Hendon NW11 Hampstead Garden Suburb
The Hampstead Garden Suburb NW11
Hampstead Garden Suburb Churches on the Hill, NW11
The Hampstead Garden Suburb founded by Henrietta Barnett in 1907 brought changes to Temple Fortune east of the Finchley Road. The land was purchased from Eaton College, who had held it since the 1480s as part of Wyldes Farm (see Golders Hill and North End). The suburb was designed and laid out by notable architects such as Raymond Unwin, with green spaces and lots of trees. Big Wood and Little Wood, however, are rare survivors from much early times.
The design of many of the houses in the Hampstead Garden Suburb reflect a rural rather than an urban setting, and were co-ordinated to produce a uniform atmosphere. From Central Square St Jude's Church, designed by Edwin Lutyens, and its 178-foot spire is visible for miles around.
The northern part of the Hampstead Garden Suburb is on what was Park Farm East Finchley. Lord George Sanger, who owned a circus, used the land for his collection of exotic animals, including Elephants during the 1900s. In the 1930s the suburb was extended into East Finchley, and now stretches as far east as the Bishops Avenue.
The Hampstead Garden Suburb was an attempt at creating a utopian suburb supposed to cater for all classes of people, and all income groups. However it quickly developed into an upper middle-class residential area.
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Email this pageLast modified by: Robin Yeates on 07/06/2007