BIT BY BIT

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXVI, Issue 7900, 10 September 1929, Page 4

BIT BY BIT

FAMOUS ENGLISH MANSION GOES HOTEL ON SITE LONDON, August 4. Dorchester House, Park Lane, one of London’s most famous and most magnificent residences, and one of the last of the great Victorian mansions standing went a further stage towards demolition to day, when auctioneers sold what they called “the embellishments, decorations, fixtures, etc. Startlingly low prices were realised. The grand marble staircase, 35ft. square, with solid marble steps, eight feet wide, which would fit in the British Museum, the National Gallery, or the Waterloo Station, and cost thousands of pounds to build, caused the auctioneer hopefully to suggest 300 or 400 guineas for a start“A hundred.” Still no answer. He then suggested 50 guineas, for which it was sold. Girls in pretty summer frocks tour ed the great mansion with their mothers, who bemoaned the vandalism of breaking down such treasures of art in the ceilings, overmantels, and tiles. A great hotel will be built on the site.