A BOOTH MEMORIAL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2000, 6 March 1914, Page 8

A BOOTH MEMORIAL.

ARMY OFFICERS' TRAINING COLLEGE. ' NOW COMPLETED. Unique in character and design, the General Booth. Officers' Training JQolha, :> ait edifice devoted, to tho training of Salvation. Army officers) stands a : s amonument to the unsparing •work of tlwsw adherents to tho body, tW founder of which is honoured not only in the naaio of the- building just completed, but throughout the world. Tho new college, ivliicli is to be formally opened by His Excellency the Governor on AprM c, occupies a section liaring a frontage of ■ 101 ft. t-o Wordsworth Street by a depth of 330 ft. The building itself si-amJs baek 100 ft. "from tho street frontage, and covers a block of sloping ground 81ft. 6in. by 13(Mt. . The rise in tho ground has offered an opening for a touch of tho piotiire-sque, of which tho architects (Messrs. .Fearil and Quick) have Mot hten slow to avail theinselvcs. "Mioy have planned out the 100 ft. square of front laud, in three terraces with turfed banks, and cent-rally-sitated: flights o.f concrete steps, admission to which is gained through haiiclsotius-ly-desigued double gates of wrought- iron, lift, m height, Hanked by bnok ami concrete pillars, towering tip to a height of 18ft, At the loiver earners a£ tho highest lligh-fc of steps provision, is made for tho erection of two large -wrought- iroa lamps which will light up the whole f rent of ttio grounds. Hie sharp slope in the ground, has permitted ihe architects to pwvide a> commodious basement floor in troht. In that- part of the building ate the <*- • trances for the students, admitting to cbak-rco-iB-s, (fur wet clothing), bos-rooms (for triiEk.s and bags), and a central receptign-room divided , in the centre by a ioldui-g partition. Ihc object -of the partition is «mo that is stadwd thsouijsioutbuilding, t-tiat-.is to isrovidti equal faeilities for both sexes (25 st-udeirts of oa-sb) by dividing t%e initMhig in Imlves. Prom'the oagettient stairways o!i cither skjp ti'.a to tho crush worn above, , which :s gained by'the ordinary public, by means of the rtiaiii enttanee. On each si'lo t>i the ohtraneo a-ro spasfoua reception rooms for both sexes, and crossing the. crush voam or hall straight ahead one ©noounwrs tho ceiitra-lly-plaeetf lecture hall (3lft. by 23ft.), a fine lofty apartrnftnt, fitted with- a gal* lory/ that is eatable of sealing itaO people. Flanking Jjoth sides of the hail a» class rooTO-s, teachers' rootiiSj ca-liiclc-s (for student's), bathrooms, and immediately beliM tie lectuto liall (in the eeivtro) is an open quadrangle- (31ft: by Sflft.), whicli is to bo turfed, and Will, it is lisped, ojlo day enehrirro a seulptorecl btist of th& late Gent-ral Boiit-h, t-p- six steps f ra.n ttie passages are ' l&ffated: twe dining-'rto.ms, with baj«, for the accomraod-aiioß o.f tie statt. 'The tradesmen's m\* tralico will lie- from- a. right-ot'4vay off Oliii'o lltiad. Th© first fle'or consists of a- spaokrfra tran-sv«fso Jia-H, that adiiiits to tho gallery of the lestee hall, in tho centre, and on either side leads to tho sfeeping cubicles (Sft. <iin. by 6ft, Giti< each), Tho building is well veuiiJatJfdt thfouglwat, Mi particular atte.utjoii has been given to fe ioctu.ro- lirill. "Ellis Is transversed by two la-rgo-ho-lfo-ft-beariis, Vrb'ich carry galvanised ittm trunks calculated to sohyey the heated air. to automatic vonts mi tlie roof, 'I'iie collego is- fijuslied attractively in red , lffiofe and stucco, and is joo-fed with are of ooacreto, ..roinforced with iieel, 1 Tits contractors were Messrs. Hunt and Sl'Dwaald. Tho land and -building cost approximately £13,000: '