REAL ESTATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 75, 28 March 1924, Page 8

REAL ESTATE.

LAND AND BUILDINGS.

PROPERTY MARKET QUIET. CONSTRUCTION ACTIVE. There is really no necessity to harp on the same old string and remark upon the remarkable progress of the city and sububan areas in recent years. Everybody who knows Auckland can realise this and, if they are interested in the purchase of sections, or in buildings of any description, the fact will bo even more forcibly to them.

Buildings completed during the present financial year now drawing to a close have been many, and a feature of the construction is that in most cases the wisdom of the adage "the best is the cheapest in the long run" has not been lost sight of. Of course, we in the Dominion have not yet reached the standard in size that prevails in America, but no infant walked without first crawling, and we seem to have reached that stage when we are feeling our legs. In the early part of the present financial year it was confidently anticipated that the value of buildings for which permits would be issued would be in the region of a million and a-quarter, but such an estimate was quickly proved to be well wide of the mark and now we are told that the value of the buildings for which permits were granted is about £2,000,000. This is a vast sum of money, but it appears to be warranted, every penny of it.

The "nigger in the woodpile" whenever a 'building is contempulated is the cost. On all hands it is agreed that the cost has jumped considerably, and both labour and material are at prices far in advance of a few years ago. Speaking to the head of a local body—it was Mr. E. H. Potter, Mayor of Mt. Eden as a matter of fact—"that gentleman mentioned that in excavating and roadmaking work, whereas just prior to the war the price for excavating was from 12/G to 15/ per cubic yard, tenderers now asked 27/6 to 30/. Perhaps this item does not greatly enter into the cost of erecting a building, bvit it is just an instance of how cost has increased.

Although ever} - building in the block of the proposed civic square is being dismantled as soon as a tenant's lease expires it is expected to be about the end of the year before the whole block is cleared and a start is made to build againThe drawback from which Hamilton has suffered in the past in not offering sufficient up-to-date hotel accommodation at bxisy times will be remedied shortly vihen a new three-storeyed concrete building will be erected adjoining the Hamilton Hotel. The two upper floors are to be allocated to bedrooms, each of which will have its own lavatory, wash basin, and hot and cold water. Mr. J. McKinnon, of Hamilton, is the contractor.

From inquiries it appears that the almost unsatisfied demand for building sections which prevailed a month or two back has eased off considerate, and there is not the same amount of business doing. Suitable sections, purchasable on easy deposits, find buyers, but the tightening up of the advances to workers by the Government has made itself felt.

Every vacant spot in and about the city has been snapped up during the last year or two, and, though perhaps all have not yet been built upon, it is pretty safe to say that in a suburb like Mt. Eden there will not be a vacant spot in a few years' time. By the waj r , it might be mentioned that in this select borough the building permits issued this month show a big falling off. You cannot eat the cake and keep it. and as a district gradually fills the building opportunities become less.

Whether or not it may be taken as the barometer recording to gome extent the sound financial position of the country, it is remarkable how many bank institutions are erecting ibranch offices or having extensive alterations made to the main offices. At Whangarei the Bank of Xew Zealand is having erected new premises at a cost of £9733. The building is to be of brick, and the contractor is Mr. Haigh, of Whangarei. Tenders are also being called for new bank premises of brick at Waiuku and Helensvine. The architects in each instance are Messrs. Edward Mahoney and Son.

A fine office of four storeys,, a concrete structure, is being erected for Messrs. Edmond and C. 0. Mahony in Shortland Street, adjacent to the Auckland Club. The contractor is Mr. Geo. Sutherland, and the price about £11,000.

Contracts for business premises during the past week or so touch a value in the vicinity of £70,000. Amongst the buildings may be mentioned one of five storeys in O'Connell Street for the Chancery Chambers* Company. The architects are Messrs. Mullions and Smith, and the contractor Mr. E. C. Fawcett. The price is near £37,000.

A new warehouse, to cost about £9000, is toeing built by Mr. A. H. Wadman in Alexandra Street for Messrs. Pizzy, MeCrea, Ltd.

The new convent in Dominion Road, designed by Messrs. Edward Mahoney and Son, is nearing completion. It is a brick building, with tile roof, and is to provide living accommodation. The cost is about £3000, and the contractors Messrs. Lee and Russell.

Work is now well under way on the building which will provide new offices in Anzac Avenue for the Pukemiro Collieries. The building ' will cost about £14,000, the contractors being Messrs. Grevatt and Son, and the architect Mr. D. Patterson.

Messrs. E. Mahoney and Son are preparing plans for a brick building at Thames for the Bank of New Zealand. The price will touch somewhere about £8500.

The new Roman Catholic Convent building at Onehunga, being built by Mr. Ravenhall at a cost of about £5600, will be of brick, with tile roof, and will have five class rooms accommodating some 250 pupils. It will boast all modern data, and special attention has been paid to light and ventilation.

Recently the foundation stone was laid of a large "Roman Catholic church ■which is to be constructed at Palmerston North. The building is expected to cost about £30,000.

The White Hart block in High Street, Christchurch, which was recently «old for £80,000, was at one time purchased by a air. Charles Day for £46. The vendor was the Canterbury Association. In 1854 the block again changed ownership, Mr. Day disposing of it to Mr. M. B. Hart, who 20 years later was mayor of the cathedral city.

Wellington is going to have a sevenstorey building to contain some 28 flats, each to cost about £2800, and the complete building about £60,000. Another fine structure in Wellington for which the preliminary work has commenced, is the seven-storeyed building for the Huddart Parker Co., and which is to cost £70,000.

One of the most complete find concise paragraphs ever printed for the advice of the prospective home owner regarding maintenance costs and expenses of home ownership appears in a pamphlet titled "How to Own Your Home," prepared by £he division of building and housing, Department of Commerce, New York. It advises: —

"In addition to payments on principal and interest on a home, allowance must be made for some or all of the following expenses: (a) Renewals and repairs, (b) property tax and special assessments, (c) insurance, (d) water tax or rent, (c) accessories and (f) improvements. In addition to the above, some owners add the interest which they would otherwise receive on the amount of their casli payment or equity."

DECORATIVE BACKGROUNDS. HINTS TO HOME BUILDERS. A most comprehensive volume, which should prove interesting to builders in X.Z., has recently been published on the subject of home interior decoration. It includes such subjects as "Lighting," "Interior Finishes," "Building the Colour Scheme,"' and "The Decorative Background"—all coming within the scope of the actual planning of the house, so far as the plastering, painting and paperhanging and electrical work subcontracts are concerned. The chapter on "The Decorative Background" has so much to recommend it to the home decorator, that the following paragraphs are quoted therefrom: "The walls are directly in the line of vision, and, therefore, should be treated with special regard to beauty, though rigidly subordinated in most cases to the furnishings of the room. Soft warm tones of plain neutral colour are easiest for the amateur to manage successfully, but to limit the decornti'ons of the walls to plain, smooth surfaces, finished in quiet neutral tint*, is to ignore the enchanting possibilities of varied texlure, subtle harmonies of colour and interesting pattern: as though one before whom was unrolled nature's vast inspiring panorama of valleys and mountains, sea and sky, should deliberately- restrict his gaze to the little patch of earth about his feet. In Extremely Small Rooms. "In extremely small rooms there is a a certain advantage in a single unbroken tone of colour: it makes them appear larger. In a fair-sized room, however, this is apt to seem monotonous, and lacking in character. One instinctively feels the need of texture and some more vital colour interest. Wallpapers in stippled, blended, fabric and tooled leather effects produce a delightful feeling of texture, and the stipplrs are, of course, less expensive than vhen produced with paint, because much less labour is involved. Such papers, with the exception of tooled leathej, may be classed as plain, as may also the fine diaper patterns, polka dots and tiny sprigged effects; for the individual spots of colour are so small and skilfully combined that they melt into one another at a distance of a few feet, and the observer is conscious only of a pleasing quality of vibrancy and vigor combined with a sense of agreeable texture.

"There is one point to be kept in mind in selecting papers of this description; in many cases the various hues will produce a wholly unexpected colour effect from a distance. A wall flecked witli blue and yellow, for example, become green; one containing blue, yellow and red, or red and green, or green and lavender turns to gray. The reason is that colours thus blended modify each other as do paints when mixed together, and for this reason paper should always be studied at a distance before purchasing, while the best method is to take home a sample roll and try against the wall. Qualities of Patterned Papers. "Given the charm of agreeable texture and harmonious colouring it is still possible to heighten interest by the addition of judiciously chosen patterns. Two qualities which a patterned paper must possess to be successful in the average room are freedom from spottiness and consistent scale. "The design of the whole paper should also be in scale with the dimensions of the room. An extremely bold pattern is overwhelming in a small room, while a tiny conventional design would shrink to insignificance in a forty-foot, twostorey living room such as may be seen in some of the palatial homes of persons of extreme wealth.

"Patterned papers may be divided into two classs; those which possess what may be termed background qualities and those which are distinctively decorative. The first includes plain and broken strips of any width, fascinating little chintz designs, diaper patterns and floral stripes, all of which are restful as well as reasonably decorative.

"In the second are papers too pronounced in designs and colouring to serve as backgrounds which constitute a prominent, and often the chief feature of the room's decoration. They are appropriate for halls, which are usually sparsely furnished and contain little else of a decorative character, and for parlours, "breakfast rooms and many dining rooms. Guest rooms, too, permit more latitude in decorative wall treatments than do bedrooms, which are occupied by the. same individuals practically every night in the year. -.

All the rubbing and all the liniment in the world won't drive the excess uric acid out of your syotem. Uric acid is causing your Rheumatic pains. Rheumo relieves those pains by neutralising the uric acid; it seldom fails to driv-t out the root cause of rheumatism, lumbago, gout and all kindred ailments. A 4/6 bottle contains a week's treatment. Sold by all Chemists and Stores. Buy a largo size bottle, and start your cure to-day. IU4 Barraclough's Magic Nervine Stops Toothache. 1/C everywhere. Proeandra Cures Corns Quickly. 1/C. * (Ad.)