The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-07-09
DOOM OF A FAMOUS STREET
THE STRAND IN LONDON BEING
CONVERTED INTO a BOULEVARD.
One of the Best known thorough
fares I'm All the World-It IL Now
Being wfdened in Accordance
With the Demands of Tramc.

maps, Londoners less than otner people
realize how entirely the character OF
London is CHANGING. The growth Of the
metropolis, the pulling down and put
ting up. the constant improvements OF
the last few years. are OF a kind usually
associated with the go-ahead cities or
America or South Africa, rather than
the most conservative capital In the
world. that is Just awakening TO the adj
vantages Of electric light and traction.
The Englishnlan, II he were told, as l
was the other day by an American fresh
from a journey through the Western
states, that nowhere was there such a
fury OF building and rebuilding as in Lon
don. would probably be as surprised as
he is when the foreigner ventures 10 sug-
gest that the suppression Of evidence at
the Jameson trial was, after all, not much
more creditable than the suppression or
evidence st the Dreyfus trial.
When II comes TO really the greatest
unmoved. One accepts with cquanimity
the widening of the lower end OF Parlia-
ment street, now In progress, for as II
was the street was too new TO have the
sanctity OF association. and the houses
OF parliament are worthy of the noble
approach hitherto denied them. On the
Strand however. one Is on holy ground.
II may not be as old as Fleet street or
Holborn. ii may be without the old city
limits, but Ii is old enough--"the ancient
Strand" Mr.. Henley calls tito be one
OF the best known streets by name In
Europe or America.
Whoever has heard OF London has heard
OF the Strand: whoever loves London loves
the Strand. The palaces that pepys pass
ed on hts way 20 whitehall have gone:
there are hardly any buildings left that
Or. Johnson would recognize-only the
two churches that stand in the middle OF
the road and obstruct the traffic. But,
In IN etc \ =
Il has been during many long generations
II leads TO the ctty--that IS TO the busiest
weaithiest most powerful business quar-
ter there II the world over. and IL Is
still rs mean in its proportions as the
high street of a sleepy country town. IL
Is one of the very few direct lines %
communication between East London and
West. and the route OF endless omnibuses.
During the day 1t is thronred by an army
OF business men and clerks hurrying to
ami from work; In the evenings BY an
army OF theater-goers. and vet IL Is stiii
80 narrow that the best trained police to
be found anywhere cannot prevent
ceaseless succession OF blocks. II f. shah
hy beyond words. its shops are shabby.
It's houses are shabby, its theaters are
shabby, the people who crowd 1t are shah
by in sympathy.~It is. IN fact, as absurd
street as you could imagine. But then,
IL Is the Strand. and no lover OF London
would have IL otherwise. II IN as char
acteristlc in Its way as are the houIe-
verbs OF Paris or Inter den Linden, in
Berlin.
And now the Strand--the ancient Strand
lis doomed though the name no doubt
will survive II has been easy TO soc that
for long the county council has had the
evil municipal eye upon IL. The slightest
chance or excuse to widen IL has bee,
greedly seized. Already before the rto,s,
Cecil ana at the corner OF wellington
street. where thefe Is such mass ~ cahs
and carts and buses going 10 and coming
from Waterloo bridge. the old line o.
frontage has been abandoned and the
space saved thrown into the roadway Isut
today whoever walks on eastward will
see that all along the northern sise of
the street there Ia a wall Of scaffolfing.
neaind which houses, one after the other.
are tumbling
From the Galety theater TO the law
courts. from st. Mary-le- Strand TO 81
Clement Danes. the work is busily being
prshed that will transform the Strand
as one Knows IL into a street as like the
streets OF any other big town as possible.
For time there was talk even of vren's
churches going. But the county council
to give II its due, ls not bigger vandai
than II can help. Has IL not lust taken
over as public monument the old house
in Flee, street that passes without any
reason for the palace OF Henry VIII and
Cardinal Wolsey' and really does date
back 70 the reign Of James ~ And 30.
fortunately. IL has been decided 10 spa 70
the churches: they can be used as safety
islands 20 divide the two streams az
traffic and they will leave To the strand
what little distinction II can hereafter
boast
Bu, think Of what Is to 60. In the FIRST
place. the character of the street which
| counts for 81 much nowadays when Ruda-
| Pesth Is bat an Eastern C.hcaeo on the
Danube and Rome but southern Paris
IN the CampsEna. Already Mr. Mutt
whose shop was n rendezvous for scholars
| 81 all nations, has fown 90 Long Acre
Behind the seanoIding H. Holyweli street.
the old lair ~ the seedy, whisky-drin ding
| alweys-ln-debt. now out-of-date journal
ist, tho haunt Of the book collector and
lover. where rare bargains have been
] picked up~-amoug others. bound with an
Insignificant tract. that little Elxevir cook
hook said 20 have sold once for $50 AZ a
sale~H0lyweli street Of uusavory rsputa-
ton but picturesque. with iis gables and
overhRnginE stories one Of the few genu-
ine bits ~ old London
Holyweil street Il not 70 10 merely re-
built. q &C. 20 be destroyed And 80 81
Enhlea Wych street And in the course
of a Few wears. with an this haste cr
county councillors eaEcr fnr reform. an
irreprnachahle boulevard from Hnlheyn
viii Sos, about here meet the strand nna
electric trans think ~ electric trans
near tho Straui'~w3l whlri away ina
business man and the clerks aud TIE
theatergners Ard. no doubt e Is "a mers
question % time before ths SANE traaa-
formation viii follow IN the West Strand
and from end "a end the long lean
lanky street will have olessau7ed FORTH
into handsome wide Rvenue the pride
{ - the contractor hat where Dickens ard
evsa Mt Henley would ne as ramplesn
strangers az pepys ard Dr. Johnson
I supposa Il Ia as impossible % blame
the coarty council as a Was 20 ind fault
With the Roman authorities few years
aro when they pulled Hown the e1A
houses On ths Tlbeg Tae objection IN
both cases e purely sentimental Bat
sentiment ccuafs for more and more IN
Z these matters. probably because every
year now limits the chances for its AZ
erclse T. for one. can look a. that val
q scanoi9snE RlcrE the stfaad via IS
little philosophy az a; Che glare % aca6-
esalcni uuKa3cs IN the Aou3ss o. wrssu's
al 80 - g. d.