Spotlight on Temple Fortune and Hampstead Garden Suburb

This month we focus on Temple Fortune, and Hampstead Garden Suburb.

• Temple Fortune dates back to the Middle-ages and to the Knights Templar, a medieval Christian military order. It developed into a community in the nineteenth century with the arrival of the Finchley Road.
• Hampstead Garden Suburb was established as a social experiment in 1907, creating a beautiful and healthy place to live in London. Since then, the two areas have been intertwined as within a few years, the eastern side of Temple Fortune was developed as part of the ‘artisans’ quarter’ of?Hampstead Garden Suburb. Shopping parades with flats above were built as part of the suburb’s quirky philosophy of banishing commercial enterprise to the fringes of the estate.
• Today, Temple Fortune offers a great location between the exclusivity of Hampstead and the affordability of Golders Green. The area shares a mixture of fine Grade II listed double fronted semi-detached houses with immense charm, family homes and popular residential blocks.
• Transport links are an asset. Golders Green station on the Northern Line is in Zone 3; an annual Travelcard covering Zone 1-3 currently costs £1,424. For more intrepid travellers, regular National Express coaches run from the bus station to Stansted and Luton airports and the North. It has a reputation for being a safe area with plentiful night buses.
• Temple Fortune Parade is home to Joseph’s bookstore, fishmonger Sam Stoller & Son and several contemporary cafes such as Nu Nosh and Piacere, as well as a Waitrose and M&S Food.
• The area is rightfully proud of its excellent state schools, in particular Brookland and Garden Suburb primaries, and top-performing girls’ secondary school, Henrietta Barnett.
• Princes Park was laid out in 1923 and includes two tennis courts and a children’s playground.