CENTENNIAL TOWER

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 54, 26 November 1938, Page 12

CENTENNIAL TOWER

Lofty Structure Rises At

Rongotai

VIVID SKETCH OE FINAL

APPEARANCE

With the rapid rise of the exhibition buildings, the skyline of the suburbs ot Lyall Bay and Rougotai lias greatly changed. The long level roofs of (he main buildings stand up above the roofs and chimneys of the bungalows ot Lyall Bay; the tall scaffolding of Centennial 'tower already dominates the isthmus of the Miramar Peninsula. The framework of teh tower has now attained approximately its full height, it stands some 169 feet from base to summit. To withstand the violence of the southerly gales which sweep straight in to Rougotai from the open stretches of Cook Strait the tower is of most massive construction. At. the base it consists of tremendous composite baulks of timber bolted together with scores of heavy steel bolts, strengthened with steel plates, and bolted down upon great concrete foundations sunk deeply into the ground. At present the tower is no more than a skeleton surrounded by the cobwebs of steel scaffolding supporting lhe working platform of the builders. The size and strength of the main beams, though considerable even at the top, diminish in proportion as they near the top and are subject to smaller strains and stresses. Centennial 'Tower, when completed, will be a splendid structure, the main architectural feature of the exhibition, and will be outlined at night in bright floodlight against a fan-shaped background of radiating searchlight beams, reminiscent of an aurora australis. In contrast with the unfinished state of the tower at this stage is a line coloured sketch by the architect, Mr. Edmund Auscombe, of what the tower and surrounding buildings will be like when finished. This picture, .(.lie first detailed drawing of the sort, i.s on exhibition in a Willis Street window. It gives a striking impression of the magnificent proportions of the tower and of the general layout of the central court contained by the three wings of the main buildings.