Erno in the East End

This week we have published our latest Mini Guide, dedicated to the work of architect Erno Goldfinger, who moved to Britain in 1934 and designed a series of buildings in his precise, austere style until his retirement in the late 1970s. Below is an extract from the guide, which you can purchase HERE.

The buildings that have come to define Goldfinger as an architect are the two estates he finished his career with, the Brownfield in Poplar and the Cheltenham in North Kensington. The Rowlett Street Scheme as the Poplar project was originally known, had been planned by London County Council from 1963 as an extension of an earlier Poplar Borough estate, with Goldfinger designing the first phase incorporating the Balfron Tower, old people's maisonettes and a shop from February 1963. Like the Trellick tower in the west, Balfron has become an instantly recognizable trademark of Goldfingers design, with its separated service tower connected to the main block by access galleries arranged every three floors, reducing circulation space with no outdoor walkways. A series of thin slit windows run up the facade of the service tower, giving it the air of a defensive rampart. This attitude is reinforced by the rough, bush-hammered finish to the block, which despite its rough looking nature was actually carefully detailed by Goldfinger. The grey cement that comes to the surface when the concrete is setting was removed in the bush hammer process, revealing the colour and texture of the interior aggregate, and providing a more robust surface. The completed tower featured 136 flats plus 10 maisonettes, which were situated on the ground and first floors. 

The next phase from 1965 saw another block added, Carradale House, an eleven storey building arranged at a right angle to Balfron Tower. Like its sister tower it has a separate service section, but this time Goldfinger placed it between two blocks connected by covered walkways. Internally there is a combination of different sized flats, one bedroom and two bedrooms in size, with the larger ones having dual aspect. The third phase from 1967 saw the building of Glenkerry House, as well as low rise blocks along Burcham Street and a community centre. Glenkerry House is 14 storeys tall, containing 75 flats and four maisonettes, with the same three floors to one corridor, as the previous blocks on the scheme. The block forms a shortened U-plan, with a prominent projecting boiler house at the northern end. Once again aggregate and bush hammered concrete is used to form the building, with Goldfinger also using curved precast units for the balconies, and buff brick, to slightly broaden the platte established with the first two blocks. The estate was finally completed in 1975, with some planned additions, such as a car park, left unbuilt, but with other community facilities like a nursery, shop and playground included. 

Goldfinger and his wife moved into Flat 130 of the Balfron for two months after the tower was completed in February 1968, speaking to residents and making a number of revisions to improve the flats. The three towers were listed between 1996 and 2000, sparing them the demolition that would be visited on their near neighbour and contemporary, Robin Hood Gardens by Alison and Peter Smithson. In 2011, the housing association entrusted with the estate began the process of refurbishment, which required all residents to vacate whilst the work was undertaken. This caused a two-fold controversy; firstly the refurbishment replaced Goldfinger's original window design, double glazed with wooden frames and manufactured by Pilkingtons, for ones which were different in finish, colour and design. Secondly, the residents were decanted with no promise of being able to return to their flats, and eventually all of the flats were sold off on the private market, denuding the estate of its original purpose, something which Goldfinger strongly believed in

Images and text from our Erno Goldfinger Mini Guide
Available HERE