AN HISTORIC SITE

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 167, 11 April 1935, Page 15

AN HISTORIC SITE

A Public Service Since the Beginning LOCATION OF MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE The site of the new Prudential building on Lambton Quay is a bit of the old shores of Lr.uibton’s harbour. Prior to the coming of the New Zealand Company’s settlers in 1840, the land sloped fairly steeply down to the beach all along from Willis street to Lambton Quay, the bank receding in height as it approached to Woodward street — the old site of the Kumutoto Stream. Then the desire to settle along the beach line—so faithfully demarcated by the curve of Lambton Quay—caused the settlors to excavate into the bank in order to provide sites for dwellings and places of business. In those faraway days there was only a rough roadway above the level of the beach, and opposite Stewart Dawson’s corner a low reef of rocks ran out into the harbour. Still, that did not prevent the waves from leaping, over the rocks and on to the road in stormy weathers. Stewart Dawson’s! corner was then Windy Point, and such was the situation at times in rough weather at high tide, that many preferred to climb the hill and proceed by way of the Boulcott track in order to reach Te Aro from Thorndon. That is how Plimmer’s Steps came into being. And it is at the bottom and side of this handy right-of-way that Prudential has erected the modern pile. . First Building Erected. The first building erected on the site! was the one-storied wooden structure known as the Mechanics’ Institute, the foundation stone of which was laid by his Honour Major Richmond (superintendent of the Southern Division of New Zealand), with great eclat. There was a Masonic ceremonial, but the Oddfellows, Rechabites, schoolmasters, children and committee of the school were represented in the procession. That was on May 3, 1844. So, from the earliest years, this central site has been closely associated with the public life of the community. Evidently the first depression then struck Wellington, as, on August 19, 1848, four years later, a meeting was bold to revive interest in the Mechanics’ Institute, a report of which stated that the Institute had been “in a state of abeyance for four years.” Wooden Building Proposed. A committee was set up at that meeting to erect the building on the site ou Lambton Quay (next to the Scotch church), which had a frontage of 67ft. by a depth of 85ft„ and plans were submitted for a one-storied wooden building, “the recent earthquakes having demonstrated that brick buildings could not be considered safe.”

It was not, however, until April, ISSO, that the Institute was opened by Mr. Justice H. G. Chapman. At that ceremony Sir George Grey was present, and with him, as a youthful guest, was Lord Robert Cecil, who later became the Marquis of Salisbury and Prime Minister of England. This building did duty for many years, as it was not until January 20, 1877, that the new Athenaeum and Me-

chanics’ Institute was ceremoniously opened by the then Governor, the Marquis of Normanby. That wooden structure, which was designed by Mr. Thos. Turnbull and built by Mr. J. Ransom, was demolished last year.