NEW BUILDINGS AND IMPROVEMENTS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2473, 21 February 1881, Page 2

NEW BUILDINGS AND IMPROVEMENTS.

In spite of bad times and the general scarcity of £ s d, there can be no doubt that Timaru is still steadily progressing, and it is reassuring to note that business people, so far from being discouraged by the temporary depression, would seem to repose the utmost confidence in the future. This is evidenced by the number of new buildings lately erected, or in course of erection, and the extensive alterations and improvements now being carried out. Taking a brief survey of what has been done recently in the direction indicated, we will commence with THE CLARENDON HOTEL. This well known and old established house has recently undergone considerable alteration. The old bar, the direct entrance to which was from the door at the corner of Church street, hastotally disappeared, and its site is occupied by a small corner shop, to which we shall refer presently. The bar has been removed a few feet to the south, and has been papered, painted, and decorated in a most artistic manner. To the right and adjoining the shop at the corner is the new dining room. Alongside is the commercial room, a new feature of the hotel, and a commodious and comfortable apartment. To the left of the bar is a cosy little sitting room for the use of visitors. The premises have been thoroughly renovated, and the establishment is for all practical purposes as good as new. The corner, where liquors of all kinds were wont to be retailed, is undergoing one of those lightning changes with which the pantomime makes us familiar. In a few days, under the significant name of the Royal Victoria Porkshop, it will be opened by Messrs Peacock and Geaney, of the West End Butchery. It will be devoted to all the luxuries of pork and small goods, and we have no doubt it will meet a want that has long been felt in Timaru. This will make the third establishment that has been opened by this enterprising firm.

THE OLD POST OFFICE Having disappeared, two really beautiful shops, erected from the designs of Mr Upton, Architect of this town, now occupy its site. These shops are of brick, the interior wood-work and fittings being of French polished cedar, and each window being composed of a single sheet of plate glass. Their size is 24ft by lift. The buildings are surmounted by an ornamental balustrade. In the centre of the pediment is a semicircular window designed to light a passage 40ft in length and sis feet wide, which runs between the shops, and gives access to a large auction room, 48ft by 24ft, situated at the rear of the shops and intended for Messrs William Collins and Co., auctioneers, of Strathallan street. The central passage referred to is closed by a door opening from the main street, and which adds considerably to the appearance of the facade of the new shops. On either side of the door are corinthian pilasters and each shop window is flanked by a corinthian pilaster, the effect being very good. In fact the new shops do Timaru credit. One of them is to be opened shortly as a bakery, and the other as a boot and shoe establishment.