NEARING COMPLETION

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 104, 27 January 1930, Page 12

NEARING COMPLETION

MASSEY COLLEGE BUILDINGS the refectory block Dominion Special Servicb. Palmerston North, January 25. In its latticed sheath of scaffolding, the refectory block of Massey Agricultural College is fast taking form. In another two months’ time it is anticipated the workmen will have completed their task, and the college staff will be housed in its new quarters. The new building is to form the centre of the college’s domestic buildings, which in time will be grouped around it to form a quadrangle. It is a handsome reinforced concrete structutre with brick screen walls, which will be finished with buffi coloured plaster, similar to other/new buildings erected on the college property. The roof will be of Marseilles tiles, with copper gutters. The building consists of the great Refectory Hall in the centre, with two wings attached, the one on the left being the service wing, and the one on the right containing the games room, and the common room. The building has the appearance of sitting solidly on the ground and reflects refinement in proportion to detail. Two portions of the building only will be elaborate — the main hall and the facade at the entrance. ■ The Refectory. The entrance is to be extremely handsome, with artistic work in tinted cement to grace it, while on each side of the eight-foot-wide doorway there will be a great glass lamp on an ornate copper wall bracket four feet high. Inside through four-leaved glass doors is a spacious vestibule, which will be decorated with tinted plaster. It is in the next room—the Refectory Hall—that the architect and decorators have had an opportunity of showing their skill. This hall takes up the whole of the centre of the building, its dimensions being 64 feet by 32 feet, while the vaulted ceiling is 27 feet above the floor. The hall will be partly surrounded, at first floor level, by a balcony, on which provision is being made for speakers to address the students. Great semi-cir-cular headed windows, eight feet wide, pierce the walls, three on each side and one at the end. A dado, nine feet high, surrounds the hall, with smaller' winlows placed under the larger. Opposite these windows will be placed the dining benches. The design is based more or less on the old English style of refectory, but is attractively modern. The ornamentation ih based on Maori art. The whole hall will be finished in tinted plaster. On the ground floor, in addition, is a very modern tiled kitchen, which would delight the heart of any housewife. This kitchen is one of the features of the building, and is to be filled with modern equipment. On the same floor is the staff dining room, a changing room for football and other teams, with showers, etc., 'and the common room. This common room, which adjoins the hall, is a large room. 48 by 24 feet, and is to contain a magnificent fireplace, with a chimney breast reaching to the roof, and no less than seven feet in width. This chimney breast is to be of red brick, and the lintel and panel, in which will be set the college seal, will be of coloured pressed cement. On the first floor is the upper portion of the main hall, with the handsome balcony, a large games room, and eight staff bedrooms and toilet rooms. The basement of the building will be used as a storeroom, and will house the heating apparatus. Mr. R. A. Lippencott of Auckland is the architect, and Mr. Richard O. Gross of the same city is the sculptor, who assisted with the ornamental work. Over 100 men are at present engaged on the building. The New Science Block. The science block, the foundation stone of which was laid by His Excellency the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, last year, is to be a much larger building, containing three stories, with a total floor space of over 22,000 feet. Although all foundations have been laid and the basement practically completed, and the ground floor steel is now being erected, it will be nine months before the building is finished. Most of the labour has been concentrated on the refectory block, hence the comparatively slow progress with this block. The contract time is twentyfour months. The Water Tower, On a hill overlooking the college further work is in progress, and the gaunt framework of a water tower is being uplifted. Work on this tower, which is being carried out by Mr. H. Winterburn, of Auckland, has been proceeding for some time, and the framework has now reached a height of 60ft. above the ground. Another twelve feet, and all will be ready for the installation of a 50,000-gallon tank, which will provide water for the whole of the college property and farm. Water from an artesian bore near the dairy factory on the farm about a mile away is to be pumped through a four-inch main to the tower. When the tank is in use, it is anticipated that a pressure of 801 b. to the square inch will be available at the refectory and 100 lb. at the farm. The cost of the tower will be £2134, and it is believed that no other institution in the Dominion has one so large. The tank is supported by twelve reinforced concrete piers, which are buried eight feet in the ground and will tower 72 feet above it. Owing to the inaccessability of the site, considerable difficulty has been experienced in obtaining the gravel, cement and other material, including 20 tons of steel, which has been used. Two steel cables were swung across the valley, which is covered with swamp and bush, and by means of a cage all material was brought across from the road at Massey College proper. Over 180 tons of material have made the journey over the valley in this way. The cable was eight chains in length, and stretched 90 feet above the Tiritea Stream. It was originally stretched across the valley by firing a rocket with a light cotton line attached across. Although, with the work nearing completion, there is no further use for the cable and its cage, so interesting is it, and so wonderful the view obtained from it, that before it is dismantled a moving picture is to be taken of the aerial journey.