A Public Building Group Plan for St. Louis

Book excerpt: Excerpt from A Public Building Group Plan for St. Louis: The City Plan Commission, St. Louis, Missouri Utility and lack of proper regard for appearances have been conspicuous characteristics of American cities, but in recent years public opinion has manifested a decided reaction against the distasteful, monotonous, and careless manner in which our streets, public buildings, and public open spaces have been treated. Plans for improved appearances of waterfronts, for grouping of public buildings, and for street treatment have made their appearance in many of the large as well as the smaller cities. We have become conscious of the need for a means of expressing ourselves in our every-day environment in a manner that shall reflect something besides the commercial spirit that has so greatly absorbed our attention. In the improvement of the city's appearance we should not and will not blindly follow the lead of European cities, though we may well profit by the beauty, the harmony, the spaciousness, and the architectural splendor of the many examples they afford us. American cities should develop a form of civic art that is truly national, that in originality may typify the spirit of the pioneer, that in simplicity rather than in ornateness of design may represent the spirit of democracy, and that in strength and dignity of composition may envisage the faith and confidence that is America's. Public buildings are the outward manifestation of civic spirit. They afford one of the best opportunities for a municipality to give expression to its aspirations and ideals. It is for this reason that large buildings should be well designed and given a proper setting. It has been customary for the Federal government and for State governments to pay more attention to the setting and design of large public buildings than most cities have done. This has been due in part to the fact that State and Federal buildings are larger and more money has been available for them. The character of our cities is becoming increasingly an index of the state of our national civilization. In the matter of public buildings, therefore, as well as in other forms of municipal work, it behooves the city to so plan and design its public structures that these may faithfully and fittingly depict the civic spirit. What more logical suggestion could therefore be made than that, in view of the larger structures to be built, and for which large appropriations will be made, the cities locate their various public buildings in one or more groups, thus presenting in the aggregate an appearance much more satisfying and beautiful than can be obtained by a single large building or by a number of smaller buildings miscellaneously located? A public-building group plan has many advantages. It affords, first of all, an opportunity for the convenient conduct of public business by bringing all public buildings together at a common center. It provides unlimited possibilities in the way of architectural treatment by making it possible to adopt a harmonious plan. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.