posal of Cathedral Square, but Mr. Sewell brushed aside the suggestion with the practical criticism that there was no space, only three or four acres in all. “So,” as he wrote in his breezy journal, “I walked them off to look at the land marked ‘Government Domain,’ about 64 acres next the town, surrounded on three sides by the river, and after a careful inspection of the site, we all agreed that it was the place.” He soon got other supporters; on the way back “we met Mathias and Dr. Barker, and brought them into complicity with us,” and later, “Brittan, whom I afterwards saw, takes to the idea very much. We have sketched out, in imagination, a handsome central street, running through the city, terminated at one end by the College and its gardens, and at the other by the Cathedral in the central Square.” The selection was subject to the consent of the Provincial Council and of Bishop Selwyn, which was afterwards obtained.
Building funds were secured from various sources—about £1,800 was subscribed in England. The Provincial Council granted £500. The sale of one-half of Cathedral Square to the Government (November 25, 1858), ultimately brought in £1,200. Also some funds were provided from the Somes’ Estate. The Schoolroom was opened November 26, 1857, hut it was not till the following year that the School, then numbering about fifty, moved into its new home. Since then, many additions have been made, the most noticeable being the big school-room built in 1863, from plans drawn by Mr. FitzGerald, and the College Chapel, opened October 23, 1867. The Chapel was built from the designs of Mr. Robert Speechly, resident architect of the Cathedral, and was partly paid for by the generosity of Archdeacon Wilson, then Bursar of the College, and was enlarged in 1883, by the addition of transepts and chancel,
Another notable addition was the Headmaster’s house, accommodating about sixty boarders, which was opened
