Gainsborough Gardens

'' in 1885 It was laid out on land that belonged to the Wells and Campden Charity Trust overseen by Henry Simpson Legg, architect and surveyor of the Trust between 1882 and 1895. The creation and aesthetics of Gainsborough Gardens was influenced by the Bedford Park development in Chiswick, in south west London. In 1934 The Times stated that the residents of Gainsborough Gardens "...enjoy privacy and quietude as there are gates and lodges, and few, except an occasional visitor out of curiosity, enter the gardens unless to call at one of the houses". It is protected under the London Squares Preservation Act 1931. A 2 bedroom garden flat on Gainsborough Gardens was available to rent for £125 a week in 1981 (). A detached 5 bedroom house on Gainsborough Gardens was offered for sale for £1 million in 1990 (). The average price of a house in Gainsborough Gardens was £7 million in 2019. ==Garden==

The communal garden at the centre of the development is in size and was the site of a bowling green and ornamental pond in former pleasure gardens. The garden has been opened to the public on 17 occasions as part of the Open Garden Squares Weekend organised by the London Parks & Gardens Trust. File:Gainsborough Gardens, June 2021 13.jpg| File:Gainsborough Gardens, June 2021 16.jpg|The communal garden in June 2021 File:Gainsborough Gardens, June 2021 06.jpg| ==Architecture==

Nos. 7, 8, 9 & 10 were designed by Legg. Nos. 5, 6, 9a and 14 are individually listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England (NHLE). Nos. 3 and 4, 7 and 8, 9 and 10, and 11, 12, and 13 are listed in their respective groups. Nos. 11, 12, 13 were designed and developed in 1893 by the influential Queen Anne revival architect Horace Field as a speculation, in part funded by his stepmother, Alicia Field, for whom he also designed "The Small House", No.14. The lodge building to Gainsborough Gardens at its Well Walk entrance was built in 1886, and also designed by Legg, for the gardener of the crescent. It is listed Grade II. ==Notable residents==

9a, 'Eirene Cottage', was the home of C.E. Maurice, the husband of the sister of Octavia Hill. Hill was the founder of the National Trust and a pioneer of conservation. The women's suffrage campaigner Elizabeth Knight lived at No. 7 in 1933. The historian Bernard M. Allen moved to "The Small House", No. 14, in Gainsborough Gardens in 1904. The Labour MP Arthur Greenwood lived at No. 8 in the 1950s. The former Governor of Northern Nigeria, George Sinclair Browne, died at his residence in Gainsborough Gardens in 1946. Archibald Chisholm, the oil executive and former editor of the Financial Times, lived at No. 4 in the 1940s. The author John le Carré lived at No. 9 from January 1980 until his death alongside his homes in Tregiffian in Cornwall and Wengen in Switzerland. No. 10: Lieutenant Colonel Robert Shore, Irish Surgeon, M.D., R.U.I., L.F.P.S.G., Indian Medical Service, recipient of the Kaiser-i-Hind Gold Medal in 1906, retired to London and lived at No. 10 Gainsborough Gardens, with his wife Gertrude, circa 1925 & lived there until his death in 1944. ==Gallery==

File:3 Gainsborough Gardens, June 2021.jpg|No. 3 File:5 Gainsborough Gardens, Hampstead, June 2021.jpg| No. 5 File:The Cottage on the Heath, Gainsborough Gardens, Hampstead, June 2021 (2).jpg|The 'Cottage on the Heath' at the Heathside entrance to Gainsborough Gardens File:6 Gainsborough Gardens, June 2021 1.jpg| The side profile of No. 6 File:6 Gainsborough Gardens, June 2021 2.jpg| No. 6 File:The Lodge, Gainsborough Gardens, June 2021 01.jpg|The Lodge to Gainsborough Gardens File:7 Gainsborough Gardens, Hampstead, June 2021.jpg| No. 7 File:8 Gainsborough Gardens, Hampstead, June 2021.jpg| No. 8 File:Gainsborough Gardens, June 2021 19.jpg| Nos. 9 and 10 File:Gainsborough Gardens, June 2021 11.jpg|'Eirene Cottage', No. 9a File:Gainsborough Gardens, June 2021 10.jpg| No. 11, 12 and 13 File:Gainsborough Gardens, June 2021 08.jpg|'The Small House', No. 14 File:The Builder 23rd May 1885 6 Gainsborough Gardens, Hampstead.jpg|The Builder 23rd May 1885 6 Gainsborough Gardens, Hampstead ==References==