A FAMOUS LONDON MANSION.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 19 July 1920, Page 4

A FAMOUS LONDON MANSION.

DEVONSHIEE HOUSE AND SITE SOLD EOK £1,500,000. The historic Devonshire House and site in J’iccatjilly,. London, have been sold for over a million and a half to two private individuals, whose names have not been divulged. It. is understood that the famous old mansion, built iu 1735 by William Kent for the third Duke of Devonshire, will be retained and not demolished. The purchasers have decided themselves to utilise the front part of the huusc and to let the remainder for other purposes. Exactly what scheme the purchasers have in mind is not disclosed, but it is stated that the house will not b» transformed either into an hotel or offices. “Hotel King’s” £4,000,000 Plan. The site and mansion were sold by the Duke to Messrs Holland, Ilannen. and Cubitts, Ltd., the contractors anu engineers who are now erecting the new London County Council Hall at Westminster, in September last for over £1,000,000. Since then various rumours have been circulated in connection with its re-sale. In December last Air J. McE. Bowman, the American “hotel king. ’ started negotiations for its purchase, and stated that he was prepared to spend £4,000,000 on the site and the erection of “the world’s finest hotel.” He left England in January after announcing that he had left his interest in the negotiations in the hands of Sir John Ferguson, of Lloyds Bank. Another rumour which has been published is that “the big deal involved in the recent sale of Devonshire House • was carried through by the Consolij dated Gold Field- of South Africa, who I have since disposed of the property at I a large profit.”