No. 79 Fitzjohn's Avenue: Life In Hampstead by PegasusLife

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VILLAGE LIFE

A PLACE OF DISTINCTION As a thriving modern village with a rich cultural heritage, Hampstead is a place with stories behind its most unassuming cafés and its most familiar landmarks. From famous penguins to celebrated residents, the following stories touch on some of the details that give the village its charm. After discovering the origins of some of Hampstead’s watering holes, your next visit to one of its many pubs or cafés might be a little more valuable; and after finding out about the area’s extensive artistic history, your next stroll past the Isokon building might gain a little more significance. Whether they introduce you to new corners of Hampstead or offer a recap on the history of the village, these explorations of business, culture and history tap into the intricacies of life in Hampstead.

AROUND THE VILLAGE CULTURE & COFFEE Renowned for its connection with the arts, Hampstead is home to a rich variety of cultural venues. Once a year the Affordable Art Fair takes place on Lower Richmond Road. It bases its exhibitions in an air-conditioned marquee and displays a broad mix of contemporary paintings, photography and sculptures. After first opening in Battersea the fair has expanded across the world, holding events across Europe and the USA. Through focusing on relatively unknown artists, it has been able to offer affordable art while providing a platform for upcoming artists to exhibit their work. While the Affordable Art Fair brings the art world to Hampstead, the Hampstead Museum at Burgh House displays Hampstead to the world through a permanent exhibition charting the development of the village from prehistoric times to the present day. One of its most popular exhibits is a model of a penguin, which, in 1960, was signed by various authors and artists at Penguin Books’ silver jubilee party held at the High Hill bookshop. Ian Norrie, the bookshop’s owner, donated the penguin to the museum when his bookshop, which had been based on Hampstead High Street since 1957, closed in 1988. The penguin has since become the Burgh House mascot and even has its own Twitter account: @BHPenguin.

Just down the road from Burgh House, the Duke of Hamilton is one of London’s oldest pubs, dating back some 300 years. It was known to be the favourite watering hole of the late British actor Oliver Reed, who was often seen drinking long into the night with fellow actors Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton. Today, the pub’s 50-seat music and theatre space, The Rabbit Hole, hosts intimate jazz nights, acoustic shows and independent theatre productions. Not quite as old as the Duke but keen to keep its own heritage close at heart, The Coffee Cup on Hampstead High Street opened over 50 years ago and is renowned for maintaining its 1960s design. Saturday mornings see people sipping coffee or treating themselves to an al fresco lunch under the distinctive red-and-whitestriped shopfront. A couple of doors down, La Creperie De Hampstead settled down in the village in 1980 after touring various weekend markets around London. The crêpes – they serve both sweet and savoury – have often been praised for being the best in the city.

FRESH & LOCAL Artisans, independent retailers and local shops are at the heart of Hampstead’s community. It’s easy to pop from shop to shop, picking up your weekly groceries in between catch-ups and coffee stops. At 56 Rosslyn Hill, The Hampstead Butcher & Providore is the place to go for free-range beef, pork, lamb and poultry sourced from British farms. Butchery Manager Guy Bossom is passionate about high-quality, ethically sourced produce, having worked as head chef at Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House and Terence Conran’s Mezzo. If you’re keen to learn more about the preparation process, they host regular butchery and sausage-making classes in store. Having picked up your meats, head up the road to the Community Market on Hampstead High Street. As well as a florist’s and a greengrocer’s, here you’ll find Hampstead Seafoods. Brothers Andy and Emi Theodorou have been running the 50-year-old family business since 1987. They source their fish fresh from Billingsgate Fish Market. If you want any tips on seafood preparation or recipes, they’ll be more than happy to help out.

street is Melrose and Morgan, a grocery shop and kitchen serving freshly prepared food. Sit on the mezzanine with a light lunch from the salad bar while looking down over the shop below. They pride themselves on sourcing ingredients from independent producers and preparing fresh dishes in store. After lunch, take a right onto Heath Street and you’ll spot Louis Patisserie, a traditional Hungarian café and tearoom serving pastries, sweets and cakes. The shop has kept the same décor since Louis Permayer opened it in 1963. It’s hard to resist the smell of coffee as it greets you as you enter. Pick a spot in the intimate café area and take in the impressive array of treats on display. Two doors down, at 36 Heath Street, Artichoke is a family-run grocer’s stocking herbs, fruit and vegetables, and serving freshly squeezed juices at its own juice bar. Ask the staff about the best seasonal goods before bagging up your spuds and greens and heading home for a wellearned drink.

After a tour of the market, carry on up the High Street before taking a left down Oriel Place. Tucked away at the bottom of the

ARCHITECTURAL H E R I TAG E Richard Norman Shaw, alongside William Morris and William de Morgan, was a key figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 19th century. In 1885, he designed a house in Hampstead for the writer and illustrator Kate Greenaway. The house in Frognal, with its hanging tiles, tall chimney and protruding gables, stands as a key example of arts and crafts architecture. Seven years after designing the house, Shaw co-edited a collection of essays entitled “Architecture, a profession or an art?” This was a highly influential text and helped establish architecture as an art form, paving the way for a century of progressive architectural thought. Forty years on, Hampstead became a community for such thinkers and a focal point for modernist architecture. The Isokon firm, founded in 1929 by architect Wells Coates, set out to construct and furnish modernist houses and flats. The firm’s central project was a development based on Lawn Road in Hampstead. Known as the Isokon building, it was designed by Wells Coates and managed by Jack Pritchard, although the two later argued over who augmented the original concept. The building was opened in 1934. In keeping with the philosophy behind the architectural design, the service at the Isokon aimed to provide residents with “the equipment for the living of a free life”. The furniture was designed for utmost practicality and the services available included shoe cleaning, bed making and meal provisions. Since the residents were largely young professionals and artists wanting to engross themselves in their work, this service enabled them to live conveniently and efficiently.

Thanks to the Isokon building, Hampstead also hosted Bauhaus’ presence in London. Walter Gropius, the former head of the German art school, moved into one of the Lawn Road flats after becoming Controller of Design for the Isokon firm in 1935. Later, key Bauhaus figures Marcel Breuer and László Moholy-Nagy moved to Hampstead to work for Isokon. Hampstead was also home to the Hungarian architect Ernö Goldfinger. An influential figure in the modern architectural movement, Goldfinger designed and constructed a house for himself and his family on Willow Road. When he submitted the final design for the house in 1937, controversy arose, as Lord Brooke of Cumnor, who held the position of Secretary of the Heath and Old Hampstead Protection Society, suggested that the building would be “disastrously out of keeping” with the surrounding neighbourhood. However, after much debate, the building was allowed to go ahead and was completed in 1939, inspiring the design for a range of notable modernist buildings throughout the following decades. The house at 2 Willow Road is now open to the public as a National Trust site, displaying a collection of modern art and an exhibition on the life and work of Ernö Goldfinger. The Grade I listed Isokon building still houses apartments, and the garage has now been converted into the Isokon gallery. This public space contains a permanent exhibition focusing on the design of the building, its former residents and the history of the Isokon furniture company.

T H E H I S T O RY O F F I T Z J O H N ’ S AV E N U E In 1875, Spencer Maryon-Wilson contacted John Culverhouse with a plan to create “a truly imposing road” from College Crescent off Finchley Road to Greenhill Road. This truly imposing road became Fitzjohn’s Avenue. Between 1877 and 1879, applications were submitted to populate the road with 70 houses. Built on large plots and set well back from the road, the houses were detached or semi-detached villas with large front and rear gardens. Maryon-Wilson insisted on lining the street with ornamental trees to punctuate the grand houses. As a result, comparisons were drawn between Fitzjohn’s Avenue and Paris. In 1883, Harper’s magazine described it as “one of the noblest streets in the world”.

The street proved particularly attractive to artists, and early residents included the painter Edwin Long and the portrait painter Frank Holl, who lived at No. 61 and No. 6, respectively. During the 1880s, the wealth of artists residing on Fitzjohn’s Avenue began opening their houses on Sundays and freely exhibiting their work. This tradition became known as ‘Show Sundays’. According to the novelist Max Pemberton, the open houses attracted everyone from “those who should have been a source of inspiration to the makers of the latest fashions”. During this time, artists began to amass celebrity status. The idea of James Cotter Morrison entertaining Henry James and George Meredith at his home at 30 Fitzjohn’s Avenue would have been hugely interesting to the public. The lifestyles of artists became a topic of widespread interest and, subsequently, the areas in which artists resided attracted public property investment. The conclusion of WWII brought further developments to Fitzjohn’s Avenue, including schools at No. 47 and No. 33 and the St Thomas More Church at the southern end of the street. Today, almost 150 years after its conception, the street still retains its essential character. With its grand houses set back from the wide pavements, its large front and rear gardens and its ornamental trees dotted along the road, Fitzjohn’s Avenue is still a truly imposing sight to behold.

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Nº. 79 FITZJOHN’S AV ENU E LOND ON, NW3 6PA

Nº. 79 Fitzjohn’s Avenue is available exclusively to people over sixty.