REAL ESTATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 281, 27 November 1925, Page 11

REAL ESTATE.

LAND AND BUILDINGS.

ACTIVITIES IN THE CITY.

The vacant section lying next to St. Paul's Chureb in ■ Symonds Street is about to be-built on. It is the intention of Miss B. Spencer, teacher of dancing, Auckland, to have erected a building of flats, beneath which there will be a iarge danciug hall. The structure will be constructed in Georgian style, and finished in red pressed brick. The frontage to Symouds Street will be 4Cft, and the front entrance will be set back 20ft from the roadway. The first floor will be made up of two flats, and the second storey will contain three flats. The whole building will be set off by a flat roof. On the basement there is to be constructed a hall, 75ft by 38ft, with a specially-built dancing floor. Adjoining the, ball will bo another smaller hall, which will be used as a supper room and for dancing. The whole length of the danciug hall will be glassed in, and so built as to permit of the utmost ventilation and light. The hall will be furnished with built-in lounges. Tha_ entrance to the hall will be from the church end of the property. The flats will be constructed in brick and concrete with woodwork furnishings. They will be equipped in the most modern style, and designed in a novel manner. The contract price runs into five figures. There is any amount of activity in the building line at present. Good progross is being made with the Dilworth Trust building at the corner of Queen and Customs Streets, where the first skeleton framework is making an appearance. The new building for the Bank of New South Wales at the top of Upper Queen Street is being proceeded with, and up to the present the foundations have been sunk and a start made on the actual structure. The new Training College in Epsom Avenue, Mount Eden, is almost .ready for occupation, and represents a wellconstructed building. The finishing touches are now being put to it. The new wing, which was only started on a few weeks ago, is well on the way towards completion. The new block of shops, for Messrs. John Fuller and Sons, at the top of Symonds Street, is being proceeded with, and the framework is beginning to take on a definite shape. Good progress is also being made with the new building for the Universal Motor Company, in Symonds Street. The foundations are down, and the actual building ie being gone on with. FROM OVERSEAS. The Hastings Town Council have decided to erect fifty steel houses in the locality. That is not the only housing item in the council's scheme. In the old town a much-needed clearance has been made Seven blocks of flats are to be erected on the Hatton House estate for tenants displaced by the clearance scheme.

The Housing and Town-planning Committee of the Leicester Council are in negotiation with the Leicester and District Building Trades Employers' Association for the erection of 400 brick houses at a cost of £290,831.

An example of rapid house construction is in evidence near Barnsley just now. The Darton Main Colliery Company are laying out a village on garden city lines to accommodate their employees, and the scheme, comprising the erection of 200 dwellings, was commenced in February this year. Of this number, 170 are already nearing completion, several having been passed for occupation, and it is estimated that the whole of the work will be finished by December.

A commencement has been made on the erection of a new block of buildings at St. Thomas' Hospital, on the Albert Embankment, London, designed to give accommodation for students and staff. The cost is estimated at approximately fCO.OOO. The architect is Mr. H. W. Currey, T.S.I.

Experiments with the object of discovering the ideal tennis hard court have been conducted for several months by the British Portland Cement Association, and a trial court in red concrete is now being laid on a Westminster roof. A satisfactory pigment for colouring the concrete has been discovered, but further research will be required to find the best method of laying this mixture. Careful records which are being taken arc expected to furnish valuable information on the subject. The work is under the direction of experts from the association's laboratory. They measure and record the quantities of water, cement, and other material used, and even take thennometric readings. If there is the slightest sign of disintegration the concrete is immediately taken up and relaid in a different mixture.