This a review of a free talk arranged by the Herne Hill Society. You can find out about our events programme here.
We can all identify a London Underground Station from the easily recognisable sign outside, the blue-and-red disc with the name of the station or “Underground” across the middle. But how many of us take a good look at the building, inside and out, and appreciate its heritage?
Edmund Bird is a member of the Herne Hill Society and the author of five books on the architecture of Lambeth. He is the Senior Heritage Advisor at Transport for London, so he is responsible for protecting heritage of the Overground, the Underground, the bridges, the Commercial Estate of TfL, and the Docklands Light Railway. At our October meeting Edmund gave a very detailed illustrated talk on the history and architecture of the London Underground.
The Underground comprises 270 stations, dating from the 1850s, incorporating Victorian, Edwardian, Art Deco, and 20th-century designs. It is so easy to use the Underground without noticing the wonderful details. Edmund drew to our attention the buildings and contents of many of these remarkable stations.
The London Underground was first developed by private companies. You may recall that five years ago there were celebrations marking the opening of the first underground railway from Farringdon to Paddington in 1863. There were seven stations at this time built largely under the Euston and Marylebone Roads, using the cut-and-cover method: opening up the street and digging down to create the railway, then covering over the cutting again. This first line was built by the Metropolitan Railway. The company expanded into the suburbs of North-West London, and later even developed their own housing estates near their stations in Pinner, Rickmansworth, Neasden and Wembley Park — coining the term Metroland — and feeding new passenger traffic onto its services.
By 1908 most of today’s network in Inner London was in place, except for the Victoria Line, which was built in the late 1960s. It was served by eight different companies — although four of those had already formed a holding company called the London Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), running what are now the Bakerloo, Northern and Piccadilly Lines. The architecture of the stations built by the UERL in the 1900s is highly distinctive, thanks to its decision to develop a strong corporate style instantly recognisable to the public — an early example of company branding. The architect was Leslie Green, who designed 43 stations in four years. Note the facades of oxblood terracotta, with examples at Elephant and Castle, Covent Garden, Chalk Farm and Russell Square. Sadly, he worked so hard that he made himself ill and had to step down, dying a year later at just 35.
Not all of Leslie Green’s surviving stations remain in public use. His terminus of the branch line from Holborn to Aldwych (formerly known as Strand) was closed in 1994 but survives intact and is used for period film and television dramas, and London Transport Museum tours. Other long -losed stations include Down Street near Green Park, shut in 1932 and used as bomb-proof offices during the war, and Brompton Road, used for document storage.
The most famous architect, first commissioned in the early 1920s to design the Clapham to Morden extension to the Northern Line, was Charles Holden. He had already designed the Bristol Central Library, the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Senate House. For the Underground he produced modern designs faced in Portland stone and proudly displaying the roundel in stained glass or mounted on javelin style poles, giant art nouveau chandeliers in the ticket halls and striking interior tiling in black, green and white. One example is Clapham Common; built in the 1930s, the rotunda with its dome has changed very little since. Piccadilly Circus has an innovative circular ticket hall clad in travertine and bronze, fluted columns and panelled ceiling with glass light fittings. At street level it has simple stair enclosures with cast-iron railings, elegant lamps and the roundel at the top of the steps.
Between 1935 and 1940, as part of the New Worker Programme (a scheme developed to create work to boost the economy), much was done to improve the Underground. There were plans to build a station at Camberwell. The creation of the Green Belt stopped development at the borders of London, and post-war austerity stopped work from 1945 onwards. From 1948 to 1968 public money went instead into developing motorways and British Rail. These were fallow years for the Underground. But in the last 30 years there has been a huge increase in use of the Tube, although this is now beginning to plateau.
Surprisingly most stations survived the bombs of the Second World War. Only a few were lost — notably Blackfriars, described as a “magnificent Byzantine extravaganza which would not look out of place in Istanbul or North Africa”. It received a direct hit in the war, losing its beautiful pair of domes and upper two storeys.
Readers will undoubtedly be aware of new developments: Crossrail (the Elizabeth Line) and the new Northern Line extension between Kennington and Nine Elms. Edmund is currently engaged in planning for stations to be provided with step-free access — developments which must be in keeping with the original design.
Next time you travel on the Underground take a closer look and appreciate what is around you.
This a review of a free talk arranged by the Herne Hill Society. You can find out about our events programme here.
Val Suebsaeng
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