REAL ESTATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 47, 25 February 1927, Page 13

REAL ESTATE.

LAND AND BUILDINGS.

gTBtrCTTJKE XT» ANZAC AVENUE

Already Anzac Avenue is one of die jjggjeat centres in the cut, and the large njnber of buildings that have been er ec:ed within the past few months • ve s a clear indication of its popularity ° om a commercial viewpoint. Last year "uiltoc 3 ot ' a total value °* nearly a m j]]ion pounds were commenced within fortnight of each other, and now that of°them arc receiving the finishing touches there comes to hand the intimation that tenders are being called for another structure in that locality. Plans for a nine-storey structure for General Traders, Ltd.. have been drawn up by •tfr L. S. Piper, Auckland. The new buildhig will i'C a concrete structure, ff ith a fronujrc of COft to Anzae Ave3Ue. and a depth that will take it back into Emily Place. Nino storeys will face _ inzac Avenue, but owing to the fact that the section slope? considerably, the ground floor and the first floor will not open out on to Emily Place. The Anzae Avenue frontage will be occupied by luiir -hops, one taking up most of the ground floor space, and used Iγ the General Traders. Ltd. The remainder will he small lock-up shops. The company will also occupy the first and second floor*, the first being devoted to office space. All other floors will be let as office?. There will be two elevators, a passenger and a goods, while the ground floor entrance from Emily Place will have thi-v ran entrances.* This building will fill another vacant section in Anzae Avenue, and thus the blank spaces will rapidly be utilised in the inarch of progress.

There is no doubt that the building trade is depressed in Christ church at the present time. The position is proved by the number and value of the permits issued by the City Council authorities. Last week the number was 26. Of these, only two represented an expenditure of over fIOW, only eight were over £500. and'nine were for work costing less than £100 in each ca=e. Ninety-five permits lave been issued to date at a value of £15,475, compared with 120, valued at £18.450, for the same period the previous jear.

Plans are out for an up-to-date picture theatre for Timaru. to cost between £20.000 and £30,000. If it is proceeded with, a central «ite will be utilised. Ft h understood that local interests are behind the scheme.

Information has been received of the tompletion by Dormau. Long and Co., Ltd., of a bridge over the Nile at Dessouk, in what must be record time for i work of its magnitude. Only twelve ninths elapsed between the letting of tie contract and the completion of the bridge, and in that time the whole of the steel had to be fabricated and shipped from England to Egypt. The fcridge. which cost £149,000, was 2000 ft long, and consisted of ten spans. Two other big bridge contracts are being earlied out in Egypt by Dorman, Long and Co., Ltd.—one at Khartoum and the other at Atbara.

A MARBLE FLAT. Tiiero is being prepared in Devonshire House, Piccadilly, W., for one of Britain's tobacco magnates, who paid £25,000 for the lease, a large flat which will be like the palace of an idle dream. This flat—which has 25 rooms, Including 5 bathrooms—is on the fourth floor of Devonshire House, and is being decorated by Mr. Oliver Hill, the architect, for the owner. Details of the decorations, which have apparently been thosen without regard to cost, were given to a "Daily Mail" reporter by Mr. Hill. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the dining room will be of sun-coloured marble from Italy. The table will be of Terdite, a dark green marble from Africa, and there will be a sideboard of the same substance. Round the room will •tand four lamps of red and golden onyx, with lights glowing in golden onyx bowls. The room will also be lit by lamps glowing through the suncoloured marble ceiling. The window frames will be of deep yellow Verona marble, engraved with silver, and the doors of oak. The long gallery of the hall has a green marble floor and walls of Hack glass—glass backed with black and silver grey oak. It will be lit byartificial daylight" from the ceiling. One of the bathrooms has oraugetoloured alabaster walls, an ivoryfolortred marble floor, and a partly sunk bath of jade-green marble. One of the bedrooms will be in the Venetian style, with arcaded pilasters of engraved glass, and a colour scheme of Hue, pink, and grey. Another will be panelled in cedar wood.

In the library there will be a mantelpiece of yellow marble and lapis lazuli