This block of flats in Lawn Road has fascinated me for years. Its construction in the 1930s was supervised by Walter Grobius, founder of the Bauhaus movement. The 34 flats were occupied by writers, artists, architects and intellectuals interested in “progressive urban living”. This sounded so appealing and, intellectual shortcomings aside, I’ve always had a yearning to live in the Isokon. Ultimately, the radical Bauhaus-inspired concept failed and the flats stood derelict for years. But they’ve now been restored to their original modernist splendour with a gallery on the ground floor charting the building’s history. I went there yesterday and asked, hypothetically, whether I could add my name to the waiting list for a flat. Yes, as long as I was a “key worker”. Ah. So I’d have to become a useful and selfless member of society, rather than a useless and selfish one. Never going to happen, is it?
To the Isokon Building in Belsize Park.

- Embrace it.14th Feb 2017
- RIP TPT.13th Feb 2017
- David Beckham...12th Feb 2017
- Life imitatin...9th Feb 2017
- No slum dog b...4th Feb 2017
- Bye just now....2nd Feb 2017
- And still the...29th Jan 2017
- The reason I ...28th Jan 2017
- Cultural Diff...25th Jan 2017
- Would Bowie h...23rd Jan 2017
- I don't remem...22nd Jan 2017
- I didn't real...19th Jan 2017
- The gig only ...17th Jan 2017
- Good God!15th Jan 2017
- Elton John's ...13th Jan 2017 prev next