{"id":1149,"date":"2016-12-12T12:28:18","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T12:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentialhome.eu\/blog\/?p=1149"},"modified":"2016-12-12T12:30:28","modified_gmt":"2016-12-12T12:30:28","slug":"modernist-architect-erno-goldfinger-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/modernist-architect-erno-goldfinger-london\/","title":{"rendered":"Modernist Architect Erno Goldfinger in London"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In honour of Open House London, the fantastic annual event that literally opened hundreds of doors in the Capital last\u00a0weekend, we\u2019ve dug an article out of our archives on 2 Willow Road, the Modernist home that Architect Erno Goldfinger<\/strong><\/em> designed for his family in the 1930s. Writer Katie Treggiden<\/a>\u00a0gets the guided tour\u2026<\/p>\n

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SEE ALSO:\u00a0A MID-CENTURY CHRISTMAS TREE<\/a>\n<\/h4>\n

\"Midcentury<\/a><\/p>\n

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Modernist Architect Erno Goldfinger: 2 Willow Road<\/h2>\n

I love Open House London \u2014 it democratises architecture and design by opening buildings that aren\u2019t usually accessible to the public, and making us aware of those that are. A must-see on my list was 2 Willow Road, Hampstead, London. I was very lucky to be given a tour by National Trust volunteer, Robert Rimmel; a man whose affection for the architect, Erno Goldfinger, is infectious.<\/p>\n

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Modernist Architect Erno Goldfinger: The interior<\/h2>\n

The terrace of three is a Modernist building with classical elements. Originally planned as a block of flats and then a terrace of four, Goldfinger decided to merge the middle two into a home for his own family (now number 2), who moved there in 1939.<\/p>\n

As was his style, the concrete columns are structural and part of a reinforced concrete frame. This gives the space inside flexibility because none of the walls are load bearing \u2014 and many of them are literally folding screens. For instance, the children\u2019s room was open during the day and split into three rooms at night.<\/p>\n

The rear wall is glazed and folds away to create an open fa\u00e7ade. Peckham Health Centre, built three years previously, pioneered fresh air and sunshine for good health and was undoubtedly an influence. The front window, spanning all three properties, was designed to be constructed entirely from glass, but the planners wanted more subdivision. Erno Goldfinger added a horizontal concrete shelf, but, not to be defeated, painted it white to bounce light into the back of the room. In doing so, he created a light-filled studio for his artist wife.<\/p>\n

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Modernist Architect Erno Goldfinger: the spiral staircase<\/h2>\n

But this building is more than just an open plan design. Must-sees include the spiral staircase. The treads are concrete wedges cantilevered from a surrounding drum, removing the need for a central column. A skylight floods the space with natural light. The children were in charge of tightening the string balustrade, now pretty loose!<\/p>\n

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Modernist Architect Erno Goldfinger: furniture to fit<\/h2>\n

Another is Erno Goldfinger\u2019s desk, which he designed himself. The drawers\u00a0pivot on the legs, creating a semi-circle, so they can all be accessed at\u00a0once. It\u2019s an ingenious piece of design. And I loved the tiny details that give an insight into Goldfinger\u2019s character \u2013 his car keys hung on a simple hook with \u2018Rover keys\u2019 written above in pencil.<\/p>\n

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Modernist Architect Erno Goldfinger: elegant design solutions<\/h2>\n

I believe design is about elegant solutions to problems \u2014 about making\u00a0people\u2019s lives better. Whether that\u2019s natural light in every room, being\u00a0able to see into all your drawers at once, or simply not losing your keys;\u00a0sometimes you need to see it in the flesh to appreciate it.<\/p>\n

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\"Minimalist<\/a><\/p>\n

SOURCE: midcenturymagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n

_<\/p>\n

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In honour of Open House London, the fantastic annual event that literally opened hundreds of doors in the Capital last\u00a0weekend, we\u2019ve dug an article out of our archives on 2 Willow Road, the Modernist home that Architect Erno Goldfinger designed for his family in the 1930s. Writer Katie Treggiden\u00a0gets the guided tour\u2026 \u00a0 SEE ALSO:\u00a0A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":1157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[202,156,24,201,75],"class_list":["post-1149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-architecture","tag-architect","tag-architecture","tag-design","tag-erno-goldfinger","tag-london"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1149"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1158,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions\/1158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}