This southern area of Hampstead is home to several neat rows of Queen Anne style houses centred around Fitzjohn’s Avenue. This largely residential area boasts a number of good schools including St Mary’s, Lyndhurst House Preparatory and Saint Christopher’s School, which makes it one of London’s most desirable locations for families. Its proximity to several tube-stops, and more importantly, the greenery gives the neighbourhood a burst of life.

The neighbourhood’s proper history really started around the Victorian era, when the homes around Fitzjohn’s Avenue were developed. By 1886, the street was linked up with Hampstead High Street. The area has remained architecturally unchanged ever since. Still, even if the buildings haven’t changed, the people that have lived in them certainly have. Artists Stanley Spencer, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Piet Mondrian all lived around the area between 1919 and 1940. The neighbourhood makes up part of an important historic location for British art.

The area around Hampstead Heath is a notable spot for celebrity-spotting, but the area’s most iconic resident was once Sigmund Freud. Freud lived at 20 Maresfield Gardens after escaping from the Nazi occupation in Austria in 1938.

As many of the properties in this area are large and private houses, they succumb to the classic London conundrum of being in short supply and high demand; in other words, expensive. However, many local residents believe that the security and friendliness of the neighbourhood make it a price worth paying. A local school stated how much they “value” being part of the community.

Camden Council has proposed plans to encourage growth in the areas around Finchley Road and Swiss Cottage due to their highly accessible locations. Recently, much controversy was stirred regarding the redevelopment of the O2 Centre on Finchley Road, which is expected to take 15 years. Land Securities, who is in charge of the proposal, submitted its first planning application to demolish the shopping centre, as well as the Sainsbury’s car park, Homebase and the car showrooms to build a multi-use large-scale urban development with 1,800 homes. The reason behind the controversy is that many locals in the area believe such an increase in residences without additional proposals for new supermarkets or expansions to the existing public transport network and NHS services would create an over-subscription to and over-use of existing services and amenities. Additionally, the proposed affordable housing provision has also been criticised. 608 homes would be built in a first phase of construction with 188 flats designated “affordable”, but none of these homes would be at social rent prices, rather they would be marketed at 80% of market value.

Construction in South Hampstead has also gained a lot of momentum. Goldhurst Terrace, a nearly completed development located only a 3-minute walk away from South Hampstead station, offers 11 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom mansion block apartments in a four-storey red brick building. The building replaces a now demolished set of Victorian terraced houses. Abbey Road Cross is another new development in the neighbourhood offering 75 one, two and three bedroom apartments, with concierge services. new community and health facilities, and improved open and play spaces. The community is very involved and active in this area - they even have an online forum to discuss future developments!