20 JULY 1929, Page 3

Dorchester House Dorchester House has been sold, and when it

has been demolished we are to have on its site a hotel, which, we are told, will be the finest in Europe. It is a question whether even the finest hotel in the world will compen- sate us if we are to lose many more familiar landmarks, especially when they are, as Dorchester House is, suffi- ciently beautiful to be considered part of the national heritage. It is not only the exterior of the house which is beautiful ; the interior deCoration, much of which it will be impossible to preserVe, can be ill spared. We suppose that the Alfred Stevens mantelpieces, and other treasures, will be free to follow their fellows into the houses of private collectors, on this side or the other of the Atlantic.