STONE OR STUCCO ?

Observer, 24 July 1909, Page 2

STONE OR STUCCO ?

The Latest Bundle of Carrots

THOUGH Auckland is earnestly desirous of securing a town

hall that 6hall do credit to her standing as a city, it is desirable that she should pause and count her cash before she plunges into the additional expenditure to which P. J. Nerheny and the " Herald " are bent upon committing her. Late in the day, when the contract for the erection of the municipal block has made considerable progress towards completion, it is discovered by some aesthetically - minded citizens that the Grey-street frontage as provided for in the specifications is not sufficiently ornamental. Therefore, it is proposed to hark back upon the intention that the least obtrusive portion of that frontage shall be constructed of brick and cement, and to substitute Oamaru stone for the brick, so as to bring this portion of the building into conformity with the rest of the design. And Mr Nerheny will move accordingly at the next meeting of the City Council.

If the Council decides upon any such alteration, it will mean the retracing ot a step that was deliberately decided upon -with an eye to the difficulties of financing the Town Hall scheme. The original design submitted by Messrs Clark for the municipal building provided for complete facades of Oamaru stone, but in view of the fact that the buildwliich they proposed to furnish would cost more than the citizens were th*n prepared to spend, the working plans were modified to the extent of abandoning the more expensive ornamentation so far as the southern portion of the block in Grey-street was concerned. What is now proposed is that the trimmings that were thus abandoned as being beyond the city's means shall be restored. And as the moneys voted by poll are fully absorbed by the contract already let, it is evident that, if the change is decided uponj the Council will either have to submit the Hall scheme to the ratepayers for a third time, or else trench upon some other department of city expenditure.

The evolution of the Town Hall scheme from a comparatively modest affair to an expenditure the end of which no one knows has been alarming. When competitive designs were called for over two years ago, it was stipulated in the conditions that the cost of the building must not exceed £60,000, and this was the amount approved by the citizens at the original poll. Then, when the designs were received, and that of Messrs Clark was approved, it was found that the officially accepted plan oould not be carried out for less than £90,000, and mis after considerable lopping off of architectural embellishments which had weight in determining the acceptance of the design. The opinion was widely entertained at the time that when it was found that the Clark scheme could not be carried out within the £60,000 limit, an opportunity should be given to Mr Wm. Black, who gained the second award, to show whether his design could be executed for the prescribed sum. However, the £90,000 plan was adhered to, and now we are faced with the fact that the whole of the £110,000 which has been authorised for the hall' is hypothecated, and still it is not to be a building with which the artistic sensibilties of the "Herald " and Mr Nerheny will be satisfied.

The additional expenditure involved in the substitution of stone for brick is stated to be £2000, and the hackneyed argument as to the unwisdom of withholding the ha'porth of tar is urged in its support. But even if it were granted that the Grey-street frontage as specified is going to be an inartistic wall at which the Aucklander of the future will wince, past experience in connection with the scheme is not apt to inspire unlimited confidence in the accuracy of official estimates. Once agree to the proposed substitution, and where is the guarantee that even the extra £2000 will provide the facade upon which the devotees of ornamentation have set their hearts ? Probably, too, a concession to their desires in this respect would only encourage them to agitation for some , further enlargement of a scheme which is already costing more than the city foresaw at its inception. The City Council of two years ago cut its coat according to its cloth. Its successors may very weTl leave it to be constructed according to the ideas then entertained.