Lawn Road Flats, London

Recently, ES Developed, a graphic design company from Florida, wrote about Art Deco as inspiration on their blog. Specifically they wrote about Agatha Christie's Poirot and used one of my pictures of Florin Court, the building used for Poirot's residence in the British TV series, to illustrate their point.

It got me thinking about Lawn Road Flats in north London where Agatha Christie was a famed resident as was Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius.

Lawn Road Flats were designed by Wells Coates, evolving from a project to design two houses for Jack & Molly Pritchard. As the plans developed the building became an experiment in modern communal living. The accommodation was simple but comfortable with furniture from the Pritchard's company Isokon. On the ground floor there was a shared dining facilities.

I visited during the London Open House weekend around 2000 and the flats were not in a very good condition at all. As you can see from the photos, the garden beds were overgrown and full of weeds. There was even some graffiti but surprisingly not that much considering the 'blank canvas' it presented.

It was very interesting to see inside some of the flats despite their condition. They are very small even by London standards.

The good news is that the flats have been restored since then. From the photo on the Twentieth Century Society casework report they look fantastic, complete with Isokon furniture.