In 1905, Raymond Unwin presented his vision for a garden suburb in Hampstead, with a central core near what would later become Central Square. As the highest point in the suburb, the proposed buildings in this area would serve as a focal point when viewed from the surrounding streets. The plan included a library, a hall, an Anglican church, a chapel, and shops, with housing occupying the east side of the square.
As the year 1908 began, Edwin Lutyens was appointed as the consulting architect for Hampstead Garden Suburb and was instructed to concentrate his efforts on the central area, including the Institute. On February 18, Lutyens presented a sketch plan for Central Square to the HGS Trust’s General Purposes Committee.
Henrietta Barnett, the originator of the suburb concept, was known to disapprove of Lutyens’s plan and proposed an alternative arrangement in a letter dated 24 February. This plan captures the final form of Central Square, with the Institute and related buildings on the east side and churches defining the north and south boundaries.
There is no evidence to indicate the relationship between this plan and Lutyens’s original plan – whether it was a completely new design or simply a refinement of the existing one.
However, the early success of the suburb led to plans for an eastward expansion of Hampstead Garden Suburb onto approximately 300 acres of land owned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. This expansion was proposed before the central area had been fully developed. The proposals for the square and its buildings since 1905 had been based on the assumption that they would form the eastern boundary of the Suburb.
Unwin recognised that doubling the size of the Suburb would have implications for Central Square, and he began revising the plans accordingly. By August 1912, his new plan was ready, and there is no indication that Lutyens had been consulted during this process.
The addition of the new land positioned the Square at the center of the Suburb. The challenge now was to create a view of the extension from Central Square, thereby uniting the two halves of the Suburb.
Unwin envisioned a prominent group of public buildings surrounded by public spaces near East Finchley Station, at the apex of the new triangular plot of land. The area would include a theatre, meeting rooms, shops, and other buildings. There would also be a market for selling the products of the ‘co-operative effort’ that Unwin still hoped would thrive in the Suburb.
Lutyens eventually adapted his Central Square proposals to accommodate the suburb’s growth, and the east elevation of the Institute should be seen as his ultimate concession to the Suburb’s expansion.
