The heart of Hampstead is Hampstead High Street. Between here and Hampstead Heath is a jumble of small streets containing attractive houses from the Georgian through to the Edwardian era. New End and Cannon Place, for example, contain large family houses. And Gainsborough Gardens is a large circular road off Well Walk with late Victorian houses. Nearer the Heath are a number of large mansion blocks such as the Priors and Dellmore. Hampstead High Street runs into Heath Street. There are some residential streets on the west side of Heath Street going north, in squares such as Golden Yard and Mount Square, and streets such as Hampstead Grove and Admiral’s Walk. Two hospitals in this area, Mount Vernon Hospital in Frognal Rise and New End Hospital in Heath Street have been converted into flats. Further south roads widen out and Frognal Gardens and Frognal contain terraces of houses as early as the reign of Queen Anne. Even further south, there are large houses in the area toward Swiss Cottage, such as Fitzjohn’s Avenue and Maresfield Gardens. West of Hampstead Village towards Finchley Road there are large Victorian houses in the streets there such as West Heath Road, Platts Lane and Arkwright Road. The largest houses are in West Heath Road. There are attractive houses of all sorts to be found in this area, in streets such as Redington Gardens, Heath Drive and Ferncroft Avenue. The best houses are in Redington Road and Chesterford Gardens.

On the east side of Hampstead Village, just below Gainsborough Gardens, there are more Victorian terraces in streets such as Willow Road. Downshire Hill has earlier Regency houses. South Hill Park extends further round the bottom of the Heath towards Gospel Park. Here is the Mansfield Road conservation area with Victorian streets such as Constantine Road, Mansfield Road and Fleet Road. On the other side of the Fleet Road is the Royal Free Hospital and houses to the south of that, towards Belsize Park, are a mixture of family houses and council estates. There are desirable houses in the streets running from Fleet Road to Haverstock Hill, such as Parkhill, Upper Park Road and Lawn Road.

West Hampstead

There is a group of streets between Fortune Green and the railway line through to West Hampstead. These lie just south of Hampstead Cemetery. Gondar Gardens and Millfield Road contain some large Victorian houses, and there are also mansion blocks in Dunbar Gardens. “The Greeks” a set of streets named after heroes from the Iliad, such as Agamemnon Road and Achilles Road, contain family houses. The streets below Mill Lane, such as Sumatra and Narcissus Roads contain terraces of two and three-storey properties. Further to the west of Fortune Green, a group of streets off Minster Road, such as Somali and Asmara Roads, contain semi-detached properties. Cholmondeley Gardens is a popular mansion block on Fortune Green Road. There is a clutch of large mansion blocks in the area known as “the West End” in West End Lane and streets around it. These include Buckingham Mansions, Malborough Mansions, Yale Court and Harvard Court. Closer to Finchley Road Station, there are large detached houses in Alvanley Gardens and Lymington Road.

Between West End Lane and Kilburn High Road, south of the station, there are council estates, but also a group of streets between Sheriff and Hemstal Roads with attractive terraced properties. East of West End Lane, and still south of the station, there is an estate originally laid out by Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, Lord Mayor of Hampstead in late Victorian times. He was thwarted in his plan to build over Hampstead Heath, but created an estate called the Maryon Wilson Estate in this area. There are mansion blocks in Canfield and Fairfield Gardens, and others, and there are attractive flats and houses to be found in streets from Broadhurst Gardens down to Aberdare Gardens. There are large houses to be found in Priory Road and Priory Terrace.

There are two ancient barrows in Hampstead and Boadicea is said to have been buried in one in 62 AD. The word “stead” means estate in Anglo Saxon (as in the modern “homestead”) and Hampstead probably takes its name from an owner of the land in Anglo Saxon times. It was a wooded area until the 17th century, when most of the timber was cut down for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of London. Hampstead became fashionable in the 18th century. Its spring water was sold in taverns – the Perrier of the day. A race course was opened at Jack Straw’s Castle. When the Gordon rioters marched on Hampstead to attack a minister’s house, the landlord of the Spaniards Public House diverted them by giving them free drinks until soldiers arrived. Dick Turpin used to keep his famous horse, Black Bess, stabled nearby. In 1829, the Lord of the Manor tried to build houses on Hampstead Heath, but a petition from local residents caused Parliament to refuse permission. The heath was preserved as a public park. Parliament Hill and the grounds of Kenwood house have been added since. Many famous people lived in Hampstead village; William Pitt the elder, Byron, Keats, H. G. Wells, and Freud, to name a few.