NEW OCCIDENTAL HOTEL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 227, 18 June 1908, Page 7

NEW OCCIDENTAL HOTEL.

MARCH OF IMPROVEMENTS. In Into years Wellington has risen from • fine bottom to tho top of the list, as regards hotel-accommodation, in tho four centres. Historic old hostelries have been swept away to make room for graceful structures that are built for comfort as the traveller of today interprets the word. Among tlieso were Barrett's and tho old New ZeaTander, both of •■which were hotels with histories. The ancient Commercial in Willis Street (moro recently known as the Western) was demolished to make way for the modem Grand Hotel. Another old hostelry in the Commercial (Lambton Quay) disappeared in tho big fire of a couple of years ago. It has been replaced a solistanH.il tliree-stnrv building that preserves tho architectural d'gi mty of the line of new buildings that now grace tho site; of tho big blazo. Time was when' the Occidental Hotel on Lambton Quay -was the best and most popular in Wellington, but of late years it has been architecturally outclassed, and now the word has been spoken that moans its demolition. The name, however, is to live on in much more attractive and pretentious premises. /Tho new .Occidental is situated further down tho Quay, at the comer of Lambton Quay and Ballance Street (next to the Magistrate's Court). Here tho owners (Messrs. Kirkcaldie) have caused to bo erectod a huge hotel, having four stories and a that would do credit to any city. Tiio sit-e being somewhat • irregular, the curved front of tho building has _ to follow tho . contour of Lambton Quay for a distance of l'3oft., while there is a frontage to Ballance Street of J6ft. On tho Quay frontage of the ground floor aro . four well-lighted shops with firstclass show windows. On the corner is p large, well-designed privato bar (40ft.by 20ft V and a public bar (20ft. by 20ft.), which are practically surrounded by the main entrances (each of which has a portico) from Lambton Quay and Ballance Street, the hallways of whioh meet in a central vestibule, from which „ s ' ia ' and a passenger elevator to the floors above.. On tho ground floor aro also commercial and. private rooms, and a bottle store, all arranged on a convenient plan. Oil tho floors abovo, tho passages radiate from tho elevator shaft, whioh ends in ji huge lantern light, and from which; ascenders will emorgo on to a roof garden- that commands a fino iVieW of tho city. A magnificent diningroom (to scat from-130 to 150) occupies tlTo cornor of tho first floor, where aro also sitting and writing-rooms, and a number of largo double bedrooms. The two top flats are designed upon the same principlo "(a sit-ting-room oil the cornor, with single bedrooms of comfortable dimensions occupying the rest of the flat), except that, the kitchen will be -on the top floor, to prevent tho smell of cooking invading any part of tho hotel. Tho now Occidental, which contains eighty rooms, has been .erected by Messrs. Meyer and Ulingworth from the plans of Mr. Wm. lurnbull (of Messrs. T. Turnbull and Son) at r cost of about £15,000. Its position, in close proximity to tho public buildings wharves, and railway stations, is an im-' portant one.