History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

St James Mansions on the corner of West End Lane and Hemstal Road, were built in 1895. We look at the history of the building and a few of the people who lived there a hundred years ago. Before the development of today’s roads, Charles William Clark bought a plot of land and in 1872 he built ‘The Beacon’, a large house and grounds. Clark was an artist and designed the house himself. It was unusual and described as, ‘an exact representation of a ruin on the coast of England showing more than one period of architecture, a monument of human eccentricity, a castle-like dwelling with lofty battlements and turrets.’   Charles died at the house in 1889, and his widow Antonia stayed on until 1894 when she sold it to the developer Edward Jarvis Cave. He and his sons built many of the mansions blocks in West Hampstead, Finchley Road and Maida Vale. The house was demolished, and St James Mansions were built on the site.   St James Mansions today (Dick Weindling, Jan 2021) James Hug...