Stirling Rogers, Master Builder

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 852, 21 December 1929, Page 6 (Supplement)

Stirling Rogers, Master Builder

From the time the first sod of earth ■was turned until the magnificent theatre, which has been fashioned under his expert guidance, threw open its doors to an admiring public, the contractor will have kept a strict eye on the work of construction. Contractors are remarkable men, because they seem to possess the faculty of doing several things at once;

firstly at London University and afterwards at Melbourne University. Already claiming a comprehensive knowledge and expert instruction in the various branches of his protest* sion, Mr. Rogers, who is now only 30 years of age, served three years in the Australian infantry and later served in the Australian Navy for some time on the work of hydrographical surveying. Then he became attached to the Electricity Commission for the stupendous works associated with the brown coal scheme at Yallourn, Victoria. With plenty of practical experience behind him, as well as his embracing theoretical knowledge, Mr. Rogers engaged’ in contracting independently, and as he himself said, from that time onward “he did! not have a night’s rest.”

He has been contracting for the past seven years, and in that period has been responsible for the constructional work of well over £1,250,000 worth of property. Most of this has been represented by theatres, but other works have also been carried out, such as bridge construction, roads and earthworks. A huge gasworks in Melbourne, and a big bridge, in which he introduced a unique lock into Australia, have been other enterprises on which he has been engaged. Although several men of Mr. Rogers’s own staff, including Mr. Samuel Laird, general foreman, from Australia, were brought over to assist in the special type of work involved in the building of the theatre, the vast majority of those employed were recruited locally and trained. There have been harmonious relations throughout, and he found the men as skilful, adept and expert as those anywhere in Australia.

Mr. Stirling Rogers has done so at all events.

An army of artisans has done its work under his practised eye. They have been engaged at full pressure for nearly six months, but at last the climax has been reached and the public sees and sums up the reward of their labours.

Mr. Rogers has the unique distinction of being the youngest master builder engaged on big construction works in Australia or New Zealand. The foundations of his extensive knowledge were built under the expert tuition of Carlo Catani. formerly city engineer of Public Works in Victoria, and he claims that he could have had no finer tutor. The technical and practical aspects of civil engineering in their entirety were studied by him

Wherever possible local materials had been utilised, and they have been found to be eminently suitable. A great deal of material had to be secured from other parts of the world, but that was only to be expected. “It follows closely the modern trend of interior decoration,” Mr. Rogers said when asked questions concerning the style of architecture incorporated in the Civic. Another feature is to ham the building constructed

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in such a manner that with the expenditure of a comparatively small sum of a few thousand pounds these decorations can be changed to suit public demands. The first detail in this class of building is to have it so designed structurally as to leave the shell intact, and permitting the introduction of any new scheme of decoration that may be required.

“I say that the Civic is the finest theatre in Australia or New Zealand at the present time, and it is behind none of its kind anywhere in the world, even America, to which must be given the credit of having introduced the first and finest ‘atmospherics.’ I may add that the greatest credit is due to Mr. Thomas A. O’BrieD for his vision and courage in erecting such a magnificent theatre in the Queen City of New Zealand, which strikingly indicates his belief in the future of Auckland.”