NEW PLYMOUTH BUILDING

Taranaki Daily News, 2 January 1930, Page 8

NEW PLYMOUTH BUILDING

INCREASE £46,300 IN YEAR

DEMAND FOR HOUSES RECOVERS.

CHANGES IN COMMERCIAL AREAS.

That the building trade had an active year in New Plymouth during 1929 is indicated by the increase of £46,355 in the value of the building permits issued compared with 1928. In that year there was a depression caused probably by overbuilding. The town appears to have fully recovered now, however, and the year’s total value of £158,759 exceeds not only the aggregate for 1928 but that of 1927, £148,064. These totals are exclusive of new State schools and Government buildings for which permits-are not needed.

The general trend through. the year was indicated in the number and value of the permits issued in December. There were two permits for business premises, seven for dwellings and sixfor alterations and additions, the aggregate value being £8916, compared with £1705 in 1928 and £8616 in 1927.

A point in the returns that appears to indicate a steady increase in population is the fact that 100 houses were erected or commenced before the end of the year. Activity in this direction shows no signs of abatement. On the . other hand the building of 79 dwellings in 1928 following 131 in 1927 overmet the demand, and towards the end of the year owners had dfliculty in either letting or selling. The houses put up last year were generally of a very good type, according to a statement made to a Daily News reporter by Chief Inspector R. Day. Electric cookers were installed in a great many of them, while labour-saving equipment of one kind or another was general in the plans submitted. Most of the new houses were of the kind that would be a credit to the town, he said. New Commercial buildings for which permits were issued in 1929 included the New Plymouth Savings Bank, premises for Tingey’s, Ltd., an oil store at Ngamotu for the Texas Oil Company, petrol service stations for H. Moller, P. E. Stainton and Co., Ltd. and H. D-rby and Co., Ltd., and shops for Messrs. W. Broome, West, G. Walker (2), Devon Street West, Graham (Morley Street), Gunderson (Vogeltown), Mitchinson (St. Aubyn Street), and Collett and Co. (Devon Street), a bakehouse for Mr. V. C. Stephens, and a waterside workers’ building for the Harbour Board. Permits issued for new buildings did not, however, represent anything like the work actually accomplished in remodelling and modernising the business area of the town. Both sides of Devon Street central have undergone great changes for the better recently, and the same applies, though perhaps not so noticeably, to other parts of the town. Not only have shop fronts been brought up to date, but shops themselves have been altered so extensively that to all intents and purposes they have become new premises. Therefore, the following works carried out were inadequately described when officially they were classified as “additions and alterations”: The Moturoa Producers’ Freezing Works, the offices of the New Plymouth Borough Council, the Imperial Hotel, the building occupied by McGruer’s, Ltd., the Farmers’ Co-op. Organisation Society of N.Z\, Ltd.’s building and garage, the shop of Hallenstein Bros., the Atlantic Union Oil Co., Jenkins Bros.’ garage, and the addition of service stations for the Criterion Motors and F. H. Moore. It is notable that the kerbside pump appears to be rapidly disappearing into modern service stations either added to a the equipment of garages or built separately. Three new stations were built in 1929, while others were altered. Several old landmarks associated with the Carly days of the settlement were demolished during the year, including a house in Currie Street that • belonged to the late Miss Shaw, the building in Powderham Street once occupied by Mr. Tweedale, and Major Parris’s residence on the esplanade. Particulars of the permits issued by the borough council in 1929 were:—

Busi- Dwell- Others Total. ness. ings. £ January .. . 3 10 8 13,406 February . . 1 2 14 5,068 March . 2 7 11 8,642 April ' ... . 1 6 10 8,394 May .... . 0 12 22 11,590 . 0 £) 18 13,227 July .... . 2 12 11 34,653 August . 3 6 18 14,825 September . 0 11 13 10,160 October . 3 13 16 22,005 November . 0 0 11 7,873 December . 2 7 C 8,916 Totals 17 100 158 £158,759