(Excerpt from Hospital Sketches
Grateful though I am to t...)
Excerpt from Hospital Sketches
Grateful though I am to them deeply grate ful yet I know little Of_the personal history of the founder of this great hospital which now shelters me, or of that Diamond Jim Brady who built and endowed this noble wing. Still, I feel sure that in many ways these benefactors to their race made their gifts under much the same conditions as those barons and nobles of Old who, led by some deep feeling, devoted their wealth to the saving, not only of their own souls, but Of the souls and bodies of their fellow men.
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
(Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
A Holiday Study of Cities and Ports (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from A Holiday Study of Cities and Ports
North a...)
Excerpt from A Holiday Study of Cities and Ports
North and quickly found an exciting interest in their push and energy, and in the scientific thoroughness with which they prepare easy paths for commerce, or expend the results of their industry in streets and squares and boulevards and public buildings. Such are the rivalries of trade, and so keen is the struggle for existence, if not for pre-eminence, that the seaports of Belgium, Holland, Germany and England, and, in a lesser way, of France, have been driven to vast outlays for the perfecting of their ports and of their transportation facilities. Holland built the North Sea Canal and the Rotterdam waterway and the vast docks to hold the commerce of her two ports, and she has been so abundantly rewarded that still greater docks are planned. The series of docks at Antwerp shows Belgian commercial life in great activity, and vast additions to these accommodations are in contemplation. The marvellous and sudden growth of the German ports and merchant fleets, the building by Germany of the Kiel Canal, the recent great extension of German inland waterways, - all are the expression of the vigorous life of that country. Indeed, a visit to the Hamburg docks is a sight never to be forgotten. London is a larger port, but its business is scattered and its apparatus seems to a casual observer old-fashioned but at Hamburg the docks are so continuous, so systematic, so well ordered, so completely fitted with machinery and so filled with vessels from every clime, that it would be difficult to name any place that gives one a more vivid impression of the powers of humanity.
In these maritime cities commerce is naturally the foundation of prosperity; but 'hardly less interesting than the facilities afforded commerce is the way in which care and system and forethought have also been applied to the extension and beautifying of these same cities as they become prosperous. Certain general principles underlie both the development of these ports and the similar development of the increased city behind the port. Before making a review in detail of such cities as I visited, I will therefore first sketch these principles.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Robert Swain Peabody was born on February 22, 1845 in New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of Ephraim Peabody, minister of King's Chapel, Boston, from 1845 to 1856, and of Mary Jane (Derby) Peabody. His father (Bowdoin College, A. B. 1827), son of a blacksmith at Wilton, New Hampshire, and a descendant of Francis Peabody who settled in New England in 1635, was "a man of keen insight, lofty character and much poetic feeling", while his mother was "a Salem Derby, at a time when that family had acquired in worldwide commerce a wealth considerable in those days".
Education
Robert Swain Peabody spent his boyhood in Boston and prepared for college at Mr. Dixwell's school, entering Harvard with the class of 1866. In college he ranked well in scholarship, rowed on a victorious crew, and was chosen chief marshal on Class Day. Peabody went from Harvard to Paris, soon passed the entrance examinations to the École des Beaux Arts and entered the Atelier Daumet. When he was not working at the school, he was sketching architecture in France, England, and Italy. His chief friends of the Paris student years were Frank W. Chandler and Charles Follen McKim.
Career
In 1870 Robert Swain Peabody came back to Boston to earn his own living. Entirely untrained in office practice, but with a background of Paris study, a skill at sketching, and many influential friends, he formed a partnership with John G. Stearns (Harvard, B. S. 1863), who possessed a marked ability for building superintendence and construction. The firm of Peabody and Stearns lasted with great success for forty-five years, Stearns dying shortly before his partner. Among the many buildings designed by them are Matthews Hall and the Hemenway Gymnasium at Harvard, the old Providence Railroad Station; the Exchange Building and other downtown office buildings, the Telephone Building, Simmons College, the Wentworth Institute and the Custom House Tower, all in Boston; the Groton School at Groton; the City Hall and State Mutual Life Building in Worcester; the State House at Concord, New Hampshire, the Union League Club in New York City, The Antlers at Colorado Springs, the Tip Top House at Pike's Peak, Machinery Hall at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago; buildings at the Buffalo and San Francisco expositions, and numerous private houses at Newport, Lenox, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and elsewhere.
In designing his larger work Peabody tended more and more to a free interpretation of the style of the Italian Renaissance. In domestic architecture his instinctive feeling for the picturesque stood him in good stead. Through his office passed a stream of young draftsmen who later, going out to all parts of the country, were to make names for themselves and to remember his good influence and generosity. The architectural schools at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Harvard owed much to his care and wisdom. He was an Overseer of Harvard from 1888 to 1899. For many years he served as president of the Boston Society of Architects. In 1906 Peabody led his fellow architects in the preparation of a Report Made to the Boston Society of Architects by Its Committee on Municipal Improvement (1907). In 1908, the Society published A Holiday Study of Cities and Ports, from Peabody's pen, a valuable contribution to the Boston problem. His "holiday" had comprised a searching visit to the great ports of Europe.
For many years as director and then as president (1900 - 1901), Robert Swain Peabody loyally served the American Institute of Architects, the national organization of his profession. He placed public service as the first duty of the Institute, and joined enthusiastically in promoting the crusade for the artistic development of Washington, begun during his term as president. Like his ancestors, the "Merchant Venturers of Old Salem, " Peabody loved the sea, which he followed as an able yachtsman. Among his many sketches there are marine scenes with all kinds of craft as well as stately buildings and picturesque villages. He wrote fluently and published a number of articles and books on travel and architecture, all illustrated by himself. These included Note Book Sketches (1873), A Holiday Study of Cities and Ports (1908), An Architect's Sketch Book (1912). Even in his final years of illness Peabody produced a charming little book of imaginary foreign scenes accompanied by appropriate passages in prose and poetry, Hospital Sketches (1916). He died at his summer home at Marblehead, Massachussets, on September 23, 1917. His monument is in King's Chapel, Boston, of which he was warden.
Achievements
Robert Swain Peabody was a co-founder of the Boston architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns. He was famous as a designer of Machinery Hall.
(Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)
Membership
Robert Swain Peabody was a member of the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects and the Boston Architectural Club.
Connections
In 1871 Robert Swain Peabody had married Annie, daughter of John P. Putnam of Boston, who died in 1911. Three children of this marriage survived him. In 1913 he married Helen Lee, daughter of Charles Carroll Lee of Washington, D. C.
