Some of the most illuminating material about Maybeck's beliefs about site design is in the his voluminous files on his unsuccessful submission to the design competition for Canberra Australia. He lobbied hard for the job, and expressed himself more completely than elsewhere. The files span the years of 1911-1912. This was just before he started work on the plans for Brookings.

Canberra was to be an urban center, much different than the remote town of Brookings- so not all of the Canberra material is applicable to Brookings (such as the underground freight tunnels) , but much is.

This essay appears to have accompanied his Canberra submission. We'll be adding more selections from the Canberra files as time permits.

This is a great essay - many mistakes made in twentieth century planning could have been avoided if more designers had studied it.

Of interest to those with a background in Urban Planning is how Maybeck anticipates Jane Jacobs' criticsms of urban design in his era as being overly controlling: "As in all Utopias, the right to have plans of any significance belonged only to the planners in charge". It also perhaps forshadows Christopher Alexander's ideas of generative architecture.

Courtesy of the Documents Collection, College of Environmental Design, Berkeley.

This first essay, or at least a very similar one, has also been published on the web by John W. Reps, Professor Emeritus, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University. He includes an introductory biographical essay and footnotes.

It is one of the many fascinating essays included in his important collection: Urban Planning, 1794-1918: An International Anthology of Articles, Conference Papers, and Reports.

Limited time has prevented our being able to give much care to arranging the description. Consequently the following is rather a collection of notes written as the work progressed.

The object of a Competition such as this is to show a method of attacking the problem, to fire the imagination of those who come hereafter, not to curb it.

All suggestions should be in the nature of dreams, and be so presented that each later man reads into them his own ideals. If each part of the composition is rigidly fixed it will hinder that spontaneous unconscious development which is the most precious thing we have, that opinion uninfluenced by others after years of study and observation. Such a method of presenting the plan will suggest growth.

It is not likely that any lines of the accepted plan will be realized except the main axes of the principal thoroughfares and, in a general way, the directions of the streets. But what is important and what should be the axiom of this competition is to get a point of view which will give direction to all future activities.

Baron Haussman brought into being ideals of axes which had been dreams for centuries, and to satiate the hunger for these ideals many impossible things were done in rearranging Paris boulevards. Then it was found that when groups of buildings were beautifully arranged, their plan with surrounding gardens and grounds automatically formed ornaments.

This was pushed to the extreme during the era of the design of symmetry, making it necessary to remake the landscape to fit the plan.

The modern idea of fitting the plan to the topography makes the plan more or less fussy,- large simple lines being possible only in a flat country. Nevertheless the composite of the natural lines of the contour and the healthy practical needs, more or less definite, and the artistic ideals as they have developed, will be an ornamental design. Such an honestly developed ornamental design is beautiful not only to the aeronaut in the air but to the architect in his dream.

The mind is reminiscent, and the man living or walking among the forms thus laid out becomes conscious of a definite scheme and is influenced by the beauty he can not see as a whole.

In planning the Federal City we have given the whole town site an ornamental framework of streets,- first, that automatically the town will become congested, the spaces reserved for a something that never comes to pass will ultimately be sorely needed for some other improvement, just as in older towns the domains of the church and the nobility are now being put to use because they are the only open spaces; second, because the site selected is beautifully modeled naturally and the lines suggested by the topography are of an ornamental nature.

Even in the attempt to give them a definite direction for a practical reason the lines grow to be pleasing, and it is only another step to apply the principles of ornament and bring them into harmony.

The necessary main lines of communication must take their position more or less irrespective of other conditions.

It is in general desirable to connect in a straight line points of interest so that at any point of a long avenue the point of interest fills the picture at the horizon, with walls of trees or buildings framing the sides.

If however, the line of axis runs down hill and up again, a slight angle in the straight line is not perceptible. If the break occurs at the lowest point where there is a confusion caused by other things of interest to disturb the possibility of sighting along the line, the change of direction will be practically unnoticed.

In general, the direction of streets should be so that they shed water, are not parallel to the direction of bad winds, and provide shade in the middle of the day.

When the map of a city is made it must at first glance give a general idea of the topography.

If it does, the question of beauty, sewers, storm water, etc., will take care of themselves, and the more closely the contour lines are followed the more economical the plan,- in grading, sewers, retaining walls and repairs.

The main streets connecting points of interest are fixed once the topography has located those central features.

The other main streets, especially those running into hills, are open to discussion. In sections such as that surrounding Red Hill,l the artist will want all streets to "behold" the peak,- the practical man will object to going around the hill but will want the street to run tangent to its base.

On the hills themselves the least cutting is the best. For vigorous people in a hurry, cross paths, stairways and elevators supply inexpensive short cuts.

The exact line of change from a straight to a curved street is determined by the practical need modified by the picturesque. If there is no exact reason one way or the other the change should ne [i.e., be] dictated by the lines which look beautiful on the map.

Curved streets should not be all the same width but should vary according to use and position.

Nor need a street be of uniform width throughout.

If the topographical lines are far apart at one end of a street and nearer at the other, the street should narrow slightly for both scientific and artistic reasons.

There are many theories as to the subdivision of the spaces between the avenues and the hills.

The old towns had to crowd as many people as possible inside the walls,-later, slow and expensive transportation made expansion uneconomical.

The average modern city is laid out by the Real Estate Speculator so as to make each lot a salable building site.

In the future Federal City with a network of direct avenues for quick land cheap transportation and with plenty of land to cover, the checkerboard system is no longer a necessity.

With the facts established that the topography is varied, that there must be no grade greater than seven per cent, [this seems to be a condition special to the Federal City, because it certiany was not a condition that Maybeck observed on residential hillside sites] that there must be practically no cutting, that climatic conditions must be taken into consideration, then the town divides itself into neighborhoods, or little civic centers.

The planning of each such center with its schools, playgrounds, tenements, cottages, stores, churches, and places of amusement, needs as serious study as a Parliament Hill.

The longer each section is studied the more closely the plan will fit the contours and consequently the more it will harmonize with the natural laws which made the contours.

It will be a study of ornamental design in miniature as was the general plan on a larger scale, and the result will be little neighborhoods with an atmosphere of quaintness of the medieval town tempered by the practical needs of the modern day.

We have spent months, practically the whole time allowed for work,- just on this aspect of the plan. It would take as much longer to get well begun on an ultimate plan.

In the checkerboard system there is no waste space, but in the ideal city the waste space is an asset.

In the semi-suburban residence section the shape of lots is immaterial, but in the cottage, business, and tenement districts only rectangular lots need be sold, the City retaining ownership of all triangular or irregular shaped pieces, using them for playgrounds, schools, parks, monuments, or leasing them for semi-public buildings, churches or places of amusement, always with the proviso that any buildings must be finished on all sides and surrounded on street and inner sides by liberal parked space for fire protection and beauty.

In fact, all semi-public buildings should be isolated and surrounded by free space, never sandwiched between other buildings, and always government controlled.

The so called flat iron type of building should be made impossible, either modify the street arrangement or park the objectionable triangle. No corner of an acute angle should show less than one hundred and fifty feet of the truncated part of the angle apex.

Intersect blocks by alleys in both directions. In residence or apartment districts these can be open. In business and tenement districts the entrance could be through an arch way, the portal twenty to thirty feet high. In commercial districts they will be on the basement level, tunneled through under main thoroughfares, and reached by stairways through archways. they would be wide enough to accommodate tracks for trucks, with turntables in large stores or other convenient points.

This network of basement alley ways has its terminals in warehouses and freight stations and with tracks, trucks, electric cranes etc., frame an iron skeleton of the business section, obviating the necessity of street and sidewalk trucking.

In some sections are rectangular park areas in the middle of each block, these to be common play and lounging grounds parked and owned by the city. These, open to observation through alleys in both directions, cut out all possibility of the hidden dark and dirty corners of the usual tenement and factory district order, and by giving a rear approach to the houses, cut out street and sidewalk delivering.

On land of varying contour there are certain natural drains and water courses with springs and streams, either temporary or permanent. Such sections are no good for building purposes and should be retained by the City for park and drainage purposes, sometimes sub-drained, sometimes damned to make lakes or supply constant fountains, waterfalls and pools for public pleasure, often planted with deep growing trees to hold unstable soil.

Wherever such a natural feature occurs at the street corner or in the park, it should be utilized as the center of a composition and preserved. No digging out or covering up will keep it from breaking out sometime and beyond the practical sense of letting nature alone, is the pleasure of surprise in the midst of the turmoil of artificial city life. Italy is full of such soothing bits,- one reason why we go there.

In studying the Federal City Site, we find some high points too inaccessible for public utilities. These recommend themselves for public parks, with sites for observatories or monuments with surrounding gardens and terraces.

Wherever possible the old forest should be preserved and the wildest parts should be kept as primeval as possible.

Any modern geometric arrangement of new trees may be planted right through the old forest, clearing only enough to make the new growth thrive. The sharp contrast of the fresh young trees, flowers and green grass and the rugged grey of the rough and old, has the charm of some music,- you endure in delicious agony an hour of musical discord and all at once a sweet melody gives relief.

The old forest is precious and should be preserved up to the last minute. Even if a new granite monument be built in its midst, the trees should remain to within a few feet of its walls and in a short time, either throught the influence or the unintention of the gardener, new growths will appear and shortly the whole composition will be in harmony.

Old Friar Tuck's Chapel is such a bit,-that only an old forest can give. It affects not only the the highly sensitive artist but the ordinary human heart as well.

Years afterward, when the new town demands the finished product, will be time enough to cut away those trees that must go to make room for a more formal arrangement.

While the new town is growing trees and shrubs should be planted everywhere, on empty lots, to disguise unsightly party walls, stables, factories, railroad tracks, power houses, Poverty Lane etc.

Fundamentally, no buildings of importance should be placed inside the flood line. The fact that at some future time, in case of earthquakes, or unforseen conditions, the whole valley might might be flooded in spite of all possible precautions taken, dictates a temporary character for the architecture.

Some place near the heart of the city will be a park place for expositions and festivities of a national character. Lagoons, monumental bridges, winding waterways with tree bound drives, walks where you can put your foot in the water, and gardens with flowers enough to pick, will make it a dignified playground for the commonwealth.

Toward the residence districts there will be club houses, baths, libraries, and various buildings not the less beautiful because in the nature of things not built to last forever.

Toward the workmens' quarter, skating rinks, even certain parts alotted to circus or temporary booths and bazzars , athletic grounds, etc., everything properly supervised, planted, and made beautiful and happy, but nothing so permanent and important that a flood one hundred years from now will do serious damage.

Such a play ground while geographically dividing the city, in reality cements the life of the City and the Nation, through its happy side. On the practical side, the lagoon will have more overflow gates than inlets so that in case of sudden slight increase of water there will be no possible flood.

So much for the general arrangement of the plan.

On account of the small scale it was difficult to show the details of public squares which would make the intention of the drawing clear. Many forms are shown to give the mass of a composition, sufficient as a suggestion to be interpreted to suit the fancy of the one who carries out the work.

Many ornamental details are therefore indicated which mean nothing except that the space covered need some treatment; it may be a group of trees, some booths, statues of groups of statues, little refreshment shops etc.

A larger drawing would show more detail interpretation of the design, but if the succeeding architects were clever enough to be worth while, they would prefer not to be so bound.

The same may be said of the buildings indicated on the plan. The shape of the ground for one reason or another determines the shape of the various buildings and their relation to each other from a standpoint of form.

All the building sites any scheme will reasonably admit will not be sufficient for the number of public or semi-public buildings that will be needed. Besides the things of the old world to be duplicated, are all those things that new conditions bring to pass.

In giving a name to a building or group of buildings it is not intended that that is the specific place for all time for that building and nothing short of a revolution can change it. When a group for instance, is marked "Military" it means only that this spot is of such a magnitude and location that the military departments could be equipped there perhaps even better than elsewhere, but there may be reasons which no one can foresee which would put the military near the freight yards at the other end of town.

The only fixed points in this plan are the sites for the parliament buildings and the main railroad station. After this the scheme is exceedingly flexible.

Of course if there is to be a cathedral and its auxiliaries which every new town strives to possess, the geographic location seems to be the one at the mount, while the opera and its auxiliaries are well located geographically at. There may however develope reasons which would put this over near mount.

As a general scheme, there seems to be fitness in grading the groups as they are related to the spiritual or to the practical side of life.

For example; Starting with the Railroad Station, first would come hotels, then financial and business center, next law courts etc., up to Parliament and Government buildings. Beyond these over toward the Cathedral side, would naturally come the department of things mental, Universities, Museums, Military School, Hospitals, etc., leading into the things pertaining to the spiritual side of life of which the Cathedral would be the climax. Thence through the fine arts, opera, theatre, apartments, music and art museums, down to the lower class of entertainment, dance halls, shows, vaudeville and merry-go-rounds at the opposite end of town toward the freight and car yards.

The various residence sections intervening would then partake of the character of the principal buildings in the vicinity, while the main residence section on the protected hill slopes would have a suburban character as a developement from the grade of the land.

This section again is suitable for universities, hospitals, & schools of various kinds provided there is land beyond for future developement.

The public and semi-public buildings have been indicated in largest possible dimension, for it is hoped that on the Federal Site the old bee-hive of story-on-story will become obsolete in the presence of conditions that make the multi-story building no longer a necessity.

In a city planned for growth and for time the buildings can not be placed in any numerical order of importance.

What is important to-day may be useless one hundred years from now. One group expands rapidly from year to year, another slowly or not at all.

It would be worse than unwise to dictate a uniform style of architecture. the use of a building, the location, and the material used, dictate the style.

The man in the office building cannot see behind columns that are large enough to look well, although the same columns will beautifully surround to i.e., the auditorium which is lighted from above, as was the temple which grew the column.

When the time comes for a special group to be built, then the composition will be re-studied with all the originality that may be, with no restriction except that in that locality a certain key note has been struck and everything there should be of the same character.

For example,- If it should be decided that in the cathedral neighborhood some of the character of the English cathedral epoch should be adhered to, then all the buildings in the neighborhood should be made to harmonize, and the buildings as they extend down the main streets, should little by little merge into the character of the neighborhood to which they lead.

An extreme case would be illustrated by the main street running from the Cathedral to the Amusement squares. The upper end would harmonize with the Cathedral, the lower end with the light and frivolous temporary construction of the Amusement palace etc. The point of transition or the merging will depend upon the individual to whom that street is intrusted.

There are however certain general restrictions and suggestions which the negative experience in other cases has made seem wise.

In massing the buildings which are at the end of long vistas or which are intended to group with other buildings in the foreground, and not lose too much in perspective, the exterior details must be exaggerated in size.

Garnier's Opera House in Paris has details of enormous scale and whether one likes the style or not he must be impressed with the massing and scale.

Another good example is the rear of St. Peter's in Rome. This has splendid proportions and the details are enormous, but when St. Peter's is seen from the front it loses all its bigness.

Ordinarily the proportions of any building are made as to be seen from across a sixty foot street. Whether it is one hundred feet high or twenty, whether in the center of a square or at the end of an avenue, the details are all the same,-the same number of horizontal lines.

Whatever the interior may be, the outside of the building intended to be seen from afar, should be of heroic proportions. As an illustration,- say that the exterior of an edifice at the end of a view be five stories high. It should have for a facade one single motive from the ground to the roof, not be cut up into basement, mezzanine, body, cornice and attic. If there were columns on the facade, the colonade should reach from the ground to the roof, the interior of the building to be handled as best one may. There is always a way when both the architect and client and all concerned are in earnest and ready to give and take.

It is fortunate that there are so many little mounds in the new City. These can be utilized to set off principal buildings, as the Japanese puts his works of ivory art on little tables made for the purpose. This has the advantage of preventing a drop in the perspective and, although the hill and edifice falls tremendously in perspective, you will still find the building where you expected it and not apparently in a hole as with most big buildings that stand on a flat piece of ground.

This optical illusion has given architects in all ages a great deal to worry about and is the cause of the basement motive in large buildings. the basements look well so long as there are no windows, and seem like pedestals to the structure above. but the windows, and particularly the modern practical windows, spoil all illusion and make one think of toy houses for children rather than buildings intended to clothe institutions with the dignity that we think they ought to have. With mounds for pedestals the basement motive can be abandoned.

In grouping the buildings in a public square care should be taken not to put the buildings too far apart.

For example,- the Place de la Concord, to one seeing it for the first time looks bare. We should be careful not to line up the public buildings in a row like so many tomb stones as in the new scheme of the City of Washington, but rather to interweave the buildings.

After first finding a good external massing of a group of a number of buildings, let those of kindred use interlock, as do the various courts of the Oxford University which has an indescribable charm.

Part of the charm of Oxford comes from the fact that the buildings are low.

With modern improvements for moving horizontally it ought not to be necessary in the public buildings such as the Department of State, Interior etc., to have many stories, rather have several buildings of one, two or three stories connected by courts and corridors, bridges, and other picturesque short cuts. If at any point special concentration is needed, the necessary ten or twenty stories can form a tower in the composition.

In the business district, if it should become necessary to allow high buildings in the intense center of business activity, they should be few in number and in places especially allotted to them where they will make a fortunate break in the sky line.

At any place and under any condition any building or part of building projecting above the surrounding construction levels should be finished on all sides down to the height of the adjacent buildings and in cases of extreme height should be isolated and finished on all sides to the ground. This isolation should be sufficient for beauty, for light and for fire protection.

In certain business blocks the buildings should harmonize with each other. If a building is standing and a neighboring one is to be built, the last should be made to harmonize with the first, even as to the alignment of molds in the various stories, although there may occur modifying circumstances which would make for better harmony be doing otherwise.

There should never be an unfinished building wall, rear or party wall, allowed. This is the greatest barrier to real beauty in any town and is the curse of art in American cities. How would a tree look covered with beautiful foliage in front and stuffed out with rags in the back?

This sounds absurd, and yet because of the unfortunate property laws, the buildings on our finest streets suggest various slices of Christmas cakes, side by side with the frosting and decorations all turned toward the audience. Possibly a neutral strip could be reserved around all lots sold, or the buildings not allowed to cover the whole lot,- but whatever the legal solution, if a building rises above its neighbors the extension should be finished in the same manner and material as the part exposed to the street.

Along the boulavards , and in the center of the double boulavards , there should be a systematic treatment. If the buildings are not of uniform height the higher buildings should balance each other in some symmetrical manner. If a man wanted to have more stories than the average, he would have to buy one of the lots on which a high building would be allowed.

All of these and other restrictions are not only for the expensive parts of the city and the prominent features in the landscape, but the poor quarters, shop and factory districts need the same care.

During the building up process the modern town is a nightmare . To facilitate the work of the engineer and real estate man every vestige of whatever was there is cut off and shaved down, the hills leveled and gulleys filled. On land thus prepared sprout shacks and sheds, refuse, billboards, and temporary rubbish of all kinds and the place is "being improved".

The ideal new City, after it has its plan, needs the landscape artist and the landscape gardener.

On the Federal City site things will grow which in Europe would be impossible. Allow no tree or bush to be cut until that special spot is needed, -run a street around a beautiful tree rather than sacrifice the tree. And then plant whatever the accepted plan says to plant,- and where the plan says houses put more trees. They can be thinned out when necessary and in the meantime the bare spaces will be finished. When the town is well begun it will look finished and whether it has twenty five thousand or twenty five hundred thousand people will be immaterial if no raw edges show.

We have given special attention and study to the placing and developement of the Railroad Station and Parliament House sites, but any drawing on so small a scale must be crude and ultimately the Workman's Quarters, Freight Yards, University, arrangement of street car lines, each little neighborhood and civic center, every conjunction of radiating streets, and every change from curve to straight or round, needs the same conscientious study and care when the time comes. Our main plan needs a lot more study.-should have been re-made from the beginning if time had allowed.

As to general arrangement:

We have put freight and car yards in the flat above the town where also would be gas plants, power plants, and all features that should be to the windward. In the depression to the south are all factories, shops and warehouses, leading up to workmen's residence sections on hill slopes on either side. Strict regulations should keep residence and factory sections separate, on account of carting etc.

The workmen's playground is in the flood area across and in the bend of the river. By holding back water at rocky bar, aquatic sports can be added to the list of possible amusements. Here will be club houses, athletic grounds, pleasure resorts and libraries etc.

From the freight stations run a fan-shaped set of railway spurs flanked by sheds, these separated by streets leading to main wagon yard which is planted by protecting trees.

There should be no teaming in the City proper. All freight for city goes from freight stations over network of underground tracks. While building is going on no material need be delivered on streets or stored on sidewalks and streets. the material for a certain construction is stored in its special place in the freight warehouse or storage quarter and delivered underground as needed,- either in the building itself or at the nearest distribution center. All goods for stores etc. are delivered in the basement itself.

This arrangement, eradicating surface trucking, makes it possible to pave the city beautifully, even ornamentally, as in Verona, for example. The price of the tunnels will be paid by saving in repairs.

The railroad enters the City from the southeastern corner. At a certain point outside of town the passenger train is switched from the main track and crosses the river bed on an elevated road, which gradually ascends to the tunnel through the hill beyond.

The railroad station is located outside of the business City proper and at the same time gives to the entering traveler a commanding view of the principal features, such as Cathedral, Opera, Parliament, University, etc., and he can see at once where he is going.

The whole town centers toward the Station. In front of the station is a plaza which is the hub of radiating avenues leading to all parts of the city.

The plaza is perforated with circular openings surrounded by monumental balustrades and framed by stairways and elevators leading down to the lower level where the car lines center and loop.

Departing travelers arrive at the station on the ground floor if by train, the tramways entering under arches which support the upper level.

The center of each loop of rails is a sunken garden, lighted and viewed from above through the round balustraded openings in the upper plaza floor.

The general waiting room is a large rotunda open to the sky in the middle and surrounded inside by a wide gallery opening through arches into the upper plaza.

Automobiles and carriages enter over the outer circle of the upper plaza and ascend to a mezzanine level behind the waiting room, a half story above the ticket offices.

The ticket offices, bureaus etc., are on the level of the main plaza and the rotunda balconies and lead direct to bridges over the tracks whence short flights of steps descend to trains.

The baggage is lifted by a combination of elevator and crane, carried above the cars and lowered to baggage rooms under the ticket offices.

Connected with the station are the offices of railroad administration.

Beyond the main station is a secondary freight station for distribution in the north end of town.

From the station a boulevard leads to the Parliament group. To this we have given special attention, to illustrate the manner of attacking such a problem. the location was chosen because of its accessibility and commanding situation.

The T shaped hill top suggests the shape of the building, the rotunda with flanking wings in front, the offices and departments forming the long part of the T.

The architecture of this group would of course harmonize with the main buildings, modified by the nature of use to which the sections were to be put.

They are entered from the rear by elevators from tramway [lines?] on [the] street below.

Across the avenue at the rear the shape of the ground indicated the amphitheatre for out of door meetings.

The hill being already wooded, makes possible a finished composition from the start, portions for formal parking being cleared as needed.

In the hills back of the Parliament Houses are residences for officials.

Steps and terraces lead down from front of Parliament House to the flat below. This part of the flood area should be kept free from large obstructions. In the birds eye view it looks bare, the scale being too small to detail. In reality it will be made interesting in many ways. It is intended for demonstrations of large public nature and can accommodate a million people if necessary,-pagents , public meeting etc., it must be practically unobstructed.

In and along the double boulevard leading southeast from this plaza are the departments and other Government accessories.

The hill slope from Parliament Houses south to flood line is for buildings for other branches of Government activity, including a special building for government festivities etc., leading down to recreation grounds, and stadium in flood space below.

This again leads naturally into the portion of flood land west of Parliament Hill which is the playground and drillground of the military which we have located tentatively in the river bend south of "Sullivan", Officers' homes being in the hills to the north and north east.

Across the river is the University, with its various branches, Law, Medicine etc., the larger buildings in the foreground, the smaller and less monumental in the rear. The experimental gardens and playgrounds in the flood section culminating in the bridge opposite the stadium which would be the national game center,-Professors' residence district on hills back of the University.

The bluffs along the south side of the river can be treated as wonderfully as those of the Villa Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore.

Hold back the water above Rocky Bar Rapids, pile up terraces, walls, tall trees and vines, and the most stunning views around Lake Como can be excelled.

Between the University district and the Residence Section are sheltered slopes suitable for Hospitals, Old People's Homes etc.

Whether this is the best place for these things or not the segregation of things of a kind makes for harmony. Kindred use developes similar appearance and groups make themselves.

The residence section shows for itself. Parks, playgrounds, hill boulevards, schools, public and private, will take their places as time goes on.

An essential is of course that there should be no possibility of having a restaurant or "moving picture show" building where it does not belong. Public and semi-public buildings are in certain places only, and every body knows before he builds just what sort of thing his neighbor will be building.

Such a law is a guarantee to business men who invest.

Of this section of the town of course the Cathedral is the climax. It is impossible to fore tell the location of all possible churches, of course they must be isolated and park surrounded. The rest of the town is for business in its various aspects. Mt. Vernon with the Mint is the banking center.

Outside flood lines along the river will from place to place be prominent public buildings according to the interests of the locality. One thing more:- In the modern wholesale way we have of doing things we feel impatient to see things finished right away. Accordingly some of us would like to see a cut and dried plan of everything to begin with,-elevations and all. This is not necessary or wise. Oxford is probably the most beautiful place in the world and it took years to grow. The effort should be not to look nice and new and shiny, but to keep from looking so.

The New City's greatest enemy is the half fledged architect who is so jealous of his cleverness that he will allow no tree or bush within a mile of his precious masterpiece lest some of its beauties be not seen.

The Federal City should be the garden spot of the world. Trees, vines, bushes over the Railroad Station, Opera House, Parliament Buildings, Workmens' Quarters, on all streets, balconies, lamp posts,-everywhere.

Where once we put a statue, where some ornament was needed, put a box with trees and bushes. Only one law is absolute; ten times what seems enough is too little.

We owe an apology to your Committee for sending in such drawings so unworthily rendered. The dignity of the competition demands the best a man can give. This apparent carelessness does not mean however that we have not given the subject long and serious thought, but only that in the end we were too hurried to do beautiful drawing.

We believe if you have the patience to search under mussy lines that you may find something worth while.

The remaining pages contain engineering details and appear to be written by someone other than Maybeck.

Oregon Coast Net Home (frames)

Site Map
(frames)

Site Map (for navigation without frames or javascript, and for small monitors)

copyright 1998 Bill Buchanan