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Description

Two unidentified engineers in the City Engineer’s Office are credited with the actual design of this building. Erected in brick and concrete with the exterior plastered in a “delicate shade of green,” the Art Deco style building has a band of bas relief ornamentation that then provided contrasts in brown and beige to “harmonise with the surrounding plantation.” The building’s semi-circular windows, which were intended to admit maximum light, and its interior decoration, also reflected its Art Deco style.

Messrs A.W. Wood & Sons erected the building at a cost of £1,683, and the completed cost (including furnishings) was £1,859. It opened to the public on 21st December 1936. It contained a comfortable rest room for mothers and children complete with water and milk heating facilities, a waiting room, and a lavatory with six cubicles. Two private ‘toilet rooms’ (for changing clothing, freshening up, etc.) were also present, along with the attendants’ room.

Identification

Object type
Image
Relation
IMCA Digital Archive
Date
June 2020
Digitisation ID
2020BD_IMCA-DigitalMaster_031929
Format
Born Digital
Held In
"IMCA Digital Archive"

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Taxonomy

Tags
2020s,
architects,
architecture,
buildings,
the square,
Community Tags

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Related items

45-51 The Square – the Grand Building, former Grand Hotel
161-163 The Square – Mowlem Buildings (a.k.a. ‘Bares Buildings’)
36 The Square – ‘Childs’ building’, now Lone Star Café & Bar
145-148 The Square, 5-21 Rangitikei Street, 288-302 Cuba Street - @ the hub
1-3 The Square – former Union Bank of Australia/ANZ Chambers
476-482 Main Street - The Square Centre, former Public Library
126-136 The Square – Former Palmerston North Chief Post Office
4-11 The Square – CM Ross Co. Building, now the Palmerston North City Library
10-15 The Square - Commercial Building
125-128 The Square - Waldegrave Building
153-154 The Square – United Friendly Societies’ Dispensary (UFSD) building
31-35 The Square – Strand Building