*** Peter Duckworth continues his series with show homes in Gilbert House and Andrewes House 

With this issue of Barbican Life, we complete our journey into the past, revisiting the final two show homes designed by architect Miriam Howitt in the late 1960s for the launch of the Barbican. Now 96 years of age, Miriam recalls her work at the Barbican with great fondness. She explains that in the 1960s, architects were not only architects, but frequently also product, furniture, and interior designers. The latter profession had yet to establish itself, and hence Miriam, with a CV including working for the contemporary architect Hugh Casson, was a natural choice to bring her modernist vision to the show homes of the Barbican. 

In the previous articles, we explored the first three show homes in Speed House, the inaugural block of the estate. These were professionally photographed by the City of London, and accompanied by detailed leaflets listing the source of all the elements to Miriam’s interiors. In this article we turn our attention to the final two show homes, one in Gilbert House and one in Andrewes House, which were the next two blocks to be completed and leased. Unlike the Speed House interiors, little official documentation survives. Instead we rely largely on Miriam’s own photographs and memories.

Show Home 4 – Type 26 Gilbert House

There are no official photographs or surviving promotional materials for this flat. Yet, through Miriam’s personal records, we know it was a Type 26 apartment: first floor, facing east, and near the southern end of Gilbert House. Figure 1 shows Miriam’s plan for this show home. The design philosophy here echoes that of the Speed House Type 85 flat, featured in the previous issue and in fact much of the furniture and fabrics are identical. Miriam does not remember this show home in detail, but a few of her photos, along with a mention of a show home in the 1969 Gilbert House launch brochure, confirms its existence. Figures 2 and 3 show two of Miriam’s photos. The large reception room doubled as both an office and a lounge area, something that in these days of working from home we see more regularly in these versatile Barbican spaces. Type 26/27/31/32 flats also have a distinctive alcove area in the lounge, which Miriam fitted with a System Cado rosewood modular system, designed by Poul Cadovius in 1960: a high-end, Danish storage solution, the same as the one photographed in the Type 85 that we explored in the last issue. Sadly, there are no photos of this show home alcove, but we do, however, have the wonderful illustration of the identical type 27 lounge from the 1969 Gilbert House sales brochure, as seen in figure 4. This shows a modular system, complete with a very modernist interior in the style that Miriam was designing for the show homes. 

Figure 1 Miriam Howitt’s interior pan of show home 4, a type 26  (source: Barbican Archive)

Interestingly it appears that Miriam’s ideas are back in vogue: a dark wood modular system in this living area alcove of a type 26 is found in a recent refurbishment by Black & Milk Interior Design, as seen in figure 5. The designers say on their website that they gained inspiration from the original Barbican interiors. 

The dining area of Show home 4 (figure 3) uses the exact same furniture as in show home 3 that we examined in the last issue of Barbican Life.

Figure 2 Show home four, lounge/office (Source: Miriam Howitt)

Figure 3 Show home four Dining area (Source Miriam Howitt)

 

Figure 4 Illustration of lounge from Gilbert House sales brochure, with alcove moduar staorage system, 1969. Source Barbican Archive

 

Figure 5 Recent refurbishment of a type 26 using a dark wood alcove system, inspired by original Barbican interiors. (Source: Black & Milk Interior Design)

Show Home 5: Type 76 – Andrewes House

The fifth and final show home Miriam designed was a lakeside flat at the western end of Andrewes House, near the lake pods (‘igloos’). Andrewes House was completed in late 1969, so this show home likely dates from early 1970, a couple of years after the Speed House ones.

Lounge

Figure 6. Lounge area of show home five.( Source: Barbican sales brochure 1971).

Miriam distinctly remembers the design challenges posed by this apartment, with its split-level lounge, as seen in figure 6. Reflecting in 2025, she described her solution: “This was an amazing problem.  It was not a big flat but it was on two levels, and the levels changed in one room, which made it very difficult. So the upper level I thought we had better have a dining table and chairs, but then that gave me a lower level which wasn’t big enough to furnish without getting cluttered. I took inspiration from my Iranian neighbours, who had a space filled with rugs and floor cushions where the ladies would gather. That sparked the idea: one elegant chair, perhaps for the ‘gentleman’, and floor seating for the ’ladies’, giving the room a spacious welcoming feel.”

This created an informal yet sophisticated living area, which was anchored by a bold patterned blind, shown in figure 7 – a hallmark of Miriam’s eye for strong, simple fabric designs, seen throughout her earlier show homes.

Figure 7. The spectacular blind fabric in show home 5. (Source: Miriam Howitt)

It is worth looking out of the window in figure 8:the view of the developing Barbican is a far cry from the idyllic lakeside view the flat enjoys today. 

Figure 8 View through lakeside window of show home 5.(Source: Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Collections)

Dining Area/Kitchen

The dining and hallway area is shown in figure 9. Miriam softened the transition between kitchen and lounge with curtains – a nice touch to create intimacy and warmth in the open-plan setting. Figure 10 shows the view through from the kitchen.

Figure 9. Dining area show home 5. (Source:Miriam Howitt)

 

Figure 10 View through the kitchen to the dining area and window beyond of show home 5.( (Source: Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Collections)

Bedroom

The bedroom, meanwhile, showcases Miriam’s clever use of colour and pattern: red-toned garden furniture harmonise with the red fabrics of the curtains, the lounge blind and the dining chairs, thus tying the flat together. As in previous show homes, she paired the same fabric for curtains and bedspread, which is a technique seldom seen these days, believing that a single strong pattern, used thoughtfully, could anchor a space without overwhelming it. Notice the Pickfords removal van in the street in the photo – someone must have been moving into their new flat that day!

Figure 11. Bedroom with garden view (Source: Miriam Howitt)

Miriam Howitt’s Enduring Legacy

Over the past year Barbican Life has revisited the remarkable interiors Miriam Howitt created for the Barbican’s launch. Her work was undeniably ahead of its time. Although her clean-lined Scandinavian-inspired modernism was emblematic of the 1960s, it would not be widely embraced in Britain until decades later.  Today, books such as The Barbican Estate by Stefi Orazi and Barbican Residents by Anton Rodriguez, show that in the 21st Century many Barbican owners have have embraced this same aesthetic that Miriam advocated in the 1960s. Speaking in 2025, she reflected:  “I liked the simplicity of the furniture: clean lines, the Scandinavian ideas, comfortable furniture, uncluttered looking, and it echoed the time we were living in.  So everything was actually available on the market but not necessarily known about, as I was shopping in specialist shops.  It was a great success as 50 or 60 years later they still look as new. It was fun, and fortunately successful.”

Sadly, whilst Miriam designed interiors in keeping with the Barbican’s architectural vision, this was not fully appreciated in its early years by the City of London. From the early-1970s  show flats adopted a style very distant from the estate’s modernist roots. In 1975, the Shakespeare Tower launch brochure featured a show home with rather stodgy, 70s furniture (figure 12). But things got even worse: by the 1980s, the sales brochures which were published to help sell the flats (figs 13, 14 and 15) had show home interiors that today look so very dated. Miriam’s 1968-1970 interiors, however, are in a different league. Of course, fashions change, but Miriam’s work never has: if you look at her work over the decades it carries a timeless elegance to it, which is now more in tune with contemporary tastes than ever before. In 1968 her interiors for the Barbican were absolutely cutting edge, it just took 30 years or more for the rest of the UK, many Barbican interiors included, to catch up.

Figure 12 Page from Shakespeare Tower sales brochure 1973

 

Figure 13. Page from “The Breathtaking Barbican” sales brochure 1982.

 

Figure 14 Bedroom in 1980s Barbican Sales Brochure: “Barbican: New Horizons to City Living.”

 

Figure 15 Lounge/dinerin 1980s  Barbican sales brochure. “Barbican: New Horizons to City Living”

After her work at the Barbican, Miriam authored One Room Living (published by the Design Council), and enjoyed a long, distinguished career spanning architecture, interiors, product design, and even sections of Heathrow Airport, and the interiors of London buses. She retired from architecture just a couple of years ago, and at 96 years of age is still cycling, full of spirit, and grateful for the late recognition her early work has received.  She said:  “Your [readers’] interest in my work has been a great gift to me! Thank you for giving me this recognition at the end of my career.”

Miriam Howitt’s show homes stand today as a testament to vision, restraint, and modernist elegance. Her work reminds us that true design, like the Barbican itself, endures.

Miriam’s Interiors Advice for Barbican Residents

When asked what advice she would offer today’s Barbican residents on their interiors Miriam distilled her philosophy thus: “It is a combination of function, beauty, suitability, compatibility, availability, taste and budget. Then it is a question of making each room appropriate and not too ‘busy’.” 

Other specific interior design tips from her book One Room Living may also be helpful:

  • Don’t buy impulsively: always ask yourself, “Do I need it?” and “Where will I put it?”
  • Chairs: Should support the back and thighs while keeping feet comfortably on the floor. Lounge chairs should support the head without effort, especially if a low-backed chair/sofa.
  • Colours: Strong colours can feel oppressive over time; light colours create spaciousness. Use bold accents sparingly but effectively. A collection of pale colours without the accent of a deeper one will look anaemic. Remember that light falling on a colour will reflect that colour onto other surfaces.
  • Pattern: Pattern is an essential richness in enhancing a home. Select a pattern bold enough not to be busy, simple enough to be calm, and subtle enough to hold the interest. Choose one principal pattern in small spaces, complemented by simpler textures. Avoid large-scale patterns in compact areas. You will have incidental patterns from items in use such as ornaments, tableware, books etc, so consider the room as a background to furniture, pictures and accessories rather than aiming for drama on its own account. 
  • Texture: is enormously important, people feel most comfortable in a room which has a mixture of textures. Ears appreciate texture – sound reverberates in a room without soft textures. The further away from the eye the deeper the texture will have to be for effect.
  • Light: multiple light sources are desirable. A central pendant tends to destroy the space: use a cord deflector as the original Barbican ceiling light fittings were designed, to hang it from the ceiling where you need it.