14 



HOME AND FLOWERS 



set back in this way for a length of 800 

 feet. By the operation 1,200 square yards 

 of land were added to the street, at a cost 

 of $1,4,25,000. 



"It has been found that instead of wid- 

 ening such important streets it is better to 

 build entirely new thoroughfares, adopt- 

 ing, if possible, lines which will pass 

 through inferior property, where the trade 



r 



i 

 1 



HARRY STEELE MORRISON 

 The Boy Reporter. 



interests are of no great value. K'orthum- 

 berland avenue, which connects Charing 

 Cross with the Thames Embankment, was 

 a financial success in every way. The 

 Duke of ^Northumberland owned a fine 

 house with gardens in that location, and 

 it was bought from him at what appeared 

 to be an exorbitantly high price. But 

 when the avenue was finished the frontages 

 were sold at prices sufficiently large to 

 yield a profit on the transaction of $595,- 

 000. 



'^'The county council has taken up street 

 improvements on a much larger scale than 

 was ever attempted in years past. In one 

 year, for instance, they recommended six 

 important schemes, the gross cost of which 

 is estimated at no less than $28,000,000, 

 and the net cost, after accounting for the 

 value of the surplus land, at $5,600,000. 

 The greatest improvement now in progress 

 is that from Holborn to the Strand, where 



a thoroughfare is being constructed to pro- 

 long Southampton Row. It is to be 100 

 feet wide, and will branch into two streets 

 as it approaches the Strand, forming a 

 great crescent. A great amount of prop- 

 erty is scheduled for purchase, so that 

 there will be considerable opportunity for 

 recoupmient by the sale of frontages. The 

 principle of betterment will be applied to 

 some adjacent properties which it is in- 

 expedient to purchase. 



^^The new street is to pass through some 

 very inferior and dilapidated propertv, but 

 the scheme also provides for the widening 

 of the Strand from AYellington street to 

 St. Mary-le-Strand, and that will be an 

 expensive operation. The whole of the 

 property lying between the proposed cres- 

 cent and the Strand has been taken by 

 compulsory powers. It includes four the- 

 aters and other great buildings. The 

 scheme will cause the displacement of 

 about 3,000 persons of the laboring class, 

 and the council has decided to rehouse 

 the whole of them. Those of them who 

 are at present employed within a mile of 

 their homes will be rehoused within a 

 mile of their present residences when the 

 improvement is completed, and places for 

 the others will be found elsewhere. 



"It is estimated by the council that the 

 total cost of the Strand improvement will 

 be over $24,000,000, but in spite of the 

 magnitude of the operation and the num- 

 ber of trade interests which it will be 

 necessary to purchase, it is expected that 

 the transaction will be carried out ultimate- 

 ly without any charge to the taxpayers. 

 It is no exaggeration to say that the new 

 street will be one of the greatest improve- 

 ments ever effected in London. The wide 

 sweep of the crescent will produce a most 

 striking architectural effect. The church 

 of St. Mary-le-Strand, with its beautiful, 

 classical steeple, will stand out in the cen- 

 ter of the widened street, making a dig- 

 nified approach to the city, and London 

 will at last have something to compare 

 with the streets of Paris." 



"It is a terrific price to pay for one new 



