Guide To Belsize Park

Belsize Park is home to an arty set. Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow and her ex-husband Coldplay frontman husband Chris Martin own two adjacent mid-Victorian villas, while actress Helena Bonham Carter and her film director ex-h Tim Burton live in two mews houses with a connecting door.

Belsize Park is three and a half miles from central London, south of Hampstead and north of Chalk Farm and Primrose Hill. Its name is reputed to derive from the French "bel assis" or "well-seated". Development started in the mid-19th century when large stucco mansions around Belsize Square were built to rival Kensington and Bayswater. Later, small Arts & Crafts-influenced houses and mansion flats were built.

It also has a small concentration of art deco and modern movement buildings, including Stanbury Court deco flats on Haverstock Hill, and houses on Garnett Road and Parkhill Road, while the Isokon building on Lawn Road, by architect Wells Coates, is one of this country's finest London examples of modern-movement architecture.

Belsize Park is popular with European buyers who are used to apartment living, but there is also a strong local market of people trading up from a one-bedroom flat to a two or three-bedroom flat.

Staying power

Families who want a house tend to move out because of the jump from a flat to house prices many people out of Belsize Park.

Postcode

Belsize Park falls into NW3, the desirable Hampstead postcode which also includes Chalk Farm and part of Primrose Hill.

Best roads

Belsize Park Gardens, Belsize Square and Eton Avenue.

Renting 

Deniz Orhan, the lettings manager at Zuplex, says most renters are young professionals. People like the period conversions for their high ceilings, cornices and wooden floors.

What's new?

De Laszlo House in Fitzjohn's Avenue is a development of three interlinked Arts & Crafts-style houses. One was the home of the royal portrait painter Philip de Laszlo who painted Edward VII in 1907 and Princess Elizabeth in 1933. There are 18 two-, three- and four-bedroom flats and prices range from £1.45 million to £3.85 million.

Up and coming

James Staite tips The Etons, Thirties blocks near Chalk Farm Tube, where one-bedroom flats sell for about £360,000 and two-bedroom flats for about £530,000.

Travel

Belsize Park, Chalk Farm and Swiss Cottage are all stops on the Northern line. Finchley Road & Frognal station is on the Overground North London line. All stations are in Zone 2 and an annual travel card to Zone 1 costs £1,168.

As you would expect in such an exclusive area, a property doesn't come cheap! The majority of available properties are now flats in converted Victorian and Georgian buildings, and while it might be possible to find good value for money, the average rent in this area is nearly £3,500pcm. If you're on a strict budget, it might be best to widen your search area to include Chalk Farm and Swiss Cottage too.  The area comes at a premium and is highly sought-after by celebrities and people with money, which adds to the price. Most the property in Belsize Park is of a Victorian ilk and wide pavements are tree-lined and quaint. 

Most expensive two bedroom flat - £10,833 pcm 
Least expensive two bedroom flat - £1,300 pcm 
Average Council tax - £1,331 per year