ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: The St John Ambulance building stands on the north side of York Place, near the city centre, where it is used by the Dunedin Order of St John as the administrative, educational and ambulance dispatch centre of the organisation in Otago. Designed in the Art Deco style which achieved international popularity in the late 1920s and 1930s, the two-storeyed building has two principal elevations which face south-east and north-east, overlooking the street and an adjacent carpark respectively. Within these elevations the architect marries the organic decorative motifs of early Art Deco architecture with the streamlined profile and restrained treatment which is characteristic of later Art Deco buildings and reflects the impact of the Depression upon architectural design. The facade of the building is symmetrical about a slightly projecting entrance bay which is capped by a decorative plaster coping and pierced by a shallow entrance porch and recessed doorway. Above the entrance strip pilasters with rudimentary capitals separate the central first floor window grouping and are in turn crowned by the name and symbol of the order and a second plaster coping. The latter rests upon the parapet which conceals the hipped and gabled roof forms of the front and rear wings of the building. Larger decorative relief panels, which also combine organic and more geometric motifs, are located on the spandrels between the ground and first floor windows and in bands which wrap around the corners of the building below the cornice. True to the Art Deco style the corners of the building are rounded. They are also fluted to evoke the appearance of giant columns which both unify and terminate the main elevations. The secondary facade is divided into two bays by a recessed entrance bay framed by the same curve and fluted wall panels as on the main elevation. The front section of this elevation has been given a treatment identical to that of the principal facade, but beyond the entrance bay the wall surface is devoid of any applied ornament. The north-west and south-west walls are similarly lacking in applied plaster ornament and on all four sides of the building large rectangular windows with steel glazing bars light the interior. Inside the building the hallways from the front and side entrances meet at a central vestibule from which a dog-leg staircase rises to the first floor. The vestibule, stair and nearby board room have retained their original appearance, and feature plaster cornices and wooden dados. However, the rest of the interior has been refitted in recent years to meet the changing needs of the order. Administrative offices are arranged on the ground floor, a new stairway provides access to the control room on the first floor, and the teaching rooms are located at the rear of the building and in the former caretaker's flat which was built above the original ambulance garages in c.1940. Additional buildings on the site are located to the south-west of the main wing. MODIFICATIONS: 1956 - Single storey freestanding wing erected on the south-west side of the building. 1967 - Garage erected north of main building. c.1975 - Interior refit. 1984 - Third floor added to rear wing of main building beneath a gabled roof. Garage addition, interior refit. Caretaker's flat converted to training rooms, access provided by passageway cantilevered from building. Original garages (4) converted to office, transit tunnel and store. New stair built to control room.