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.

- Arcane licens...13th Sep 2013
- Curry with my...12th Sep 2013
- This week, we...11th Sep 2013
- Shame about M...10th Sep 2013
- Huge Concert ...9th Sep 2013
- When you see ...8th Sep 2013
- I have many s...7th Sep 2013
- I think I've ...6th Sep 2013
- Sometimes it'...5th Sep 2013
- On the one ha...4th Sep 2013
- If you love r...3rd Sep 2013
- I went to the...2nd Sep 2013
- It's Sunday s...31st Aug 2013
- I've got noth...31st Aug 2013
- The Natural H...29th Aug 2013 prev next