TOWN HALL RENOVATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19417, 27 August 1926, Page 12

TOWN HALL RENOVATION.

CLEANING OUTER WALLS. GREAT IMPROVEMENT SHOWN. The improved appfearanoe' of the Town .Hall as a result of ; the exterior renovations now being carried out has been the subject'of much favourable comment. This work was sanctioned by the City Council to be undertaken during the coming summer months, but in view of the urgent need ' for providing work. for the unemployed in tho city .the council- decided to make it a winter job. • The- whole* of the Grey. Street; frontagefpt \the' building has- now been cleaned u practically finished, the"' majority ■ of the men now being engaged on the renovation of the Queen Street frontage. Tho exterior walls are of Oamr.ru stone which has suffered badly from the effects of the weather. The work throughout has consisted of combing the surface of the stone until the grime and mould has disappeared and the original colour of the walls restored. Three coats of raw linseed oil applied to the stone have imparted a rich cream tone. In some places the stone was, eroded to such an extent that patching was of no avail and it became necessary to chip the faces of some of the blocks to a considerable- depth and fill the cavity with a slab of new stone. Damaged portions of the cornices have also beftn repaired and the ball embellishments on the clock tower have been removed. Some of these had already fallen to the roof of the tower as a result of the decay of the stone and there was grave danger that others in the course of time might also [fall and" in-, jure pedestrians in the street below. The most serious evidence of decay in the Oamaru stone was in the balustr'ading cf the platform at the' apex of ■the.building.,, Many of ithe,turned stone supports of the parapet had rotted away and the rarapet; in places was also badly decayed;The whole of this balnstcading is to be replaced with stone" of the samo colour but :.of a harder nature- and the supports still, in a good state' of preservation are to be used in repairing the balustrading of the same design along the top' of the outer walls. .