Page:John Nolen--New ideals in the planning of cities.djvu/84

NEW IDEALS IN THE PLANNING OF of public buildings should be designed with reference to the expansion of the city. Municipal buildings, courts, halls of record, etc., naturally find a place adjacent to the business district. Custom houses and post offices belong with the railway or waterway terminals, although it is important that the post office should also be readily accessible from the business district. Public libraries, law courts, auditoriums, and other buildings of a similar nature may find suitable locations on the frontier of a business district, if not within important residential districts. In any case they should be somewhat removed from the down-town center.

The location of public buildings is bound up with the general structure of the city. This means especially the street system and the system of transportation, which is largely governed by the street system. While building groups may be advantageously placed on prominent streets in a rectangular system, or composed with principal intersections in the system of streets, yet for the more important groups the best location is at a focus of a number of streets.

From the point of view of city planning, nothing in connection with public buildings is more essential than a consideration of the general advantages resulting from their proper grouping. These may be stated as follows:

1. Additional convenience in the transaction of business.

2. Recognition in the location of the civic center of one important feature of a natural zone system with certain incidental advantages in building regulations and fire protection.

3. Reduction to a minimum of the interference of public buildings and grounds with private business property and business interests.