WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17827, 7 July 1921, Page 8

WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM

COMPETITION IN DESIGNS.

FEATURES OF THE BUILDING SUM OF £120,000 DONATED. A definite step toward the erection of Auckland's war memorial museum has been taken, competitive designs for the building having been invited. A statement on the subject was made yesterday by the Mayor, Mr. J. H. Gunson, who is president of the Auckland Institute and chairman of the Citizens' War Memorial Committee. He said that in addition to the subscriptions already announced, namely £25,000 each from the Government and the Auckland Savings Bank, £10,000 from the City Council, £5000 each from the Harbour Board and Auckland Racing Club, £4000 each from the New Zealand Insurance Company and the South British Insurance Company, and £1000 from the Bank of New Zealand, a total of £79,000, the committee had obtained donations from the principal firms and institutions in the city, which brought the amount in hand and promised to date to £120,000. The objective of the committee was £200,000. Of the £120,000 mentioned the hon. treasurer, Mr. V. J. Lamer, actually bad £70,000 earning interest. The appeal to the public had been temporarily postponed, but the committee depended upon it to produce the balance of £80,000. The Mayor said that in accordance with his undertaking at the meeting of citizens held in October, competitive designs were being invited, returnable on or before February 28, 1922, to Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, curator of the museum. Style Depends Upon Public Subscriptions. Mr. Gunson said that alternative designs were called for. In one case tha competitors were asked to design a building not to exceed in cost £120,000, and in the other a building not to exceed in cost £170,000. The balance of the £200,000 objective would be required for fittings and general equipment, having particular regard to the war memorial . section. Whether the building should be of plain concrete, or of a more ornate and dignified design faced with stone, depended entirely upon the response of the publio to the appeal for funds. The building would be placed on the top of Observatory Hill, in the Domain, one of the most commanding sites in Auckland. Its* chief feature would be its war memorial character, and in the words of the preamble to the' terms and conditions of the competition, it would have the double object of providing " a noble and dignified building suitable for the war memorial of the city and provincial district of Auckland, and also a worthy repository for the collections of the Auckland Museum, including its unrivalled Maori treasures."

The building is to allow for extensions harmonising with the building now projected, so as to ultimately tise all the site, not more than half of which is to be occupied by the building now to be designed. The style of the building is to be left to the discretion of-the competitors, and the lighting and ventilation are to be specially attended to. j The award to the successful competitor will be made by the council of the institute and the Citizens' Committee jointly with the assistance of architects of ability and standing. Inducements for The Competitors. The author of the design placed first will receive a premium of £650, of the second £250, and of the third £100. Among the requirements to be provided for in the designs are:—A lecture hall or theatre to accommodate 600 people; board room ; hall for children's museum; central hall or vestibule; hall for Few Zealand natural history; hall for geology and palaeontology; Maori hall; Maori court for exhibition of native houses, canoes, large carvings, central war memorial hall, about 4000 or 5000 square feet; hall of memory; halls for war trophies and for foreign ethnology; institute library; and herbarium. The designs will also provide for offices for the curator and his assistants, workrooms,, students room, laboratories, storage rooms, etc. The entrance is to face north. A provision is that the heating arrangements shall be other than by .electric radiators.