Whether you recognise his name in connection with London’s 1960s residential high-rise blocks like Trellick Tower, or as the inspiration for the name of the iconic James Bond villain, the Hungarian-born British architect Ernő Goldfinger was a prominent figure in the world of modernist 20th century architecture.
Who was architect Ernő Goldfinger?
Born in 1902 in Budapest, Hungary, Goldfinger was educated in Vienna and Switzerland before he began an architecture course at the École des Beaux-Arts in the atelier (private workshop or studio) of architect and urban planner Léon Jaussely in Paris in the 1920s.
Goldfinger partnered with a fellow Hungarian architect, András Szivessy (also known as André Sive), in 1925, from whom Goldfinger took great inspiration.
He met artist Ursula Blackwell in 1931, and they married in 1933. They then moved to London. The newlyweds first settled in St John’s Wood before living in a flat in Berthold Lubetkin’s new modernist block in Highgate, called Highpoint, through the mid to late 1930s.
Was Ernő Goldfinger the inspiration for the James Bond villain?
Writer Ian Fleming was known for using the names of his acquaintances and their families in his books. Some have accused Fleming of being one of the objectors to Goldfinger’s building of a terrace of houses in Hampstead in the 1930s, resulting in him immortalising Goldfinger as a villain in his 1959 James Bond novel.
However, it is more likely that Fleming first came across Goldfinger’s name when he played golf at the Royal St George’s Club in Sandwich, where the cousin of Goldfinger’s wife also played.
Displeased to have his name used in the novel, Goldfinger threatened to sue Fleming, and the issue was handled out of court.
Which buildings did Ernő Goldfinger design in England?
Goldfinger designed a range of buildings in England between the 1930s and 1970s, including his famous high-rise housing blocks, post-war schools, domestic housing and offices. Here are some examples of his work.
1 to 3 Willow Road, Hampstead, London
Goldfinger built a row of 3 houses on Willow Road in Hampstead, London, in the 1930s, with 2 Willow Road becoming his family home.
Compared to his soaring concrete towers of the 1960s, this modern terrace of houses is modest and unassuming, with fantastic views over Hampstead Heath from the panoramic windows.
In his designs, Goldfinger reinterpreted the Georgian-style terrace and used reinforced concrete to build broad ribbon windows, creating a modulation look to the exterior.
In 1996, the National Trust took over 2 Willow Road and opened it to the public. The building was the first modern house that the trust had taken on.
Greenside School, Hammersmith, London
290 schools were destroyed or damaged in London during the Second World War from air raids. Goldfinger believed strongly in developing better housing and schools to improve the lives of the public.
In 1948, he was invited to submit designs for schools in Putney and Hammersmith. These designs included using large, grid-like windows, providing lots of natural lighting and ventilation, as well as incorporating central heating and hot water.
The plans were approved and Greenside School opened to infants in 1951. In 1953, Gordon Cullen created an impressive mural in the school’s foyer based on one of Goldfinger’s sketches showing the themes of history, invention, the solar system, geography, the sea, and nature.
Goldfinger House (formerly Carr and Co. offices), Solihull, West Midlands
In the 1950s, Goldfinger took on several office building projects and developed his distinctive style using concrete frames and grids of windows. In 1954, Noel Carr invited him to design an office and showroom for his paper company in Solihull.
Goldfinger’s design included a 3-storey block sitting above the ground on posts, using a repetitive system of 5 bays flanked by 2 half bays at either end, and a totally glazed entrance and showroom set on a raised marble plinth.
He said: “This solution permits a more lavish appearance, a covered approach for cars and that spatial organisation which you may have admired in contemporary buildings on the Continent.”
45 and 46 Albemarle Street, Westminster, London
Between 1955 and 1957, Goldfinger designed 2 offices on Albemarle Street following the destruction of a pair of narrow Georgian terraced houses during the Second World War.
The buildings had a reinforced concrete frame clad in Portland stone and grey vitrolite. They were constructed set back from the street and include projecting bay windows on the third and fifth floors.
The façade grid follows the ‘Golden Section’ proportions (a mathematical ratio fundamental to classical design that has defined proportions in art and architecture), a principle Goldfinger derived from his mentor, the French architect Auguste Perret.
Metro Central Heights (formerly Alexander Fleming House), Elephant and Castle, London
Following the success of the Carr and Co. office and Albermarle Street, by the mid-1950s Goldfinger’s style had matured. In 1959, he won a competition to design a large office complex at Elephant and Castle’s interchange, an area damaged badly during the Blitz.
Alexander Fleming House became Goldfinger’s largest project and, in his view, his most significant work. It was constructed in 2 phases: Blocks A to C were developed between 1959 and 1962, while Blocks D and E were built between 1964 and 1967. The complex was set out in a grid, with each block following the ‘Golden Section’ ratio.
The building received acclaim at the time, receiving the RIBA Bronze Award for best building of the year in London in 1964. On completion of phase 1, the January 1963 issue of ‘Architectural Design’ was unusually and exclusively devoted to Goldfinger’s career.
From 1960 to 1989, the government used the building as the Ministry of Health. It remained empty until it was converted to residential use in 2002 and renamed Metro Central Heights.
Balfron Tower, Tower Hamlets, London
Goldfinger was appointed by the London County Council in 1962 to produce a mixed-development public housing scheme on the Brownfield Estate in the East End.
Built between 1965 and 1967, Goldfinger produced Balfron Tower, a 26-storey block in a brutalist style, featuring 136 flats and 10 maisonettes. The lift shaft was designed in its own separate service tower, joined together by 8 walkways.
Balfron Tower was designed as a social entity to re-house communities living in poor housing or bomb-damaged areas following the Blitz. This appealed to Goldfinger’s socialist thinking.
The circulation tower included a launderette, a table tennis or billiards room, a music room for teenagers and a hobby room.
Phase 1 of the scheme for the estate also included housing for older people and a shop. A community centre and nursery were added later.
This tower block design was described at the time as creating “a high sense of visual drama would be achieved while emerging from the Blackwall Tunnel”.
Goldfinger and his wife, Ursula, lived in one of the flats for 8 weeks following its completion in 1968.
The second phase of this development, Carradale House, was built in 1967 and features 88 flats over 11 storeys. Goldfinger planned the layout so the flats made the most of the sunlight, using dual window aspects and providing south-facing balconies.
The third phase of this development took place between 1972 and 1975. Glenkerry House was designed in Goldfinger’s Corbusian-inspired interlocking arrangement of flats and maisonettes. At 14 storeys high, its design shares the same aesthetic as Balfron Tower and Carradale House, using concrete aggregate and fine bush-hammered concrete finishes.
Teesdale House, Windlesham, Surrey
In contrast to his high rise tower blocks, Goldfinger was also commissioned to design private homes.
Businessman Jack Perry employed Goldfinger in the late 1960s to build his house in Surrey, giving him freedom with the budget and allowing the architect to express his love of luxury materials and fine finishes.
Teesdale House is the only post-war private house still in its original condition as Goldfinger designed it.
The single-storey house includes a timber post and lintel construction, clad in timber and full-height glazing with a brick rear wall and a central patent-glazed conservatory. The open-plan interiors were designed with the finest materials, including a fireplace set in a freestanding wall clad in marble.
Trellick Tower, North Kensington, London
Built in a similar brutalist style as Balfron Tower between 1968 and 1972, Trellick Tower was designed to include 217 flats, 6 shops, an office, and youth and women’s centres.
As so much land around the area had been designated by planners as open space, Goldfinger used an L-shaped design to create a 31-storey tower to house families while retaining outdoor space for children to play.
“The whole object of building high is to free the ground for children and grown-ups to enjoy Mother Earth and not to cover every inch with bricks and mortar,” he said.
Further reading
- Ernő Goldfinger by Elain Harwood and Alan Powers
- 7 Extraordinary Listed Post-War Housing Estates
- 7 International Architects Who Helped Shape England
- A Brief History of Reinforced Concrete Buildings
In image DP182900, what on earth is the weird futuristic giant robot foot looking thing supposed to be in the top right corner of the picture?!?
Thanks for your question! We think that this is an external light fixture from the side of the building where the photo is being taken from.
What’s the odd flat grey object in the bottom right corner?
Haggerston School in Hackney is missing