GREAT ESTATES CHANGING HANDS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 263, 2 August 1919, Page 7

GREAT ESTATES CHANGING HANDS

LONDON AND THE COUNTRY. ' The Bale of the Berkeley Estate in the heart of Mayfair, by the Earl of Berkeley, to Sir Marcus Samuel, is another important step in a significant movement by the great ground landlords of London to part with property which has teen held for' generations (says the London "Observer"). In the opinion of the authorities, this movement, which beganin Loudon before the war, is identical'with that which is seen 10-<lay in all parts of the country. Great changes aro regarded as inevitable. The most notable that has yet taken place was the sale some sis or seven vears ago of the Duke of Bedford's Covent Garden Estate. Important parts of other estates, have also been disposed of, or are in course of changing hands. They include land on Lord Portnian's Estate in Marylebone, and considerable areas of the Camden Estate in Camden Town, the Trevor Estate in Knightsbridgo, the Howard 'de Wnlden Estate in St. John B Wood, the Southampton. Estate around Eiiston Square, and Meux's brewery, a most important site in Tottenham Court ltoail and New Oxford Streot. The great estates that are left intact are the Duke of Westminster's around Grosvenor Square, the Duke of Portland's in Baker Street, the Duke of. Bedford's in Bloomsbury. Lord Portman's north of Oxford Street, the Cubitt Estate in South Belgravia and the Cadogan in Kni'ghtebridge. There are also tho Sutton Estate in Piccadilly, the Marquis of Northampton's in Clorkenwell and Islington, the Sandhill? around Kings Cross, those of the Duchy of Cornwall, tho Bjro in St. John's Wood, the Beruers in Borner Street, the Gort in Bloomsbury, and tho Beyford at Albert Gate. There are not at present any indications of a change in the' ownership of these estates; but, generally speaking, there is a much freer market to-day for the disposal of largo London properties than tliers ever has been. An illustration tf the amount of life in the market mav bo found in three offers made recently by Messrs. Norbury-Sniith, a firm that has'-'conducted- important sales in various part of the country, of .675,000, £160,000, and ;a million sterling respectively for certain buildings and properties in the West End. There aro great buyers about.