DOME PULLED DOWN

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 154, 26 March 1938, Page 10

DOME PULLED DOWN

Feature Of Harbour Board Building FEW NOW IN WELLINGTON This week the large dome above the northern end of the Wellington Harbour Board building in Post Office Square was demolished in the course of work on the structure to make it more resistant to earthquakes. It was the dominating architectural feature of one of the city’s most prominent buildings. Two small domes had already been pulled down and two remaining ones will disappear before the work is complete. The large dome was of unusually weighty design, its diameter several feet up the curved sides being as great as that of the base, which gave it a bulbous appearance. Its surface was covered with several tons of sheet lead, and above it was a flagpole. One day sufficed to strip the metal off the double skin of timber and demolish tlie woodwork. The height of the dome was over 16 feet. Now the brickwork is being removed and a simple concrete floor will fill the hole below the dome. All round the building useless heavy brickwork is being replaced with strong light reinforced concrete. Only one dome of great size is now left in Wellington, where formerly they were features of many of the finest buildings. It is the comparatively squat cupola on the corner of the Public Trust Office. A small dome caps the Post Office clock tower also. Most of the domes were impressive features of buildings erected before the war, buildings that have come into disfavour with the growth of new ideas on anti-earth-quake construction. The noblest dome of those that have disappeared was above tlie Town Hall. Several were removed from the Government Printing Office, and two bald hemispheres were taken from the Post Office, but not as a precaution against earthquakes. They made room for a new story. In the design for the Parliament Buildings there appears a giant dome dominating the main entrance, but with the tendency to pull domes down there will be a doubt whether it will be included when the buildings are completed. ■