THE CAMPANILE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 134, 4 December 1930, Page 10

THE CAMPANILE

FEATURES OF PLANS

A SOARING TOWER

PROMINENT LANDMARK

The blue print elevation and base plans for the campanile which were laid before the Board of Trustees yesterday by the architects, Messrs. Gummcr and Ford, suggest that the idea of a simple, inspiring tower will be well achieved in tho completed work. Soaring height is tho tono of the straight-lined, slightly tapering tower. Standing on a massive stone-faced base, 45 by 36 feet, the campanile will soar upwards to a height of 146 feet, a good forty feet higher than any city building. The height, combined with the splendid natural elevation of the site, will make the tower an outstanding feature of Wellington's architecture. The impression of height will, of course, be greatly added to by the separation of the tower from the main buildings and by the comparatively small section, though tho comparative dimensions are not such as to suggest too light and slender a structure. THE HALL OF MEMORIES. To meet pressure stresses which will be imposed by steel, concrete, and stonefaced tower, the bells and mechanism above, and to withstand possible earthquakes, the walls of the base, within which will be the Hall of Memories, will bo of heavy construction and thickness, further strengthened by interior walling. The Hall of Memories will thus be reduced to roughly 24 feet square in its main body, not counting a wide and lofty entrance and side rooms for staircase, a possible elevator, and so on. The Hall of Memories, it is generally understood, will later be developed into a National War Memorial, but that is a development for tho future. Provision has also been made for a considerable future development of the Hall of Memories, extending backwards towards the main buildings for about forty feet and flanked on either side by broad flights of steps leading to the Art Gallery and Museum. Their development, however, is still further ahead. MAIN TOWER CONSTRUCTION. The base rises to the third floor, level in a solid block for thirty feet, where there is a set back and the tower proper commences on a thirty-foot square base, and rises, gradually tapering, through the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh floor levels, to the cupola, 116 feet above ground level, tho base, and the peaking of the octagonal dome making a total height of 146 feet. The stone facing, for which provision is made in the alternative tender— a matter of possibly £5000 additional —will be carried to the fifth floor level, about 80 feet up. At this level there will bo the balustrade, mentioned above, from which splendid views of the city will bo obtainable. BELL AND CLAVIER CHAMBERS. Tho bells will be hung below and above the clavier chambers, which will bo on the sixth floor. The big bells have a hanging space 33 feet from floor to suspension beams, below the clavier chamber, and above is the space for tho lighter bells, 34 feet in height, but none of the bells will be near the top of this chamber, all being below the level of the louveres, on each face of the tower. Thus the sound waves will first rise in the tower, past tho earilloneur in the case of tho deep notes, and bo reflected down and outwards by the dome high above. Tho design aims at giving the impression of ambitious height; tho lines, above the heavy stone base, made heavier in appearance- by the many angles of the stonework about tho approach chamber, are straight and simple, the decorative work above the balustrade being planned in terra cotta panels, 70 feet high and 12 feet wide, on each face. These again add to the impression of height and with the horizontal linings well spaced at tho various floor levels, remove the severity of a tower planned on straight, simple lines.