Bertram Cottages consists of two groups of small semi-detached and terrace houses between Hartfield Road and Gladstone Road, to the south-east of Wimbledon Town Centre. This part of Wimbledon was mainly developed in the 19th century, and the area east of Hartfield Road, which was originally named Norman Road, consists of a grid of Victorian houses laid out in the traditional manner. Most of Hartfield and Gladstone Roads form part of this grid system, with housing parallel to the street having small front gardens and more substantial gardens at the rear arranged back-to-back for maximum privacy. But Bertram Cottages breaks this pattern in a very individual and particularly imaginative way.
The fields on which Bertram Cottages were built was originally used for grazing the horses which pulled the coal wagons for the nearby railway. Bertram Cottages were built on the land in about 1872 to the design of Henry Charles Forde, a leading citizen of Wimbledon and an architect and engineer with an international reputation in the field of submarine telecommunications. His client was Miss Keziah Peache, one of the chief supporters of the Cottage Improvement Society who not only commissioned Bertram Cottages but also Courthope Villas off Worple Road and Belvedere Square off Church Road, for people of limited means.
The estate was built in two phases, those facing on to Hartfield Road being built first. Nos. 100 to 110 Hartfield Road were originally numbered Nos. 1 to 10 Bertram Cottages, which is why the houses at the rear of Nos. 100 to 100 are numbered 7 to 14. When they were first built, Miss Peace lived in No. 1, and the plaque which is now fixed to the side wall of No. 106 was originally on No. 2. No. 101 Hartfield Road is the only house with the brickwork on the front wall arranged in the pattern of the Star of David, others having the initials 'K' and P! of Keziah Peache.
The unique character and charm of Bertram Cottages was acknowledged by Merton Council when it designated it as a conservation area in February 1984 and extended to include Nos. 112 and 114 Hartfield Road in 1991. In the same year Nos. 7 to 18 and 31 to 34 Bertram Cottages, 47 to 69 Gladstone Road and 100 to 110 Hartfield Road were included on the Council Local (non-statutory) List of Buildings of Historical or Architectural Interest, and it became the subject of the first of the Council's design guides. Nos. 35 and 36 are recent additions, built in the back gardens of Nos. 112 and 114 Hartfield Road. oited to enrich the variety of the layout. Nos. 7 to 14 Bertram Cottages lie behind and parallel with Nos. 100 to 144 Hartfield Road, and Nos. 15 to 18 and 31 to 36 Bertram Cottages are situated behind and at right angles to Nos. 47 to 69 Gladstone Road.