lodge on the north side of the garden, of which, and of the whole ground, a fine

Fifth Avenue, corner Fifteenth-street.

view is obtained from the terrace of the Croton Reservoir; while two or three old trees still standing in the garden on that side add to the semi-rural character of the edifice.

The above is a specimen of our "Domestic Architecture;" which, we think, considering its very recent pretensions to attraction as a fine art, has made a far more satisfactory progress than our public, commercial, or ecclesiastical structures, except in a few instances. For the sake of our distant, and foreign readers, we may add, that the interiors of the stores, hotels, and private dwellings we have represented, are, besides being replete with every modern convenience, in point of decoration and furniture, of a more elaborate, showy, and generally tasteful character than the exteriors; and, owing to the greater diffusion of wealth and luxury, more rich and costly than those of corresponding buildings in Europe.

Objections have been made, on moral and economical grounds, to the display of wealth and splendor in architectural decoration, but, we cannot think with justice: we regard it as the mere natural and normal expression of progress, the counterpart of that formerly exhibited by the great commercial republics of Italy and Holland. Luxury is a vice, only when it is extravagance in an individual: the private vices of ostentation and extravagance become public benefits to trade and industry. The due scale of expense for every grade of society can never be fixed by lawgiver or moralist. The sump

tuous environments of the richest merchant are by use and familiarity no greater luxuries to him, than more homely comforts are to the mechanic; and in a country, where all are striving to get rich, it may seem to be hypocrisy and envy, to cavil at the use and display of riches. But, viewed in a public light, every external indication of prosperity tends to add attractions to a city, and to promote its increase and influence in more important objects.

The Bowery Savings' Bank was not included in our former illustrations of public buildings of that kind. We venture

to pronounce this one of the most original and successful compositions of its size and class which we hitherto possess. It may be a little overloaded with ornament, not of the best taste, but it has higher claims to praise, than the mere application of ornament. It is a well studied design. and unites variety and uniformity, relief and prominence, light and shade, in a remarkable degree. It will be observed that the main division of the front into three compartments is not arbitrary, but suggested and demanded by the three doorways required. This is also a sufficient reason for making the windows over

the doors larger and richer, and of different shape from the intermediate ones. But the centre doorway and windows are, besides, made wider than the two side ones, with the addition of three-quarter columns to the door to make it the main point of attraction. The entablature over these columns, and the upper cornice of the building, are the bonds of unity to the composition; while the parapet is divided by the balustrades into five compartments to correspond to the first story below. The variation of the upper window-heads, and the insertion of the two small panels in blank spaces otherwise too bare, are

finishing touches to design, which show the hand of an artist.

It is very natural and very proper that the commercial buildings of a commercial city, should be in themselves the embodiments of the city's greatness and wealth. We are a churchgoing people, undeniably, and our churches are among the most conspicuous monuments of our thrift and prosperity; but it is in our stores and banking houses that the real feeling of our merchants is most palpably embodied. Our banks for savings, which mightreasonably be plain and unostentatious, are among the most showy and beautiful of our financial

buildings.

The savings-bank in Chambers-street is a grand and solid structure of granite, and there is a highly ornamental façade of polished white marble, now in course of erection, in Broadway, for the Broadway Savings Bank. The Seamen's Savings Bank on the corner of Pearl and Wallstreets, of brown free-stone, is one of the handsomest and most imposing buildings in the business quarter of the city.

While "Broadway, New-York," is the most famous and oftenest-borrowed name of any street in the United States, and perhaps the only one that has any European name and celebrity, the curiosity of our untravelled readers may be excited to inquire, what street and city in Europe do Broadway and New-York most resemble? Formerly, when so many trees were on the sidewalks, our first impres sion was its resemblance to a Parisian Boulevard; that is, one of those wide streets, lined with trees, that form a belt round the city of Paris. And, from the

abundance of its foreign population, we still think the general aspect of our city a medium between that of Paris and a sea-port of the Netherlands; with the addition of an atmosphere, not second in brilliance to Italy. But the peculiarity of Broadway consists in its being not only the principal, but the only main artery of the city, not only the focus, but the agglomeration of trade and fashion, business and amusement, public and private abodes, churches and theatres, barrooms and exhibitions, all collected into one promiscuous channel of activity and dissipation. As Paris is France, so is Broadway New-York: but this should not be. Fresh channels are imperatively demanded by its present over-crowded state, when.carts and omnibuses are daily at a dead-lock for half an hour together, and the pedestrian, desirous of crossing, stands in the situation of the rustic in Ilorace, waiting upon the bank until the river has run by! Whether the with

drawal of the licences of so many omnibuses, the substitution of a railway, or the widening and continuing of other streets to the Battery, are to effect this improvement, or whether they are not all required together, this is not the place to determine. We would only hint at a few other improvements required, before Broadway can be a thoroughfare worthy of the city such as the perfect cleansing of the streets, the removal of obstructions from the side-walks, of the few still remaining wooden shanties, and low groggeries, as well as of vulgar, obtrusive, and disgusting exhibitions, that disgrace the name of Museums. As in trade we put our best goods foremost, so let us at all events keep our inevitable vices, follies, and vulgarities in the background. A great metropolis must have its bright side. But there are no evils without corresponding advantages; and, viewed in connection with the influence of New-York upon the whole United States, all such evils sink into significance, compared with the national, liberal and cosmopolitan spirit that is generated only, by one acknowledged central city of a great country; that shall frown down all local animosities, and sectarian bigotries, and give its stamp of approval to the political will of the majority, to commercial credit and enterprise, to medical and judicial knowledge, and to general literature and

education; as well as become "the glass of fashion and the mould of form" in matters of taste, and in the fine arts; the value of which is now universally attested in teaching the world.

"To live like brothers, and conjunctive all
Embellish life."

But, as we have before observed, NewYork is only beginning to develope herself, and every day is tending to make her what she inevitably must be, in spite of the jealous opposition of neighboring towns, the queen city of the Atlantic-the great metropolis of the West. NewYorkers are too much absorbed in their schemes of business and pleasure to take heed of the rivalries and jealousies of their neighbors; they find the wealth of the world pouring into their hands, and have no time to waste upon the angry feelings of those who envy their more fortunate condition. The complaint that New-York is the worst governed city in the Union, and the most neglected by its own inhabitants, is, unquestionably, well founded as relates to the management of its municipal affairs; but then this mismanagement and neglect, however much they lead to inconveniences and disorders, are owing to the rapid growth of the city, and the overwhelming flood of business constantly pouring in upon the people which give them no time to attend to public affairs.

soon cease to be the main artery of the city and will become a mere channel for the commercial life of the city to ebb and flow in; it terminates, properly, at Union Square, and above this point lies now the most beautiful part of the city; nearly every one of the illustrations we have given, in this article, of the domestic architecture of New-York are of examples in streets

above Union Square. The finest residences are to be found in the magnificent avenues which stretch away through the centre of the island towards the Harlem river; of these the Fifth and Second avenues are now the noblest, and present the most splendid ranges of private residences. Crossing these magnificent streets at right angles, and leading from river to river, are Fourteenth, Twenty-third, and Thirtyseventh streets, each of them a hundred feet in width, and containing residences of great beauty and truly splendid proportions. Every street below Union Square is destined to be converted to business purposes, but it must be many years before commerce will invade the sanctity of the great avenues above it, excepting those that have been devoted to trade in the beginning, such as the Third, Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth Avenues; regions of which many old inhabitants who reside below Union Square know hardly more than they do of Belgravia or the Boulevards. The illustrations in this article do

but indicate the general character of our new streets, for there are many noble squares and places from which we have not taken a single example. Union Square, Madison Square, Gramercy Park, Stuyvesant Square, and Tompkins Square all contain private residences of palatial pretensions, which have been erected within these few years past; then, there are the Second Avenue, Madison Avenue, Fourteenth-street, and Lexington Avenue, from which we have borrowed nothing, although either of them might have furnished a greater number of examples of fine houses than we have given. NewYork is no longer what Cooper the novelist called it, (C an extension of common places;" wealth and fashion have begun to crystallize in certain spots which they have appropriated as their own domain, and natural centralization is accomplishing for our society what laws could never effect.

The growing scarcity and dearness of building lots are producing a great revolu