TUBE TREASURE TROVE (A-B)

TUBE TREASURE TROVE (A-B)

    This is an A–Z of London’s most interesting Underground stations. In an age where we are often looking down at our phones, Tube Treasures is an invitation to look up and discover the architecture, history and oddities hiding in plain sight - on what might otherwise be a mundane journey, perhaps one made many times before.

Preface:

      London's Metropolitan line was the world’s first underground (1863), older than any practical electric light bulb. It was a 3.5-mile Victorian steam railway with seven stations.

     The London Underground began life as a practical solution to Victorian London's traffic congestion. When the first trains ran, passengers travelled through smoke-filled tunnels between simple brick stations lit by gas lamps.

     More than 160 years later, the network has grown into a living museum of architecture, engineering and graphic design. Few could have imagined that the world's first underground railway would become one of Britain's greatest design success stories.

    Today the Underground carries around four million passengers on a typical weekday across 272 stations, but it is far more than a transport system. Every era has contributed something distinctive, and the 100+ stations in this series have been chosen because each tells part of that story. 

The Visionaries

Frank Pick – The design visionary of London's transport system from 1908 until his retirement in 1940, Pick shaped the identity of the Underground more than any other individual. Commissioning Charles Holden, Harry Beck, Edward Johnston and Roland Paoletti, he created a transport system that became an international benchmark for good design.

Leslie Green – Green gave the Underground one of its most recognisable architectural styles, designing around 40 stations in the early 1900s. His oxblood-red glazed exteriors, large arched windows and elegant interiors remain icons of Edwardian London.

Charles Holden – Holden was responsible for designing more than 50 stations during the 1920s and 1930s. His work - which he described as  "brick boxes with concrete lids" - revolutionised Underground architecture by replacing ornament with clean, modern design. 

Edward Johnston – Johnston designed the distinctive Underground typeface in 1916. Still in use today in updated form, Johnston Sans is on almost every sign, tile and map. 

He also redesigned the famous roundel symbol. 

Harry Beck – Beck transformed the way people navigate the Underground with his revolutionary diagrammatic map of 1933. By prioritising clarity over geographical accuracy, he created a design that has been copied by metro systems around the world.

Charles Clark – As London Underground's publicity manager from 1933 to 1960, Clark championed the idea that stations should reflect the character of their neighbourhoods. Nicknamed the Clarkitect, he can be seen as building on the design culture that Pick established.

Roland Paoletti – As the architect behind many Jubilee Line Extension stations, Paoletti oversaw one of the most ambitious programmes of station design since the 1930s. His vision produced a series of bold, award-winning stations that brought world-class contemporary architecture to the Underground.

     I've adopted a scattergun approach to this project - often dropping off at stations en route to somewhere else - gathering pieces of a jigsaw puzzle where the edges are the last to be put in place. Apart from places that share notable Underground stations, I've not included the Overground, DLR, Elizabeth Line, railways or trams - all integrated under Transport for London. But I may sneak in the IFS Cloud Cable Car (formerly the Qatar Air Line!). Because I have some nice photos.

     This isn't intended to be a complete guide to the Underground. Rather, it's a personal selection of stations that reward curiosity. Along the way, you may acquire enough Tube trivia to become a bit of a smartarse on your next journey. Feel free to impress your kids, but I'd think twice before trying it on strangers.

ACTON TOWN 

      Charles Holden station (1932) with six large clerestory (pronounced clear storey) window panels on a long double-height ticket hall capped with a flat concrete roof. It has the only remaining wooden escalators on the network, bricked up behind a wall.

      Acton Town is the nearest station to the London Transport Museum Depot, open to the public on a number of weekends throughout the year ...

London Transport Museum Depot

ALDWYCH (closed)

                                              London Transport Museum

     Aldwych opened in 1907 as Strand station. It was the terminus of a short Piccadilly Line extension from Holborn which ran during peak weekday hours. It closed in 1994 when the cost of replacing the lifts was considered too high for the income generated. During WWII the tunnels between Aldwych and Holborn were used to store artefacts from the British Museum, including the Elgin Marbles.

     Because it was unused at off-peak times, the station was always a popular filming location, and that has continued to be the case since its closure. Movie location credits include: Battle of Britain (1969), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), The Krays (1990), Patriot Games (1992), Atonement (2007), 28 Weeks Later (2007), Fast and Furious 6 (2013), Sherlock (2014), Darkest Hour (2017), and Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023).

AMERSHAM

     Amersham is the highest Tube station at 147m above sea level. Although, thanks to Harry Beck, Amersham appears to be the most westerly station on the Underground map, that honour (just) falls to Chesham - which is also the most northerly.

ANGEL

  

     Angel Underground station lays claim to having the longest escalator in the UK and fourth longest in Europe. It is 60 metres long, has a 27 metre vertical rise, and takes 80 seconds if you dutifully stand on the right.  Beyond this ride is a shorter escalator that takes you down to platform level. Hampstead, however, has the deepest platforms, using lifts not escalators. Angel once had lifts. During a major rebuild in the early 1990s, the lifts were replaced with the huge escalator shaft. At the same time, a new northbound tunnel was constructed so the dangerously narrow island platform could be converted into one of the widest single platforms on the Underground.

    For quizzers, Angel is one of the five Underground stations named after a pub. You'll have to keep reading to find out the other four.

ARNOS GROVE

    Arnos Grove (1933), with its signature circular ticket hall and voluminous spaces, is regarded as one of the finest of Charles Holden's stations. Inspiration for the design is believed to have come from Stockholm City Library. The platforms were designed by Stanley Heaps.

  

     The ticket booth in the centre of the hall is a historic 'passimeter'. The name derived from the devices which counted passengers as they passed through the turnstiles situated beneath the ticket windows. Holden incorporated these along his Piccadilly Line stations and a few still survive - this one as a display case for models ...

 ARSENAL

    Originally known as Gillespie Road, the station was renamed in 1932 after Arsenal, who, since 1913 had played at the nearby Highbury Stadium. Some tiling on the platform still remembers Gillespie Road. It is the only tube station named directly after a football club. Although Arsenal moved from Highbury to their new Emirates Stadium in 2006, the station retained its name. In fact it's now even closer to Arsenal's home. 

    Unusually, the station is located on a narrow Victorian residential street, away from any main roads and not on a bus route.

BAKER STREET

   

                                                                150th anniversary commemorative stamp

    Baker Street, with its old-world brick and steam age atmosphere, feels more like a heritage railway than a modern underground station - wonderful. 

Platforms 5 & 6 

    The original Metropolitan Railway platforms are now Hammersmith and City platforms 5 & 6, restored in the 1980s to resemble their 1863 appearance. The arched ceiling contained ventilation shafts to let the steam out and natural light in. The original gas globe lamps hanging from the ceiling are now electric.

         

    Metal discs form parts of the structural ties in the brickwork between each arch listing the opening and restoration dates.  The memorial honours the Metropolitan Line workers killed in World War I.

               

     Charles Clark was responsible for the station's major reconstruction in the 1920s when Baker Street was promoted as the gateway to Metroland. Many original features can still be seen.

 

    You don't have to be a super sleuth to spot the Sherlock Holmes references ...

Charles Augustus Milverton

The Hound of the Baskervilles

     

The tiles were designed by Michael Douglas and printed by Pamela Moreton.

     This nine-foot tall Sherlock Holmes, with deerstalker hat and meerschaum pipe, has stood in front of Baker Street Station since 1999. It was sculpted by John Doubleday and partially sponsored by the nearby Abbey National Bank who, until 2005, employed someone full-time to answer all the mail addressed to 221B Baker Street, Sherlock's fictitious address.

     Clark also designed Chiltern Court, the block of flats constructed above the station in the 1920s. The block was underwritten by the Metropolitan Railway, which profited from the development.

Chiltern Court

It contained 180 flats, which were occupied by many famous residents ...

     

      The former Chiltern Court Restaurant above the station is still in use today as  Wetherspoons' impressive Metropolitan Bar...

   

     Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty is not about the station but the street itself, where he once stayed with a friend. To save you looking it up: Raphael Ravenscroft played the saxophone. Ravenscroft, a highly respected session musician, was paid £27.

BALHAM

     On October 14, 1940, hundreds of people were sheltering on the platforms of Balham Underground when a German bomb hit a water main, flooding the station. Sixty-eight people died.

BANK

     

     Bank is one of only two Underground stations that are Grade I listed (the other is St James's). It has the most entrances/exits of any tube station with twelve. Apart from "Mind the Gap" and "Stand on the Right" another rule of thumb for Londoners is "Never change at Bank" - because of the large walking distance between some lines. But the addition of travellators in 2022 has improved things somewhat.

     London Underground's curved platforms are largely a legacy of the Victorian era when many stations were built. The curves are due to the tunnels being constructed using the "cut-and-cover" method, digging up existing roads to avoid damaging buildings or other infrastructure. In the case of Bank Station some platforms also curve round the vaults of the Bank of England which hold gold bars worth around £200 billion. Wouldn't it have been great if they'd run the tracks through the vault and left the light on? A heist movie would no doubt have followed.

     Once tunnelling techniques had improved, these platform gaps could be avoided. James Greathead was an engineer best known for developing the Greathead shield, a travelling tunnelling device that made deep-level tube railways possible. His statue above Bank Station conceals a ventilation shaft for the Central Line which opened in 1900.

    Greathead shields are cylindrical which explains why deep-level London Underground tunnels are 'tubes' rather than brick arches. At the time they were introduced, many doubted passengers would tolerate narrow, deep tunnels - Greathead’s engineering quietly proved them wrong. Despite the Greathead shield becoming standard worldwide, its inventor rarely sought public recognition.

BARKINGSIDE

     The station originally opened in 1903, as part of a GER (Great Eastern Railway branch line. It still has some original features as few alterations took place when it became part of the Central Line in 1948. The Grade II listed brick building is surmounted by a cupola and the ticket hall is notable for its ornate hammerbeam roof - the only one on the network. Also, both platform canopies have the "GER" initials still visible in the bracketry.

BARONS COURT

      The antique wooden benches on the platform with the station name along the back on enamelled metal panels are a unique feature on the entire London Underground. They are currently being repainted green as part of renovation works.

     Designed by Harry Ford in 1905, Barons Court station incorporates both Classical and Art Nouveau features, including the original ticket windows and green tiles.

     The former Formula One driver Prince Bira, who was a member of the Thai Royal family, was found dead at the station on 23 December 1985, following a major heart attack.

BATTERSEA POWER STATION

     The station, with its distinctive gold roof, opened along with the extension of the Northern line in 2021. Decommissioned in 1983, the iconic power station had remained derelict for almost forty years before Malaysian developers opened it to the public in 2022 as a shopping mall and leisure venue.

     It is the only station on the London Underground network to include the word 'station' in its name. So it is effectively Battersea Power Station Station.

     Inside the station's ticket hall, Sunrise, Sunrise, Sunset by Alexandre da Cunha is far from obvious. Using an outdated advertising mechanism, the 100m kinetic sculpture is a mechanical billboard which slowly rotates. A similar 60m frieze is on the opposite wall.

BECONTREE

    

     At 331 metres, this is the longest platform on the Underground network. The station was built in the 1930s to handle the whole Becontree estate, at the time the largest housing estate in the world. At one time there were “This is the rear of the train” signs on the platforms. But they no longer exist and are not really required as staff have left the grass to grow on the redundant sections of platform.
    The station is said to be haunted by a faceless woman with long blonde hair whom several staff members claim to have seen.

BETHNAL GREEN

Stairway to Heaven Memorial (2017)

     Bethnal Green station was the site of the single largest loss of civilian life in the UK during WW2. On March 3, 1943, 173 people lost their lives during a stampede while using the space as an air raid shelter. The government suppressed news of the disaster until after the war.

BELSIZE PARK

     Designed by Leslie Green, Belsize Park is one of eight London Underground stations which have deep-level air-raid shelters underneath them. The shelter was constructed in World War II to provide safe accommodation for service personnel. Entrances to the shelter are at the junction of Haverstock Hill and Downside Crescent (above) and off Haverstock Hill.

BLACKHORSE ROAD

       When I decided to embark on this series my idea was to feature the most interesting 100 stations. But that was before I realised that every station on the Victoria Line has its own tile motif with a local reference. So I did them all - at some stations hopping back on the same train after grabbing my photo.

      They are not all as obvious as Al Unger's black horse. Click here if you can't wait for me to post the other fifteen Victoria Line motifs. 

      There are more black horses here, despite the fact Blackhorse Road is actually named after a nearby Black House ...

     David McFall's fibre glass Black Horse was installed when the station opened in 1968.  

     

     Giles Round's Design Work Leisure (2016) are a series of enamel panels in bright geometric patterns in blue and yellow.

BOND STREET

Gordon Selfridge failed to have the station re-named after himself with an exit to his store.

 BOSTON MANOR

      Holden's Grade II listed Art Deco design - with its tower and curved booking hall - was featured on the 2013 series of stamps commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Underground.

BROMLEY-BY-BOW

    There is one tube map where Bromley-by-Bow doesn't appear. That's the one in the BBC soap Eastenders where it is replaced by the fictional Walford East station. Underground scenes in Eastenders are usually shot at East Finchley.

BRENT CROSS

     Heaps' station resembles an Italianate villa with low pitched roof, chequered flooring, Portland stone colonnade and architrave.
     Originally named Brent Station after the river, its name was changed to Brent Cross when  the shopping centre opened nearby in 1976. Harry Selfridge was no longer around to comment. Brent Cross was the first out-of-town American-style indoor shopping mall in the UK.

BRIXTON

     Back on the Victoria Line, the platform motif and play on words, A Ton of Bricks, was designed by Hans Unger. Pedants will note that there are considerably less than the 435 standard UK house bricks that would make a metric tonne. 

     Since 2018, Art on the Underground has used the header wall above the main staircase to the ticket hall for temporary murals. The current work, by Rudy Loewe, plays tribute to events and communities that have shaped the local area, including the arrival of the Windrush Generation. It will be replaced with another mural in November, 2026.

     The roundel on the façade of Brixton Station is the largest on the London Underground network.

Tube Trivia:

     Of the 272 Underground stations only 33 are south of the river Thames. And only 45% of the network is actually under ground.

     The "five Underground stations named after pubs” is one of the best bits of Tube trivia. The usual classic list is:

              Elephant & Castle - named after the coaching inn/pub.
              Angel - from The Angel Inn.
             Manor House - from a pub called The Manor House Tavern.
             Swiss Cottage - from the pub/hotel Swiss Cottage (recently closed).
             Royal Oak - directly named after the pub beside it.

      If you enjoy discovering London's hidden stories and would like to support a good cause, please consider visiting the Willow Foundation.