Isokon Building (Lawn Road Flats)
Historic site · Belsize Park, England
The Isokon Building, also known as the Lawn Road Flats, is a private residential block on Lawn Road, seen from the street. A small volunteer-run gallery occupies the former garage; no source states its opening hours, so none are given here. The building is Grade I listed as 'Numbers I, 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D and 2-32 Isokon Flats', NHLE 1379280, and was listed on 14 May 1974.
History
Wells Coates designed the block of 36 flats between 1929 and 1932 and it was built in 1933–34 for Jack and Molly Pritchard, using the Pritchards' Venesta plywood products (NHLE 1379280). It is a monolithic reinforced-concrete structure with a cement wash applied direct to the concrete, a flat roof and metal windows, of four storeys plus a penthouse. Each floor held six one-room 'minimum' flats, two of them with balconies, plus a studio with a balcony and a one-bedroom flat, with a penthouse for the Pritchards and a separate one for their children on the roof. The flats were conceived as a cheap but independent alternative to lodgings, with space-saving fitted furniture and closets, and most keep their original Coates fitted kitchens, dressing rooms and bathrooms. Marcel Breuer and F R S Yorke converted the ground-floor kitchens and staff flat into the Isobar in 1937. The building stands in the Parkhill Conservation Area, designated by Camden as local planning authority, which carries no list entry number.
Visit
Lawn Road, London NW3 2XD