Ham&High Open House Open House weekend (20-21 September) is now an annual fixture in every architectural-loving (or just plain-nosey) Londoner's diary and it should be in yours if exploring weird and wonderful houses is your thing. This weekend 700 buildings all over the Capital will open their doors to the public including contemporary eco-designed homes, art deco cinemas, quirky bath houses, modernist masterpieces and skyline icons. Just within the leafy confines of historic Hampstead you'll find a selection of architectural styles that seem to defy the area's reputation as a bastion of the Victorian and Georgian age. Indeed Open House pays homage to these anomalous buildings that lie within Hampstead's dense historic fabric... Hampstead has always been a hotbed of intellectualism, attracting some of the bravest new minds so it comes as no surprise that figures from the Modernist movement came to settle there in the 1930s. Modernist architect Ernö Goldfinger, famed for his brutal-looking Trellick Tower in Notting Hill, made his home in Willow Road, lying on the edge of the Heath. As a Hampstead dweller not only did Hungarian ÈmigrÈ design his own house there but also managed to arouse immense hostility from some equally eminent neighbours in the process. When writer Ian Fleming became aware of Goldfinger's plans demolish a row of inoffensive Victorian cottages to make way for the architect's own home, part of a glass-fronted Modernist terrace at 2 Willow Road, the James Bond creator's hackles were raised. Rumour has it that the writer so despised this invasion of modern architecture that Goldfinger's name was said to be his inspiration for his James Bond villain - Auric Goldfinger. By the 1990s attitudes towards 2 Willow Road had radically shifted and it became the first Modernist building to be acquired by the National Trust in 1994. Open House's tour of the Goldfinger abode with its controversial flat roof, reinforced concrete and dynamic interior is not to be missed, if only to see at close hand the building that got up the noses of so many local conservationists when built in 1939. Another Modernist attraction worth trekking across North London's scenic hills for is Berthold Lubetkin's Highpoint - a Grade 1 listed block of flats, built in 1935, that lies over the Heath in Highgate. Highpoint's first tenant also happened to be Goldfinger who lived in his fellow architect's building before decamping to Willow Road. Highpoint is noted for its rather surreal porch consisting of two reproduction Erechtheum caryatids disrupting the clean lines of its white design. The quirks of this apartment block imply Lubetkin had a well-developed sense of the absurd and it comes as no surprise that his architectural practice was responsible for London Zoo's famous Penguin Pool and Gorilla House! It is in a slightly more showy style than Goldfinger's who, though a tenant, was rather dismissive of Lubetkin's school of architecture and looked down upon Highpoint's gleaming white box design that disguised the building's structure and materials, unlike his own fondness for exposed concrete. Open House champions ingeniously designed contemporary buildings and Hampstead possesses a fine example of this lying not far from Goldfinger's house but built some 60 years later in 2006. 2B Pilgrims Lane is a family home and studio designed by architect couple Patrick Gilmartin and Katie Woollacott and is a must-see this weekend. This fascinating house catches you unawares for it is a thin slither of a building, sandwiched between two ends of terraces, making the most use out of the restricted space with bedrooms lying in a cleverly light-filled basement. Unlike Goldfinger the couple did not come up against hostility from other residents when they announced the planned demolishment of the existing Victorian house that it was replacing, once home to Ben Nicholson, a well-respected Modernist artist. But Gilmartin says that they were helped partly by the fact that Nicholson's old home was an 'ugly duckling' of a house and not even historic societies interested in the artist's legacy were interested in keeping it once they had stepped inside its 'rabbit warren' interior. Gilmartin feels there is an irony in the fact that this building was honoured at Camden Council's Design Awards for its contribution to urban architecture. 'It doesn't really have much of an urban presence, you only really notice it if you're just in front of it otherwise it's very, very discreet' he muses. Open House provides a platform for the kind of houses that are anathema to the Ian Flemings of this world who believe an alien aesthetic could only destroy the beauty of a historic neighbourhood. This weekend you get a chance to explore well-considered contemporary architecture like 2B Pilgrim's Lane that only seem to add to the character of Hampstead. www.openhouse.org.uk		Next article >