NOTES.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17897, 18 October 1923, Page 4

NOTES.

The quantities of material used in the construction of the New Caledonian Hall which lias just been completed by Mr R. E. Nightingale, are of interest. For the 265 yards of concrete work, 50 tons of cement were used, and 33* tons of steel woro required for reinforcements, etc. Some 200,000 bricks were used and 075 ft of drains laid, while live tons of roofing iron and 45,900 feet of timber were required. The dance floor was constructed entirely of matai, secured in Wellington and its cost was £3OO.

The Tercentenary of Sir Christopher Wren bas result'od in the great architect's personality and works becoming much more familiar to the British people than they ever were before. But there is a good deal more, no doubt, which could bo collected and made public. To this end a Wren Society has beoh formed. It "will hunt out and publish drawings and other documents, of which there are known to bo many in existoncc. It is proposed to issuo annually a portfolio or\ volume containing reproductions of Wren's drawings or illustrations of his buildings, and these publications will bo supplied to all the society's subscriber?.

Messrs D. Scott and Sons, are making good progress with the addition to the Stewards' stand at Addington. Thoy have also made a start with the Kailway Hotel.

For many years public-spirited citizens have beep crusading against the smoke-evil in our cities,, says the; London "Illustrated Carpenter and Builder." At long last their efforts seem likely to bear fruit. Public authorities are awakening, to a sense of their in the matter. The London County Council appointed a committee on atmospheric pollution and. fog prevention, and its report, whifch hafi just appeared, makes some rather drastic recommendations. Tho_ Committee would like to abolish the kitchener; thoy would have the housing authority doclino to sanction schemes which do not provide for smokeless methods of supplying heat; new grates should be of an approVed type, and local authorities should be empowered to make by-, ' laws requiring the provision' of smokeless heating arrangements in new buildings such as hotels and clubs. As , any reform depends largely on the extended use of gas and electricity, the Committee does well to , urge that gas and electricity undertakings should bo encouraged to increase and cheapen their, commodities.

Mr N. MoGillivray is making good progress with his contract for additions to Messrs Wardell Bros. Ho will bp called upon shortly to sign the contract for tho new Builders' Chambers which it is proposed 'to erect in Gloucester strieet. A photograph of the old building tvill shortly be demolished, has been secured.

Ah illustrated article in the "Western Daily Press" tells the fetory of tho inception and development of the Bath brick industry, which is* one bf the oldest and most important in the county of Somerset.' Previous to the war 8.000,000 bricks annually were exported from Bridgewater. As the /genuine article can only be made in that triet, it is curious how the name "Bath" becard© attached to it, but it i* derived from the fact that a man named Bath was one of the first manufacturers of the product. He took out a patent for its production, and for .a time the little blocks were known as ''Bath's Patent Scouring Bricks." The suggestion is often made; however, that Bath bricks were so called because of their similarity in appearane to Batli stone. Nature provides the raw material, for the bricks are made from a peculiar river deposit of mingled mud and 6and which is dug out from the In ilka, of the river Parrett, dried, tnoulded into shape by machinery, aria finally baked to harden.

Mr H. Hinkey is one of the busiest builders in Cliristchurch at the present time. Of the many coptracts which ht> has in hand is included that for additibns to th 9 ,"Public Library, and the construction of bOyej;al shops, at New Brighton. •

One of the most striking, features of the vast re-building schemes now in progress in most parts of London is the beautiful work being carried oilt by the leading shop-fitting firms. This applies both to the exterior fronts and fittings, and also to the 1 interior furnishing and equipment.

The president of the Canterbury Biiilders' Association, Mr W. Williamson, has been out of town for tome time attending to large contracts in Wellington and Nelson.

The Ross Lime Kiln Company is row despatching lime direct to Christchurch, states a West Coaßt paper. The first truck-load was sent through last week, and further supplies are to go forward aa trucks are available. The lime is excellent for building purposes, the analysis showing that it is the host of its kind in the Dominion. "When the quality of the lime is 'better knowu there is sure to be a considerable demand for the commodity from the Eu&t Coast.

Messrs P. Graham and Son are making good progress with the new Public Trust Office in Oxford terrace.

Tenders for alterations and additions to a shop in Papanui road are being invited by Brown and Trengrove.

S. and A. Luttrell are calling for tenders for the erection of a foundry and workshop in brick in Kilmore street for the Canterbury Engineering Company, Ltd.

It is proposed to effect extensive alterations to the Vacuum Oil Company Proprietary, Ltd.'s offices in Moorhouse avenue. England Bros, aro calling fj>r tenders for the work.

Messrs Greenstrcet and Anderson aro inviting tenders for the erection of a house in wood, in-Chapter street for ]>r. J. Whitton.

Tenders will 1 bo received at the Public "Works Office, Christchurch, up till noon on Tuesday, October 30th, for tho Construction of about four chains of concrete wall on the Parnassus-Kai-koura road near Kahautara.

There is at present a considerable dearth of skilled tradesmen in Christchurch. Bricklayers a.nd plasterers are especially hard to secure, and most of tho carpenters in aud around Christchurch have plenty of work offering. It is understood that attractive offers of 3s 6d per hour and fares paid are attracting numbers of plasterers to the North Island, apd a Christchurch architect has stated that the present dearth of skilled tradesmen is liable to have the effect of increasing the cost of building locally. The shortage does not seem to have extended to the plumbing industry as yet. . v

Extensive alterations to Beath and Co.'s premises aro contemplated. Messrs S. and A. Luttrell are the architects.

"THE MODERN GOTHIC."

MR C. K. CHESTERTON'S VIEW.

Under the Heading "The Impossible Cathedral," Mr G. K. Chesterton ex- j plains in "Architecture" .why wo cannot now have a Gothic church. Many bare set out to explain the essential difference between the: mediaeval - and the modern building ways,- and Mr Chesterton's argument is not new'. But he puts it, naturally, i 6 the Chestertonian way, and that is everything. "Nobody supposes," he Bays, "that ,tho world is incapable of producing anybody who can really carve saints in niches or gargoyles oii roofs. Yet we have no gargoyles on ojtr roofs and • very few saints anywhere. Nobody supposes we are actually without the technical talent that could produce a lively devil to dance" for lis. Yet, we look over the Avails of all our public buildings, and haive to lariient a deplorable absence of devils. In short, when I say Gothic I mean, the fullness of Gotliic, the freedom, the fantasy, rind the- caricature. It is well known that the sculptors of the • old churches were often satirists even ol their pirn employers, as well as of the abuses of the age, and would present pleasing pictures of bishops with the beads of asses or foxes, abbots agreeably tormented by demons, Or generally of hypocrites going down to hell. If we lack theso things, it is not bo j much, I fancy, because wo have no hypocrites to go to hell as because we | have no bell ior them to go to. But it is pleasing to think how much might be done with the modern patrons of public buildings, the modern employers of labour, or the hlodgrn moralists and preachers of various philosophies, if only this defect tod difficulty could be overcome* For it must bo confessed' that this defect is the difficulty. In however detached and secular a spirit | we approach the problem, it xemainß true that the architectural system rested on an intellectual system. Jav j deed, the intellectual system was itseif | very architectural. It had a great j affinity tq architecture in its love of i balance and of series. This architectural spirit marked the medußval mind, even wnen it was not dealing with religious classifications like the Seven Sacraments or the Seven Deadly' Bins. It was apparent in its secular humours, as when it talked of the ftine Worthies or the ,Seven Wonders of the World. The difficulty, therefore, is not only the absence of well-distributed individual craftsmanship j but also of welldefined philosophical classification. It would be interesting to speculate on whether a new sort of cathedral could really be built in the modern world, if ever there* Jeallyvwas a modern philosophy. It Would be great fun to sketch out a fanciful scheme of such a symbolic edifice, flanked with allegorical statues of Eugenics and Psycho-Analysis, with complexes flung forth from the walls instead of demons, and angels rejoicing over a birth-control instead of a birth. Whatever form of mediaeval extravagance it might exhibit, I fear the building would fall short in the quality of humour. But my only purpose here is to point out that some modern conditions are llearly obstructing what might eoem a very obvious thing—the real reproduction of oiie particular type of art in tKe past. For' tho present it seems clear that my imaginary cathedral must remain an impossible cathedral, which a man can only see, enormous, in tho clouds."

"•Most of our people live in what is k&otro as the 'open couhtry,' with pli&iity of elbow room atid a chance to Move around," says the "Rural New Yorker." In order to show' some of those people how the other half lives in city skyscrapers that journal publishes the following • 'etatistics:—Tfie Woolworth Building in New York City houfees approximately 12,000 people;, the Singer Building, 2823; the National City Biuik Building, 2500 i the Metropolitan Biiildipg, 8623; tne Equitable Building, 13,5®. In the last-iiamed building there are 63 elevators, and about' 300,000 people pass thrOugft its "Corridors every day—or a larger number I than are contained in the entire States of Nevada and "Wyonunc.