Property Description
Situated within Inner London in the Borough of Camden, is Baynes Mews; a cobbled cul-de-sac approached through an entrance under a building on Belsize Lane, next to McCrone Mews (another original/ surviving Mews). The Mews contains 10 properties used for residential and commercial purposes.
The Mews is part of the Belsize Park Conservation Area; designated in 1973 and then extended in 1984 to included part of Belsize Grove, the area is large scale, containing semi-detached Victorian Villas along with Belsize Village bringing charm to the otherwise uniform appearance of the buildings within the area. The most recent extension to the Conservation Area has centered around the incorporation of the open space at the southern side of Elizabeth Mews and the shopping parades on Haverstock Hill. Elizabeth Mews was included into the area in 1991.
The large villas built around 1850 had attic and basement space for servants and were aimed at wealthy professionals, the intention being to attract the ‘carriage classes’ to the north of London rather than areas such as Bayswater and Kensington. Unlike other areas built at the same time or slightly earlier there was no apparent demand for extensive stabling associated with each street. The main area of mews development within the area was constructed on a triangular four acre field to the north of Belsize Lane.
A high explosive bomb fell onto Belsize Lane, very close to the Mews, presumably causing significant damage to the properties in World War II and when the London Poverty Maps were first published, the area was deemed to have very comfortable living conditions with higher than average household earnings for the time.
The two storey properties have plain and painted brickwork facades and pitched roof styles, surrounded by a cobbled road surface with intact garages and restricted parking. Numbers 3-9 still have their original garage doors and elevations and there is a three-storey frontage surrounding the central archway on Belsize Lane.
Everchanging Nature
The original purpose of the Mews was to provide stable/ coach house accommodation for the main houses on the surrounding streets and nowadays they are predominantly used for residential purposes.
Before and since 2003 there have been a number of planning applications made for alterations to the properties within the Mews, the most notable being; alterations to the fenestration, garage conversions and the demolition and reconstruction of the front elevation of a property. Conservation Area controls apply to any new development in the Mews.