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2 Willow Road

Historic property in Hampstead, England

Field	Value
name	2 Willow Road
image	1_2_3_Willow_Road_Hampstead_London_20050924.JPG
caption	1–3 Willow Road
map_type	United Kingdom London Camden
building_type	Terraced house
architectural_style	Modernist
owner	National Trust
location	Hampstead
London,
England
coordinates
completion_date
architect	Ernő Goldfinger
embed	yes
designation1	Grade II* Listed Building
designation1_offname	1, 2 and 3, Willow Road
designation1_date	14 May 1974
designation1_number
website

London, England 2 Willow Road is part of a terrace of three houses in Hampstead, London designed by architect Ernő Goldfinger and completed in 1939. It has been managed by the National Trust since 1995 and is open to the public. It was one of the first Modernist buildings acquired by the Trust, giving rise to some controversy. Goldfinger lived there with his wife Ursula and their children until his death in 1987.

History

Initially, Goldfinger planned to build a block of studio flats, believing that flat living was a more socially conscious choice for modern architects. This idea was rejected by the London County Council in 1936. He then revised his designs to include a block of three houses, retaining the concrete frame integral to Goldfinger's Modernist philosophy. He submitted these revised plans at the end of 1937. The construction of 2 Willow Road, was completed in the summer of 1939 constructed from concrete and a facing of red brick.

A number of cottages were demolished to allow for the construction, which was strongly opposed by a number of local residents including novelist Ian Fleming and the future Conservative Home Secretary Henry Brooke. This incident led Fleming to name his villain Auric Goldfinger by way of revenge. No. 2, which Goldfinger designed specifically as his own family home, is the largest of the three houses and features a spiral staircase designed by engineer Ove Arup at its core. The building is supported by a concrete frame, part of which is external, leaving room for a spacious uncluttered interior, perhaps inspired by the Raumplan ideas of modernist architect Adolf Loos.

Today

Goldfinger himself designed much of the furniture in No. 2, and the house also contains a significant collection of 20th-century art by Bridget Riley, Prunella Clough, Marcel Duchamp, Eduardo Paolozzi, Henry Moore and Max Ernst.

Nos. 1 and 3 remain private homes.

In popular culture

Restoration of an artwork from the house featured in Series 3, Episode 5 of the BBC TV series, Hidden Treasures of the National Trust.

References

Warburton, Nigel. Ernő Goldfinger: The Life of an Architect (Routledge, 2004) .

References

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

houses-completed-in-1939 modernist-architecture-in-london houses-in-hampstead ernő-goldfinger-buildings grade-ii*-listed-buildings-in-the-london-borough-of-camden grade-ii*-listed-houses-in-london national-trust-properties-in-london historic-house-museums-in-london museums-in-the-london-borough-of-camden

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