BEAUTY IN BUILDINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18685, 15 April 1924, Page 12

BEAUTY IN BUILDINGS.

AUCKLAND'S GREAT NEED.

PLEA FOR BETTER DESIGNS.

&REAT COMMERCIAL ASSET.

; The opinion, very emphatically expressed, that there -was need for raising the standard of taste in'the design of private buildings in Auckland was voiced by Mr.. R. A. Lippincott at the Rotary Club luncheon held at the new University buildings yesterday. , J ? Mr. lippincott, who is-n member of the firm of lippincott and Billson, the architects who designed the Arte Building of the University now in course of erection, said that i they had been accused by many of/ unnecessary expenditure on architectural effect. He said that fepart from the 'fact, that despite., this so-called "unnecessary expenditure," the building was costing less per square foot of floor area than any office or like bufldin,; in coarse of erection in Auckland, or in the Dominion for that matter. It was becoming more and more apparent that as a people we must pay more attention to the aesthetics of life if we hoped to reach the maximum in commercial efficiency. The Americans had at last realised the force of this fact, and had he time he would be able to quote dozens of cases where immense sums had been contributed privately, by business firms, in order to beautify their cities, and hundreds of cases where the municipal authorities had been solidly backed by the business community in the expenditure of millions, and in one case hundreds of millions, of dollars for this purpose. The reason for this was that they found it paid. •'lf we grant, then, as this unquestion- ! ably proves, that beauty is a commercial asset, as well as an incentive to good citizenship," continued Mr - JOT**, "it is high time that we begin to tram our population to an appreciation in the fine arts. We cannot hope to train our children to an appreciation of good I architecture by placing them at their ! most impressionable age in bmMhigs that I are only factories, and telling them that i there are beautiful buildings at Home m ! England. Their standard of beauty will I be equal to their own sub-conscious training and no more. •- ', •. •'So I maintain that in approaching the I problem of the housing of our University, as architects my partner and > I would have been guilty of criminal incompetency had we considered for a moment anything but a monumental solution of our problem, and that every penny •that is being expended on the purely nioaumental features will yield to Auckland as great, if net greater, returns than that which is spent purely on protection from the weather." '-■>". , , ~ Mr. Lippincott added that he had said this before, but he had ' recently come across the following excerpt from the report of the Committee of One Hundred as to the schools of Washington :— "Americans are essentially a practical people. If we are again to have a working appreciation of the fine arts, which was considered an essential part of a gentleman's education in Jefferson s day (1790), we must acquire it subconsciously. Therefore, schools which reach the- most impressionable age should be more than mere brain factories. Nothing will go further in helping to raise the standard of taste in the ornate buildings of the community than instilling an appreciation of goo* architecture in the rising generation." - "Do we here, as well, need to raise the standard of ta*te in private buildings?" asked the speaker in conclusion. "I invite you to a trip on the harbour so that you" may gaze on our city! After j a walk down Anzac Avenue and noting *the abominations that- are beginning to i deface this thoroughfare of, unequalled opportunity, I say wo; do." ,■ * '