LONDON'S FIRST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 205, 29 August 1936, Page 18

LONDON'S FIRST.

THE PENTHOUSE.

A PARK LANE SHELTER.

RENT £4200 A YEAR. (Special.—By Air Mail.) LONDON, August 1. Lord Louis Mountbatten moved into the first completed corner of the Park Lane penthouse this week, which he and Lady Louis Mountbatten will ufee as their town residence after September. Rising eight storeys above the tree-lined roadway, this new-styled home occupies the top floors of Brook House, a square block of modern flats replacing the famous Victorian mansion of the same name. Brook House was left to Ladv Louis Mountbatten by Sir Ernest Cas*sell, her grandfather, and sold by her. Britain's first penthouse, self-con-tained, terraced and gabled, is a modern American style of dwelling, which sits, like a top hat, on- all skyscrapers. Lord and Lady Mountbatten, close friends of the King, are equipping tliei'r home for extensive entertaining. It has 30 rooms. It is still covered with plasterer's sheets and awaits Lady Loins Mountbatten's return from America before the decoration scheme can be completed. ' ■ lypical of the rest of the house is Lord Louis' suite. -His-study is eggshell blue, with fitted carpets in nigger brown, and deep rest couch covered with magenta linen. The furniture is built round the wall, desk dissolving into bookshelves, wine cabinet, radio set and filing cupboards in natural sycamore wood. The feature room of the penthouse will be its dining room. It can be converted into a, talkie cinema to hold 150 guests. •• , >

The nursery for.. .twelve?yearrold Patricia and seven-year-old Pamela has its own kitchens, modern playroom and nuise s quarters. The front door has no handle. The bell is rung, the visitor scrutinised, and unless the porter switches on' the current from the hull the door remains, locked. The rent? ■ Oh yes, the rent is £4200 a year.