2-913-730 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Old Belsize House, Hampstead - from a print of the time, 1854. Demolition of a manor house in north London to make room for new housing. The original house is thought to have dated from the 15th century: the property was rebuilt and improved upon many times over the centuries. '...the furniture, paintings, and books at Belsize House were brought to the hammer, preparatory to the pulling down of the mansion...The house...was a modern edifice, having been built on the site of the old mansion about the latter end of last century [ie 18th]...From a broadside, without date...we take the accompanying view of the mansion, said to have been erected in the reign of Charles II'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.