All year, Burgh House in Hampstead offers visitors impressive free exhibitions and memorable events. Burgh House, which is a self-supporting charity, has never veered from its belief to be “for the community and by the community.”
The History of Burgh House
Between 1704 and the late 1930s, Burgh House was always a private residence. Interestingly, the last Burgh House private resident was Rudyard Kipling’s daughter Elsie Bambridge.
In 1720 the owner William Gibbons, chief doctor at Hampstead Wells and first to praise the healing properties of Hampstead’s mineral waters, enlarged the house. He and his wealthy wife Elizabeth installed the grand carved staircase with arched windows, the wood-panelled rooms and the wrought-iron gates.
During World War II the area around Burgh House – New End Square – was damaged by bombing. Yet Burgh House remained intact. Camden Borough made a compulsory purchase order and established a Citizen Advice Bureau and community centre in Burgh House. However, by the 1970s it was becoming too difficult to maintain the Grade 1 listed building which dates to the start of Queen Anne’s reign.
In 1979 Camden Borough leased Burgh House to a group of residents who called themselves the Burgh House Trust. They intended to dedicate the house to the arts, culture and history of Hampstead, and the building was known as Burgh House and Hampstead Museum.
Burgh House, Illustration by Dennis Flanders 1928
Burgh House as an Arts Council England Accredited Museum
Burgh House has a remarkable collection of 7000 objects. It contains artworks, documents, photographs, textiles, furniture, books and more. Part of the role of Head Curator Amy Miller is to decide which objects to display in the ever-changing exhibitions programme.
“Objects and images are such a good way into history and sometimes they highlight tricky issues too,” says Amy Miller. “Objects from a long time ago have a relevance today and we’re keen to examine the ties which bind us.”
Main Exhibitions until 13 December 2026
The Burgh House exhibitions often feature the permanent collection in dialogue with community groups. Women Artists of Hampstead which focuses on the work of nineteenth century artists and illustrators Kate Greenaway, Helen Allingham and Mary Hill, sits in conjunction with a display of artwork from Hampstead School of Art students. “The aim is to show how the art of women artists from the past is being carried forward by today’s students,” Amy Miller explains. (The installation Samizdat by HSOA mature student Lindsey Western is well-worth visiting.)
Four Seasons Tiles by Kate Greenaway, 1881
In the Wade Room, the exhibition Hampstead Vanished and Imagined showcases a collection of paintings, letters and documents which give a historical record of different significant moments in Hampstead’s history. Visitors can view landscapes and buildings no longer present and architects’ models and plans that never came to be or were altered.
Of particular interest in the Wade Room, is a display of interesting objects and archived photographs from New End Primary School. In the 1990s New End Primary School and Nursery on Streatley Place was the site of development. Residents worked with architects and developers to retain iconic landmarks, whilst still creating modern housing. In partnership with New End Primary School Year 6 students, the Burgh House project Your Place in History (which was awarded an Art Fund Reimagine Grant) “explores the role of change to communities and its impact on a sense of a place,” says Amy Miller.
Downstairs in the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Gallery, the exhibition Amongst the Trees and Terraces: Donald Towner (1903-1985) will feature the artwork of Donald Chisholm Towner who moved from Eastbourne to Hampstead in 1927 where he lived for 50 years in Church Row.
Music at Burgh House
This past summer in the Wells Room there was a John Constable exhibition to celebrate the 250th anniversary of his birth. From October 2026 the Wells Room exhibition will celebrate the work of artist Milein Cosman (1921-2017). She was the wife of Hans Cosman (1919-1985) a famous chamber music mentor who coached most of the leading British string quartets, after fleeing from Nazi persecution and settling in Hampstead. Both Hans and Milein were central figures in Britain’s post-war cultural life.
The exhibition dedicated to Milein Cosman is part of how Burgh House is celebrating its new three-year partnership with Chamber Studio, an organisation which nurtures world class ensembles at the start of their chamber music careers.
The residency programme is being funded by The Cosman Keller Art & Music Trust. The first season will comprise three events in October, December and February. Each residency will feature a free daytime masterclass followed by a ticketed evening recital in Burgh House’s historic Music Room.
Trio Musae from the Chamber Studio
The Burgh House Café and Courtyard
In 1911 Dr Williamson worked with celebrated garden designer Gertrude Jeykll, a key figure in the Arts & Crafts movement, to build the Burgh House terrace and a garden located to the Northwest side of the house. Only the terrace, which is step free and accessible from the front gate, remains today.
There’s also a courtyard, reachable via the back gate. It connects to the modern Peggy Jay Gallery which is the Burgh House gallery space for hire. It can be booked for one, two or three weeks.
With overhanging trees and an abundance of flowers and fauna, the Burgh House terrace can be enjoyed as a place to have breakfast, brunch or cream tea served by the lower ground café run by Leafi Ltd. The café is eco-friendly (no single use plastics) and clean dogs on short leads are welcome inside the café and garden.
Photo taken one evening before a book launch
Burgh House is also available to hire for weddings, parties, life celebrations, film shoots, concerts, book launches and talks. And nowadays the Burgh House team offer walking tours in Hampstead which are connected to their current exhibitions.
If you become a Burgh House member for £20 a year, there’s discounted ticket to in-house events and 10% discount in the café and the shop which is situated in the Burgh House reception area.
Check the website for opening hours: www.burghhouse.org.uk
Email: info@burghhouse.org.uk
