago ; so it was 
 throughout the ages. The great Le Notre produced Versailles and 
 other wonderful settings in France and Hampton Court in England; 
 Gabriel the Place de la Concorde and its monuments ; Major L'Enf ant, 
 Washington and the plan of Buffalo; Olmstead, our parks; Hunt, 
 Burnham, McKim and others, the Chicago Exposition; and it is the 
 influence of men like these and their achievements in the field of art 
 that have fostered art throughout the ages. 
 
VERSAILLES 
 
 Showing Terraces in Foreground 
 
 VERSAILLES 
 
 Showing Park and Fountain and Extended Vista 
 
]5 
 
 Most of the important cities iii|]this country have been thinking 
 of the "City Beautiful" but little or nothing has been accomplished 
 in the way of actually executed work, and what we need are leaders 
 and object lessons. Perhaps Washington may give us this in time, 
 perhaps the work in Cleveland may prove to be such an object lesson, 
 but until a start is made visionary schemes will continue to be pro- 
 duced and little or nothing will develop on the lines of practical and 
 permanent improvements. I may add that the work has usually 
 been approached in the wrong way. A commission of artists without 
 proper authority, without proper means at their disposal, with no 
 support other than that of a few private and public-spirited individ- 
 uals may prepare beautiful drawings, as has been done in so many 
 cities, notably in the city of New York, without any result; whereas 
 a properly constituted commission, such as has been appointed 
 for the city of Cleveland and lately for the city of Hartford, under 
 the laws enacted by the state of Connecticut, with power, means, 
 and official support, is bound to approach the problem with a better 
 conception of the realities of the case and with a better chance of 
 actually producing permanent work. 
 
 In conclusion, it would seem to me that if we were to make an 
 introspective examination and try to discover the real inward feel- 
 ing in America towards art, I think we would find that however 
 much we may know about art, our attitude is largely intellectual. 
 We admire art, but we do not love art. Art with us is something 
 ornamental — a luxury, not a necessity. It interests us; it does 
 not thrill us; it is not a part of our life. If it were we would want 
 it and we would have it all about us and it would be just as much a 
 necessary part of our lives as the bodily comforts, as the practical 
 utilities to which we attach such great importance. 
 
 "The Anglo Saxon is more or less blind to the claims of beauty 
 and monumental splendor; but he appreciates fully the importance 
 of health, comfort and convenience, and will do much to secure 
 them." 
 
 Do you know of any set of men who are happier, who get more 
 genuine enjoyment out of life, than the artist, be he painter, sculp- 
 tor, architect or musician? Their attitude towards life is no less 
 serious, their labors no less arduous, and their ideals no less high 
 than with others; but art is such a factor in their lives that it gives 
 them the power which we lack and which the Frenchman, the Italian 
 and the German even possess to a marked degree— what the French 
 call "La joie de vivre," the joy of living. This joy of living is in 
 them, is part of them, it is mostly independent of wealth and luxury. 
 
16 
 
 Is it not possible that a real love and understanding for art may 
 some day take hold of our people, for the love of the beautiful you 
 must remember is universal, so that to all of the material comforts, 
 which we insist upon, beauty will become an adjunct, so that every 
 man will insist upon and will not be able to live happily without 
 having his house beautiful as well as comfortable; and when it is 
 beautiful, its surroundings and everything leading towards them 
 will have to be beautiful and our cities will have to be beautiful. 
 When we begin to strive for such ideals and to feel real enthusiasm 
 for art and beauty of every kind the glitter of the almighty dollar 
 will be lessened and the possession of great wealth will no longer 
 be considered such a great distinction. 
 
 Bearing directly on the subject of public appreciation of art, 
 though dealing more specifically with the fine arts, I wish to quote 
 from a report on the establishment of a Federal Bureau of Fine 
 Arts which was presented at the last Convention of the American 
 Institute of Architects by a graduate of Yale University, Mr. S. B. P. 
 Trowbridge. After referring to expressions of opinion concerning 
 this project, received by letters and published in the daily press, 
 Mr. Trowbridge reports as follows: 
 
 "The unfavorable comments are without exception based upon 
 the assumption that a Bureau of the Government devoted to foster- 
 ing and developing the Fine Arts is un-American, undemocratic 
 and not in accordance with the spirit of the constitution. This 
 contention, absurd as it may seem, is based upon a deeply rooted 
 conviction that the Fine Arts are the prerogatives of the rich and 
 cultivated class. This idea had its origin originally on the one 
 hand in the contempt of the richer class for the lack of learning and 
 appreciation of the poorer class, and on the other hand in the im- 
 pression of the poorer class that great works of art are luxuries to 
 be enjoyed and appreciated only by those who are able personally 
 to hold them in their possession. 
 
 "Not until the eyes of mankind were opened by the great French 
 writers of the 18th century was this idea disputed, and not until 
 after the French Revolution did public museums spring into existence. 
 These repositories of works of art represented the possession of 
 the productions of the great masters, by the people, and opened to 
 rich and poor alike the refining influence of the study of the Fine 
 Arts. Since that time the principle of the democracy of art has 
 been accepted by every civilized nation except the United States 
 of America. 
 
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17 
 
 "It is always difficult to overcome a deeply rooted tradition, 
 especially in America where conservatism is often carried to an absurd 
 degree. In this case the opposition seems to come, not from the 
 possessing class, who have during the last century been educated 
 to the idea of parting with their prerogatives, but from that class 
 -which would be most benefited by a change, although there is still 
 a small number of people who stand for a continuation of privileges 
 •and prerogatives of the aristocracy and are jealous of an attempt 
 to give to the public any authority over a branch of human endeavor 
 which for centuries has been in their undisputed possession. This 
 class argues that to appreciate the true value of works of art, culti- 
 vation and education and the refinements which come with riches, 
 are necessary; and that to place the benefits of the stiidy of art 
 within the reach of the poor and uncultured is mere casting pearls 
 before swine. 
 
 "Strange as it may seem, however, the real opposition comes 
 from the mass of people, who, though loath to acknowledge that 
 they are incapable of appreciating the benefits of the Fine Arts, 
 nevertheless not only accept this humiliating attitude and are will- 
 ing to be deprived of the advantages to be derived from the greatest 
 of human achievements, but even go so far as to sneer at its man- 
 ifestations and' refuse to be persuaded that the heritage is theirs. 
 So imbued have they become through centuries of oppression with 
 the idea that Art is a luxury beyond their reach that today — one 
 hundred years since their emancipation — they are still perversely 
 blind to the great fact that since the dawn of humanity, the love 
 of the Fine Arts has been a natural inheritance of the whole human _ 
 race." 
 
 Whistler has said: "Listen. There never was an artistic 
 nation" .... "people lived in marvels of art — and ate 
 and drank out of masterpieces — for there was nothing else to eat 
 and to drink out of, and no bad building to live in; no article of 
 daily life, of luxury, or of necessity that had not been handed down 
 ■from the design of the master, and made by his workmen. And 
 the people questioned not and had nothing to say in the matter. 
 So Greece was in its splendour, and art reigned supreme by force of 
 fact, not by election — and there was no meddling from the out- 
 sider" .... 
 
 Whistler may be right in stating that the people generally did 
 not influence art and accepted it and may have been ignorant of 
 it, but there were those high and mighty and cultured, whether in 
 the church "or in the state, who demanded art, who encouraged art 
 
18 
 
 and compelled art, and without whom the artist would have had no 
 recognition and could have worked neither for profit nor for glory. 
 What was true in the ages about which Whistler writes, is no longer 
 true in our day when the average man is a much greater factor in 
 the activities of this world, and it is because of the influence of the 
 masses which prevails today, as distinguished from the influence of 
 the individual, that art has been vulgarized, and therefore the only 
 hope that we have today of raising art above this low standard,, 
 is by bringing it home to every man, woman and child. 
 
 Americans are great adapters and the commercial age in which 
 we are living vulgarizes everything. Our ideals are too much on 
 a level and too greatly influenced by the mass of superficial literature 
 which is placed within our reach; but if the American ever becomes 
 thoroughly imbued with the art spirit so that his home and its sur- 
 roundings must be beautiful, he will then cease to copy and gradually 
 will develop his individuality and personality and impress it upon 
 his surroundings, and not until then will we have a national art. 
 
 During their student days in the Latin Quatier in Paris, Chapu, 
 a great French sculptor, whose charming statuary on the monument 
 erected to the memory of the great painter Henri Regnault, which 
 stands in the Court of the Mulberry of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, 
 may be known to you and the equally great French scientist Per- 
 rault, were great comrades. In the course of time they both reached 
 eminence in their calling. Chapu obtained the great "Prix de Rome" 
 and proceeded to the Villa Medicis for four years of study and con- 
 templation. Perrault, on the other hand, had achieved equal dis- 
 tinction in the Academy of Science. 
 
 After being separated for several years Perrault was persuaded 
 to travel through Italy and to visit his friend, Chapu. These two 
 men, whose attitude towards art was so diametrically different, 
 found themselves together in Rome, the very center and treasure- 
 house of art, the one full of emotion and enthusiasm; the other 
 intellectual and cold. Perrault lived with his friend Chapu at the 
 Villa Medicis with all the painters, sculptors, architects and other 
 artists and listened to their discussions and warmed up to their 
 point of view and wanted to enter into their lives, but felt himself 
 unable to do so, his attitude and theirs being so different, so he finally 
 asked his friend Chapu to take him to the Vatican and to explain 
 the wonderful Michael Angelo paintings in the ceiling of the Sistine 
 Chapel, so that he too might enjoy them as they all seemed to. They 
 went off arm in arm and upon entering the Chapel, Chapu became 
 solemn and absorbed. Removing his hat, he walked with bowed 
 
19 
 
 head to the middle of the Chapel, and crossing his arms and turning 
 his eyes towards the great painting, gazed at it in silence and with- 
 out moving, as if transfixed. Perrault did the same, but very soon 
 be began to move around rather uneasily and to look at the paint- 
 ing from other points of view, while his friend continued motionless 
 in the same attitude. Finally one of the numerous guards approached 
 and entered into conversation with Perrault and began to show him 
 the ceiling in different positions by looking at a little mirror which 
 reflected the ceiling. For a while Perrault was amused, but when 
 he looked up, Chapu had not moved. He was still gazing at the 
 ceiling much to the discorhfort and embarrassment of Perrault, 
 and thus he went on for quite a long while, until finally Perrault, 
 almost unconsciously, and hesitating to interrupt his friend, said 
 in an undertone "Eh bien," well, whereupon Chapu threw out his 
 arms and exclaimed in all his enthusiasm for his art "Mon Dieu, 
 que c'est beau," (my God, how beautiful) "and then, and not until 
 then," says Perrault, "did I begin to have a real understanding 
 of art." 
 
Cornell University Library 
 NA9045.C31 
 
 City improvement from the artistic stand 
 
 3 1924 015 778 446