80 years of the Isokon Building

At 11am on the 9th July, 1934 the Isokon Building in North London opened and welcomed its first residents.

To celebrate that milestone the new Isokon Gallery, located in the former garages of the residence, is hosting a permanent public exhibition dedicated to the history of the building, its clients, the architect and its celebrated residents.

Max Fordham worked on the restoration of the historic Grade I-listed building with Avanti Architects in 2004, and is delighted to be a supporter of the new gallery.

The Isokon Building  – also known as the Lawn Road Flats - was the creation of Jack & Molly Pritchard and architect Wells Coates. It was not only the first modernist block of flats in Britain but also the home of notable émigrés, including Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus; Marcel Breuer, designer of modernist furniture; and László Maholy-Nagy, head teacher of art at the Bauhaus school.

It also attracted tenants like Arnold  Deutsch, the NKVD (KGB) spy and recruiter of the Cambridge Five (a group which included Kim Philby). Between 1941 and 1947 the building was the home of Agatha  Christie, who wrote her only spy novel, 'N or M' when she lived there.