TQ2785 : Two periods of architecture on South Hill Park, NW3
taken 10 years ago, near to Hampstead, Camden, England
The extensive Belsize estate, with its frontage on both sides of Haverstock Hill, was an early magnet for merchants and others who wanted a country house within easy reach of London. From the 16th century onwards there was a steady programme of building, demolition and rebuilding right up to the early 19th century when, in 1808, the Belsize estate was split into nine leasehold estates, focussed on single houses. Until the late 1840s and early 1850s the area remained rural; country houses set in parkland with associated cottages and farm buildings. The middle of the century, however, saw a boom in building and speculation with 99 year building leases granted for all the nine estates and by 1880 Belsize Park, stretching from Hampstead in the north to Clapham in the south was virtually built up, socially homogeneous, with mainly detached and semi-detached houses in a classical or Italianate style, broken only by small groups of mews.
This description is based on a detailed article available in British History Online Link
There was little building on the three estates leased to Thomas Roberts. The land to the north of the river Fleet continued as a farm, South End Farm, until around 1872 when initial developments were carried out; laying roads and sewers. The building of the Smallpox Hospital, on the site of the present day Royal Free Hospital, delayed any speculation until 1878. A building agreement with Joseph Pickett, the tenant of South End farm, and John Ashwell, a Kentish Town builder, for the 15˝ acres north of the Hampstead Junction Railway was drawn up. The area furthest from the smallpox hospital and on higher ground next to the Heath, proved more attractive and South Hill Park Road (later Parliament Hill Road) and Nassington Road were laid out in 1878. 90 houses were built between 1879 and 1892. In 1990 Tanza Road was made to connect the existing roads. Although Pickett described himself as a master builder he was under-financed and built cheaply, mostly semi-detached and terraced tall but cramped redbrick houses for the middle class.
Building on the land between the railway and Fleet road, always an unpopular spot for middle class development, but an agreement was drawn up in 1880 for 120 houses of 'the lower end of middle-class respectability’. Unfortunately interest was low and no real development began until 1887. By 1894, 113 houses had been built in Constantine, Agincourt, and Lisburne roads. By 1898 another 153 houses had gone up, in Constantine, Cressy, and Mackeson roads.