Art-gallery plan rejected again

Press, 21 August 1979, Page 6

Art-gallery plan rejected again

The proposal to turn the Christchurch City’ Council chambers into an art gallery received another set-back last evening.

On a 12-8 vote, the council igain rejected a plan to spend 13000 on a detailed cost itudy. C? D. C. Close said the (3000 would be “peanuts" tut' it was unrealistic to iperjd even that when the dtinate project was beyond the Council’s financial reach.

Cr D. F. Cay gill said there ivas>no way to assess priorities Jif cost estimates were •ot available. Several councillors said thatj a private sale of the Manchester Street buildings was-still the first priority but there should be some plan to fall back on if 'he property tout! not be sold. “We should not allow a good building to deteriorate,” laicf Sir Terence McCombs. Ct P. J R- Skellerup said the‘council might be forced to the buildings once they were vacated and sell* a bare site. The study would be “a cheap and worth-while investment” to find out if the buildings were suitable for an art gallery.

But Cr Mollie Clark said the. buildings had not been i aggressively marketed yet* an<f potential buyers could i loot elsewhere while the: council was considering a cosf study. H was “absolutely foolish! for* each centre to try lo !

outdo the others and have the best gallery.” Cr W. J. A. Brittenden said the city was “losing historic buildings right and left” through neglect. The Supreme Court buildings and the Normal School were examples. The Mayor (Mr H. G. Hay) said the council’s own staff could probably do the cost estimate. "I don’t think our council

can afford another million or multi-million dollar project,” he said. "I just think we have had a fair innings over the last few years. We need a little bit of a pause.” Mr Hay said an art-gallery project might be a job for the mid-1980s or the 19905. “The art gallery will just have to wait for another five or 10 years,” he said.