The beginning of the 1916 school year
for the Auckland Boys' Grammar School will always be associated with the
crossing over from the old site in Lower Symonds Street to the commanding site
on the slopes of Mount -Eden. At last the scholastic institution which is part
of the civic life of Auckland has found a home worthy of the great reputation
it has earned. By to-morrow the new building will have had its first testing as
a place where teachers and pupils together grapple with the humanities and the
sciences. The "new boys" were in attendance yesterday, and to-morrow
a start will be made by the full school. The handsome red-roofed pile of
masonry which constitutes the new Grammar School is now one of the
architectural features of the city.
A PICTURESQUE OUTLOOK.
A more picturesque locality for so
fine a building could hardly have been obtained within easy reach of the city.
In many respects Mountain Road is more like a wooded country lane than a
suburban thoroughfare. Then, too, there
is the bold background of Mount Eden, and a superb view, which embraces the
northern suburbs, Rangitoto and the wide expanse of the gulf. Wonders have been
worked with the grounds. A year or two ago the place where the school now
stands was a bed of volcanic rocks, flanking the "old rifle range."
These were patiently removed to allow of top-dressing, and now the school has
the benefit of a sports ground, as level as a billiard table, and as soft as a
residential lawn. Added to all these advantages
is the fact that the school is within easy walking distance of the penny
section at the top of Symonds Street, and the stop in Khyber Pass, near the
Park Road junction.
The new building was designed by
Messrs. Arnold and Abbott, architects, and the work was carried out by the firm
of Messrs. U. K. Hutchison and Co. Its cost was l36,000.
CALIFORNIA AND CLIMATE.
The architects have adopted the
"mission" style of building, an attractive form of architecture which
is associated with the early religious institutions founded by the Spanish missionaries
in Southern California. The style was chosen for the Auckland school as being
peculiarly suitable to this climate. To mention only one feature, an
exceedingly important one in a scholastic institution designed to accommodate
several hundred boys, the window area is carefully gauged to give the best
lighting results in our climate.
The building consists of three storeys
and a basement, built in glazed brick, with rough-cast wails, the roof being
covered with Marseilles tiles. The floors are specially deadened, so that the
complete silence which makes for isolation and effective teaching is ensured.
Two large flat roofs, both at the back and at the front on the first floor,
provide open-air spaces that may usefully be employed in the administration of
the school curriculum. Over these flat roofs light is admitted into the large
central hall, which is, perhaps, the most significant feature of the whole
building.
THE HEART OF THE BUILDING.
This interior central hall, which is
108ft long by 48ft wide, and has a total height of 30ft, is faced with glazed
bricks in greys, browns, and greens, to the springing of the barrel vault, at a
height of 25ft. The barrel vault is finished partially in plaster and partially
in cement sheets. The light comes through piercings in the vault looking out
over the flat roofs already referred to.
Corridors and the first-floor gallery
run round three sides of the central hall, and there is also a gallery on the
second floor, at the west end. All the rooms open on to the galleries or the
corridors.
FOUR STRIKING TOWERS.
From the outside, the outstanding
feature of the building (apart from the imposing entrance on the north-east,
consisting of an open arcade running between two pavilions, with an accentuated
central feature) is the effect of the towers at the four corners of the central
hall. These are carried up as special features, and are typical of the style.
They are used for the reception of emergency water storage tanks, each carrying
1,000 gallons, and at the top storey of each tower is a large ventilator, each
one effective over a quarter of the school.
The ground floor is level with the
playing fields and below this level, on the north-west side, are workshops and
shelter sheds. The ground floor and first floor are occupied by class-rooms and
lavatories, and the second storey, which is carried up only at the end of the
hall, is used to accommodate on the one end the library and museum and on the
other store room and lavatory. In the basement there is a bicycle room and a
janitor's room.
SEVEN IMPORTANT POINTS.
To regard the mass of buildings as the
home of a good school, which has an atmosphere of its own that would transform
even a tent or the old pile of wooden rooms into a real school, it may be
interesting to note that the follow points specially relating to school
Architecture have been kept prominently in view:—
Ready assembly.
Easy drafting into class-rooms.
Light class-rooms in perfect shape.
Exits and emergencies.
Compactness.
Ample ventilation.
Cleaning arrangements.
The seven essential requirements of a
school building have, it is claimed, been obtained by adopting the central hall
type of construction. The corridors are ten feet wide in every case. The
headmaster's room is so placed as to give adequate supervision over the front
entrances and the corridors. A separate staircase gives quick access to the
gallery round the hall. The back of the building is well under the supervision
of the masters from their common room, which also overlooks the playing fields.
For cleaning purposes provision has been made for the janitor on each floor,
sinks, cupboards, and shoots being established at three of the corners. It will
be seen, therefore, that the building is not only distinctive and impressive
from an architectural point of view, but from the point of view of practical
workaday use by six hundred boys and their masters it is a comfortable, healthy
home, where the body may develop equally soundly with the mind.
The entrance to the school will be
marked by gates in keeping with the architectural style of the building.
Although school has taken up to-day without ceremony, there will be a formal
opening at a suitable date later on. All the school records and documents have
been transferred to the new building, and one wall in the central hall has been
left clear for the "Honours Board.''
Auckland Star
15 February 1916
Page 7
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