"The Old Bank Stores."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2959, 28 April 1893, Page 2

"The Old Bank Stores."

MR ANDREW ORR'S NEW DBA PERI.

Thore is no'hing at all about the fine new building just completed by Messrs Muir and Reid, to be used by Mr Andrew Orr as a drapery establish a, en t, that would enable an old Ashburtonian of the " seventies " to connect it with the East street of thafc day—nothing but the site, and that, too, has grown; for the shop now completed covers a far larger area than di I its predecessor. The old shop, it will be remembered, was a two-storey building, but it was dumpy and stunted in height as all the buildings of prehistoric Ashburt<">n wera, and many were the additions and alterations that were ma<3e to accommodate the business of Mr Orr, which sjrew with the growth of the town aand district, and spread itself abroad like gieen bay tree. The time came, however, when further tinkering conld not be proceeded with—'When toleration of the discomfort and inconvenience of the upper floor arrangements and the cramped condition of affairs below had reached its limit, and more room in one straight line was imperative. This the old building could not supply, and a structure new fr<>m the foundation and equal to all possible demands for the present, with provision made for easy extension in the future, should that be found necessary, was resolved upon by Mr Orr and his landlord—Mr Bullock. Their minds made up as to what they wanted, gr*ss did not grow between resolution and execution. The plans were put in hand at once, and the bricklayers were busy with the outside walls while the shopmen went on with the nales inside. When all the building had been done that could be done without disturbing the sellers of purple, and fine linen, these had to give place, and seek other quarters in which to temporarily display their satin for the temptation of the daughters of Eve. Room was found in the Old Town Hall for a time, and work at the building of the new shop went merrily ou. Now, it is finished, and Mr Orr and his staff are back again on their old site, in their new house. The building is of but one roomone long free sweep of 100 feet, back almost to the right of way, and its width is 31 feet. The style of the front is almost uniform with Mr John Ore's property and the 6hops erected by Mr Bullock on the site of those destroyed by the fire last year, but the work not quite finished here but wi'l be pushed en with all speed. The front is all glass that can be made of glass, so that light at that end of the room cannot be scarce while daylight endures, while to lighten the other portions of the vast floor room | five large well skylights, planted at short , zig-zag intervals, pierce the roof. With such a business as Mr Orr's some sort of partitioning is &n absolute necessity, and one is encountered about sixty feet down the room, but it again is pierced by two large arches, one daintily draped with gauze curtains that give to the male eye that "nod which is as good as a wink " of warning that that corner is sacred to a kind of garraenture for which he has no personal use, the nomenclature of which he has but scant inducement to study, seeing that the literature of it never meets him but in the shape of a bill, and he has only one way of reading it that is satisfactory to the bill's cause— pny ! Behind this drapery is found the show room for the ladies— quite a fairy bower, while beyond tn*e second arch the public space is devoted to boots, etc. Behind this again are Mr Crr's private office, and another for his accountant. Tnere should be no want of comfort in either of those snuggeries, which are both well appointed, and fully lighted. But we find the great theatre of business in the ample front space of the shop. The countering and shelving are not yet complete. In the former makeshifts are doing duty on one side pending the vumploKonol the new fittings, and in the latter it is intended to carry the shelf tiers up the whole of the fourteen feet between floor and ceiling. When all are in position there will be 100 feet of countering, and an amount of shelving that, given in feet will go well into five figures, A deep column of show cases, &c , runs down the centre of the room, and makes a division between the drapery and clothing departments, giving at the same time means of displaying such classes of goods hs require a fair amount of space in which to show their merits. Mr Orr thought of making use of some™ of his old gas fittings in the new shop, but after they had been used along with the fine row of lights on the drapery side, the lopsided appearance presented by the clothing made it at once apparent that the work of Messrs Adams and Hyde, gasfitters, was not yet by any means finished. When it is, and when all the little ends of work yet to be done are gathered up, Mr Orr and his staff will occupy as comfortable and convenient a shop as is to be found in the colony—certainly for room, light, and appointment it cannot be excelled, and we wish Mr Orr a speedy run to fortune in the new house.