The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-10-05
THE GREAT ESTATES OF LONDON.

THE. GREAT ESTATES OF LONDON.
1t is not the fancy or the taste of the
householder only. that has decided the
shape and carved the figure of London.
If every man had been free to settle on
what manner of house he might desire
the town of London would have been
very different. But London's material
destiny-that is, her physical configura-
tion-has been largely the work of the
great estates.
+ The vast girth and growth of the
town is matter of modern days.
For centuries. until the epoch of the
great expansion, London was barred
within walls. whether these were the
narrow walls Of her infancy or the
walls constituted. by the boundaries of
the great estates. Farms, manors, out
lying wastes--frlarshes and woman s
lands-all these ringed in London upon
every side, valueless yesterday. but to-
day part and parcel of the metropolis,
and earning incredible rents for their
fortunate owners. Thus, so late as 1900
Bloomsbury was but a wilderness Of
fields; the Forty Footsteps, as 1t was
styled, neglected and uncultivated, the
playground of the vice and crime of
nocturnal London.
This belt about the waist of London
was at last called upon for further
room, and from that moment began the
value of the estates. Some have been
gradually broken UP by force of circum-
stances, and stress of family history,
but the majority remain. London is
still enclosed by them.
The best known, and those to which
alone need refer here, are the Russell
estates, on the north, the Portman on
the west, the Grosvenor on the west
and southwest, and the Princes Mead
| ow estate, south of the river.
The custom has been, of course, to let
on a long lease for building purposes,
and it is the policy Of the estates which
has decided the character of their pop
| ulation. Bloomsbury, for example, was
originally peopled by an aristocracy,
and that fact may be discerned in the
solid properties of the houses of that
period. But the tickle tide of fashion
ebbed westward, and Bloomsbury was
left to the clearinghouse and the pri-
Vate hotel.
The original scheme on which Blooms
bury was designed-to house, namely, a
rich and patrician class-perished long
since, and the Russell estate had to
| wait until the leases should fall in to
| meet the, changed conditions of life and
the new wants. OF late this has been
| occurring, and the policy of the es-
| tate ~ is slowly declaring itself.
Bloomsbury'is one Of the most conven-
lent districts in London from it's prox-
unity at once to the city; to the region
of amusements, and to the West End.
1t is accessible easily from every rail-
way terminus, and 1t is healthy.
If one might venture prophecy, then
it would be to foreshadow for this most
central residential district a future of
great flats, in which four or five times
the present population, permanent or
| floating, would be housed. az
The fate that overlook Bloomsbury
has .mercifully spared the Portman es-
tate. Yet how whimsical is fashion is
demonstrated by the desertion of so
magnificent road as Portland Place in
favor of the exiguous alleys, and crook
ed ways of Mayfair.
Mayfair's' success, indeed, was appa-
rently due to no law of nature unless it
be that of follow-my-leader. 1t is con-
venient to centers certainly, yet not
more so than Bloomsbury, and it is a
| dozen times more cramped and uncom-
| Portable. 1t must be supposed that
fashion streamed here from other places
| under no definite impulse-certainly I'M
der no conspicuous impulse, much as
| society has at different times invaded
| or abandoned various lounges in the
park And. if that supposition be cor
| rect-though by reason of it's nearness
to the central roar. Mayfair can never
lose it's Wholesome day maybe it's pres
ent inhabitants will pass from it's mar
row lanes and poky houses to more dis
tant and more spacious mansions.
1t is probably the Grosvenor estate
that has exercised more influence on
London than any other. Not only is
| Mayfair mainly constituted out of it,
but SO, too, is Belgravia, and so, too