MANSIONS HAVE TO GO

Hokitika Guardian, 14 January 1926, Page 2

MANSIONS HAVE TO GO

•NEW YORK’S GREAT PROGRESS. [ Australia A N.Z. Cubic Association.] NEAT YORK, .Jan. 1.4. The inexorable expansion of’ the city’s commerce is raising propertc values tci a point where high taxation makes prohibitive tile maintenance o. large private residences in the' centre of New A'ork city and as a result the formerly exclusive Fifth Avenue is now hccen: ing a solid succession ol large shops, hotels and apartment houses.

The city’s charities are reaping a profit through a small charge for admission anti permitting throngs ol curious people to inspect the multimillionaire mansions prior to demolition. Six thous..nd people are passing daily through the latest doomed palace, the Vanderbilt Home, erected in the eighteen nineties, said to he the lines! private residence in America. Jt was recently sold lor 7.109.06!) dollars lor a hotel site. A'isitors of both sexes of all ages and orcupat ions arc deserting the Broadway show houses to c limb the marble stair cases and survey the famous mirrored ballroom and other splendours amidst which the A aiidcrbilts livcd and entertained lavishly, though the most frequently repeated remark is: ■■lt’s a line place, but I wouldn't want to live in it.”