Adelphi Terrace To Be Sold

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 59, 1 June 1927, Page 12

Adelphi Terrace To Be Sold

Famous Home of G.B.S. and Sir James Barrie Adelplii Terrace, the home of Mr. G. Bernard Shaw, Sir James Barrie, Lord Weir and other notabilities, is to be sold by auction on June 21. With it will go into the market the greater part of John Street, Adelphi, the whole of Robert Street, and other portions of the Adelphi estate —about two acres in all of valuable land in the heart of London. Included in the sale will be the Little Theatre and the Savage Club. Built just over 150 years ago by the brothers Adam, Adelphi Terrace has been regarded ever since as one of the most beautiful streets in London. The two Adams, Scottish architects, who came to London in 1768, saw the possibilities of reclaiming the waste land which then lay between the Strand and the river. DICKENS AND THE ARCHES Obtaining a lease of the property from the Duke of St. Albans —then in prison in Brussels for debt —for £1,200, they raised the money for building their stately terraces by means of a public lottery, with 4,370 tickets at £SO each and a first prize of £50,000. It is said that the Palace of Diocletian, overlooking the bay of Spalato, was a model for the architects in designing the terrace. Immense labour was required to build the arches above the then river bank upon which the terrace rests. Charles Dickens, as a boy, used to wander about the arches, which were a favourite haunt of London children in the early days of last century. So strong, structurally, are these arches that when, during the war, the bomb that wrecked the Little Theatre fell on one of them it did no damage, and two people sleeping beneath were unhurt. * WHAT TENANTS SAY “I certainly don’t want to lose my place,” said Lord Weir, when told of the forthcoming auction. Mr. G. K. Menzies, secretary, Royal Society of Arts.—lt would indeed be a thousand pities if the property were pulled down. Mr. Jose Levy, lessee of the Little Theatre. —All lovers of London would deplore the passing of this wonderful backwater and the Change in its atmosphere.

Mr. Geoffrey Whitworth,* hon. secretary, British Drama League, whose headquarters are in Adelphi Terrace.— Tenants are naturally' averse to the possibility of eviction. There is no building in London which is so admirably adapted for the headquarters of scientific or artistic bodies who need a quiet and at the same time a central position.