William Ratcliffe paints Hampstead Garden Suburb, a new development built between Golders Green and East Finchley in London. The suburb was intended as a place where people from different social classes could live and mix, benefitting from both town and country living. Hampstead Garden Suburb was one of the largest paintings Ratcliffe produced in his career, showing the elevated view from the tower of the community club house. Ratcliffe was a member of the Camden Town Group of painters, and this realistic street scene was a subject that interested them.