The Sivill House Collection: The Crown of Columbia Road

Every Sunday, thousands of people descend on Columbia Road for the flowers. But look up, and you will see the true icon of the street.

Sivill House is one of East London’s most distinctive landmarks. Designed by the legendary modernist trio Skinner, Bailey & Lubetkin and completed in 1966, it stands as a sentinel over Bethnal Green. Unlike the grey blocks of the era, Sivill House was designed with an obsession for pattern and beauty.

Its facade is famous for its hypnotic "zig-zag" motif, said to be inspired by the Caucasian carpets from Berthold Lubetkin’s homeland of Georgia. With its unique "double-arrowhead" shape and dramatic "flying cornice" crown, it proved that social housing could be grand, sculptural, and elegant.

Now a Grade II listed building, it is a masterpiece of late Modernism. This collection celebrates the geometric lines and dizzying patterns of the tower that watches over the flower market.

For all our Brutalist buildings click HERE

For all our UK buildings click HERE

For our Masterpieces of Social Housing collection click HERE

For all our buildings click HERE

The Sivill House Collection: The Crown of Columbia Road

Every Sunday, thousands of people descend on Columbia Road for the flowers. But look up, and you will see the true icon of the street.

Sivill House is one of East London’s most distinctive landmarks. Designed by the legendary modernist trio Skinner, Bailey & Lubetkin and completed in 1966, it stands as a sentinel over Bethnal Green. Unlike the grey blocks of the era, Sivill House was designed with an obsession for pattern and beauty.

Its facade is famous for its hypnotic "zig-zag" motif, said to be inspired by the Caucasian carpets from Berthold Lubetkin’s homeland of Georgia. With its unique "double-arrowhead" shape and dramatic "flying cornice" crown, it proved that social housing could be grand, sculptural, and elegant.

Now a Grade II listed building, it is a masterpiece of late Modernism. This collection celebrates the geometric lines and dizzying patterns of the tower that watches over the flower market.

For all our Brutalist buildings click HERE

For all our UK buildings click HERE

For our Masterpieces of Social Housing collection click HERE

For all our buildings click HERE

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