Finchley Road, NW3

Finchley Road is one of north London’s main roads.

Finchley Road Metropolitan Railway station exterior (1910)
Credit: London Transport Museum

It was originally named Finchley New Road and it was built as a turnpike to provide a bypass to a much hillier route north through the village of Hampstead. Haverstock Hill and Rosslyn Hill in Hampstead were difficult for horses with carriages to negotiate when muddy.

The Finchley Road Act was passed in 1826 and by 1835, the new turnpike road was complete. It ran north from what was then called the ’New Road’ (now Euston Road and Marylebone Road). Four miles further north, the road crosses the boundary of Finchley and its name becomes Regents Park Road (after the reverse destination). Originally there was a tollgate at Childs Hill.

Once Finchley Road was finished in the 1830s, many large houses were built alongside it - especially at Fortune Green and Childs Hill.

By 1856 up to ten Atlas Line stage coaches a day ran along Finchley Road. Atlas Line was based at Swiss Cottage. Bus services started before 1880. Motor buses had replaced horse omnibuses by 1911.

Today the route follows the A41 which becomes Finchley Road at St John’s Wood tube station and runs to the North Circular Road at Henlys Corner.

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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

Chris hutchison

Broadhurst Gardens, NW6

Added: 15 Oct 2023 03:04 GMT

35 broadhurst gardens.
35 Broadhurst gardens was owned by famous opera singer Mr Herman “Simmy”Simberg. He had transformed it into a film and recording complex.
There was a film and animation studio on the ground floor. The recording facilities were on the next two floors.
I arrived in London from Australia in 1966 and worked in the studio as the tea boy and trainee recording engineer from Christmas 1966 for one year. The facility was leased by an American advertising company called Moreno Films. Mr Simbergs company Vox Humana used the studio for their own projects as well. I worked for both of them. I was so lucky. The manager was another wonderful gentleman called Jack Price who went on to create numerous songs for many famous singers of the day and also assisted the careers of Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff. “Simmy” let me live in the bedsit,upper right hand window. Jack was also busy with projects with The Troggs,Bill Wyman,Peter Frampton. We did some great sessions with Manfred Mann and Alan Price. The Cream did some demos but that was before my time. We did lots of voice over work. Warren Mitchell and Ronnie Corbett were favourites. I went back in 1978 and “Simmy “ had removed all of the studio and it was now his home. His lounge room was still our studio in my minds eye!!

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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Tony Whipple Frank Whipple Place, E14 Added: 16 Apr 2024 21:35 GMT	Frank Whipple Place, E14 Frank was my great-uncle, I’d often be ’babysat’ by Peggy while Nan and Dad went to the pub. Peggy was a marvel, so full of life. My Dad and Frank didn’t agree on most politics but everyone in the family is proud of him. A genuinely nice, knowledgable bloke. One of a kind. Reply
Theresa Penney Whites Row, E1 Added: 16 Apr 2024 18:08 GMT	1 Whites Row My 2 x great grandparents and his family lived here according to the 1841 census. They were Dutch Ashkenazi Jews born in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 19th century but all their children were born in Spitalfields. Reply
Wendy The Polygon Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT	Polygon Buildings Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings. Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT	Road construction and houses completed New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only. Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT	Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS) One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc. I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Charles Hornsey Rise, N19 Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT	My House I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s. Reply
NH Woodgrange Road, E7 Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT	Telephone House Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000 Reply
Paul Cox Aldine Street, W12 Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT	War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there. Reply

LOCAL PHOTOS

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Swiss Cottage TUM image id: 1455364693 Licence:	Victorian house under construction TUM image id: 1483541885 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Meadowland with buttercups and daisies TUM image id: 1483540144 Licence:	Aerial view of Goldhurst Open Space Credit: Google Maps TUM image id: 1557150945 Licence:	At Hampstead Heath station, a Stratford bound Overground train emerges from Hampstead Tunnel - the other end of the tunnel can be seen behind the oncoming train. Credit: nick86235 TUM image id: 1483542559 Licence:
Soldier’s Daughters Home from the "Illustrated London News", June 19, 1858 The Royal School, Hampstead was founded in 1855 as the Soldiers’ Infant Home before becoming the Royal Soldiers’ Daughters’ School on this site in 1867. It was established "to nurse, board, clothe and educate the female children, orphans or not, of soldiers in Her Majesty’s Army killed in the Crimean War". The Daughter’s School, as described in 1902: "At the back a large extent of grass playground stretched out westward, and at the end of this there was a grove of trees. On one side of the grass is a large playroom built in 1880 by means of an opportune legacy, and on the other a covered cloister which led to the school, standing detached from the house at the other end of the playground. An old pier burdened with a mass of ivy stood up in the centre, the only remnant of this part of old Vane House. A portion of the ground was profitably sold for the frontage to Fitz John’s Avenue." The school site is now used as a senior campus of North Bridge House School. Credit: The Illustrated London News TUM image id: 1458756121 Licence:	Concrete walkway in the Alexandra Road Estate Credit: Stephen Richards/Wikimedia TUM image id: 1589290216 Licence:	Broadhurst Gardens in West Hampstead, photographed here in 2009, was home to Decca Studios. From the late 1870s building had spread on Spencer Maryon Wilson’s lands. Near the Metropolitan railway line was Broadhurst Gardens, where 116 houses were built between 1882 and 1894. The last ever Beatles single (’Now And Then’) was issued on 2 November 2023. Decca Studios on Broadhurst Garden famously turned down the Fab Four. Credit: Geograph/Christine Matthews TUM image id: 1615377577 Licence:	Mortimer Place, NW6 TUM image id: 1492961898 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Church Row, NW3 Church Row is an eighteenth-century residential street. Many of the properties are listed on the National Heritage List for England. The writer H. G. Wells bought No. 17 in 1909 and lived there with his wife, Jane. The comedian Peter Cook bought No. 17 for £24,000 in 1965. Cook and Dudley Moore wrote their Pete & Dud routines in the attic. TUM image id: 1546470373 Licence:
St John’s, Downshire Hill (1936) Credit: Elwin Hawthorne TUM image id: 9532605 Licence:	Holly Walk, NW3 TUM image id: 1455451397 Licence: CC BY 2.0	St Johns Court (built 1938) This development, beside Finchley Road station, is a classic 1930s block. Credit: https://manchesterhistory.net/ TUM image id: 1601634716 Licence:	Frognal, NW3 Credit: Google Maps TUM image id: 1557403884 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Tower block, Swiss Cottage On Winchester Road, taken from Fellows Road Credit: David Howard TUM image id: 1453880149 Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

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Swiss Cottage
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Victorian house under construction
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Meadowland with buttercups and daisies
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Aerial view of Goldhurst Open Space
Credit: Google Maps
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At Hampstead Heath station, a Stratford bound Overground train emerges from Hampstead Tunnel - the other end of the tunnel can be seen behind the oncoming train.
Credit: nick86235
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Broadhurst Gardens in West Hampstead, photographed here in 2009, was home to Decca Studios. From the late 1870s building had spread on Spencer Maryon Wilson’s lands. Near the Metropolitan railway line was Broadhurst Gardens, where 116 houses were built between 1882 and 1894. The last ever Beatles single (’Now And Then’) was issued on 2 November 2023. Decca Studios on Broadhurst Garden famously turned down the Fab Four.
Credit: Geograph/Christine Matthews
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St Johns Court (built 1938) This development, beside Finchley Road station, is a classic 1930s block.
Credit: https://manchesterhistory.net/
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Frognal, NW3
Credit: Google Maps
Licence: CC BY 2.0

College Crescent
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The Winchester, Winchester Road, Swiss Cottage (1962)
Credit: Brian Fowler
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