The Florence daily tribune., 1899-04-14
THE LUCK OF A HOUSE
A SUPERSTITION WHICH SEEMS TO
BE BUILT ON FACT.


to Occupy Them-If Not Death Thri
Disaster Bnrn the Doors.
An instance has recently occurred of
well known man refusing for super
stitious reasons to live in beautiful
house he had built until some one else
perfect stranger. had occupied it for
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, Fow
who erect costly mansions for their
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 it
is ruin that overtakes the owner
So widespread and 40 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 il himself or to permit
any member of his family to cross its
threshold
Lord Salisbury, however has only To
look ronnd him in London to find ample
grounds for the adoption of such ex-
traordiuary aud at first sight unneces-
sary precautions, The completion of
Lord Revelstoke's palace in Charles
stree, conceded with the bankruptcy of
the great firm of Barring Bros. of
t,l h.,as
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-
,urred. involving him in ruin and com
aelling him to dispose of it to Mrs.
.Mackay, of Bonanza fame
The Marquis de Santurce, having
purchased the neighboring house from
Lady Granville, spent 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.
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
gute entrance to Hyde park while in
the same manner Baron Albert Grant
HnI h. nix aoI ,,,l., ,.,f b.,
geous p;,incc he had erected at Kensiug-
ton. but was never destined to occupy
This is why there are, comparatively.
SO few new mansions of II palatial char.
acter either in London or the county
Persons possessed of adequate means
and in need of either town or country
residence prefer as rule to purchase
homes that have been lived in TO build
ing new ones If they do any building
at all they, in general, cause il To take
the form of additions to or alterations
of editices no longer new
Even then the owners endeavor to
safeguard themselves from the possibil.
ity of danger by letting their residences
for the express purpose. as they say in
France, of '.wiping the dust from off
the plastered walls.
Nowhere is this superstition more
powerful than in Bavaria, where many
of the most picturesque spots. especial
ly in the mountainous districts are
adorned with iairylike palaces. None of
thnm has been entirely completed. for
insanity and violent death overlook the
brilliant and accomplished King Lud
wig, who conceived their design, but
unfortunately perishod before their
completion
Nor even have the builders of many
of the splendid structures that atlurn
the French metropolis been more fortu-
nate Thus Nj Jules Grevy had scarce
" completed the construction of his
lordly mansion in the Avenue d lena
when the scandalous behavior of his
sou,u.aw, Daniel Wilson. overwheln-
ed hin, with disgrace and compelled
him to resign the presidency of the re-
public amid u perfect hurricane of pub 1
lie ohluquy
The Empress Eugenie's only sister
the late Duchess of Alba. had not occu-
pied the lovely palace erected for her
in the Champs Elysees more than few
months before she was seized with
sudden Illness and died there in IL man
ner so mysterious as to give rise to ru-
nsprs of foul play. The building was
subsequently pulled down.
Another equally unlucky house is
that now owned by the widow of the
late Baron Hirsch Situated at the .or
ner Of the Rue de 'Elysee and of the
Avenue Gabriel it was erected 10y the
Due de Mouchy, He had not occupied
the house more than few weeks before
ii was the scene of daring burglary
that covered its noble owner with ridi-
cule Two months after his daughter
died there so suddenly and under such
strange circumstances that the duchess
would not consent to remain longer in