Ernő Goldfinger (11 September 1902 – 15 November 1987) was a Hungarian-born British architect and furniture designer. 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 jurisdiction. ...

s, some of which are now

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Biography

Goldfinger was born in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

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'', a description of English domestic architecture around the turn of the twentieth century. Goldfinger moved to Paris in 1921, after the defeat and collapse of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

. In 1923, he went to study at the

Beaux-Arts de Paris The (), formally the (), is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level fine arts education and training. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is located on two sites: Saint-G ...

in the atelier of

Léon Jaussely Léon Jaussely (9 January 1875 – 28 December 1932) was a French architect and urban planner. Life 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 Pier ...

, 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 C ...

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pionee ...

and

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

. 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 (, Picard language, Picard: ''Ech Toutchet-Paris-Plache''), commonly referred to as Le Touquet (), is a Communes of France, commune near Étaples, in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, northern France. ...

. 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 (Ch ...

'', 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 Crosse & Blackwell is an English food brand. The original company was established in London in 1706, then was acquired by Edmund Crosse and Thomas Blackwell in 1830. It became independent until it was acquired by Swiss Conglomerate (company), con ...

fortune. Goldfinger was based in the UK for the remainder of his career.

Modernist in London

In 1934, Ernő and his wife, Ursula, moved to a flat in

Highpoint I Highpoint I was the first of two apartment blocks erected in the 1930s on one of the highest points in London, England, in Highgate. The architectural design was by the Georgian-British architect Berthold Lubetkin, the structural design by th ...

, London. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, North London, and another at

Broxted Broxted is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district, in the county of Essex, England. It is situated north-east from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire and north-west from the county town of Chelmsford. The parish includes the ha ...

, Essex. His own house,

2 Willow Road 2 Willow Road is part of a terraced housing, terrace of three houses in Hampstead, London designed by architect Ernő Goldfinger and completed in 1939. It has been managed by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, ...

, is now in the care of the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

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 Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...

'' newspaper and the headquarters of the

British Communist Party The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

. In the 1950s, he designed two London primary schools from prefabricated pre-cast concrete with brick infill for the

London County Council The 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 ...

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 Elephant and Castle is an area of South 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 station of the same name. The nam ...

, 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 His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

began to see high-rise buildings as a solution. 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 Balfron Tower is a 26-storey residential building in Poplar, located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London. Built in a Brutalist style, it forms part of the Brownfield Estate, an area of social housing between Chrisp Street Market an ...

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 building, listed tower block on the Cheltenham Estate in Kensal Town, London. Opened in 1972, it was commissioned by the Greater London Council and designed in the Brutalist architecture, Brutalist style by ...

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 Grand Union Canal, which passes through it, forms the boundary of the two boroughs. Kensal Town is a sub-distri ...

(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 Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

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, 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., and his ...

to name the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

adversary and villain

Auric Goldfinger Auric Goldfinger is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Ian Fleming's 1959 seventh ''James Bond'' novel, '' Goldfinger'', and the 1964 film it inspired (the third in the ''James Bond'' series). His first name, Auric, is an adjective ...

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

. 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. He was cremated at the

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and is one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £136,000 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 Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the worl ...

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 Grade II listed housing block on the Brownfield Estate in Poplar, London, England, designed by the studio of the controversial Brutalist architecture, Brutalist architect Ernő Goldfinger and finished in 1977.

, is run as a

housing co-operative A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity which owns real estate consisting of one or more residential buildings. The entity is usually a cooperative or a corporation and constitutes a form of housing tenure. Typically hous ...

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 ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130

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 Hon.FRIBA (10 June 1958 – April 2023) was a British architectural historian with Historic England and a specialist in post–Second World War English architecture. Early life and education Harwood was born on 10 June 1958 in B ...

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

, Tower Hamlets, London. (Listed II, 1996; II* 2014) :* Carradale House (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 Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

* Goldfinger House (Listed II, 1995),

Shirley, West Midlands Shirley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands, England. Historically a rural settlement within the county of Warwickshire, it is now contiguous with nearby Solihull and Birmingham. History The earliest known ...

. * Greenside School, Hammersmith, London. (Listed II*, 1993) * Haggerston Girls' School and School House, (Listed II, 2004) * Hille House, Watford *

Metro Central Heights Metro Central Heights is a group of residential buildings in Walworth in the London Borough of Southwark. It was originally known as Alexander Fleming House, a multi-storey office complex designed by Hungarian-born modernist architect Ernő Gol ...

(Alexander Fleming House), Southwark, London. (Listed II, 2013) * Weiss shop – 2/2a

Golders Green Golders Green is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet in north London, northwest of Charing Cross. It began as a medieval small suburban linear settlement near a farm and public grazing area green, and dates to the early 19th century. It ...

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

Sources

*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