Goldfinger, Ernö 1902 - 1987

Ernö Goldfinger was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary], on 11 September 1902. With his family he left Hungary following the communist putsch in 1919. After a year spent at a school in Switzerland, he settled in Paris where he studied architecture and urban planning at the École des Beaux-Arts under Léon Jaussely (1875-1932) and Auguste Perret (1874-1954) from 1922 to c.1924. He also attended the  École d'Urbanisme at the Sorbonne in 1927-28.  Whilst in Paris he moved in the avant-garde circles of the Left Bank where he associated with artists and architects such as Robert Delaunay, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Le Corbusier, Amédée Ozenfant and Pierre Chareau. From 1924 to 1934 he was in private practice in Paris   In 1927 he visited London where he built a shop for Helena Rubenstein. He returned to the city in 1934 and subsequently made it his permanent home, becoming a naturalised British citizen in 1945.

Following his move to London he re-established his architectural practice. In c.1936 he formed a partnership with Gerald Wanklyn Flower (1912-1994) as Goldfinger & Flower. The practice designed a toy shop for Paul and Marjorie Abbatt Limited at 94 Wimpole Street, London (1936); and 1-3 Willow Road, a terrace of three houses at 1–3 Willow Road, Hampstead, London (1937-39).

Goldfinger and Flower also designed furniture and interiors. Three photographs of nursery furniture designed by Goldfinger and Flower for Paul & Marjorie Abbatt Ltd. are illustrated in 'Decorative Art' 1938 (p.128). Some of the toys they designed for Abbatt were exhibited at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris in 1937.

In 1938 Goldfinger designed a stand for ICI at the British Industries Fair at Olympia, London, and the Children's Section for MARS Group Exhibition at Burlington Gallery in London.

During World War Two he designed educational exhibitions for the British armed forces and an air raid shelter at Bedales School in Petersfield Hampshire in 1940.
 
Among his post-war projects were offices for the Daily Worker newspaper; the headquarters of the British Communist Party; kiosks for the Festival of Britain in 1951, two primary schools for London County Council; Alexander Fleming House [now Metro Central Heights] in London, completed in 1966; a factory, offices and showroom for the furniture company Hille in Watford, Hertfordshire, completed in 1960; Balfron Tower in Poplar, Tower Hamlets, London, 1965-67; and Trellick Tower a 31-floor tower block in Kensal Town, London, completed in 1972.

Goldfinger was a member of the MARS Architectural Research Group.  He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1966; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 1968; an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1971; and a Royal Academician (RA) in 1975. He died at 2 Willow Road, Hampstead, London on 15 November 1987.