Berthold Lubetkin (1901-1990) was one of the most important figures of the Modern Movement. 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.

Sivill House is Lubetkin's only freestanding tower; it was Grade II-listed in 2020 after a campaign by residents to protect the building from alterations. It was named one of London’s best-loved buildings by Time Out in 2018.

The building's material palette and aesthetic styling are unique within Lubetkin’s oeuvre, the south elevation is particularly intensely decorated with a rich variety of materials. Its form and plan enables more light to reach all flats and reveals externally the spiral shape of the central staircase, the use of a feature staircase being characteristic of Lubetkin’s work and distinguishing it from other local authority-funded projects of the period;