[2] Hampstead Garden Suburb was founded by Henrietta Barnett, who, with her husband Samuel, had started the Whitechapel Art Gallery and Toynbee Hall.

In 1906 Barnett set up the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust Ltd, which purchased 243 acres of land from Eton College for the scheme and appointed Raymond Unwin as its architect.

Other consultant architects involved with the Hampstead development include George Lister Sutcliffe and John Soutar.

However with no industry, no public houses and few shops or services, the suburb, unlike the garden cities, made no attempt to be self-contained.

Shopping areas adjacent to the suburb include Temple Fortune, Golders Green and East Finchley.

Urban town planning had been restricted by the bylaws established after the Public Health Act 1875, which had de facto called for a grid-iron street layout and a minimum housing density.

For Unwin to design a street structure that followed the contours and build houses in cul-de-sacs an act of Parliament was needed.

It recognised the difference between cul-de-sac roads of limited length and other roads, and allowed the suspension of the operation of certain local planning bye-laws [6] The Suburb has large areas of open space, including Central Square; Hampstead Heath Extension; Northway Gardens; Lyttelton Playing Fields; and Big Wood and Little Wood.