MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 56, 2 November 1914, Page 7

MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS.

AN AMBITIOUS SCHEME. A correspondent sends the following suggestions for the re-erection oi the municipal building*. : First, I would suggest that the Borough Council secure the river and the adjoining sections .it necessary, down to the railway bridge, and for a liberal distance up the stream. The concrete foundations for a new Victoria bridge should bo made very strong. Provision should be made to have the bridge the full width oi Broadway. The foundations should act as a dam, raising the surface oi the water to nearly street level, or as high as is safe. Aii the stone and filling required could be got from the river when widening the surface space of the water and making a wide path or drive along the riverside. The river would then become a popular resort for boating exercise. On the lower side of the bridge there could bo baths of all sorts necessary to a city suggestive of Shakespeare. Perhaps it would be advisable to arrange otherwise for baths. It would be well if it could bo brought about that the Government should build the new Post Office on that pieco of land between the road and the railway, the building to be of quality and appearance equal to the new municipal buildings, which should be built on the bridge and as much extra land as necessary. The municipal offices should be a noble building worthy of the city that is to be and to last for many hundred years, with its great clock tower at a great height, with four dials, and a clock without weights, springs or strings and never requiring winding up; also a lift worked by water power provided by the dam, and the whole lighted up in such a manner that the time might be seen from the Borough boundaries and from as much of the surrounding country as can be ensured by the power the Patea will provide by one fall. The building would bo founded on the bridge with' two arches running north and south, taking the main or wheel traffic of Broadway. All traffic for the south would go through the east arch and that for the north through the west arch. Spaces to east and west should be leased, being erected to get the necessary proportion, stability and appearance of the building. I will not intrude on the office of the architect by saying how many rooms there should be or how large they should be, or by saying how large should be the great dining hall and its necessary offices; but I suppose the room will be great and wonderful, as it might be necessary to entertain the King and Queen, when, no doubt, five hundred persons would sit in the great room, present Town Hall is good enough for all time for official purposes. The present Town Hall is good enaugh for the. usual course of events. It must be evident to all that in view of what Stratford is to boor ought to be, keeping in mind that it will soon be the centre of great arterial traffic by road and otherwise, the time has come for the municipal body to lay the foundations of a city by putting up a building that will, give every convenience, and at the same time act as an example for citizens to follow, so that in the town's buildings the "curious and shanty-like appearance would disappear and "stable and artistic edifices take their places, tending to induce people of taste to become residents of the town. I can foresee the time when the people of Stratford will walk with delight down their river walk, down as far as the swan-neck bend, when the ugly stones have been removed and made use of.