CHRISTCHURCH TOWN HALLS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29910, 25 August 1962, Page 8

CHRISTCHURCH TOWN HALLS

Proposals Recalled Long Afterwards

[By

ROBYN JENKIN]

(Specially written for "The Press")

In “The Press” last Saturday, Miss Robyn Jenkin told the story of early Christchurch town halls.

This article will deal with three proposals for a town hall, entertained at one time or another, by the City Council during years not far removed from that earlier period. On March 6, 1877, the Christchurch City Council passed a motion to take steps to acquire possession of town section 733 (the site at present occupied by the United Service Hotel) and to borrow a sum of £30,000 to purchase the same. The City Council desired to widen Colombo Street at its junction with Cathedral Square, and to build a town hall on the section in question which was only partly built on and returned its owner, R. M. Morten, £2,000 per annum by way of rents and ground rents. Morten had paid £3,750 for the section.

The Christchurch City Council decided to have the question aired at a public tneeting, which it convened at the Oddfellows Hall in Lichfield street. An influential ratepayer at the meeting, Mr W. H. Wynn-Williams, denounced the scheme roundly. •For the City Council to acquire the property compulsorily (under the Public Works Act, 1876) would amount in his view to nothing short of public confiscation. He saw no need for a Town Hall and said that such a building would only encourage the Mayor and Councillors to give balls and parties which the city could not afford.

It was proposed to exhibit publicly all the designs received. A “schedule of the accommodation” required, included the following:— “Main Hall: Seating accommodation about 3000 exclusive of performers; stage to accommodate the city organ, chorus of 300 voices and orchestra of 50 instrumentalists; floor to be suitable for dancing; dressing rooms and ccnveniences connected with stage; ticket office (including office of manager); balcony on south-eastern corner of the site to accommodate 50 persons standing; smoking room and card room.” In addition to all this there was to be a concert hall with seating accommodation for about 800 persons. Generous provision was to be made for a council chamber and for the offices of the Council’s staff. A cellar was to be provided, with a floor space of 3000 super feet, a part of which was to serve as a strong room for storing Council records.

Two weeks later a poll of the ratepayers was held to determine the question of the purchase. As people came to register their votes, they could se; a bell-man walking up and down in front of the polling booth; and that he called out in a stentorian voice, “Remember, no fresh rates! Poll early and don’t forget." When the votes came to be counted at the end of the day, the result was announced as follows: For the proposal, 114; against, 616. 1879 Suggestions

In March, 1879, an Order-in-Council enabled the City Council to use for the purpose of a town hall a site in Victoria square bounded towards the north-west by Oxford terrace, towards the east by Colombo street, and towards the south-west by Victoria street In the following May there appeared in the daily newspapers the following advertisement: “The City Council of Christchurch is prepared to receive designs for a Town Hall and Municipal Offices in accordance with the conditions and plan of site deposited at the offices of the Town Clerk at Dunedin. Auckland, Wellington, Nelson. Hokitika, Oamaru, Timaru. Napier. Wanganui, Invercargill and Christchurch. Premiums offered are £lOO for the best design and £5O for the second. . . . F. T. Haskins, Town Clerk.” The Council had cast a wide net, and by the end of July 24 designs for a Town Hall had been submitted to it. These were displayed in a shop window in Hereford street and were scanned by passers -by whose general feeling, according to the “Canterbury Times,” was that “such buildings could not possibly be erected for the specified sum of £20.000.” “Of the six most favoured designs,” the newspaper went on to say, “that of ‘Bobby Bums’ adopts a plain Italian style, neat, chaste and massive.”

The design which the , Christchurch City Council ‘ chose to recommend to the ratepayers was by a local architect, J. C. Maddison. It was described as “a very compact, well-arranged, and evenly-balanced design in plain Italian." It depicted a building 60 feet wide. 150 feet long, and 43 feet high, with a ■ seating capacity of 3000. The . public entrance was to be from Colomb ostreet, and the •entrance to “the Mayor’s 'Court” from Victoria street.

The cost of erecting a Town ’ Hall based on Maddison’s t design was estimated by the Council’s quantity surveyors to be £30,000. It was proposed by the Council’s Town Hall Building Committee that the money be “raised by loan ■.for 50 years at a cost of 6 per cent, per annum. The -Council calculated that at the •end of 30 years the revenue derived from the letting of the Town Hall offices would be sufficient to meet the expenditure without any help from the rates. This scheme ,lay in abeyance until March. 1880. when it was abandoned.

In May, 1913, the City Council set up a special committee to “consider and report upon the question of a Town Hall.” Once more, designs were invited and the "conditions of competition” for the successful design stated that the building was to be erected on the Council’s reserve in Victoria square, and that the cost of it should not exceed £90,000, "exclusive of architect s commission and salary of Clerk of Works.”

Before any scheme could be gone on with, the First World W’ar intervened, and eventually, on July 5, 1962, a meeting -of the Qity Council rescinded the earlier 1913 decision to erect a town hall on the reserve set apart for that purpose. It should be added that at a poll of Christchurch ratepayers taken on May 6, 1920. on the City Council’s proposal to raise a loan of £16.000 to purchase the Manchester property, now occupied by the Civic Chambers, the proposal was carried, the votes in favour being 1232, and those against, 538.