The UK's National Trust has announced the 'pop-up' opening of a property in Ernö Goldfinger's famous Balfron Tower in London, offering public access to Flat 130 of the brutalist icon from the 1st to the 12th of October. Completed in 1967, the Balfron Tower was the first of Goldfinger's two distinctive London housing blocks (the other being Trellick Tower), and in 1968 Goldfinger himself lived for two months in Flat 130, to demonstrate the desirability of high-rise living.
More on the tours after the break
The tours are being offered as part of Balfron Season, a programme of events presented by Bow Arts in association with the building's owners Poplar HARCA. The events mark a crucial point in the tower's history, as Poplar HARCA are preparing the Grade-II listed building for an extensive renovation.
For the tours, Flat 130 has been furnished in the style of a late-1960s home by Hemingway Design, recapturing the mid-century modern ambiance that would have permeated the building when it first opened.
"Balfron Tower, along with its younger sister Trellick Tower, is a testament to a particular moment in time when a vision of a utopian post-war Britain coincided with Brutalism – an architectural movement that indelibly changed the landscape of our urban environment," said the National Trust. "The National Trust already cares for Goldfinger’s own home in Hampstead, 2 Willow Road, so the Balfron Tower is the logical choice for the Trust’s first foray into Brutalism."
Tours will meet at Langdon Park DLR station and pass by 1950s Festival of Britain architecture and Chrisp Street Market. They will be led by a new team of National Trust volunteers who have an interest in Modernism, social housing and the local area. Tickets are available to book from the National Trust's London website.
