Nearby streets whose names refer to different aspects of the same topographical feature include Dog Kennel Hill, Champion Hill and Red Post Hill. It marks the edge of the Thames valley plain in this area — from here to the river the land is flat.
The original name for the summit was Dulwich Hill. The name of the area was changed to Denmark Hill in honour of the husband of Queen Anne, Prince George of Denmark, who lived there.
The area is home of the Maudsley Hospital and King’s College Hospital, and also of Ruskin Park, named after John Ruskin, who once lived nearby. The preface to Ruskin’s ’Unto This Last’ is dated ’Denmark Hill, 10th May, 1862’.
The Salvation Army’s William Booth Memorial Training College on Champion Park which was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott was completed in 1932; it towers over South London. It has a similar monumental impressiveness to Gilbert Scott’s other South London buildings, Battersea Power Station and Bankside Power Station (now housing Tate Modern), although its simplicity is partly the result of repeated budget cuts during its construction: much more detail, including carved Gothic stonework surrounding the windows, was originally planned.
Denmark Hill railway station was built in 1865. Its design is in the Italianate style, with an extremely decorative frontage. After a fire in 1980 the building was renovated and restored. The project included the addition of a public house, initially called the Phoenix and Firkin to commemorate the fire.