Metadata: Berthold Lubetkin Papers
Collection
- Country:
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Holding institution:
- Royal Institute of British Architects
- Holding institution (official language):
- Royal Institute of British Architects
- Postal address:
- British Architectural Library,Drawings and Archives Collections,Victoria and Albert Museum,Cromwell RoadLondonGreater LondonUnited KingdomSW7 2RL
- Reference number:
- LuB
- Title:
- Berthold Lubetkin Papers
- Title (official language):
- Berthold Lubetkin Papers
- Creator/accumulator:
- Lubetkin, Berthold
- Date(s):
- 1922/1990
- Language:
- English
- Extent:
- 3 boxes + ??
- Scope and content:
- This archive comprises material given to the Library by Lubetkin, and consists of both business andpersonal papers. A great deal of material was destroyed and the archive consequently is by no meanscomprehensive, with little material on the Tecton works or the works by Skinner Bailey and Lubetkin.Most of the papers relating to works by Tecton deal with renovation work carried out in the 1980's. Thepapers relating to works for the Borough of Finsbury are the most comprehensive, dealing with thehousing estates and air raid shelters designed by Tecton and Ove Arup (but with very few papers onthe Finsbury Health Centre). The papers relating to Peterlee include research papers and supportingpapers on the "master plan", a job diary by Lubetkin and some correspondence.The series which are most comprehensive are those listing notes by Lubetkin and correspondence.The notes by Lubetkin are copious and deal with his views on modern society, art and architecture,referring to social values and philosophical concepts. The correspondence series includes letters bycolleagues and friends, many of whom were architects, as well as more official letters, and deals withmatters such as wartime service, exhibitions, lectures and engagements as well as personal news andviews on architecture.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Berthold Lubetkin (1901-1990) was born in Tiflis, Russia. He began his architectural training in Moscow, attending lectures at the Moscow Vkhutemas and participating in Svomas workshops. He was living in Moscow, near Red Square, during the Russian Revolution. He left Russia in 1922, whilst he was involved in an exhibition of Russian art in Berlin, and continued his architectural training in Europe. He enrolled at the Berlin Textile Academy and undertook a study of the Royal Carpet Collection at the Burg, Vienna.He then moved to Poland and from 1923 to 1925 was a student at the Architectural School of Warsaw Polytechnic. In 1925 he arrived in Paris and between 1925 and 1931 he continued his studies, attending the Ecole Speciale d'Architecture, the Ecole Superieure de Beton Arme and the Institute d'Urbanisme. During his time in Paris he worked on several projects; he was involved in the construction of the Soviet Pavilion by Melnikov for the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs in 1925, designed a block of flats in Avenue de Versailles with Jean Ginsberg and designed the USSR Trades Pavilion for Representation Commerciale en France.In 1931 Lubetkin arrived in England, where he was to live for the rest of his life. In 1932 Tecton was formed, a firm of architects comprising Lubetkin, Godfrey Samuel, Anthony Chitty, Lindsay Drake, Michael Dugdale, Val Harding and Francis Skinner (subsequently joined by Denys Lasdun and CarlLudwig Franck). During the next sixteen years Tecton was responsible for works for London Zoo, Whipsnade Zoo and Dudley Zoo, Finsbury Health Centre, housing and air raid shelters for the London Borough of Finsbury, two blocks of flats knows as Highpoint One and Two, in Highgate, London, and anumber of other works.In 1947 Lubetkin accepted the appointment as architect-planner for Peterlee new town in County Durham, but the project was not carried through and he left the position in 1950. Skinner Bailey & Lubetkin was formed in the same year, and Lubetkin was involved in the design of several housing schemes with them, increasingly in an advisory role. Lubetkin resigned from the ARCUK Register in 1970 but continued an involvement in matters relating to architecture, giving lectures and supporting planning protests. He received the Royal Gold Medal from the RIBA in 1982. In 1934 Lubetkin met Margaret Church and they were married in 1939. Soon afterwards they moved into Upper Kilcott Farm in Gloucestershire and Lubetkin became involved in farming up until 1962,when the family moved to Upper Kilcott Cottage. Seven years later they moved to Bristol, where Lubetkin lived until he died in October 1990.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Lubetkin, Berthold
- Subject terms:
- Architecture
- Correspondence
- Access, restrictions:
- Please request the materials you wish to consult in advance of your visit so that we can retrieve them for you. Due to the size of our collections, some items are housed offsite. Depending on the volume and condition of the material required, it may be possible to arrange access to our offsite store by prior appointment.
- Finding aids:
- Online catalogue.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://www.architecture.com/about/riba-library-and-collections
- Yerusha Network member:
- AIM25
