Details
GAINSBOROUGH GARDENS
Nos. 11, 12 and 13
GV II
Terrace of three houses, 1893-5 by Horace Field for lessee, Sir Alfred Baring Garrod, MD as part of the Gainsborough Gardens development from 1882 to 1895.
MATERIALS: Red brown brick in English bond, with flush red brick dressings which form a chequer work pattern at the angles of the canted bays. Plain tile mansard roof. Windows are all small paned horned timber sashes in exposed boxes in flush red brick surrounds under cambered gauged brick arches. Attic storey windows are small-paned timber casements.
PLAN: A symmetrical concept, of two identical outer bays, each a separate house, Nos 11 & 13, and a central, gabled, three bay element, No. 12, which has an asymmetrical facade, with the entrance to the right. Each house is articulated by tall brick stacks, those framing No. 12 are enriched with angle shafts, straddling pronounced gable parapets. The entrances to Nos. 11 and 13 are set back in narrow 2-storey outer bays. The main elevation is of two storeys, attics and basement with two storey and basement canted bays to the outer wings. At the rear, the basement is at ground level.
EXTERIOR: Nos. 11 and 13 each have a 4-panelled door under an overlight, almost a fanlight. No. 11 has small-paned sashes throughout, No. 13 has a central small-paned doorway at ground floor level of the canted bay. Each has a dormer under a sloping roof extending from the mansard, and with exposed rafter feet; each dormer has five small-paned casements.
No. 12 has a fine enriched rubbed-brick doorcase with an eared architrave, beneath a flat moulded rubbed-brick cornice. The frieze has short moulded panels or pilaster strips at the angles and centrally acting as a keystone. The door has three horizontal panels, the upper section glazed and is flanked by small-paned margin lights. The entrance is reached by broad stone steps. To the left is a tripartite sash, the cambered arch has a flat keystone in red brick. Above are three closely spaced sashes set-in from the corner. Upper-floor windows sit tightly under a deep moulded eaves cornice which continues to the return elevations and rear. A small lunette fills the gable.
Rear: The central rear section has a full-height canted bay flanked by a single sash. The outer bays have paired windows above basement level doorways, of which No. 11 retains its margin glazed door. At half-landing level are part-glazed doors with fixed margin lights; No. 11 retains its balcony, No. 13 has an altered doorway leading to a late C20 extension which is not of special interest. Dormers are similar to those to the front, those to Nos. 11 and 13 have 5 small-paned casements, that to No. 12 has 7 similar casements.
INTERIORS: No. 11 and 13 each have a close-string stair running from basement to first floor. Each has square newels with drop finials, robust turned balusters and moulded oak rail. The stair to the upper floor is simpler with stick balusters, square newels with ball finials and a simple oak rail. No. 11 has a dado-panelled hall and staircase. Cornices are cyma moulded. Ground-floor doors are of three panels in deep moulded architraves. Upper-floor doors are of two panels. No. 11 has lost its chimneypieces. No. 13 has marble chimneypieces some with moulded brackets others with moulded rondels. Cast-iron fireplaces and grates have floral tiled slips; notably one depicting raspberries; one set at first-floor depicts Aesop's fables. Some fireplaces have been restored and elements introduced.
No. 12 was refurbished c1937 to simplify the running of the house with reduced staff. The stair is close string with square newels and turned balusters, with a panelled dado, using the same mouldings as Nos. 11 and 13. Ground-floor doors are of three panels, upper-floor doors 2-panelled. The rear drawing room, which is fully panelled, has a fine pedimented chimneypiece with a panelled overmantel. The dining room chimneypiece is marble with cast iron fittings. There are no 1st-floor chimneypieces. The basement has a robust cast-iron chimneypiece, possibly introduced, in what was formerly used as a garage. 1937 drawings show plans for dumb waiter and other modifications but do not give details of the chimneypieces.
HISTORY: Gainsborough Gardens was laid out between 1882 and 1895 on land belonging to the Wells and Campden Charity Trust. Plots were developed speculatively under the close scrutiny of the Trust and their surveyor HS Legg. The development adopted the newly heralded ethos shown at Bedford Park Chiswick, developed from 1875, where different styles of building cohere informally in a planned leafy environment. EJ May recently appointed as principal architect at Bedford Park designed the first building, Nos. 3 and 4, Gainsborough Gardens. Both architecturally and historically this is a significant step in changing attitudes towards the emerging suburbs.
This is set against the background of steps to limit expansion onto Hampstead Heath and the preservation of Parliament Hill Fields. This achievement is attributed to CE Maurice who built and lived at No. 9A. He was married to the sister of Octavia Hill, philanthropist and founder of the National Trust.
Horace Field was among the most accomplished and well known of the architects of Gainsborough Gardens, known for his work in the emerging neo-Georgian manner. He was a pupil of ther eminent architect Sir John Burnet in Glasgow and London. Most of his work was commercial, for example, banks, including Lloyds Bank in Hampstead (listed Grade II*), and railway company offices for the North Eastern Railway, in London and York (York building also listed Grade II*). His work in Hampstead included No.14 Gainsborough Gardens, known as the The Small House, completed in 1893 for his mother, and Wellside, the house on Well Walk at the entrance to Gainsborough Gardens, also 1893. The designs were for Nos 11-13 were exhibited and published by the Royal Academy in 1894.
REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION
Nos 11, 12 and 13 Gainsborough Gardens are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* High quality of design by Horace Field, a noteable late-
Victorian/Edwardian architect
* High-quality craftsmanship and use of materials
* Good survival of internal plan and features
* Strong group value with other houses in Gainsborough Gardens
* Contribution to the overall planning interest of Gainsborough Gardens,
an influential late C19 development
SOURCES:
Academy Architecture , 1894, p 50
Edwardian Architecture, AS Gray, 1985, pp178-9
Gainsborough Gardens Hampstead and the Estate of the Wells and Campden Trust. An account of their development with houses, 1875-1895, David A L Saunders, 1974
London Suburbs, English Heritage, 1999
Proof of Evidence, Public Enquiry, No 9A Gainsborough Gardens and land Adjacent, London NW3, Victor Belcher, December 2006
