WELLINGTON CIVIC CENTRE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 9, 6 October 1943, Page 8

WELLINGTON CIVIC CENTRE

Position Of Open Space By

Town Hall

RIVAL ADVOCACIES

Some Wellington citizens may be somewhat confused in respect to the two sets of plans which have been put forward by those interested in the provision of a civic centre pivoting on the present Town Hall. In the first place there is the city council’s plan, a reproduction of which has already been published in these columns. This plan was prepared for the council by a committee consisting of Messrs. K. E. Luke (city engineer), "'ll. I’. Norman (town clerk), F. W. Furkert (a former enginer-in-chief, Public Works Department, and a city councillor) and Messrs. W. M. Page, Stanley Fearn and C. V. Haughton, architects. The plan provides for an administration block covering the whole of the triangular section of city land immediately to the west of the Town Hall, and proposes to clear the buildings from the block opposite the eastern front of the Town Hall; to erect an intimate municipal theatre on the land occupied (approximately) by the old tramways power-house (soon to be a sports pentre) ; and to make a considerable clearance on the blocks east and west of the Public Library.

On the other hand, the Citizens' Combined Committee wishes to preserve the land westward of the Town Hall as an open space, and to place the administration block elsewhere. This committee is to interview the council at its meeting on October 13. Interviewed yesterday, the town cl era said that the essential difference in the two plans was how the triangular block of land extending from the rear of the Town Hall to .the site of the old publiclibrary was to he utilized. The council's plan provided for an open space before the Town Hall; the combined committee wanted it behind that edifice. Them were other details, hut that was the chief point of contention. The city engineer said the natural place for the open area was in front of tlie Town Hall, facing the Jervois Quay approach to the centre of the cityShould an open space be provided as suggested by the combined committee, it would necessarily be shut in by blocks of buildings, whereas in Jervois Quay it would front that fine thoroughfare, in places J 50ft. ih breadth, and an open Cable Street. Moreover, there were leases of property to run for 17 to 20 years on the land opposite the front of the Town Hall, and the council could not very well postpone the erection of an administration block on that site for that length of time. One reason for that was that the city engineer's office suffered severely in last year’s earthquakes, and it was high time that new offices were provided for the department. The site selected by the council’s committee for the purpose was ideal,, as it faced the open space by the central library, and also had the best northerly light possible, an essential consideration in the preparation of plans.