The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-09-19
LANDS IN LONDON
Worth Sixty.Five Mil
lions an Acre.
SONS of the London Streets Which
arc Worth Their Weight In
Golden SovsraiYns

One OF the surest and safest ways Of
| becoming rich beyond the dreams of
avarice. would, (says the London Daily
| MaiD be to possess a few acres of land
in the heart of the City of London, or in
| fact, a single acre would make one
wealthier than the most lucky miner
| that ever starved in johannesburg.
This was proved conclusively the other
day, when the freehold of No. "a
Cheapside was sold for G2S,500, which
is equal to SEQ per square foot. or
| &2.613,600 an acre.
The highest price ever asked for
| land in London was at the rate Of Is
million pounds sterling per acre. The
golden spot was in Bermondsey, where
a few years ago a small piece OF pro-
perty was offered to the SOUTHEASTERN
Railway Company for 6 100000. No
wonder the railway company declined
to buy.
Coming back to the city again, we
find that the ground about Lombard
street is worth not less than G2,000,-
900 an acre, while something like 40
square foot was paid for every piece
OF the land between King William
Statue and Trinity-square, E. c.
| In Cannon-street, in 1880, 500 square
feet of land was sold for building sites
| for 94500, which amounts to ct los
square foot, or nearly 6 100000 an acre.
h,,;1 eff in,
Gracechurch- street realized ELS 1Ss a
square foot. or GS20,000 an acre. In
1886 these prices increased by leaps
and bounds in the same streets, 1885
square feet of ground being sold for
| G37 900, which is G2S los per square
foot, Or not far short of Ell, 26O,000 an
acre.
Going westward land becomes some
what cheaper, but still sufficiently high
to make it no eXaggeration to say that,
metaphorically speaking Londoners
walk on gold. For instance, one could
buy an acre in Pail Mall for half mill
lien sterling, but if ground was requir-
ed in ST. James-square of ST. Sames'
a million would be required for a like
quantity.
Three years ago the Lord-Lieuten-
ant of ireland was letting his land on
the Cadogan Estate in Chelsea at
e $4,000 an acre on building leases,
with an annual ground rent of half a
crown foot. Three acres of his pro-
perty near Sloane-street was sold for
81 years for G175,000.
The Marquis of Salisbury owns five
acres of land at Clearinghouse, which,
$50 years back, was leased for grazing
purposes to his ancestors at the rate of
los an acre for 500 years. These few
acres are now worth about a sovereign
a foot.
The value of property in London has
trebled since 1856, and today the houses
within it's borders are calculated to be
worth some two hundred and fifty mill
lion pounds sterling, and the land on
which they are built is valued ait not
less than six hundred million pounds.
| Upon the latter sum the landlords
receive about twenty-five million
pounds annually in rent; and, sooner
or later, under the leasehold system,
house property of enormous value will
come into their hands.
The owners of London include ali
sorts and conditions of men and wo-
men, from dukes to shareholders in
building societies and owners of single
tenementS. These small owners num-
Der about 100000. But the great bulk
of the rental of the metropolis belongs
to comparatively few people.
| The ground landlords include the
Duke of Westminster, to whom a large
portion Of the Belgravia, Pimlico, and
GOvernor-SQuare district belongs.
| Then the Duke of Bedford owns chiefly
| the Covent Garden district and Blooms
| bury; Lord Portman and the Duke of
Portland West. and East Marylebone
districts. respectively; Lord Cadogan a
large part of Chelsea; while the Mar
| quis of Northampton reigns in CIer-
kenwell, the Duke of Norfolk in the
south of the Strand, the Marquis of
Camden in Camden-town, Lord South
ampton in observation-disclosures and
kentish-town, and Captain Penton in
the district of Pentonville.