Castelnau runs from Upper Richmond Road and becomes Rocks Lane on the way. At the top it branches left to form Lonsdale Road which runs along the Thames bank towards Barnes Bridge. These streets have huge detached and semi-detached mentions set well back from the road behind gardens and driveways. At the Hammersmith Bridge end there are Edwardian mansion blocks in Riverview Gardens and Clavering Avenue. The streets between Lonsdale Road and Castelnau contain family houses from the Victorian and Edwardian eras through to the 1930s. They include streets such as Nassau Road, Westmoreland Road and Kitson Road. On the east side of Castelnau is the former waterworks which has been converted into the Barnes Waterside estate. Part of the site is now a large nature reserve. Nearby is another new estate, Harrods Village, containing houses and flats in the former Harrods warehouse.

The original Barnes village is in the area below Church Road. Piper Road and neighbouring streets towards Barnes Common contain Victorian houses in Gothic style. Station Road leading from the village pond to the railway station contains Victorian terraces and workers cottages, as well as large Victorian mansions. Towards the railway lines, there are Victorian and early 20th-century semi-detached houses in Cleveland Road and Brookwood Avenue. By the river, The Terrace contains beautiful Georgian houses. On the other side of the Barnes Bridge, Elm Bank Gardens has more Georgian houses as well as an Edwardian mansion block called Elm Bank Mansions.

Inland from the river, there are small cottages in Charles Street, Thorne Street, Archway Street and Westfields Avenue which were originally constructed for local brewery workers. This area is called Little Chelsea because the houses are similar to mews houses across the river.

Barnes may seem like a very affluent and steady area, where all the 4×4s in London migrate daily to and from schools.  But Barnes has had its exciting moments. In the early 20th century a French master spy and his wife were murdered in Barnes by their valet, perhaps an early 007.

Barnes has famously kept its village green and duck pond, and it also has a common to the south of the village (containing 120 acres). Barnes was probably lucky in missing out on the first enthusiasm for cutting everything down and building on it.  Until well into the 19th century Barnes stayed a backwater because there was not easy way to reach it. But that changed when Hammersmith Bridge was constructed in 1824-7. (This bridge, which was London’s first suspension bridge, was replaced with a new bridge to Barnes by Joseph Bazalgette in 1883-7.) Castlenau was constructed in 1827 to give access from the bridge, and Lonsdale Road followed in 1846. Barnes was then quickly developed with houses. But the original village was preserved.

Before the houses went up, Barnes was a centre for the brewery industry, with a number of inns. ‘The Sun’ near the pond is the only surviving pub from the 18th century. Barnes Terrace has a number of 18th and 19th century houses along the river front. W. E. Henley and Gustav Holst lived there.