Video: Erno Goldfinger

A video lecture by James Dunnett

Recorded May 2023

Erno Goldfinger was an immigrant but not a refugee, from a wealthy background in Hungary but a friend of Harry Pollitt, the Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, a central figure the MARS Group but described himself, with his Ecole des Beaux Arts training, as a Classicist – or sometimes as an Arts and Crafts architect. He lived life on his own terms. He loved concrete but wrote and thought most about space. Quantatively most of his work was designed or built in about twelve years from 1956. He left a stunning legacy

James Dunnett trained in architecture at Cambridge and sculpture at St Martin’s. He worked for Erno Goldfinger 1973-75 as his first job, before moving to the London Borough of Camden when work ran out. He started to work on his own account in 1983, the same year as he mounted a retrospective exhibition of Goldfinger’s work at the Architectural Association. With occasional teaching, writing and lecturing he has continued to run his own practice as architect ever since, with an exhibition of his sculpture twice postponed from 2020 to 2022 due to Covid. He was Joint Chair of DOCOMOMO-UK with Dennis Sharp 2002-2010.