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St. Albans Road, LONDON, NW5 1RH

One of a group houses comprising Holly Village built in 1865 to the designs of architect Henry Darbishire. Grade II* listed : description at this https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1379116.

Wonderful-looking building along Chester Road, though I'm unsure if it is still a library.

For more on this exclusive Victorian estate development in the picturesque style visit this http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-478482-1-12-hampstead

Holly Village was designed by the architect Henry Astley Darbishire for Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts, and is made up of eight houses and cottages around a green. It was built by William Cubitt. The houses are close to the site of Holly Lodge, the Coutts's splendid country villa on Highgate's West Hill. Very expensive materials were used in the construction including teak wood and Portland stone, and Italian craftsmen undertook the carving. Both in the stonework and the woodcarving there are many unusual details including patterned brickwork, crenellations, cornices, dormers, carved faces and small animals, probably specified by Burdett Coutts who founded the RSPCA. The latter designs reflect Burdett-Coutts's love of animals, which led to the founding of the RSPCA.

Ian Nairn in 1966 in Nairn's London had this to say about Holly Village: "An endearing group of hedgehogs in the angle between Swains Lane and Chester Road. Built for Baroness Burdett-Coutts with all the child-like bravado of Darbishire's late lamented Columbia Market behind Shoreditch Church. Through the archway on the corner and there is a different world: eight very spiky houses, all different around a central green space. ... The cottages in their preposterous angularity must be like having outsize toy animals around the playground." The inscription over the entrance says: "Holly Village erected by A.G.B. Coutts A.D 1865" - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5779945 For more about Baroness Burdett-Coutts see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Burdett-Coutts,_1st_Baroness_Burdett-Coutts

Ian Nairn in 1966 in Nairn's London had this to say about Holly Village: "An endearing group of hedgehogs in the angle between Swains Lane and Chester Road. Built for Baroness Burdett-Coutts with all the child-like bravado of Darbishire's late lamented Columbia Market behind Shoreditch Church. Through the archway on the corner and there is a different world: eight very spiky houses, all different around a central green space. ... The cottages in their preposterous angularity must be like having outsize toy animals around the playground." The inscription over the entrance says: "Holly Village erected by A.G.B. Coutts A.D 1865" - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5779945 For more about Baroness Burdett-Coutts see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Burdett-Coutts,_1st_Baroness_Burdett-Coutts

Grade II* listed. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-478482-1-12-holly-village-greater-london-author#.WDibiFyxewI