A BUILDING SCHEME.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 227, 18 June 1908, Page 7

A BUILDING SCHEME.

FOR LAMBTON QUAY, MESSRS. .KIRKCALDIE AND STAINS' ' INTENTIONS. A 1 FINE CITY BLOCK. ' Lambton Quay, solid in its business prosperity,'lias been slower to rnovo in the matter of building betterment than Other and newer of tiionbtsiness parts of tho city. Only a couple of years ago or so thero woro asros of unoccupied land—splendid building sec-tions-^-betvecn. tho old . Drillshcd and tho Supreme Court, land which had hung tiro so long:tint, many began to suspect ihat itwas ''tapu"—to be used only as a'repotito?y for,/packing oases,'barrels, rubbish, and Bmoked.yfisl.il- A chango has como over tho scene of - lite-, and it is only a nwter of months • •be'ore all tho land will be obsHy built upon.' This building activity has .tended to,smarten up tho " wrong " side of Lambton Q.uay,-whici'is to bo furthor ornamented by what will;te<ono of tho finest blocks of business premiss in tho city. 'As will hayo been notioed, Masrs. Kirkcaldie and Stains havo agreed- to culvert certain of their leaseholds from tho'City Corporation into Glasgow leases',- one tf which is tho site of tho present Occidental .Hotel. This rings tho knell of tho old hotel, flliich is to be razed to the ground in a few weeks to enable the firm to initiate a building schemo,that looks liko setting a now standaid in drapery warehouses! Where tho Occidental now ■ stands is to bo occupied by a four-BWried steel-framed brick budding that will have a frontage of 36ft. to Lambton -Quay and ;98ft. to Johnston Street, with capacious slow windows on the ground floor > and windows' on each floor so large that tho brick, and-, jtool construction will simply be the divisiora .between them. which will ' join Jhe ferroconcrete structure now being erected in Johnston .'Street;-- is only a part, and that tho smaller,; ;Of the big scheme the firm has set its hand to Those possessed of the " architectural' eje" wiil have noticed that Kirkcaldio.'s bbek (from Brandon to Johnston Streets) cmsists of a central three-story brick building,-a largo wooden building on the Bra^'clon'.'Street corner, and tho. Occidental Hotel on.the other corner. The latter's fate has';beenjdotailed, but that of the wooden portion c£- the firm's premises has yet to ho deajc with.; This part of tho building, having a Jroptjge of . 70ft; to'Lambton Quay and 94ft. t'oc?randon Street, is also to be demolished, .and from its dust will arise a huge four-stcried steel-frame brick structure of the same disign-us that which is to supplant the hotel." As this will leave the middle of the block s story less in height and an elevation arcHiteoturally differing from the proposed now'''luildings, the firm might deoido to remod&'that part of the block to make it one complete whole, . Mr. W. Turnbull has prepared the plans for. the, wholo building scheme, and. it is prob.ible that tenders for tho work will bo calltd'within a week or bo.