Design Guide

• Back to PLANNING

• Introduction
• The design of the garden suburb
• New Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust
• Barnet Council
• The Trust and the Council
• Extensions
• Building materials and details
• Walling materials
• Tiles
• Roofs
• Dormer windows & loft conversions
• Gutters and pipes
• Chimneys
• Porches
• Windows and doors
• Garages and parking spaces
• Garden buildings
• Fences, walls and hedges
• Landscaping and trees
• Satellite dishes
• Shopfronts and advertisements
• Listed buildings
• Glossary
• Making applications to:
• The Trust
• Barnet Council
• Additional information

Building materials and details

A good design can be spoilt if carried out with unsuitable materials and poor detailing. As early as 1907, the ‘old’ Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust introduced ‘regulations as to buildings’. These stated that:

‘the company’s Architects do not ask for elaborate elevations, but attach importance to the proportions of the buildings and their parts, also to their suitability to the particular site, and to the other buildings in the vicinity.

These standards still hold good today. The starting point should always be the original materials and detailing of the existing house. Workmanship was typically of a good standard, and the quality of the original should be matched. When considering building work or replacement, see if it is possible to:

• repair rather than replace original windows and doors;
• use replicas for small extensions;
• build walls in matching brick or rendering;
• roof in matching tiles.

The Suburb has countless examples of simples designs made more effective by the attention given to the treatment of chimneys, roof eaves, dormer windows, porches, doors and windows. Anyone thinking of an extension or alteration would do well to walk through mature and well maintained residential areas and note he ingenuity with which these details were handled.

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