The Manchester Guardian of Thursday, June 5th, contained a very
interesting article from its American correspondent on the new " Zoning " laws of New York. Some four years ago, it appears, new building laws came into effect, which enacted that the height of the cornice line of new buildings above the street might not be more than from one to two and a-half times the width of the street. There are now several big buildings which have been built since the new laws, notably the Shelton Club Hotel, which, to judge from photographs, is certainly a magnificent thing. The new laws are gradually modifying the traditional appearance of the skyscraper. They are forcing the architect to take a larger ground plot for his building and then to make the towers and pinnacles above the cornice line gradually recede. Thus a new and most impressive form of archi- tecture is evolved, something, it seems, between the older American style and the modern German. Con- siderably more sunlight and air is allowed to get into the streets.
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