Building Sights - Trellick Tower (1991)

Building Sights Series 3 Episode 4
Trellick Tower
First transmitted in 1991, architect Sand Helsel applauds Trellick Tower, a Brutalist tower block in west London, designed by Erno Goldfinger, and completed in 1972.

[@trevormillar1576]

In the 80s they shot a TV series in there called "Snakes And Ladders" , my girlfriend's mother was living on the 24thfloor, she answered her doorbell one day and there wad Robbie Coltrane. "I think you've got the wrong flat," she said. "Yes, you're right, I have," he replied.

[@cereshulme9105]

That's my mum sitting on the left hand corner on the 24th floor, where the camera pans back.

[@PneumatinisPlaktukas15]

I'm very glad that this wonderful "mini documentary" is back on KZbin. Loving the Art of Noise soundtrack as well. P.S. at 8:07 you can see Chantry and Hermes Points, the two most beautiful tower blocks in London until their demolition in 1994.

[@interstat2222]

Art of Noise tracks were always used by the BBC on architecture and design programmes in the 90s!

[@calum1741]

I used to live below chantry

[@jomama5186]

I like the natural light and the roominess of the flats ! The fact that he planned for families with more than one child. So cool. Shame they took out the laundry mats.

[@AndrewKGreen]

Loving the quirky 80s soundtrack and graphics, never thought id see my old professor exploding out the top of a massive concrete shaft

[@davidstrohl]

Excellent video! One thing I have to say is that if the towers had been utilized by the management and the council as Goldfinger had designed, most of the ills that faced that amazing building would have never happened. Long story short, London cheaped out. As with all things, you get what you pay for. Now, I have been given to understand that you need a barrel full of cash to even be able to afford to live there. Such a shame, a building that was built to accommodate everyday folks is, like all things, occupied by the have’s, the have nots must find alternative accommodations. Maybe under that viaduct that was on the video.

[@smgreenartsprivate]

These apartments now go for a fortune apparently not like this point in time. Be interesting if the same architect could give impression of London today in 2024. Very hard to get in I hear as flats don't go on sale often now :)

[@gsw8734]

Now flats are soooo expensive there the average Londoner cannot afford it.

[@jacquelinebeason1360]

I like the pieces of the background music 🎼🎶🎵👏😀

[@onlinefriend3889]

Thank Thatcher for selling off social housing 😡

[@bird1lives]

Fantastic, thanks for this, always loved TT!

[@cheechalker8430]

So the elevators only went to every third floor?

[@krisstopher8259]

yes. and the 2 story flats are built around the access corridors. some go up, others down. there is a similar building in my hometown outside stockholm where my mom used to live but the corridors are in the middle of the building. it's a cool place

[@jpinguela]

Muito interessante. Vivo um prédio brutalista no sul do Brasil. Construído em 1971. Gosto muito. Bem melhor que os prédios feitos hoje em minha cidade.

[@LucasFeijo]

qual?

[@jpinguela]

@@LucasFeijo Edificio Guadalajara em Curitiba.

[@SUCHY1983ify]

They look nice inside. I would definitely live in one

[@iaindouglasmcwilliam8684]

No surprises that the architect was Hungarian! This beast of a building (like others of post war Britain) wouldnt be out of place in the old U.S.S.R and it's satellite states! For me personally, these buildings have never graced any cities skyline!

[@Relay300]

Erno Goldfinger......welcome to the 31st floor, Mr Bond

[@jaysunbrady]

And a Bond villain at that.

[@cebruthius]

​@@Relay300Mr Bond! Let's make a deal! I'll buy you a delicatessen in stainless steel!

[@alexanderstefanov6474]

I love it personally, the flats are extremely functional and the building was built expensively and has now finally got the recognition it always deserved

[@Son_of_Leif4328]

Look at the canal at 2:00. Not a narrow boat in sight! Today? Packed like sardines!

[@calum1741]

Never noticed that, true though.

[@FrancescPunsola]

I live in a building very similar to that. Mine is sitted in Barcelona, street Escorial 50.

[@calum1741]

Is it the same shape?

[@TheBIGJake111]

This and Pruitt Igoe remind me of the movie high rise.

[@beataolszewska9518]

i live on 25th

[@obrigado8063]

How is it

[@jacquelinebeason1360]

You must have some awesome views, from Trellik Tower 😀👍🏽

[@KaneDay]

Do you still live there? Can I drop you an email?

[@peterjones6321]

What a fantastic change from the usual dreary and twee brick-built dross the UK is obsessed with.

[@MrMarshmelloBoi]

8:38

[@pawelsawicki7003]

Interesting

[@MajorCaliber]

Look, it was post-WW2, and a lot of housing had been bombed out... throw in the baby-boom and there was an urgency to bring a ton of units to occupancy status ASAP, hence the reliance on concrete--which allowed rapid erection techniques--and the eschewing of skilled trades like bricklayer and carpenter. I like Trellick and Balfron because the service tower is evocative of the Saturn V rocket sitting on its launchpad, and of course the Apollo Moon Program was all the rage in the 1960s. See Singapore for how to deal with vandals and graffiti "artists"... oh yeah, problem SOLVED.

[@coreym594]

Jesus and that was me thinking the ones in the bronx looked ugly

[@pappagallagher2227]

Tower blocks were a disaster

[@paulies1983]

Post modern communist urban nightmare. When these tower blocks were first built the people who first moved in weren't given a choice and had to vacate houses marked for demolition. Whole communities in London gone forever and most of the original residents were miserable depressed and isolated with nowhere for their children to play safely. Crime and vandalism began almost immediately. A true hellscape. And by God are they horrible to look at.

[@alexanderstefanov6474]

It's a superb building that was built without regard to expense but for quality, all the problems on the earlier years were down to council incompetence

[@jacksonmahr8915]

The video and series is great, but the tower, no matter how many architects say otherwise, is horrible. In London, it's very important for buildings and infrastructure to be ugly. I'm not sure why this is.

[@raleighburner1589]

I'll take a nice bricked property in the country rather than any flat in that monstrous demon ...

[@raleighburner1589]

@Pixelated Cheese Gaming not even that modern ...there was fantastic stuff post war Britain but sadly inner city high density housing was not amongst the achievements

[@PneumatinisPlaktukas15]

At least it looks nice.

[@PRIMO532]

Great video but what a ungly building

[@FoxOnFilm2209]

I think the refurbished Balfron tower looks better than Trellic tower

[@cheechalker8430]

I’m sorry, but that is an ugly building ….. and I lived in a high rise that looked like a corn cob ….. so I’m not one to judge harshly.

[@FoxOnFilm2209]

Did you use to live in the marina city towers?

[@cheechalker8430]

@@FoxOnFilm2209 yes! West Tower - 59th floor (second from the top)

[@FoxOnFilm2209]

@@cheechalker8430 cool

[@asa1973100]

Let’s have a look at the apartment building that the narrator grew up in them in the 21st floor of a Manhattan apartment building because I bet it didn’t look like that so rundown shitty council block

[@alexanderstefanov6474]

It hasn't been rundown since the late 1980s. It's super desirable now, very few flats are private but when they come up for sale they don't hang around