Gainsborough Gardens is a private road in Hampstead, in the London Borough of Camden. The road is arranged in an oval crescent around a central garden. It was laid out towards the end of the nineteenth century and influenced by the Bedford Park development in south west London. Many of its houses are grade II listed with Historic England. Notable former residents include the songwriter Gary Osborne, the historian Bernard M. Allen, and author John le Carré.
It was laid out on land that belonged to the Wells and Campden Charity Trust overseen by Henry Simpson Legg, achitect and surveyor of the Trust between 1882 and 1895. The creation and aesthetics of Gainsborough Gardens was influenced by the Bedford Park development in Chiswick, in south west London.
In 1934 The Times stated that the residents of Gainsborough Gardens "...enjoy privacy and quietude as there are gates and lodges, and few, except an occasional visitor out of curiosity, enter the gardens unless to call at one of the houses". [1] It is protected under the London Squares Preservation Act 1931. [2]
In 1888 the annual rental income of a house on Gainsborough Gardens was estimated to be £300 (equivalent to £42,211in 2023). [3] A 2 bedroom garden flat on Gainsborough Gardens was available to rent for £125 a week in 1981 (equivalent to £605in 2023). [4] A detached 5 bedroom house on Gainsborough Gardens was offered for sale for £1 million in 1990 (equivalent to £2,870,843in 2023). [5] The average price of a house in Gainsborough Gardens was £7 million in 2019. [6]
The communal garden at the centre of the development is 0.4137 hectares (1.022 acres) in size and was the site of a bowling green and ornamental pond in former pleasure gardens. [7] [2] The garden has been opened to the public on 17 occasions as part of the Open Garden Squares Weekend organised by the London Parks & Gardens Trust. [2]
Nos. 7, 8, 9 & 10 were designed by Legg. [8] Nos. 5, 6, 9a and 14 are individually listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England (NHLE). [9] [10] [11] [12] Nos. 3 and 4, 7 and 8, 9 and 10, and 11, 12, and 13 are listed in their respective groups. [13] [14] [15] [16]
Nos. 11, 12, 13 were designed and developed in 1893 by the influential Queen Anne revival architect Horace Field as a speculation, in part funded by his stepmother, Alicia Field, for whom he also designed "The Small House", No.14. [12]
9a, known as 'Eirene Cottage' was designed by Elijah Hoole for C.E. Maurice and his wife and was completed in 1891. [11] The National Heritage List for England praises its "high-quality design in the Vernacular Revival mode". Maurice was married to the sister of Octavia Hill, the founder of the National Trust. Hoole's designs for Hill are remiscent of his design for 9a including his model cottages in Ranston Street in Marylebone and in Redcross and Whitecross Gardens in Southwark. [11] 9a is noted for its distinctive sgraffito frieze of roundels in a cinquefoil design, above this, its name of 'Eirene Cottage' is inscribed. [11]
The former stables to No. 6, now known as the Cottage on the Heath and Grade II listed, was designed by Legg and built in 1885. The NHLE listing describes the cottage as occupying "a prominent, bastion-like position in Gainsborough Gardens". [17]
The lodge building to Gainsborough Gardens at its Well Walk entrance was built in 1886, and also designed by Legg, for the gardener of the crescent. [7] It is listed Grade II. [7]
The semi-detached pair of No. 3 and 4 was the first completed building in Gainsborough Gardens, they were completed in 1884 and designed by E.J. May. [7] No. 4 featured in the 1970 film The Railway Children as the location of the family home before the children's move to Yorkshire. [18]
9a, 'Eirene Cottage', was the home of C.E. Maurice, the husband of the sister of Octavia Hill. Hill was the founder of the National Trust and a pioneer of conservation. [7] Maurice helped preserve Parliament Hill Fields and limit the expansion of construction onto nearby Hampstead Heath while living at 9a. [11] The family of songwriter Gary Osborne lived in Gainsborough Gardens in the late 1960s. [19] The women's suffrage campaigner Elizabeth Knight lived at No. 7 in 1933. [20] The historian Bernard M. Allen moved to "The Small House", No. 14, in Gainsborough Gardens in 1904. [21] The Labour MP Arthur Greenwood lived at No. 8 in the 1950s. [22] The former Governor of Northern Nigeria, George Sinclair Browne, died at his residence in Gainsborough Gardens in 1946. [23] Archibald Chisholm, the oil executive and former editor of the Financial Times , lived at No. 4 in the 1940s. [24] The author John le Carré lived at No. 9 from January 1980 until his death alongside his homes in Tregiffian in Cornwall and Wengen in Switzerland. [25] [26]
Hampstead is an area in London, England, which lies four miles northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough of Camden, a borough in Inner London which for the purposes of the London Plan is designated as part of Central London.
Gidea Park is a neighbourhood in the east of Romford in the London Borough of Havering, south-east England. Predominantly an affluent and residential area, it was historically located in the county of Essex. It saw significant expansion in the early 20th century, with exhibitions of housing and town planning and the construction of a railway station on the main line out from London Liverpool Street station.
Hampstead Heath is an ancient heath in London, spanning 320 hectares. This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London Clay. The heath is rambling and hilly, embracing ponds, recent and ancient woodlands, a lido, playgrounds, and a training track, and it adjoins the former stately home of Kenwood House and its estate. The south-east part of the heath is Parliament Hill, from which the view over London is protected by law.
Kenwood House is a former stately home in Hampstead, London, on the northern boundary of Hampstead Heath. The present house, built in the late 17th century, was remodelled in the 18th century for William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield by Scottish architect Robert Adam, serving as a residence for the Earls of Mansfield until the 20th century.
Samuel Sanders Teulon was an English Gothic Revival architect, noted for his use of polychrome brickwork and the complex planning of his buildings.
Edward John May (1853–1941) was an English architect.
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, and registered battlefields. It is maintained by Historic England, a government body, and brings together these different designations as a single resource even though they vary in the type of legal protection afforded to them. Although not designated by Historic England, World Heritage Sites also appear on the NHLE; conservation areas do not appear since they are designated by the relevant local planning authority.
Lichfield is a civil parish in the district of Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It contains 244 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, six are listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, 32 are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The parish consists of the cathedral city of Lichfield. Most of the listed buildings in the parish are houses and associated structures, the earliest of which are timber framed or have timber-framed cores, a high proportion are Georgian in style, and some have been converted for other uses including shops and offices. The other listed buildings include churches, the most important being Lichfield Cathedral, and associated structures including memorials in the churchyards. Among the variety of other listed buildings are a holy well, bridges, the remains of earlier fortifications, almshouses, public houses and hotels, public buildings, schools, statues, a clock tower, a fountain, an engine house, a war memorial, and telephone kiosks.
Romford Garden Suburb, is a late-Edwardian housing development in Gidea Park, in the London Borough of Havering. The object of the new suburb, which was built on land belonging to Gidea Hall, then occupied by the Liberal politician Herbert Raphael, was, according to his parliamentary colleague John Burns, to "provide families with a well-built, modern home regardless of class or status" and "to bring the towns into the country and the country into the towns".
South Somerset is a local government district in the English county of Somerset. The South Somerset district occupies an area of 370 square miles (958 km2), stretching from its borders with Devon and Dorset to the edge of the Somerset Levels. The district has a population of about 158,000, and has Yeovil as its administrative centre.
Horace Field was a London-born architect. His work was often in a Wrenaissance style, as well as other post-gothic English historical revival styles, with influences from the Arts and Crafts movement and Richard Norman Shaw. His commissions including large houses and offices; he produced a number of works for Lloyds Bank as well as offices for the North Eastern Railway in London and York.
Inverforth House is a large detached house on North End Way at North End on the outskirts of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden, NW3. Owned by William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme from 1904 to 1925, The Hill was bought by Andrew Weir, 1st Baron Inverforth after Leverhulme's death in 1925, and following was given to Manor House Hospital after Inverforth's death in 1956.
Swynnerton is a civil parish in the Borough of Stafford, Staffordshire, England. It contains 62 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, two are listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, six are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The parish contains villages including Swynnerton, Tittensor, Yarnfield, and Hanchurch, and the surrounding area. In the parish is the Trentham Estate, the area around the former Trentham Hall, most of which has been demolished. The remains of the hall, associated structures, and buildings in the garden and surrounding park are listed. Outside the estate, most of the listed buildings are houses and associated structures, cottages, farmhouses and farm buildings, the earlier of which are timber framed. The other listed buildings include churches and a chapel, items in churchyards, a country house and associated structures, buildings associated with a pumping station, bridges, and war memorials.
Mount Vernon House is a house in Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It has been listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) since May 1974. The garden wall is separately listed at Grade II. The house was built around 1726 and was altered in the early 19th century. It is rendered in stucco with a mansard roof. The house occupies the site of a windmill. It was constructed between 1725 and 1728 by a local Hampstead timbersmith, William Knight.
Church Row is a residential street in Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. Many of the properties are listed on the National Heritage List for England. The street runs from Frognal in the west to Heath Street in the east. St John-at-Hampstead and its additional burial ground is at the west end of the street.
Elijah Hoole was an English architect of Methodist churches, settlement halls and social housing. In relation to the social housing, he worked closely with the social reformer Octavia Hill for over 40 years.
Warmfield cum Heath is a civil parish in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The parish contains 57 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, six are listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, six are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The parish contains the settlements of Warmfield, Heath, Kirkthorpe, Goosehill, and the surrounding countryside. The major building in the parish is Heath Hall, a country house, which is listed together with associated buildings and structures. Most of the other listed buildings are houses, cottages and associated structures. The rest of the listed buildings include a church and a group of grave slabs in the churchyard, a block of former almshouses, a water tower, farmhouses and farm buildings, a public house, former schools and a master's house, a set of stocks, two well covers, a boathouse, a weir and sluice gates on the River Calder, and a telephone kiosk.
Well Walk is a street in Hampstead, England in the London Borough of Camden. It runs southwestwards from Hampstead Heath to Flask Walk which then continues on towards the centre of Hampstead Village around the Hampstead tube station. It takes its name from the historic Hampstead Wells.
Henry Simpson Legg (1832–1906) was an English architect and surveyor.
51°33′32″N0°10′20″W / 51.55900°N 0.17215°W
