Ernst Freud was the youngest son of Sigmund Freud, and father of the painter Lucian Freud and politician and broadcaster, Clement Freud.
 

Whilst today Ernst may not be as well-known as other members of his family, he was in his time a respected and successful architect and interior designer.

Born in Vienna in 1892, he studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule both there and in Munich, completing his studies only in 1919 – his studies interrupted by the First World War, during which he served four years in the Austro- Hungarian army. In that same year he moved to Berlin, where he would live for the next 14 years, adopting the Modernist principles which were coming to prominence in Continental Europe at the time, and developing a successful practice designing and refurbishing the homes and interiors of middle-class clients. In this period he completed some accomplished villas, such as the Lampl House and Landhaus Frank, as well as running an interesting line in designing psychoanalysis suites for psychiatrists and sanatoriums. In 1933 he and his family decided to move to England to escape Nazi persecution, establishing themselves in London.

Freud managed to make a success of life in England, despite the challenges of arriving as a refugee. He continued his practice much in the same vein, and indeed many of his clients (at least initially) were contacts from Berlin or Vienna.
 

Freud did relatively little work in Hampstead Garden Suburb, yet his contribution should not be understated. A house at 14 Neville Drive and the interior remodelling of 43 Hampstead Way, a Parker & Unwin House, reflect the impact that Freud, and émigré architects like him, had on British architecture. He introduced a Continental form of Modernism quite unlike anything that had prevailed in Britain previously. Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than at Belvedere Court, a sweeping block of flats on Lyttelton Road, which encapsulates much of the spirit and energy of this time and is one of the great achievements of Freud’s career.