UNITY IN ARCHITECTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18662, 19 March 1924, Page 11

UNITY IN ARCHITECTURE.

ADVICE TO KARANGAHAPE RD. BENEFIT TO COMMUNITY. A plea for unity in the style of street architecture was made by Mr. C. R. Ford in an address to the Karangahape Road Business Promotion Society, at the first luncheon of its new season, held yesterday. Mr. Ford cited as an example worthy of emulation the eighteenth century architecture of Regent Street, .London, where unity had been brought about by the free play of the community spirit. The speaker described the effects of the old-time love of the artistic, as exemplified by the ancient villages and small towns of England, and the evidence they contained of clever craftsmanship, honest workmanship, and love of beauty.

Applying his thesis to local conditions, particularly in relation to Karangahape Road, Mr. Ford submitted that the architecture of the shop exercised a profound effect not only upon those employed in it, but also upon the shopper and the passer-by. He therefore urged that the owners of rangahape, Road property would do well to seek to make their thoroughfare a unit in regard to architecturemake it beautiful for themselves, beautiful to the wayfarer, and something that enriched the beauty of the city. To achieve that end, it would sometimes be necessary to sacrifice personal interests for the sake of the community, but for that they had the example of Regent Street a century and ,-i-half ago. The proposed creation of the civic centre at the upper end of Queen Street would probably help toward the awakening of the_ civic consciousness. It might aid in giving the citizens of Auckland something like the spirit of the old Romans—their pride in being citizens of "no mean city." The gathering was enlivened by community singing, and solos sung by Mr. J. Petterson.