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Progress, Volume X, Issue 1, 1 September 1914, Page 35

Pilasters dividing supporting cornice with wing pediments and parapet, 30 tons of steel in beams and staunehions. Overhanging verandah, forged ironwork brackets by David Third Mitchell. Plumbing by J. Allan. Shop fronts, etc., Smith and Smith. Cost £4,500. Contractor, Archie Kirk.

Eoynal's Hall, Tolaga Bay. Auditorium, 60ft. x 40ft., stage. 40ft. x 18ft., 2 dressing rooms, 18ft. x 14ft., 10ft. entrance hall, gallery, 22ft. x 40ft., 2 cloak rooms, seating 600 persons, overhead ventilation, cove ceiling, (Salmon's Asbestos introduced on walls and ceilings. Cost £2230. Contractors, Shearers Bros.

Also 4 shops in brick, 66ft. x 42ft., suspended verandah. Designed for 2 storeys for Mr. Robert Robinson. Cost £1327. Contractor, John Webster.

Arcadia Hotel (additions and extensions) 10 bedrooms, dining room and new wing, 2 contracts, Ist £I2OO, Contractor, Charles Taylor, 2nd £547, Contractors, Wheeler and Eiddell. The work was for Mr. Frerichs.

The same architect has in hand The Gisborne Sheep Farmers Co., produce store, l24ft. 9in. x 107 ft. in brick, a portion 2 storeys, saw tooth roof, Griffith's skylights, steel girders and columns, cart dock and convenient egresses. Cost £5,500. Contractor, C. M. Taylor. A gabled residence for Lady Carroll, essentially English in character, yet embracing the best features of Colonial work in harmony with surroundings, entrance hall, 21ft. x 30ft., Ingle and Stairway, drawing room, 24ft. x 17ft., billiard room 24ft. x 18ft., Ingle and Alcove, suggesting "Snuggery" with side door, attendants rooms, 5 bed-rooms, best bedroom, 17ft. x 24ft., landing and corridor casement windows, lead lights, 10ft. balcony and verandah. Brick base level of ground floor to sills and timber with shingle treatment. Cost, £3OOO. Contractor, Archie Kirk.

Contracts signed for a home for Mr. Pavitt, £760, Contractor, T. Haisman. Residence for Mr. H. Wilson of seven rooms, dining room, 13ft. 6in. x 23ft., octagonal window, asbestos roofing. Cost £I2OO. Contractor, Geo. Smith.

Messrs. J. Greig and Son report the following work completed:—The new building of chambers and offices for The N.Z. Shipping Co., corner block of brick and plaster, stone finish with effective details. 2 storeys, flat roof Neuchatel treatment, a well designed building successfully carried out, rooms en suite well proportioned, easy of access and great attention to lighting. Contract, £4,500. Contractor, A. F. Lawrie.

The Scottish Hall in brick relieved with plasjter well chosen details, pleasing lines. Auditorium, 65ft. x 56ft., stage, 24ft. x 16ft., dressing rooms, reception room, 28ft. x 24ft., with private rooms opening from the entrance in the middle into vestibule, stairway to supper room, 38ft. x 26ft. in first floor, kitchen provided with 4 gas ranges, etc., most complete in arrangement and in comfort. £2,700. Contractors, Howell Bros. Eesidence for Mr. J. Ponsford of 2 storeys with balconies, hall and lounge hall, music room in addition to reception room etc., 6 bedrooms etc. Eesidence for Mr. M. B. Mander, 12 rooms in timber rough cast, splayed buttresses, Marseilles tiles, 2 verandahs and loggia projecting 10ft. with commanding view on 3 sides, reception hall, 24ft. x 24ft. with Ingle Nook. Leaded lights. A week end cottage for Mr. T. E. Tonneycliffe with verandah, walls of "Eternit" with strappings, and papered inside, living room, kitchen, 3 bedrooms etc., motor shed and workshop. A system of Tank water storage with filtration provided. Cost £560. Two shops for Mr. F. Harris under construction, cost £I4OO, this being the first portion of a larger building contemplated. Mr. Albert Williams, Architect, is engaged on work being completed and to be constructed. Mr. Forge, reports a good amount on hand and to follow. WELLINGTON. Messrs. Beere and Greenish, Architects, have completed—a cottage in Tar Street, Highland Park Estate, S. Harris, Builder. In course of erection a House in ■ Grant Eoad in asbestos walling and roof throughout with curved ceiling of asbestos in living room. -Messrs. Eanson and Eosser, Builders. Proposed alterations to houses in Goldie's Brae, Petone and Paekakariki. Designs for Houses at Oriental Bay, Thorndon and Karori.

gelo, Raphael, and other great masters. Little wonder then that colour was here the key note, while frescoes and mosaic chiefly supplied the colour. It is interesting to note in these two divisions of Gothic colouring in Europe, how we can trace Christianity in the one, which by means of the sun endeavoured to impress the wonders of God upon the people, while in the other the materialistic side handed down from Paganism is always foremost.

With Renaissance the classic colouring naturally returned stained glass being little used, while all the best efforts were obtained by opaque decoration as frescoes and Mosaic, which were lavishly applied to interiors, the domes always giving great opportunity for coloured frescoes. After the first stimulus given by the revival of ancient colouring a counter action set in and colour in architecture gradually dwindled until about the middle of the nineteenth century when renewed interest awoke in architecture, and has continued growing, until to-day every housewife, more or less, is an amateur architect with some new colour scheme for the house.

Climate which to a great extent should govern architecture naturally affected the colour employed therein. As instance the great and daring colour schemes employed by the Assyrians in their bright and clear atmosphere. On the other hand how incongruous and obstrusive their brilliant hues would look when employed in a wet and foggy country. Not this alone, but where in the former the bright light would tend to emphasise the colour, in the latter the dull light would lessen the effect. Colour should be employed in large unbroken surfaces, which are not usual in countries lacking in sunshine, due to the fact that moldings etc., are required to cast what little shadow the sun is kind enough to provide. Moreover many of the materials used for their colour in sunny lands are not adaptable to a moisture laden atmosphere and would soon crumble and decay. . ?

As a building should always harmonise with its surroundings, so colour in architecture has followed this law. The nearer the equator the more brilliant is the colouring in the sky, the trees and the flowers, gradually diminishing throughout the tropics and temperate zones till we reach the colourless polar regions. It is only natural therefore that architects, wishing!: to get harmony with surroundings should copy nature in their colours. Thus it is we always associate brilliant hues with bright ; sun. -... With the advance in ! machinery and transport almost any kind of material can now be made-or imported. More the pity, for whereas structures were once erected of the material near at hand they are now built, more often than not, with?? material from afar, thus striking a discordant note' upon the surroundings. Bricks of/various shades, building

stones and marbles, terra-cotta and tiles all give a variety of colour for walls, while slates, tiles, shingles, thatch, lead and copper serve as roof coverings. Copper especially being admirable for domes, its beautiful shades of golden browns giving a very rich e ct. Besides these : ; the plaster ,; surface of buildings is often treated with coloured distemper or waterproofing preparation. Internally tiles, mo-

saic, brick, terra-cotta, marble and granite and many other beautiful stones are extensively used for colour decorations in all large buildings, the columns, dadoes, and stair-cases usually being treated with colour. Besides these 'natural' colours, mural decorations and cartoons in distemper by well known artists as Frank Brangwyn are sometimes employed. Modern printing has given us wallpapers of endless variety, while distemper, oil paint, stains and the natural colour of woods give ample scope for colour schemes in the home. Externally the materials of construction should give all the colour necessary in a building. Where a band of colour is required it should be the natural colour of the material forming that band and not stuck on or painted. Colour should be employed in masses here and there relieved with bands or dressings, the dark being kept near the base and lessening in tone as the structure rises. It should be used with discrimination but whenever possible, as there is still some savage left in most of us and we are rejoiced at the sight of bright hues and speak of such as gay colours. When as is so often the.case in this country the background is of evergreens or will eventually be, colour should invariably be employed in either walls or roof. When a town is a seaside or holiday resort the buildings both residential and commercial should possess colour, while on the other hand a large manufacturing town should have subdued colours not materially affected by smoke. When an impression of wealth is required as in Banks and Insurance offices colour can be used to advantage in expressing the materialistic side of life. Contrast this with ecclesiastic architecture where beautiful colour effects are obtained from the sun shining through leaded windows, thus impressing the spiritual side, of life upon us. Broadly speaking colour should be used when the building is for relaxation- or for pleasure but not so much in business premises and manufactories, where the interiors should be white to reflect all the light possible. 1

Colour should be used in broad plain surfaces, always in roofs and bases, or where massiveness and strength are required. Internally floors, dadoes and friezes 7 should be of colour. To express cosiness, and warmth, to relieve an expanse of white, to soften or emphasize an outline, colour will always adapt itself and harmonise if in skilled, hands but will rebel and start out at us unless masterfully employed. Unfortunately it is probably less understood and used as a means of architectural decoration, than any other medium of expression the architect is concerned with. However the modern trend in archi-

tecture to break from the classic set rules, is daily bringing greater opportunity to raise colour as a means of decoration to its deservedly higher level-

Henley: How are you getting on with, your writing for the magazines?" _ ; Penley: "Just holding my own. They send me back as much as I send them."

From Eichardson, McCabe & Co., Ltd., Wellington. " Many thanks for yours of June 20th, also Motor" Supplement of Progress titled "The Motor in New Zealand "and we congratulate you on the excellency of the work.".