Flats and More Flats

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 711, 10 July 1929, Page 15

Flats and More Flats

SYDNEY SUBURB PROTESTS Will Be No More Permits ACCORDING to Mr. J. W. Williamson, Mayor of Takapuna, who lias recently returned from a holiday visit to Sydney, there is a strong feeling in that city against the flooding of seaside resorts with flats. So strong is this feeling that a few months ago the residents of the Bdgeclift’e ward, Woolahra, Sydney, took a poll, deciding by a three-to-one majority against the issue of more permits for building blocks of flats.

A UCKLAND is now reaching a stage M Avhen consideration of the flat question must be faced. Whether the consensus of opinion will be against the popularising of our beaches by cheap accommodation in the shape of flats, or whether realisation of the architectural excellence of the majority of modern flats will allow of their being tolerated or even welcomed, remains to be seen. As it is the property owner who controls the affairs of a seaside borough, it seems more likely that the building of flats will be frowned on. It is understandable that a man, proud in the ownership of well-kept property, will object to the swelling of the population of his district by people with no property interests. W'here a man owns his foot of earth, there his main interest lies. Not many years ago, the term flat was abhorred. The meaning immediately read into it was that of sharing a house.- It meant a loss of privacy, unsatisfactory sharing of household utilities, and but rarely did it work smoothly. With the coining of the adjective “self-contained,” however, the flat has lost its unhealthy stigma. Now flats are amazingly popular and, on the face of it, that is quite understandable. Let us examine some of the attractions , architects have included in their latest designs. Threeroomed flats include two bedrooms, a living-room, bathroom, entrance hall and balconette. Two-roomed flats are similar, but with only one bedroom. In the latest plans the writer has seen the most ambitious suggestions are to be realised. A central rubbish shute to serve all floors and lead to a basement incinerator is an idea that will appeal to all housewives. Splendid hot-water services, a laundry depot, a flat-roof garden, electric lifts, a cafeteria in the basement and a large and well-furnished common lounge are other added attractions. Yet another block is to be built round an open court with gardens and patches of lawn. One architect plans to include in his flats a ballroom, which may be let to tenants wishing to entertain on a large scale. All this and more, with the additional pleasure of a central position, for rentals of £3 a week or less.

During last year permits to the value of! hundreds ot! thousands of pounds have been granted by the city and suburban councils. There appears to have been little or no difficulty about finance, and the boom in this class of building which has burst so fiercely during the last year shows no signs of abating. The phase, if it is a phase, is meeting with a very mixed reception. One of the city’s leading land agents eyes it with extreme disfavour. “It is economically unsound,” he says. “We do not want the same experience as Americans towns have had. One friend of mine who had a large sum of money invested in flats in a West Coast town of U.S.A. is feelingly prepared to support my contention that too many flats are bad for a town. His experience was that, with a slump in trade, and a consequent exodus of people from a town, owners of blocks of flats were left with huge buildings costing an enormous amount in rates, and absolutely no use for any other purpose but that for which they were designed. If the people had homes which represented their savings or even the toil they had put in gardening during the week-end, they would hesitate to leave a city where conditions were temporarily depressed. Then,” continues the agent, “there is another aspect to consider altogether, and that is the loss of the family spirit. The flat may appeal to the young married couple seeking the minimum of work and the maximum of enjoyment, but it is no place for true family life. The pride of achievement, which a man feels strongest when he is looking at a garden he has made with his own hands, is lacking. The children, if there are any, grow up a mouselike tribe, forbidden the healthy ‘letting off steam’ so essential to youthful spirits, and continually hushed into quietness by a mother, fearful of her neighbours’ complaints.” Perhaps the agent is too stringent in his criticism. Be that as it may, the passing years will prove the wisdom or otherwise of flat-building ventures, and in the meantime they continue to be almost as popular, both with investors and tenants, as they have been in the days of American booms.