The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1877-11-29

"DOes the organization of this vast
metropolis. which is constantly chang
ing, justify so enormous an eXpendi-
ture as is contemplated for site which
20 years hence, may be the least acccs-
sible part of town? Alas for the Royal
Commission They have sunk the
money with which they were intrusted
in land speculation, and they will
never get it back again. | mourn over
the ESQ, 900, the shilling surplus of the
masses, sunk in a cabbage e-garden at
Kensington Gore" In these words,
with many others of similar doleful
import, did a distinguished authority
and critic give vent to his opinions in
January, 1853, Immediately after the
publication of the report of the Royal
Commissioners for the Exhibition of
1851, in which it was announced that
the surplus profits of that exhibition
had been invested in the purchase of a
large extent of land at Kensington
Gore. The object of the present article
is, to give short summary of the pro-
ceedings of the commissioners in con-
nection with this estate, in respect of
which much misapprehension has
always prevailed. 1t is difficult for
those of the present generation who
only know the district as it now stands,
with its spacious roads, stately houses,
and numerous public buildings, to pic
ture to themselves its appearance a
quarter Ofa century ago, when first pur-
chased by the Commissioners. At that
time no carriage thoroughfare from
north to south existed between Albert
Gate and the Gloucester Road, a dis
tance of just mile; the whole frontage
to Hyde Park consisted of few old
fashioned houses, to most of which
large gardens in the rear were attached,
the two best known being Gore House
and Grove House; crooked fOotpath,
bordered by high poplars, called Gore
Lane, traversed the whole estate in a
diagonal direction from Kensington to
Brompton; two or three acres in the
centre of the present Horticultural Gar
dens were devoted to the purpose Of
beating the carpets of the West-end
aristocracy; the bulk of the property
fulfilled the humble but useful func-
tions of market-gardens (the cabbage
garden, in fact, pathetically lamented
in the extract above quoted;) the Sc
cluded region of Brompton Park, with
its fine old trees, and quaint dwellings
which formed the favorite abodes of
leading actors, occupied the site of the
now world-known South Kensington
Museum; and, in short, silence and
solitude throughout region which has
since been visited by nearly 10000, 900
seekers after pleasure and instruction.
1t is entirely owing to the foresight
and cool judgment of the Prince Con-
sort, combined with his anxiety to
make provision for long-needed public
wants, and to anticipate their future
that this large tract of
land was rescued from the hands of
troop of speculative builders, all work
ing for their own personal interests,
and without the slightest unity of de-
sign, and preserved as an additional
lung to London, in addition to forming
a centre round which a new quarter
has sprung up, of far higher class
than would otherwise have been the
case. He had noted the constant tend
ency of society to travel westward, and
| remember his once saying that not
very much more than a century ago,
George the Third had been offered the
freehold Of the whole area of land from
HYDE Park Corner to Chelsea Bridge
for EG0,000, sum representing the
merest fraction of its present annual
value. The Judgment of our critic
already cited, to the effect that the
Commissioners have wasted their funds
in ruinous land speculation, is best
by the fact that their pro-
perty may now be valued at, and could,
if necessary, be rescld for fully five or
six times its original cost less than 20
years ago.-NineteeRh Century.
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