TOWN HALL BADLY WRENCHED

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 264, 6 August 1942, Page 4

TOWN HALL BADLY WRENCHED

Large Repair Job EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE IN WELLINGTON Grave damage was done to the Wellington Town Hall by Sunday morning’s earthquake and it may be months before the big hall of the concert chamber is made safe for public letting. The first thing that catches the eye on entering the main lobby is the disturbed brickwork over the window on the stairway landing. Within the main hall the actual damage has still to be examined, but there are ominous cracks across eight piers on the eastern side and a similar number on the western side, on a level with the bottom of the high-set windows. These are the supporting piers, which go right down to the ground. If, as may be, it turns out that these piers are fractured right through, it will probably mean a big repair job above the line of fracture or replacement altogether with reinforced concrete piers. Such was -the wrenching the big building sustained that it shattered the brickwork in some places. There is a big split in -the wall over the stairway leading to the dressing-rooms of the” concert chamber, and the dressing-room ceilings, and the proscenium walls on either side of the platform, have shed much of their plaster facing. In the concert chamber itself, there are lateral cracks in the eastern, and western walls, while the okl cracks above the doors of the gallery have opened out as a result of the quake. City Valuer’s Office.

The old staff clubrooms, on the western side of the building (on a level with the gallery of the main hall) have suffered severely. These rooms now form the offices of the city valuer and his staff. Here the walls and ceilings show signs of earthquake ravage, and there are places where loosened brickwork is showing in the walls'. The city valuer, Mr. Findlay Martin, considers his office Is in too dangerous a condition to occupy. The council chamber and mayoral suite appear to be intact. The Town Hall is a cement-faced brick structure, erected at the beginning of the century by Hunter, Martin and Snaddon to the plans of the late Mr. Josiah Charlesworth, at a cost of £79,263 (which Included the cost of the grand organ and furnishings). This is not the first time it has suffered from earthquake. It was wrenched at the time of the Hawke’s Bay disturbance. After that the clock tower and old heavyweight front entrance portico were removed. A new portico in reinforced concrete was subsequently erected. Hill Street Basilica. Scaffolding was erected yesterday at the Hill Street Basilica in preparation for the demolition of the towers, which have been found to be defective since Sunday's earthquake. When consulted yesterday Monsignor Connolly stated that as far as he was aware no material damage had been done to the interior of the church (which is a brick structure). The church services will be held in . St. Francis Hall, next to the Basilica, till, further notice. So long as that arrangement holds, St. Francis Hall will not be available for any other purposes. Mayor’s Statement. Though detailed reports which are being obtained concerning the damage to all Wellington City Corporation property are still awaited, said the mayor, Mr. Hislop, yesterday, the possibilities were that the old library building-, now 50 years old, and the original technical school -building in Wakefield Street, Would both be demolished, because of the condition they were in. Consideration would undoubtedly be given to the replacement of buildings in this block by a civic centre, but nothing in this direction could be done during the war. “The trouble is here and has to be faced with what -resources we have, said the mayor in speaking of earthquake damage in Wellington generally. Earthquake insurance was held on some of the corporation-owned buildings, but not to the full reinstatement value in all cases. Evacuation had been advised from a number of pri-vately-owned premises.' The position regarding the reopening of the closed section of Manners Street was indeterminate, said the mayor. Where any rebuilding was undertaken, new structures had to be set back, in accordance with the building by-laws, a certain distance from the present road-line. , ~ Control of pedestrians in the badlydamaged area of Manners Street adjacent to Willis Street is being exercised from 7.30 a.m. to 11 P-m- dai y till further notice by a roster of 111 wardens from Block C in the No. 10 Area. These men have done very good work in keeping -the public out of the danger area, and they report that there has been a courteous response to their directions, particularly by visiting servicemen. Police patrol the area dining the. night. Post Office Tower and Parapet. Demolition work on the older section of the Chief Post Office building in Wellington is now getting well under wav Forty Army sappers have taken over the urgent task of removing the clock tower and extensive length of earthquake damaged parapet in order to make the three floors below the tower safe for reoccupation as soon as possible, and also to safeguard the public using the streets in the immediate vicinity. The roadway in front of the building is barricaded off and closed to all traffic. Pneumatic drills'and heavy hammers are being used by the sappers to demolish the parapet, which is to be cut down to 10 feet below its present level all the way round the old post office building from Grey Street to Panama Street. There are 800 cubic yards of solid brickwork to be re moved.

The demolition has been taken over by Army sappers because, it is understood, the contractor who had made a start on the Grey Street frontage after the June earthquake was unable to obtain sufficient manpower to carry on the operations. All members of the Army unit engaged, and which will probably be increased in strength, as the scaffolding is extended, are stated to be skilled tradesmen. This class of operation is regarded as an integral part of their military training, and for the period after 9.30 a.m. today they will be working in gas respirators. The mechanism of the post office clock has been dismantled by Messrs. Bolt and Sutherland, instrument makers, and it is at present in pieces on the floor of a room in the post office. Immediately the scaffolding now being erected round the tower is sufficiently far advanced, the large 30ewt. hour bell and the four smaller ones will be swung out of the tower with a block

and tackle and lowered to the street below. The job of removing the bells may be undertaken today. Loss of Plate Glass. Damage estimatetd at about £4OOO has been done by the two recent earthquakes, but principally by that on Sunday morning, to stocks held on the premises of R. and E. Tingey and Co., fronting on Manners Street. This is quite apart from damage done to the building itself. Superficially this appears* to be extensive, and in one place a brick wall is bulging, but the real extent of the structural damage cannot be determined till the architects’ report, now awaited, is available. Instructions are being issued by the firm for all necessary steps to be taken to restore the building to its original condition. , .. AU damage done is covered by earthquake insurance, but a large proportion of the stock damaged, notably very large sheets of three-eighths and halfinch plate glass, is practically irreplaceable under war conditions. This is where the most serious damage, amounting to over £3OOO, has been suffered. Following on loss through breakages in consequence of the June earthquake, special steps were taken to protect these valuable sheets of plate glass but the violence of the earthquake on Sunday was too much for these precautions. Stocks of sheet vitrolite, used for facing the lower frontages of buildings, were damaged to an extent which .‘s assessed at about £ °Tlie building is steel reinforced, but pending the start of repair work the frontage is being shored up from within and scaffolding is going up which will truss the outside.