Its story, of Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth bringing modernist design to the US after World War II, is fictional. But it bears astonishing parallels to real-life Hungarian-Jewish architect Ernő Goldfinger, who arrived in the UK in the 1930s and went on to design some of London’s most enduring brutalist landmarks, including two early skyscrapers, both now Grade II*-listed – Trellick Tower in Ladbroke Grove and Balfron Tower in Poplar.
Early critics branded the buildings, with their distinctive service towers, eyesores. And the public was no more forgiving of the capital’s greatest brutalist project, the Barbican.
The complex of more than 2,000 homes, which opened on the fringes of the City in 1969, was widely mocked and voted London’s ugliest tall building in a poll run by New London Architecture as recently as 2014. But over the years the capital’s concrete jungles have come to occupy a unique property sweet spot.
They are often in fantastic central locations and, while not to everyone’s taste, there are many who admire the minimal lines, monochrome colour palette and smart design features that they offer.
Among the admirers are James Soane and Christopher Ash, both 58 and co-directors of architectural practice Project Orange.
In 2021, they spent around £500,000 on a studio apartment in the Barbican to use as a London pied-à-terre. They split their time between the flat and a home in Suffolk.
At just over 450sqft, the property is far larger than a typical studio, and the couple have fully refurbished it. They love the Barbican for its aesthetics, amenities and gardens.
‘If you have a flat, you get what we call the golden key, although it is actually brass,’ says James. ‘It lets you into lots of areas and gardens not accessible to the public, so it seems like an adventure living here.’
Of course, not all brutalist designs are created equal. James admires the robust Barbican homes, with their teak-framed windows and terracotta-tiled hallways, which have more than stood the test of time. But this is a development that was well built and has been well maintained.
Across the capital, many estates of a similar era – notably the monstrous Thamesmead in deepest south-east London – are being torn down and replaced with modern apartment buildings.
For architect Ben Allen, living in Keeling House, Bethnal Green, meant the chance to inhabit a home designed by the British architect Denys Lasdun, who also designed the South Bank’s Royal National Theatre.
Keeling House, originally social housing but sold and redeveloped in the late 1990s, has a central service tower linked by bridges to four residential towers.
Ben, 49, founder and director of Studio Ben Allen, and his wife Frances, 40, a lawyer, bought their two-bedroom, split-level flat in 2016 for £620,000.
‘It is lovely,’ says Ben. ‘The building is quite stark but you get beautiful views, almost filmic snapshots, as you go up. I call it our cottage in the sky because beyond the brutalist exterior, the maisonettes themselves are very sweet.’
Ben and Frances have a three-year-old son, Aubrey. Their daughter, Alma, was born in December. The property is small for a family of four, which is forcing them to think about moving on, but space aside, Ben thinks Keeling House makes a great family home.
The neighbours are friendly, there are plenty of other children in the building, and there’s a small grassy area where they can play.
‘We know our neighbours pretty well,’ he says.
‘You often bump into people on the bridges, or at reception, and although it is a diverse community, I suppose in at least one way we are like-minded because we all wanted to live in this building.’
Danny Brewer, associate partner at the Unique Property Company, has not always been a fan of brutalist buildings.
‘I used to hate them, I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to live in these big concrete jungles,’ he says. ‘But that was before I got into the flats and saw what they were like. The living spaces are really cleverly designed. There is storage, they are warm and quiet, you don’t get damp and drafts and the light is really good.’
Most of Danny’s brutalist buyers are creatives – including architects and musicians – who love mid-century style. Price depends on which floor a flat is on, its location, and how many original features it still possesses.
‘But there is a premium. In my experience they cost about 5% to 10% more than a period conversion,’ he adds.
Those that retain a cachet include the Brunswick Centre, in prime Bloomsbury; Trellick Tower, and the fabulous, Toblerone-shaped Alexandra and Ainsworth estate in South Hampstead.
In 2021 the average sale price of homes in the Barbican topped £1million for the first time, according to exclusive research by Savills, up from an average of £905,000 in 2019.
Tina Evans, sales director at Frank Harris and Co estate agents, has years of experience selling homes at the Barbican and at the nearby Golden Lane Estate, built by the City of London in the mid-1960s.
‘It is very Marmite,’ she says. ‘You either love them or you hate them, but they have aged well. There is never any problem selling them.’
The Barbican, says Tina, tends to appeal to the ‘City crowd’, who want to walk to work and can afford its high prices. Expect to pay at least £950,000 for a two-bedroom flat, although the best properties can reach up to £1.5million.
Up the road at Golden Lane, buyers include families and architects – ‘basically people who like design,’ says Tina.
Around 60% of the homes at Golden Lane are still owned by the City. It lacks the Barbican’s incredible water gardens, and prices are a little lower – but you’ll still pay around £700,000 to £750,000 for a two-bedroom property.
Tina believes their appeal lies in the timeless, pioneering design of the individual flats.
‘Because of their age you get bigger rooms, a great sense of light with full-height windows, which have hardwood frames,’ she says.
Even since the pandemic, when buyers were fleeing the centre of cities all over the western world in search of space, indoor and outdoor, Tina says homes at the Barbican and Golden Lane have continued to sell – partly because of their relative scarcity.
‘We have recently sold a row of three one-bedroom flats at the Barbican for £1.1million each – and that is big money in the City,’ she adds. ‘You do pay a premium to live there.’
This article was first published on February 11, 2025.
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