IVY GROWING KNOX CHURCH.

Evening Star, Issue 10900, 7 April 1899, Page 4

IVY GROWING KNOX CHURCH.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Re your report in last evening's 'Star'' of an interview with Mr L. R. Jaggar, I was much pleased to find that our visitor had called attention to what has been a long-standing grievance to many of us—viz., the growing of ivy over Knox Church. He terms it to "be little shor-fr of vandalism." I should go further than this, and call it downright madness on the part of those who have the building in their charge. I have no desire to occupy your time and space upon a matter on which so much can be said, being irt hopes that now it has been publicly rtoted in your columns it will receive the consideration of those Whose duty it is to attend to it. I shall feel obliged if you will publish the enclosed memo, and extracts forwarded by me to the late Dr Stuart in the year 1890. I (and, I believe, many others) would be glad if you would take up your able pen and endeavor to prevent the disfigurement and eventual destruction of one of the handsomest buildings, not only in our City, but in New Zealand.—l am, etc., R.M.E. Dunedin, April 5.

Dunedin, March 31, 1890. To the Rev. Dr Stuart, Knox Church, Dunedin. Dear Sir,—l enclose some extracts from late numbers of the ' Building News,' and I slall be pleased if you will take the trouble x,o read them at your leisure, I feel sure you will agree with me this far: that the " right thing in the right place is the correct thing," ard, assuming this to be so, I shall not apologise for troubling you, but simply subscribe myself A Lover of Architecture a«d the " Ivy Green " Also.

Extract from the ' Building News,' January 24, 1890.—The ' Leeds Express' recently attacked the action of the Committee of the Town Council of thajpfoorough in ordering the walls of Kirkstall Abbey to be stripped of the covering of ivy. Mr John Tweedale, F.K.1.8.A., has replied, pointing out that it is an exhibition of misapplied sentiment, for "that rare old plant, the ivy green" had , worked its way into the joints of the masonry, opening them out and levering the stones out of position, while stems of the parasite three and four inches in diameter thread their way ' through the wall, exercising an immense and growing power for evil. Anyone can, as Mr Tweedale remarks, cultivate ivy on the walls of his own house, and when tired of, the cult can cut it down; but Leeds possesses but one Kirkstall Abbey, and the Committee would be false to their trust if they did not take steps for its preservation. 1 Extract from the ' Builders' News,' January 31, 1890.—The ivy plant, like fire, is a good servant but a bad master. As an accessory to the expression "ivy-mantled tower" novelists check, invaluable as an aid to the picturesque, more especially when the building is none too handsome, in which case the clinging creeper will hide a multitude of sins. On an old church a little ivy adds a great charm, ai.d to realise one's idea of a true " ruin "—that is to say—the plant seems indispensable. Without the expression " ivy-mounted tower," novelists —including the great Scott himself—would have been niimis a most - expressive nhi'ase wherewith to give point to a passage of sentiment. But, in spite of its merits as an a*d to the picturesque, we know that in its old age ivy has a vicious habit of insinuating its manifold, branching arms into the cracks and crevices of a building thus endangering its stability. When, therefore, 'this Occurs in connection with a historical structure that has intrinsic beauty and interest in its architecture, the ivy must be destroyed, or it will destroy the building. There are not many who will sympathise with the ' Leeds Express ' in their complaint re Kirkstall Abbey, on which you commented last week. Second article, same date.—lvy is generally treated with too affectionate regard. Few seem to realise the parasitic nature of the piant, and fewer still recognise how it fastens itself upon tree and building, like evil habits on the man, and ultimately affects their destruction. Ivy looks so innocent and delicate when young that we forget the deadly embrace it .jaius as it waxes older. One of the. prettiest objects we may behold in the foreground during a woodland walk is the youthful ivy plant, spreading a few sprays of delicately-formed and brighttinted leaves against the rugged purple bole of the oak tree. The tree itself seems to caress and fondle it. Yet awhile, and the plant covers bole and branches, and the life of the once sturdy oak is smothered in its deadly embrace. So on both building or tree the ivy must be kept within bounds, or the ultimate destruction of'Sither is only a question of time. Those who would make excuses For the plant may say that cases occur where its thick stems support crumbling masonry, but this is not the general rule, for the over-luxuriant growth of ivy undermines the stability of any building rent with the cracks and crevices of centuries of decay.