THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE

Taranaki Daily News, 30 January 1934, Page 9

THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE

STRENGTHENING OF BUILDING. EXTENSION OF THE LIBRARY. The sum of £l3OO for reconditioning the Carnegie Institute buildings at New Plymouth was placed on the estimates last night by the Borough Council. It is intended to strengthen the structure against earthquake shocks and to extend the space occupied by the circulating library into the reading room. The position was explained by the Mayor (Mr. E. R. C. Gilmour). He said that in' July, 1931, the borough engineer, in compliance with instructions from the council, submitted a report rega-ding the Carnegie Institute buildings from an earthquake resisting point of view. His report disclosed a very serious state of affairs, two extracts from different parts of the report reading as follow: “I should judge the building to be a well designed and faithfully constructed building of its type, but at the same time I consider that from an earthquake risk point of view it is one of the most dangerous buildings standing in New Plymouth to-day.” Again, “In particular, for the reasons mentioned above, I would. stress the danger of the Ariki Street half of the building comprising the lending library and the large museum room. This portion I am confident would be at the mercy of a serious earthquake.” The council had recently obtained from Mr. F. Messenger (architect) and Mr. A. F. Sandford (builder) an estimate of the cost of re-conditioning the building, and at the same time increasing the accommodation by extending over, the small portions of the land available. This estimate amounted to £3170. The finance committee and representatives of the Carnegie Library committee, however, were of the opinion that the expenditure of such a large sum would be unwarranted in view of the very little additional accommodation to be provided. Under the circumstances, the council at its last meeting called for a fresh estimate of the cost of strengthening the existing building to remove the danger from earthquake shock, but leaving the accommodation as at present. Messrs. F. Messenger and A. F. Sandford submitted further estimates as follow: (a) For strengthening the existing building to remove present danger from earthquake shock, £975; (b) for strengthening the building as, in A and making provision for the existing circulating library area to be extended to include the reading room, but omitting all other alterations and extensions shown in the plan submitted, £ll4O. It was pointed out that the estimate included covering the whole of the roof with new galvanised iron, fitting new fibrous plaster ceilings to the museum and lending library, at present ceiled with lath and plaster. The estimates were referred to the finance committee.