Hampstead Garden Suburb
| Hampstead Garden Suburb | |
 |
|
  Hampstead Garden Suburb |
|
| OS grid reference | TQ265885 |
|---|---|
| London borough | Barnet |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | London |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | N2 |
| Postcode district | NW11 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| EU Parliament | London |
| UK Parliament | Finchley & Golders Green |
| Hendon | |
| London Assembly | Barnet and Camden |
Coordinates: 51°34′59″N 0°11′06″W / 51.583°N 0.185°W
Hampstead Garden Suburb is a suburb, north of Hampstead, west of Highgate and east of Golders Green. It is an example of early twentieth-century domestic architecture and town planning located in the London Borough of Barnet in northwest London. The master plan was prepared by Barry Parker and Sir Raymond Unwin.
Despite the founders' original intentions, Hampstead Garden Suburb is now considered to be one of the wealthiest areas in the country.[1]
History
Hampstead Garden Suburb was founded by Henrietta Barnett, who, with her husband Samuel, had started the Whitechapel Art Gallery and Toynbee Hall. In 1906, Barnett set up the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust Ltd, which purchased 243 acres of land from Eton College for the scheme and appointed Raymond Unwin as its architect.[2]
Among the scheme's aims were the following:
- It should cater for all classes of people and all income groups
- There should be a low housing density
- Roads should be wide and tree-lined
- Houses should be separated by hedges, not walls
- Woods and public gardens should be free to all
- It should be quiet, with no church bells
This required a private bill before Parliament, as it was counter to local bylaws. The provisions of the new act allowed less land to be taken up by roads and more by gardens and open spaces.[2]
The ideas for the "Garden Suburb" were clearly based on the ideas and experience of Parker and Unwin in the planning and development of Letchworth Garden City, the first development of its kind, inspired by the work of Ebenezer Howard. Other consultant architects involved with the Hampstead development include George Lister Sutcliffe and John Soutar.
However, with no industry, no public houses and few shops or services, the suburb, unlike the garden cities, made no attempt to be self-contained.[2] In the 1930s the "Suburb" (as it is known by locals) expanded to the north of the A1. While more characterful than most other suburban housing, some of the housing to the north is considered, overall, of less architectural value.
On Central Square, laid out by Sir Edwin Lutyens, there are two large churches, St. Jude's Church and The Free Church, as well as a Quaker Meeting House. There are two mixed state primary schools in the Suburb, Garden Suburb and Brookland. There is also a state girls' grammar school, Henrietta Barnett School. The school used to house The Institute, an adult education centre, but most of The Institute has now moved to accommodation in East Finchley, opposite the tube station, with the opening of a new purpose-built arts centre.
Shops and other services are provided in the shopping parades of Market Place and Temple Fortune, with Golders Green and East Finchley within walking distance for those who live at either end.
Little Wood contains an open air arena, which is used for summer theatrical performances by a local amateur theatre society.
Despite the founders' intentions, the steep increases in house prices across London combined with the continual expansion of the Greater London area and the very small proportion of housing association housing means that Hampstead Garden Suburb is now considered to be one of the wealthiest areas in the country.[1]
Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust
Freehold houses, flats and commercial premises within the Suburb are subject to a scheme of management approved pursuant to the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 by an Order of the Chancery Division of the High Court, dated 17 January 1974, as amended by a further Order dated 17 February 1983.
The HGS Trust whose aim is to protect the character and amenity of the Suburb[3] operates the scheme from an office in Finchley Road. Freeholders are required to get the prior approval of the Trust before altering the external appearance of their properties. Consent is also required for significant changes to gardens, erection of garden sheds and felling or pruning of trees.[4] The Trust is also the freeholder of the majority of the remaining leasehold property in the Suburb which are mostly held on very long leases.
Geography
 |
Church End | East Finchley | Fortis Green | |
| Temple Fortune |  |
Highgate | ||
| ||||
 | ||||
| Golders Green | Hampstead | Hampstead Heath |
Parks and nature reserves
The Suburb has large areas of open space, including Hampstead Heath Extension; Big Wood and Little Wood and the private Turner's Wood. The southern end is close to Golders Hill Park.
Notable residents
Present
- Tom Hiddleston – Actor
- Hugh Laurie – Actor & Musician
- Theo Adams – Performance Artist
- Martin Bell – BBC war reporter, independent MP & British UNICEF Ambassador
- Sir Victor Blank – Finance (Lloyds TSB)
- Katie Boyle – TV presenter
- Jason Connery – Actor
- Greg Davies – Comedian & Actor
- Richard Madeley & Judy Finnigan – TV presenters[5]
- Sir Brian Leveson – Lord Justice of Appeal (Press ethics inquiry)
- Paul McGuigan – Rock musician with Oasis
- David Matthews – Composer
- Michael Ridpath – Author
- Claudia Roden – Cookbook writer & cultural Anthropologist
- Jonathan Ross – TV & Radio presenter
- Marc Sinden – Film Director, Actor & Theatre Producer
- Harry Styles – Pop singer with One Direction
- Lord Winston – Professor, Surgeon, Scientist & TV presenter
- Gok Wan – Guru stylist & TV presenter
Past
- Elizabeth Taylor - British-American Hollywood star and member of the Legion of Honour
- Edgar Anstey – Documentary filmmaker and Oscar winner (lived at 6, Hurst Close)
- Saif al-Islam – Second son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
- Sir Ove Arup – Architectural structural engineer and founder of the engineering firm Arup (lived at 28, Willifield Way) Blue Plaque
- Dame Henrietta Barnett – Social reformer, founder of Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel Art Gallery and creator of Hampstead Garden Suburb (lived at 1, South Square) Blue Plaque
- Stanley Black – Bandleader and Composer (lived at 8, Linell Close)
- Warwick Braithwaite – Opera Conductor (lived at 23, Linden Lea)
- Angela Buxton – Tennis player and winner of the 1956 women's doubles title at the French Championships and Wimbledon (lived in a flat above the shops in Market Place and later at 16, Winnington Road)
- John Chapman – Playwright of several noted farces (lived at 48, Wildwood Road)
- Charlie Chester – Comedian (lived at 94, Erskine Hill & 5, Vivian Way)
- Charles Clarke – Labour Party MP & Home Secretary (lived at 3, Meadway Close)
- Eric Coates – Composer (lived at 7, Willifield Way) Blue Plaque
- Sacha Baron Cohen – Comedian, Writer and Actor
- Constantine – the last King of Greece
- Daniel Craig – Actor
- Sir Robin Day – Television & Radio journalist and interviewer (lived at 84, Oakwood Road)
- George Devine – Theatre Manager, Director and Actor, founder of the Young Vic Theatre (lived at Lucas Square, 64, Hampstead Way)
- Robert Donat – Actor (lived at 8, Meadway) Blue Plaque
- Clive Dunn – Actor
- Noel Edmonds – Broadcaster (lived in Brookland Hill)
- Vanessa Feltz – Personality (lived in Winnington Road)
- Darrell Figgis – Irish writer, Sinn Féin activist and independent parliamentarian in the Irish Free State
- Michael Flanders – Actor, Singer and lyric-writer, one half of Flanders and Swann (lived at 1, Brunner Close)
- Mark Fleischmann - Actor
- Martin Freeman – Actor
- Martin Furnival Jones – Director General of MI5 from 1965 until 1972 (lived at 53, Temple Fortune Hill)
- John Gale – Theatre producer and Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre (lived at 57, Northway)
- Antony Gormley – Sculptor (lived in Wildwood Road)
- Tony Hancock – Comedian and Actor (lived at 10, Grey Close) Blue Plaque
- Dame Myra Hess – Concert Pianist (lived at 48, Wildwood Road) Blue Plaque
- Gerard Hoffnung – Musician, Humorist, Caricaturist and Broadcaster (lived at 5, Thornton Way)
- Archbishop Trevor Huddleston – Anti-apartheid campaigner (lived at 53, Hampstead Way)
- Bruce Kent – CND campaigner (lived at 73, Meadway)
- William Lewis – Daily Telegraph Editor (lived in Northway)
- Cyril Luckham – Actor (lived at 70, Hampstead Way)
- Peter Mandelson – Labour Party MP & Cabinet Minister (lived at 12, Bigwood Road)
- David McCallum – Actor (lived at 1, Erskine Hill)
- Lord Longford & Lady Elizabeth Pakenham & Lady Antonia Fraser – Historian & Biographer; Campaigner; Author (lived at 10, Linnell Drive)
- Heather Mills – Charity campaigner and former model (lived in Allingham Court, The Bishops Avenue)[6]
- Cecil Parker – Actor (lived at 17, Litchfield Way)
- Frank Pick – Transport administrator (lived at 15, Wildwood Road)
- Sir Ralph Richardson – Actor (lived at Bedegars Lee, Kenwood Close) Blue Plaque
- Paul Robeson – American Actor and Singer (lived in Wildwood Road)
- Paul Scott – Novelist, Playwright and Poet (lived at 61, Brookland Rise & 78, Addison Way)
- Vikram Seth – Poet and Novelist (lived at 133, Willifield Way)
- Will Self – Author and Journalist (lived at 33, Brim Hill)
- Dinah Sheridan – Actress
- Emanuel Shinwell – Labour Party MP & Secretary of State for War (lived at 33, Erskine Hill)
- Alastair Sim – Actor (lived at 13, Wildwood Road)
- Sir Donald Sinden – Actor (lived at 60, Temple Fortune Lane)
- Lord Soper – Methodist minister, socialist, pacifist and President of the League Against Cruel Sports (lived at 6, Willifield Way & 17, Bigwood Road)
- Jerry Springer – American television presenter (born & lived at Belvedere Court, Lyttelton Road)
- Ringo Starr – Drummer for The Beatles and Actor (lived in Kenwood Close)
- Nigel Stock – Actor (lived at 21, Heathgate)
- Thomas S. Tait – Modernist Architect (lived at Gates House, Wyldes Close) Blue Plaque
- Dame Elizabeth Taylor – Actress (lived at 8, Wildwood Road)
- Dimitri Tiomkin – Film-score Composer and four-time Oscar winner (lived in Hampstead Lane)
- Sir Raymond Unwin – Engineer, Architect and Town Planner, chief planner of Hampstead Garden Suburb (lived at Wyldes, Hampstead Way) Blue Plaque
- Anton Walbrook – Actor (lived at 36, Holne Chase)
- Sir Hugh Walpole Author (lived in Turner Drive and at 19, Thornton Way)
- Gwen Watford & Richard Bebb – Actress; Actor & noted collector of early sound recordings (lived at 22, Temple Fortune Lane)
- Evelyn Waugh – Author (lived at 145, North End Road)
- Fritz Wegner — Artist, illustrator.
- Rachel Weisz – Actress (lived at 6, Linnell Close)
- Rebecca West – Author, Journalist, Literary critic and Travel writer (lived at 5, Chatham Close)
- Harold Wilson – Labour Party MP & twice Prime Minister (lived at 10 & 12, Southway) Blue Plaque
- Sir Donald Wolfit – Actor (lived in Hampstead Way)
See also
- The Bishops Avenue
- Ebenezer Howard
- Garden city movement
- Garden real estate
- Brentham Garden Suburb
- List of people from Barnet
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gayler, Hih J. (1996). Geographical excursions in London. University Press of America,. p. 176. ISBN 0-7618-0328-9. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- ↑ "Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust". Hgstrust.org.
- ↑ "Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust". Hgstrust.org. 6 January 2012.
- ↑ Ward, Victoria (31 January 2013). "Lord Justice Leveson and Richard Madeley fight planning application for underground pool". Telegraph.
- ↑ "Heather Mills flips her Bishops Avenue appt". Real Estate Talker. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
External links
Media related to Hampstead Garden Suburb at Wikimedia Commons
- HGS website
- HGS Trust
- Famous residents
- Hampstead Garden Suburb Notable Residents and where they lived compiled by Dr Eva Jacobs. Published by Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust. ISBN 978-0-9516742-9-1
