A Putney cottage designed by Erno Goldfinger has been illegally destroyed. Arbus Ltd, of Croydon, applied for permission to pull down the building in 2002, but was refused. Living up to his surname, Director of the company Rajiv Laxman paid little heed to the order and the building’s Grade II listed status, demolishing the cottage anyway.
He’s now been ordered to pay £11,000 and forced to rebuild the property using the same design and materials from its original construction in 1952.
Good thing too. While not everyone’s cup of tea, Goldfinger’s buildings have made a big impact on the capital — from the Trellick and Balfron Towers to 2 Willow Road in Hampstead, his former home and now a National Trust property.
Wandsworth councillor Leslie McDonnell described the demolition as a “totally outrageous attempt to flout the regulations,” pointing out the rarity of Goldfinger’s designs.
Ironically, This is Local London seems to have demolished its own story with an intrusive advert that renders the page unreadable in Firefox.
Image taken from rbrwr's Flickr photostream.
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