Balfron Tower

Balfron Tower was designed by architect Ernő Goldfinger and is associated with the Brutalist style of 1960s architecture. Goldfinger himself was pleased with the design and moved into flat 130, on the 25th floor, for two months in 1968. He and his wife threw champagne parties to find out what the residents liked and disliked about his design. He applied what he learnt to his design for the similar and more famous Trellick Tower in West London. Goldfinger's studio later added Glenkerry House on the same estate, complementing Balfron Tower and Carradale in style. The building was given Grade II listed status in March 1996, (later changed to Grade II*) to spare them from demolition. Carradale…

Balfron Tower is 84 m high and contains 146 homes (136 flats and 10 maisonettes). The service tower is topped by a boiler room. In 1985, the original concrete boiler flues were replaced with metal, due to concrete decay.

Shots of the building are featured in music videos for "This Is Music" by The Verve, "Morning Glory" by Oasis, "Mortalhas" by ProfJam, "Ready to Go" by Republica, and “Money Talks” by Rubella Ballet. Balfron Tower has appeared as a location in many British television programmes, often when an impression of urban deprivation was required. and the 2011 film Blitz. William Raban shot About Now MMX (2010) during his artist's residency in Balfron Tower. In July 2014 artist Catherine Yass was refused permission to drop a piano from the Tower as part of a "community workshop to explore how sound travels". In 2014, the National Trust refurbished flat 130, where Goldfinger lived, to resemble its…