ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 108, 31 January 1934, Page 8

ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM

Building Taking Shape STONE-LAYING ABOUT END OF MARCH Between eighty and ninety men are at present engaged in the work of erecting the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum building, which lias now commenced to take more tangible shape. The main structure may now be approached by the main front entrance steps, 130 ft. in breadth, which spread across two-thirds of the total frontage. The centre of those steps and the main door is in a direct line with the centre of the carillon tower, which makes that lofty pile symmetrically complementary to the Art Galley and Dominion Museum. There are two flights of these steps, one of seven, and one of five, with a seven-foot stage in between. They are of concrete, and will in due course be concrete flagged. Mounting these steps brings one to the main floor of the building, the main compartments of which are already outlined by the bunched steel rod piers. The main piers along the front of the building have' been boxed, poured, and stripped up to a height of about seven feet, whilst another ten feet of rods quiver in the breeze, awaiting the boxing gang. ' ’’ . v ■ A Maori Haji.

In these great piers may be seen provision for the facing of Putaruru stone. These are rows of apertures, metal-lined,- and expanding within in dovetail fashion. The metal casing is both galvanised and bituminised to protect it against the effect of the weather until such time as it is permanently sealed. Into each of these holes is fitted a copper cramp, the outer end of which is firmly embedded in the stone. This entails a good deal of work, as the whole of the facade of this national building and up to the top of the first tier of windows, is to be faced with this stone.

Entering the building between the piers that will become the main doorposts, the spacious dimensions of the main vestibule may be gauged. Straight ahead, past a regiment of piers, one enters the great Maori Hall, 160 ft. in length by 50ft. in breadth, which stretches across the centre of the building (main floor)). ’ These dimensions do not include a commodious recess, especially built fpr the reception of. a genuine carved Maori house, of native design and elaboration. There is a basement floor beneath the main floor, which is going to serve many people and purposes. The height of the ceiling of this floor varies with the contour of the ground. One of the 'largest apartments below stairs will be the lecture hall, situated at 'the north-eastern corner of the building. This hall is completed “in the rough.” The space for the audience is terraced for the reception of rows of chairs; there is a level space of floor, and then an immovable stage of solid concrete. Stone Masons Busy. At the back of the audience there is a concrete floor provision for a projection room. The trenches left in the floor are for the reception of pipes for the heating of the chamber. Near this hall there is a room provided for the ■Wellington Philosophical Society. On the other side of the basement are vast workrooms for the museum staff. From the main floor the steel ribs of future piers rise to a height of fifteen feet, and all round are. gangs of men busy, either at wiring the rods or building the boxing—the longest and most arduous part of the work. So far the Art Gallery section is in the blue air above. It. will probably be the end of the year before it will materialise. The stone masons, who now manipulate vadt steel, emery and diamond saws to cut the vitric tuff into suitable slabs, arc well forward with their work. .Piles of facing stone, stacked with battens in between, stand at the front and side of the building ready to be “cramped” into position. The foundation stone of the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum will be laid by his Excellency the GovernorGeneral toward the end of March or early in April.