Living in Hampstead: area guide to homes, schools and transport links

The tide of history has swept along the pretty streets of the north London village of Hampstead. More than 50 former residents are commemorated with brown or blue plaques at the homes where they once lived.

Americans are particularly honoured in this way. Dairin Moukarzel, local Savills lettings manager, says a lot of families from the US start by renting in St John’s Wood near the American School but then discover that Hampstead is where they really want to live.

Hampstead is home to many families who have lived there for generations. Savills estate agent Peter Brookes says it is now the province of wealthy top professionals, City bankers and entrepreneurs who have made their fortune in business.

They are drawn to the charming village atmosphere, the vast, open, wild green spaces of Hampstead Heath and some of the best schools in London. Leaving by car in rush hour heading to central London is not so charming — but worth the pain.

And dealing with residents’ societies guarding the many listed buildings is painful, too. But those societies preserve Hampstead’s good looks.

Celebrities who have called Hampstead home include actor Richard Burton in Lyndhurst Road, singer Kathleen Ferrier in Frognal, the writers John Galsworthy in Admiral’s Walk and Aldous Huxley in Bracknell Gardens, and politician Hugh Gaitskell in Frognal Gardens.

All these are commemorated and it was thanks to such famous residents that this hillside neighbourhood became a magnet for London’s intellectual and artistic elite.

In Keats Grove, the house where Romantic poet John Keats fell in love with his neighbour, Fanny Brawne, is now a museum.

The couch on which Sigmund Freud analysed his patients is on view at his house in Maresfield Gardens and for fans of mid-century architecture and interiors, the home of architect Ernö Goldfinger in Willow Road is open to the public.

Artist John Constable’s listed Georgian house in Well Walk is on the market for the first time in 30 years with a price tag of £4 million.

The property scene

Sitting four miles north of central London, Hampstead has Georgian houses, pretty period cottages in the winding streets around the High Street and large Victorian houses, many converted into flats. There are also large Edwardian mansions, plus mansion flats and now modern flats.

Parking is restricted in some of the most picturesque streets but Savills’ Peter Brookes says he now has buyers who are happy to live in Hampstead without a car, relying instead on public transport and taxis.

The most expensive home currently for sale is a six-bedroom contemporary house in Cannon Lane designed by minimalist architect Claudio Silvestrin. On the edge of the Heath, it has a cinema, swimming pool and staff quarters and is for sale for £22.5 million.

One of Hampstead’s prettiest streets is Downshire Hill between the High Street and the Heath, where a five-bedroom white stucco villa is for sale for £4.95 million.

Among the historic streets there are also a number of pioneering modern houses and developments. Housden House in South Hill Park is for sale for £3.25 million. It was built by the architect Brian Housden for his family and was inspired by the Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht and the Maison de Verre in Paris.

In Dunboyne Road a three-bedroom flat in a development from the golden age of Camden council architects’ department, designed by RIBA Royal Gold Me

And in Redington Road, The Wabe, the house mathematician William Garnett built for himself in 1903, where Isadora Duncan danced in a fundraiser in aid of women’s suffrage, is for sale priced £13.95 million.

What's new?

Hampstead Manor is a Mount Anvil development in Kidderpore Avenue involving the conversion of period buildings including the Greek Revival Kidderpore Hall and the late-Victorian and Edwardian buildings that comprised Westfield College, a pioneering women’s college, now part of Queen Mary University in Mile End. There will be 156 new homes ranging from studios to five-bedroom houses.

Fifty-four of these homes will be in converted period buildings, with the remainder being new build. One-bedroom flats start at £740,000, with two-bedroom flats from £1.95 million, three-bedroom flats at £2.47 million, three-bedroom duplexes priced from £2.25 million and four-bedroom townhouses from £3.45 million. Call 020 7776 4825 for further information.

Kidderpore Green, also in Kidderpore Avenue, is a Barratt Homes scheme of 128 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom flats and duplexes and one family house facing Platt’s Lane.

The development is a mixture of new-build homes and converted homes in the Caroline Skeel Library and nearby Arts and Crafts buildings.

The current new-build phase of 39 flats, four duplexes and The White House is ready to move into this summer. Two-bedroom flats start at £847,000 and three-bedroom penthouses at £1,655,500.

At the heart of the development is a new studio building for the Hampstead School of Art that was started by sculptor Henry Moore and other artists after the Second World War. There’s also an on-site café. Call 0844 811 4321.

Novel House is a scheme of 17 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom flats and one penthouse built in a solid, traditional style in New End on the site of a former nursing home, by developer Linton Group.

Sales are off-plan for completion early next year. One-bedroom flats start at £1,095,000; two-bedroom flats at £3,495,000; three-bedroom flats at £3.65 million and four-bedroom flats at £5,995,000. The price of the penthouse has not yet been released. Contact Savills on 020 7409 8756.

The Oren in West Heath Road is a retirement development of 46 two- and three-bedroom flats and penthouses which the developer, Elysian Residences, describes as “a private club for like-minded individuals”.

For completion in 2020, there is a gym, swimming pool, in-house restaurant, private dining room and a library. Two-bedroom flats start at £1.6 million; three-bedroom flats at £2.79 million and penthouses from £3.5 million.

Contact Glentree on 020 8731 9500 and Goldschmidt & Howland on 020 7435 4404.

Affordable homes

Housing association Newlon will have four one-bedroom shared-ownership flats at Kidderpore Green. Call 0800 058 2544.

Renting

Savills’ Hampstead associate director, lettings, Dairin Moukarzel, says that as well as US families renting locally, the French school in Kentish Town brings in French families. Most of her landlords are long-standing owners who now live elsewhere.

Staying power

Anyone lucky enough to land in Hampstead wants to stay.

Postcode

NW3 is the Hampstead postcode; it also includes Childs Hill and stretches south to include Belsize Park and parts of Chalk Farm and Primrose Hill.

Best roads

Savills agent Peter Brookes says it depends what you are looking for. “I get a lot of people asking for between the High Street and the Heath — these are not necessarily the most expensive houses but they are the most charming. The best streets here are Downshire Hill and Well Road. For those looking for large houses in the £6 million to £22 million price bracket the best roads are Redington Road and Templewood Avenue where there are large Edwardian houses.”

Up and coming

Between Hampstead Heath and Gospel Oak stations the Mansfield conservation area at the southern end of the Heath offers better value for money. For example, a two-bedroom first-floor Victorian conversion in Mackeson Road is for sale for £649,950.

Transport

Hampstead Tube station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern line with trains to the West End and the City. Hampstead Heath is on the Overground with trains to West Hampstead for the Jubilee line and Highbury & Islington for the Victoria line.

The two stations are in Zone 2 and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,364.

There are useful local commuter buses. The No 24 goes from South End Green to Trafalgar Square and Victoria; the No 46 goes from Hampstead High Street to King’s Cross, Holborn Viaduct and St Bartholomew’s Hospital; the No 168 goes from Haverstock Hill to Holborn and Waterloo, and the No 210 takes shoppers to Brent Cross.

Council

Camden council is Labour-controlled. Band D council tax for 2018/2019 is £1,488.43.

Shops and restaurants

The shops in Hampstead Village spread out from the Tube station up and down Heath Street and down Hampstead High Street and into Rosslyn Hill.

These days, smart mid-market brands have squeezed out many of the independent traders. Women’s fashion brands include Jigsaw, OSKA, Zadig & Voltaire, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Hobbs, Reiss, Maje, Whistles, Tara Jarmon and Nicole Farhi. La Coqueta has lovely traditional children’s clothes and over the road Maison Auguste has a great choice of children’s toys. Borough Kitchen is a kitchen shop, a real foodie treasure trove.

Chain restaurants such as Wagamama, Café Rouge, Côte, Gail’s and Carluccio’s have found a home here. Savills’ Peter Brookes recommends Japanese restaurant Jin Kichi, one of the few Hampstead restaurants with a London-wide reputation, and The Horseshoe pub, birthplace of the Camden Town Brewery, and he is a fan of the juice bar at fruiterers Artichoke.

Other favourite pubs are the picturesque Holly Bush in Holly Bush Walk and the Victorian grandeur of The Flask in Flask Walk. The Wells Tavern in Well Walk is the gastropub run by the Evening Standard restaurant critic Fay Maschler’s sister Beth Coventry. Bunny Yawn is new and styles itself as a “homestyle café”; Louis is a long-standing patisserie in business since 1963 and in pretty Perrins Court, Ginger & White is a top lunchtime venue.

The Hampstead Community Market off the High Street has a butcher, greengrocer and fishmonger.

There are further shops along South End Road with branches of M&S Food Hall and Daunt Books, a couple of bakers, and cafés and tea rooms that are handy after a long dog walk on the Heath.

Open space

Hampstead is all about the 800 wild acres of Hampstead Heath, a slither of the countryside in the middle of the city. The Heath is also famous for its three outdoor Bathing Ponds — one for women, one for men, and a mixed one — and its Parliament Hill Lido.

Leisure and the arts

Hampstead Theatre is now in Swiss Cottage; its production of a new David Hare play The Moderate Soprano about the foundation of Glyndebourne opera house, recently transferred to the West End. T

he local theatre is the Pentameters Theatre, a long-standing fringe theatre above the Horseshoe pub in Heath Street. The original Everyman Cinema, now a small chain, started life in its present site in Holly Bush Vale.

Hampstead has a particularly wide choice of private schools although there are some popular state schools as well.

Primary schools

The state primary schools that parents are keenest to get their children into are: Christ Church CofE in Christchurch Hill, rated “outstanding” by the Ofsted education watchdog, and Fitzjohn’s in Fitzjohn’s Avenue which is judged to be “good”.

The other “outstanding” primary school is Gospel Oak in Mansfield Road. The others — Hampstead Parochial CofE in Holly Bush Vale; New End in Streatley Place; Rosary RC in Haverstock Hill; St Luke’s CofE in Kidderpore Avenue; Holy Trinity CofE in Trinity Walk and Fleet in Fleet Road — are all judged to be “good”.

William Ellis (boys, ages 11 to 18); Parliament Hill (girl, ages 11 to 18) and La Sainte Union RC (girls, ages 11 to 18), all in Highgate Road, share a sixth form called LaSWAP; all these comprehensive schools are judged to be “good”.

The UCL Academy (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Adelaide Road is also judged to be “good”. However, Haverstock School, where David and Ed Miliband were educated, is currently “requiring improvement”.

Harris Academy St John’s Wood (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Marlborough Hill opened in September and has not yet been inspected by Ofsted.

Private

The private primary and preparatory schools are: St Anthony’s (boys, ages four to 13), a Catholic school in Fitzjohn’s Avenue; Devonshire House (co-ed, ages two to 13) in Arkwright Road; The Academy School (co-ed, ages six to 14) in Pilgrim’s Place; Heathside (co-ed, ages two to 13) in New End; Lyndhurst House (boys, ages four to 13) in Lyndhurst Gardens; Maria Montessori (co-ed, ages two to 12) in Lyndhurst Gardens; St Mary’s (co-ed, ages two to 11), a Catholic school in Fitzjohn’s Avenue; Hampstead Hill (co-ed, ages two to eight) in Pond Street; Southbank (co-ed, ages three to 11), an international school in Netherhall Gardens; St Christopher’s (girls, ages four to 11) in Belsize Lane; North Bridge House Nursery (co-ed, ages two to five) in Fitzjohn’s Avenue; North Bridge House Pre-Prep (co-ed, ages five to seven) in Netherhall Gardens; University College School Pre-Prep (boys, ages four to seven) in College Crescent; and The Hall (boys, ages five to 13) in Crossfield Road.

The private secondary school is North Bridge House (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Rosslyn Hill.

There are also a number of well-regarded all-through private schools. These are: University College School (boys, ages seven to 18) in Frognal; St Margaret’s (girls, ages four to 16) in Kidderpore Gardens; South Hampstead High (girls, ages four to 18) in Maresfield Gardens; and King Alfred School (co-ed, ages five to 18) in North End Road.