![View of London from Hillway, Holly Lodge Estate, Highgate](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/View_of_London_from_Hillway%2C_Holly_Lodge_Estate%2C_Highgate.jpg)
The Holly Lodge Estate is a
housing estate
A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country.
Popular throughout the United States a ...
in
Highgate
Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross.
Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...
,
north London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nort ...
.
Early history
Holly Lodge Estate is located on the
site and grounds of a house built in 1798 by Sir
Henry Tempest
Henry Roger Tempest (2 April 1924 – 6 May 2017) was an English landowner of the Tempest family and the owner of Broughton Hall. He was married to Catholic philanthropist Janet Tempest and was the father of the artist Annie Tempest.
Refer ...
on the south-facing slopes of
Highgate
Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross.
Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...
, London adjacent to Highgate Rise, now known as Highgate West Hill. The estate lands included Traitor's Hill, reputedly where members of the
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sought ...
had met to watch the Palace of Westminster blow up, although the rumour is now known to be false. This "villa", a term then used for a compact
country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
easily accessible to London, was later to be known as The Holly Lodge and in 1809 a young actress,
Harriot Mellon, took over the lease on the property. She married the banker
Thomas Coutts
Thomas Coutts (7 September 1735 – 24 February 1822) was a British banker. He was a founder of the banking house Coutts, Coutts & Co.
Early life
Coutts was the fourth son of Jean (née Steuart) Coutts and John Coutts (merchant), John Coutts (1 ...
in 1815 and enlarged the house and grounds by buying adjacent properties. The grounds were landscaped by
John Buonarotti Papworth
John Buonarotti Papworth (24 January 1775 – 16 June 1847) was a British architect, artist and a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
He adopted the middle name "Buonarotti" in around 1815.
As well as being active in ...
in 1825. When Harriot Mellon died in 1837 she left the house and her fortune to her step-granddaughter.
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts (21 April 1814 – 30 December 1906), born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a British philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and Sophia, formerly Coutts, daughte ...
married late in life, and after her death her husband put the property on the market. Being four miles (6 km) from the
City
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
, it failed to sell and in 1907 was put on the market again, divided into several lots. It still failed to sell and it was not until 1922, after the death of her husband, that even outlying parts of the estate were sold: South Grove House and Holly Terrace to the North (the latter mostly unchanged in appearance since then) and Brookfield Stud to the south (now replaced by housing). Eventually, in March 1923, the remainder of the estate, advertised as and subsequently always referred to as the Holly Lodge Estate, was sold for £45,000 and resold at the same price later that year to London Garden Suburbs Limited with the building of the first road of houses, on Bromwich Avenue, being started by the Central London Building Company Limited later that same year. The former
lodge
Lodge is originally a term for a relatively small building, often associated with a larger one.
Lodge or The Lodge may refer to:
Buildings and structures Specific
* The Lodge (Australia), the official Canberra residence of the Prime Ministe ...
was demolished during the building of the new roads of houses and no trace of the building now remains, apart from a plaque at the entrance to the gardens taken from the north wall.
Character of the Estate
Initially, the plan was to build houses on the entire
estate, creating a new
housing estate
A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country.
Popular throughout the United States a ...
, but due to slow sales and the need for drainage from the higher ground, the land to the east of the new central road was instead acquired by
Lady Workers' Homes Limited to build blocks of rooms for single women moving to London in order to work as secretaries and clerks.
The local
alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
and others involved in the project are commemorated in an inscription on the ornamental pond in the central garden area.
The estate now lies in a
conservation area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
.
and there has been a programme of regeneration.
Private roads
Built as an early
gated community
A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences ...
, the estate currently has two main access roads, the upper one to Highgate West Hill closing every night until mid-morning, the lower one to Swains Lane being closed randomly with access then controlled by estate staff. This maintains the private status of the
estate roads and stops a
right of way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
being created.
Acquisition as social housing
Ownership of the
mansion blocks
An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...
was transferred a number of times and, by the early 1960s under the ownership of
Peachey Properties Peachey is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Alf Peachey, English footballer
*Allan Peachey (1949–2011), New Zealand politician
*David Peachey (born 1974), Australian rugby league player
* Don Peachey (born 1933), American mus ...
, many of the blocks were in a state of disrepair. The
Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras
St Pancras was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Boa ...
took them over on a 150-year lease in 1964 which devolved to the
London Borough of Camden
The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...
the following year. Whilst Camden looks after the mansion blocks and the gardens in between the blocks, the remainder of the estate is managed and maintained by the Holly Lodge Estate Committee. The whole area remains a private estate and has been a
Conservation Area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
since June 1992. Between 2004 and 2006 Sprunt Architects were responsible for a comprehensive programme of refurbishment works with the residents in occupation in which the exteriors of all the mansion blocks were renovated.
As the bedsitting rooms and flats in the Makepeace Avenue and Oakeshott Avenue mansion blocks were built without kitchens, a block was built at 30 Makepeace Avenue to serve as a centre for the community and included a restaurant, reading and meeting rooms and a small theatre. Behind it were three
lawn tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...
courts (with another two below Langbourne Avenue) where annual tennis tournaments were held.
Towards the late 1950s this community block fell into decline and by the time Camden bought their lease on the mansion blocks it was derelict. After a Lands Tribunal, the block with its unique facilities was demolished and a new building with 25 one-person flats for the elderly, together with some communal facilities, was constructed on the site. Minutes of the Council at the time state that the community facilities would be replaced in the new building; however, this failed to materialise and only a small community centre on the ground floor now serves the estate.
For many years Camden retained the policy of only placing women on the estate but that has since lapsed. The only known other estate built for single women was in
Wandsworth
Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan
The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...
but has since been demolished.
Design
Langbourne Mansions was built first and provided 88 self-contained flats which have changed little in the intervening years. The mansion blocks on Makepeace Avenue and Oakeshott Avenue though were designed from the outset as bed-sitting rooms, sometimes with bedroom or kitchen alcoves, and offered an acceptable way for single women to live near to London on their own. Only three flats in the whole of Makepeace Mansions and Holly Lodge Mansions had their own bathroom (one for a particular tenant, one for the caretaker and the remaining one for the stoker for the central boiler). The remainder all had shared bathroom and toilet facilities, which is still the case for seven of the blocks even today. Makepeace Mansions originally provided 269 rooms and Holly Lodge Mansions on Oakeshott Avenue had 408 flats but later conversions have seen this number reduced as bedsits have given way to self-contained flats. New regulations have seen a start on the conversion of the remaining bedsits to self-contained accommodation during 2005.
The design of the mansion blocks on each avenue follow the same design concept with variations from group to group. From a distance they appear as 'Tudor Cliffs' as they tower above the adjoining houses and which is aided by the topography with not only the fall of the hill to the south but also to the east adjoining
Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...
.
![Hle wallplaque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Hle_wallplaque.jpg)
The blocks are four or five stories in height and are united by timber details, gable roofs with finials, red tiles and
casement window
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...
s usually with south-facing balconies. The rear and side elevations are in a very different plain and minimal style and overall reflect the modern design of the 1920s rather than the use of the vernacular.
In fiction
The original house and estate are used as a location in
Kristen Callihan's book ''Moonglow''.
References
External links
hle.org.uk Residents' web site with news, events and future plans.
See also
* The Buildings of England London 4: North. Bridget Cherry and
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
. .
{{coord, 51, 33, 53.02, N, 00, 08, 58.02, W, type:landmark_scale:3000, display=title
Housing estates in the London Borough of Camden
Highgate