Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-23
AMERICANS ABROAD.
A Comparison Of the Cost Of Living
in London and New York.
HOW THE MOBILES AFFECT RENTS
Some Yankees Who Hire Mansions in the
English Metropolis.
LIFE IN sOCIETY's SELECT CIRCLES
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH

Americans in London is the difference in
the costs of living on the different sides OF
the Atlantic. The exact facts about rents
are as difficult to geDeralize here as in New
York. A man can rent better house for
5000 year in Harlem than he could get for
$1,000 year on one of the downtown cross
streets near Fifth avenue. 1t all depends on
location in both of the big towns.
There are discrepancies in the rents OF
the houses of London as distinctly marked
as in New York. For fashionable people it
is, absolutely necessary to live in certain
well-defned localities in the different cities
of America, but there is no portion of Lon
don outside the slums where people of posi-
ton may not live, provided the house itself
is satisfactory. Fashion smiles upon To-
calsties already inhabited by the nobility.
They fix the rent.
In Park Lane, st. James, Mayfair and
Grosvernor Square, or in other words in the
aristocratic districts of London certain
heavy increase OF rent is inevitable In
Charles street, st. James for instances a small
house of five bedrooms, two dressing rooms
and three reception rooms may be had COM
pletely furnished for 81, 700 year. This is
a fair type of the London house, and its
aristocratic associations are numerous.
WHERE THEY LIVE.
Lady Dorothy Nevill, one of the present
leaders of London society, lives in Charles
street, and SO also does Viscount Dangan,
the young man against whom Phyllis
Broughton, the actress, has brought an ac-
tion for breach of promise and recovered
$4,000 The Countess of Bessborough,
Lord Revelstoke, Count Piper, the Swedish
Minister, Viscount Templetown, the Mar
euis of Ailss, the Countess of Polignac and
no end of baronets and knights are quartered
in the little street. Il. S. II. Prince Dem
prey Soltykoff, who draws a big income
from his estates in Russia and spends it
with royal recklessness in London, would
also be neighbor of anybody who cared to
take one of the little Charles street houses.
Another curious thing is that it is often
entirely unnecessary in London to take a
house for term OF years or even months,
for the demand is so constant and persistent
for houses in good localities that they are
often rented by the week.
If the purse of an American coming to
London is ample, and house in Charles
street or similar location is not pretentious
enough, he can, for 81 900 wear, secure a
furnished house in Cleveland row, St..
James, containing seven or eight bedrooms,
bathroom, six reception rooms, and so on.
One advantage in living in Cleveland row
is having the Duke of Beaufort for a neigh
Dor. Americans are fond of the Duke for
a number of reasons, among others for the
princely style in which he entertained the
Chicago and ALI American baseball teams,
and for the grace with which he presides
otrso esr Il
functions.
TITLES AND RENTS.
In st. James place, where lives among a
crowd Of nobility the Marquis of Drogheda,
Earl Spencer, the Earl of Egmont and
Viscount Cranbourne, eldest son of the Mar
quis of Salisbury, one can hire furnished
house for the season for less money than q
smaller house would cost on Fifth avenue;
but the houses are small and do not average
more than 10 or 10 rooms each. I give the
names of nobility, not because they are of
the faintest interest on earth, but to show.
what an astounding influence exalted titles
have on rents.
Some houses in Dover street off Piccadilly
have electric lights, and any one hiring
these houses has to pay the wages of the
man who looks after the dynamo, which is
situated in the cellar, and is run by gas
engine. For some inexplicable reason also
The incoming tenant has to take over the
and pay their wages, whether
they are fair to look upon or capable or not.
One Of these houses in Dover street, con-
taining IL bedrooms, six reception rooms, a |
stable with four stalls, may be had for
s5, 900 year or So. 900 for the season, fully |
furnished, of course. In this locality the |
tenants rub shoulders with the Lord Bishop |
Al L
rruro and others.
looms each, and most of them have first-rate |
stables, whole furnished house may be |
lad for the season for Sc, 900.
GLADsToNE's RESIDENCE.
The Marquis of Queensberry lives in |
he least fashionable street in Belgravia,
Ind Mr.. Gladstone, for reasons which to |
him seem sufficient and proper. has during
he past year or so set up shis modest town |
household in James street. He pays about
2, 200 Tor the use of furnished house DUR
ng the parliamentary session from Febru-
Try to August. If the weather is at all
avorable MIR. Gladstone invariably walks
o the House instead of driving, and his
ldvent in the streets is eagerly watched for
" the neighbors.
Park Lane corresponds in a measure to
Fifth avenue from Fifty-ninth to One Hun
lred and Tenth streets. The houses there
ook directly over Hyde Park, and they are
n certain respects the most desirable in
london. For some reason or other the
louses can only be obtained furnished and
or short periods, the rent ranging according
o the size of the house at from $10O to $500
'er week. His Royal Highness. the Duke
f Cambridge, cousin to the Queen, and
of the British army.
as lived in Park Lane for many years past.
Among his neighbors are the Marquis of
the Lord Lieutenant of Ire
and; the Countess of Dudley, at one time
be reigning fashionable beauty, and still a
cry lovely woman; the Countess of Gros-
enor and Lord Brassey. In London the
influence of such dwellers on a street is pro-
ounced in the last degree.
NoBILITY's HAUNTs.
In a few special locations in London
lmost all the occupied houses contain
umber of the nobility. In Belgrave
quare, for instance, lives the Duchess of
1ontrose, the 70-year-old bookmaker and
wner of race horses who has just married a
oung man of %. Her neighbors are the
dukes of Richmond and Gordon, the
baroness Willoughby di Eresby, whose title
almost the oldest in England; the Countess
Shaftesbury, Lord Aveland, Earl Beau
hamp, the Austrian Ambassador, the Earl
Feversham and Lord Trevor, Viscount
the Earl of Clan William, the
,arl of Stradbroke, the Earl of Seton, Earl
'ortescue, the Earl of Bradford, the Mar
uis of Headfort and Viscount Combermere.
Such an array of titles as this is enough
, cause New York anglo-manlac to stand
4 the middle of .Belgravia and swoon with
ratification and delight. With the excep-
on of the unpleasant and horsey old
uchess, Belgrave Square is probably peo-
cd tho hl1tarf- ad IL Il = |