Off Upper Street and behind Camden Market there are streets with rows of Georgian houses such as Duncan Terrace and Colebrooke Road. Vincent Terrace has particularly desirable Georgian houses because they have views over the Grand Union Canal. There are smaller Georgian houses in Elia Street to the south. Some new houses have been constructed in nearby streets. Further along the canal Arlington Avenue and Square also contain terraces of attractive Georgian and Victorian houses. The main residential development in the area is City Road Basin and the Wenlock Basin for water-side living. There are a variety of developments to choose from – 1990s loft conversions to 21st century new builds – including Royle Building, Wenlock Building, Angel Waterside, Crystal Wharf, Wenlock Works and so on. Across New North Road there are more terraces of Victorian houses in the streets such as Elmore Street and Northchurch Street, but mixing with council blocks. Many of the former industrial buildings in the area have been converted into lofts and apartments.

Over Southgate Road is De Beauvoir Town, which is treated as part of Islington, although it is in fact in the London Borough of Hackney. De Beauvoir Square and De Beauvoir Road are the centre of this estate. The houses were all built in the 1840s in Victorian Gothic style (much like the Houses of Parliament). Surrounding streets such as Mortimer Road and Englefield Road contain similar houses.

Canonbury is the area between Canonbury and Essex Roads. Canonbury Square is the jewel of the area with its tall Regency houses round a central garden. There are other attractive Regency houses in Compton Terrace and Compton Road. Victorian properties are to be found in Alwyne Villas, Place and Road as well as neighbouring roads like Willow Bridge Road and Canonbury Park North. This area contains some very large houses down to cottage size. The large Marquess Estate (council) is within the angle of Essex Road and St Paul’s Road, and contains houses and maisonettes which have been upgraded for private ownership, and the area is now called New River Green. Just on the other side of St Paul’s Road towards Canonbury Station are more Victorian terraces in St Paul’s Place and Northampton Park.

Over the railway lines towards Highbury are more terraces of period houses. The streets just north west of Highbury Fields are the most sought-after, with Highbury Place, Crescent and Terrace containing Georgian terraces and some large mansions. North of Highbury Fields, the streets are mainly Victorian terraces. Instead of being flat fronted, many of the houses have bay windows and elaborate facades, especially in the area of Corsica Street and Baalbec St nearest to Highbury and Islington station. North of Highbury Fields is Highbury Hill which winds up towards Arsenal. There are large Victorian houses in this area, converted into flats. The attractiveness of the properties diminishes as you approach Arsenal. Further east, towards Green Lanes, the type of properties is mixed, with some Victorian houses in Aberdeen Park, as well as more modern houses and flats in the Aberdeen Road area, and large mansion blocks such as Taverner Square and Peckett Square. This leads up to another area of mainly Victorian houses in the Riversdale Road and Mountgrove Road area as far as Highbury New Park which winds its way through the area. At the top of Highbury New Park is the Quadrant Estate. It also contains large Victorian houses converted into flats. In the south is the Spring Gardens Estate. In the southern corner near Canonbury station is a series of streets running east from Petherton Road which are mainly Victorian terraces again.

Barnsbury is the area to the west of Liverpool Road to Caledonian Road. Not strictly in Barnsbury, but in the area between Liverpool Road and Upper Street there are attractive houses in Gibson Square and Milner Square, and terraces in nearby streets. Much of Barnsbury consists of similar streets of terraced houses built in the early Victorian period. Cloudesley Square and Street are the centre of the area. Richmond Avenue and the streets off it contain large terraced houses. The houses are in more Gothic style in Lonsdale Square. You will find Georgian terraces again in Brooksby and Bewdley Streets, and small cottages in Ripplevale Grove. Thornhill Square and Thornhill Crescent also contain large Regency houses.

The name was originally Gislandune, which meant Gisla’s Hill - presumably Gisla was a prominent Anglo Saxon landowner. It was a fashionable area in the 16th century, and Henry VIII owned two houses near Newington Green for his mistresses, and hunted nearby, probably for mistresses. Queen Elizabeth used to visit Sir Walter Raleigh at his house in Upper Street, and the Earl of Leicester at his place in Essex Road. In the 17th century Islington was the home of London’s main dairy farms. In the 18th century it was a place where Londoners went to have tea and a day out. The arrival of the Regent’s Canal and later the railways caused Islington to become more industrial, and a number of slums developed, although 19th-century Islington remained a prosperous area. In the early 20th century, only Barnsbury and Canonbury remained moderately prosperous. The creation of the Camden Passage antiques market in the 1960s made the area more fashionable again.

Holland Park Avenue, which becomes Notting Hill, divides the neighbourhood. It contains some of the largest houses in the area, with big houses with extensive front gardens in many cases. The houses are often stucco faced. Many of them have been converted into flats. Holland Park (the road) is a rectangle of streets with Holland Park Mews sandwiched between them. The houses in this road are among the most expensive in the area, particularly those with a view over the Park itself. They have a very individual appearance with cast iron and glass canopies over the entrances. The mews contains smaller cottages. Holland Park turns into Abbotsbury Road as it runs beside the Park and this contains a number of more modern houses and blocks of flats, such as Abbotsbury House. There are a series of cul-de-sacs, all called Abbotsbury Close, containing houses built in the 1960s along the western side of the road. At the southern end is Oakwood Court which is a series of Victorian mansion blocks. On the other side of Abbotsbury Road is Ilchester Place, a prestigious street, which contains wide red-brick 1950s-style houses with open front gardens, and with the attraction that they back onto Holland Park. The area of Melbury Road and Holland Park Road in the corner between Addison Road and Kensington High Street was an artists’ ghetto of the late Victorian era; and there are idiosyncratic houses by Norman Shaw and Halsey Ricardo in Melbury Road, and the former home of Lord Leighton is in Holland Park Road, and is open to the public. Some of these mansions are in their own grounds. Many of them have been converted into flats. Close to Kensington High Street there are blocks of flats such as Woodsford, Stavordale Lodge and Park Close. St Mary Abbots Terrace is a modern development of neo-Georgian houses, shoehorned in between Holland Park Road and Kensington High Street. Addison Road runs up to Addison Crescent. It contains some very large stucco fronted villas, as well as a terrace of Gothic-style Victorian houses. Monckton Court and Farley Court are blocks of flats in their own grounds. There are more detached and semi-detached houses in Addison Crescent. Addison Road continues north with large secluded houses in their own gardens. Somerset Square and Woodsford Square are 20th-century developments of houses and flats off the east side of Addison Road. Addisland Court is a 1930s mansion block at the top of Addison Road. Holland Villas Road runs behind Addison Road and contains similar sought-after villas. There are smaller houses in Upper Addison Gardens and Lower Addison Gardens which run off Holland Villas Road to Holland Road. These contain mainly terraced houses.

Holland Road itself is a mixture of houses and styles. Russell Road and Elsham Road have terraces of properties which are a mixture of houses, hotels and flats. There are mews cottages in Napier Place and Russell Gardens Mews. Holland Park continues on the north side of Holland Park Avenue. Royal Crescent is a set of terraces in Regency style, with white stucco faced houses opposite the Kensington Hilton hotel. Royal Crescent Mews stands behind the Crescent with period and modern cottages. St Ann’s Villas, which becomes St Ann’s Road, runs north from the centre of Royal Crescent. It contains a mixture of houses and purpose-built blocks of flats. Queensdale Road is the centre of this part of Holland Park. It contains some smaller terraced houses, as does Queensdale Place in a cul-de-sac off it to the east. Addison Avenue, which cuts across Queensdale Road, has some of the most sought-after houses in this part with small terraced houses. It is crossed by St James’s Gardens with its grand semi-detached houses.

Norland Square is just north of Holland Park Avenue and has its own garden and tennis Court. Behind it is Norland Place, a mews with cottages, leading into Princedale Road with a range of Victorian houses. Penzance Place and Portland Road also contain terraced Victorian houses in a variety of shapes and sizes. Clarendon Road which is parallel to Portland Road contains larger Victorian properties, but this is the edge of Notting Hill rather than Holland Park. Pottery Lane contains late Victorian terraced houses, and nearby is Hippodrome Mews which was a 1970s mews development. The strip between Holland Road and the railway line is arguably still part of Holland Park.

The area now known as Holland Park was originally part of the grounds of Holland House. This was a Jacobean mansion built for Sir Walter Cope, who was James I’s Chancellor. The house was built in 1606 and called Cope’s castle. It passed into the Holland family when Cope’s daughter married the Earl of Holland. He was executed by the Parliamentarians in the Civil War, and the house was confiscated, but it was restored to Lady Holland when Charles II came to the throne. Holland Park was built on part of the estate near Bayswater Road which was sold off for housing development in 1866 to pay for the family’s lavish lifestyle.

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.

Highgate Village lies just north of Highgate Cemetery. The oldest houses are to be found in The Grove, where there are grand houses from the 17th century. Fitzroy Park is a private road leading off The Grove with some large family houses. Some houses in this area overlook Hampstead Heath. Other desirable locations in the village include Pond Square which contains 18th-century houses as well as some mansion blocks, Bisham Gardens with Victorian terraced houses, Swain’s Lane which runs down the side of Highgate Cemetery, and Highgate West Hill. Highgate West Hill which winds round between the village and the heath contains a variety of houses from large detached houses to cottages. Off Highgate West Hill is a small estate known as the Holly Lodge Estate, with Hillway at its centre and streets running across it, which mainly contain mock-Tudor houses and blocks of flats. There are more modern housing developments in this area such as West Hill Park from the 1970s near Highgate Ponds. On the other side Southwood Lawn Road, Cholmeley Park and Cholmeley Crescent contain Victorian houses, and there are post-War mansion blocks such as Southwood Hall, Cholmeley Lodge and Northwood Hall. Hillside Gardens, Jackson’s Lane and Southwood Lane contain more modern houses with a communal garden.

On the other side of Archway Road, but north of Hornsey Lane, is high up and contains a number of mansion blocks with good views over Muswell Hill and Alexandra Palace. Panorama Court, Highgate Heights and Stanhope House are popular mansion blocks along Shepherds Hill. The most sought-after houses in the area are in Hurst Avenue, and there are modern flats in the “Miltons”, comprising Milton Park and houses off it, where there is a mixture of houses and flats. Northwood Hall is a large mansion block in this area. South of Hornsey Lane is the Whitehall Park conservation area with terraces of Victorian houses in Whitehall Park itself and streets to the south.

West of Highgate Village, Hampstead Lane runs round the top of Hampstead Heath. Various streets run off it to the North around Highgate golf course and there are very large houses in the streets such as Courtenay Avenue, Compton Avenue, Sheldon Avenue and Stormont Road. They are very close to The Bishops Avenue and have corresponding prices. Bishopswood Road and Broadlands Road, close to Highgate School, also contain large houses. North Road and North Hill leading back to Archway Road contain attractive period houses and also some mansion blocks.

Highgate was part of an estate owned by the Bishops of London. The road to the village went round the hill, but it was often impossible to use in winter, and in the 14th century the Bishop of London allowed villagers to construct a road over the hill. The bishop had toll gates erected at either end, to collect a fee from users, and the one at the top of the hill gave its name to Highgate. Legend has it that it was here that Dick Whittington heard Bow Bells and turned again to seek his fortune in London. Pond Square is where there used to be ponds formed from gravel pits in the past. They were filled in during the 19th century. Highgate School was started by Sir Roger Connolly in 1565 on the site of a hermit’s chapel. (Hermits used to survive by taking a hovel or cave near a road and maintaining the road to earn a pittance.) Highgate became attractive to rich Londoners as a place to have a home. The Grove was Highgate’s most fashionable location. Some of the houses still there today were built in the 17th century. Coleridge, J. B. Priestley and Yehudi Menuhin lived there. Queen Victoria was nearly killed on West Hill in 1837, when the horses of her carriage bolted. The landlord of the local pub, the Fox and Crown, finally got them under control, for which he was allowed to put up with the Royal Arms on his pub - rather a meagre reward, I would have thought. Highgate Cemetery was set up in 1839 and quickly became a tourist attraction. The Victorians liked to visit cemeteries and admire the head stones. Karl Marx is buried there.

Ravenscourt Park is the area between Goldhawk Road, King Street and Paddenswick Road. The streets near Ravenscourt Park – Ravenscourt Road, Park, Gardens and Square – are now a conservation area containing Georgian and Victorian houses from terraces to detached villas, some with views over the Park. Attractive houses are also to be found on the other side of Paddenswick Road in Wingate Road, Dorville Crescent and connecting roads. Similarly, on the other side of Goldhawk Road in the roads named for Stamford Brook and Ashchurch. There are also new houses and flats on the sites of two former hospitals: The Royal Masonic Hospital near the Park and Queen Charlotte’s Hospital near Goldhawk Road. There are mansion blocks in Hamlet Gardens.

Between the Ravenscourt Park are and Hammersmith Grove is the Brackenbury village area. This contains mainly small to medium sized Victorian terraced houses in streets such as Brackenbury Road and Carthew Street. Houses tend to be larger, and split into flats, near Hammersmith Grove.

Brook Green on the east side of Shepherd’s Bush Road is the most popular residential area in Hammersmith. The best houses are round the green itself in Brook Green (the road). This road also contains a mansion block, Queen’s Mansions, modern flat developments near the Green, and a gated estate of new houses and flats in Windsor Way. There are smaller houses in the streets to the south, such as Rowan Road and Terrace, tucked in just above the Hammersmith Road. North of Brook Green there are red brick Victorian terraces in the streets up to Blythe Road. In this area there are flats in Kensington West and in Latymer Court. Beyond Blythe Road there are larger Victorian house in the Addison Gardens and Bolingbroke Road area.

South of the Hammersmith flyover lies Barons Court. This mainly contains large Victorian houses converted into flats. One particularly popular area is south of Barons Court Road between the Queens Club and North End Road. But the most popular flats are in Queens Club Gardens. This is a series of late-Victorian mansion blocks just south of the club itself. There are more mansion blocks from late Edwardian times in the strip between Talgarth Road and Hammersmith Road, particularly in the North End Road area, such as Talgarth Mansions and West Kensington Mansions. Just north of Queens Club Gardens, Palliser Road and streets to the west contain large family houses and villas which are much sought after.

The streets between Fulham Palace Road and the river contain some blocks of flats and converted commercial premises. There have been various new developments built here in recent decades, such as the riverside blocks of Thames Reach and the converted Harrods Depository Building. It also contains the Crabtree Estate which is a group of streets from Crabtree Lane (near the Lillie Road junction) up to Hammersmith Bridge Road containing small terraced houses from the early 20th century. The slender strip of land between the Great West Road and the river, on the west side of Hammersmith Bridge Road, contains Georgian houses in Hammersmith Terrace and Upper Mall and Lower Mall. Chiswick Mall is the strip between Great West Road and the river on the other side of Hammersmith Bridge Road. The strip between Fulham Palace Road and the river contains some Georgian houses along Hammersmith Terrace. More modern houses have been built at Lord Napier Place and flats at King Henry’s Reach. On the north of the Great West Road, there is an enclave of stucco-faced large Victorian houses in St Peter’s Square, a conservation area. This area also contains some Art Deco mansion blocks.

Hammersmith takes its name, fairly obviously, from “hammer” and the “smithy” where the hammer would have been used to make metal implements. The town grew around the crossing of two main roads out of London. Attractive houses such as Hammersmith Terrace (1755) were built in the 18th century along the river from the present day Hammersmith Bridge to Chiswick. Hammersmith Bridge was the first suspension bridge in London when it was built in 1824. Sir Joseph Bazalgette designed the replacement bridge which was constructed in 1883-7.