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.

- Friday night ...13th Feb 2015
- The name of t...11th Feb 2015
- Another way o...10th Feb 2015
- Mike Leigh re...9th Feb 2015
- Maybe it's a ...8th Feb 2015
- Will they bla...7th Feb 2015
- The only ciga...6th Feb 2015
- Gary Glitter ...5th Feb 2015
- I should have...4th Feb 2015
- Don't worry. ...3rd Feb 2015
- RIP The real ...2nd Feb 2015
- The Curious I...1st Feb 2015
- What's your e...31st Jan 2015
- Why men are s...30th Jan 2015
- Don't you jus...29th Jan 2015 prev next