Priory Green estate, Kings Cross, London
This estate near King’s Cross was designed by Russian émigré Berhold Lubetkin, with his architectural partnership Tecton. Plans were first drawn up in the late 1930s, and they included an underground air-raid shelter, community workshop and laundry facilities. Of course WWII stalled the building programme, and by the time the first concrete came to be poured the site was far larger, thanks to the efforts of the Luftwaffe. Working to revised plans, Lubetkin completed the estate in the 1950s. In 2006 it underwent a renovation by Avanti Architects to bring back some of the original detail that had been lost over time and to buff up its Modernist panache. Lubetkin’s design for the elevations was said to have been inspired in part by Persian carpet patterns.