Hampstead Garden Suburb

Hampstead Garden Suburb
Hampstead Garden Suburb  Hampstead Garden Suburb shown within Greater London
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
List of places UK England London

Coordinates: 51°34′59″N 0°11′06″W / 51.583°N 0.185°W / 51.583; -0.185

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.

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.^[1]

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, Hampstead Garden Suburb Act 1906, allowed less land to be taken up by roads and more by gardens and open spaces.^[1]

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.^[1] 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.

In 2015, the residents' association decided to implement a yellow and red card penalty system to discourage neighbours from using noisy lawnmowers and leafblowers.^[2]

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 protects the character and amenity of the Suburb^[3] and is responsible for implementing the management scheme. It has offices 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.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Act 1906

Urban town planning had been restricted by the byelaws established after the 1875 Housing Act, which had de facto called for a grid iron street layout, and a minimum housing density. This had prevented Cadbury building workers houses within a city, and caused Rowntree to build his housing in rural parishes. For Unwin to design a street structure that followed the contours, and built houses in cul-de-sacs a parliamentary act was needed. The Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust sponsored a private bill.

The three relevant sections of the Act were

Section 2

"There shall not be built in the Garden Suburb on the average throughout a greater proportion of houses to the acre than eight".

"On every road in the Garden Suburb (whatever the width of the said road) there shall be between any two houses standing on opposite sides of the road a space not less than fifty feet free of any buildings except walls, fences or gates."

Section 3

"With respect to any gardens, recreation grounds or open spaces provided by the Company for the common use of the inhabitants of any dwellings in the Garden Suburb the Company may make bye-laws for the regulation thereof...."

Section 5

"Any road not exceeding 500 feet in length constructed primarily for the purpose of giving access to a group of houses in the Garden Suburb and not designed for the purposes of through traffic (known as an accommodation road), may with the consent of the local authority be exempted from any operation of any bye-laws of the local authority relating to the width of new streets and footways."

Section 2, defined a low building density, and wide streets with gardens or verges where trees could be planted. Section 5 distinguished between through-roads (known as an accommodation roads) and residential cul-de-sacs. It recognised the difference between cul-de-sac roads of limited length and other roads, and allowed the suspension of certain the operation of local planning bye-laws ^[5]

Geography

Neighbouring areas

	Church End	East Finchley	Fortis Green
	Temple Fortune		Highgate
		Hampstead Garden Suburb
	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.

See also

• The Bishops Avenue
• Brentham Garden Suburb
• Ebenezer Howard
• Garden city movement
• Garden real estate
• List of notable people who have lived in Hampstead Garden Suburb
• List of people from Barnet

References

Further reading

• 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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hampstead Garden Suburb.

• HGS website
• HGS Trust
• Famous residents

London Borough of Barnet Districts Arkley Barnet Gate Brent Cross Brunswick Park Burnt Oak Childs Hill Chipping Barnet Church End Cockfosters Colney Hatch Colindale Cricklewood East Barnet East Finchley Edgware Finchley Friern Barnet Golders Green Grahame Park The Hale Hampstead Garden Suburb Hendon The Hyde Mill Hill (including Mill Hill East) Monken Hadley Muswell Hill New Barnet New Southgate North Finchley Oakleigh Park Osidge Southgate Temple Fortune Totteridge West Hendon Whetstone Woodside Park Attractions artsdepot Avenue House Barnet Gate Mill Barnet Museum RAF Museum Parks and open spaces Arrandene Open Space Barnet Gate Wood Basing Hill Park Bethune Park Bittacy Hill Park Brent Park Brent Reservoir Cherry Tree Wood Childs Hill Park Clitterhouse Recreation Ground Coppetts Wood Darland's Lake Nature Reserve Dollis Valley Greenwalk Edgwarebury Park Friary Park Golders Hill Park Greenhill Gardens Hendon Park King George's Fields Long Lane Pasture Lyttelton Playing Fields The Mill Field Mill Hill Park Moat Mount Princes Park Monken Hadley Common Oak Hill Park Oak Hill Wood Old Court House Recreation Ground Princes Park Rowley Green Common Scratchwood Stoneyfields Park Sunny Hill Park Swan Lane Open Space Totteridge Fields Tudor Sports Ground Victoria Park Victoria Recreation Ground Watling Park West Hendon Playing Fields Whitings Hill Open Space Constituencies Chipping Barnet Hendon Finchley and Golders Green Tube and railways stations Brent Cross Burnt Oak Colindale Cricklewood East Finchley Edgware Finchley Central Golders Green Hendon Hendon Central High Barnet Mill Hill Broadway Mill Hill East New Barnet New Southgate Oakleigh Park Totteridge and Whetstone West Finchley Woodside Park Other topics Brent Cross Cricklewood Coat of arms Council Grade I and II* listed buildings Nature reserves People Public art Schools Category Commons