The district is named after an inn called The Swiss Tavern that was built in 1804 in the style of a Swiss chalet and on the site of a former tollgate keeper’s cottage. The inn was later renamed Swiss Cottage.
The district formed part of the ancient parish of Hampstead. It developed following the Finchley Road Act 1826, which authorised construction of Finchley New Road and Avenue Road, with The Swiss Tavern built at the junction of the new roads. The neighbourhood around Finchley Road and Avenue Road was redeveloped in 1937 and 1938 with the opening of an Odeon cinema and the Regency Lodge flats. After World War II, local authority housing was constructed by the London County Council in the area.
The area is served by Swiss Cottage and Finchley Road tube stations on the Jubilee line of the London Underground and is a local hub for London Buses. Swiss Cottage station was opened by the Metropolitan Railway in 1868, the current station dates from 1939. South Hampstead railway station and Finchley Road & Frognal railway station on London Overground are also nearby.
Swiss Cottage is in the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency; formed at the 2010 general election. It was formerly in the Hampstead and Highgate constituency, for which the MP was Glenda Jackson. It forms part of the Barnet and Camden London Assembly constituency.
