Tag Archives: Brutalism

Erno in the Elephant

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It may come a surprise that a post war high rise complex in Elephant and Castle is Grade II listed, but it is and we’re here to tell you how it happened. You’ve probably walked by Metro Central Heights a million times and never taken notice of it. It is fact the creation of Brutalist architect Erno Goldfinger, who was also the brains behind probably the most iconic high rises in Britain; Trellick Tower in N. Kensington and Balfron Tower in Poplar (pictured at bottom). In spite of this, he always considered his achievement in Elephant to be his most significant work. 

The building complex was christened Alexander Fleming House and when it opened in 1963 housed the Department of Health and Social Security. While many found the building soulless, the blocks were praised for their ‘clarity and vigour’ and for the added addition of public courtyards (not public anymore, but we’ll get to that) and green spaces between the juxtaposed buildings. It was also seen as an inspiration for the then mostly bombed out Elephant. Alexander Fleming House served the DoH dutifully for 30 years until it developed a nasty case of sick building syndrome and the civil servants were forced to flee to alternative premises. 

Luckily for our sick and unloved building, Goldfinger designed it speculatively and intended it for a variety of then unknown reasons. It lay empty for almost 20 years and was almost bulldozed (an attached Goldfinger cinema faced a sorry downfall in 1988) until it it was converted into 400 flats and rechristened Metro Central Heights in 2002. It was geared towards young professionals (that’s code for hideously overpriced) and the open public areas made not so public. Next time you walk by the complex you might want to reevaluate your opinion by looking at the angles, jutting windows, and over the railings into the courtyards 

Goldfinger was a notoriously fickle and humourless character, sometimes firing his employees on a whim and upsetting his snooty Hampstead neighbours by mowing down a row of Victorian cottages to erect his Modernist home (now a museum) at 2 Willow Road. One of these neighbours was none other than 007 author Ian Fleming. Unable to prevent Goldfinger’s builders from mowing down the cottages by traditional methods, Fleming exacted revenge in the only other way he knew how…..By naming his most famous Bond villain after the architect. 

The building still continues to totally divide opinion but, like it or not, was granted Grade II listing status in 2013. If you have a spare half million to toss around you can even be part of the experience. Apparently it has a pool. 

  • Trellick Tower
  • Balfron Tower

Edward Hollamby, the Architect of Greater Kennington

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A great deal of the built environment around us in Greater Kennington can be linked directly to architect and visionary Edward Hollamby (1921 – 1999). Like many architects of his generation, Hollamby was profoundly influenced by the values of William Morris. Namely, those relating to equitable living conditions and the universal right for people to work and live in places which allow them to flourish. There was no better way to execute these values that by working for local government, and Hollamby worked for both the LCC and Lambeth Council. 

Locally,  Hollamby is known primarily for being the lead architect of the Brandon Estate in Walworth (behind Kennington Park), which we wrote about last summer. His vision for the estate was to build a community which addressed the individual and changing needs of its residents, make shopping easier, while also creating large green spaces to allow people to relax and children to play. And to make the area more aesthetically pleasing he even convinced Lambeth to commission a sculpture by Henry Moore, which is very much still there.

As lead architect in Lambeth Hollamby hired Peter Finch, who designed the Cotton Gardens Estate in Kennington Lane (we are aware that these buildings remain a tad controversial). Hollamby/Finch’s thinking is that they wanted buildings which ‘danced around in different directions’ depending on how one looked at them. It’s often overlooked that at ground level they created green spaces in addition to bungalows and maisonettes for people who didn’t fancy  living in a high rise. A walk around Knight’s Walk around the foot of the buildings is a bit like a stroll in a park. And if the towers look very familiar to others in South London, that’s because they were all made from complex interlocking panels which were massed produced. 

Hollamby was also the brains behind the unusual and rather playful Lambeth Towers in Kennington Road, with the lead architect again being Finch. The building was started in 1964 with the intention of being mixed use, which it is to this day, and the box like design intended to allow each maisonette to be double aspect and have its own balcony. These buildings are classed as being ‘Brutalist’ but that name seems to stick to every 20thCentury building with a bit of exposed brick. Figuring out when a building becomes ‘brutal’ therefore becomes rather like an architectural game of Wordle. You may or may not find these estates to be beautiful, but Hollamby always made the needs and wishes of the residents paramount.