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It's one of London's most recognisable residential streets — but where exactly is it?
Naturally, when I visit Hillfield Park in Muswell Hill, it is finger-numbingly cold, the mizzle casting a grey gauze over what is supposed to be one of the finest panoramas of London. The trees flanking the phalanx of redbrick villas cascading down towards the hazy vista are bare. It's still like walking into a Shutterstock photo — only one that's slightly pixelated, the saturation dialled down.
On a brighter day, when the villas glow a healthy russet and the shape of One Canada Square; the squiggle of the ArcelorMittal Orbit are crisp on the horizon*, Hillfield Park is a stock photographer's dream. It stars in a multitude of articles about London's property market, regardless of whether Muswell Hill itself is relevant to said article (spoiler alert: Haringey — especially this part of Haringey — is not London's most affordable borough).
Much as the relocated Crystal Palace made Sydenham and its surrounds trendy during the 1850s, the arrival of Alexandra Palace in 1875 (and just ahead of it, Muswell Hill railway station) spurred growth in this part of north London, and developers were ready to take advantage — one in particular.
In 1896, James Edmondson, since known as the 'Highbury Builder', bought up 30 acres of land around here, and set about building a series of beautiful shopping parades and houses. The Broadway in Highbury Park was one of Edmondson's first major projects (there's a plaque to him there) and he also built The Limes, The Elms, Princes Avenue and Queens Avenue.
Queen's Parade — home to the inimitable W Martyn greengrocers — is another Edmondson confection, and just off it runs his finest residential triumph, Hillfield Park. Remarkably handsome with their arched porches and ornate window frames, these fin de siècle houses boast all the gorgeousness of any Edmondson creation. But they're made all the more impressive by their dramatic stepped formation.
Locals at the time recognised Edmondson's worth. "Muswell Hill has been built by men who may almost be counted on the fingers of one hand, and it is certainly a credit to its builders," gushed the Muswell Hill Record in 1908. "Foremost among the men who made our beautiful suburb is Mr James Edmondson, who may indeed claim the credit of discovering Muswell Hill."
Not only were Edmondson's buildings easy on the eye, he cared deeply for the whole mise en scène, retaining many of the mature trees, and lending Muswell Hill's streets their much sought-after leafiness. Edmondson went as far as gifting locals a pocket park on Prince Avenue, to ensure the security of a mature cedar. The park remains, as does a large fluffy cedar, presumably the one Edmondson saved.
From the get-go, residents of Hillfield Park would've been reasonably salubrious. A North Middlesex Chronicle from 1905 advertises apartments at Number 13 for "A City gentleman; bath (hot and cold); near stations."
Hillfield Park's most famous resident, however, didn't arrive for another 90 years. Vivian Stanshall of Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band fame spent the last five years of his life in a flat at 21 Hillfield Park. It was on the doorstep here that Stanshall was interviewed by a journalist from the Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine in 1992, resulting in a stilted Q and A.
A regretful Stanshall rang the journalist a few days later with a request: "Dear boy, I’ve been having second thoughts. I wonder if we mightn't do the interview again?". In 1995, a fire broke out at Stanshall's home; a blue plaque outside the flat remembers the musician, although not the blaze that killed him.
James Edmondson may be the lesser-known name of these two men, but even if Muswell Hillians don't recognise the name, they appreciate his handiwork day in, day out. "Mr Edmondson is confident that Muswell Hill will continue to increase in importance and attractiveness," concludes the 1908 Muswell Hill Record piece, "The proportion of empty houses is small, and fresh residents continue to come in from other districts as new houses are built. The demand for houses is very good." Well over a century later, the demand for houses here is very, very good. Someone should write an article about that. I've got just the stock image to accompany it.
Suffice to say, if you decide to visit Hillfield Park, it's very much a residential street, so do show courtesy to the locals.
*Also visible as part of the street's panorama is Edmondson's Topsfield Parade — a gabled beaut that mirrors Queen's Parade.
