Open City spotlights: Ernö Goldfinger collection
Erno Goldfinger’s work is well cherished by Open City- featured in our cycling tours, opened for our Open House festival, and explored in our films and model programmes. This week we are spotlighting some of our Goldfinger projects- beginning with our Glenkerry House Film:
Glenkerry House is the lesser-known little sister to Balfron Tower in Poplar and Trellick Tower in North Kensington – all designed by British Hungarian architect Ernö Goldfinger as high-rise dwellings for working-class Londoners. Glenkerry House is collectively managed by its residents and is the only brutalist housing co-operative in London and so continues to embody some of Goldfinger’s socialist values, providing affordable homes for workers on modest incomes.
The tower block stands at 14 storey’s high and like its architectural siblings, Glenkerry House incorporates split-level flats meaning only one access corridor is needed for every three storeys – a clever design move that allows for larger dwellings but is rarely seen today. The block features a number of communal facilities housed within its main lift tower including office space, a meeting room, a small laundrette, and a rooftop boiler room providing heating to the building. Over the years, Glenkerry House residents have established a substantial community garden on the of an adjacent, but long disused, tennis court which is now used to grow fruits and vegetables and keep chickens and bees.
As part of the Open City film series we worked with Glenkerry House co-operative to produce a short film that gave us a glimpse of what life is like living inside one of Goldfinger’s celebrated brutalist tower blocks, and how the co-operative building is managed today. Presented by its residents, you can take a virtual tour through Glenkerry House here.
Our Model London series also includes two of Goldfinger’s creations - one of which is 2 Willow Road home to Ernö and Ursula Goldfinger. It is part of a terrace of three houses designed to appear as one building. Originally it was planned for a full block of flats and studios to stand at 1-3 Willow Road, staunch opposition by local residents decided otherwise. 2 Willow road was one of the first Modernist buildings acquired by the National Trust in 1994.
Goldfinger, a Marxist, went on to design much larger schemes for working class council tenants elsewhere in London including Glenkerry House which is also available as a model in the Model London series. If you fancy making your own personal Goldfinger collection, you can buy both of these models and more on the Open City Shop.
You can watch a tutorial on how to make the Glenkerry House Model here:
