Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Estate Of The Royal Commissioners For The Exhibition Of 1851.
The acreage of the unappropriated land is as follows : — Frontage . Acres . Prince Alhert ' s-road AV . ( about ) 6-JKensington-road K " . „ 5 Exhibition-road E . „ 3 : , Over the entrance to the Horti-. cnltural gardens , which would
have to he arched over , W , „ \ Total 15 In a Parliamentary paper , ordered by the House of ¦ Commons to be printed February 15 1860 , is a report from a Special Committee of the Trustees of the British Museum . It is there assumed that a site can be had at
South Kensington for £ 5 , 000 an acre . The joint ownership was cancelled in January , 1859 , and from that time the Commissioners have bad a absolute right to dispose of this land on any terms they please . "When their attention was drawn to the above-given statement , * they considered what sum the / would be prepared to take for .. these ( or any portion of these ) 15 acres , if application
were made to them , they decided to ask £ 10 , 000- } - an acre , ¦ and £ 5 , 000 per acre for that part—a quarter of an acre —• where the necessity of arching over the ground under the agreement with the Horticultural Society would leave no . ground floor space available . The marketable value of the land would , it is believed , be understated at £ 20 , 000 -an acre ; for a piece of about 2 £ acreson the west side of
, Prince Albert ' s road and south of Gore-road , is let on lease for 99 years at a ground rent equivalent to £ 20 , 000 . Here the frontage was valued at £ 3 per foot by a depth of about 200 feet , and that on . the east side of Prince Albert ' s-road is considered to be also worth £ 3 , whereas the frontage to Kensington-road cannot be put at less than £ 4 a foot b 200 feet deep so thatadopting the
y ; , same proportion , the value per acre would actually be be £ 26 , 000 or £ 27 , 000 ; and this for land which was bought ten years ago at £ 3 , 000 . The main square of the estate , bounded by the four great roads , contains about 55 or 56 acres , of which 53 belong to the Commissioners . The remainder , about 2
acres , is ( as already stated ) the property of Lord Auckland , and situate at the north-east corner , fronting to Kensington-road . The property is laid out upon the principle of erecting buildings round the border only of the square , leaving the centre unbuilt upon . The latter , to the amount of 22 ^ - acres , is let to the Horticultural Society on a lease of
31 years from the 1 st of June , 1861 , at a contingent rental if they earn profits . The lease is renewable for a further period of 31 years , on application being made two years previous to the expiry of the first term . In case the Commissioners decline to renew the lease they are to payto the Society , by way of compensation , a sum of not less than £ 15000 and whichin certain contingencies
-,, , , may be greater . The Commissioners , having undertaken to erect arcades and execute earthworks at a cost of £ 50 , 000 , raised this amount by a second mortgage loan from Greenwich Hospital , at the rate of 4 £ per cent , interest . _ The 16 acres lent to the Society of Arts for the International Exhibition , are granted , rent free , tip to the 31 st of December , 1862 , and ivill be reserved for another
Exhibition in 1872 , on payment of £ 10 , 000 . A plot , on which stand tho picture galleries facing Cromwell-road , is let on lease for 99 years to the Society , on condition that the permanent buildings shall be used solely for holding exhibitions , that they do not cover more than an acre of ground , and that they have a sum expended on them at first of not less than £ 20000 to be increasedif required
,, , , by the Commissioners , to £ 50 , 000 , at the close of tbe Exhibition , in order to give the fa 9 ade a suitable architectural character , and to avoid any disfigurement of the estate . The Trustees of the Exhibition subsequently obtained four more acres between the Horticultural
Gardens and Prince Albert ' s-road , with the stipulation that they should build permanent walls to two arcades and a roof to the south arcades in place of the temporary structures which the Commissioners had agreed to erect . In consideration of thc saving effected , the latter have agreed to credit the Trustees with a sum of £ 1 , 300 , if the Exhibition of 1862 should yield no profit .
Mr . Bowring , in his evidence before the committee on the British Museum , speaks of the cost of the estate as £ 5 , 000 an acre . It will bo seen , from the items already given relating to the Gore House and Villars estates , that 69 acres were bought at rather more than an average rate of £ 3000 an acre . With the plan before one , it is impossible to be blind to the fact that it is precisely the
two just mentioned properties with which tbe public will have to deal , if at all . The nation could have had—indeed , did own—the Gore estate at £ 3 , 000 an acre . Granting that from first to last the cost has exceeded £ 5 , 000 on the average over the whole property ; still , hei-e is an advance of price to double the amount . "We are to pay £ 10 , 000 , and this ( as we have seen ) is half , or less than half , the marketable value . The Commissioners say that they " offer the land , at a
lower price than the market value , because they consider the British Museum to be an important national institution . If Parliament wish to remove any part of the collections to Kensington , the Commissioners are anxious to afford every facility in their power , and feel that they should not deal with the question as a purely mercantile transaction . " Yet the sum asked has something
exceedingly like a " mercantile" look of 100 per cent , profit . The Government can most certainly be alleged to be perfectly free from any commercial taint , for they have evidently , somehow or other , made rather a dubious bargain in tho public interest . It should be borne in mind that tho money spent on the Commissioners' estate has been applied in the most
extraordinarily profitable manner . The outlying land is let on building leases for ground-rents which pay the interest of the loan from Greenwich Hospital . It is calculated that the fee simple of them would , if sold , produce £ 120 , 000 . The main square is valued at £ 500 , 000 . Here , then , we have tbe enormous amount of £ 620 , 000 , exclusive of the 12 acres retained by tbe Government , and which are now supposed to be worth £ 100 , 000 . The utmost penny that the estate has cost has been £ 382 , 05113 s . 9 d . *
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Estate Of The Royal Commissioners For The Exhibition Of 1851.
The acreage of the unappropriated land is as follows : — Frontage . Acres . Prince Alhert ' s-road AV . ( about ) 6-JKensington-road K " . „ 5 Exhibition-road E . „ 3 : , Over the entrance to the Horti-. cnltural gardens , which would
have to he arched over , W , „ \ Total 15 In a Parliamentary paper , ordered by the House of ¦ Commons to be printed February 15 1860 , is a report from a Special Committee of the Trustees of the British Museum . It is there assumed that a site can be had at
South Kensington for £ 5 , 000 an acre . The joint ownership was cancelled in January , 1859 , and from that time the Commissioners have bad a absolute right to dispose of this land on any terms they please . "When their attention was drawn to the above-given statement , * they considered what sum the / would be prepared to take for .. these ( or any portion of these ) 15 acres , if application
were made to them , they decided to ask £ 10 , 000- } - an acre , ¦ and £ 5 , 000 per acre for that part—a quarter of an acre —• where the necessity of arching over the ground under the agreement with the Horticultural Society would leave no . ground floor space available . The marketable value of the land would , it is believed , be understated at £ 20 , 000 -an acre ; for a piece of about 2 £ acreson the west side of
, Prince Albert ' s road and south of Gore-road , is let on lease for 99 years at a ground rent equivalent to £ 20 , 000 . Here the frontage was valued at £ 3 per foot by a depth of about 200 feet , and that on . the east side of Prince Albert ' s-road is considered to be also worth £ 3 , whereas the frontage to Kensington-road cannot be put at less than £ 4 a foot b 200 feet deep so thatadopting the
y ; , same proportion , the value per acre would actually be be £ 26 , 000 or £ 27 , 000 ; and this for land which was bought ten years ago at £ 3 , 000 . The main square of the estate , bounded by the four great roads , contains about 55 or 56 acres , of which 53 belong to the Commissioners . The remainder , about 2
acres , is ( as already stated ) the property of Lord Auckland , and situate at the north-east corner , fronting to Kensington-road . The property is laid out upon the principle of erecting buildings round the border only of the square , leaving the centre unbuilt upon . The latter , to the amount of 22 ^ - acres , is let to the Horticultural Society on a lease of
31 years from the 1 st of June , 1861 , at a contingent rental if they earn profits . The lease is renewable for a further period of 31 years , on application being made two years previous to the expiry of the first term . In case the Commissioners decline to renew the lease they are to payto the Society , by way of compensation , a sum of not less than £ 15000 and whichin certain contingencies
-,, , , may be greater . The Commissioners , having undertaken to erect arcades and execute earthworks at a cost of £ 50 , 000 , raised this amount by a second mortgage loan from Greenwich Hospital , at the rate of 4 £ per cent , interest . _ The 16 acres lent to the Society of Arts for the International Exhibition , are granted , rent free , tip to the 31 st of December , 1862 , and ivill be reserved for another
Exhibition in 1872 , on payment of £ 10 , 000 . A plot , on which stand tho picture galleries facing Cromwell-road , is let on lease for 99 years to the Society , on condition that the permanent buildings shall be used solely for holding exhibitions , that they do not cover more than an acre of ground , and that they have a sum expended on them at first of not less than £ 20000 to be increasedif required
,, , , by the Commissioners , to £ 50 , 000 , at the close of tbe Exhibition , in order to give the fa 9 ade a suitable architectural character , and to avoid any disfigurement of the estate . The Trustees of the Exhibition subsequently obtained four more acres between the Horticultural
Gardens and Prince Albert ' s-road , with the stipulation that they should build permanent walls to two arcades and a roof to the south arcades in place of the temporary structures which the Commissioners had agreed to erect . In consideration of thc saving effected , the latter have agreed to credit the Trustees with a sum of £ 1 , 300 , if the Exhibition of 1862 should yield no profit .
Mr . Bowring , in his evidence before the committee on the British Museum , speaks of the cost of the estate as £ 5 , 000 an acre . It will bo seen , from the items already given relating to the Gore House and Villars estates , that 69 acres were bought at rather more than an average rate of £ 3000 an acre . With the plan before one , it is impossible to be blind to the fact that it is precisely the
two just mentioned properties with which tbe public will have to deal , if at all . The nation could have had—indeed , did own—the Gore estate at £ 3 , 000 an acre . Granting that from first to last the cost has exceeded £ 5 , 000 on the average over the whole property ; still , hei-e is an advance of price to double the amount . "We are to pay £ 10 , 000 , and this ( as we have seen ) is half , or less than half , the marketable value . The Commissioners say that they " offer the land , at a
lower price than the market value , because they consider the British Museum to be an important national institution . If Parliament wish to remove any part of the collections to Kensington , the Commissioners are anxious to afford every facility in their power , and feel that they should not deal with the question as a purely mercantile transaction . " Yet the sum asked has something
exceedingly like a " mercantile" look of 100 per cent , profit . The Government can most certainly be alleged to be perfectly free from any commercial taint , for they have evidently , somehow or other , made rather a dubious bargain in tho public interest . It should be borne in mind that tho money spent on the Commissioners' estate has been applied in the most
extraordinarily profitable manner . The outlying land is let on building leases for ground-rents which pay the interest of the loan from Greenwich Hospital . It is calculated that the fee simple of them would , if sold , produce £ 120 , 000 . The main square is valued at £ 500 , 000 . Here , then , we have tbe enormous amount of £ 620 , 000 , exclusive of the 12 acres retained by tbe Government , and which are now supposed to be worth £ 100 , 000 . The utmost penny that the estate has cost has been £ 382 , 05113 s . 9 d . *