GROWING UP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 69, 23 March 1937, Page 5

GROWING UP.

NEW CITY SKYLINE.

- PROGRESS OF WELLINGTON.

RAPID BUILDING ADVANCE.

Modern buildings have been springing up in the centre of Wellington so rapidly during the last four or five years ( that occasional visitors find they have to readjust their impressions. This i growth is continuing undiminished, and ' several prominent buildings in course of ' construction are now rapidly taking shape. Other sites have been cleared ' and when the Government's proposals for the completion of Parliament Buildings get under way the city's skyline will change still more. The spacious new railway station is nearing completion, and its surroundings are being cleaned up, making a great difference to the appearance of the city from many viewpoints. The removal of the old Lambton Station will soon begin, and the old offices that have gone are already almost forgotten. What has been a vast mass of steel girders for months is now taking the form of a huge office building to house the Government Life Insurance Offices on Customhouse Quay, and in many other parts of the city alterations and new works are going on all the time, many of the new structures being more or less hidden as they are built to extend the back premises of existing shops or offices. Towards the east the greatest activitiy is around the new Central Fire Station, which promises to be thoroughly modern as a fire brigade's quarters and a fitting part of the city's amenities. . ". "Face-cl«aning" in Progress. Apart from actual modernised frontages to buildings, a considerable amount of work has been done or is in progress on buildings in the city. Many fairly modem premises have become tarnished with the grime that is unavoidable where large ships pour forth smoke a few hundred yards away, and the neglect of the depression years.

added to their drab condition. Some of these have been cleaned up and several brick frontages have been made bright and cheerful with a shiny coat of covering material through which the bricks look new once more.

In several places expensive operations are being carried out at ground level or below, and when these are completed massive foundations will be ready for new buildings. The Government block at the ' back of the State Advances Corporation's offices is typical of these, extensive excavations having been made there to provide a base for a large block of offices.

While the change in the appearance] of the city may appear gradual to those' who live in Wellington, to the visitor it is most marked, and when the site of the Centennial Exhibition is chosen even greater changes can be expected. By the time New Zealand celebrates her centenary many of the outworn structures that have formed a part of the city will be gone, and the second cenItury will begin with new facilities for ithe business life of the future.