Sir Denys Louis Lasdun, CH, CBE, RA was an eminent English architect, the son of Nathan Lasdun (1879–1920) and Julie. Probably his best known work is the Royal National Theatre, on London's South Bank of the Thames, which is a Grade II* listed building and one of the most notable examples of Brutalist design in the United Kingdom.
The year 1954 in architecture involved some significant events.
Isokon Flats, also known as Lawn Road Flats and the Isokon building, on Lawn Road in the Belsize Park district of the London Borough of Camden, is a reinforced-concrete block of 36 flats, designed by Canadian engineer Wells Coates for Molly and Jack Pritchard.
Berthold Romanovich Lubetkin was a Georgian-British architect who pioneered modernist design in Britain in the 1930s. His work includes the Highpoint housing complex, the Penguin Pool at London Zoo, Finsbury Health Centre and Spa Green Estate.
Sir Ove Nyquist Arup, CBE, MICE, MIStructE, FCIOB was an English engineer who founded Arup Group Limited, a multinational corporation that offers engineering, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for building systems. Ove Arup is considered to be among the foremost architectural structural engineers of his time.
The Golden Lane Estate is a 1950s council housing complex in the City of London. It was built on the northern edge of the City, on a site devastated by bombing during the Second World War. Since 1997, the estate has been protected as a group of listed buildings of special architectural interest.
The Narkomfin Building is a block of flats at 25, Novinsky Boulevard, in the Central district of Moscow, Russia. Conceived as a "transitional type of experimental house", it is a renowned example of Constructivist architecture and avant-garde housing design.
The Tecton Group was a radical architectural group co-founded by Berthold Lubetkin, Francis Skinner, Denys Lasdun, Michael Dugdale, Anthony Chitty, Val Harding, Godfrey Samuel, and Lindsay Drake in 1932 and disbanded in 1939. The group was one of the leaders in bringing continental modernism to Britain.
Bevin Court is a housing project in Finsbury, London. It is one of several modernist housing projects designed in the city in the immediate postwar period by the Tecton architecture practice, led by Berthold Lubetkin. Following the dissolution of Tecton, the project was realised by Lubetkin, Francis Skinner and Douglas Carr Bailey. The project was completed in 1954.
85–91 Genesta Road are four terraced houses in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, located south of Plumstead, north of Shooter's Hill near Plumstead Common, and are the United Kingdom's only modernist terrace built in the 1930s, designed by the architectural pioneer Berthold Lubetkin with A. V. Pilichowski. The houses were among the first attempts to redesign the traditional English house with the benefits of concrete construction. Completed in 1934, they are listed grade II*.
125 Park Road is a listed building in Westminster, London, England. Occupying a prominent site opposite the Hanover Gate entrance to Regent's Park, the 11 storey block of flats has 18 two bedroom, 18 one bedroom, four penthouse and one caretaker's flat. Three quarters of the 41 flats have views over the park. The block was one of the first funded and built on the co-ownership principle made possible by the formation of the Housing Corporation in 1964. Lessees contributed to a group mortgage and received a premium payment when they left. This was designed to reflect the increase in the value of the flat during their stay.
The Cranbrook Estate is a housing estate in Bethnal Green, London, England. It is located next to Roman Road and is based around a figure of eight street called Mace Street. The estate was designed by Francis Skinner, Douglas Bailey and an elder mentor, the Soviet émigré Berthold Lubetkin.
Sussex Heights is a residential tower block in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built between 1966 and 1968 on the site of a historic church, it rises to 102 m (335 ft) and has 116 flats. As of August 2022, the tower is the 125th tallest building in the UK, and until 2005 it was the tallest residential tower in the UK outside of London. Until 2015, it was the tallest structure in Brighton, however it has now been exceeded by the i360 Tower, which stands at 162 metres.
Spa Green Estate between Rosebery Avenue and St John St in Clerkenwell, London EC1, England, is the most complete post-war realisation of a 1930s radical plan for social regeneration through Modernist architecture. Conceived as public housing, it is now a mixed community of private owners and council tenants, run by a resident-elected management organization. In 1998 this work by the architect Berthold Lubetkin received a Grade II* listing for its architectural significance, and the major 2008 restoration brought back the original colour scheme, which recalls Lubetkin's contacts with Russian Constructivism.
Joldwynds is a modernist style house in Holmbury St Mary, Surrey, England, designed by architect Oliver Hill for Wilfred Greene, 1st Baron Greene. Completed in 1932, it is a Grade II listed building.
Six Pillars is a Grade II* listed building in Sydenham in the London Borough of Southwark. The house was built in the 1930s in the modernist style.
Belsize Fire Station is a former fire station that is now used for private housing. Built between 1912 and 1915, it is a Grade II* listed building, and is situated in the London Borough of Camden. It is located at the junction between Eton Avenue and Lancaster Grove.
Gordon Ryder (1919–2000) OBE was a modernist architect and co-founder with Peter Yates of Ryder and Yates, known for designing a number of modernist buildings in the north-east of England in the 1960s. Ryder studied architecture at Newcastle University School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape then in 1948 began working for Berthold Lubetkin on the designs for Peterlee new town.
The Penguin Pool at London Zoo, Regent's Park is a penguin enclosure designed in the International Modernist style by Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton Group. Constructed in 1934, Historic England describe it as "a key symbol of British Modern Movement architecture". The pool housed the zoo's collection of penguins for 70 years. Changing attitudes to keeping animals in captivity, and concerns regarding the suitability of the structure for penguin well-being, saw the pool's closure in 2004 and its subsequent replacement by Penguin Beach. After a period of non-use, during which Lubetkin's daughter called for the structure to be "blown to smithereens", the pool was converted into a water feature. It is a Grade I listed building.
William Eden Tatton Brown was an English architect. From 1959, he was the first chief architect to the UK's Ministry of Health, taking charge of large-scale hospital building until the mid-1970s.
