CITY IMPROVEMENTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3863, 4 July 1874, Page 2

CITY IMPROVEMENTS.

Building is going on vigorously in the city. _ Houses are springing up in every direction, not only in the principal streets, but in every part of the city and suburbs, and many firms are having their business premises rebuilt on an enlarged scale. Notwithstanding the very large amount of building that has been going on for the past couple of years, houses are occupied as soon jas they are put up, and difficulty is experienced in finding house accommodation, i The building to be erected for Mr G. j F. Reid, on the site of that destroyed by the late fire in Stafford street, will be one which will add to the appearance of the street. The building, which will be of stone and brick, will be four storeys in height, including a basement floor, which will be partially below street level. It will have a frontage to Stafford street of 40ft., by a depth of 77ft. The office entrance will be on the side nearest \ Princes street, and the store entrance will be on the upper side. The floor i space between these entrances will be divided off into offices. There is to be a hydraulic lift communicating with each floor, and which will occupy a convenient situation near the store or loading entrance. We have said that the structure will add to the appearance of the street. It will not do so, however, by any pretensions to architectural beauty, but on account of its size, and the evident improvement it wi 1 be on*the building it supersedes. In front; the base will be of Port Chalmers stone, and the whole of the front above it will be of brick and cement in a massive design. The architect is Mr R. A. Lawson, and tenders are now being called for carrying out the work. A'great building improvement is shortly to be effected on the premises the property of Mr Brown, draper, and situate at the angle of Princes and Stafford streets. The present office of the Evening Star 13 to be pulled down, and on its site will be erected a fine brick building, with plate glass fronts, in which Mr j Brown intends to cany on his drapery trade. A new front is to be put to the brick premises at present occupied by Mr j Brown, and the present small pokey windows are to be replaced by large ones of plate glass. Plans are now being pre- ! pared by Mr Lawson, and when the work is carried out the improvement in the appearance of the corner will be manifest. ■ The new Temperance Hall, though only a skeleton building as yet, has assumed a striking appearance from the opposite side [ of the street, and filled in an old unsightly gap. The workmen are now putting on the roof, and there is little doubt but that the building will be completed in the time it was expected to be. The splendid premises that are being erected next to Messrs Briscoe's in Princes street, for the Union Bank, have so far appreached completion that the roof is now being put on.