North London Railway
The North London Railway from Hampstead Heath Station continues south westwards mainly through a tunnel in this section.
Post to the east Hampstead
Arkwright Road
Camden Arts Centre. Camden Arts Centre was built as Hampstead Central Library and designed by the Arnold Taylor and extended in 1926. It was opened in 1897 by its funder Henry Harben, Deputy Chairman of the Prudential Assurance Company. The structure survived bombs and a V2 in the Second World War while used as an ARP post. In 1964 a new the Swiss Cottage library opened as part of a modern library service. Hampstead Arts Centre was opened here in 1965 with classes in painting, life drawing, pottery, printing and design. Refurbished 2004 by Tony Fretton. There is also a garden, bookshop, and café.
1 Senior House of St.Anthony’s School (fee paying, Catholic ‘preparatory’)
2 house used by Devonshire House School. (fee paying, ‘preparatory’)
4 built for the artist F.W. Topham and there is a plaque to him on it. Used by Devonshire House School (fee paying, ‘preparatory’)
6 built for writer Henry Arthur Jones Used by Devonshire House School (fee paying, ‘preparatory’)
13b modernist house by Godfrey Samuel and Valentine Harding, a member of Tecton. Brick with concrete floors and glass bricks at the front. Built for Cecil Walton headmaster of University College School. Inside is a fireplace in flints.
21 home of Tobias Matthay 1858-1945. Matthay was a radical teacher of the piano. A plaque on the house was installed in 1979.
Ellerdale Road
Belonged to the Greenhill estate and built up early 1870s with grand gothic villas, many of them by T.K. Green
24 King Alfred's school opened in 1898 here to practise modern theories of education. The school had no religious or political affiliations; discipline depended on the pupils' co-operation and competition was discouraged. It moved to Hendon in 1919.
Finchley Road
Finchley Road and Frognal Station. This opened in 1860 and now lies between Hampstead Heath and West Hampstead Stations on the North London Line. It was originally called Finchley Road Station on the Hampstead Junction Railway and the entrance was very humble. Tunnel from Hampstead Heath on North London Railway 1879s
Arkwright Mansions. These flats were part of a housing development for J.E. and E. A. Cave, in 1896. The building was opened in 1900. There were lead covered spires on two of the dormers, besides a dome over the corner tower, which have survived. Work started at the Arkwright Road end and the building quality reduces down the length of the building, so cost must have been a factor.
Frognal
First recorded in the 15th as a ‘customary tenement’. There were three ponds full of frogs – hence the name. It became a village in the 17th from a single house and as other houses were built it took on the ‘Frognal’ name which had been used from the 14th.
39 this was the home of illustrator Kate Greenaway 1886-1901. It is a building by Norman Shaw and there is a plaque to Kate.
41 house, in the International Modern style by Alexander Flinders, 1966-8.
University College School. The School was founded in Gower Street in 1830 as part of University College, and here in 1907. UCS was founded with a liberal philosophy. It has three separate schools: the Phoenix School takes boys and girls aged 3-7. The school opened in 2002. The Junior Branch educated education for boys aged 7-11. The Senior School caters for boys aged from 11-18. Sixth form. The school took girls from 2008. The buildings are from 1905-7 by Arnold Mitchell and originally planned for 500 pupils. It is brick with a stone frontispiece and cupola. There is a great hall restored by Michael Foster after a fire in 1978. There are additions from the 1059s.1970s and subsequently.
Frognal Close
Houses in international modern style designed by Ernst Freud, son of Sigmund.
Site of Frognal Priory. In 1815 until 1817 Manor Lodge in Frognal was occupied by John Thompson (a retired auctioneer. he kept some of the land and in 1818 built a house later called Frognal Priory plus a lodge. The house had Gothic crenellations, Renaissance windows, Dutch gables, turrets, and a cupola. Thompson filled it with furniture he said had belonged to Cardinal Wolsey and Elizabeth I. It was demolished in 1876.
Netherhall Gardens
Built up with posh houses from the 1870s.
50 built at part of 61 Fitzjohn's Avenue in 1878 for the artist Edwin Long by Norman Shaw – who lived just round the corner in Ellerdale Road
42 Kelston a second house designed for Edwin Long by Richard Norman Shaw in 1888. Later Edward Elgar lived here.
18 Netherhall House. This was the first house used by Opus Dei in 1952 and the start of the complex owned by them in the area. The house was opened as an international intercollegiate hall of residence for students of all faiths from all countries, this eventually included seminar rooms, an auditorium and an oratory. By the 1960s this had expanded to other sites in the area and elsewhere. In 1964, Netherhall Educational Association was formed to take over the work of the original Trust. In each centre is a priest of the Opus Dei Prelature. Netherhall House developed structural problems and the Netherhall 2000 project was set up to be completed in time for the fiftieth anniversary. Victorian buildings were replaced with modern houses in the same style and by digging created a lower ground floor and by building a central area between the new houses and the 1960s block.
16 this was the second house bought by Opus Dei as a student residence. From 1995 it included a branch of the Southbank International School
Railway – North London Line
The North London Line is in a tunnel here – as it has been in the two squares to the east. This was opened in 1860. Excavations for it were cut in two depth stages- the first about half of the depth needed but three times as wide in order to make a working area for men and machinery. The centre of the trench was to be the final tunnel area. The tunnel was narrower than most other tunnels although the reason is not known. The width of the line crossing Finchley Road is also narrow and it could be guessed that the reason was financial. It is also likely that constant pumping was needed because of underground water. The tunnel was the subject of major works in 1995 to install overhead electric wiring for Eurostar.
Sources
Acorn Archive. Web site
Borer. Hampstead and Highgate
British Listed Buildings Web site
Camden History review
Clunn. The Face of London
English Heritage. Blue Plaque Guide
Field. London place names,
Hillman. London Under London
London Borough of Camden. Web site.
London Encyclopaedia,
London Transport. Country Walks
Lucas. London
Mitchell and Smith. North London Line
National Archives, Web site
Nairn. Modern Buildings
Netherhall Educational Association. Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. London North
St. Anthony’s School. Web site.
Summerson. Georgian London
Wade. Hampstead Past
Walford. Highgate to the Lea
The North London Railway from Hampstead Heath Station continues south westwards mainly through a tunnel in this section.
Post to the east Hampstead
Arkwright Road
Camden Arts Centre. Camden Arts Centre was built as Hampstead Central Library and designed by the Arnold Taylor and extended in 1926. It was opened in 1897 by its funder Henry Harben, Deputy Chairman of the Prudential Assurance Company. The structure survived bombs and a V2 in the Second World War while used as an ARP post. In 1964 a new the Swiss Cottage library opened as part of a modern library service. Hampstead Arts Centre was opened here in 1965 with classes in painting, life drawing, pottery, printing and design. Refurbished 2004 by Tony Fretton. There is also a garden, bookshop, and café.
1 Senior House of St.Anthony’s School (fee paying, Catholic ‘preparatory’)
2 house used by Devonshire House School. (fee paying, ‘preparatory’)
4 built for the artist F.W. Topham and there is a plaque to him on it. Used by Devonshire House School (fee paying, ‘preparatory’)
6 built for writer Henry Arthur Jones Used by Devonshire House School (fee paying, ‘preparatory’)
13b modernist house by Godfrey Samuel and Valentine Harding, a member of Tecton. Brick with concrete floors and glass bricks at the front. Built for Cecil Walton headmaster of University College School. Inside is a fireplace in flints.
21 home of Tobias Matthay 1858-1945. Matthay was a radical teacher of the piano. A plaque on the house was installed in 1979.
Ellerdale Road
Belonged to the Greenhill estate and built up early 1870s with grand gothic villas, many of them by T.K. Green
24 King Alfred's school opened in 1898 here to practise modern theories of education. The school had no religious or political affiliations; discipline depended on the pupils' co-operation and competition was discouraged. It moved to Hendon in 1919.
Finchley Road
Finchley Road and Frognal Station. This opened in 1860 and now lies between Hampstead Heath and West Hampstead Stations on the North London Line. It was originally called Finchley Road Station on the Hampstead Junction Railway and the entrance was very humble. Tunnel from Hampstead Heath on North London Railway 1879s
Arkwright Mansions. These flats were part of a housing development for J.E. and E. A. Cave, in 1896. The building was opened in 1900. There were lead covered spires on two of the dormers, besides a dome over the corner tower, which have survived. Work started at the Arkwright Road end and the building quality reduces down the length of the building, so cost must have been a factor.
Frognal
First recorded in the 15th as a ‘customary tenement’. There were three ponds full of frogs – hence the name. It became a village in the 17th from a single house and as other houses were built it took on the ‘Frognal’ name which had been used from the 14th.
39 this was the home of illustrator Kate Greenaway 1886-1901. It is a building by Norman Shaw and there is a plaque to Kate.
41 house, in the International Modern style by Alexander Flinders, 1966-8.
University College School. The School was founded in Gower Street in 1830 as part of University College, and here in 1907. UCS was founded with a liberal philosophy. It has three separate schools: the Phoenix School takes boys and girls aged 3-7. The school opened in 2002. The Junior Branch educated education for boys aged 7-11. The Senior School caters for boys aged from 11-18. Sixth form. The school took girls from 2008. The buildings are from 1905-7 by Arnold Mitchell and originally planned for 500 pupils. It is brick with a stone frontispiece and cupola. There is a great hall restored by Michael Foster after a fire in 1978. There are additions from the 1059s.1970s and subsequently.
Frognal Close
Houses in international modern style designed by Ernst Freud, son of Sigmund.
Site of Frognal Priory. In 1815 until 1817 Manor Lodge in Frognal was occupied by John Thompson (a retired auctioneer. he kept some of the land and in 1818 built a house later called Frognal Priory plus a lodge. The house had Gothic crenellations, Renaissance windows, Dutch gables, turrets, and a cupola. Thompson filled it with furniture he said had belonged to Cardinal Wolsey and Elizabeth I. It was demolished in 1876.
Netherhall Gardens
Built up with posh houses from the 1870s.
50 built at part of 61 Fitzjohn's Avenue in 1878 for the artist Edwin Long by Norman Shaw – who lived just round the corner in Ellerdale Road
42 Kelston a second house designed for Edwin Long by Richard Norman Shaw in 1888. Later Edward Elgar lived here.
18 Netherhall House. This was the first house used by Opus Dei in 1952 and the start of the complex owned by them in the area. The house was opened as an international intercollegiate hall of residence for students of all faiths from all countries, this eventually included seminar rooms, an auditorium and an oratory. By the 1960s this had expanded to other sites in the area and elsewhere. In 1964, Netherhall Educational Association was formed to take over the work of the original Trust. In each centre is a priest of the Opus Dei Prelature. Netherhall House developed structural problems and the Netherhall 2000 project was set up to be completed in time for the fiftieth anniversary. Victorian buildings were replaced with modern houses in the same style and by digging created a lower ground floor and by building a central area between the new houses and the 1960s block.
16 this was the second house bought by Opus Dei as a student residence. From 1995 it included a branch of the Southbank International School
Railway – North London Line
The North London Line is in a tunnel here – as it has been in the two squares to the east. This was opened in 1860. Excavations for it were cut in two depth stages- the first about half of the depth needed but three times as wide in order to make a working area for men and machinery. The centre of the trench was to be the final tunnel area. The tunnel was narrower than most other tunnels although the reason is not known. The width of the line crossing Finchley Road is also narrow and it could be guessed that the reason was financial. It is also likely that constant pumping was needed because of underground water. The tunnel was the subject of major works in 1995 to install overhead electric wiring for Eurostar.
Sources
Acorn Archive. Web site
Borer. Hampstead and Highgate
British Listed Buildings Web site
Camden History review
Clunn. The Face of London
English Heritage. Blue Plaque Guide
Field. London place names,
Hillman. London Under London
London Borough of Camden. Web site.
London Encyclopaedia,
London Transport. Country Walks
Lucas. London
Mitchell and Smith. North London Line
National Archives, Web site
Nairn. Modern Buildings
Netherhall Educational Association. Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. London North
St. Anthony’s School. Web site.
Summerson. Georgian London
Wade. Hampstead Past
Walford. Highgate to the Lea