08 Feb 2025: Architecture, Artists and Spies !! – London NW

This was a point-to-point walk from Hampstead Heath, then SSE to Goodge Street, London.

The route was an architectural walk, passing through the Belsize Park to Fitzrovia via Primrose Hill and Regents Park. Architecturally, the route passed by property designs through the ages from Georgian, Regency, Victorian, Arts & Crafts, Queen Anne, Art Deco and Modernism (Brutalist and Minimalistic). Our walk leader Khris compiled series of stories to guide our route, with regular stops to highlight the silent history lurking behind key buildings.

The usual stats:

Event led by Khris R.
Attendance: 2 women and 28 men, of whom 1 person was a guest.
Distance: 6.08 miles (9.8 km).
Altitude per GPS: low 229ft (69.8m), high 485ft (147.8m), climb 229ft (69.8m), descent 436ft (132.9m).
Time: start 11:10, end 15:22 (sunset 16:13), lunch 41 minutes, other breaks 34 minutes.
Speed: moving arithmetic average 2.06mph (3.3kph).
Terrain: pavement.
Weather: persistent drizzle and light rain, cold, temperature range between 4°C and 6°C, easterly wind ~7mph (11.3kph).
Number of sewage works: 0.
Number of churches: 6 (including quasi-churches).
Number of golf courses: 0.
Number of Waitroses (London only): 0.

Particular points of interest

Belsize Village is small pocket of loveliness in one of London’s least known and quiet areas, a true gem that has little to offer the tourists – they can go flood Hampstead proper! – and therefore some sanctuary for the locals. There is a really good cafe in the village – Roni’s Bakery – at which a number of us took lunch. The village also has a deli store and a fishmonger.
The Fiztrovia Chapel was the highlight of the route. A small piece of bejewelled bling in the middle of a series of apartment blocks, it happened to be open to visitors on the day, so nearly everybody on the walk got the chance to walk in for a few minutes. It was a tad difficult to appreciate, given that the small chapel was absolutely packed with tourists – you could see the ceiling, but not really the floor – so likely worth a future visit when the crowds might one day be lesser.
Fitzrovia was also the location of a fascinating work of public art, “The One and the Many”, by Peter Randall-Page in 2015. A lump of rock patiently sits close to the middle of the small plaza, engraved with words in as any written languages as one could conceive. Thankfully, this artwork has a website to spell out its interpretation: https://theoneandthemany.co.uk/.
The walk ended in the middle of Fitzrovia, another small pocket of loveliness hidden in plain sight of Tottenham Court Road, packed with small businesses offering niche products and lots of eateries. Fitzrovia has its own neighbourhood association and now has an article in the Not-So-Secret-Anymore London.
Khris has kindly published his notes, which are available to download from here. Khris’ notes cover many more details than would be possible in this event report. A downloadable route map is also available from the notes page.

Churches:

St John’s Church at Downshire Hill, “a bible-believing Anglian church”, a grade I listed building.
St Dominc’s Priory (history, wiki), the Rosary Shrine at Malden Road. Building completed in 1883. A grade II* listed building.
St Stephen’s Church, a former church, Rosslyn Hill by Pond Street, a g rade I listed building.
Air Studios, a former Congregational church.
St Mary the Virgin Church, Primrose Hill
the unconsecrated Fitzrovia Chapel, formerly of the Middlesex Hospital, Pearson Square.