The Grove, Highgate, N6 is a short tree-lined street in northLondon, running north fromHighgate West Hill to Hampstead Lane, known for the notable residents who have lived there over several centuries.
The line of The Grove follows the eastern boundary of an estate which at the beginning of the 17th century belonged to the Warner family, several members of which held prominent positions in theCity of London.[1] The Estate'sTudor mansion was Dorchester House, described in 1620 as The Blewhouse,[2] which stood in what is now the courtyard ofWitanhurst, the palatial mansion on Highgate West Hill whose entrance marks the southern end of The Grove.
Dorchester House came into the possession of William Blake in the mid 17th century, who in 1688 built numbers 1 to 6 The Grove in the part of its garden nearer the house, having earlier leased an acre at the rear of the garden on which SirFrancis Pemberton built Grove House a decade earlier.[1] This house was later demolished to make way for the remainder of the houses on the west side of the street, numbers 7 to 13, built from the early 19th century.
The oldvillage green, and one of its three ponds, occupied most of the east side of the street until 1844, when theNew River Company acquired the land for a coveredreservoir to supply the Village with piped water for the first time.[3] South of the covered reservoir small remnants of the village green survive, whilst on the north east side of the street there are two modest apartment buildings, Old Well House and Fitzroy Lodge.
All the buildings in The Grove areListed, either Grade II or II*, apart from numbers 12 and 13 which were built in 2015 and Old Well House, built in the early 20th century.[4]
No.1: ActressGladys Cooper and her husband, publisherNeville Pearson;[2] JournalistPatrick Sergeant[5]
No.2: ViolinistYehudi Menuhin;[2] musicianSting and his wife, actressTrudie Styler[6]
No.3: PoetSamuel Taylor Coleridge; playwrightJ. B. Priestley;[2] modelKate Moss[7]
No.4: Diplomat and managing editor ofThe Times, SirCampbell Stuart,GCMG,KBE,KStJ;[8] ExecutiveCob Stenham and daughters, the eldest of whom is playwrightPolly Stenham; TVchef, restaurateur, and cookbook author,Jamie Oliver
No.5: Appeal judgeSir Edward Fry and children: artistRoger, social reformerJoan, illustratorAgnes and prison reformerMargery;[2] musicianGeorge Michael[6]
No.6: MusicianAnnie Lennox and her husband, film producerUri Fruchtmann[6]
No.7: Manager of the Marine Insurance Co., Robert John Lodge, who was also treasurer of theHighgate Literary and Scientific Institution (1880–1893)
No.8: ActorsRobert Donat andRenée Asherson[9]
No.9: PoliticianBeresford Craddock;[10] SpyAnthony Blunt; industrialistJohn Sutton Nettlefold[2]
Fitzroy Lodge: Scottish ComedianStanley Baxter
51°34′13″N0°09′05″W / 51.5704°N 0.1515°W /51.5704; -0.1515