WEIR HOUSE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 38, 15 February 1933, Page 10

WEIR HOUSE

HOSTEL HANDED OVER

A FINE BUILDING

Weir House,, the new Victoria College Hostel, has now reached a stage of completion enabling the contractors to hand it over to the College Council. Weir House is the first building in the development of one of the finest sites in Wellington, with its unrivalled panoramic view of the harbour and city. The complete scheme for the layout of the whole site provides for a future dining-hall block and for two further houses. Weir House .itself needs awing to be added to it in the future to complete the entrance quadrangle. . The building is three storeys in height, with a basement on the eastern front. The main entrance has been planned in the centre of the quadrangle, under a. very imposing pillared portico. It leads into a fine panelled hall containing the main staircase, and on each side'are the visitors' room, offices, and janitor's rooms, whilst wide corridors lead off the centre to each wing. The floor of the hall and the stairs is covered with rubber to a special design to harmonise with the wood panelling. The ceiling is of modelled plasterAt the end 'of the wing, and so placed as to obtain the first and the last of the " sun's " ray's, .is a large common-room finished in a similar manner to the entrance hall, with the addition of a wide open fireplace. The room is also heated by radiators concealed behind very effective • wooaen grilles in keeping with the panelling. The temporary. dining-Toom is placed at the other end of the wing, together1 with a service pantry connected to the kitchen below with a service lift.' The kitchen stores and maids' dining-room are "in the basement below, the kitchen being fitted up with every modern convenience, such as gas cooking, electric potato peeler, and other labour-saving devices. The walls of the kitchen are 'finished in white tiles -with green border, whilst the woodwork is painted in white enamel,-which makes a very bright and pleasant workroom. The students' pantry (where the students can make their own supper and afternoon tea), linen room, and housemaids' pantry, are placed in the centre of the block. A linen lift for the clean linen and also a soiled linen chute serve each floor. A dust chute has been worked in, which takes all waste paper and rubbish from each floor- down into the boiler room, where it will be burnt. The lavatories are planned in the internal angle, and have been arranged as a unit of three rooms opening into one another. Special attention has been given to this part so as to make it as hygienic as possible, and in consequence the walls and floors are lined with marble terrazzo, the pipes are chromium plated, and the woodwork is white enamelled. The standard of finish to this part of' the building is far in excess of that in any- similar building in Wellington. Wide mirrors are placed over the lavatory basins, with a shelf below for brushes. Two baths are provided in the top floor, and one in the basement. The warden's quarters are on the first floor over the main entrance, whilst the rest of the building is occupied by suites of students' studies and bedrooms with a. few' combination study-bedrooms. Each bedroom accommodates two students, and has two built-in wardrobes, and. dressing-table so designed to make a panelled feature to one side of the room. A mirror is built in over the dressing-table. Until the dining-hall block is built, temporary arrangements have been made for the accommodation of the domestic staff above the dining-hall end of the building. In the basement .are the changing-room with showers, a drying room, a recreation room with fives court, and a bicycle store. The building has three fireproof staircases, and is built with a reinforced concrete frame, walls, and floors, designed with special provision for earthquake shocks. The finish inside is plaster, which will be tinted later. The corridors have an enamel dado. The woodwork is dark-stained rimu, except in the ' common-room, which is in redwood. The building is heated by hot water radiators. The exterior is in modern English Eenaissance style with a tinted textured plaster finish. The centre portion of the front to the city has been set back, and an imposing effect is gained by connecting the ends up by a colonnade running up through two floors. The roofs are covered with specially-made Marseilles tiles to give a variegated colour and glazed surface. Ihe architects were the late Mr C A. Lawrence and Mr. W. Gray Young' The contractors were the Fletcher Construction Company, Ltd. Mr. P Holgate was the structural engineer and Mr. W. H. Gardiner clerk of works