FAMOUS OLD HOUSE

Southland Times, Issue 22999, 19 September 1936, Page 8

FAMOUS OLD HOUSE

ONCE HOME OF IRON DUKE. PROTECTION AGAINST THIEVES. London, August 26. Nearly every visitor knows “No. 1 London.” A broken window pane was the cause of a report that this famous house was for sale. This week, its owner, the fifth Duke of Wellington, set the rumour at rest. Apsley House, which is two doors from the Duke of York’s London home, is protected as though against an army of burglars, with windows guarded by spikes and iron shutters, and astonishingly thick walls.

Few of the passersby who stare at the damaged window realize that in the 40 or 50 rooms of this wonderful old mansion there live but five or six people, a skeleton staff of servants. It was bought by the first duke with part of the £750,000 which a grateful country awarded him for his successful conduct of the Peninsular War and the Battle of Waterloo. The museum inside Apsley House is reputed to contain more than a ton of gold ornaments—trinkets given to the Iron Duke by admirers in all parts of Europe. There is no electricity in the house and gas only in some of the rooms. There are candles and chandeliers everywhere.