Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1902 Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary)

Died: 1987 London, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1934

Other name/s: Ernő Goldfinger, Ern Goldfinger, Ernö Goldfinger

Biography

Architect Ernő Goldfinger was born in 1902 into a prosperous Jewish family in Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary). As the family business was in forestry, he spent much of his childhood in Transylvania. From 1912 Goldfinger was educated in Budapest and then Vienna, following his family's relocation. His fascination with architecture stemmed from reading Hermann Muthesius's Das englische Haus (1908). In 1921, after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Goldfinger moved to Paris, enrolling at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1923, associating with modernist architects, including Le Corbusier and Auguste Perret, and surrealists, Man Ray and Max Ernst. He also publicly declared his communist sympathies, which influenced his emerging architectural style. After graduation Goldfinger went into business with fellow student, Hungarian architect André Sive (né András Szivessy) from 1924–29, specialising in furniture and interior design; following the partnership split Goldfinger established his own practice. Visiting the 1925 Paris Exhibition, he declared that modern architecture was 'not bound to false traditions [….] the heirs of the Gothic Renaissance and Empire styles are the steel structures, the ferro-concrete and glass palaces' (Ashley Maher, Who was Ernö Goldfinger?)

In the early 1930s Goldfinger met and married Ursula Blackwell, the Crosse & Blackwell heiress. With his English wife, Goldfinger immigrated to London in 1934, moving to Highpoint 1 (the first of two new residential blocks in Highgate, designed by émigré architect, Berthold Lubetkin (whom Goldfinger had known in Paris). The Goldfingers swiftly became part of the nearby 'Lawn Road Flats' social circle, centred around influential designer Jack Prichard and his wife. Goldfinger was invited to join the Modern Architectural Research (MARS) Group (later becoming Honorary Editor of its bulletins), whose wide-ranging and progressive membership included Mary and Paul Abbatt. Goldfinger subsequently began to design products, logos, exhibitions and catalogues for the Abbatts' toy business, and adapted their workshop, off Tottenham Court Road, into a light and airy modernist space. Before the Second World War, due to a lack of building contracts, Goldfinger worked with French artist Robert Delaunay, designing interior fittings, exhibition stands, graphics and film sets. Goldfinger’s first building in England was 2 Willow Road, part of a terrace of three houses in Hampstead, completed in 1939. This became the Goldfinger family residence, but was also used to host exhibitions including the Aid to Russia fundraiser in 1942. Goldfinger was acquainted with many influential locals in Hampstead, including sculptor Henry Moore and biologist Julian Huxley. However, known to be stern and rather humourless, author Ian Fleming based James Bond's famous nemesis (Auric Goldfinger) on his Hungarian neighbour; Goldfinger was so outraged by this caricature that he threatened to sue when the book was published in 1952.

From 1941–42 Goldfinger wrote for Architectural Review and in 1945 published The Country of London Plan. In 1947 he was commissioned to design new offices for the Daily Worker newspaper and headquarters for the Communist Party of Great Britain; both buildings have since been demolished. Social housing was also a significant concern in Goldfinger's practice, beginning In the mid-1950s with modest projects, such as 10 Regent's Park Road, a co-operative housing project, which characteristically utilised reinforced concrete. Residents included émigré textile designer, Elisabeth Tomalin (a former employee of Goldfinger) and her husband, left-wing writer, Miles Tomalin; each occupied a separate flat on a different floor. In the early 1960s Goldfinger designed Alexander Fleming House, a multi-storey office complex in Walworth, south London; this was eventually extended to create a group of residential buildings, renamed Metro Central Heights. In the wake of extensive wartime bomb damage, Goldfinger was convinced that the answer to London's critical shortage of public housing lay in vast modernist tower blocks. From 1965–67 he designed the brutalist 27-storey Balfron Tower in Poplar, east London, for the Greater London Council (GLC), comprising 146 flats. Goldfinger and Ursula moved into Balfron Tower for two months, hosting parties so that residents could freely share their thoughts on the flats. Goldfinger used this feedback when designing Trellick Tower in west London, which was 98 metres tall and built between 1966–72; however, it received poor reviews after completion.

Goldfinger retired in 1977 and died on 15 November 1987 in his Hampstead home. Through his bequest, 2 Willow Road has been managed by the National Trust since 1995 and is open to the public, often hosting exhibitions and events. English Heritage granted Trellick Tower Grade II listed status in 1998, while Metro Central Heights achieved the same in 2013. Brutalist architecture continues to receive criticism, especially after the notorious Grenfell Tower fire in west London in 2017. Nevertheless, these buildings symbolise a particular moment in British postwar architectural history, and the influence of Ernő Goldfinger remains clearly visible on the London skyline today. His designs, plans and papers are held in numerous UK collections, including more than a thousand drawings at the RIBA Museum and archives, Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Collections and Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Related books

‘Designing the Child’s World: Erno Goldfinger and the Role of the Architect, 1933–1946’, Journal of Design History, Vol. 33, No. 1, 2020, pp. 50-65
Nicola Braghieri, ‘The Towers of Terror: A Critical Analysis of Erno Goldfinger’s Balfron and Trellick Towers’, Urban Planning, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2019, pp. 223-249
Alan Powers and Elain Harwood, Erno Goldfinger (London: Historic England, 2018)
Billy Reading, Britain’s Heritage: Brutalism (Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2018)
David Roberts, ‘Make Public: Performing Public Housing in Ernő Goldfinger’s Balfron Tower’, The Journal of Architecture, Vol. 22, No. 1, 2017, pp. 123-150
Alan Powers, MODERN: The Modern Movement in Britain (London: Merrell Publishers Ltd, 2005)
James Dunett and Garvin Stamp, Erno Goldfinger Works I (London: Architectural Association, 1983)
Nigel Warburton, Ernö Goldfinger: The Life of an Architect (London: Routledge, 2003)
Robert Elwell and Ernö Goldfinger, Ernö Goldfinger: RIBA Drawings Monographs No. 3 (London: Wiley, 1996)
James Dunnett ed., Ernö Goldfinger (London: Architectural Association, 1983)
Máté Major, Goldfinger Ernő (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1973)
Erin McKellar, Erno Goldfinger: British Furniture Today (London: Alec Tiranti, 1951)
E. J. Carter & Erno Goldfinger, The County of London Plan (London: Penguin Books, 1945)

Public collections

Related organisations

Association of Hungarian Architects [Magyar Építőművészek Szövetsége] (member)
École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris (student)
École d'Urbanisme (student)
Modern Architectural Research (MARS) Group (member)
Royal Academy, London (member)

Selected exhibitions

The Goldfinger Project, [s p a c e], London (2007)
Tisztelet a szülőföldnek (Hommage to the Homeland), Hall of Art, Budapest (1982)
This is Tomorrow, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1956)
Festival of Britain (1951)
Aid to Russia, Willow Road, London (1942)
Exposition Internationale, Paris (1925, 1937)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Erno Goldfinger]