The record-union., 1891-09-05
Pen Picture of Fair BOurnemouth-
On-the-SandS.
1t is in England and Yet CLOVIS With
Newness and Progress-Paradise of
PInes-Romances and Tragedies of
an English ''Boom''-A City of Villas
and Palatial Homes.
Especial Correspondence of RECoRD-UNIoN.
Copyright, 1911


Bournemouth is unique among the great
seaside resorts of England. 1t is truly a
health-giving spot without certification.
Its scenic outlook is grandly beautiful
without appeal to guide-book, which it
does not possess, or to the imagination,
which it lovingly prompts. 1t is rich
without being vulgar; aristocratic, though
not insufferably so; popular, and yet
dreamfully quiet. The omnipresent
AIRY, 'Arriet and "Tommy Atkins OF
every other known resort in England are
here unknown. And, moro noticeable
than all else to the American loiterer, it
is in England and yet glows with new
ness, and progress.
While it ever recalls the brightness and
gunny gaiety of our own best resorts, we
have not any one to which it can properly
be likened. Take the almost matchless
foreshore of Old Orchard Beach, put be-
hind it the picturesque and rugged sur
roundings OF Bar Harbor, add a million
pines from the trackleSs forests of Maine,
give these the tender somnolence Of dear
old Newport, and then permeate the
whole with that breezy spirit Of endless
unrest which has wrought the magic in
such places as Chicago, st. Paul, Mime
Tacoma, and you will have something
like the delicious composite that wins
your steadfaSt affection here.
There is something in the very dash and
vIgor of BOurnemOuth that lays hold OF
the American heart. 1t gives one tingle
and glow TO know that our hearty West
ern word "bOOm" is known and applied
here with pride. To find anywhere in
England such radiant activities, is feast
of delight in desert of conservatism, in
ertia and antiquity. They say that but
trifie over fifty years ago the beautiful
situation of BOurnemOuth was still undis-
covered, although some years before
George III. held his court at Wey-
mouth, but little distance away, and the
military band played ''God save the
King" whenever his Majesty emerged
from his bathing machine to indulge in a
sea bath. 1t was in 1896 that Sir q. w.
Tapps Gervis plunged in the pine forest
and made clearing. He built house
here and there, leaving the pines with
their saffron-cOlored cones standing be-
tween. The interlacing valleys lent them
selves to the formation of roads, which
were made hr-fringed aud pine-plumed
Other builders extended the settlement
and dotted their villas among the pines,
until a grandly beautiful and widespread
city of nearly 0,000 inhabitants, the great
er portion being members of the English
aristocracy and nobility, has been planted
In u pine forest, SlOping down to the
''chlnes," " or tiny canyons, which open out
10 the circling cliffs of sand for the wash
of the mighty sea.
Many rOmanceS of sudden wealth have
been written in Bournemonth's growing
Sidney Brown, one of the meu who helped
rebuild Chicago after the flames had swept
that city into world-heart fame, learned
there his lesson OfOppOrtu nifty so well that
IN building here he is now become one of
the millionaires of this paradise OF
Pines" The great Durant estate, COM
prising the entire Bourne Valley, three
miles long, running through the center OF
Bournemouth, and covered by its most
princely buildings and lovely pleasure
gardens, is owned by one Inarriageble
maiden, n Miss Durant This lady's
father came into possession of the prop
erty after years of litigation and discour-
agement so great thatl.he finally offered
his solicitor, one Fox, an attorney at
Norwich, s3, 600 TO accept his equities in
the property, pay the costs and rid him
of responsibility. The honest, or hesitant
Fox, refused, but has made in fees and
commissions a hundred times that
amount out Of the estate, while the lonely
helreSs is worth millions. The Shelley
estate, formerly few hundred acres of
sand dunes and pines, now owned by
Lady Shelley, widow of the late Baron
Percy Bysshe Shelley, the poets son, is
valued at million pounds sterling, and
is receiving ESQ annual ground rents for
countless half acre lots. 1t lies between
Bournemouth Pier and Christ Church
Head, on what is known as East Cliff.
The present Lord Malvern, one of the
Bank of England Directors, though al
ways man of great wealth, added
millions to his properties through the pc
culiar influence he exercised over two
old ladies-Lady Talbot and sister-who
both died within few months period at
above so years of age some seven years
since. They owned 500 acres of this once
pine wilderness. Lord Malvern accom-
modatingly became their business ''ad-
ylser'-a sort of financial lady's maid to
the eccentric old couple. On their death
the community was startled to learn that
every iota of the vast estate had been be-
queathed to Lord Malvern, who immedi-
ately made short shrift of all the old serv-
ants and other dependents.
Pages of similar romances and tragedies
in the marvellous increase of values in
Bournemouth, though the city's history
Is brief one, could be related. The prac-
tical side Of this development is also GU
rious and entertaining. The city has no
streets" All its thoroughfares are
roads avenues" ''crescents,, and
'quadrants." They are all winding, and
there are no squares" The splendid
improvements have been almost exclu-
siveIy made by speculative architects and
builders. AS values advanced, parcels OF
tracts were apportioned them by the
agents of various estates, the latter pro-
vIding improvements in adjoining thor
OughfareS. These sites are all acre OF
half acre lots, and with the exception OF
those of one estate they are leaseholds OF
ninety or ninety-nine years duration, on
annual ground rentals of from $50 to S60o
per lot, payable half yearly, and with
what is known here as ''peppercorn,' or
free ground rent for the first year, in def
erence TO the builders risk.
Tho curious thing about Bournemouth
residence property from Sfirst to last is
that no sooner Is any villa erected and
ready for occupancy, whatever its price
than il is already sold to some London
gentleman or nobleman. The struggle
here is not to sell houses already built
but merely to force building sites from
the rich estates. The result must be that,
with unlimited outlying piney tracts, Tho
city will become one of tremendous area
and always n city of villas and garden.
girdled, palatial homes. Only one estate
sells freehold sites, and these are on con.
ditions which render the word ridicu.
lous misnoner. An equity of redemp.
ton is securable on thirty years pur.
chase. To illustrate: If a building site is
secured at $500 per year ground rental
after thirty years, and the payment alto
gether of $4,000, it becomes FREEHOLD y
subject to all manner of restrictive coy
enants, such as that the property be mo-
used for business purposes, that the
building upon it shall not be in any
manner changed, that no additional
buildings shall be erected on the same
site, etc. Every such change imposes Z
new agreement and additional fees.
believe it requires a license fee of S25 tC
merely add bow or window TO ones
house. a few rooms are being added tC
the Bourne Hall Hotel property on Poole
Road, and the license fee is $500. Sc
that while there are from 200 to 400 resi-.
nnrnnc in Rnin1.I,n,nn r,nrtl, =.