Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-10-26
NOBILITY IS
CUTTINGH.C.L.
BY SELL|N G
MANOR HOMES.
Constant Sight Of Costly Priv
ate Possessions by Bus
Riding Masses Promotes
Bolshevism, Says Duke.

London, Oct. 25-(By The Asso-
slated Press)-The sale OF the duke
OF Devonshire's town house. to a
real estate syndicate for $5,000,000.
is the latest of the seats of the old
nobility to pass into the hands of the
outsiders.
The purchaser of this London
home of the governor-general of
Canada is an American syndicate
and it is reported that a hotel will
be erected on the site.
Erected in 1898.
Devonshire house was erected
nearly two centuries ago, in 1888 at
cost of about 100000. 1t is one
of the most important and historic
of the old London mansions with
gloomy exteriors and splendid in
teriors, which Thackery and the
other Victorian novelists made the
stage settings of their most I'M
pressive passages of London life.
1t stands with characteristic Brit
ish disregard for display, its back
to London's chief thoroughfare,
Piccadilly, its porches facing spa
cious garden. worth some dollars
per square inch. Lansdowne house,
the town place of the marquis of
Lansdowne, which commands even
larger garden, is the nearest neigh
Dor and that is reported to be in the
market also.
The governor general of Canada
and the marquis of Lansdowne both
own three or four country estates
as we'll. They are at the front of
the great landed proprietors of the
kingdom, and the dukes palace,
named Chatsworth, in Derbyshire,
is one of the most magnificent pri-
vate establishments in the world,
surpassed by nothing in Britain, ex-
cept Windsor castle.
Entertained Colonel House.
Chesterfield house, owned by gen
erations of Lords Chesterfield, and
long considered the finest of the old
London residences, has been sold
recently. This had been rented for
some years by the duke of Rox-
burge, who married Miss May Goe-
let the daughter of Ogden Goelet
Of New York.
Here the government entertained
Colonel House when he came to
London as special commissioners,
after the United States entered the
war. The duke of Rutland has just
parted with his town house which
for time was tenanted by the
American merchant, Gordon Self
ridge. Lord Ebury's great country
estate in Surrey. near London, has
been purchased by newly created
peer, Lord Leverhulme, the soap
magnate.
H. C. L. IS Sales.
The newspar> ascribe various
reasons for these sales. The chief
one is that the super-income taxes
and the general increase OF the cost
of living make impossible the up
keep of such buildings and the nee
essary retinue of servants; another
that the motor car makes it possible
for people TO live in the country and
still enjoy all the Advantages OF town
life.
Another writer credits the duke
of Devonshire with belief that the
constant sight of such costly private
possessions by the bus-riding i.lasses
who daily pass the iron gates OF
Deyonshire house tends to promote
bolshevisn. -. e,
england Changing Hands is the
heading under which weekly paper,
groups long pages OF notices o.
estates for sale. Amberley castle
one of the properties OF the late
duke of Norfolk, is i'll the latest list
Also Ruthin castle, long in the pos
session of the Cornwallis-West lam
ily: the Rothes estate, linked with
the ancient earldom Of that name;
and Burton Pynsent once inhabited
by William Pitt, Mathern palace
Ashby. Saint-Legers, Creg-y-Neg
Castle Toward. Graham orange
Rushbrooke Hail., Windlesham
Park. Whatton Manor. Barwel
court, Abby-Owm- Hir. these are
typical offerings on the real estate
market.
Tales Of Family Tragedies.
They are described, some of them
as Jacobean. Tudor, Queen Anne
Georgian; pictured with moat, tuT.
rets, gargoyles, panelled oak walls
and carved stair rails; and many
have appertaining to them <es
deer parks, Italian and Georgian
gardens, hunting with four packs,
and even ''feuding land" In such
reading matter the knowing hnd
between the lines. not few stories
Of family tragedies
Apart from sales of whole pro,
perties many great estates are being
eurtailed, by placing a few thousand
acres on the markets here and there
The aggregate OF these land trans
ers has amounted to millions o.
,cres this year. The redistribution
,f the land in smaller holdings
which has been the principal reform
f the past century in ireland. Il
generally considered all for the gcoe
f the larger island. :