26th August 2022
Modernism & Metroland
During the 1920s and 30s, Modernism flourished in Britain. A whole new movement of art and architecture had swept across Europe, and although Britain was a little behind the curve, Modernism left its mark, not least because of the influx of refugee architects from all over Europe who pushed for architectural progress.
A far-reaching beast of the art world, Modernism has evolved in different ways all over the globe. In general terms, it was the opposite of traditional – ornamentation, illustrious details and classical techniques had no place in the new wave. For architecture, this meant concrete, open-plan, and asymmetrical. Think Royal Festival Hall, The Guggenheim or Sydney Opera House. It had started as a rebellion; a rejection of a society that placed too much value on image as opposed to functionality, and it flourished with Bauhaus. 1920s Germany had experienced a cultural explosion of prosperity and progression, and the Bauhaus School of Design taught simple forms and open, communal space. Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe rose to the forefront of the movement, dreaming of Modernist urban utopias and human-focussed living.
The Bauhaus Building in Dessau, designed by Walter Gropius, completed in 1926
But it couldn’t last. As the Nazi regime closed in on Germany, many fled the country, including Gropius and Rohe, as their art was deemed insufficiently German. The country’s architectural progress was halted, and Modernism would have to migrate elsewhere. Britain seemed a good option – German opinion of British architecture was that it was progressive, and associated it with a thriving Arts and Crafts style and an up-and-coming Modernist scene. Some European architects even felt they owed inspiration to the classic British townhouses of the 19th century.
But this wasn’t exactly the case. Compared to Germany, Britain lagged behind in its art and architecture, with a more conservative culture that resisted European influences. Edwardian styles were still very much ‘in’, and out-of-date building practices meant that the capacity for architectural experimentation was limited. Although there were Modernist architects working in Britain, and slowly, the sector was crawling towards simpler, more geometric designs, there was an ever-present pushback from the public and the government – Walter Gropius found himself disappointed, and left for America soon after arriving in England.
In fact, the pool of émigré architects working in Britain was vanishingly small. Due to extensive records kept at the time, we know that 137 German and Austrian architects were present in Britain at the start of the Second World War. Of those, few were able to establish their own practices. It’s estimated that over 90% of the influx of refugees were Jewish or had Jewish relations; rigid immigration laws and lurking antisemitism meant that only a handful of émigré architects and artists ever established themselves in the UK.
Nevertheless, those few formed a unique sliver of British history. Long-time Modernist pioneer Isokon, and its founders Jack and Molly Pritchard, eagerly welcomed the émigré architects – Jack even met Gropius at the platform when he arrived with his wife in England. The Pritchards themselves had just designed and completed the Lawn Road Apartments in Hampstead, and a flat was prepared for Gropius and his Bauhaus colleagues, including famed Modernist designer Marcel Breuer. Though Isokon was predominantly a furniture company, it nurtured some of the finest architects & artists of the 20th century, and devoted itself to the Modernist wave. Thus, a microcosm of unique architecture emerged.
Isokon's Lawn Road Apartments, Hampstead, completed 1934
Much of the Modernist architecture that remains in Britain today can be found in what was previously known as ‘Metroland’ – areas of suburban houses that were built in the early 20th century after the Metropolitan Railway (now the Jubilee line) was extended into Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex. The population boomed, and with Modernism on the rise, many new houses were designed with the movement in mind. Two such houses can be found within a stone’s through of each other in Stanmore. They were designed by émigré architect Rudolf Frankel, who fled Germany to Britain via Romania in 1933, arriving in Britain in 1937. One house was built for himself, and another for his sister. His sister's house (H-22754, pictured below) is made up of two brick cubes, one for the main house and another for the garage. His modernist flair can be seen in the rigid, parallel lines of the property, emphasised by the cutaway corner. Despite being interned as an 'enemy alien' in 1939, he remained in Britain for the next decade, later founding the "Circle" Group of German and Austrian Architects and Engineers in 1943.
H-22754, Frankel's first Metroland Modernist design
You may also be familiar with the unique design of the penguin pool at London Zoo – this was created by architect Berthold Lubetkin, who fled Soviet Georgia in 1931 and set up Tecton in England. It’s formed entirely from reinforced concrete, and its elegant and playful style was the perfect stage for the antics of penguins. Although it’s no longer suitable for penguins, it can still be viewed today. Lubetkin and Tecton went on to design for Whipsnade Zoo, Dudley Zoo, and the Highpoint Tower, an apartment complex in Highgate. He died in 1990, and is now remembered as one of Britain's most gifted architects and a Modernist pioneer.
The Penguin Pool at London Zoo, completed in 1934.
Title Image: The Isokon Flats, 1934
References
Abbott, Josh (2015).Stanmore Tour Notes. Blog post. https://www.modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/blog/stanmore-tour-notes
Royal Institute of British Architects. Spreading the Word: 1930s Modernism. https://www.ribapix.com/spreading-the-word-1930s-modern-movement-architecture#
Thomson, Christina (1999) Contextualising the continental : the work of German émigré architects in Britain, 1933-45. PhD thesis, University of Warwick. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/34756/1/WRAP_THESIS_Thomson_1999.pdf
Wilson, Paul. Architecture at ZSL London Zoo, Regent's Park. ZSL, blog post. https://www.zsl.org/about-us/architecture-at-zsl-london-zoo-regents-park