The Evening Star THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1874

Evening Star, Issue 3413, 29 January 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1874

Thk r latest sensational novelty is the proposal that the University, Hall shall h© purchased by the Corporation for conversion into a Town Hall and civic offices. Whether sudh an idea meets general approbation or not we have no opportunity of knowing j but for our own parts we think many matters must be considered before committing ourselves to such a purchase. Were the University, buildings suited for, the purpose without alteration, and immediately available, it possibly might become a question whether it would npt; be advisable to buy a ready-made article rather than wait' 1 for the manufacture of a new one. J But this is hot the case, . and it theref ore becomes, a balance i of advantages and ciisadyan-f-ages. In our opinion l ‘the latter preponderate. , We scartely ever Oabaew an jnstanceofa bu il di p g erected for one purpose exactly suiting the requirements pf "■ another. • This r -building, ■ originally Resigned for a Post Office, Was in the first instance, no doubt,, well adapted for that. We do not mean to say it was the best design'that could‘have adopted ~ perhaps not;; but any rate, in our • estimation,' it would; have .been a very- handsome and, on the whole, a well-an *anged Post Office. Unfortunately it . vidtsj finished at a period of great, ProviE icial depression, and since a University Building was required, and it seemed necessary to utilise to the utmost every inch of floor, space available to 'the public, for the sake ;of economy, some thousands of pounds were l spent in rearranging the Provincial buildings, and cutting and carving the interior of the University buildings, to fit. them’ for educational .purposes. We think, very probably,-if the cost of thene makeshift alterations was tot ted up, it would be .found, that a new s .tincture, better adapted to the requiren rents of a University could have been, built' with the money—that is, prpvid led we had gone the right way about put-work : a very necessary proviso to add, in esi'amating the cost of public buildings in D unedin. But we spent the money, anal with what result 1 ' We have? class root ns, it is true; and we have a Museum, and Art Academy, every one of wl licli bears evidence of not having been designed for the purposes to which th ey are applied j and we have a University Hall, which may be tolerable as V' lecture-room for the accommodation of the students that usually attend a specific course; but which is ill-venti-lated, and .when appropriated to public meetings is insufferably close and oppressive, besides not being equal to holding sd many persons as one of our theatres. It is now proposed to buy this place for a Town Hall. Let us see what is involved in this new-fangled tjcheme. First,, the cost of the building dnd alterations. How much that would, be we are unable-to'saybut some idea may be formed of it when it is considered that the first cost of the University buildings to the Province Was about thirty thousand pounds." To this must be added, the alterations, which -the present 'Scheme proposes to sacrifice altogether; and to this aggregate amount, whatever it may be, must be further added the expense of rearranging the interior of the building, which may be qven greater than has already been spent in adapting the hall to its present uses. And when all is done, and a hall capable of containing, according to a morning contemporary, eighteen hundred people, is pro-

We venture to say there is not an architect in the City who will not undertake to provide plans for a more suitable T6wn Hall and offices at little more than half the outlay already incurred in gutting and roofing and patching ' the building,' and trying to fit unsuitable rooms to purposes for which they were never intended. It must be remembered it is not merely knocking down a wall to add a room ,6r two to the present area of the hall that is required. Knocking down those walls requires substitution of. suitable pillars and other .appliances for the support of what is above. Con sequently, knocking down implies ho little building up ; and that not of a straightforward character, but involv-’ ing. complex and difficult operations. Appropriating those rooms means in all probability the construction of others, 'without which the large hall would be useless for many purposes for which a Town Hall should be adapted. Balls,, concerts, public entertainments, and public meetings require side rooms, ; retiring rooms, committee rooms, &c. ; and all those close boxes now. iu existence it is proposed to absorb. > We suppose, as a makeshift, the Mayor’s and Town Clerk’s offices, or some, other of the civife suite of looms would be lent, to the great annoyance of the officials, if not to the positive delay of public . business. . And what is the setoff to all expenses .and disadvantages?. Position; ,we : are told it is a cental position. Very true—it is ; but as : th.e ground is already Occupied,and' as—Since population is rapidly indreasing north of the Octagon—in a very short time . the position will not be central; we do not see that Moray place is not;equally; entitled to have! the term “ central” applied tb it. ; Obr conclusion is that it will be cheaper and better to build a new Town Hall large enough for present requirements, and, in view of increase of population, capable of extension when needed, than to buy the University buildings. Such a plan is not ’ hew ; nor original. The Roman Catholic Cathedral iri Melbourne has been in course of construction for, we believe, some thirty years.; and has been, extended from time to time, as the increase of accommodation rendered necessary. Adopting a plan capable of extension, every addition assumes the form of development, in- • volves but very little change of. arrangement, and none from the original design. We may be told this is a peculiarity of Gothic architecture. It may be bo ; but is no other style capable of similar expansibility? We will not libel the genius of the present age by entertaining such a notion.