Hampstead Garden Suburb Virtual Museum : Photograph : Pre Suburb

Pre Suburb - Wyldes

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This photo, with Henrietta Barnett's handwritten caption beneath, shows Wyldes Farm House which, as Dame Henrietta pointed out, was planned to be the gateway to the Hampstead Heath extension. Today it is on the corner of Hampstead Way and Wildwood Road with direct access to the Heath Extension.

It is a historic property which at one point was occupied by Charles Dickens, but also Raymond Unwin the co-planner of the Suburb and a plaque remains on the house commemorating him.

Photograph, HGSAT128

Pre Suburb - Wyldes

Related people/organisations

Suburb Archives

The Hampstead Garden Suburb Archives Trust is a registered charity, known as Suburb Archives. It is responsible for ensuring that the archives of the suburb are properly cared for and are accessible to all.

Henrietta Barnett

Born in 1856 Henrietta Barnett founded the Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1906 as an area to the north of London with affordable housing and green spaces so the working clas did not have to live in the slums she experienced in Whitechapel.

Raymond Unwin

Raymond Unwin was a prominent engineer, architect and town planner of the late 19th and early twentieth centuries. Henrietta Barnett asked him to help plan Hampstead Garden Suburb following his success in designing Letchworth.

Related Collection

Suburb Archives - Pre Suburb

These are a series of photos from the Archive Trust which display the area we all now know as Hampstead Garden Suburb, before it was ever built.

Related objects

Pre Suburb - Farmland View

This photo shows one of the views looking south over 80 acres of open space upon which the Suburb was built. The cows show us just how rural the area was before Henrietta Barnett and the Trust bought it and created the Suburb.

The writing underneath is that of Henrietta Barnett herself.

Pre Suburb - North End Road 1887

These two photos show North End Road in 1887, before the Suburb was built but displaying that there was some built up parts to the area, not simply the land bought from Eton College by the Trust.

Pre Suburb - Views from Proposed Garden Suburb

These two photos, with Henrietta Barnett's handwritten captions, show the spectacular views from the proposed Garden Suburb plot.

Pre Suburb - Wyldes 1887

This photo shows the historic Wyldes Farm House 20 years before the Suburb was founded.

Pre Suburb - Wyldes Estate and Farm Buildings

These photos show the Wyldes Estate and Farm as the arable pasture land it was used for before the Suburb, indeed the Estate was owned by Eton before it was bought by Henrietta and the Trust.