REAL ESTATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 60, 12 March 1926, Page 13

REAL ESTATE.

LAND AND BUILDINGS. m city. The contractors engaged on the -work of altering the Commercial Hotel, at the corner of High and Shortland Streets, have practically finished the hotel proper and are now devoting their efforts to the. building, of the four shops on the Short- I land. Street frontage. ' The shops have risen to the first floor. They -will be of three storeys, the top floor being part of the hotel,. access to •which will be obtained by passages from the present hotel building. Three .shops are at present in the course of construction, the Only remaining building being that of Keaky's book shop. It is probable, that Kealey's will transfer to one of the new shops when they are completed and then go back to their own place when that has been altered. The new block of shops -will be a decided acquisition to that part of the city that has for so long been adorned by old and antiquated buildings. • The alterations and additions to St. Kevin's Arcade, Newton, are almost finished. The .alterations will provide for a number of new shops, flats and garages, and should make c fitting entrance to Myers Park. QUEER BY-LAWS. An interesting article dealing with what is called some anomalies of the building trade in Wellington is published in a local journal. It says:— "One of the queerest of the many queer building by-laws Wellington has to struggle against is that appertaining to air space. For example, a man may wish to build a house upon a windy hilltop, but even though the "air" rampages morning, noon, and night over the section, he is not allowed to build unless he provides so much "air space" within his own boundaries. The ocean, the street, or. the cliff -slopes which, may front or border his section, do not count legally as air space. A curious anomaly is that a person may b.uild an hotel which carries a license -without making provision at all for air space, but if the building be . a private hotel, boardinghouse, or residence, "air space has to 1 be provided at the sides, front, or back; A typical instance ,of .how arbitrary the by-law works was p-cvided when a person made application to b" allowed! to erect up-to-date" flats iv .reinforced con-" crete on a' section fronting a 'pleasant marine • parade, -on -a •- section varying from 60ft ,to 70ft in depth. The reply from the council was that.he "could only' do so provided the building was placed 30ft from' the r.ar boundary of the section. In other -words, though, prepared to replace a dilapidated old .wooden shack with a handsome. modern flat building in permanent material, he is prevented from doing so by a restriction which would not apply if the building were licensed .premises'." CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION. Concrete construction has ..developed much" more'rapidly in the United States than in Great Britain. In road-making, in engineeeririg works, land in house building .concrete is. coining more -and--mere-into favour. Just now the longest single span of.concreic Jn. the." worlds is", being completed at Schenectady, Xew York, as an integral part of the new" Gateway bridge, which crosses ! the ; Mbh:rw"k 'Kiver; The span is 212' feet long, and at it* highest point is 52i'feet. above the water level. Another interest-! ing feature -of the ■ bridge, which is '■ almost a mile' long, is that it includes the first concrete arch ever built "on a curve. Tn the matter of house 1 building, we have evidence of an astonishing in-crease-.in. the number of. concrete blocks manufactured"; -most of" wliich,' though not all. are for domestic building.' In 1020 the output was 50,000.000 -blocks; in 1925' the total is expected'to. exceed 700,000,000. ' V . BUILT WITHOUT WOOD. A house built without wood, nails, or sci'aws. is described ajid; illustrated in the "Miami Daily Xews." The house is a pood-sjzpd one. having 14 rooms; and costing 75,000 dollars. - It is not claimed i for it that the construction is particularly economical, but, of course, all building is very dear in and- around Miami; the centre of the great building boom.-The house is built of interlocking concrete slabs. ' The outside walls are 18 inches thick, and the ceilings and inside walls, which are of the same. • material, are six inches thick. The window trims are fit ■ magnesite composition, and the ' windows are of plate glass eliding, in grooves, and without any of the customary hardware. The floors are of cement tile and the roof is covered with old Spanish tiles; the chimneys, portico columns,; etc., are of concrete. With' 18 inch concrete walls, the house enould be very durable.