Hampstead Garden Suburb was the idea of Henrietta Barnett, the wife of Cannon Barnett, the  vicar of St Jude’s Whitechapel where they both experienced extreme poverty, overcrowding and the affects of alcohol on the lives of the poor.  In 1896 Henrietta Barnett heard of the plans to extend the Charing Cross and Euston Railway to the fields of Golders Green which lay beyond her Hampstead weekend home. To protect the land, and with the help of the worthy gentlemen of the time, she purchased it to create the Hampstead Heath extension.  Surrounding this she appointed the architects Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin to plan a Garden Suburb for all classes. This was to be a newly planned development with different types of housing, with greens, tennis courts, allotments and preserved woodland – an antithesis to the life she had experienced in the East End.

Discover Henrietta’s vision for a Garden Suburb which has given the area a unique green and suburban identity in London. The walk traces the early history and developments of Hampstead Garden Suburb and includes walking through part of the Hampstead Heath Extension, Central Square with its two Grade I Lutyens’ churches and the original quaint Artisans quarter designed from 1907 by Parker and Unwin aimed at bringing affordable rented housing with fresh air and space to the working classes.

With this walk you will get an insider’s walk of Hampstead Garden Suburb with a guide who not only is involved in local organisations but has been brought up and educated in the area.

This walk is timetabled to celebrate the anniversary of the first sod of land being dug on 2nd May 1907.

You can check travel options at the Transport for London Journey Planner.