Architecture: Its Evolution in City and Suburbs.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 284, 1 December 1898, Page 40 (Supplement)

Architecture: Its Evolution in City and Suburbs.

[ERE are two distinct causes which , haVe "retarded 'architectural ' 'advancement i n Auckland. The first, in relation to the business premises of the town, is sim?ly the restriction of expenditure combined with the absence of a good local building stone. 'It is .impossible to make handsome buildings when cheapness is- a primary consideration. The second militating factor in local' architectural progress applies to the suburbs. It is the fact that no style of residence with which builders were familiar was exactly applicable to local conditions; and the pretty wooden houses so widely met with in our suburbs to-day are not the result of the work, of one-man, but the combined advance made by a' series of men—each adding some attractive feature to a gradually developing model. Our architects "for the most part received their education in Britain, and therefore laboured under a great disadvantage in !a country whose natural conditions and climate were so widely divergent from what they had been accustomed to. It speaks well for the broadness of these men that as a rule they did not attempt to adhere to old traditions, but quickly began to modify the styles with which they were familiar. The adoption of the vefrindah in suburban residences and its application to shops, was 'among the first innovations. The verandah, almost unknown in Europe and North America, was the outcome of experience in. tropical climates and was adopted with considerable advantage in Australasia. While Auckland has laboured under the disadvantage of not possessing good building stone, quarries, such drawback has been much more than compensated for by the natural endowment of valuable building timbers, found over great areas .of the country. No more suitable timber for all-round purposes is known than the kauri, and the cheapness of ', land and timber has enabled many, who' in 1 other countries would have been obliged to rent their homes, to • build for themselves, ,

CITY BUILDINGS

This question of timber has, however, little bearing on buildings in the important business • parts of town, for the regulations now rightly prohibit the erection of wooden 'buildings withih a certain area. Debarred'by the cost of carriage from commonly employing building stones of variousdeseriptions in the construction of their business premises, Aucklanders have very largely had resource to bricks. The clays of the surrounding country are very suitable for brick making, and the majority of business premises to-day are erected almost entirely, of brick. The average, taste seems in favour of facing with cement, though finished .brick buildings, like the Victoria Arcade, -when, the bricks are of •the right colour, are undeniably pleasing,to the eye,.; 7 • Auckland can boast many fine public and commercial buildings, but owing ; to the -fact that they are soinew'hat scattered, .at first" sight the'ijtown does-not convey the ' ihipressipin of ' being- '.well built. In Auckland' the. process of rbringing the huildlngs "of the main street, and its near branches, to something like uniformity of size has been slow. A great change in the architecture has, however, been noticeable in the last