Gilling Court

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History

Built just first before Holmefield Court, the 104 flats of Gilling Court were planned as a four storey building, and development continued into 1934 with a design for a ‘covered way’ between Gilling Court and Holmefield Court. Also in 1934 plans were laid for a swimming pool located between Gilling Court and Holmefield Court. [There is a photograph of the 1934 plan for this together with other photographs of the original plans for Gilling Court.]

As a consequence of the building of Gilling Court, Haverstock Hill and Belsize Grove were widened

Press advertisements selling Gilling Court started in 1933, when sale notices appeared every week, and continued up to June 1939. Early advertisements show a picture the mansion block and a ‘Bedroom convertible into sitting room’.

The first advertisements referred mainly to the flats rather than the amenity of the block as a whole. They first mentioned ‘luxury flats’ but subsequently advertisements were for ‘luxury flatlets (larger flats as required)’ ‘in London’s healthiest district‘. Gilling Court offered ‘a wide range of charming residences’ and the rents were ‘£80 to £140 per annum’. ‘Each flat includes own its entrance hall, with ample accommodation. It comes with its own bathroom replete with every modern device and its own kitchen with generous cupboard space and a gas or electric cooker. One-room flatlets have in addition a bedroom with built-in “Fold-away” beds (single or double) and fully fitted wardrobes‘. It ‘provides a charming sitting room - instantly convertible into a luxury bed room’. There was: ‘Central Heating. Constant Hot Water. Lift to all Floors. Inspection invited daily and week-ends, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., or write for details.’

By June 1933 the advantage of the area and of Gilling Court as an entity was being emphasised. Gilling Court ‘offers the residential and social facilities of a first class Hotel at extraordinary low rents. Situated in London’s highest and healthiest district Gilling Court is readily accessible from all parts of London by Tube and Road. Outwardly imposing and impressive the modern lines of this magnificent structure are enhanced by a wide drive and forecourt with delightful lawns and gardens at the rear. The main entrance incorporates a reception lounge of inspired dignity and charm complete with lift to all floors.’ ‘Every device giving convenience and comfort is provided including electrical and central heating and tasteful decoration.’

Residents of Gilling Court first appeared in the 1934 Electoral Register. [Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre - Electoral Registers] As the Electoral Registers were compiled some months before publication Gilling Court were occupied from the beginning though it seems it was some time before the mansion block was full.

In 1934 the advertisements for flats were smaller and the restaurant and housemaid services, together with the roof garden, were advertised. One of the advertisements ran as follows: ‘At popular Gilling Court Exceptional Circumstances result in a one-bed roomed flat being vacant. Complete with special bed, bathroom, and roomy kitchenette, only £87 p.m. inclusive - optional housemaid and restaurant services, roof garden.’

Advertisements in November 1934 showed the swimming pool, shared with Holmefield Court. The blurb said that ‘as a result of alterations a few vacancies occur in this well-known and extremely popular building. One bed roomed flats each with bathroom and kitchen …… Decorations to choice. Lovely gardens with swimming pool.’

Further advertisements were still being placed in 1937 including one talking of the ‘last remaining’ of the Gilling Court flats, though advertisements continued right up to 1939. In December 1938 advertisements for Gilling Court referred to ‘The Right Flats for the Right People at the Right Rent’ and a 1939 advertisement said ’The servant problem is non-existent at Gilling Court.’

As expected with Hampstead people Gilling Court residents have been keen to write to The Times on a variety of subjects from the moment that Gilling Court was built.

A resident in 1933 sent a letter about the ‘noise nuisance’ of motor vehicles and advised that the use of motor silences did not adversely affect a car’s performance.

In 1936 smuggling was alleged against two French women who were fined when they were charged with fraudulent attempts to evade duties on dresses and hats imported from Paris. One of the women lived in Gilling Court, and they were described as dressmakers and milliners. They were fined £150 - a lot of money at the time - with ‘two guineas’ in costs. The judge summed up by saying that it was the most ‘serious case of system. smuggling for a long time’.

Gilling Court residents showed a wide selection of occupations from the start. A stamp dealer advertised from 11 Gilling Court for stamps for sale in 1937. Between December 1938 and January 1939 a Viennese married couple, as a ‘butler and cook’ at 98 Gilling Court, sought (several times) a ‘position in the country‘.

In 1939 a Kurt Rautenberg of 39 Gilling Court applied to the Home Secretary for naturalization possibly showing in a domestic setting the turmoil that was happening to in Europe at the time.

In a sad, and slightly bizarre, event in 1947 a woman of Gilling Court was killed when the horse she was riding put his head through a bus window in the country. The fate of the injured horse was not known.

In 1984 a planning application was made, by Peaktop Properties (Hampstead) Limited, to build at Gilling Court (and Holmefield Court) additional floors each of 10% of the cubic content of the original building each comprising 10% of the ‘gross floor space last used for residential purposes (after adjustment is made for the garages)’. The development was to comprise 14 flats in total but approval was refused by the planning authority.

In 2000 Miss Deepa Gulhane, a tenant of 50 Gilling Court, argued her case against Haigside Limited, the landlord, before the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal. Her claim was that a fair price for an agreed extension of the lease of 50 Gilling Court was £1,500. The landlord however proposed a price of £18,000. Though by the time of the hearing, Miss Gulhane had increased the price to £5,600 and the landlords had dropped to £10,000, there had obviously been no agreement about the remaining difference.

The Tribunal inspected the flat on the day of the hearing. Gilling Court was described as ‘a large four storey block of flats built in the 1930's in a residential road, consisting mainly of blocks of flats built in varying styles. The block was conveniently situated for the underground at Belsize Park and the local shops. There was a pleasant garden at the front of the block.’ Other parts of Gilling Court were described less favourably but the description was given by the tenant’s advisers!

In the flat ‘the shower/w.c had been installed in an area of accommodation which had been added to the flat.’

Belsize Grove

Though Belsize Grove was officially approved as its name in 1885, Belsize Grove was formerly known as Haverstock Terrace (1901), Haverstock Gardens, and Belsize Park Gardens. Originally Belsize Grove consisted of large houses.

F W Watts (1800-1862), a landscape artist much influenced by Constable, lived in Belsize Grove and another artist, John Farleigh (1900-1965), noted for his wood engravings, also lived there. Other eminent residents of Belsize Grove in the twentieth century were the arts critic and broadcaster, Jack Lambert; the actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft; and the architect Richard Rogers, ‘the high priest of hi-tech’.

In 1946 the Elizabeth Garret Anderson Hospital bought the Hampstead Nursing Home at 40 Belsize Grove and it was opened by Queen Mary in 1948 as the Garrett Anderson Maternity Home, a maternity unit with 27 beds. Elizabeth Garrett (1836 - 1917) was the first woman to qualify as a doctor in England. In 1872, the year after her marriage to J.G.S.Anderson, she opened the New Hospital for Women, renamed the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital after her death in 1917. The Garrett Anderson Maternity Home in Belsize Grove has been recently replaced by town houses.

Belsize Terrace

Belsize Terrace was originally Upper Belsize Terrace, in the late 1850s. Belsize Terrace, as Upper Belsize Terrace, was officially approved as a name in 1861 and the order was affirmed in 1934.

‘The Village’ shopping centre is at the corner of Belsize Terrace and Belsize Lane and is a kind of village green. William Willett, senior, created the green by giving up some land in 1876 to widen (Upper) Belsize Terrace. Originally there was a dairy shop at Belsize Terrace, attached to Belsize Farm. The shop was ‘a purveyor of goat’s and “asses” milk’.

We Know Mansion Blocks

The first mansion blocks were built in Paris in the early 19th Century, providing luxurious residences for the growing urban upper middle classes. As the Industrial Revolution spread throughout Europe it brought about a population boom in the major cities, and mansion blocks were devised to provide luxurious housing for wealthy white collar workers. As the centre of the cities became increasingly crowded the blocks provided this growing class with housing that boasted impressive entrances, generous elevations and balconies reminiscent of mansions.

In spite of their popularity on the continent, Londoners were initially sceptical about this new style of accommodation. In the 1850s a spacious mansion flat would set back the buyer somewhere in the order of £50-200, but the idea of living in such a communal manner was entirely contradictory to the dominant Victorian social ideals of the age. Firstly, and most importantly, apartment dwellings were simply not considered ‘proper’, but it was not just a case of old English snobbery; there was also widely held fear that this new type of residence would increase the risk of burglary and the spread of infection and disease.

However, by the 1880s London society had gradually warmed to the idea and the decade was marked by a flurry of mansion block construction across the city.

We Know Belsize Park

Renowned for evading the public eye, Belsize Park was a historical secret until 1317 when Edward II’s Lord Chief Justice left 57 acres of land to the monks of Westminster. During these times Belsize was a sub-division of the manor of Hampstead and the church let out parcels of land to those they saw fit to build country mansions on their glorious estate.

The first streets of Belsize were laid in the 1850s and from 1870 to 1900 many of the surviving stretches of greenery eroded as main thoroughfares developed. While Belsize Park remained an “in between area”, set between the hustling heart of the city and the smaller nucleus of Hampstead, an influx of the “comfortably-off conferred upon this area of London an indentity of a kind…” (Saint, A. 2000)

The term Belsize – first applied in the early 18th Century – was adapted from the French term Bel Assis, meaning ‘beautifully situated’. Belsize Park was coined in 1870 when property developer Daniel Tidey orchestrated an extensive construction project in the area. Two hundred years later and the name is more appropriate than ever.