Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-30
Value in Pounds of London's Banks
and Buildings.
WHAT CROWN JEWELS WOULD FETCH
Value of the Museum, Art Gallery,
Parks, Churches and Bridges.
UNTOLD GATHERED WEALTH

When tell you tldt all tne money IN tn6
world, piled UP in one enormous heap. would
rot buy the treasures on which Londoners
may gaze at will every day of their lives?''
There was copy in the idea, and took
my valuer friend round London on valuing
intent. We started week ago, and the
journey is still incomplete. but the figures
are SO overwhelming that to total them up
would be impossible. and the only way to
present them to the public is to pick out
few typical items in the account. and leaye
the curious reader TO calculate on them to
his hearts content.
We came To town the underground.
Two Thousand yards of this railway
said my friend. cost f2OOO000 or if you
like to have IL so. EDO an inch. If you
wanted to buy this bit now, you would
prob26iy be asked f5.0o0.OOO for it. There
IS anotner mile the same line which
would cost you something like f20O0,00
having cost third of a million to lay
down But that is comparatively moderate
III the electric railway were put up TO auc-
ton. and you were fortunate to get it at
cost price. you would need the wealth of
seven millionaires to buy it, These three
and half miles of railway are worth quite
tl2,e1oop as prices go nowadays.
Worth Millions.
Get out at this station and look at the
monument. You would not buy it for f20-
on" In five minutes you will be at the
Mansion House, which cost a mere f1OOoO
to build. but now worth nearer f75O.OGO
The Royal Exchange. as a building of bricks
and mortar, is worth 100000 but it stands
on land worth f2Oc0,OoO. Not long ago land
in this neighborhood was sold at the rate
of t2,Uo.0C0 an acre.
The Bank of England would probably
fetch fi.eOO.Oo0 in the market. but as there
is always t2DceoOoO worth of gold in the
cellars. its standing value is about f2i, Ooo.-
600 Go westward over Holborn viaduct,
and remember that that short stretch of
highway IS worth over f2.ODO00. You
would want nearly &. 000O00 TO buy the gen.
eral post office. which you have just passed,
and the law courts, with the land on which
they stand, are worth f2,JD.OOO.
walk along the Strand, and stand for
five minutes en- Waterloo bridge. The
property you see here would make dozens
of your friends millioraires at stroke.
Two million pounds would not buy those
two hotels. and Somerset House. at build
ing cost only. is good for half a million.
j ne bridge you are standing on was dis
aStrouS failure when il was built, but il is
worth now more than the f1.O0O,O0O which
it originally cost. There are seven bridges
on either side of you, which cost between
them over fi.ooo,00o. The tunnels under
meath the river are worth millions as a
commercial property, and the Embankment
Is now worth probably double the f2,0OO,-
90 which ii cost to make.
st. Paurs and Westminster.
If St Paurs we're private property. you
might induce the owner to sell it for TO-
c01,oo0. but the likelihood is very remote
Those tattered banners which you have
seen so often would arouse pretty keen
bidding at the sales, and if you got one for
fie.0Oe you might think yourself extremely
lucky. Westminster Abbey is difficult to
value; il is one of those things that cannot
be bought. But the sales give US some idea
what historic treasures are worth III the
market. and I should not be surprised if
the ahbey-put up in lots-realized fi0.900,-
oo- Fancy putting ticket on Jacobs
pillar OF the royal tOmhs,
You have admired the magnificent ex-
terror OF the houses Of parliament and the
splendid interior. but you will perhaps be
surprised to know that you could not erect
these buildings today for Is O00OU0. St.
Thomas Hospital, and the Albert En-
bankment running along the front of it.
are worth together over IL 100000 and the
bridge leading to it cost f2J0.u00.
Perhaps you have never reflected what
a privilege YOU enjoy in being able to visit
so many places free. The British Museum
which anybody can see for nothing could
not be bought up by all the millionaires in
America. If it were absolutely empty it
would be worth fl 10000. and it is full of
being worth nearly f25GOOO The National
Gallery is worth millions. 1t cost, with the
new Tate Gallery section. f3J0. 900 to build
ard has one picture which cost ia an inch
tl,kU
piece. The Nelson column close by is
worth 100000 and the statue of King
George III, a little way down Pail Mall
cost t4o1 The bill for the Albert me-
mortal was f1J0.O0O.
Money Here.
The Albert Hall and Royal Aquarium
are both worth about a quarter of a mill
lion, but the Crystal Palace cost more than
three times the value of both these. the
ba hair :,
Court. the great show rivaling the palace,
has millions worth of treasures which
you can see fer Is, and even when it is
empty the twenty-five acres of gardens and
buildings are worth f3D.0OO. The IMPERIAL
Institute you might buy for f110.UGO as its
accounts are hopelSssly involved, but the
huge block of COVER nment offices overlook
irs the Horse Guards would cost Won a |
round half million. If you had 6 900 900 in |
your pocket. you might take a cab TO the |
Tower and buy tn. crown jewels there, but |
You would have nothing left to pay the |
cabby with
The hotels and public houses of London
could not be bought up for f2O.Uo0.0DO to |
stand. Two of them pay $3.50 week be- |
tween them in ground rent. Buckingham
Palace is not very gorgeous, but Il is worth
fi.oGO.UO IL STANDS. and If you wanted
10 rent IL privately you would have to paw
ti.uOo week for il. Devonshire House and
Lansdowne House. in Piccadilly. would
cost you tlpp,Up, but you would not ex-
pect the picture galleries thrown in at this
price. They are worth hundreds of thou
sands.
The Parks.
You have often taken stroll in the
parks, but you have never spent a thought
on the cost of laying them out. Ii Hyde
Park were sold at the rate at which land
is sold in the city the bill would run every
bank in the kingdom dry. Battersea Park
cost over t30O.Oo0 to lay out, and the mere
entrances to Hyde Park cost almost as
much as this Nearly 100000 was spent in
laying out New Oxford street. The value
Of some churches and chapels. whose min
listers will tell you they are very poor, will
astonish you The Metropolitan Taber-
Eaeie is wcrth 10000. st. Martins Church
$4,000. ST. Pancras Church $50 600 and the
Memorial Hall 100000 Four of the cattle
markets cost f2,0Oo.O0o between them and
beneath you as you walk through London
are 2.3D miles of sewers. worth f4OOO.OOO
There are many surprising items which
you would come across in a valuation of
LONDON II you were asked to bid for that
stained-glass window In ST. Margaret's YOU
would probably reckon its value at go but
81 you look up the accounts of the dean
and chapter of Westminster you will find