A fire broke out yesterday afternoon in the Pantechnicon, Belgravia,
the frontage of which is on the north side of Mot.. comb Street, the main body of the gigantic building running northwards towards Knightsbridge and immediately in the rear of the houses on the east side of Lowndes Square, with a tran- sept running eastward, which it may be said to have adjoined. When daylight went the terrible conflagration made itself known for miles around, and tens of thousands hurried to the neighbour- hood, guided onwards by the glare of flames and reddened smoke. As to the origin of the outbreak we know nothing, nor probably awhile will anything be arrived at ; but that so disastrous a fire should have taken such hold upon a -building deemed fire-proof seems astounding, for it is stated that the whole is destroyed. The loss of property must be immense ; indeed, we have heard it estimated at five millions, an amount so large that we trust a material reduction may eventually be made.
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