AUCKLAND DOINGS

Evening Star, Issue 19778, 31 January 1928, Page 2

AUCKLAND DOINGS

iANY BIG JOBS And still they come! A property deal involving over £200,000 in tho purchase and rebuilding of promises fronting Queen and Customs streets, and the construction of an arcade linking them round the bade of the Dilworth Build-, iug, was effected towards the cud of last mouth (says tho Auckland correspondent of the ‘ Now Zealand Decorator’). Tho price paid for tho Queen street frontage, approximately .£1,753 u foot, is a record for the city. Tho. previo s record foot frontage price for Auckland was £1,420 a foot paid to John Fuller and Sons, Ltd., for a site on tho eastern side of Queen street, between Customs street and Fort; street, whore a ten-story building is, now being erected.

The promoters of the arcade scheme are Messrs James and William John Fletcher, acting on behalf of a company to he formed and Davis Properties, Ltd. The owners of Irvine’s Building arc co-operating in the scheme. At a price of £58,000, Davis Properties, Ltd., have acquired the block of A. B. Donald, Ltd., in Lower Queen street, which was recently purchased by Messrs Stormont and Sons and another party, for £52,000. Tho block has a frontage to Queen street of 33ft, and a depth of 198 ft, running right back to Fort street lane. The price paid by Messrs J. and J. W. Fletcher to the Public Trust Office for the block, with 65ft Sin frontage to Customs street, and adjoining the Dilworth Building, is £48,000. The site has a depth of 90ft. Tho blocks junction at a point behind tho Dilworth Building, and the plans provide, with the cooperation of the owners of Irvine’s Building, which is next to the Dilworth structure on the Queen street side, for the construction of an arcade 15ft wide by 20ft high, running round the back to link Queen and Customs streets by a great roofed shopping concourse at the busiest corner in Auckland, if not in New Zealand.

On tho Customs street _ frontage will be erected a five-floor building, on the top of which will be a commodious modern tea room. Tho Queen street site, purchased by Davis Properties, Ltd., will also be remodelled. The owners of Irvine’s Building, to facilitate tho construction of the arcade, will reconstruct their premises, the total sum involved in building and remodelling alone by the three parties exceeding £IOO,OOO. The shops which will line tho arcade and street frontages of the remodelled buildings will number about forty. Tho architectural features of the scheme, which will be executed by the Fletcher Construction Company, will strike a new note in the design of the city’s structures, and add a highly pleasing feature to the changing face of Queen street. The new Waitemata Hotel, on the opposite corner of Queen and Customs streets from the Dilworth Building, occupies much the same position in regard to the arcade scheme. It is stated that the arcade scheme will be a strikingly ornamental shopping centre. - Embodying the latest in artistic finishes, the walls will bo of white marble, relieved at regular intervals throughout their length from Queen street to Customs street by squared pillars with crested tops. From a roof of arresting design will bo suspended lamps of ancient pattern in conformity with the classic plan of the interior. A floor of rubber tiling will add to the comfort of customers of the thirty-two shops _ which will line the arcade and be built on the Queen and Customs street frontages of the properties involved in : the recent purchase. Marble faces will distinguish the street shops iu the same, design as will be pursued within the arcade. Four electric passenger lifts will be provided within the arcade to give access to the new five-floor building which is to be constructed on the Customs street site, and to the reconstructed other premises involved in the scheme on the Queen street side. Symbolic of the Georgian period, finished in brick and stone, the new Customs street block will be a notable addition to the city’s architectural features. The architects are Messrs Bloomfield and Hunt. The work is to be commenced immediately.