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Berthold Lubetkin
Berthold Romanovich Lubetkin (14 December 1901 – 23 October 1990) was a Russian-born British architect who pioneered modernist design in Britain in the 1930s. His work includes the Highpoint housing complex, the Penguin Pool at London Zoo, Finsbury Health Centre and Spa Green Estate.
Berthold Lubetkin was born in 1901 in Tbilisi, then part of the Russian Empire (now the capital of Georgia), into a Jewish family. His father, Roman (Reuben) Aronovich Lubetkin (1885 – c.1940), was a Saint Petersburg-born civil engineer specialising in railway construction. His mother, Fenya Minin, may have met Roman while he was working on railway construction in the Caucasus region of the Russian Empire.
By 1916, the family had moved to Warsaw, where Roman ran a jewellery shop on Jerusalem Avenue. Meanwhile, Berthold had spent much of his youth in Saint Petersburg and Moscow, where he lived with relatives and attended various private schools. The family's financial stability, and extensive travel across Europe, exposed him to multiple cultures and languages, contributing to his fluency in German, French, and English.
In 1917, Lubetkin enrolled at the Vkhutemas in Moscow and the Svomas in Petrograd, studying under Constructivist figures such as Alexander Rodchenko and Vladimir Tatlin. He witnessed and participated in the Russian Revolution of 1917, and between 1919 and 1920 served as a reservist for the Red Army in Moscow.
In 1922, he moved to Berlin, studying at the Technische Hochschule and the Berlin Textile Academy. From 1923 to 1925, he studied architecture at the Warsaw Polytechnic. Encouraged by a professor, he continued his studies in Paris, enrolling at the École Spéciale d'Architecture in 1925. Over the following years, he trained at the Atelier Auguste Perret, the École des Beaux-Arts, the École Supérieure de Béton Armé, and the Institut d'Urbanisme at the Sorbonne, specialising in reinforced concrete and urban planning.
Although he possessed a birth certificate stating that he was born in Warsaw in 1903, Lubetkin later admitted that this was a false document, created to obscure time spent in the Red Army. His parents remained in Warsaw until 1939, but are presumed to have been murdered in Auschwitz in 1940 during the Holocaust. Later in life Lubetkin rarely spoke about his time in Warsaw, possibly due to personal and political reasons.
Lubetkin practised in Paris in the 1920s in partnership with Jean Ginsburg, with whom he designed an apartment building on #25 Avenue de Versailles. In Paris, he associated with the leading figures of the European Avant Garde including Le Corbusier. He continued to participate in the debates of Constructivism, designing a trade pavilion for the USSR in Bordeaux and participating in the Palace of the Soviets competition, for which his entry was shortlisted.
Emigrating to London in 1931 from the Soviet Union, Lubetkin settled in the artists' community associated with the British art critic Herbert Read, located in Hampstead. In London he set up the architectural practice Tecton. The first projects of Tecton included landmark buildings for London Zoo, the Gorilla House and a penguin pool (clearly showing the influence of Naum Gabo). In 1934 Lubetkin designs and builds the first and only modernist terrace houses in England, in the highly dense Victorian suburban area of Plumstead, at 85–91 Genesta Road, SE18. These houses still represent a surprising sight, surrounded by Victorian terraces, and are Grade II listed. Lubetkin and Tecton set up the Architects and Technicians Organisation in 1936.
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Berthold Lubetkin
Berthold Romanovich Lubetkin (14 December 1901 – 23 October 1990) was a Russian-born British architect who pioneered modernist design in Britain in the 1930s. His work includes the Highpoint housing complex, the Penguin Pool at London Zoo, Finsbury Health Centre and Spa Green Estate.
Berthold Lubetkin was born in 1901 in Tbilisi, then part of the Russian Empire (now the capital of Georgia), into a Jewish family. His father, Roman (Reuben) Aronovich Lubetkin (1885 – c.1940), was a Saint Petersburg-born civil engineer specialising in railway construction. His mother, Fenya Minin, may have met Roman while he was working on railway construction in the Caucasus region of the Russian Empire.
By 1916, the family had moved to Warsaw, where Roman ran a jewellery shop on Jerusalem Avenue. Meanwhile, Berthold had spent much of his youth in Saint Petersburg and Moscow, where he lived with relatives and attended various private schools. The family's financial stability, and extensive travel across Europe, exposed him to multiple cultures and languages, contributing to his fluency in German, French, and English.
In 1917, Lubetkin enrolled at the Vkhutemas in Moscow and the Svomas in Petrograd, studying under Constructivist figures such as Alexander Rodchenko and Vladimir Tatlin. He witnessed and participated in the Russian Revolution of 1917, and between 1919 and 1920 served as a reservist for the Red Army in Moscow.
In 1922, he moved to Berlin, studying at the Technische Hochschule and the Berlin Textile Academy. From 1923 to 1925, he studied architecture at the Warsaw Polytechnic. Encouraged by a professor, he continued his studies in Paris, enrolling at the École Spéciale d'Architecture in 1925. Over the following years, he trained at the Atelier Auguste Perret, the École des Beaux-Arts, the École Supérieure de Béton Armé, and the Institut d'Urbanisme at the Sorbonne, specialising in reinforced concrete and urban planning.
Although he possessed a birth certificate stating that he was born in Warsaw in 1903, Lubetkin later admitted that this was a false document, created to obscure time spent in the Red Army. His parents remained in Warsaw until 1939, but are presumed to have been murdered in Auschwitz in 1940 during the Holocaust. Later in life Lubetkin rarely spoke about his time in Warsaw, possibly due to personal and political reasons.
Lubetkin practised in Paris in the 1920s in partnership with Jean Ginsburg, with whom he designed an apartment building on #25 Avenue de Versailles. In Paris, he associated with the leading figures of the European Avant Garde including Le Corbusier. He continued to participate in the debates of Constructivism, designing a trade pavilion for the USSR in Bordeaux and participating in the Palace of the Soviets competition, for which his entry was shortlisted.
Emigrating to London in 1931 from the Soviet Union, Lubetkin settled in the artists' community associated with the British art critic Herbert Read, located in Hampstead. In London he set up the architectural practice Tecton. The first projects of Tecton included landmark buildings for London Zoo, the Gorilla House and a penguin pool (clearly showing the influence of Naum Gabo). In 1934 Lubetkin designs and builds the first and only modernist terrace houses in England, in the highly dense Victorian suburban area of Plumstead, at 85–91 Genesta Road, SE18. These houses still represent a surprising sight, surrounded by Victorian terraces, and are Grade II listed. Lubetkin and Tecton set up the Architects and Technicians Organisation in 1936.