Holly Village (Victorian Gothic Cottages) - Highgate - Camden - London
Holly Village was built in 1865 by Baroness Burdett-Coutts, a remarkable but little known Victorian philanthropist, a biography of whom - written by Lady Healey - was published in 1978. The style of the village is romantic cottage orne, pioneered by Nash in Regent's Park and at Blaise Hamlet in Bristol, but with a mid-Victorian twist of Gothic revival. They were designed by Burdett-Coutts's favourite architect, Henry Darbishire, who went on to design some of the first flats built by that other great Victorian philanthropist, George Peabody. At Holly Village, Darbishire gave his imagination free rein. His flights of fancy include two detached houses with timber-framed towers, topped with Gothic spires which wouldn't look out of place on a medieval cathedral. Everywhere the Victorian workmanship and materials are of the highest quality, with elaborate hardwood ogee-shaped porches and several styles of heavily carved wooden eaves giving an almost Alpine feel. Today, the village and its 12 houses, arranged around a communal garden with freshly clipped verges and scrunchy gravel paths, are well maintained. On a summer's day, residents can be found reading newspapers on their patios, trimming and watering their shrubs and chatting to their neighbours. It is a private hamlet with no public access, but once inside the gates there is a sense of community far removed from the heavily guarded and anonymous gated communities so favoured by today's developers. Source: Daily Telegraph.
Size: 4900px × 3267px
Location: Camden, London, England, UK
Photo credit: © Robert Stainforth / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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