NEW CATHEDRAL

Hokitika Guardian, 7 December 1932, Page 7

NEW CATHEDRAL

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

NEW EDIFICE FOR LIVERPOOL.

WELLINGTON, December 6. Some interesting facts concerning the proposed new Catholic cathedral to be built in Liverpool were given by Mr’ E. Lutyens, of London, a nephew of the famous British architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, who arrived in Wellington by the Ruahine on Saturday. Mr Lutyens, who is himself a London architect, said the new cathedral, which was being designed by his uncle, would be the finest building that had ever been built in England i,. at any time. As yet it was-only in the drawings. The nave,-, he isaidi,:-’ would be higher than the -top of the; new underground building at St James’s Park. The building would-be higher than St Paul’s, which was an example of renaissance architecture, while the ne\v Liverpool cathedral was designed after Gothic models. “It will be a most beautiful building,” sad Mr Lutyen*. Mr Lutyens said there was no doubt that his uncle, Sir Edwin, was the biggest architect since Sir Christopher Wren. His greatest work to date was the magnificent pile of the Government Buildings at Delhi. The two legislative blocks were designed by Sir Herbert Baker, but Sir Edwin Lutyens waß responsible for Government House itself and the whole layout of the place. Prior to setting up in private practice Mr Lutyens was for some years working in his uncle’s office. Mr Lutyens mentioned that building was very slack in England at present and architects were experiencing a relatively lean time. Although in some cases old buildings were being replaced by new, London did not change it s skyline much. The principal changes were along the embankment, where several big buildings had recently been.erected. The height limit which ruled in the rest of the city might be exceeded on the embankment, he said, and one of «the tallest buildings in the city was a block of offices recently erected for an oil company on the site of the old Hotel Cecil, a feature of the building being th© tall clock; tower. Mr Lutyens doubted whether sufficient tenants would be offering to fill the building, as there was an excess of office space available in London. Right throughout the country houses were selling vei-y cheaply, and country houses which cost thousands of pounds to build were practically being given away.