Middletown transcript., 1899-03-18
THE LUCK OFAHOUSE
A SUPERSTITION WHICH SEEMS To
BE BUILT ON FACT.


sfons For Their Own Use Ever Live
to occupy Them-If Not Death Then
Disaster Bars the Doors.
An instance has recently occurred OF
a well known man refusing for super
stitious reasons to live in beautiful
house he had built until some one else,
a perfect stranger. had occupied it fol
some little time.
If ever there has been superstition
that appears justified by solid fact and
precedent, it is that which prevails
about the building of a house. Few
who erect costly mansions for the11
own use ever live to occupy them. An
i'll fate seems to bar the doors OF these
abodes upon which has been lavished SO
much thought and money and hope
Sometimes it is death and sometimes 1t
is ruin that overtakes the owner.
So widespread and SO powerful is this
strange superstition that one finds even
an intellectual man like Lord Salisbury
insisting on leasing to strangers for sew
eral months the beautiful home which
he has had erected for himself at Beau
lieu, on the Riviera, before he will con-
sent to occupy it himself or to permit
any member of his family to cross its
threshold
Lord Salisbury, however, has only to
look round him in London to find ample
grounds for the adoption of such ex-
traordinary and at first sight unneces-
sary precautions. The completion OF
Lord Revelstoke's palace in Charles
street coincided with the bankruptcy Of
the great firm of Barring Bros, OF
which he was the principal and it has
remained ever since an exquisite monu-
ment to the futility Of human hopes and
ambition.
Mr.. Sanford had hardly finished re-
building the exterior of his magnificent
mansion in Carlton House terrace when
the collapse Of Argentine securities oc-
Cured, involving him in ruin and COM
pelling him to dispose of it to Mrs.
Mackay, of Bonanza" fame.
The Marquis de Santurce, having
purchased the neighboring house from
Lady Granville, spent o fortune upon
the reconstruction and adornment OF
the interior. But before the work was
completed he in turn was overtaken by
the terrible disaster which befell the
well known Anglo-Spanish banking
house Of Murrieta, of which he was the
chief director, and he had no alterna'
tive but to sell the house to Mr.. w. w
Astor.
i The downfall Of Hudson, the railway
king, occurred at the same time as the
completion Of the great house he was
having built for himself at the Albert
gate entrance to Hyde park, while II
the same manner Baron Albert Grant
witnessed the piecemeal sale OF the gor
geous palace he had erected at Kensing
ton, but was never destined to occupy
| This is why there are, comparatively
80 few new mansions Of palatial char
acter either in London or the country
Persons possessed Of adequate mean
and in need Of either town or country
residence prefer as rule to purchas'
homes that have been lived in to build
ing new ones. If they do any building
at all they, in general, cause it to TAX
the form Of additions to or alteration
of edifces no longer new.
Even then the owners endeavor t.
safeguard themselves from the possibil
ity Of danger by letting their residence
for the express purpose, as they say il
France, Of ''wiping the dust from OF
the plastered walls.
II Nowhere is this superstition NOR
| powerful than in Bavaria, where man.
, Of the most picturesque spots, especial
! | " in the mountainous districts, ar
adorned with fairylike palaces. None o
them has been entirely completed, TO
] | insanity and violent death overlook tn
brilliant and accomplished King Lud
wig, who conceived their design, bu
unfortunately perished before thei
completion.
Nor even have the builders Of man,
Of the splendid structures that adorl
the French metropolis been more fortu
] nate. Thus M. Jules Grevy had scarce
ly completed the construction Of hi
; lordly mansion in the Avenue d'Ien
: when the scandalous behavior Of hi
? son-in-law, Daniel Wilson, overwhelm
ed him with disgrace and compelle
. him to resign the presidency of the re
public amid perfect hurricane of pub
lie obloquy.
The Empress Eugenie's only sister
. the late Duchess of Alba, had not occu
pied the lovely palace erected for he
8 in the Champs Elysees more than fey
months before she was seized with
t sudden illness and died there in a mar
, ner SO mysterious as to give rise to RI
q mors of foul play. The building wa
n subsequently pulled down.
Another equally unlucky house
! that now owned by the widow of th
/ late Baron Hirsch. Situated at the col
e ner Of the Rue de pElysee and of tl
o Avenue Gabriel, it was erected by th
& Due de Mouchy. He had not occupie
o the house more than few weeks befol
it was the scene Of daring burglar
that covered its noble owner with rid
= cule. Two months after, his daughtt
3 died there SO suddenly and under sue
: strange circumstances that the duche
!, would not consent to remain longer
such an i'll omened house. -Londe
Mail
nsvS~ That pTav