Balfron Tower  

 

 

ADDRESS

St. Leonards Road, Tower Hamlets, London E14 0QT

 

 

CONTACT

Info@balfronseason.com

 

TWITTER

@BalfronSeason

 

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• Visitor Information
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Commissioned by London County Council, Balfron Tower, was designed by Erno Goldfinger as "a beacon of social housing in 1968" (The Guardian). This 27 storey tower, known during development as Rowlett Street Phase 1, welcomed its first residents in February 1968 and Goldfinger and his wife Ursula also moved in to flat 130 as part of an exercise in research and publicity. The press response was largely favourable, though one dispute was played out in the letters page of the Guardian, where Goldfinger was accused of taking part in a shallow exercise of little sociological merit. Goldfinger however promoted a sense of community by throwing parties at his flat where a whole access galley would be invited at a time. In 2014, forty six years after it was first occupied Balfron Tower's residents have been moved out to make way for its refurbishment as the iconic tower moves upmarket. But before its closure, Bow Arts Trust curates a month-long programme of arts and culture to celebrate the life of the building and the people who have lived there. Events include a pop-up by Wayne Hemmingway and his daughter Tilly who have redesigned No 130, where Goldfinger and his wife Ursula lived, in 1968 style, viewable from 1st to 12th October 2014.

Balfron Tower  Balfron Tower, image courtesy of National Trust / Sophia Schorr-Kon