Exploring Hampstead: The Crofts--Hollycroft Avenue

Fig. 1: Hollycroft Ave.

Hollycroft Avenue runs uphill and southeast from Platt’s Lane to Rosecroft Avenue, then turns downhill and sharply to the south, where it terminates at Ferncroft Avenue (Fig. 1).



Fig. 2: Woodstock House at No. 5 Hollycroft



At the Platt’s Lane end, many of the houses have retained molded panels bearing the fanciful names of the houses. These include St. Aubyn, St. Goar, Woodstock, Ravenscourt, Hollycroft Lodge, and the three denes: Dene Wood, Holly Dene and Heatherdene.[1]  Interestingly, the panels on the east side of the street are more intricately decorated and placed over the door (Fig. 2), whereas on the west side of the street they are relatively plain and placed beside the door (Fig. 3).



Fig. 3: Heatherdene House at No. 14 Hollycroft



The house at No. 6 has no molded panel—instead, its owners have isntalled frosted glass in and beside the entry door that bears pithy quotations from such diverse sources as Mary Poppins, Spike Milligan, Ray Davies and Woody Allen.  Most prominent are the words scribed by Christopher Robin for Owl to post on his door: “PLES RING IF AN RNSER IS REQIRD. PLEZ CNOKE IF AN RNSR IS NOT REQID.” Unfortunately, the glass is impossible to photograph unobtrusively so that the quotations are legible.

On the Ferncroft Avenue end of the street, two adjacent semi-detached houses, Nos. 43 to 49, are Grade II listed.  Both were designed by Quennell and finished in 1905. Nos. 43-45 are notable for their herringbone brickwork (Fig. 4); Nos. 47-49 for their brick modillions.

Fig. 4: Nos. 43-45 Hollycroft




Fig. 5: No. 46 Hollycroft

   Across the street, the unlisted house at No. 46 (Fig. 5) also is interesting. It is a fully detached home, completed in 1907 and designed by architect Sir Guy Dawber. The current owners, however—who purchased the home in 2009 for £3.38 million—found the house “under scaled and with poky rooms.”  Accordingly, they are extending the house in three directions, including down.[2] The photograph shows scaffolding covering the south side of the house, where it appears the entire ground floor wall has been removed.

Next up, Ferncroft Avenue and its two gingerbread houses.

For references, see Part 1 here.

[1] A “dene” in a British place name refers to “a vale, especially the deep, narrow, wooded valley of a small river.” ["dene". Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford University Press. 10 January 2011 <http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1239410?rskey=vUGBjI&result=2>.]

[2] The plans for the renovation are available on the architect’s website here. Enter the site, select “Currently in Design,” and choose “Hollycroft Avenue.”

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