The recollection of the fact that on September 2, 1666, a fire broke out in a little wooden house in Pudding Lane, London, and burned for three days destroying buildings on 436 acres, and numbering 13,200 houses recalls the damage which has been done to ithe metropolis by the Germans, and the "opportunity which has been afforded of (remodelling a large part of the huge city. Already an influential committee is engaged jin drawing up plans for the big development "which must come with peace, and it is clear met Wren's experience when consulted on Subject of rebuilding London will not be imépeated. Mr. W. H. Ansell, m.c., president the Royal Institute of British Architects, e a short while ago before the Royal of Arts, pointed out that the area devastation in London had been increased, by incendiary bombing and more to replanning have consequently removed. Plans are being made.
slum areas have to go, not only those which have been destroyed but also those which survive. Certain industries will have to be moved to more convenient districts, nearer their sources of supplies, and closer to their communication with their markets.
Smithfield, Billingsgate and Covent Garden must come up for consideration. 1f it is decided that these markets are in the right places they will remain; if not, more convenient siles must be found for them. It seems all rather shattering to those who loved the old city as it stood, who have spent hours wandering idly through the fascinating ways of London, but the time is long past for a general overhaul. The Hun, by his ruthlessness, has made possible what might otherwise not have been accomplished by centuries of slow civic development, Mr. Ansell paints a delightful picture of what might be done in the city itself:—"Consider," he says, "the relative position of ihe Mansion House, Guildhall and St Pauls. Cheapside should be widened and restored to something of the Chepe's old ping street, a new and gay street wih wi wid and glory. T. should remain a shop-Colonnaded pavements on which citizens Could walk free of the rain, do their shop-
their Lord Mayor in appropriate state an ping in comfort in all weathers and warth Surroundings pass from his Mansion House to Guildhall; Some of ihe colonnades be on the first floor, There should be a Open piazza leading from Cheapside to Guildhall in place of ihe present narrow Way, and round St. Pauls a clearance 19 free the Cathedral frim its jostling neigh-hours and provide a Close worthy of Wren's masterpiece. The majesie view of St. Paul's which has been disclosed from Newgate Street is the fines: argument that could be brought in favour of such a clearance. Sooner or leer the south side of the Churchyard
will drop from the Cathedral down to he will also be opened R and terraced gardens Tiver. linking up with an extended embank-mani, so that the view of London's earliest glory, her river. will be obtainable from the transeptal seps of S. Paul's"
Whether all that can ever be done may be open to doubt. That it would be a good thing if it could be is not, and the heart of the City restored to the dignity that Wren would have given itis a pleasing prospect.
But there are other schemes in preparation for the new London. The recommendation of the Advisory Board to the Royal Commission on London Traffic for two great avenues to to be driven through London, 140ft. wide,—cne to run east to west from Whitechape) Road to Bayswater and one north to south from Holloway to the Elephant,—has been revived. It has been modified to the extent of widening two great but disappointing roads, that which runs from Shepherds Bush to the Mansion House, of which Tottenham Court Road forms part, and the route Cheapside, Newgate Street, Holborn and Oxford Street, all of which have been damaged and present opportunities for broadening. What is to happen to the churches, of which so many have been destroyed or badly damaged is still a matter for argument. Some insist that they should be rebuilt on their old sites, others that they should be moved out to the suburbs and the sites used for commercial purposes, but those who love London's skyline, and it is indeed beautiful, favour at least the retention of the many spires, even if they have to be rebuilt. But whatever the ultimate decision on this and the multitude of other points which will inevitably be raised they must be solved in the realization that London has become the visible symbol of the indomitable spirit of its citizens. It has acquired the significance of an article of faith, for which men are prepared to die, and is, not for England alone, but for the whole Commonwealth of Nations, the focal point of civic pride and affection.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.