Summary
Garden wall, forming the historic boundary wall of Admiral’s House. C18, with later alterations and patching.
Reasons for Designation
The garden wall, forming the historic boundary wall of Admiral’s House (a listed building), and now also the boundary wall of 25 Hamstead Grove and Grove End (neither of which is listed) dating from the C18, with later alterations and patching. The wall is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historical interest: as a garden wall dating from the C18, associated with the substantial and significant Admiral’s House;
* Historical interest: the wall reflects the development of the site, enclosing a space which was formerly more than one garden, amalgamated in the early C19 and then partially broken up; blocked and new openings are reminders of those changes, but the wall overall remains largely intact;
* Architectural interest: the design and construction of the wall is considered, with red-brick dressings, ramped sections and shallow buttresses;
* Group value: apart from Admiral’s House, a large number of nearby buildings in this historic part of Hampstead are listed, including Netley Cottage, Grove Lodge, and Fenton House to the south, which is listed at Grade I.
History
The building now known as Admiral’s House dates from the early C18, when it was built for Charles Keys. At Keys’ death in 1753, the building was known as Golden Spikes, probably after the symbol of the Masonic lodge which met there between 1730 and 1745. The building appears on John Rocque’s 1746 map of London. From circa 1775 to 1811 the house was lived in by a former naval captain, Fountain North, who renamed it The Grove, having in 1805 bought and then pulled down a house of that name to the north-east, incorporating the ground into his own garden. It was North who constructed the quarterdeck on the roof of the house, from which he is said to have fired cannons to celebrate naval victories. Confusion with another naval officer, Admiral Barton, at one time living in Hampstead, led to the house becoming known as ‘the Admiral’s House’.
The house is perhaps best known as the subject of a number of paintings by John Constable, who lived in nearby Well Walk from 1820-34; Constable exhibited one version in 1832 entitled ‘A Romantic House at Hampstead’. The architect (later Sir) George Gilbert Scott lived at the house from 1856-1864; he is not known to have made any surviving alterations to the house. Occupying the house from 1917-26 were the noted historian of the British Army, the Hon John (later Sir John) Fortescue, and his wife Winifred, who wrote about the house in her memoirs; it was the Fortescues who re-named the house ‘Admiral’s House’. The house inspired the similarly eccentric home of Admiral Boom in P L Travers’ ‘Mary Poppins’ (1934). Admiral’s House has been much changed and extended over the course of its history.
The wall defining the historic grounds of Admiral’s House to the south, east and north dates from the C18; the majority of the wall originally formed the boundary of the former Grove House, demolished circa 1805. Fountain North had a coach house and stables further to the north on the site of the current reservoir, to which the doorway in the north of the wall gave access. In the late 1920s a large portion of the garden to the north was sold, and by the time of the survey made for the Ordnance Survey map of 1934, two houses had been built on this: 25 Hamstead Grove (otherwise known as Admiral’s Lodge) to the east and Grove End to the west. These two later houses are unlisted. A number of changes have been made to the wall over time, including openings being provided giving access for the two new houses. The north-western and western portion of the historic wall is now the garden wall of Netley Cottage; both this part of the wall and Netley Cottage are listed.
Details
Garden wall, forming the historic boundary wall of the listed Admiral’s House, and now also forming boundaries to 25 Hampstead Grove and Grove End, neither of which is listed. C18, with later alterations and patching. The wall is currently (2016) obscured in places by foliage.
MATERIALS: brown brick with brick coping and shallow brick buttresses. In the northern part, the buttresses have red brick dressings and Portland stone copings.
PLAN: the wall extends from the C20 garage of Admiral’s House to the south-east corner of the garden, then runs northwards to the north-east corner of the historic boundary, now the corner of the property named 25 Hampstead Grove, and then extends westwards to the opening giving vehicular access to the property named Grove End.
DETAILS: at the south-west end of the wall only the lower section remains. The corners to the south-east and north-east are curved, that to the south-east being rendered and painted. In the eastern stretch of the wall is a blocked historic opening. To the north of this is the C20 opening giving access to 25 Hampstead Grove. The northernmost section of the eastern wall is ramped in two stages, rising towards the north. In the northern stretch of the wall is an opening with a segmental arched head, flanked by piers; the stone eagles surmounting these are a C20 addition. A little further west is a narrow opening providing pedestrian access to Grove End.
The List entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 20 June 2016.
