The Brutalist

Colman House, Hayes (1962) Image from RIBApix.

The Brutalist, the Oscar favourite directed by Brady Corbet and starring Adrien Brody, opened in UK cinemas last week, and so we celebrate the birthday of one of the original brutalists, Rodney Gordon, who was born on 2nd February 1933. Born in Wanstead, Gordon studied architecture at Hammersmith and the Architectural Association, before like many other architects of his generation, going to work for London County Council Architect’s Department. His most notable design during his short stay there was the Michael Faraday substation at Elephant and Castle, a stainless steel box with an oversailing concrete frame. Gordon’s original design had glass panels, allowing the box’s inner workings to be seen, before it was swapped for metal to avoid vandalism.

The Michael Faraday substation under construction. Image from RIBApix.

Gordon then met Owen Luder via fellow LCC designer Dennis Drawbridge, who persuaded both to design what would be an unsuccessful entry in the competition to design the new Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre. They would both join his partnership and go onto design a number of bold, concrete structures all around the suburbs of London, usually for commercial developers such as Alec Colman. One such design was Hendon Hall Court, a block of 54 flats, in a mixture of two and three bedrooms and maisonettes, just off the Great North Way road.

The entrance to Hendon Hall Court (`1966).

The firm also specialized in commercial buildings, often combining offices, flats and shops. A notable example is Eros House in Lewisham for Bernard Sunley Investments, a forceful design in reinforced concrete with a glazed staircase tower on the street side and a small curving concrete staircase at the rear. Gordon decided to extenuate the forcefulness of the design to overcome any possible lack of quality and detailing in the proposed shuttered concrete finish. Architecture critic Ian Nairn hailed the building, saying that it was “A monster sat down in Catford, and just what the place needed”. Despite being on Lewisham’s local list  the building has been allowed to be run down by various owners with Luder later disowning it.

Eros House, Catford (1963). Image from RIBApix.

Gordon’s two most famous designs have suffered a worse fate, both demolished at the start of this century. The Trinity Square shopping centre and car park, Gateshead was famously used in the film Get Carter, and demolished in 2010. It was designed to incorporate shops, restaurants and community facilities, as well as a rooftop nightclub that was never opened. At the opposite end of the country, the Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth opened in 1966, also combining shopping, leisure facilities and parking in a tough concrete finish. From opening, the centre had problems with footfall, being located away from the main shopping area of the town. Through the 1980s and 90s, the centre became run down and shops started to close, and it was demolished in 2004. 

Design for the Tricorn Centre, Portsmouth.

Gordon didn't just design in concrete. His Grade II listed house and studio designed for himself in Hersham, Surrey, named Turnpoint (1962) uses timber cladding around a steel frame with an angled roofline, the house is raised on stilts with parking underneath. Gordon left the Luder partnership in the 1967, setting up Batir International Architects, later to be called Tripos Architects, alongside Ray Baum and Laurie Abbott (who would go on to work with Richard Rogers, being part of the Pompidou and Lloyds projects). 

Turnpoint, Hersham (1962). Image from The Modern House.

Gordon would go on to  design the striking Target House on St James Street, Westminster, completed in 1984. It is clad in anodised bronze and aluminum and has a strong vertical emphasis. Like his earlier work with Luder, it is multi-functional, containing shops, offices and flats. Gordon died in 2008, and was largely forgotten save for Jonathan Meades who remarked that “There are as many ideas in a single Gordon building as there are in the entire careers of most architects” and his work was “haunted by Russian constructivism, crusader castles, Levantine skylines”. ​

The work of Rodney Gordon and Owen Luder features in our new guidebook, Modernism Beyond Metro-Land, which explores the best modernist and brutalist architecture from the eastern and southern suburbs of London. Get your copy HERE