Victorian-era industrialisation and the need for worker accommodation in this south west London borough have left Hammersmith & Fulham as one of the areas with the highest concentration of pre-1900s housing stock in the capital.
Urbanisation and laying the foundation of Hammersmith & Fulham’s housing stock
Hammersmith & Fulham really only came to exist as it is known today in the latter half of the 1800’s. Previously an area of marshland, market gardens and a few large estates, late Victorian industrialisation set the foundations of Fulham’s urban development.
The need for labourers and construction workers to build London’s expanding rail network fueled the building of worker accommodation in west London, including terraced houses and cottages as people moved from the countryside to service the capital’s railways lines, factories and growing middle class.
Fulham remained a mostly working class area until World War II, with the exception of wealthier pockets such as the top of Lillie Road, Parsons Green and the area surrounding the Hurlingham Club.
The 80’s and beyond
Post-World War II Fulham was a very local market with families having lived in the area often for generations. However, as house prices rose in the 80’s and 90’s, residents could afford more spacious properties in areas such as Surrey or Richmond. As Fulham’s old guard cashed in, a new breed of resident moved in.
Young professionals and families bought up Fulham’s terraced houses, taking the area’s housing stock on an upward price growth trajectory ever since; today the area is considered as part of ‘prime London’.
For more information, visit our Hammersmith office.
21st property development
Much of the high concentration of Victorian housing stock in Fulham attests its vigorous 19th century industrial and urban development and there have been few additions to the area’s architectural DNA.
There are a number of luxury modern apartments being built but development levels have been nowhere near the other boroughs of London due to available space.
Luxury new residential development, Lillie Square, is part of the Earls’ Court regeneration scheme and is one of the most anticipated new housing developments in the area.