A museum and gallery devoted to one of London’s modernist icons has a few days left to raise enough money to keep operating.
The Isokon Flats, just around the corner from Belsize Park tube station were built in the early 1930s as an experiment in minimalist living created by the British furniture entrepreneur Mollie and Jack Pritchard. The flats were small, but the building had a large community area for socialising.
For a while the building was home to some of the top names in design and culture, enjoying the sort of commune style living on offer. However, the experiment in shared living never quite worked, and the communal area was converted into a bar, which soon became a hub for socialist thinking in the 1930s-50s — and for soviet spies.
Left to decay by Camden Council, it was restored in 2003 and is now rented out to key workers.
And, in the former garage is the Isokon Gallery, which seeks to preserve the heritage of the original building, and more specifically, the furniture that was provided by the Pritchards, for their own rooftop flat, and the flats below.
Although it has now reopened at weekends following the lockdown, the Isokon Gallery is now urgently fundraising — and details are here.
Bit spun if I may say so. From the information here, the gallery site and its funding page the 3 days left (as of Mon eve.) is to reach their target.
Dullard I maybe, but can’t find the admittedly partly implied catastrophic closure mentioned anywhere. Just the ‘end of days’ of the fundage, non?
It’s a brilliant place to visit, especially since it was spruced up and the shop worthy of a visit albeit full of splendidly worthy stuff. No nice caff attached vibe here thank God.
This would be a great loss to us and to future generations A beautiful building.