Balfron Tower
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Balfron Tower is a 27-storey housing block in the Poplar district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It forms part of the Brownfield estate close to the Blackwall Tunnel. Since 1998 it has been a Grade II* listed building.
It was designed by architect Ernő Goldfinger and, like nearby Robin Hood Gardens and Goldfinger's later, very similar but slightly more famous Trellick Tower in west London, is associated with the Brutalist style of 1960s architecture. Both Balfron and Trellick towers are often regarded as striking and/or ugly. Goldfinger himself was pleased with the design and moved in to flat 130, on the 26th floor, for two months in 1968 to find out what the residents liked, and disliked, about his design. What he learnt was applied to the design of Trellick Tower.
Goldfinger also designed Carradale House and Glenkerry House, part of the same estate and complementing Balfron Tower in style. These buildings are now all part of the Balfron Tower Conservation Area, designated in 1998.
The tower is 84m high and contains 146 flats (apartments). Lifts serve all entry floors (that is every third floor); thus, to reach a flat on the 11th, 12th or 13th floors, residents or visitors would take a lift to the 12th. The lift shaft sits in a separate service tower, joined to the residential tower by seven walkways.
