Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-03-28
The men who are said to own Lon

| The men who are said to own Lon
/ don are the Duke or Westminster,
Lord Portman, Lord Howard de Wal
uen, the Duke or Bedford, the Earl OF
Lauogan, the Marquis or Northamp-
ton, The Duke or Norfolk and Lord
Curzon. Since London extends over
nearly o0,vuU acres OF ground, while
the great LANDLORDS among them do
not own PROBABLY a couple Of thou
sand acres, 1t is plain that a1ter all
they own a very small portion of
the land Of London. Yet think Of one
man owning zoo acres OF London real
es,a,e! Vlscount Portman's London
hoiu.ugs are between 200 and 800
acres IN extent. Some 1000 houses
stand upon his property, which COM
prlses much or the richest part Of the
! w es. End. The Baker street made
famous by the sherlock Holmes sto-
ries belongs to Lord Portman, as well
as such well known places at Portman
square, Manchester square and Glou-
cester place.
Even with this principality Lord
Portman Is not the richest man in
London. This honor must go to the
auke OF Westminster. He has two es-
tates in London, the Upper Grosvenor
estate and the Belgrayia estate. The
Westminster fortune was established
| in The first place by Hugh Lupus, the
| Norman earl of Chester, and since
then has been consolidated by many
| wealthy marriages. One Of these oc-
Cured couple Of hundred years ago,
when a GrosveRor married Miss Da-
| vies, whose father bequeathed her q
great tract of land that was then far
in the country, but today Is populous
district of London. The name is per-
~, nox tuf u
oxford street and the Marble arch Is
a boundary of the Upper Grosvenor
estate. Victoria station Is built on
land owned by the Duke Of Westmin-
ster and the total value Of his London
holdings Is estimated at a score Of
million pounds, though this Is at the
best mere guess work. That the Duke
Of Westminster owns more valuable
real estate than any other man in the
world cannot be doubted. !.
The Portland estate, now owned by
Lord Howard de Walden, whose moth
er was a Bentinck-the family name
Of the Portlands-adjoins the Port
man territory, and was originally ac-
uuired when the land was Of little val
ue. Today II produces rentals Of about
half a million pounds annually. The
founder Of the Portland fortune was
Dutchman who came over with Will
liam of Orange, and as the kings con-
fidential friend and factotum was soon
in a position to add to his possessions.
The Duke Of Bedford owns about 100
acres of London real estate, but In
addition he owns Convent Garden, from
which market tolls alone bring
him in $4,000 a year. He is the
landlord Of the British museum. Be-
sides many fashionable residences the
dukes property contains multitudes OF
boarding and lodging houses, which
bring in high rentals. Some of his
land is worth $125, 900 an acre.
The Earl Of Cadogan owns well over
SIS, 100000 worth Of property In Chel-
sea. besides other valuable holdings,
while the Duke Of Norfolk has fair
sized farm south Of the Strand. Most
Of the property owned by the great
landlords Is leased by them for a long
term Of years The tenants pay the
taxes and erect what buildings they
desire. At the end Of the lease the
houses become the property Of the
ground landlord. On large estates
like those mentioned, leases are falling
due every year or so. Made fifty or
100 years ago, the increase In rent Is
tremendous, Of course. when leases are
to be renewed. In 1888, for instance,
nearly 1000 leases terminatd In Baker
street and the surrounding terri
tory On this occasion Lord Portman
drew something like $6,500,000 in pre-
miums, while many Of the leases were
renewed at seven or eight times their
former amounts. q &