Modernism of the last century

Controversial - even terrible - that was the reaction to this 1938 construction of a small row of three houses by the architect Erno Goldfinger.

Now they feature on the Hampstead Tourist Trail, not least because number 2 is now a National Trust property.

The James Bond creator Ian Flemming so hated the architecture and apparently these houses in particular that he named his principal villain Goldfinger thus placing the name into household status.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ern%C5%91_Goldfinger

Goldfinger was a much celebrated Hungarian modernist architect, a generation on from the bauhaus movement, but also much known for his firery nature and character.

This house, at number 2 Willow Road, was Goldfinger's house of residence and opposite the house on the Preacher's Hill part of the Heath is a bench in memory of his son.

It's fair to say that even though the house is celebrated now, it was controversial with modernists at the time...

Erno passed away in 1987 and was cremated at Golders Green cemetary where his ashes were scattered.