A MYSTERY HOUSE.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXIII, Issue 2938, 8 May 1912, Page 3

A MYSTERY HOUSE.

One of the most eccentric characters *in London has just died in the person of Dr John Samuel Phene, known as the" owner ot the " mystery house " in Oakley Street, Chelsea, S.W., Dr Phene was ninety-one years of age. The " mystery house" stands at the corner of- Oakley Street and Upper Cheyne row. It is a high, square building of substantial type. Its Cheyne row

front is decorated in the most bizarre fashion. From pavement level to sloping root it is a jumble of twisting columns and quaint symbolic figures. There are cuddling cupids, ancient goddesses, mermaids, imps, and the rest without end. Surmounting them all are two rampant dragons. Over the pillared doorway are set the words, " Renaissance due Chateau de Savenay." The front is covered with the dirt of many years, the windows are shuttered and the doors boarded up. The story goes that Dr Phene was reconstructing the house for his wife, but when she died suddenly he gave up the task. It is nearly thirty years since the house was occupied, and twelve years sjnee the front was prepared in its present style. The interior of the house is as curious as its exterior. Many rooms are pillared and ceilings are gilded, frescoed and painted in gorgeous style, but all is in a state of dilapidation. A caretaker lives in ihe basement of the house, but she says she has never ventered into the upper chambers of the " mysteryhouse." Around this silent, shuttered house is a garden, four acres in extent, decorated with scores of statues and figures, many now broken and weather-worn, which the doctor collected during journe'yings on the Continent or from curiosity dealers. ■ The house in which the doctor lived, 32 Oakley Street, is crowded with curios and statues of all kinds. He lived largely the life of a hermit, and no one knows much of him. The mystery of the " mystery house" will be buried with him.. Once, it is stated, he said that his wife and two children died within a fortnight of each other.