Summary
House, built in the early C18 for Charles Keys, with later alterations and additions. The late-C20 kitchen, garage, swimming pool and shed, are excluded from the listing.
Reasons for Designation
Admiral’s House, built for Charles Keys in the early C18, with major additions and alterations, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: as a substantial house dating from the early C18, with significant surviving fabric demonstrating its development over the C18, C19 and C20;
* Historic interest: first built for a merchant in Hampstead, then a growing suburban retreat from London, the house was enlarged by the eccentric Fountain North, who added the distinctive ‘lower deck’ and ‘quarterdeck’; in the mid C19 the house was home to the architect (later Sir) George Gilbert Scott;
* Historic interest (artistic depictions): the house appears in a number of paintings by John Constable, who lived nearby;
* Group value: a large number of nearby buildings in this historic part of Hampstead are listed, including the curtilage wall to Admiral’s House, the adjacent Grove Lodge, nearby Netley Cottage, and Fenton House to the south, which is listed at Grade I.
History
The building now known as Admiral’s House dates from the early C18, when it was built for Charles Keys. At Keys’ death in 1753, the building was known as 'Golden Spikes', probably after the symbol of the masonic lodge which met there between 1730 and 1745. The building appears on John Rocque’s 1746 map of London. The relationship between the house and the house immediately to the west, now 'Grove Lodge', is not fully understood, though it has been suggested that the smaller house was at one time dependant on the larger; the 1762 Map of the Manor of Hampstead indicates that at that time the two buildings were in separate ownership. From circa 1775 to 1811 the house was lived in by a former naval captain, Fountain North, who renamed it 'The Grove', having in 1805 bought and then pulled down a house of that name to the north-west, incorporating the ground into his own garden, and building a coach house and stables further to the north on the site of the current reservoir. It was North who constructed the quarterdeck on the roof of the house, from which he is said to have fired cannons to celebrate naval victories; the quarterdeck was built some time before 1796, when it featured in a print by James Peller Malcolm. The same print, published with the title ‘Admiral Barton’s Hampstead’ points to the confusion which led to the building becoming known as ‘the Admiral’s house’.
The house is perhaps best known as the subject of a number of paintings by John Constable, who lived in nearby Well Walk from 1820-34; Constable exhibited one version in 1832 entitled ‘A Romantic House at Hampstead’. The architect (later Sir) George Gilbert Scott lived at the house from 1856-1864; an LCC plaque commemorating his residence was erected in 1910. Scott is not known to have made surviving alterations to the house. Occupying the house from 1917-26 were the noted historian of the British Army, the Hon John (later Sir John) Fortescue and his wife, Winifred, who wrote about the house in her memoirs, mentioning major works to the building. It was the Fortescues who re-named the house ‘Admiral’s House’. The house inspired the similarly eccentric home of Admiral Boom in P L Travers’s ‘Mary Poppins’ (1934). In the late 1920s the northern portion of the garden was sold, and two houses built there.
Admiral’s House has been much changed over the course of its history. It is likely that the two full-height canted bay windows which flank the former entrance date from the later C18, and it was probably at that time that the house was extended at full height to the west, with North’s quarterdeck established on top of that. A new entrance directly from what is now Admiral’s Walk was provided in the C19, with a conservatory above, and this was modified in the early C20. In the later C20 a kitchen extension was built to the north, with a squash court beyond, and an underground swimming pool; a garage to the east replaced an earlier version.
Details
House, built in the early C18 for Charles Keys, with later alterations and additions.
MATERIALS: brick, rendered and painted. The hipped roof of the original section is slated, with late-C20 dormer windows. The tall stacks are brick, with a rendered external stack to the north-east. The sash windows are late-C20 replacements.
PLAN: it is thought that the building originally had a rectangular footprint, being a three-bay, three storey house, with basement and attic, having the entrance front facing east. This has gradually been enlarged over the C18, C19 and C20: the house is thought to have been given a full-height extension to the west in the mid C18; in the late C18 an extra half-storey and was added to the west, with the ‘quarterdeck’ roof; in the C19 an entrance block facing what is now Admiral’s Walk, at the south-east corner of the building, was introduced, and modified in the early C20. This was continued eastwards by a garage*, now replaced, and not of special interest. There is a late-C20 kitchen extension* to the north-east, which is not of special interest, and beyond that to the north, a C20 squash court, built some time between 1915 and 1934.
EXTERIOR: the front elevation of the house, containing the original entrance at its centre, faces east. The elevation has a central pediment with a Diocletian window. The two outer bays have full-height canted bay windows, rising through three storeys; these are thought to have been added in the later C18. There is a C20 door opening in the northern bay. The position of the original central entrance is obscured by the south-eastern extension, which includes a single-storey block at the centre of this elevation, providing part of the new entrance hall. Above this is a C20 roofed balcony, entered through a doorway, the original window opening having been enlarged. The south elevation is of three bays, with a basement, and with the raised half-storey to the west. Chamfered piers dividing the bays at ground-floor level are apparently of mid C19 date. In the eastern bay, the two upper windows are blind; the blind first-floor window contains a brown LCC plaque commemorating the residence of Sir George Gilbert Scott, architect, erected in 1910. Above the second-floor window in the western bay of the raised section is a weatherboarded canted bay. The larger part of the south-eastern extension, containing the new entrance to the south, has a conservatory above; drawings by A R Quinton of 1911 and Norman Janes of 1941 demonstrate that the central doorway, with its Doric columns supporting a broken pediment, and the steps with swept walls and railings date from between those years. To the east of the entrance block is a small canted extension; adjoining that to the east is a garage* replacing one built in the mid-C20. On the north elevation the western extension is apparent, the extra bay projecting northwards. The fenestration on this elevation is irregular, and the ground floor is partly obscured by the late-C20 kitchen extension* and the verandah in front of it.* At the top of the building the south-west section of the flat roof is surrounded by railings, making the lower deck, which has a flagpole in the south corner. Over the north-west portion of the building is the raised additional room with the railed quarterdeck above, the east face being weatherboarded; there is a window at the south end of the west elevation, and another at the north-east corner.
INTERIOR: the south entrance leads into the hall, with a cloakroom in the extension to the east, and then through an archway to a vestibule and into the original building. The panelled archway, and the panelling of the hall, is thought to be of early C20 date. The original opening for the main entrance has been removed. The central hall, within the original part of the house, has an early-C19 cornice with an acanthus moulding. Opening from the hall is the present drawing room to the south, and the dining room to the north. In the southern room, the arched door-opening in the centre of the bay has been blocked in connection with the extension. The C19 window shutters have recessed panels embellished with C20 mouldings; similar mouldings are applied to the door. The room has a simple chimneypiece in an early-C19 manner, with flat grey marble panels to the jambs and frieze and a reeded border of white marble. To either side of the chimneybreast, the alcoves are filled by arches with plasterwork decoration carrying motifs in neoclassical style, thought to date from the later C18, but possibly not in situ; the room’s cornice is decorated with vines with egg-and-dart moulding below. The dining room to the north has shutters with mouldings as in the drawing room, which are also applied to the dado, and a plasterwork cornice. The room’s marble chimneypiece appears to be late-C18, but with later scagliola decoration; there are arabesques in the manner of Pietro Bossi to the jambs, but to the centre, a naïve narrative scene to the central frieze panel with an angel riding a donkey. To either side of the bay window are engaged stands in the form of classical pilasters, apparently formed from two halves of a C18 pedestal. To the rear of the house is the open wall stair, which appears to be of early-C19 design, with stick balusters, simple turned newels, and a mahogany handrail of curved section ramped at the turns, the open string having decorative brackets.
On the upper floors, a secondary stair leads to additional rooms in the western extension, the separation between the two parts being marked by archways with plasterwork in late-C18 style. The cornice to both sections of the stair shares the early-C19 acanthus cornice found in the hall. The mouldings to the stair are C20. On the third floor, the walls to the western landing have what appears to be C18 panelling; the broken pediments above the openings in this area are C20 additions. On the first floor, in the main section of the house, the study is to the south and the library to the north. The study has a C18 timber chimneypiece to the west wall, carved with floral swags, and stripped. The cornice to this room may be C18; the window shutters are C19. In the library, the early-C19 chimneypiece to the north wall of Sienna and white marbles is of neoclassical design, with urns to the end blocks and frieze panel. The bookcases which line this room, together with the cornice, are C20. The shutters in this room may be replacements. Between the two rooms is an anteroom, with double doors from the study with the enlarged east window opening leading to the balcony. On the second floor, the two rooms within the main section of the house are bedrooms, both of which retain their window shutters. In the northern room two axial beams are exposed, one being across the front of the house, before the canted bay. In the attic space above, a bedroom has been created, lit by the Diocletian window and C20 dormers. Within the western section of the house, the rooms on the ground, first and second floor retain few historic features, with a number of bathrooms having been installed, though there is a mid-C19 slate chimneypiece in the north-west bedroom on the first floor. On the third floor, the small room to the south, lit by the canted bay, has been converted to a kitchen; the bay is framed by decorative plasterwork, and there is a small arched recess to the west. On the fourth floor, is a raised additional room, created in the late C18. This room has a carved timber chimneypiece in C18 style which may be original. The plasterwork cornice is probably original. A lift, installed within cupboard space to the west of the house, projects into this room.
The basement within the main section of the house represents the former kitchen and service area. Few historic features remain, but in the southern room is the wide chimney opening for the former kitchen range, and this room retains some plain early panelling and a door with recessed panels, latch and strap hinges which may be C18. The northern room has been divided to make a bedroom and bathroom. Utility rooms have been formed within the additional areas to the south-east and the west; the western extension encloses a deep C18 brick-lined well.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES
C20 cast-iron railings to the areas.
*Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act of 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historical interest.
