Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
except to visit his pet dog, Chun, who was held in quarantine for nearly a year. On
September 21, 1939, Freud's doctor fulfilled their secret pact and gave his patient a
lethal dose of morphine.
The ground-floor study and library look exactly as they did when Freud lived here
(they are modelled on his flat in Vienna); the large collection of antiquities and the
psychiatrist's couch, sumptuously draped in opulent Persian carpets, were all brought
here from Vienna in 1938. Upstairs, where the Freud archive now resides, there's some
old footage of the family, while another room is dedicated to his favourite daughter,
Anna, herself an influential child analyst, who lived in the house until her death in
1982. Sigmund's architect son, Ernst, designed a loggia at the back of the house so that
Freud could sit out and enjoy the garden; it has since been enclosed and serves as the
museum shop, which flogs Freudian merchandise such as a “Brainy Beanie” - Freud
himself as a cuddly toy - and stocks a superb range of books.
Burgh House
New End Square • Wed-Fri & Sun noon-5pm; Sat café only • Free •
T
020 7431 0144,
W
burghhouse.org.uk •
!
Hampstead
The Queen Anne mansion of
Burgh House
dates from Hampstead's halcyon days as a
spa, known briefly as Hampstead Wells, and was at one time occupied by Dr Gibbons,
the physician who discovered the spring's medicinal qualities. The house hosts art
exhibitions and its attractive wood-panelled Music Room is a popular wedding venue.
Upstairs, there's a modest museum, telling the history of Hampstead. The museum's
most prized possessions are the modernist Isokon plywood stacking tables and a long
chair by Marcel Breuer, found in a Hampstead skip by a local councillor. The
Buttery
café in the basement has outdoor seating in the summer on a lovely terrace.
20
2 Willow Road
March-Oct Wed-Sun 11am-5pm; note that before 3pm, visits are by hourly guided tour • NT • £6 •
T
020 7435 6166,
W
nationaltrust
.org.uk •
!
Hampstead
Hampstead's most unusual sight is
2 Willow Road
,
the central house in
a modernist
red-brick terrace, built in the 1930s by the Budapest-born architect
Ernö Goldfinger
,
best known for his concrete brutalist high-rises, such as Trellick Tower (see p.278).
Completed in 1939, this was a state-of-the-art house at the time, its open-plan rooms
flooded with natural light and much of the furniture designed by Goldfinger himself.
The family home for fifty years, the Goldfingers changed very little in the house, so
what you see is a 1930s avant-garde dwelling preserved in aspic, a house at once both
modern and old-fashioned. An added bonus is that the rooms are packed with the
Goldfingers' extensive art collection: Surrealist
objets trouvés
and works of art by the
likes of Léger, Duchamp, Max Ernst, Henry Moore and Man Ray.
Keats' House
Keats Grove • March-Oct Tues-Sun 1-5pm; Nov-Feb Fri-Sun 1-5pm • £5 •
T
020 7332 3868,
W
cityoflondon.gov.uk •
!
Hampstead
Hampstead's most lustrous figure is celebrated at
Keats' House
,
an elegant, whitewashed
Regency double villa. The consumptive poet lodged here with his friend Charles
Brown, in 1818, after his brother Tom had died of the same illness. Inspired by the
peacefulness of Hampstead, and by his passion for girl-next-door Fanny Brawne (whose
house is also part of the museum), Keats wrote some of his most famous works here
before leaving for Rome, where he died in 1821 at the age of just 25.
In the pretty front garden, as you approach the house, a diminutive plum tree stands
on the site of the much larger specimen in whose shade Keats is said to have sat for two
or three hours before composing
Ode to a Nightingale
. The simple interior contains
books and letters, an anatomical notebook from Keats' days as a medical student at
Guy's Hospital, Fanny's engagement ring and the four-poster bed in which the poet first
coughed up blood, and proclaimed “that drop of blood is my death warrant”. There are
regular events - poetry readings, performances and talks - so check the website.
