Reasons for Designation
REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION:
The Lodge, Gainsborough Gardens, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Quality of design and materials
* Strong group value with other houses in Gainsborough Gardens
* Strong contribution to the overall planning interest of Gainsborough Gardens in which it was designed to play an essential role visually, and functionally in providing accommodation for the gardener for the communal spaces
Details
798-1/0/10310
GAINSBOROUGH GARDENS
The Lodge
23-APR-08
II
Lodge dated 1886 by H.S Legg for the gardener of Gainsborough Gardens, developed between 1882 and 1895.
MATERIALS: Red brick in Flemish bond, tile hung gables, hipped red plain-tile roofs, pebble-dash rendered coved cornice, plain rendered plinth, stone, terracotta and lead dressings and fittings.
PLAN: The building sits critically at the entrance to Gainsborough Gardens, occupying a narrow, wedge-shaped sloping corner site at the neck of the drive. Single storey and attics. Of rectangular plan and asymmetrical elevations the entrance is on the narrow base of the plot. On the corner is a single-storey bay comprising two offset windows between a large stone corbelled shaft. Above the entrance an enriched gabled dormer, which is matched by a simpler dormer at the opposing gable. Overlooking the gardens is a shallow single-storey canted bay under a deep gable which breaks through the eaves line of the main roof. Centrally on the ridge of the roof is a tall chimney with four moulded shafts on a square base.
EXTERIOR: Legg uses an eclectic Vernacular Revival manner for which he is noted, to create a picturesque statement. Entrance elevation: Door, part glazed with two upper lights and large central panel all with small panes, over raised and fielded lower panel, in a plain brick opening under a porch. The porch has a half-hipped tiled roof surmounted by a stone or terracotta finial, and is supported on lead- clad piers on a tall brick base. Above, and breaking through the eaves line at transom level, is a dormer with a tile-hung gable, again with a finial. The stone mullion and transom window has an enriched apron bearing a cartouche. Upper deep-set lights are small-paned, the lower a pair of sashes. The cornice is coved with pebbled-dash rendered panels.
At the angle a single-storey offset bay, of two offset window elements each under a small hipped roof over a continuous dentil cornice. Between is a projecting stone moulded shaft on a corbel, with a trumpet-like flower capital.
The two-and-a-half bay south elevation has a large single-storey canted bay under a gable supported on moulded red brick corbels. The gable, enriched with alternating bands of fishscale and plain tiles, carries a date stone inscribed 1886, and is surmounted by a finial. Deep cill has a cast-iron window guard. Windows are all tall, narrow timber horned sashes under an upper small-paned fixed light, in plain brick openings under cambered red-brick arches; those to the centre of the canted bay and to the west dormer are paired. All timber windows have stone cills.
West facing dormer is similarly proportioned to that over the entrance but the gable is in brick, the window timber. Tall central axial stack on a square brick base has grouped octagonal shafts with deep moulded caps.
INTERIOR: Not inspected.
HISTORY: Gainsborough Gardens was laid out between 1882 and 1895 on land belonging to the Wells and Campden Charity Trust. Plots were developed speculatively under the close scrutiny of the Trust and their Surveyor H.S Legg. The development adopted the newly-heralded ethos shown at Bedford Park Chiswick, developed from 1875, where different styles of building cohere informally in a planned, leafy environment. E.J May, recently appointed as principal architect at Bedford Park, designed the first building: Nos. 3 and 4, Gainsborough Gardens, in 1884. Both architecturally and historically, this was a significant step in changing attitudes towards the emerging suburbs.
This is set against the background of steps to limit expansion onto Hampstead Heath and the preservation of Parliament Hill Fields, an achievement attributed to CE Maurice who built and lived at No. 9A. He was married to the sister of Octavia Hill, philanthropist and founder of the National Trust.
The history of Gainsborough Gardens is prominent in the history of the protection of open spaces, particularly in Hampstead where the seeds of national awareness were sown. The whole scheme and individual houses are well documented giving an important record of the development of the Gardens. The outcome is a scheme of significant historic and architectural importance and particular aesthetic quality based on a fine balance between building and open space both of which survive almost intact.
REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION
The Lodge, Gainsborough Gardens, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Quality of design and materials
* Strong group value with other houses in Gainsborough Gardens
* Strong contribution to the overall planning interest of Gainsborough
Gardens, in which it was designed to play an essential role visually, and functionally in providing accommodation for the gardener for the communal spaces
SOURCES:
London Suburbs, English Heritage, 1999
Gainsborough Gardens Hampstead and the Estate of the Wells and Campden Trust. An account of their development with houses, 1875-1895, David A L Saunders, 1974
Proof of Evidence, Public Enquiry, No 9A Gainsborough Gardens and land Adjacent, London NW3, Victor Belcher, December 2006
