History

Berthold Lubetkin is one of the most important figures of the Modern Movement in Britain. Born in Georgia in 1901, he studied in Berlin and Paris, before moving to London in 1931. The following year he founded the famous Tecton practice with the Architectural Association graduates Anthony Chitty, Lindsay Drake, Michael Dugdale, Valentine Harding, Godfrey Samuel and Francis Skinner.

Lubetkin and Tecton's buildings are among the most iconic of the period, and include the penguin pool at London Zoo (designed in conjunction with the engineer Ove Arup) and Finsbury Health Centre, which is a short walk from Bevin Court.

Lubetkin designed Bevin Court in conjunction with Francis Skinner and Douglas Bailey, following the dissolution of the Tecton practice. The works were completed in 1954.

It occupies the site of the 1902-03 home of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, where he lived in exile while editing the socialist newspaper Iskra (Spark). The building was to be named “Lenin” in his honour, but this idea was abandoned after the War. Lubetkin had planned to incorporate a memorial to Lenin in his scheme, but the remains of this were buried under the central core of the staircase. The proposed site of the monument (to the right of the main entrance) and a viewing aperture designed to allow the building's porter to oversee its wellbeing exist to this day.

Before the building was completed, the Cold War had intensified and it was renamed Bevin Court, honouring Britain's anti-communist foreign secretary Ernest Bevin. The building was given Grade II* listed status in December 1998, and has recently undergone restoration by the London Borough of Islington.