PARK LANE PALACE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 136, 8 June 1907, Page 13

PARK LANE PALACE.

WO'DERFTJL MANSION OF SIB E. CASSEJu. Eight in the heart of fashionable London is now a palace that In splendour challenges comparison with the Golden House of or the wondrous dwellings of tbe Calipbd of Cordova. j It is Brook House, Park-lane, tbe town Residence of Sir Ernest Cassel, who bought | it some two yeais ago from Lord Tweedj mouth. He afterwareis secured the adjointog house, and since tbat time tie bm!d__-r_ I have been in the hands of the architects, i | who have turned them into tbe splendid | ! structure now nearing completion. . Outside there is little evidence, beyond a | certain grand outline and a spacious erow_ I ! ing- dointi, of the inner raagnifieencc. That :is beyond anything ever seen in auy tows- j ■ house in the world before. j The main staircase is of the white statu- I j ary marble from which Michael Angelo | I cbisell_ Ms masterpieces. This came from : j Saravezza, and took many men over l - .' j" months to quarry. | All the floors and walls are panelled I with similar marble highly poiisbeei, while ' I Corinthian columns of it 17ft in height ' give support to the upper Soors and the j j great gallery cf the dome. I The outer entrance hall is pflasrered with ! the rare blue marble rediscovered By the j j Princess of Wales when on her visit te> I Canada, it is one of the hardest known i i mhzerals, and the difßcnlrJes of worlting I jit have been immense. The dining room is of I most majestic dimensions, and rich with I 1 columns, capitals, and gracefully carved i j arches. Plaques representing scenes from j j Roman mythology surmount the doorways, j and nothing __ beeu spar_ to give rich- I J ne_=s and variety to the vast apartment, j On the Park-lane side of the mansion a ! ; loggia op-Mis oa to the garden, and her- \ j agila a masnlflcent colonnade of stone co,- j i umns in keeping with tbe classic scheme observed throughout adds to the spiendoujof tbe buildinz. I On tbe mezzanine floor installed tn mar\bla anei silver are tbe most luxurious Tur- | kish baths in Europe, and even the kitchens j are walled and cr.vered with marble. I