A HOUSE UNDER WATER.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2361, 10 May 1901, Page 6

A HOUSE UNDER WATER.

One of the most remarkable houses in existence at the present time belongs, it is said, to an English millionaire of a decidedly eccentiic turn of min<i. It owes its distinction, not to the fact .that it is more gorgeous than the mansions of his comrades, or that it is furnished with greater luxury or with greater taste, or for any of the thousand ami one other details which might make one house distinguished above all other houses. Nor is its bi/e its special recommendation, for it is not laid out on colossal lines.

j Asa matter of fact it contains only thiee ' rooms, one of them being furnished as a dining-room, another as a smoking and , lounging room, while the third is a kitchen. i Not a large establishment surely, but unique i in its way.

i The fact to which it owes its distinction is that it is built entirely of glass, and is I situated at the bottom of a lake. | On this gentleman's estate is the sheet of : water in question. When he determined on carrying out the plan of this house, he had ! the water drained off and a foundation of ' concrete laid on the bottom of the lake. i On this the walls were placed, consisting of a very heavy plate-glass, such as is used for the largest shop-windows. It is even thicker than these, because of the pressure of water which it must withstand. The framework of the building is, as may be imagined, of metal, into which the glass plates fit accurately, and are cemented for further safety.

Electricity alone is the medium by which the necessary light is conveyed to the rooms and a special conduit had to be built to carry the wires which it was not deemed desirable should remain in the water. This tunnel is the means by which people come and go to the glass house, for, naturally, under the circumstances, it is impossible for it to have either ordinary doors or windows.

Through this conduit, also, air is forced for the use of the inhabitants, and the waste and foul atmosphere is got rid of through the roof by means of tubes to the open air above the surface of the water. In order to mask the tops of these tubes, they have been inclosed in a huge cluster of water-lilies.

When the house was completed, the water was allowed to return, and the fish which had been removed were also replaced.

The lighting up of the house is as remark able an attraction for them as a candle is for moths, and dozens of them may be seen at any frime with their noses flattened against the glass. It would be an ideal place for a scientific man to live in who was desirous of studying the ways of fishes. It would be carrying the eyes of man into the very heart of what is to all intents and purposes a new life, just as Mr. (iarner did when he locked himself up in a cage in the monkey land of South Africa in order to study the ways of the apes of the district. Whatever else the owner of the house and his friends may do in their novel apartments, there is one thing which practice no less than tradition forbids—they must not throw stones.