REAL ESTATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 215, 11 September 1925, Page 11

REAL ESTATE.

— » ■ - LAND AND BUILDINGS. j i IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CITY. ' 1 To the man in the street it would not < appear that there were extensive altera- , tions going on in the Waverley Hotel J or that they had been going on for j nearly five months. Such is, however, the case, and the contract which is in the hands of Messrs. Langley and Dowling is costing in the vicinity of £10,000. The work is being done for Messrs. Hancock and Co., Ltd., and a visit to the hotel leaves no doubt as to the extent of the alterations, which are comprehensive to say the least. An ; interesting feature of the work is that it has been carried out while business has been proceeded with, and not one day has been lost to the hotel. The entire foundations of the hotel have been renewed and strengthened, without a day's inconvenience being caused to the guests. The hotel bars have been considerably enlarged and have been extended to the Union Buildings. A new and up-to-date lounge is now being constructed on the first floor of the Union Buildings and becomes part of the hotel. Every room in the place is being re- j novated and the hotel is being fitted out ; in the most' modern style. The. whole sewerage system has been reconstructed, < the old fittings having been removed '■ and replaced without the public suffering the slightest annoyance. To have ; seen the interior of the hotel five ; months ago and to see it now, it would , not be recognised as the same place. The painters and paperhangers are now at work on the upper floors, and it is expected that the whole work will be finished in another month. The Thames Hotel Site. The work of demolishing the Thames Hotel and Tyrone Buildings is proceeding apace, and the site now resembles ' the after effects of an earthquake. The ; buildings on the Customs Street front- ' age are down to the ground floor and only two or three walls remain standing. The Thames Hotel is falling ] rapidly, but as yet there is no indication as to when the bar will be vacated. An interesting feature that has been : brought to light in the demolition of the hotel and which recalls the Thames Hotel fire of about six years ago, is that a great deal of charred timber is ; being brought down. It is expected I that another three weeks will see the ! last of those buildings, which have for so long stood as land marks in Queen ' Street. The Museum. Steady progress is being made on the , construction of the War Memorial Museum, and the building is gradually rising up to take on a definite appearance. Despite the fact that the weather has not been of the best of late there has been little delay, and the concrete pillars are being erected as fast as possible. Practically all the excavation work has. been completed and the work of finishing off the foundations is well advanced. The Arts Building. The contractors are now approaching the final stages in the construction of the new arts building of the Auckland University College. The cloister parapet, the stone work of the main building, and the club house is almost completed, and the painters are putting the finishing touches to the interior decorative system. With the completion of the work on the exterior of the building, the pointing and carving gives just the right finished appearance. The heavy oak doors have been fitted into place in the main entrance, facing Princes Street and Symonds Street, and they are a handsome set of doors that would be difficult to better. Little remains to bo done in the interior of the building, as the woodwork has been completed, as has also the plastering. The library, which

occupies the ground and upper floors of the southern wing, has been completed except for the finishing coat of varnish. The music room occupies the corresponding position in -the northern wing, and that too is almost finished. The club house, a separate structure, is well advanced. This building is connected with the main structure by a cloister. The women's quarters are on the upper storey, and the men's occupy the lower. A great deal of work has been done in the grounds, and trees and native shrubs have 'been planted. WELLINGTON'S PROGRESS. FOUR MONTHS' BUILDING. If building continues throughout the year as it has commenced, a record will certainly be established, says the Wellington "Post," for already, during the five months since the beginning of the financial year, permits representing buildings to the value of £592,131 have been issued by the City Council: — April £102.238 May £156,479 June £102.953 July £111.28.-5 August £119,12ti £392,131 The August figures, moreover, do not include two very big jobs, both well over £100,000. Of the £119,126 for last month, city permits represented £67,764, Melrose £21,223, Northland £1100, Wadestown £4893, Onslow £1826, Karori £9560, and Miramar 12,760. During the month permits were issued for the erection of 53 dwellings. DECAYING BUILDINGS. An ever-increasing proportion of the architectural news that appears both in the general and the technical Press is taken up with reports and discussions of decaying buildings, and the best methods of preserving them. British members of Parliament dare not stroll or sit on the terrace within three or four yards of the building lest pinnacles or gargoyles should fall on their heads. The cause of the trouble is clear; a thoroughly unsuitable stone—magnesian limestone from Yorkshire—was -used in building the exterior. The experts of 1840 recommended its use, but to-day, taught by experience, everyone who knows anything about buildings knows :ihe destructive effects of the London atmosphere on this and many other building stones. Portland, as Wren discovered long ago, is the most suitable stone for London buildings, and it seems likely that the Houses of Parliament will have to be largely refaced with Portland stone. A NOVEL EXAMPLE. The important extension to Tilbury Seamen's Hospital is a novel example of concrete construction for hospital buildings. Among the many improvements effected under the scheme, provision has been made for two more wards, an up-to-date operating theatre, and a hostel and ballroom for the nurses. One of the new corridors is 100 yard's long. It is exactly a year since the foundation stone was laid, and this is the only piece of stone used in the new buildings, which consist entirely of concrete erected on reinforced concrete rafts. The rafts themselves, Bin thick, have a total surface area of 24,000 square feet. For the construction of the walls the contractors employed an ingenious system of triangular blocks, which in order to speed up the work, were made of rapid-hardening Ferrocrete. Even the picturesque red tiles covering the span roofs are of concrete.