The Old Man of Sunny Field

The Old Man of Sunny Field, a photo by Odin5491 on Flickr.

This stone face adorns the left gatepost of a large stone-and-iron gate embossed "Sunny Field," at the junction of West Heath Road and Platt's Lane. There is no field here now; the gate is backed by the back fence of someone's back garden. It appears there once was open land here called Sunnyfield: it is referenced in this oral memoir of the late 19th Century from the Child's Hill Baptist Church, and in this 1902 Report of the Hampstead Scientific Society. How long the Old Man has been here I do not know, nor how long he will gaze forlornly across the road toward the West Heath. He is another of those frozen moments of time that make life here so interesting.

Ferncroft Avenue (Sunset)

Ferncroft Avenue (Sunset), a photo by Odin5491 on Flickr.

The trees so severely trimmed by the Borough of Camden earlier in the spring are now beginning to sprout tiny leaves, giving them an unshaven look against this late May sunset along Ferncroft Avenue.

Exploring Hampstead: Jazz's Walk, Saturday Afternoon

We took Jazz for a walk through Hampstead in the rain yesterday. Here is some of what we saw. The video frame is going to spill over into the sidebar some, but don't worry about that.

The music is Erik Blood, "To Leave America," from his self-released album, The Way We Live. You can download the song, for free, here.

See if you can spot Jack and Heidi in one shot:

Exploring Hampstead: Frognal, Pt. 3

Redington Road/Templewood Avenue

This final entry on the Frognal area of Hampstead focuses on Redington Road and Templewood Avenue, both part of the Redington/Frognal Conservation Area. Redington Road is one of the longest streets in the area, curving generally westward from Frognal past Heath Drive, then turning back to the northwest to terminate at the Heath. Templewood Avenue branches off from Redington, just west of Heath Drive, then parallels Redington’s path up to the Heath.

The Frognal end of Redington Road was among the earliest developments in the area, dating from the mid-1870s. The Heath end of Redington and Templewood Avenue contain some of the grandest and most expensive homes in the Frognal area, many worth substantially more than £10 million.



1 Templewood Gardens

1 Templewood Gardens

As far as I know, there is nothing architecturally or historically significant about this home; I just like it. Unlike most of the homes in the area, this is on a large, open corner lot—two corners, in fact, one on either side. There are no walls, hedges or trees to block your view. This is now the residence of the Malaysian ambassador to the U.K., one of three ambassadorial residences that I know of in the Frognal area.



15 Templewood Avenue

15 Templewood Avenue

Looking at the photograph, you might think this a charming house built of pretty plum-colored brick with a nice tiled roof and attractive rusticated quoins, perhaps worthy of its Grade II listing. You’d be right, but you’d also be missing most of the story.

Take a look at the bird’s eye view below (from Bing.com). Yep, that enormous mansion is the same house, most of it invisible from the street because the house was built at a right angle to, rather than facing, the road. Two of the other houses featured in this post are similarly configured (St. John’s Vicarage at No. 6 and The Wabe at No. 66, Redington Road). I guess architect C.H.B. Quennell hadn’t heard the term “curb appeal” when he designed this house in 1905.

Bird's Eye View, 15 Templewood Avenue

The original house has been modified and expanded, of course—for example, I rather doubt that the massive two-level solarium running along the back wall was an original feature. A 2001 newspaper article described the house as “a four-storey, 8,200 sq ft home on a double plot, with 9/10 bedrooms . . . .” Not mentioned, and not visible in the photograph (but visible from the street, if you peek over the wall and through the hedges) is a children’s playhouse that some less fortunate might consider a fine family home.

2-4 Redington Road

2-4 Redington Road

Development of Redington Road began in 1876 at the Frognal end with, among others, this “wonderfully subtle” pair of semi-detached houses by architect Philip Webb.  Both are listed Grade II*, indicating that they are considered “particularly important buildings of more than special interest.”

At present, No. 2 is covered by scaffolding, so I have not seen it. The street view to No. 4 is obscured by foliage, but you can see it angle-on from the driveway. It is a lovely Arts and Crafts-style house of yellow brick, with a vine-covered brick arch over the entry. (The photograph is another bird’s eye view from taken from Bing.com.)

6 (“St. John’s Vicarage”) and 6½  (“The Cottage”) Redington  Road



6 (St. John's Vicarage) & 6 1/2 (The Cottage) Redington Road

A study in contrasts. The “unrepentantly Gothic” No. 6—to the left in the photo—was built in 1876 by T.K. Green as the vicarage of St. John-at-Hampstead Church. The ground floor used to have stained glass showing John the Baptist and a picture of the church. Although the stained glass is gone, the house still has a distinctly ecclesiastical tone, from the turret to the peaked entryway to the leaded glass.

No. 6 1/2—the modern house to the right—is called “The Cottage.” It was built in 2007 and designed by architect John McAslan. When the developer put it on the market for £6 million in 2008, the sales agent pitched it not as a primary residence, but merely as the buyer’s “place in London” that he or she could “just lock up and leave.”  A newspaper article about the house is available here.

16 Redington Road (“One Oak”)

16 Redington Road (One Oak)

This lovely listed home was designed in 1889 by a founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement, A.H. Mackmurdo, and according to British Heritage, was “designed in an innovative style for its date.” The interior is “noted to retain many of Mackmurdo's stylized and richly molded doorways, skirting boards, cornices and fireplaces.” I haven’t seen the interior, obviously, but even viewed from the street, the house exudes a palpable, country tranquility.

27a Redington Road

27a Redington Road

As you walk up the hill on Chesterford Gardens toward Redington Road, this one will stop you in your tracks—it is utterly unlike any of the box-of-brick homes around it. Built in 2005, this is the signature piece of Monahan Blythen Hopkins Architects. It was built with recycled or certified sustainable timber, is insulated with sheep’s wool, and has a solar-powered water heater. I must admit, though, that the copper barrel roof with the porthole-shaped window always reminds me of the submarine ride at Disneyland. The ground-to-roof window displaying a spiral staircase also is interesting. Additional and some interior photos of the house are available here, and a newspaper article touting the house as an “Eco Home” is available here. (Although the address is on Redington Road, the house fronts around the corner on Chesterford Gardens.)

39 Redington Road

39 Redington Road

Another house with a copper-domed turret, and a pretty fancy one, too—the house was aptly described as “well-embellished” in the Redington/Frognal Conservation Area statement. The house is on a corner lot at Redington and Oak Hill Avenue, so there are good views from two sides. This is the front view, showing the plaster panels in the eaves and a large plaque bearing the house number. The Oak Hill side offers a view of a balcony to the rear of the house, a two-storey bay window and a plaque bearing the date of construction, 1903.

54 Redington Road

54 Redington Road

No. 54 and its neighbor at No. 56—both designed by Quennell and built in 1908-09—are similar in style, and both are listed.  I chose No. 54 for inclusion here because  the vertical lines created by the quoins, the symmetrical two-storey bay windows, and the central line from the entry to the three-light dormer, give the house a sense of grandeur disproportionate to its size.  The early 18^th Century-style scallop shell hood over the entry—an original feature—also caught my eye.

66 Redington Road (“The Wabe”)

This is another house that doesn’t present its best face to the road, but is well worth a look all the same. The house was designed and built in 1910 by William Garnett, an educator and an ardent fan of Lewis Carroll, for himself. The name, “The Wabe,” is derived from Jabberwocky:

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

 The design of the house strives to be similarly fanciful, consisting of an eclectic mix of styles and elements. You can get some sense of this from the street view, from the juxtaposition of the country-cottage entry, the sharply angled extension to the right ending in an six-light bay window, and what appears to be a crenellated tower rising from the middle of the house. The Google Maps view from above shows an irregular polygonal house, roughly arranged around the south-facing views. If any of the original interior features are intact, this is one house I’d love to tour.

  66 Redington Road (The Wabe)

81 Redington Road

This imposing Neo-Georgian structure is described by Wade as “architecturally significant,” although it is not listed. The house was built sometime between 1920 and 1927, and was designed by architect Sir Edward Maufe, most famous as the architect of Guildford Cathedral. Although situated among houses of similar size, this one conveys a gravitas its neighbors fail to muster.



81 Redington Road



For references, see Part 1 here.

Additional reference: Anderson, Modern London Houses: Camden: Hampstead, available at http://homepage.mac.com/doive/houses/hampstead.html (accessed 22 January 2011).

Exploring Hampstead: Frognal, Pt. 2

Lower Lodge, Branch Hill

Lower Lodge, Branch Hill
Continuing on West Heath Road into Branch Hill, you find this gem. It sits across from Branch Hill Pond (now gone, but immortalized on canvas at least four times by John Constable). This house had me with its name, the turret and the moss; add in the balconies, roof terrace and entry, and it seems to me the perfect writer's cottage. And that it was--left-wing Hungarian poet and writer Alfred Reynolds lived here from 1980 until his death in 1993. If I had £3.25 million burning a hole in my pocket, I might be tempted to put in a bid.





Branch Hill Lodge Gatehouse

Gatehouse, Branch Hill Lodge

One of the advantages that might accrue if I bought Lower Lodge (above) is the possibility that, one day, Stefan might live nearby in this neo-gothic beauty. This was, as the name implies, the gatehouse of stately Branch Hill Lodge, a grand old mansion that dates back to the 1730s.  The Lodge was sometimes called Bleak Hall and Judges Bench House, both due to its long association with lawyers of questionable repute.  Lady Byron also resided in the Lodge, shortly after separating from her husband in 1816. The gatehouse was added when the Lodge was remodeled in 1868 by architect Samuel Sanders Teulon, better known locally as the designer of St. Stephen's Church in Rosslyn Hill.

Today, the Lodge itself is a rather fancy retirement home, and its lower grounds are the site of some of the most expensive public housing ever built in England.  But the gatehouse survives, and we frequently pass it by on our way to the Holly Bush. Every time we do, I think it's the perfect house for Stefan: cozy, but with unquestionable character.

108 Frognal

108 Frognal
This ivy covered charmer is one of the oldest houses in Hampstead, dating from the early 1700s. Together with No. 110 (Grove Cottage), it was a pub for much of the 18th Century. More recently, it was home to prima ballerina Tamara Karsavina. Oh, and Sting used to live next door, at No. 110.


100 Frognal

100 Frognal

Built in 1891, this is a Victorian house that goes pretty much balls out. The cupola is an obvious extravagence, but hardly visible in my admittedly poor photograph (an iPhone on an overcast winter afternoon) is the ostentatious brick and tile work and the flamboyant panel bearing the date of construction. Better sunny day photos of this house are available on these interwebs, here and here.

99 Frognal (St. Dorothy's Convent) and 95 Frognal (Bay Tree Cottage)

I didn't like my photos of these two Grade II listed houses, so I've given you photographs of the house numbers and names instead. No. 99 was built around 1740; the house served as the Sailors' Orphan Girls' Home in the 1850s and 1860s. During the latter part of World War II, from 1942 to 1944, General Charles de Gaulle and his family lived here. The property was purchased by the Sisters of St. Dorothy in 1968, and it currently serves as "a boarding house [for young ladies, providing] a homely environment where guidance and advice assure the well being and comfort of the students."

Bay Tree Cottage at No. 95 probably was a gardener's cottage when built in the early 19th Century. It is a charming little cottage with prominent bay windows, set back from the street amongst copious greenery. You can see a photo of the cottage itself here.

To be continued.

For references, please see Part 1 here.

Exploring Hampstead: Frognal, Pt. 1

With Heidi and Jack out today with a friend and Lucinda off doing whatever it is Lucinda does, Jazz and I had a morning to do a bit of local exploration.
The Crofts are part of a larger area on the western downslope from Hampstead known as Frognal. The area is bounded to the west and south by Platt's Lane and Finchley Road; to the north by West Heath Drive and Branch Hill; and to the east by Frognal (no lane or street or avenue -- just Frognal), which meanders down from Hampstead Village to Finchley Road, terminating near the Finchley Road & Frognal Overground Station.

The first settlement in Hampstead parish was in the Frognal area, probably where Frognal and Frognal Lane now meet. The name "Frognal" most likely was derived from the great number of frogs who dwelt here when it was marshy meadow and farmland. Substantial development in the area did not begin until the mid-1870s, after the Finchley Road & Frognal and Finchley Road rail stations opened and the toll gates on Finchley Road were taken down.

Jazz and I struck out to cover the area as best we could, recording some of our favorite bits. This is a survey, not an exhaustive catalog; it includes only things that I found interesting and that I could photograph without trespassing; and I have included only buildings that originally were intended as family homes (no churches, public buildings, or purpose-built flats). These and the many lovely homes and estates that I omitted because they were inaccessible or insufficiently distinct from their neighbors you will have to discover on your own wanderings. (Due to the size of the post and the number of photographs, I have broken it into several parts; future installments will cover properties in Branch Hill, upper Frognal, Redington Road and Templewood Avenue.)

8 Heath Dr

8 Heath Drive
The college I attended when I lived in London in 1985, Westfield College of the University of London, was just down the street from this house at the corner of Kidderpore Avenue and Heath Drive (and only a few hundred yards from our home in Rosecroft Avenue). Westfield College merged with another college in 1989, however, and relocated to East London in 1992. The site has been occupied in part by King's College; the rest has been covered with a large, dull block of overpriced flats.

There is nothing of historical or architectural interest in this house, and I didn't give it much thought when we first walked past. But the view back across Heath Drive from Bracknell Gardens caught my eye. As you will no doubt surmise from some of the later entries, I am a sucker for turrets and cupolas, so a three-storey turret topped with a cupola will always put a house in the running, even (if the cupola is in desperate need of a new coat of paint).

16 Bracknell Gardens

The Huxley House, 16 Bracknell Gardens
Blue plaques denoting that a famous or historical figure once lived in a house are common in Hampstead. Indeed, the local paper once ran a cartoon showing a quizzical tourist debating whether to photograph a plaque stating, "The only house in Hampstead where no one famous ever lived." Most of the people so honored were, of course, British cultural or political figures, many from the 19th or early 20th centuries, whose names mean nothing to me. Not so with this house--although among the least interesting houses I saw today from an architectural perspective, I made a special point to pass by, for this was the house of Leonard Huxley and his brood of geniuses.

Leonard, of course, was the son of T.H. Huxley, a biologist and contemporary of Darwin, who publicly championed Darwin's ideas (even as Darwin himself shied away from doing) and who published a paper advancing the theory that humans evolved from primates eight years before Darwin published The Descent of Man. T.H. also was a religious philosopher, most famous for coining the term "agnosticism."

T.H.'s son Leonard, who lived in this house until his death in 1933, was best known for his multi-volume biography of his father. But his children were his major legacy: his sons included the Darwin Medal-winning evolutionary biologist Sir Julian Huxley; writer Aldous Huxley, most famously author of Brave New World; and Nobel Prize-winning biophysicist, Sir Andrew Huxley. A remarkable family.

No. 2 Greenaway Gardens

No. 2 Greenaway Gardens
Heidi likes the stately, manicured mansions of Greenaway Gardens. I feel they tend to be a little too well manicured and lack character. But there are exceptions, including No. 2. The protruding wing on the right and, especially, the ivy-covered front differentiates this from most of the clean-brick, rectangular houses on the block.

No. 10-12 Frognal

Spender Residence, 10 Frognal
Another building more interesting for its former occupants than its architecture. Poet Stephen Spender grew up in No. 10 (to the right in the photograph), describing it in his autobiography as an "ugly house in the Hampstead style, as if built from a box of bricks." Spender attended school just a few yards uphill on Frognal at University College School. (Actor Dirk Bogarde was a fellow alum of the school.)

Since we are what we are, what shall we be
But what we are? We are, we have
Six feet and seventy years, to see
The light, and then resign it for the grave.



28 Arkwright Road

 28 Arkwright Road
From the dragon atop the weathervane to the listed boundary walls, this is one of my favorites. It deserves a much better photo, but this was the best I could do with my iPhone.

The house was built in 1891 and was designed by Robert A. Briggs. It is a corner house on a deep lot, giving the house a substance the photo does not convey. Nor does the photo capture the Queen Anne-style features on the side of the house, or the fine detail of some of the brickwork.

Perhaps it's time to find some film for my Canon SLR.

No. 66 Frognal

66 Frognal
Not everything in Frognal was built 120 years ago or (to paraphrase Spender) from a box of bricks. There is also some excellent modern architecture to be seen here, as well.

In Frognal Close is a group of neat modern houses designed by Sigmund Freud's son, Ernst L. Freud, in the late 1930s. More famous is Sun House, tucked away at No. 9 Frognal Way, designed by Maxwell Fry in 1935. It is one of the few Grade II* listed houses in the area ("particularly important buildings of more than special interest").

The most notorious modern house in Hampstead, though, is No. 66 Frognal. It was built not in the late 50s or early 60s, as you might expect, but in 1938, only three years after and three doors down from Fry's Sun House. Designed by architects Amyas Connell, Basil Ward and Collin Lucas, the house was derided as "the greatest abortion ever perpetrated" at the time, but it is now "hailed as the best pre-war modern house in England," and is a Grade II* listed building. You can see a photo of the rear of the house here.

No. 9 West Heath Road

9 West Heath Road
Skipping geographically to stay with the modern theme, we next visit the James Gowan-designed No. 9 West Heath Road, called by some the finest modern house in Hampstead. Built between 1962 and 1964, the exterior has been described as austere and "Brutalistic." Indeed, the house does seem cold and alienating from from the street. But the child's toys visible in the middle of the central column of windows gave the house enough humanity to catch my eye.

No. 13 West Heath Road

13 West Heath Road
West Heath Road, as its name implies, directly borders the Heath, so it is no surprise that some of the largest (and gaudiest) homes are located here. In my opinion, No. 13, completed in 1895, manages to be spectacular without crossing into excess.  I have already noted my fondness for turrets, and this house has a good one, with its conical roof and deorative panels. I also like the clover-leaf chimney stacks, and the heavy columned entry and balcony that anchors and centers the design.

Interestingly, only the boundary walls and gate pillars of this house have been listed. Several of the pillars bear the word "Lipa" (visible in the photo) which one would expect is the name of the house, except that another pillar on the Redington Road side bears the word "Ashmount."

Continued in Part 2 here.

References:
1, Wade, The Streets of Hampstead (3d ed. 2000).
2. Denford, The Hampstead Book: The A-Z of its history and people (2009).
3. Erlington, et al., "Hampstead: Frognal and the Central Demesne" in A History of the County of Middlesex, Vol. 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 33-42, available online at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22635 (accessed 16 January 2011).
4. British Listed Buildings Online: Hampstead, Greater London, http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/england/greater+london/hampstead (accessed 16 January 2011).

Exploring Hampstead: The Crofts--Ferncroft Avenue

Ferncroft Avenue

Ferncroft Avenue is the longest of the three ‘Croft avenues, running southeast for approximately one third of a mile from Platt’s Lane to Heath Street (incorrectly shown on Google Maps as “Redington Gardens”). West of Hollycroft Avenue, Ferncroft rises gently; to the east, it drops sharply down from Croft Way to Kidderpore Gardens, then levels out to finish its course.

Five of the houses in Ferncroft are Grade II listed. All were designed by Quennell: Nos. 6-8 (1901), 12-14 (1901-02), 26-26a (1898), 33-35 (1902), and 40-42 (1904).  The first two—Nos. 6-8 and 12-14—are toward the Platt’s Lane end of the avenue, and are similar to the Quennell designs we saw in Hollycroft Avenue.  No. 12-14 (below) is the more interesting of the two.

No. 12-14 Ferncroft Ave.

No. 26-26a is a bit different. No. 26 is a stately asymmetrical design, with a tile-hung first floor and a cast-iron and glass hood over the column-framed entrance bay.  No. 26a (not pictured) is a former coach house, converted to a charming living space.

No. 26 Ferncroft Ave.

No. 33-35 is the most distinctive of the Ferncroft houses.  Although symmetrical, Quennel used an aggressive tile pattern and gabled windows, both unusual for the area.  The overall effect, as Heidi says, is that of a tall, elegant gingerbread house.

No. 35 Ferncroft Ave.

At the Heath Drive end of the avenue, No. 40-42 is only subtly asymmetrical.  I particularly like the tripartite dormer window in the roof of No. 42 (to the right), which would seem to me to create a wonderful little office or studio space.

Nos. 40-42 Ferncroft Ave.

Finally, I leave you with a photo of one of my favorite houses in The Crofts, No. 1 Rosecroft Avenue. I did not include this house in my discussion of Rosecroft because it is not listed and I know almost nothing about it. I have discovered that artist Gerald Scarfe lived here in the 1960s.  If you read The New Yorker or have seen the film Pink Floyd’s The Wall, you will recognize his work.  I have heard unverified rumours that Ralph Miliband -- prominent Marxist and father of politicians David and Ed -- lived here in 1959-1960.  I also know (from personal observation) that one of the current occupants drives a Bentley that he or she typically parks, uncovered, on the street, and that the gate of No. 1 is Jazz's favorite place to mark his territory.

No. 1 Rosecroft Ave.



For references, please see Part 1 here.

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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Exlporing Hampstead: The Crofts--Rosecroft Avenue

We try to spend Saturdays and holidays out and about, exploring new parts of London.  This past Christmas, however, illness kept us housebound, wondering how sick we would let ourselves become before surrendering to the evils of socialized medicine.[1] God had mercy, however; He inflicted needless suffering upon us for only a week or so.  Jazz was not so kind.  He insisted on going out to urinate three or four times a day, no matter how poorly we felt.  So we used Jazz’s walks to explore in greater depth our immediate neighborhood, known to local estate agents as “the desirable Crofts area of Hampstead.”

Orientation



Fig. 1 - Hampstead relative to Parliament

Hampstead is six miles north-by-northwest of the Houses of Parliament (Fig. 1), and four miles directly north of Hyde Park.  The village and Heath sit atop the Northern Heights of London, a group of hills left by retreating glaciers after the last ice age.  At 440’ above sea level, the north end of the Heath is the highest point in London’s inner boroughs.  This is why, as Lucinda frequently complains, the walk into the village is uphill both ways.

The Crofts are comprised of three streets near the western edge of the Heath: Ferncroft Avenue, Hollycroft Avenue, and our own, Rosecroft Avenue (Fig. 2).  A “croft” is a small farm or field; the word is a Scottish derivation from an Old English word meaning “hill.”[2] “The Crofts” is therefore a particularly fitting moniker for this area, which lies on the western slope of Child’s Hill, on land that was part of Platt’s Farm until the mid-1890s.[3]

Fig. 2 - The Crofts relative to Hampstead Village

The three ‘Croft avenues were laid out in 1896 by a developer named George Hart; most of the homes were designed by architect C.H.B. Quennell.  According to one commentator, these red-brick mansions were intended for “the lower middle class residents of Hampstead.”  Today, those homes are worth £3 million to £5 million, and flats in subdivided conversions sell for more than £1 million.[4]  The current global financial crisis has had almost no effect on property prices here, and based on the startling amount of residential remodeling going on, one wonders whether residents of The Crofts are even aware that the world is in financial turmoil.

Rosecroft Avenue

No. 17

Rosecroft Avenue is the smallest of the ‘Croft avenues and was the first to be laid out.  It curves gently downhill and southeast-to-south, a mere 200 yards, joining Platt’s Lane where the Platt’s Farm manor house once stood and terminating at the top middle of arching Hollycroft Avenue.

Three of the houses on Rosecroft are Grade II listed buildings, Nos. 17, 18 and 20. All three were designed by Quennell. No. 17 was completed in 1899 and is notable for the unusual classical plaster reliefs of female figures on the exterior first floor (second floor, for you Americans), modeled by artist Benjamin Lloyd.

No. 18

Across the street, No. 18 was completed in 1898; the date is prominently displayed (along with some naked nymphs) in plaster reliefs in the eaves, also by Benjamin Lloyd.  Next door, No. 20 is one of several houses to bear the name Croft House; completed in 1898, it lacks the sculpted reliefs of Nos. 17 and 18, but has a beautiful symmetrical design with a recessed entrance bay.


Next up, Hollycroft Avenue, wherein resides Winnie-the-Pooh’s friend, Owl.

No. 20

References:

Wade, The Streets of Hampstead (3d ed. 1999)

Wade, Hampstead Past (1989)

Denford, The Hampstead Book: A-Z of its history and people (2009)
"Hampstead: Childs Hill," A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 73-75. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22643 Date accessed: 8 January 2011. >


[1] Heidi refuses to accept that, under the U.K.’s barbaric healthcare system, Jack’s well-baby visits might have to be with a G.P. rather than a specialist pediatrician. The horror! Imagine the exotic strains of diaper rash a G.P. might be unable to diagnose.

[2] "croft." Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. 08 Jan. 2011. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/croft>.

[3] As an interesting aside, all three ‘Croft avenues intersect with Platt’s Lane, named for the owner of Platt’s Farm. Platt’s Lane formerly was known as Devil’s Lane, a corruption of Duval’s Lane, after the notorious 17^th Century highwayman Claude Duval.

[4] For example, the ground floor flat in our building sold last September for £1.27 million.

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