Tuesday, August 3, 2010

#1159 ... NOT Rush Hour

Wellington Railway Station around 9:30am in the morning ... after the peak rush hour ... it has a vacant beauty all on its own.

HISTORY: When completed in 1937 the station was New Zealand̢۪s largest building, partly because it was designed to accommodate 675 head office and district railways staff.Engineering to 1990 - IPENZ, Engineering Publications Co Ltd, Page 36 The land upon which it is built is reclaimed, and it was the first major New Zealand structure to incorporate a significant measure of earthquake resistance. It was constructed by Fletcher Building as one of its first major construction projects. It was designed by New Zealander W. Gray Young, famous for his neo-Georgian styles.

It has a steel frame encased in reinforced concrete and supported on groups of reinforced concrete piles. Bricks used for the outer cladding are of a special design, with slots to accommodate vertical rods reinforcing the brickwork and binding it to the structural members. It required 1.75 million bricks, plus 1500 tonnes of decorative granite and marble.

2 comments:

paul said...

Who would have thought: a picture from Jeremyb without people! (Well, almost without.) Nice hall, beautifully presented and explained.

jbworks said...

Thanks for dropping by Paul ... almost a blank canvas ... and YES "people maketh a city"