Octagon Building Plan Draws Strong Criticism

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26410, 14 March 1947, Page 6

Octagon Building Plan Draws Strong Criticism

REMOVAL OF MONUMENT APPROVED Strong protests from city organisations and leading citizens were expressed yesterday at the proposal that will come before the next meeting of the City Council that the Thomas Burns monument in the Octagon should be removed and women’s rest rooms erected instead. . ' v •. The protests are directed largely at the erection of a building on the Octagon reserve and not at the proposed removal of the Thomas Burns memorial. In fact, in many cases support for the removal of the monument, that was erected by the late Mr Robert Chapman in 1892 in memory of the first Presbyterian minister of Otago, has been-forth-coming. It is a general feeling that the Octagon should be kept entirely clear of buildings and disfigurement.

“ I am so opposed to the suggestion of building rest rooms on the Octagon that I would go to the length of calling a special meeting of the society or a public meeting of. citizens,” said Mr George Simpson, president of the Dunedin Amenities Society. "It is a monstrous suggestion to spoil our beautiful Octagon reserve. It is the only breathing space we have 'in the city.” “ We cannot have a building of any kind placed on the Octagon,” he added. “ The citizens must block such a move at all costs. I know members of my society will feel just as strongly about it as I do.

and well-designed in itself, would be but another example of that appalling lack of good taste that one sees in so many of our cities,” Mr White added. “No doubt, the object; of providing women’s rest rooms is an excellent one,” he said, “ but. if the matter is urgent could not the corporations electricity showroom be converted into.an adequate rest room? There should be no need whatever, with the presentday demand for; building equipment, for the corporation to advertise electrical fittings, and the showrooms should, be, as suitable a’ position- as the Octagon site.. - . “As to the demolition. or otherwise of the memorial, that is not an important matter from an'aesthetic viewpoint,’ Mr White stated, “and I shall leave it to others to discuss.” The Artists’s Aproach “Although Dunedin is poorly endowed with public monuments of any high aesthetic value,-1 feel that most citizens would heartily endorse , the suggestion to remove the. ‘ Chapman Memorial ’ to another site,” said Dr A. H. McLintock, president of the Otago Art Society. “Its departure would give a muchi-needed, spaciousness to the Lower Octagon which .at the present time has an overcrowded appearance as a jumble of trees, flower beds and masonry. “ I think, too, that the monument spoils one of the finest street vistas in Dunedin,’ he added. “The view from Lower Stuart street towards the Town Belt is very fine indeed—one any city could be proud of—but it would be greatly enhanced by the removal of . this monument, which Vat present obstructs the vision. ' “The idea of replacing the monument by a public building seems most wrong,” Dr McLintock said, “ and any encroachment- on our civic reserves should be strongly opposed. “Finally,” he added, “while on the matter of public monuments, I should like to raise the question of that drab memorial-in Custom House square, which so ingloriously ’ commemorates the name of Captain Cargill. Could it not also be removed to a better resting place? ”

“I do not object in any way to the proposal to remove the Thomas Burns memorial,” he. added. “It does not enhance the beauty of the Octagon and I‘ feet that it would be preferable if the whole of the reserve were, entirely clear. But why consider putting buildings on this beautiful reserve? ” Mr Crosby Morris, who for many years was president of the Dunedin Amenities Society, said that he had read with considerable concern the recommendation of the Reserves Department that women’s rest rooms be erected on the Octagon Reserve. This would be a retrograde step for' the city, he stated, and he hoped that the citizens would oppose it tooth and nail. On several occasions in the city’s past history schemes hadbeen brought forward for the-erection of buildings upon the Octagon, Queen’s Gardens or Market Reserve, but fortunately up to the present common sense had always prevailed and these reserves had been kept as open spaces. He ; - personally, would oppose the erection of any buildings upon the Octagon Reserve. An Architect’s View “It is surely the most amazing proposal brought forward for many years,” was the comment of Mr J. H. White, a prominent ■ city architect. ’ “Anyone who has even the rudiments of knowledge of . civic design would realise that' the area of the Octagon with its flower beds, lawns, and trees is already too small for its important position. “ The proposal to erect on this site a building, no matter how necessary

WOMEN URGE HASTE WITH REST ROOMS

“ Letters have appeared recently, under the heading ‘A Challenge to Women,’ dealing with the need for new women’s rest rooms,” says Mrs J. S. Rust, secretary of the Dunedin Housewives’ Association, in a statement to the Daily Times; “My association feels that’the- general public should know that we have been discussing this matter with the Mayor, the town clerk, and members of the General Committee of the City Council ever since July, 1945. We also circularised 50 other women’s societies for their co-operation. More than half of them sent back favourable replies to our proposals. , . “ The question of a site, proved, and. is proving,, l the stumbling block. We suggested the building iri Harrop'street altered to modern requirements, which.

is situated in the centre of, the town, or any nearby site available. We. do not favour alterations to the - present Princes street property. , If this building was altered it \ would' be lit artificially day arid night as well as requiring the installation of an air-condition-ing plant. This would be definitely not at all suitable for rest rooms for women arid children. : Who wants a modern black hole of Calcutta m our midst? , Surely not the citizens of Dunedin. It is essential that whereever the rest , rooms are to be access to them must be on the street '-level. “The centennial celebrations take place next year. What about pew.rest rooms for the women arid pliildfcen of Otago? We do urge the City Council to .make haste.” , . V