Goldfinger
Yes, that Goldfinger.
He and Fleming were close neighbours in Hampstead. They had some sort of middle class tiff, so Fleming named his latest villain āGoldfingerā.
Goldfinger threatened to sue.
Fleming threatened to rename the villain āGoldprickā.
Thanks, that explains it all
hahahaha
when Ernoās business associate Jacob Blacker was asked for his opinion of a proof copy of the Bond story, he told Erno ironically that he could find only one substantial difference: āYouāre called Erno and heās called Auric.ā
So the penthouse of the Isokon Building / Lawn Road Flats was sold a couple of years ago. It later turned out, to the owner of Cubittās the opticians.
Heās done it up a bit.
I went on a visit in 2016 (so the photos say). The living room is very nice, the terrace is fantastic (given decent weather). Otherwise tiny kitchen and tiny bedroom.
Iād forgotten, but you can see that the then-owner (who ran the Skandium shops) had given up quite a lot of his precious space to a big VitsÅ rig for his CDs. If ever there was an argument for ripping and streaming, the lack of space in this flat is it!
The gallery there has reopened post-covid for the summer period. Well worth a visit if youāre modernist-adjacent.
This is on my doorstep. I live in a Housing Co-op just round the corner and we did consider trying to get funding for it when it was derelict but we decided it was too big a risk and complex.
As I understand it, the penthouse isnāt big, but everything else is absolutely tiny.
Designed for a different, pretty communal / socialist way of life as opposed to our more insular modern living.
Very cool all the same if youāre prepared for the compromises.
That was one of the main issues, the flat are/would have been small. Even for a Housing Co-op in the early 90s that was a bit of a stretch.
The heating doesnt work
This is my old office in Islington - serviced offices rather than the whole thing. A funny chunk of late 80s PoMo next door to Angel tube.
It is now up for significant changes - completely replacing the faƧade, changing the floorplates (but at least not complete demolition) and filling in the internal courtyard.
I have to agree up to a point that the courtyard was ill-conceived IMO - small and surrounded by very high walls it never got any sunlight at all, but the replacement for the original PoMo palette is, well, at best uninspired
This is my old office in Farringdon, the old Merrillās building. It was never a stunning piece of architecture, but it was clad in decent stone.
Which they then painted blackā¦
Who paints stone?
The Greeks and Romansš
Love but Iād put a hand rail in on the stairsā¦
With a trap door step and an aquarium below replete with sharksš
Owen Luder, also responsible for the āGet Carterā car park in Gateshead.
Both demolished by short-sighted embittered culture warriors.