top of page
HIGHPOINT II
OVERIVEW
Shortly after Highpoint One was finished, Lubetkin convinced Gestetner to purchase the neighbouring site to the south to protect it from unsympathetic development. Highpoint Two (1938) was aimed at wealthier tenants. It is aligned with the first north–south wing of Highpoint One, but its plan is rectangular and its materials richer - glazed tiles, glass blocks on the staircase towers and marble in the hall. The building contains twelve four-bedroom, two-bathroom maisonettes. In the central part of the block the living rooms have wonderful double height spaces and elegant oval staircases. The outer maisonettes, which were intended for larger families, have a slightly smaller footprint but are more compactly planned to include a further study/bedroom on the lower floor.
The structure is a hybrid of the “eggshell system” used in Highpoint One and the cross-wall structure – the “egg crate system” – used by Arup and Tecton in the post war council estates such as Spa Green and Priory Green in Islington. The maisonettes at either end of the block, behind the tiled facades, have load bearing exterior walls and a spine beam. The central maisonettes are supported by walls that cross through the flats from the front to the back, infilled with dark brick and glazing. The building's luxurious amenities and architectural details reflect Lubetkin's shift towards a more playful and eclectic style, diverging from the strict modernism of Highpoint One. The use of varied materials and classical references in Highpoint Two was seen as a departure from the functionalism of its predecessor. Highpoint Two had a more critical reception than Highpoint One. Some saw it as a departure from modernism and a return to a formal style. Most controversial was the use of the caryatids to “support” the entrance canopy. The casts, from the Erechtheion on the Acropolis, were purchased by Lubetkin from a bemused curator at the British Museum for £40. Their use at Highpoint has been interpreted in numerous ways: a surrealist device, a tribute to classical architecture, an early example of post modernism. Lubetkin seems to have enjoyed, and fuelled, this debate.
Architectural Details
A defining technical move is the structural and services zone running along the depth of the building, which Lubetkin hides inside a run of fitted storage. Cupboards, wardrobes and doorways read as a continuous piece of joinery, but behind them sit beams, risers and ducts that would otherwise break up the apartments. This trick frees the rest of each storey from structural clutter, so rooms feel unusually open and clean-edged for the 1930s. It also allows bathrooms and kitchens in stacked units to share vertical service runs, quietly rationalising plumbing and ventilation without dictating the visible character of the interiors. Inside individual flats, Lubetkin uses internal stairs as sculptural elements that script how you move through the apartment.
The celebrated oval stair in the best central units acts almost like a piece of furniture in the doubleheight living room, choreographing circulation in a broad, sweeping curve rather than a tight dogleg. Within the maisonettes aimed at families, stairs are placed to split the plan between a more public lower level and a quieter upper level, separating social life from sleeping without long corridors. This arrangement supports routines where guests can be entertained downstairs while bedrooms remain tucked away above, more akin to a small house than to a conventional flat.
bottom of page