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SPRING OUTING 24.05.25: Hampstead, Belsize Park and the Modern Movement
Saturday 24th May, 2025. Meet at Hampstead Underground Station at 10.30am.
The walk from Hampstead to Belsize Park is a rich mixture of architecture from the late Regency to the 20th century, home to writers, artists, architects, refugees and spies. We visit a classic 1930s building, 2 Willow Road, wander down Keats Grove to the edge of Belsize Park, to the Isokon Building also of the 1930s and with luck the Mall Studios. Lunch at a congenial hostelry nearby. Those who are strong enough will be persuaded to explore St Dominic’s Priory at the end of the afternoon.
The Walk is being led by Anne-Marie Craven.
- 10.30 Meet at Hampstead Tube station.
- Flask Walk with a detour to look at buildings of interest.
- 11.00 Visit the National Trust administered No 2 Willow Road, the home of architect Ernő Goldfinger, a key figure in the pre-WW2 Modern Movement and post-war urban regeneration.
- Continue up Downshire Hill past the home of Roland Penrose and Wartime photographer Lee Miller.
- Down Keats Grove towards Hampstead Heath station where we will stop for lunch at the Garden Gate at 12.45.
- 14.00 Continue to Lawn Road where we visit Lawn Road flats, an important example of the Modern Movement and home to Agatha Christie and various Soviet spies. The exhibition gallery is free.
- We also hope to include a visit to Mall Studios a short distance from Lawn Road where Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson lived.
- We then make our way to Belsize Park Tube station at around 15.00 where the walk ends.
- For those with stamina we may be able to visit St Dominic's Priory a Grade II* Gothic Revival church close by.
Anne-Marie Craven is an art historian who spent many years doing picture research and running a fine art picture library specialising in art, history and archaeology with some militaria.
Upon retirement she trained as a Blue Badge Guide and does walking tours, even the odd virtual tour during lockdown, concentrating on London and the outskirts. See her website: http://londonwalk.uk
Price £18 includes a donation to the Lawn Road Isokon Gallery. No other costs included. Maximum number of persons: 15.
Please send any questions to:
Images from top: 1-3 Willow Road © A. M. Craven; Lawn Road flats © Justinc from Creative Commons Wikimedia
