Like everything historical in our area the two places to start are the brilliant:
The Conservation Area Statement: https://www.camden.gov.uk/documents/20142/7629312/Inkerman.pdf/f1d68477-503f-0de2-c0ac-61d8e20587d1
and The Streets of Kentish Town by The Camden History Society.
A quote from the latter: “Among the earliest developments in the area, Holmes Rd came, lay on the estate of former Richard Holmes. It was already in place by 1795, striking west across Spring Fields towards a small industrial community and its far end near the river. It was then known as Mansfield Place probably in honour of Lord Mansfield (died in 1793) Lord Chief Justice and local grandee whose Kenwood estate was however considerably farther north.
By 1801 Mansfield Place was well developed with substantial houses along most of its length of three short tributaries of the southside the first of these with Vicarage Place, a row of cottages behind the gardens of houses on the main road.”
Please see the History of the area through in maps: https://www.inkermanresidents.org.uk/history/history-of-the-area-through-maps-1801
The Holmes family were prosperous landowners and businesspeople in Kentish Town during the 18th century. Their entrepreneurial ventures included a brewery, a tannery, a rope-making factory, and a brickworks.
The “Holmes Estate” appears in 1785 as three closes containing 25a. 3r. 1p., owned by Thomas Cooper of Ashton, Cheshire, esquire, only son of Thomas Cooper, late of Pancras Street, St. Pancras, brickmaker, and was demised by him in 1788 to William Francis, cowkeeper, and William Morgan the elder of Kentish Town, farmer, the occupier being Richard Holmes. Richard Holmes laid out Mansfield Road now called Holmes Road and the neighbouring streets, from 1790 onwards.”
Coming in from the High St: The pub on the corner with the High St has had many names. It’s now (October 2024)being renovated again and “renamed” The Old Farmhouse. We phrase it like as it was originally called that name :
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol19/pt2/plate-4
Police Station. Further down on the north side is the polikce station. The book also refers to the police station “relocated here from near the assembly house and open in 1896. Built in yellow stock brick, it was designed by Richard Norman Shaw, architect of the original new Scotland yard. It was renovated in 1984 and the arch on the right side which was once the entrance to horse-drawn Black Marias is now bricked up.”
TQ2885SE HOLMES ROAD 798-1/42/928 (North side) 14/05/74 No.12A
Police Station and attached railings and lamp
Police station. 1894-6. By Norman Shaw, restored 1984. Yellow stock brick with stone bands at sill levels and below parapet. 3 storeys. 8 windows. Stone dressed, round-arched entrance engraved “Police” with hoodmould, fanlight and double panelled doors. To right vehicle entrance (now blocked to form a room behind) of stone 4-centred arch with heavy rusticated block dressings. Ground floor sashes with stone lintels, those flanking entrance being paired. 1st and 2nd floors with segmental-arched brick heads and stone keystones. Parapet. Original rainwater heads and pipes.
INTERIOR: altered with partitions and false ceilings.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached cast-iron railings with
overthrow having blue lamp with the legend “Police”.
Going further west, on the north side, beyond the Police Station are the only two 19th century houses that remain from when the street was originally built – numbers 20 and 22.
MORE TO ADD HERE FROM THE BOOK ..
From the Conservation Area Statement: Sadly only a corner of Holmes Road is within the Conservation Area but it includes “The French School” and The George:
“The south-western end of Holmes Road lies within the Conservation Area stretching
from Cathcart Street in the east to Willes Road in the west.”
“The road at this point is non-residential with Kingsway College (now ” The French School” – Collège Français Bilingue de Londres- https://www.cfbl.org.uk/en ) forming a striking and dominant façade.
The French School comes to Holmes Road.
The George IV At the corner with Willes Road is the George IV Public House. “George IV forms a three storey highly decorative and particularly distinctive building and occupies a prominent corner in the Conservation Area. Built between 1868-1875, it incorporates various forms and styles, including Italian Renaissance and Classical. The classical form is demonstrated with hooded cornices, pediments, architraves and console supports in first floor windows and also through the elaborate use of stucco. Taking inspiration from the Renaissance palazzo, first-and second-floor windows are paired and there is a tall and richly decorated stuccoed parapet, with cornices and brackets.”
Until it was closed it looked pretty good in the summer:
The Kentish Town Panorama. Another source of information is the Kentish Town Panorama which covers the High Street and the entrance to Holmes Road. :
Camdenister: “Historians say the work, completed by artist James Frederick King in 1850, is ‘without comparison’ in London, showing us ‘modest and grand buildings, domestic, public and agricultural on both sides of the principal roads of the time.’ And in many instances the Panorama, drawn in pen and wash and consisting of three rolls (one 20ft, another 15ft and a last one 3 ft), is the only record we have of what the area was like. “
We have a copy at IARA (which we could scan in … one day…) or it was available £70 Ebay etc The image below shows the stretch north of Holmes Road – where the Assembly House pub is.
https://www.kentishtowner.co.uk/2025/01/02/kentish-town-panorama
———————————————- ——————————————
Commentary in on The Panorama in British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol19/pt2/pp52-59#anchorn136
Further down Holmes Road
“Holmes Road Studios provide homes for the homeless in Kentish Town. Arranged around a communal landscaped courtyard, it successfully updates the antiquated typology of the hostel.
From the street, the newly built portion of the project is mostly hidden behind the retained existing building. A large, simply detailed, glazed entrance allows a glimpse through to the courtyard beyond. It is an important moment, creating a light-filled connection from street to community, marking the transition from public realm to increasing levels of security.”
Beyond that is 55 Holmes Road a block of flats where the top level has been pushed up on a number of planning applications and was on the market for £5 M. Now £4,450,00