Highpoint I-II

The Highgate Ridge is one of the lucrative locations with panoramic views of London. In the 1930s, a modern housing project for the middle class was realized on one of its streets, designed by the TECTON studio of architect Berthold Lubetkin. The Georgian native, who gained popularity in England with his iconic design of spiral ramps at the London Zoo, collaborated on the project with a young Ove Arup. Sigmund Gestetner, the initiator of the entire project, wanted to express his respect for his employees for whom the building was designed.

Highpoint is an elegantly appearing mass of cuboids in the shape of a double cross. Behind the entrance pergola, supported by caryatids, there is a central hall with a high ceiling and a service lift. The original design, where the entrance space was also meant to serve as a café, was abandoned. In 8 floors, there are 64 centrally heated residential units. The southwest orientation ensures optimal daylight for the apartments while offering a unique view of the metropolis.
In the project, Lubetkin was inspired by the building type of collective housing, which is numerously represented in Russia. The symmetry of the façade wings with longitudinal balconies and strip windows along their full length is ingeniously compensated by a blunt front wall of the transverse mass, complemented by a column of small balconies with wavy, concrete railings. The lightness of the building is, besides the snow-white façade, supported by the receding top floor and the open ground floor revealing the structural grid of the building.

Three years later, Highpoint II was added to Highpoint I. The project also includes the park landscaping of the surroundings, which is complemented by two tennis courts. The building is a listed monument and unfortunately inaccessible to architecture enthusiasts.