Ernő Goldfinger (11 September 1902 – 15 November 1987) was a Hungarian-born architect and designer of furniture. He moved to the United Kingdom in the 1930s, and became a key member of the Modernist architectural movement. He is most prominently remembered for designing residential

tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdicti ...

s, some of which are now

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Biography

Goldfinger was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

to a Jewish family. The family business was forestry and saw-mills, which led Goldfinger to consider a career in engineering until he became interested in architecture after reading

Hermann Muthesius Adam Gottlieb Hermann Muthesius (20 April 1861 – 29 October 1927), known as Hermann Muthesius, was a German architect, author and diplomat, perhaps best known for promoting many of the ideas of the English Arts and Crafts movement within German ...

's ''

Das englische Haus ''The English House'' is a book of design and architectural history written by German architect Hermann Muthesius and first published in German as in 1904. Its three volumes provide a record of the revival of English domestic architecture durin ...

'', a description of English domestic architecture around the turn of the twentieth century. He continued to recommend the book for most of his life. Goldfinger moved to Paris in 1921, after the defeat and collapse of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. In 1923 he went to study at the École nationale supérieure des beaux arts in the atelier of

Léon Jaussely Léon Jaussely (9 January 1875 – 28 December 1932) was a French architect and urban planner. Born in Toulouse, Jaussely studied at the local fine arts school, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in the ateliers of Honoré Daumet and Pierre Esqui ...

, and in the following years got to know many other Paris-based architects, including

Auguste Perret Auguste Perret (12 February 1874 – 25 February 1954) was a French architect and a pioneer of the architectural use of reinforced concrete. His major works include the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the first Art Deco building in Paris; the ...

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

and

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

. In 1929, before finishing his studies, Goldfinger established a partnership and worked on a number of interior designs and an extension to a holiday home at

Le Touquet Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (; pcd, Ech Toutchet-Paris-Plache; vls, 't Oekske, older nl, Het Hoekske), commonly referred to as Le Touquet (), is a commune near Étaples, in the Pas-de-Calais department, northern France. It has a population of ...

. He was strongly influenced by the publication of Le Corbusier's ''

Vers une architecture ''Vers une architecture'', recently translated into English as ''Toward an Architecture'' but commonly known as ''Towards a New Architecture'' after the 1927 translation by Frederick Etchells, is a collection of essays written by Le Corbusier (C ...

'', and became a fervent admirer of Le Corbusier's former mentor, Auguste Perret, an expert in designing reinforced concrete structures and an inspiration for Goldfinger when designing his own home. In the early 1930s Goldfinger met and married Ursula Blackwell, heiress to the Crosse & Blackwell fortune. Goldfinger was based in the UK for the remainder of his career.

Modernist in London

In 1934, Ernő and Ursula Goldfinger moved to a flat in Highpoint I, London. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Goldfinger built three houses (including his own) at 1–3 Willow Road in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough o ...

, North London, and another at Broxted, Essex. His own house,

2 Willow Road 2 Willow Road is part of a terrace of three houses in Hampstead, London designed by architect Ernő Goldfinger and completed in 1939. It has been managed by the National Trust since 1995 and is open to the public. It was one of the first Mode ...

, is now in the care of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Post World War II

After the war, Goldfinger was commissioned to build new offices for the ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...

'' newspaper and the headquarters of the British Communist Party. In the 1950s, he designed two London primary schools from prefabricated pre-cast concrete with brick infill for the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kn ...

in Putney. A cottage forming part of one of these schools, Brandlehow School, was demolished by a rogue developer who was prosecuted in 2008, and ordered to restore the building to "exactly match" its former appearance. On the site of George Coles's Trocadero cinema in south-east London Goldfinger built Alexander Fleming House for the Ministry of Health, and the Odeon

Elephant & Castle The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground stati ...

, which opened in 1966, and has since been demolished.

Rise of the high rise

In an attempt to solve the huge shortage of housing in the country following World War II, during which nearly 4 million houses had been destroyed or damaged, the

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

began to see high-rise buildings as a solution, and Goldfinger rose to prominence in England as a designer of tower blocks. Among his most notable buildings of the period were the 27-floor Balfron Tower and the adjacent eleven-storey Carradale House in Poplar, which served as models for the similar 31-floor

Trellick Tower Trellick Tower is a Grade II* listed tower block on the Cheltenham Estate in North Kensington, London. Opened in 1972, it had been commissioned by the Greater London Council and designed in the Brutalist style by architect Ernő Goldfinger. ...

Kensal Town Kensal Town is a district located partly in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and partly in the City of Westminster. The area lies four miles north-west of Charing Cross and is part of the W postcode area. Kensal Town was an exclave ...

(started 1968, completed 1972). These three buildings are notable examples of

Brutalist architecture Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ...

Personal life

Goldfinger was known as a humourless man given to notorious rages. He sometimes fired his assistants if they were inappropriately jocular, and once forcibly ejected two prospective clients for imposing restrictions on his design. A discussion on a golf course about Ernő with Goldfinger's cousin prompted

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., an ...

to name the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

adversary and villain Auric Goldfinger after Ernő—Fleming had been among the objectors to the pre-war demolition of the cottages in Hampstead that were removed to make way for Goldfinger's house at 2 Willow Road. Goldfinger consulted his lawyers when '' Goldfinger'' was published in 1959, which prompted Fleming to threaten to rename the character 'Goldprick', but eventually decided not to sue; Fleming's publishers agreed to pay his costs and gave him six free copies of the book. Goldfinger died on 15 November 1987, at the age of 85, and was cremated at the

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £135,987 in 2021), ...

where his ashes remain.

Legacy

Although Goldfinger enjoyed living in his own buildings, they were unpopular among both the public and many post-modernist architects. Towards the end of the 20th century Goldfinger's work became more appreciated. Trellick Tower is now a Grade II*

and has become something of a design icon, appearing on T-shirts, paintings and in the lyrics of the song "Best Days" by Blur. The few privately owned flats within fetch high prices at sale. Balfron Tower and Carradale House are also listed Grade II, while an adjacent building by Goldfinger's studio, the 14-storey

Glenkerry House Glenkerry House is a housing block on the Brownfield Estate in Poplar, London, England, designed by the studio of the controversial Brutalist architect Ernő Goldfinger. 14 storeys high, it stands in proximity to and complements the appearance o ...

, is run as a

housing co-operative A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity, usually a cooperative or a corporation, which owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings; it is one type of housing tenure. Housing cooperatives are a distin ...

and is regarded as a model for management of buildings of the type. In 2000, Ernő Goldfinger's estate endowed a sum of money to foster links between Hungary and the United Kingdom by sponsoring young Hungarian architectural students to study, travel or work in the UK. Their intention was to honour his achievements, his commitment to his profession, and his lifelong support for his compatriots. Six

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

Goldfinger Scholarships were awarded from 2002 to 2011.

Buildings

* 1, 2 & 3 Willow Road, Hampstead, London. (Listed II*, 1974) * 10 Regent's Park Road, Camden, London. (Listed II, 1998)

Elain Harwood Elain Harwood (born June 1958) is an architectural historian with Historic England and a specialist in post-Second World War English architecture. Early life Born in June 1958 in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, she attended Bramcote Hills Gramma ...

(2000), ''England, A guide to post-war listed buildings'', London: …ellipsis (for English Heritage). * 45-46 Albemarle St, Green Park, London. (Listed II, 1991) * Balfron Tower, Tower Hamlets, London. (Listed II, 1996; II* 2014) :*

Carradale House Balfron Tower is a 26-storey residential building in Poplar, Tower Hamlets, East London. Built in a Brutalist style, it forms part of the Brownfield Estate, an area of social housing between Chrisp Street Market and the A12 northern approach ...

(Listed II, 2000) :*

(Listed II, 2015) * Benjamin's Mount, Windlesham. (Listed II*, 1999) * Brandlehow School, Putney, London. (Listed II, 1993) And the attached caretaker's cottageDeveloper fined again over Goldfinger cottage
, ''BD online'', Marguerite Lazell, 4 April 2008. Retrieved 8 September 2011 * Cheltenham Estate and Edenham Way, Kensington & Chelsea (Listed II, 2012) :*

(Listed II*, 1998) * Fulton House, on the campus of Swansea University * Goldfinger House (Listed II, 1995), Shirley, West Midlands. * Greenside School, Hammersmith, London. (Listed II*, 1993) * Haggerston Girls' School and School House, (Listed II, 2004) * Hille House, Watford * Metro Central Heights (Alexander Fleming House), Southwark, London. (Listed II, 2013) * Weiss shop – 2/2a Golders Green Road, London. (Built 1935)Golders Green Conservation Area character appraisal

Bibliography

*Goldfinger: "The sensation of space", "Urbanism and the spatial order" and "The elements of enclosed space", three seminal articles published in ''

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism ...

'', November 1941 to January 1942

References

*Nigel Warburton,
Ernő Goldfinger: The Life of an Architect
'. Routledge, London, 2004. .

External links

Ernő Goldfinger: Designing Modern Britain
– Design Museum, London, 2006

Profile on Royal Academy of Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldfinger, Ernoe 1902 births 1987 deaths École des Beaux-Arts alumni Architects from Budapest Jewish architects Modernist architects British furniture designers Hungarian Jews Golders Green Crematorium Royal Academicians Hungarian emigrants to the United Kingdom