walk/tour
Parking area adjacent to Golders Hill Park Cafe, North End Way
Hampstead Garden Suburb was a planned community for all classes, including a growing number of single working women. On this walk we will explore the variety of housing designed specifically for women including communal living and training facilities.
Hampstead, Golders Green
210
Our walk will start at the parking area just inside the North End Road entrance to Golders Hill Park, near the cafe. The park entrance is approximately a 15 minute walk from the Golders Green station, or a 5 minute bus ride from Golders Green and a 10 minute bus ride from the Hampstead Underground station.
Most of our walk will be on pavement, with a short section on Heath paths that include a few stairs. Please wear appropriate shoes.
When the Garden Suburb was first contemplated, almost a third of all women in England were in paid employment, and from the outset the community included accommodation for single working women of all classes. Financed through a mix of philanthropy and creative capitalism, the new community included housing for the growing number of middle-class working women and live-in training for those less well-off. Preserved buildings provide an opportunity to examine what society deemed 'appropriate' for women at a time when the class structure was at its most rigid.
This walk wanders through one of best preserved areas of Edwardian architecture in London surrounding the open expanse of the Hampstead Heath Extension and dotted with beautiful public gardens.
This tour is led by a participant of Open City’s Golden Key Academy – a course training up insightful and engaging guides dedicated to explaining London and bringing its many stories to life. It is part of a wider collection of tour events created by Golden Key Academy guides for the Open House Festival celebrating their conclusion of the eight month course.
Further information on the Golden Key Academy can be found here https://open-city.org.uk/golden-key-academy
