Hampstead Garden Suburb, a fine example of Unwinesque urban design

Several architects worked on Hampstead Garden Suburb. Unwin and Parker worked as architects and planners. Other architects involved in designing this suburb were: Edwin Lutyens, George Lister Sutcliffe and John Soutar. All types of Unwinesque design principles that are such a prominent feature of garden villages and suburbs can be seen in Hampstead Garden Suburb. It is a beautiful place designed with great sense of continuity -a Gesammtkunstwerk- even in the rain...

From the Hampstead Heath Extension - truly a masterful intervention in developing the area for housing- Hampstead Garden Suburb is shown with a clear skyline of spires. The inspiration for this design came from medieval towns in Franconia like Rothenburg.

A feature called "The Wall" separates the common green space of the Hampstead Heath Extension from the garden suburb. Small turrets recreate the feel of medieval fortifications. In fact these are small garden pavilions and border walls from the housing directly behind.

On the axis of the central ensemble a special feature was designed. Here the line of the wall is set back to create a sub space with stairs. This feature is also known as Heathgate. It is one of two "gates" on the edges of the centre, again emulating historic German towns.

Vernacular and modern features are included in the design of this "gate", making it an excellent example of Arts and Crafts design. The corners of the space are emphasised by higher structures clearly inspired by the German Kornscheune (a grain store) or Saltstadl (salt store). An open walkway creates a dry place to sit and look out over the heath. The symmetrical plan is emphasises by two low benches on either side of the opening in the wall.

The street runs from Heathgate in a straight line to the Church of Saint Jude on the hill. The buildings on either side of the street emphasise this central axis and have the same footprint, but the architecture differs to create a more aesthetic streetscape.

Behind Saint Jude a large expanse of grass forms the central space of Hampstead garden Suburb. At the eastern end The Institute was built to provide adult education. It is now the Henrietta Barnett School, a secondary school.

On the other side of Central Square The Free Church stands. This building was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1911. He also designed St Jude's (1909). Although both building were quickly consecrated, it  would take decades to finish construction. This spatial set up is very formal and reminiscent of both baroque and 19th-century formal design.

The churches are surrounded by housing. Terraces with brick facades are located on both North Square and South Square. These names are a bit of a misnomer as the church stands at the centre of the space -unbound by buildings along Central Square- with  the housing along one edge.

On the west of the central area a baroque spatial device was used with three roads converging in a central point (the turret on the primary school). Here a view down Middle View with the primary school (the building with the blue turret) dwarfed by the larger building of the former Institute with the large clock tower. Raymond Unwin never adopted the preference of German town planners for continuous informality, but liked to include formal ensembles in his plans.

The housing towards Temple Fortune was designed in a different style with the facades rendered white. The roofs are covered with slates and the buildings feature many Arts and Crafts details such as hanging tiles, protruding upper floors, protruding eaves, window bays and hanging tiles. On this corner -right- a typical Unwinesque angled block comprising of four dwellings.

All family housing has a front and back garden. These gardens edged by a privet hedge, together with the narrow grass verges planted with a mix of trees, create the semirural streetscape.

The fully rendered houses can be rather simple in appearance. When brick detailing is introduced -on the left a brick door surround- the architecture is greatly improved. Another option is to combine brick and render on larger separated surfaces. Narrow footpaths lead to other streets and also give access to the back gardens.

The streets around the centre are rather formally laid out. The basic design is orthogonal, with some of the streets cut short resulting in a cul-de-sac. The result is a streetscape of buildings at right angles, but with tightly controlled short lines of site.

Unwin -like Sitte- pays great attention to the treatment of the corners. Here an excellent example of two symmetrical angled blocks creating a curved space with a small green to form the clear starting point of the street beyond. Such small greens are a common feature in the oldest section of Hampstead Garden Suburb.

Along the edges of the Hampstead Heath Extension several ensembles were used to make the most of this important green space. Most of these ensembles are formal three-winged structures with either terraced housing or apartments around a communal garden or green. Some ensembles are grand and resemble baroque palaces, others were clearly inspired by almshouses. Again a privet hedge is used to demarcate the border between public and private space.  

Hampstead Garden Suburb, integrating landscape and urban development

Sometimes it takes a tenacious personality to start a process that leads to something truly visionary. Henrietta Barnett was such a person. The wife of an inner city vicar (Whitechapel in London, situated north of the Tower), she had seen the poverty and appalling living conditions for workers and immigrants in what should be classed as slums. From their weekend house overlooking Hampstead Heath at Spaniards End the had the vision of building a residential suburb not far from Golders Green station. The opening of this station in 1900 gave the prospect of the adjacent land being developed in the typical piecemeal manner that had been commonplace since Victorian times. To prevent standard bylaw housing, Henrietta Barnett lobbied for the retention of open space in future development and was determined to realise a social and architectural experiment aimed at improving the lives of what she saw as a socially mixed housing estate. By including various classes the richer residents could subsidise the rents of the poorer.

The land north of Hampstead Heath belonged to Eton College and comprised of fields with a few farms and stands of mature oaks, hedgerows and some copses of indigenous woodland, especially along Mutton Brook. This brook discharges into the Brent river near Hendon. Misses Barnett felt that housing estates should be designed as a whole with well-designed houses for all classes, attractively grouped at low density and surrounded by gardens with hedges. Open spaces would be integrated in the layout, as would be existing woodland and trees. To ensure residents could grow their own, allotment gardens should also be included.

In 1906 Henrietta Barnett set up the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust Ltd, which purchased the 243 acres of land north of Hampstead Heath from Eton College. This vision of an attractive high-quality suburb needed someone to make it practical. For this appointed Raymond Unwin as master planner of the new garden suburb. She stipulated a number of requirement for the garden suburb which were at odds with local building bylaws. Thus an act of parliament was needed. A private bill, sponsored by the Trust was drawn up. This Hampstead garden Suburb Act 1906, allowed less land to be taken up by roads and more by gardens and open spaces (thus reducing overall density) and allowed for a different layout of streets than the prescribed parallel streets or grid iron.  

Unlike Letchworth Garden City, which was first conceived before Unwin had come into contact with Sitte-esque German town planning, Hampstead Garden Suburb was planned on artistic principles and as such the first truly Unwinesque housing project. In contrast to the ideas of Howard in his Garden Cities, Hampstead Garden Suburb only comprised of housing and amenities (schools, shops, churches); no provisions were made for public houses, industrial use, offices or other business premises. This is a suburb, not a self-contained unit beyond the city as advocated by the Garden City Movement. Hampstead garden Suburb is, however, clearly an exponent of this movement and more typical of how these ideas were put into practice in other places in Britain and Europe.

The design for Hampstead Garden Suburb shows a mix of formal and informal elements. The situation in 1911 shows a half-completed estate that is wrapped around the Hampstead Heath Extension (1), with a clearly recognisable centre (2) beyond the Wall (3). Two "gates" (G) are featured on the edges of the central area. The small green at Temple Fortune was formalised with radiating streets (4) with no clear end point. The 3 stands of woodland (w) and the brook (in blue) are still untouched in 1911. Note the regular layout in the central "town area" of this layout.

Although bases on the experiences gained by his work on both Letchworth Garden City and Brentham Garden suburb, Unwin took inspiration from German hill towns and designed the housing estate to be seen from the Hampstead Heath Extension -which was retained as open space with an old farmstead- higher up the slope with a clear demarcation and a recognisable skyline behind it. At the centre of the estate Unwin planned a formal ensemble, that was realised by the architect Lutyens. Raymond Unwin shows a preference for such formality to mark the centre (we also see this at Letchworth and Welwyn). In Hampstead the central ensemble of two large churches and the Henrietta Barnett School, Formerly The Institute, a centre for adult education. The suburb is also home to a Quaker Meeting House, a girls' grammar school and two primary schools. No shops are included in the central area, as was commonplace in German examples of garden suburbs, but the shops and a shopping parade are located on the edges of the estate on older thoroughfares.

Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1936 shows a completely laid out suburb comprising of several neighbourhoods. The central ensemble has been completed with three radiating streets (reminiscent of a baroque Patte d'Oie) on the east side. It is also here that most of the building were erected after 1912 (shown in yellow).The later section has less communal open space and building wrapped around greens, instead this section is dominated by cul-de-sacs and short roads lines with short terraces of row housing. The woodland reserves have their present area. The areas with shops are shown in red.

Brentham Garden Suburb, Ealing: early implementation of Unwinesque principles

This development in Ealing is one of the first suburban housing estates that combines cooperative financing with the typical Unwinesque design aesthetic that came to typify projects inspired by the Garden City Movement. Brentham Garden Suburb was featured in the seminal book Townplanning in Practice that introduced German planning methodology and artistic urban design in the Anglo-Saxon world.  

The first building phase comprised of some 5 streets with long rows of identical Victorian terraced houses in red brick with repeated details. This is how the garden suburb started life: as a standard development on cooperative principles.

Everything would change with the decision to contract the expansion of the suburb out to Parker and Unwin. With their Arts and Crafts inspired architecture this firm moved the development out of the Victorian Era into the 20th century. The layout of the streets and the placement of the rows of terraced houses are still an extension of Victorian practices.

This changes when Unwin comes into contact with German urban planning (a new occupation at that time). Muthesius was probably helpful in this!  Now we see the appearance of urban planning on artistic principles with shorter blocks and special attention paid to the corners, junctions and the building line along streets. Here a typically Unwinesque angled corner where Woodfield Crescent and Winscombe Crescent meet.

Another feature of Unwinesque and informal planning is the use of so-called closes, cul-de-sacs with houses around it as an ensemble. Here the close-like corner of Fowler's Walk. This housing from the last building phase (1912-15) is rather simple in character with little ornamental use of structural details or varying materials.

Fowler's Walk was built on the last section added to the garden suburb, that was never completed as planned. This downhill street is rather uninspired with few Uwinesque principles used by the project architect.

Brentham Way is a long straight street, which is against the doctrine of informal planning. The gardens with the prescribed privet hedges and the trees lining the street create an altogether different feel than in the Victorian streets. Also the varying building line with set-back sections create visual interest and subdivide the streets along its length.

Again an angled block on a corner. This winged angled block with several dwellings emphasises the junction of Brunner Road, Neville Road and Brunswick Road. Such blocks are always a clear indication of a development inspired by the Garden City Movement and designed on Unwinesque principles.  

More angled blocks on corners on Rusking Gardens. A combination of short terraces and semidetached dwellings is what Unwin advocated as perfectly suited for a garden suburb. The result is informal and visually pleasing; yet the layout is almost formal when looking at the plan.

Ludlow Road has a slight curve and the building line the street in long terraces with protruding sections at the ends (another Unwinesque device). The small gardens and hedges create a pleasant semi-rural feel. This housing is very much Arts and Crafts inspired.

More of the same type of architecture lines the straight street along the northern edge of the garden suburb of Brentham. Behind these houses the playing field are still located as originally planned. The brick building with the tower isn't a church, but Brentham Club.

Holyoake Way is again a curved residential street lined with trees. When this suburban housing estate was first designed cars were not so abundant and the intended rural feel of pleasant greens streets is somewhat lost with all the metal in file.

This 1912 complex was built specifically as a residential block with apartments for single people. This was quite forward thinking at the time, as living as part of a family unit was the norm back then. The architecture is in contrast inspired by ages of old and almost castle -like.

North View is the name of this curved street. So there is actually no clear line of sight but at the end of this street a narrow footpath takes you to the river Brent. Again cars dominate, whilst the abundance of greenery -from trees and gardens- make up for this slightly.