LONDON CHANGING.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 21 July 1923, Page 10

LONDON CHANGING.

ARISTOCRATS' TOWN HOUSES.

In its progressive development London has undergone, many changes It is now undergoing a change in txie residential quarter ot the. West End, which m its mam features reproduces the ciiange which took place more than a century ago, when the merchants of the city ot London ceased to l.tve over their business premises, and built themselves fine houses on the outskirts ot London (writes the London correspondent of the Melbourne Age). . But the business world of > London has .spread over such a wide area that these nne^ houses have long ago been evacuated, and have been turned into offices and shops. In "Vanity Fair" Thackeray gives an interesting account of liusseU Square, where the Osborne and bedley iaimUes lived. In those days Kussell Square was composed entirely of big houses in which the prosperous city men lived. Old Osborne was driven to the city each day by his coachman in Lvery. To-day Russell Square consists mainly of residential hotels, offices and boa;rdmghou»es. The re^'.ential population of the city of London, which, from the, business point of view, is the heart of the great metropolis, is only 13,0/1, according to the census taken tjvo yegrs ago. And this small population consists mainly of the caretakers ot oiiices who, with their families, live in the cities. In the day time the square mile comprised in *the city of i 1?' 1™1 naf a business population of 300,000 workers. j Each successive improvement in lc/> mqtion-has had a marked effect on the development of London. A hundred years ago there were no 'buses, trains, or trams. It was not until 1828 that the horse omnibus appeared on the streets of London. The steam train featt not come into existence in England until 1833, and it was not until 20 years later that London's suburban railway traffic was developed In the early days of the horse omnibus and the steam train the great majority of the workers of London walked "to their I places of business. Dickens described I how the early clerk population ot I homers and Camden Towns, Islington '> and Tentonville direct their stops to- ; ■ wards Chancery Lane and the Inns of Court.1' These suburbs mentioned by Dickens were then on the outskirts of i London. ,To-day they form uart of the I inner ring of London -suburbs, and from •■ ; them .the centre of London can be reached in a few minutes-by the electric underground trains, by electric trams and motor buses. Earls Court, which m jhckens's day was quite ruiral, is now a. great centre, from which the electric ; railway lines radiate to western- suburbs. I A thousand electric trams pass tiirougii iiiaris Court each day. From a business point of yW London is spreading westward, and in the ■ process of growth and development the houses which in the time of Dickens and iiiackeray were occupied by prosperous men of bigness are being turned I into shops and offices. - It is only a matter of t:me when such famous residential places in the West End as (xrosyeiior Souare, Berkeley Square, and heigrave Square will become busy business centres. ' Xh ' these squares , dukes earls, viscounts and barons have had their town houses for generations j i>at m these fashionable .squares, as in 1 every other pa.rt of Mayfair "For Sale" boards are numerous. • In some of the l" ost c rasnionable residential Quarters of Mayfair half of the houses display ho- ! tices that they are for sale. The residents of Mayfair have begun to evacuj ate their homes before the business invasion has reached so far west A great many of the ancient families or .England are giving up their town houses, which have' been in their possession for generations. The Marquis: or Salisbury ..recently sold his town house m Arlington Street; the Duke jof Devonshire has sold the famous Devonshire House opposite Grene Park ;to a syndicate, which intends to take ; down the old br:ck building and erect on -the site, a palatial hotel and cinema ; Lord Lansdowne has' leased Lansdowne ..JUouse to Mr Gordon. Self ridge, the eni terpnsmg American, who controls one ;ot London s greatest , departmental : stores.. Dozens of other prominent people have sold their town houses, and I but cannot get rid of them burya iSaiis don Ct vLon rilr-vte' : lixare aire several ..reasons for the • exodus from Mayfair on the part of I families who have lived there for generations. One is- that in the days of heavy -taxation many of these families I cannot afford to keep u n town houses winch in normal conditions they occupy only a few months of the year. Another reason is that for,most of those country seats within a hundred miles of ■ London a town house has become unnecessary. They can-drfre into London by motor car from their country seats i and put up at a good hotel, where they ITmnl as much/luxury and almost as much comfort as m their own homes ;fwi^ se uwho. d?, not lik° Kotel life ; theie are Wice" flats of a luxurious I kind, which cost less to keen U p than | a tow; n honse; It is no longer neoesI sary for a fashionable hostess to We a.town house in order to entertain fnends at dinner,, to hold receptions or Fj :VW! danCe- Th\ f^hion a b?e.-West ;indi hotels arrange these matters, and • lii these days more private ontekain- ! mg is done at the hotels than in nrirate hous&s in Mayfair