Buyers of high end properties are well known for their preference for London’s prime central pockets but head just a few miles out and you get the best of both worlds. There aren’t many places where you get easy access to the capital’s delights, yet where you can live in a peaceful neighbourhood which feels more like a village than one of the world’s major cities.
Less than five miles from Charing Cross, Highgate’s charm will help you leave that city stress far behind. Thanks to its active conservation society, you’ll find plenty of mainly Georgian homes as well as shops, pubs and restaurants clustered around its thriving high street. But, nestled between ancient woodland and Hampstead Heath there’s also heaps of green space to explore.
Perched high on a hill, many Highgate homes have stunning views, especially near Highgate Cemetery, so it’s no wonder it’s long been a favourite of the well-heeled. From Highgate it’s a short stroll across the heath to Hampstead which has its own village-like atmosphere and where a café culture thrives in its tree-lined streets.
Unsurprisingly, both neighbourhoods are among London’s priciest spots but Richard Galland, managing director of Octagon’s North London division, explains why they remain such draws for buyers.
“Highgate offers high end buyers a sense of village-like privacy and seclusion, which is hard to come by so close to central London. Hampstead Heath, which commands superlative views over the city, is on your doorstep, and international buyers are particularly seduced by the excellent private schooling in the area.”
The Grove Villas, The Grove, Highgate Village, N6
There has been little housebuilding activity for well over 100 years on The Grove, probably one of Highgate Village’s most beautiful unspoilt roads. Now, behind their classic period facades, in total harmony with the adjoining listed houses on The Grove, these two brand new Georgian style townhouses have been designed to the highest specification.
Both houses have exceptionally spacious and light-filled accommodation, including five double bedrooms, a cinema and entertainments room, gym, separate studio apartment and a glass lift. One has been stylishly decorated and furnished as the show house, by Sarah Ward, Chelsea Harbour based interior and furniture designer. Outside, each house has precious off street parking and a secluded rear garden.
£8.95m / €12.82m / $13.97m – £9.25m / €13.25m / $14.43m for the furnished show house
Glentree International +44 (0)20 8209 1149
Select streets
Mr Abrahmson has sold multiple homes on perhaps the neighbourhood’s most famous street, Bishops Avenue.
“It is probably one of the best-known roads in the world and ranks shoulder to shoulder with some of the most iconic roads internationally such as Rodeo Drive, Worth Avenue and Wall Street. Here you can buy a landmark mansion equipped with every ‘state-of-the-art’ amenity and your arrival as a major financial player in the world will be self-evident.”
The Grove is another historic, desirable street with listed properties overlooking the Flask Public House on one side and the heath on the other and attracting a celebrity clientele over the years such as Jude Law, Kate Moss and George Michael. Here, Octagon is building two magnificent Belgravia styled houses.
“There is a strong local market for these properties,”
says Mr Abrahmson,
“but international buyers will be intrigued by Octagon’s recreation of an historic home that we feel sure will, in time, be listed and the opportunity to buy part of ‘English Heritage’ is available.”
Richard Bernstone of Aston Chase is watching parts of Hampstead evolve.
“South Hampstead is becoming more appealing to buyers because of value and to developers who can create individual homes,”
he says. Oakhill’s director Lee Cash says the recent addition of the new French School, ‘La Petite Ecole Bilingue’ has given the area a boost.
“It has resulted in drawing many international buyers finding their way towards NW6.”
Camilla Dell, managing partner of independent property buying agency, Black Brick, finds that the area attracts celebrities and people working in film, music, television and theatre – pointing to famous residents including Emma Bunton, Jamie Oliver, David Walliams and Chris Evans.
“The extra space has allowed for developers to build much larger houses than you expect to find closer to London, which stops the high street feeling too overcrowded. The wonderful thing about living in Hampstead is that you can feel as if you are in a small country village, and yet you are just a 20 minute car ride away from the busy West End and central London,”
she says.
Ms Dell increasingly helps buyers from overseas settle in Hampstead and Highgate.
“More recently, Hampstead has also begun to attract the overseas buyer, particularly on super prime addresses such as Winnington Road and The Bishops Avenue, where homes can fetch well over £50 million. We have represented and looked after several clients in this area, including buyers from Nigeria, Russia and the UK.”
Langtry House, Hampstead NW3
Described as a mini oasis, this property is in a discreet position opposite the vast open spaces of Hampstead Heath. The three-bedroom, three bathroom contemporary house comprises 320m2 over two floors and has been built to an exacting standard.
The architect has cleverly created large open plan living spaces with a 25’ ceiling height in the main reception area, a comprehensively fitted Poggenpohl kitchen/breakfast area with direct access on to a central core sunken deck, a family room, gym, cinema, wine cellar and plant room. The principal bedroom suite leads on to the patio garden while the two other bedroom suites also have dedicated outside access.
£5m / €7.2 m / $7.8m Aston Chase +44 (0)20 7724 4724
Neville Drive, Hampstead Garden Suburb, N2
In a highly sought after location directly backing on to and featuring magnificent views over Hampstead Golf Course, this lateral family house has a sweeping carriage drive. It is presented in excellent decorative order throughout and provides spacious and versatile family accommodation just moments away from Hampstead Heath Extension, an open space to the north-west of the main heath.
£5.95m / €8.5m / $9.3m
Aston Chase +44 (0)20 7724 4724
Gisiana House, Frognal, Hampstead Village
Handsome, double fronted house of 678m2 set behind a carriage driveway in the heart of Hampstead Village. The property, which has undergone an extensive and time consuming refurbishment, features opulent living accommodation and includes a private screening room, pool room, landscaped rear garden and a hydraulic car lift.
£11.95m / €17.11m / $18.64m
Aston Chase +44 (0)20 7724 4724
Hurstbourne, Bishopswood Road, Highgate
This exceptional, restored Victorian residence with its red brick façade, period features and architectural details reveals a home of grand proportions that has been carefully modernised for 21st century living. It includes a grand master bedroom suite, a further five large en suite bedrooms, formal reception rooms, a swimming pool, spa area, gym and a cinema/media room. The impeccably landscaped garden with its collection of trees planted in the 1920s secretly conceals the basement leisure and entertainment suite below.
£14m / €20m / $21.9m
Glentree International +44 (0)20 8209 1149
Fitzroy Park, Highgate
Contemporary house designed by Stanton Williams and lovingly created by the current owners. It has already won a regional RIBA Award and been nominated for a national award due to its spectacular space providing for exceptional family living in 21st century context.
Features include a 52 foot drawing/dining room living space opening into a 39 foot kitchen/breakfast room, all with sliding glass doors opening on to the garden. The property has five to six bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, a terrace with outdoor heated swimming pool, double garage with parking for two cars and further off-street parking behind electronic gates.
£11m / €15.75m / $17.16m
Glentree International +44 (0)20 8458 7311
Enduring appeal
Mr Galland may build prime new homes but he’s quick to credit the area’s conservation society for ensuring its heritage and atmosphere remain special.
“With the Highgate Society continuing to protect the character of the area, it is very much an exclusive postcode, and once buyers purchase here, they rarely want to leave.”
New build is rare in the area but Mr Galland is proud to have created something special.
“We have had the rare, exciting opportunity to build two Georgian style villas on The Grove, and our priority was to blend these new homes in with the surrounding architecture – it’s an unspoilt area, and we wanted to keep it that way.”
Glentree International is the selling agent for The Grove and their MD Trevor Abrahmson has sold luxury homes in and around Hampstead and Highgate’s historic villages for years to what he calls ‘discerning buyers from the capital and abroad’.
“It is easy to see why this residential enclave is so desirable since it ‘ticks many boxes’. You can buy properties with gardens up to 11 acres in size at prices that are a quarter of what Kensington, Holland Park or Knightsbridge have to offer. Nine hundred acres of parkland separate these two villages with an abundance of flora and fauna.”
Mr Abrahmson recalls the 17th-18th centuries, when he says ‘London was a dirty and smelly place’ and people made a pilgrimage to Hampstead and Highgate to partake of their ‘healing’ waters and clean air. Today they come for the schools.
“This is certainly the place to bring up families with its proximity to the all-important American School, a Mecca for international folk, and Highgate School, probably the best facilitated public school in a major metropolis anywhere in the world,
“Highgate and Hampstead golf courses are on the doorstep, unique for most major financial capitals says Mr Abrahmson who has watched many nationalities settle here. “The Russian Trade Delegation Compound in Highgate, West Hill, has been attracting international clientele ever since the Soviet Era and it’s no wonder that the area immediately around it, at Fitzroy Park, was the chosen place for all the East European/Russian buyers in the 90s, to the present day.”
