The forgotten parish 13 of Hampstead

From worship to residence http://www.gumtree.com/london/21/33854121.html

That's the story of all Soul's Church in Loudoun Road, swiss Cottage. Of course the Estate Agents like to call it St John's Wood - others happy to describe it as South Hampstead (as per the Railway Station).

I've put in the large pic (right) to show the landscape of the station (it's the Euston Watford line) with the small tower block behind it which now dwarfs the church.

The church now is 8(?) flats!

The church dates from 1865 and in 1903 was parish 13 of the Hampstead Deanery. The parish was carved out of St Paul's, Avenue Road, St Mary's Kilburn, and All Saint's, Marylebone.

It has a pretty interesting history and was very much a local church for the area in South Hampstead - so a bit of background:

Founded by Revd. Henry Robinson Wadmore, asst. at St. John's Wood chapel in 1865 and he remained the incumbent until 1890
In 1901 G. F. Terry, was the Vicar until 1909. He was credited with revitalising the congregation and later went on to be canon of Edinburgh.
His brother (!) C. J. Terry, Vicar from 1909-19, increased the endowment.

Attendance in 1886 was recorded as being 274 at morning service.; 176 evening.
By 1903 it had little changed (but was sustained) 294 at morning service; 248 evening.

The church is built of stock brick with bands of red and Bath stone dressings, it seated 600. It is described as being apsidal chancel, aisled nave with bellcot, saddleback tower, and a vestry. Small asouthfacing porch was added in 1903. In 1905 an aditional aisle, tower, baptistery, porches, and choir vestry, giving 250 more seats, paid for by by Sir Charles Nicholson, Bt.

It had a chancel roof decorated like ancient choir roof of St. Albans abbey and the large oak altar installed as First World War mem.

The floor-plan was finally reordered in 1965: the altar was placed in front of the chancel steps, the font was brought forward, and the former chancel arranged as weekday chapel, and a baptistery added for exhibitions before the church closed in the 1970's(?).

A great place to now live in!

Tesco's hand-me-downs sound a tad hollow

For months the residents of South Hampstead and Swiss Cottage have been plagued by an ongoing battle with Tesco over the threatened planning application at the Loudoun Road roundabout for a new store. That battle is now drawing to close as there is a planning application aprroved and they have a licence - but there are conditions attached and they need to be respected.

For some people this is a real and immediate issue as they quite literally live above it, but now the building works are in full steam.

I noticed yesterday as I went past the sign up saying that Tesco wants to work with the community.

It's a great sign and a great claim, but it is now incumbent for them to actually prove that this isn't just a coporate hand-me-down and is in fact a real commitment.

One of the things they could do is have a real and genuine dialogue with the residents of Sheridan Court, they could make some reference to the previous uses of the site by saving for example the pub sign from the Britannia Pub that stood there until a week or so ago, and they could work with other local traders to ensure that in opening their shop they don't create a major hole in the immediately local market.

There could even by a discussion with TfL about having some refurbishment o the South Hampstead Railway station and providing some community notice boards and enhancements there...

Come on Tesco, don't play words with the community - be proactive and prove your worth.

To date it's been a bit lacking, perhaps this is the time to turn over a new leaf for South Hampstead.

The many faces of Cricklewood

I've been fascinated by this one for ages and it has taken me a while to get the necessary pictures but here we are...

It's not all of the faces, but it's a pretty good spread.

On the buildings of the victorian Cricklewood, on the building pillars - between each shop front - there is a ornate 'top' facade - usually corinthian or doric columns, these are topped by a face.

These are drawn from a gothic almost rustic tradition and involve leaves and flowing water swirls.

Many of them appear to draw on the 'greene man' tradition of olde england.

Carvings of the Greene Man are known in architecture as foliate heads or foliate masks, some are naturalistic but in this instance they are just decorative. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_man

Traditionally the simplest show a man's face peering out of dense foliage (they are usually of a man and rarely of a woman).

Some have leaves for hair, often with a leafy beard.

In this instance in North London we have the development of a whole family - very young, old and indeed including a women - it is a further exploration of the idea that this might be the depiction of a family of the architect, builder...

This part of London (Cricklewood) build up very quickly following the arrival of the railway in 1868 - from 1880 the building locally went up apace and so it is to this era that these carvng belong. Perhaps it is the family - I suspect we will never know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricklewood


One thing it does confirm for me however, was the extent to which two or three maybe six or seven building firms dominated the massive growth of building here in north west london. There are three really distinct building styles - that employed in Belsize and Hampstead, that of Swiss Cottage and South Hampstead and this of West Hampstead and Cricklewood.

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/07/time-to-dawdle-in-south-and-west.html

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/06/englands-lane-to-hampstead-theatre.html

This part of north west london certainly saw massive growth with the advent of the railway and the need for mass accommodation - it certainly did seem obvious that it might be so personalised...

It's worth daying that if any reader wants and they double click on the pictures then the site should enable each picture to open up large and then you can see the individual faces better and clearer.

A time to dawdle in south and west hampstead

Usually I'm full of praise of the natural environment or the pure design - but I'm really struck by the late victorian brickwork of West Hampstead/South Hampstead - it's actually incredibly ornate and deeply impressive.

I'm no historical architect by it feels like much of it was the work of one firm - both in style and in type - but considering we are looking at bricks it has a flair that is unexpected and impressive.

We're looking at a period of about 1882 - 1894 - the ones here are illustrated with date plaques that give them precise dates of 1887 and 1889 - and I reckon they are not just the sme style but in fact by the same craftsman - that certainly would fit with the perception. That teams of men (often Irish labourers) were crewed together and worked in areas for period sof 5-10 years during the construction.

Considering the buildings are four stroises high, often with basements too, you get a sense of just how laborious they would have been - and the intensity of the development is amazing - the streets would have been busy, packed and at times highly congested. It made me think, as I had heard that on some estates such as this the brick kilns were constructed on site to save the time. My instinct here though is that due to the good transport links the brick kilns of the midlands in fact serviced these building sites and there would not have been much local generation.

The speed of growth of the South Hampstead estates was pretty impressive so it should come as no surprise to find this quality of workmanship.

Tkae awalk down any of these streets - Canfield, Broadhurst, Goldhurst - there is so much to see and enjoy - I find it one of the most pleasurable dawdles around...

Swiss Cottage - formerly The Swiss Tavern

Swiss Cottage is one of the significant landmarks of London - not least because it is the traffic landmark for many people arriving in London. Certainly when travelling down to see aunts and grandparents as a young boy, we knew we were close when we got to Swiss Cottage.

Now the main landmark is the pub and the tube station - I was discussing yesterday with a friend whether anyone actually lives in 'swiss cottage'. It's also an administrative district for elections - Swiss Cottage Ward in Camden - but as a residential area...

In the Swiss Cottage ward many people consider themselves to live in West Hampstead, South Hampstead, Primrose Hill - the actually definition of Swiss Cottage as a geographic area is very small.

Now Swiss Cottage tube station is a London Underground station at Swiss Cottage. It is on the Jubilee Line, between Finchley Road and St. John's Wood. It is in Travelcard Zone 2.

This picture captures what I think is the great 20s/30s architecture of the tube station escalator... it's really stunning and has actually been well matched by the modern architecture of much of the rest of the jubilee line (esp. at Westminster Station).

Opened on November 20, 1939 on the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo Line, Swiss Cottage station was transferred to the Jubilee Line in 1979. The station was originally called The Swiss Tavern (after the pub which is early 19th century), but was soon changed to Swiss Cottage.

Swiss Cottage has always been a major transport hub and in the early 19th century saw a couple of parliamentary bills on the Finchley Road toll road (1835).

The Victoria County History records this in full:
"Omnibuses routes were pushed farther north with the spread of building and opening of suburban railway stations after 1855. By 1880 they not only stretched along Kilburn High Road to Brondesbury but also served Kilburn and West Hampstead by way of Abbey Road and the area north of Swiss Cottage by way of Finchley Road as far as Finchley Road station. Later omnibuses were extended along Finchley Road to meet others from Edgware Road along West End Lane, continuing north to Childs Hill in Hendon."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Cottage_tube_station
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cottage
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22632&strquery=swiss%20cottage