Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/146

* MUNICIPAL ARCHITECTURE. 114 MUNICIPAL DEBTS. the joint exi)en»e of tht- city and State. The new Opera House, the reconstructed Palais dc .Justieo, the Tribunal de Coiiinierce, the completed and remodeled Louvre, the Saint-Aliclicl Fuuntain, and since the war of 1870-71 the new llolclde- Ville. Sorbonne (university), and Ecole de Mede- cine, the demolition of the ruined Tuileries and creation of new yardens on its site, the two new- art palaces, and the Alexander IIL and other bridges, are the monuments of this remarkable activity. So the uew Reichstagsgebiiude (Parlia- jnent-house ), the Museum, the various columns of victory and other monuments, including; the recently built SicgcsAllee. at Berlin; the S(|uares and modern public buildings of Alunich. the new- town hall at llamburj;, indicate the tendencies of German taste in municipal liuildings and embel- Jishments; while in Austria-Hungary the mar- velous rebuilding of the central portion of Vienna and the more recent architectural enterprises in Budapest are equaled only by the trans- formation of Paris under Napoleon III. While the architectural treatment of the Viennese public buildings (the Gothic Town Hall, the classic Parliament-house, the Renaissance Uni- versity, museums, art institute, the Hofthcatcr. etc.) leaves something to be desired, the general etTect is highly impressive by its stateliness and grandeur of disposition along a single splendid street, the Ringstrasse. In Great Britain nearly every important city has in recent years either rebuilt portions of its more overcrowded districts on improved plans, or erected new- town, halls, exchanges, public batlis, schools, and museums; and the English architects have developed in these public wiu'ks an architectural style of con- siderable interest and character, quite diflerent from the modilicd Krcnch Renaissance style ■which has more generally prevailed elsewhere. Italy, though backward in many respects in this field of architecture, has not only remodeled some of the worst-crowded districts of Naples and Rome, but has embellished many of her cities with public buildings in modern style, estab- lished new parks and public gardens, and in some cases completi'd tlu' unliiiislied facades of ancient buildings — notably that of the Cathedral of Flor- ence (1,SS;?-8!I). " The end)anking of the Til>er (187!)-1900) in Rome, the construction of new bridges, the building <if 'arcades' or glass-roofed streets of moninnental design, flanked by attrac- tive shops (as at Milan. Naples, etc.), and the erection of railway termini sometimes of consid- erable architectural splendor, are further evi- dences of nuinicipal activity. rxiTFn St.vtks. In the I'nited States mirnicipal architecture has until recent years had little to show worthy of serious consideration. While the first fifty years of independent national ex- istence witnessed the erect inn of many note- worthy Federal and niimicipal buildings, espe- cially custom houses and State Capitols, these were, for the most part, imlilTerently ]ilaced, with no adequate approach or surroundings. The public buildings of American cities — town halls, railway stations, schools, cnurthonses. and ad- ministrative olTices — were chean and common- place, or pretentious anri ugly. Only rarely, as at Washington. Savunnnh. and Ch.Trle-^Inn, has there been until recent years even the semblance of any recogjiition of the art of mmiicipnl plan- ning, or of the importance of artistic treatment alike in the design and .setting of public build- ings. The rectangular street-plan was universally- accepted as the ideal arrangement. Of late, with the general awakening of the art instinct in the L'nited Stales, stiumlatcd by the object les- sons atl'orded by several great 'expositions' (Chi- cago, Omaha, BuH'iilo), there has begun a wide- spread reform in nnniieipal architecture, of which the new- plan for the improvement of Washington, the proposed adoption of llie 'group system' for the public buildings of Cleveland, Ohio, the new park system of Boston, and the proposed re- modeling of the Chicago lake front, are a few out of many evidences. Recent town halls, ex- changes, luiiversity buildings (Columliia, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, Washington University, Leland Stanford. .Jr.. and California universities and others), pul)]ic li- braiies. court-hou.ses, and railway stations in the United States are excellent structures architec- turally, and give promise tluit the ugliness of American cities is to be greatly mitigated if not done away with in the near future. MUNICIPAL ART SOCIETIES. Societies in the L'nited Stato which take their name from the purpose of their organization, which is the jiromotion of nnniieipal art, i.e. art as applied to cities. They seek in a general way to beautify cities. Among the means advocated to this end are the planning of cities with regard to artistic beauty, as well as to the needs of trallic; the planting of streets with trees, and the restriction of tile billboard nuisance; the increase in the number and size of ])arks, especially in the con- gested districts; worthy sites and beautiful architecture for puldie buildings, and their dcc- (uation with statuary and mural painting; the embellishment of the city with statues, monu- ments, and other works of art — things which have long been esteemed es.sential in European cities. These ideas are promoted by local so- cieties, like the Municipal Art Societies of New York. Chicago. Baltimore. Cincinnati, etc., the Fairniount Park Association of rhiladclphia. and by the American Park and (Outdoor Association. .Vmong the achievements of the movement have been the ofhcial ap[ioiiitmcnt of Municipal Art Commissions, composed ]irincipally of artists, by New York and Chicago, with general supervision over public buildings, monuments, and other ar- tistic undertakings; the enactment of legislation, both State and local, against the billboard nui- sance in Chicago; the appointment of commissions of experts to devise comiirehcnsivc plans for the growth of Washington (inOl) and similar pro- posals for New York (ino:!). Two volumes of Municipal Affairs are devoted to the movement, vols. ii. and iii. (New Y(u-k. l.SOS-OO). Consult also C. M. Robinson. The Improvement of Toirns and Vilies (ib., 1000) ; ^fnr]ent Civic Art (ib., inn-2). MUNICIPAL DEBTS. In a strict sense of the word, debts incurred by municipalities. When, however, the total municipal indebtedness of a country is being discussed, particularly in cnmi)aris(m with State or national debts, the in- debt(Mlness of all minor civil divisions is generally incluiled. Municipal debts are divideil into bonded or funded, and lloating. and (he latter may be diviiled still further into temporary- loans in anticipation of revenue and obligations due for material furnished or services rendered. Bonded indebtedness, as a rule, so far exceeds I