Since the passing of the Metropolis Manage ment Act of 1855 great changes have been made in the condition of London. The gigantic operations connected with the sewerage of London and the embankment of the Thames, from Blackfriars to Chelsea on the north side, and from Westminster Bridge to Vauxhall on the south, have produced great changes, while important lines of streets have opened up dis tricts formerly almost inaccessible. These operations have also absorbed the former little rivers and rills, leaving only a corner, an alley or a street — for example, Fleet street —with their name for a monument. In all the districts of London, and particularly in the city and west end, there has been great improvement in the quality of architectural decoration and in public buildings, and stone has to a considerable extent replaced brick and plaster, though not so far as to change the aspect of some localities. Though some of the leading streets are wide, others are narrow and irregular. The decora tive character of the streets about Lombard street, and the Mansion House in the city, has been fostered by the growth of numerous bank ing and insurance companies, while the new office and store buildings in various quarters, especially the one opposite Saint Mary-le Strand, the hotels and apartment-houses on the American steel structure plan, have added an entirely new style of brick architecture.
"'The City" — the historic centre of London — is bounded south by the Thames ; it extends north to Charterhouse Square, east to Middle sex street and west to the New Law Courts. Till 1878 this last boundary was marked by Temple Bar, an old gateway crossing Fleet street near the Temple; but in that year this structure was removed, and a memorial .was erected on the site. The portion of the city inside the area of the former mediaeval walls is known as °London within the walls° ; and all the wards are bounded by the site of the old walls; the portion outside extends irregularly all around and is known as °Landon without the walls.° Of the streets that run through modern London the most important from west to east is that which enters from Kew into Hammersmith, and passing through Kensington forms the finest of all the approaches to London. It stretches on through Brompton, Knightsbridge and Piccadilly, past fashionable Belgravia, with Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and Padding ton on the north, and with Apsley House and numerous other palatial edifices facing the Green Park, which constitutes its south bound ary for about half the length of Piccadilly. This line is broken at the east end of Pic cadilly, but passes by Regent street (or by the Haymarket) and Trafalgar square into the Strand, which continues it farther east and much nearer the river, and it stretches on past the Temple, along Fleet street, Ludgate Hill, Saint Paul's Churchyard, where it runs into Cannon street, leading to the Tower on one side, and on the other into Cheapside, Poultry, Lombard street, Fenchurch street, Aldgate and by Whitechapel road and Mile-end road through the congested poorer districts to the county boundary at Bow. The next great artery be
tween the west and east extends along the Uxbridge road from Acton, entering the county boundary at Shepherd's Bush and pass ing through Notting Hill, along Oxford street, through Holborn and Newgate street, where it joins the more south line above described, at the west end of Cheapside. Farther north is a third line, extending from near Kensington Gardens, through and Cambridge Ter race along the Marylebone, Euston, Pentonville road, to Islington, and thence by the city road to Finsbury square. Among the leading thoroughfares running north and south the extreme west is Edgeware road, which enters the county at Kilburn, terminating at its south extremity in Oxford street, from which it runs northwest, but communicating through Park lane with Piccadilly, a little to the west of which, from Hyde Park Corner place, Gros venor place leads down to Buckingham Palace road, from which Vauxhall road forms a con necting line with the river. Park lane and Grosvenor place on this line contain many of the most select residences of the aristocracy. East of the Edgeware road, Regent street with Portland place, Tottenham Court road with Charing Cross road, and other connecting lines leading to Westminster, Pimlico and Chelsea, Gray's Inn road, and the line of Chancery lane, Farringdon street, etc., leading to Fleet street and Blackfriars Bridge, form some of the most important communications in this direction. Piccadilly and Pall Mall, running east and west, Bond street, Regent street and Saint James' street, north and south, are among the most fashionable streets in the West End, each with its own diStinctive character. Bond street con tains the shops most patronized by the aristoc racy; Regent street, according to some tastes the handsomest street in London, is the fashion able promenade and has some of the finest shops. It unites by Portland place in the north with Regent's Park and Primrose Hill Park, and intersects Oxford street and Piccadilly, and reaches south to Waterloo place, by which it communicates with Saint James' Park. Tice greatest and most picturesque thoroughfare in London, not of an exclusively mercantile char acter, is the line of the Strand and Fleet street. By the clearing away of congested streets, and the construction of Kingsway and Aldwich, the largest and most important improvement has been carried out since the construction of Regent street in 1820, and a connection given between North and South London at that part which needs it most.