NEW DENTAL CLINIC

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 49, 26 August 1938, Page 15

NEW DENTAL CLINIC

AND TRAINING CENTRE

PROGRESS OF CONSTRUCTION

A building of national and civic importance, the new dental clinic in course of erection in Upper Willis Street on the site formerly occupied by the Te Aro School, has a claim to distinction in the fact that it is the first to be designed in New Zealand for the combined purpose of providing a modern clinic and training school for dental nurses, who later will be in charge of the various clinics throughout the country. Moreover, it represents an important fact of the Government's plan for the extension of the dental service.

The foundation-stone was laid by the Prime Minister at the beginning of May, and steady progress has been made since then. The construction of the extensive basement, ground floor, and first floor of this four-storeyed structure has been completed, and work is proceeding on the upper storeys. Of reinforced concrete, the building is set back 26ft from the footpath, and has a frontage of 154 ft 6in and a depth of 59ft 6in. The basement extends under the whole building, providing space for the heating plant, and chemical and general stores. The ground floor will be taken up mainly by the administration rooms, main waiting rooms, the assembly hall for nurses and staff, and locker room. The first floor is to be devoted entirely to the training and education of nurses, and is to contain a preliminary operating room, where the nurses will receive their initial instruction, library, demonstration room, lecture room, museum, nurses' dining-room, and lounge.

The clinics are to "be on the second floor. The main clinic, facing Upper Willis Street, will have accommodation for 50 dental units, and will extend over the whole frontage. Other rooms on the floor will be a waiting room, extraction room, and anaesthetic room. Behind the large clinic there will be a mezzanine floor to provide an auxiliary clinic of 14 dental units, and for the X-ray and research departments. Lifts will give easy access to the upper floors. Granite steps are to lead up to the main entrance.

The contractors are Bodell and Co., who built the new Wellington Central Fire Station in Clyde Quay. It will probably not be until March before the building is completed. It is to be faced with coloured plaster in modern style.