IT IS easy to see why Isokon, otherwise known as the Lawn Road flats, in north London is an enduring modernist architectural icon.
 
Recently renovated to its original splendour, its immaculate proportions are an adventurous balance between the predominantly horizontal structure of counter-levered galleries and ingeniously angled stairs.

The vertical end block housing three double studios and the staircase to a single penthouse — lifts were too expensive when it was built — provide an elegant contrast.
 
Commissioned originally by furniture designers and would-be developers Molly and Jack Pritchard, it was launched to great fanfare in July 1934, with Ms Pritchard proudly trumpeting it as “a revolutionary idea for living.” Indeed it was, but strictly for professionals because rents were £150-£170, beyond the reach of most.

It was intended as the first of many but the Depression and later WWII put paid to such ambition.
 
In their book on Isokon, illustrated with revealing historic photographs, Leyla Daybelge and Magnus Englund tell a riveting story of the building and its association with leading Bauhaus practitioners.