of airy
bridges, of stately gardens and broad expanses?

Daniel H. Burnham had back of him a long record of achievements which
earned for him his title of city builder.

He built the Rookery building and the Masonic Temple in Chicago, and
then was called to various cities where he supervised the erection of
imposing piles which have become landmarks. It was while studying the
relations of these large buildings to their surroundings that he
became interested in his still greater work, which had to do with
squares and blocks and parkways.

Upon the invitation of the Association for the Improvement and
Adornment of San Francisco Mr. Burnham went to the Golden Gate, where
he devoted months to the plans for a new city. A bungalow was built on
the Twins Peaks seven hundred feet above the level of the streets,
from which Mr. Burnham and his staff of assistants could command a
view of the city and the bay. The material which they sought to make
into the perfect city was before them day and night. They saw San
Francisco by sunlight, in fog, in storm or in the blaze of a myriad
lights. As the work progressed the San Franciscans who were interested
in the scheme often climbed to the bungalow to watch the progress of
the work.

The scheme prepared by Mr. Burnham provided first for a civic centre
where all the principal city buildings were to be located and also the
new union railroad station. About this was to be a broad circular
boulevard, a perimeter of distribution, and beyond this a series of
broader boulevards or parkways connecting the hills, which were to be
converted into parks themselves.

About this was to have been the circling boulevard following the shore
line of the peninsula. The scheme included also the extension of the
avenue leading to the Golden Gate Park, known as the Panhandle, the
building of a Greek amphitheater on the Twin Peaks, with a statue of
San Francisco greeting the countries of the Orient. The plan also
provided for a new parade ground at the Presidio and the building of
numerous parks and playgrounds throughout the city. All this was to
have cost millions, but to a man of the largeness of the City Builder
this was a detail which was to be reckoned with year by year.

Now that buildings which were to have been acquired by the city to
make room for the pathways of the ideal San Francisco are in ashes and
twisted beams it may be that the vision of Daniel H. Burnham may soon
be realized.

"It