Dating back to 1849, The Gates was built as an 'Asylum for Governesses' - a charitable institution founded as a home for retired governesses. The heroine or villain of many a Victorian novel, the governess, usually of genteel birth and education, occupied a twilight world as neither servant nor family, often ridiculed by both facing an uncertain and impoverished old age. Funds were raised under the patronage of royalty, nobility and notables such as Charles Dickens, and two acres of land in a quiet location with views across Highgate were chosen as a home for 18 governesses and built at a cost of £9,000. The home eventually relocated to rural Kent.

The building was purchased and enlarged by Frances Mary Buss, who was to become a champion in the education and suffrage of women, to house the school she had founded in Camden Road where low fees were set to attract less-affluent middle class girls. To her we owe the bell tower and the wind vane, a replica of a ship named The Buss.

The Camden School for Girls remained here until after the First World War when it moved to larger premises. The Gates remained in private educational use through the 1960's as St Richard of Chichester Roman Catholic School - a school named after the 13th Century Bishop and defender of the Crusades. The school then went into public administration and was finally closed in 1998.