I have been promising you a trip down Fitzroy Park for some time, so here we go – but this could be a longish trip over several days….
Back in the 18th century Fitzroy Park was the carriage drive up through the Fitzroy Farm Estate – see my blog on Fitzroy Farm a few weeks ago. Now it is a leafy private lane descending the hill from the Grove in Highgate to the corner of the Boating Pond on the heath. It runs beside much sought after allotments and is heavily littered with architectural gems – well, certainly buildings of architectural interest – from the mid 19th to the late 20th century.
If you are super keen, Camden has produced an amazing document, the Highgate Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Proposals. This details every house in Highgate and devotes no less than 6 pages (pages 30-36) to Fitzroy Park although it is not dated so it hard to know how up to date it actually is.
So, let’s start at the top….
(If you want to see the video you will need to click onto the blog as the email notification does not include the video.)
So to recap briefly….. Beechwood House is indeed my next door neighbour – indeed we share a garden wall and from the back of my house I look out over the trees in their gardens – of which more another time. It was built, according to Wikipedia, in 1840 by George Basevi for his brother. It is now Grade 2 listed and belongs to Uzbek business man, erstwhile part owner of Arsenal Football Club, Alsiher Usmanov. This is a quick peep I got through the gates one day as a delivery van was let in.
Beechwood has 11.5 acres of garden which runs down the hill to the heath. Its trees are magnificent and I am sure that the rest of the garden matches them. I wonder if they open for the National Gardens Scheme…..
So back to 8a Fitzroy Park.
I am not sure that I can tell you a great deal more about it but it is certainly eye catching. I have actually been in it twice. Once back in the 1970s when I ran a catering business and we catered a party there; once about 15 years ago when it was on the market and I pretended that I was interested in buying it! Sadly I do not have any really clear recollections of the interior beyond the fact that it was very quirky with lots of little stairways and corners and unexpected vistas.
These are a couple of views that came from estate agents brochures when it was last sold – from the garden and the living room.
And a last, rather less sun-dazzled view of the front of the house.
Tomorrow….. The Elms, the Hexagon, Emmanuel Vincent Harris – and a post box!
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Hi and thanks so much for this really interesting blog. I often walk around Hampstead Garden Suburb and Highgate and try to do 4-5 miles a day to keep healthy. I just wondered if you know if it is okay to walk down Fitzroy Park towards the Heath? I noticed it for the first time when walking past today and it said “Private Road” but I don’t know if that means I’m allowed to walk down it. I don’t want to trespass or do anything wrong. There are lots of other private roads in Highgate (where there are closed main gates to block vehicles but with open side gates for pedestrian access) that I’d love to explore for a change including those between Swain’s Lane and Highgate W Hill. I looked up the government website and it is hard to know particularly if there aren’t signs. Just wondered if you had any idea what is allowed?
The gov.uk website says:
“You may be able to access private land if the landowner has agreed to let people use it, for example for walking, cycling or horse riding (sometimes known as giving ‘permissive access’). Look for signs.”
and on another gov.uk page:
“You may still be able to access private land if:
the land was used as a public right of way in the past – check old maps and documents
the land was accessed by the public for at least 20 years and nobody has asked them to stop
the landowner has given permission (‘permissive access’)”
Hi Ed – Glad you enjoy the blog.
As regards Fitzroy Park I think the Private Raod only applies to vehicles. I have certainly been walking up and down it for many years – indeed my son and I used to cycle up it every morning from Belsize Park for him to go to school and I am often passed by cyclists. I also often meet or pass otehr walkers who I am sure do not live there so I think you are prefectly safe to walk. Apart from being all but traffic free it is a very interesting road architecturally – evrything from mid 1900s to 2020!
Enjoy!
Thank you so much Michelle, that’s really good to know and I look forward to exploring!
I’ve always been interested in architecture thanks to my dad who is a retired architect so I’ll be recommending it to him as well.
And thanks again for all the work you put into this site and the beautiful photos.
You will both definitely enjoy it then, Ed.
If you put Fitzroy Park into the search box on the blog you will find a few posts that I did on the road way back at the beginning of lockdown and, as far as I remember I unearther some quite interesting facts. Do follow the sign down to the Bowling club – and indeed, search on the block for the North London Bowling Club post.
Best – Michelle
Hi Michelle
Went for a lovely walk down Fitzroy Park today with my mum, the electric gates of the sprawling Beechwood House and it’s 11.5 acres were opening just as we walked past so we got a nice glimpse!
Also 51 Fitzroy Park is incredible and I found some fantastic images on the architect’s website: https://www.stantonwilliams.com/projects/fitzroy-park/ I’m sure I remember seeing the house shortlisted for the RIBA House of the Year award (on television as part of channel 4’s Grand Designs House of the Year).
And the Elms, blimey what is there to say? It does look finished now but I loved your comment “No one knows why or what is to happen next…. Has this billionaire fallen out of favour and into a labour camp?….”
🙂
So glad you enjoyed it, Ed – it is one of my favourite roads as it is so quirky and different. And who knows re The Elms – nothing has happened for years so maybe he is still holed up in a gulag somewhere….