_Gwyn's London and Westminster_ (Vol. ii., p. 297.).--A reference to Mr.
Croker's _Boswell_ (last edit. 1847, p. 181.) may best satisfy § N.
"Gwyn," says Mr. Croker, "proposed the _principle_, and in many
instances the _details_, of the most important improvements which have
been made in the metropolis in our day." Was this copied into the
_Literary Gazette_?
Mr. Sydney Smirke speaks favourably of Gwyn's favourite project, "the
formation of a permanent Board or Commission for superintending and
controlling the architectural embellishments of London." (_Suggestions_,
&c., 8vo. 1834, p. 23.)
J.H.M.
Bath.
_Gwyn's London and Westminster_ (Vol. ii., p. 297.).--Under this head §
N. inquires, "Will you permit me, through your useful publication, to
solicit information of the number and date of the _Literary Gazette_
which recalled public attention to this very remarkable fact:" namely,
that stated by Mr. Thomas Hunt, in his _Exemplars of Tudor Architecture_
(Longmans, 1830), to the effect that the _Literary Gazette_ had referred
to the work entitled _London and Westminster Improved, by John Gwynn_.
London, 1766, 4to., as having "pointed out almost all the designs for
the improvement of London which have been _devised_ by the civil and
military architects of the present day."
In answer to the above, your correspondent will find two articles in the
_Literary Gazette_ on this interesting subject; the first in No. 473.,
Feb. 11. 1826, in which it is mentioned that _Mr. Gwynn_, founding
himself in some degree upon the plan of _Sir C. Wren_, proposed
"To carry a street from Piccadilly through Coventry Street,
Sydney's Alley, Leicester Fields, Cranbourn Alley, and so to
Long Acre, Queen Street, and Lincolns Inn Fields, and thus
afford an easy access to Holborn; he also recommends _the
widening the Strand_ in its narrow parts," &c.
I need hardly notice that by the removal of Exeter Change, the
alterations near Charing Cross, and the more recent openings from
Coventry Street, along the line suggested by Mr. Gwynn, his designs have
been so far carried out.
The second paper in the _Literary Gazette_ was rather a long one, No.
532., March 31. 1827. In it Mr. Gwynn's publication is analysed, and all
the leading particulars bearing on the "_old novelties_ of our modern
improvements" are brought to light.
The whole is worth your reprinting, and at your service, if you will
send a copyist to the _Literary Gazette_ office to inspect the volume
for 1827.