NEW CHIEF POST OFFICE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21886, 12 September 1936, Page 14

NEW CHIEF POST OFFICE

Tenders to be Called Soon MR CECIL WOOD TO BE ARCHITECT MINISTER’S STATEMENT Tenders for the construction of the new Chief Post Office in Christchurch will be called within two or three months, according to an announcement made to “The Pressj’ last night by the Minister in charge of the Post and Telegraph Department (the Hon. F. Jones). Mr Jones, who was interviewed when he passed through Christchurch on his way from Dunedin to Wellington, also announced that Mr Cecil Wood, of Christchurch, had been appointed architect for the whole of the building, the cost of which will be about £200,000. Mr Jones said that Mr Wood would proceed at once with the designs for the portion of the building facing Hereford street. This part of the building will occupy all the fairly extensive area of land running back to and adjoining the telephone exchange and also the land on which the old Colonial Bank building stood. A tender for the demolition of this building was let about two months ago, and most of this work has been completed. A building of five storeys would be constructed on this site, said Mr Jones. That would be the first step in the programme of rebuilding. The plans for this building would be completed in two to three months, and tenders would be called immediately they were ready. The staff in the Chief Post Office would move into this building as soon as it was completed, and the demolition of the Chief Post Office would be commenced to make way for a sevenstorey structure. According to an announcement made a year ago by the DirectorGeneral of the Post and Telegraph Department (Mr G. McNamara), the cost of erecting the Hereford street block will be about £ 50,000, while the cost of the seven-storey building will be more than £ 150,000. Later the department will undertake the construction of another building further down Hereford street, on land opposite the Police Station. When the present store is demolished, it will be necessary to build a temporary store on this site, but later a new building will be constructed to house the permanent wholesale store. The permanent retail store controlled by the department will be housed in the new portion of the Hereford street block, with other departmental offices. Mr Wood’s Qualifications Mr Wood is particularly well qualified for the position of architect for the new post office. His most recent work for the Government was the design of the State Fire and Accident Insurance Office in Worcester street, the building being completed in August last year. He also designed the Public Trust Office in Oxford terrace, as well as the Public Trust Offices in Dunedin and Timaru. He has acted as professional adviser on the designs for the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum, the War Memorial Art Gallery and Museum in Auckland, the Auckland Civic Centre scheme, and last year was appointed adviser on the designs for the new central library in Wellington. Some of Mr # Wood’s work in Christchurch includes the Hare Memorial Hall at Christ’s College, St. Barnabas’ Church at Fendalton, and “Bishopscourt,” the residence of the Bishop of Christchurch. Another of his works that has drawn the highest praise is the church at Tai Tapu erected by the Hon. Sir R. Heaton Rhodes, M.L.C., in memory of Lady Rhodes. Mr Wood is a past-president of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.