Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-15

himself pre-eminently the greatest catch
in the world today. And isn't 1t acknowl-
edged that most of the other greatly desired
bachelors of recent years have finally capt.
ulated to fair daughters of the stars and
stripes?
TO exaggerate the attractions of Lord
Howard de Walden, considered from mat
rimonial standpoint, would be rather dfff1-
cult For, besides possessing good looks.
historic ancestry and that rare thing IN a
youthful member of the British peerase-an
absolutely clean recoTd--this young noble
man has become one Of the richest men IN
all Europe He owns huge estates in Not
tnghamshire and Ayrshire. and 1t Is now
estimated that he owns more valuable land
In London than the young Duke of West
minister, who always has been held to be
the greatest of London landlords, and as
such has been the subject of endless COL
umns of gossip.
Lord Howard de Walden's recently ac-
quired pre-eminence Is due partly to the
fact that his London possessions include
many acres in the Hampstead district.
which is getting more and more popular as
a place of residence, but 1t Is the square
mile of real estate that he owns In the
Marylebone district that can be described
as veritable Eldorado Besides aristo-
cratic CayendiSh square, with its ducal
mansions, this estate includes Harley stree,
where all the most eminent and fashionable
London doctors have their abiding places,
and dozen more thoToughfares whose
names mean almost as much in this coun-
try. From this property alone the young
bachelors income is between S1000,000 and
81, 800 600 year. What his total income is
it would be rash to guess-and he himself
probably would be the last to try to guess.
X
Besides being the eighth Baron Howard
de Walden this youthful peer is Baron Sea-
ford. Moreover he Is superior of the
Scotch town of Kilmarnock, large slice of
which is included in his Ayrshire estate;
this title being equivalent to that of lord
of the manor In England. He Is an ex-lieu-
tenant of the swagger 10th Regiment of
Hussars, with which he went to the South
African war. He is one of the most promi-
nent breeders of race horses in this. coun-
try. His steam yacht, the Highwayman. is
one of the finest anoat. Perhaps, however,
apart from his vast wealth, Howard de
Walden Is most interesting as catch on
account of the two superb mansions of
which he Is now the proprietor.
The first of these, Seaford House, in Bel
grave square, now disputes with Stafford
House, the magnificent residence of the
Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, the honor
of being the finest private residence in Lon
don. 1t was bought by Howard de Walden
in 1900 or about six months after the I'M
expectedy sudden death Of his father |
changed the young man, who had barely
attained his majority, from plain Thomas
Evelyn ELLIS, esq, to the holder of two |
baronies and one of the richest noblemen |
III EUROPE. ne iEaHSlOH was lHSn SETON
House. and had previously been one of the !
best known well as one of the largest of |
London mansions. Its owner. the Countess |
of Seton. held a salon that was famous for |
its brilliance. When. however, her only son |
came to grief In steeplechase and became |
an invalid for life, the countess retired into |
the country to be with him, and for several |
years her great town house remained closed. |
When Lord Howard de Walden bought |
Seaford House, as he renamed It, he found |
1t full of moldy leather chairs and other |
relics of early Victorian tastelessness but |
in less than five months he had transform |
ed 1t in way that Monte Cristo himself |
might have envied. Now the feature of |
the place is its superb marble staircase The |
stone used In its construction tones from |
padest sea green to deepest emerald, and |
was brought from South Africa at great |
expense. The columns of the staircase are |
of Mexican aiabaster. The painted ceilings |
of Seaford House are models of artistic dec
grafton. while the furniture is entirely |
French. Even the smallest fittings of the |
mansion are unique in their way Lord |
Howard de Walden's study table for In |
stance, being ornamented with feminine fig |
ures OF SOLID silver each bearing a real sea- 1
shell, through which electric lights throw a |
soft radiance. The house was opened for |
the first time during coronation year, when |
Its beauty was the talk of the town This |
housewarming. however like many such |
gatherings which come off from time TO |
time during the London season, was marred |
by the presence of crowds of people who |
had not been honored with Invitations. !
They surged up the magnificent staircase, |
they invaded every room In the house. and |
devoured so much food that the story went |
round that two great London caterers had |
TO come to the rescue and send down all the |
provisions they had In stock.
Perhaps the oldest thing about AudIey
End. Howard de Walden's stately new
country seat, which he leases from Lord I
Braybrooke. Is the fact that the guests he
entertains there have to go downstairs |
instead of upstairs to bed. This is ac- |
counted for by the fact that In this old |
TUDOR mansion the state apartments are on |
the second floor, while the bed rooms are
on the ground floor. The grounds are !
vast. and to look after them and the |
flower beds Howard de Walden employs
fifty gardeners, twenty of whom confine |
their attention to the blooms and veReta- /
bles which he raises under glass. There |
was an odd appropriateness about the |
young peers action in leasing Audley END. |
for It not only stands near Saffron Walden.
the town from which his title Is derived