Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 5, 2024 0:53:06 GMT 12
What became of this statue? I do not recall ever seeing it there. From The Press, 22 February 1960:
Brevet Club Memorial Beside Airport
THE 10ft l10in tall statue of an airman in flying kit will be a landmark near the airport entrance before the end of the year.
Illustrated is the Temuka clay model of the figure to be a feature of the ambitious Canterbury Brevet Club Memorial headquarters and community centre.
Tenders for the construction of the building, estimated to cost about £16,000, will be called next week.
The statue, which is photographed with the sculptor (Mr T. J. Taylor) and the architect (Mr Peter Beaven), will stand against a 44ft long wall of Oamaru stone running parallel with Memorial avenue and at night will be floodlit
It will be cast in concrete.
Carved into the stone wall will be the verse of a Canadian pilot killed in the Battle of Britain: “. . . I trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand and touched the face of God.”
The status and the imposing building to go with it are intended as a memorial to World War II aircrew, many of whom were trained at Harewood before going overseas. The project will appear on a five-acre site at the intersection of Memorial avenue and Russley road. One and three-quarter acres has been purchased outright from the Crown through the Paparua County Council; the rest is being leased and will be developed as a park with children’s playground and picnicking facilities.
The land is shingly and the club will have to topdress it. It is seeking gifts of spare soil or clay for dumping on it. The centre will form an intriguing complex of structures rising up from smooth green lawns. The buildings, fawns and water garden are all set on a two-feet high raised area bounded by a grey stone plynth.
Mr Bill Lovell-Smith is consulting engineer for the structural design.
The plan includes a striking diamond-shaped hall with a sweeping double curved hyperbolic paraboloid roof with a long, low ranging supper room and the office building behind. This will have a wide entrance porch with a high sweeping canopy opening to an extensive car park with access from Russley road. The building will be constructed largely of glued laminated timber frames. The form will have striking simplicity. The roofs will be flat with wide overhangs shading the glass walls and accentuating the low long horizontal lines of the building.
The beam and post framing will have a dark finish contrasting effectively with the natural pinus timber interior linings.
Above the top of the Oamaru stone wall and through the entrance court will be seen the soaring sweep of the unusual roof of the main hall. The hall will be about 90ft by 75ft.
The glass walled supper room will look out on to a lawn courtyard and through the glass walls of the main hall.
Between the supper rooms and the main hall will be a wide bridge promenade across an ornamental water garden. It will link the vestibule entrance with the access to the main hall and with the lawn courtyard beyond.
At the airport end of the supper room a powder room, various offices, and the Brevet Club committee rooms stand out on posts ranged across an ornamental water garden.
At the airport end of the Memorial avenue frontage it is proposed, if funds allow, to build a glass walled aeronautical museum.
The plantings will be selectively planned so that natural foliage will emphasise the low long lines of the buildings.
Link Here
Brevet Club Memorial Beside Airport
THE 10ft l10in tall statue of an airman in flying kit will be a landmark near the airport entrance before the end of the year.
Illustrated is the Temuka clay model of the figure to be a feature of the ambitious Canterbury Brevet Club Memorial headquarters and community centre.
Tenders for the construction of the building, estimated to cost about £16,000, will be called next week.
The statue, which is photographed with the sculptor (Mr T. J. Taylor) and the architect (Mr Peter Beaven), will stand against a 44ft long wall of Oamaru stone running parallel with Memorial avenue and at night will be floodlit
It will be cast in concrete.
Carved into the stone wall will be the verse of a Canadian pilot killed in the Battle of Britain: “. . . I trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand and touched the face of God.”
The status and the imposing building to go with it are intended as a memorial to World War II aircrew, many of whom were trained at Harewood before going overseas. The project will appear on a five-acre site at the intersection of Memorial avenue and Russley road. One and three-quarter acres has been purchased outright from the Crown through the Paparua County Council; the rest is being leased and will be developed as a park with children’s playground and picnicking facilities.
The land is shingly and the club will have to topdress it. It is seeking gifts of spare soil or clay for dumping on it. The centre will form an intriguing complex of structures rising up from smooth green lawns. The buildings, fawns and water garden are all set on a two-feet high raised area bounded by a grey stone plynth.
Mr Bill Lovell-Smith is consulting engineer for the structural design.
The plan includes a striking diamond-shaped hall with a sweeping double curved hyperbolic paraboloid roof with a long, low ranging supper room and the office building behind. This will have a wide entrance porch with a high sweeping canopy opening to an extensive car park with access from Russley road. The building will be constructed largely of glued laminated timber frames. The form will have striking simplicity. The roofs will be flat with wide overhangs shading the glass walls and accentuating the low long horizontal lines of the building.
The beam and post framing will have a dark finish contrasting effectively with the natural pinus timber interior linings.
Above the top of the Oamaru stone wall and through the entrance court will be seen the soaring sweep of the unusual roof of the main hall. The hall will be about 90ft by 75ft.
The glass walled supper room will look out on to a lawn courtyard and through the glass walls of the main hall.
Between the supper rooms and the main hall will be a wide bridge promenade across an ornamental water garden. It will link the vestibule entrance with the access to the main hall and with the lawn courtyard beyond.
At the airport end of the supper room a powder room, various offices, and the Brevet Club committee rooms stand out on posts ranged across an ornamental water garden.
At the airport end of the Memorial avenue frontage it is proposed, if funds allow, to build a glass walled aeronautical museum.
The plantings will be selectively planned so that natural foliage will emphasise the low long lines of the buildings.
Link Here
