Inventory Site Record

North End House consists of two cruciform mansion blocks built in 1937/8 on the site of the late C18th house from which they take their name. Until development began in the C19th the area was mainly orchards and market gardens, with a number of grand houses built along main roads. One such was North End Villa, later House, which had extensive wooded grounds. The western part of the grounds began to be built over in the late C19th and the house was demolished in 1928 following a fire. Behind the blocks is a modern garden designed around a number of mature trees, for the private use of residents.

Previous / Other name:

North End Villa

Site location:

Fitzjames Avenue

Postcode:

W14

What 3 Words:

value.text.natively

Type of site:

Housing/Estate Landscaping;, Private Garden

Borough:

Hammersmith & Fulham

Open to public?

By appointment only

Opening times:

Private with security guard, ask permission.

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Barons Court (District, Piccadilly)

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Google Map    
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Research updated:

01/04/2004

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news.

North End was a hamlet in the parish of Fulham. At the beginning of the C19th North End Road and Great West Road were still country roads that ran through an area of market gardens and orchards, with a number of grand houses built along the main thoroughfares. These houses, according to Thomas Faulkner in his 'History of Fulham' (1813) , were 'successively occupied by several eminent and remarkable characters' but by the time Edward Walford was writing 'Old and New London' in the late 1870s, these had 'for the most part disappeared'. North End Villa, later called North End House, was built in c.1791 set back from the main road in nearly 7 acres of grounds including a lake. It was once owned by James Wild, a wealthy man who was a collector of curiosities and also a nonconformist, who had a strong presence in Fulham in Victorian times. Wild founded Ebenezer Chapel, an early nonconformist chapel on North End Road in 1842. When North End House was remodelled in 1840 its grounds were landscaped as an informal park. The 1851 census records that the gardener was a William Clink or Clint, who lived at the Gardener's Cottage at North End Villa. The OS map of 1871 shows the house and its wooded grounds.

By the latter part of the C19th housing development in Fulham was accelerating. In 1882, the adjacent property to the west of North End House, The Cedars, was demolished and its site developed for housing, and by the late 1880s North End House was surrounded by new houses of the Gunter Estate. The western part of the grounds was sold in 1897 to Henry Lovatt who laid out Fitzgeorge Avenue and built a series of mansion blocks, designed by architect Delissa Joseph (1859-1927). The development was enlarged in 1898 and Fitzjames Avenue was laid out with more substantial mansion blocks on the north side, which were described in the press at the time as 'the grandest of the West Kensington mansion flats, with lifts and separate servants quarters'. In 1928 North End House was demolished following a fire and its site developed with further mansion blocks on North End Road in the 1930s, and in 1937/8 two 8-storey blocks, the maximum permissible height at the time, were built off Fitzjames Avenue, this part of the development taking the name of the original house. Designed by Joseph Architects, each of the handsome red-brick blocks actually comprises four buildings set in cruciform plan around an open court that is linked at ground level. To the rear of the blocks to the south a triangular garden area was laid out that retains a number of fine, mature trees.

The modern garden was designed by Group Captain E T Haylock around two old trees. The green space is separated from the car park by a brick wall that has the bricks laid in various patterns. Unfortunately a catalpa, which was very old, has been cut down although a new trunk is growing from the stool. There is a path round the catalpa, a lawn, seats and a surrounding bed planted with roses and other shrubs. There is some shrub planting around the buildings. Along Fitzjames and Fitzgeorge Avenues the older apartment blocks have raised beds planted with evergreen ground cover and low shrubs.

Sources consulted:

Barbara Denny 'Fulham Past' (Historical Publications), 1997; LB Hammersmith & Fulham 'Fitzgeorge & Fitzjames Conservation Area Character Profile', 2000.

Grid ref:

TQ243786 (524400,178630)

Size in hectares:

Site ownership:

Private

Site management:

Date(s):

1791; late 1930s

Designer(s):

Mansion blocks: Joseph Architects

Listed structures:

None

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

Fitzgeorge and Fitzjames

Tree Preservation Order:

Yes - see note below

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

TPO 25/9/70 Catalpa, Prunus (3) Horse Chestnut Ailanthus lime (5) Acer (3)