2 Willow Road

If you’re into modernism, this house designed and inhabited by Ernö Goldfinger in 1940 is one to see. It’s owned by the National Trust, which has kept everything exactly as it was when Goldfinger died in 1987. The spiral staircase spans floors filled with highly covetable mid-century furniture and art. Don’t visit on an Open House day—an event in which the world’s most interesting houses are open to the public. I’ve made that mistake and was unable to get in. On any other day, it should be fine, and afterwards you can take a stroll through the hilly park of Hampstead Heath.