TUBE TREASURE TROVE (E-F)

 TUBE TREASURE TROVE (E-F)

     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 Treasure Trove 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 (short version):

      London's Metropolitan line was the world’s first underground. Opening in 1863, it was a 3.5-mile Victorian steam railway with seven stations running from Paddington to Farringdon.

      More than 160 years later, the network has grown into a living museum of architecture, engineering and graphic design. Today the Underground carries around four million passengers on a typical weekday across 272 stations.

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. 

Leslie Green – Green designed around 40 oxblood-red glazed stations in the early 1900s.

Charles Holden – Holden was responsible for designing more than 50 stations during the 1920s and 1930s. 

Edward Johnston – Johnston designed the distinctive Underground typeface, Johnston Sans, in 1916. It remains in use to this day. He also redesigned the famous roundel symbol. 

Harry Beck – In 1933, Beck transformed the underground map by prioritising clarity over geographical accuracy.

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. 

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. 

EALING BROADWAY

    Ealing Broadway saw a major upgrade and expansion as part of the Elizabeth Line project, with a much larger ticket hall and the provision of step-free access. But some heritage signage remains, including this roundel on the District Line platform, which dates back to 1908.

EARL'S COURT

      The original electric 'train describers' from around 1905 still exist (and work). 

      The first escalator on the Underground was opened at Earl’s Court in 1911. In order to reassure passengers it was safe, William "Bumper" Harris, who had a wooden leg, was employed to go up and down the escalator. He continued in the role for several years.

EAST FINCHLEY

    Eric Aumonier’s The Archer (1940) above East Finchley station links it to its historic surroundings as an ancient hunting area, with the archer’s bow pointing towards the growing metropolis of London. It was to be the first in a series of sculptures to link stations to their locality. But the Second World War stopped that, leaving The Archer as the only completed work. The sculpture is made of beech over a steel support, covered with lead. 

EASTCOTE

     Eastcote is a classic Holden station of the 1930s - cube-shaped brick and glass ticket hall with curved shops on either side. It was called Eastcote Halt when it first opened in 1906.

EDGWARE ROAD

     The Window Cleaner (1990) in front of Edgware Road Station is by Allan Sly. The ticket hall even has real plants, something usually only seen at suburban stations.

     In one of those odd quirks of the Underground, there are two Edgware Road stations, about 300 metres apart. This one is on the Circle, District and Hammersmith & City Lines and was part of the world's first underground railway (Metropolitan Railway between Paddington and Farringdon, 1863). The other Edgware Road is a Bakerloo Line station. To confuse things further, Edgware Station is on the Northern Line. 

     Jacqueline Poncelet's Wrapper (2012) surrounds the TfL substation next to Edgware Road station. Covering 1,500 sq metres, it is the largest vitreous enamel artwork in Europe. Each of the 700 panels relates to a different part of the local area and the colours reflect those of the Tube map.

 

EMBANKMENT

     Robyn Denny's abstract enamelled stripes appeared in 1988 when Embankment station was renovated. The colours represent the four lines that serve the station, plus blue to represent the Thames, and red the colour of the trains. Easy to clean, they were installed at a time when the Underground was suffering its first serious graffiti tagging.

    On the northbound Northern line platform you can still hear the original 1968 "Mind the Gap" announcement. Actor Oswald Laurence recorded it. When TfL upgraded the system in 2012 his voice was lost. After Oswald died in 2007, his wife Margaret visited the station simply  to hear his voice. When TfL found out, they digitized the original tapes and put him back. It’s the only place left with that recording.

EUSTON

 

     Tom Eckersley's Euston Arch (1969) adorns Euston's Victoria Line platforms. The famous doric arch was controversially demolished by British Rail in 1962 for the rebuilding of the mainline station. Unsuccessful attempts to preserve the arch, championed by Sir John Betjeman, led to the formation of the Victorian Society and heralded the modern conservation movement.

         Robert Cooper and David Hamilton's enamel panel designs on the Northern Line platforms are based on the coat of arms of Henry Charles Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Euston, the second acknowledged bastard son of King Charles II, and his mistress Barbara Villiers.

 

    The shield shows the Royal Stuart arms crossed with a blue-and-white baton sinister denoting the illegitimacy. Euston Station was built on land owned by the Fitzroy family.

FARRINGDON

     Opening in 1863 as the terminus of the world's first underground passenger railway, Farringdon is one of the oldest surviving underground railway stations in the world. The present station, a short distance from the original, was built in 1922.

    Farringdon was constructed in conjunction with a freight station to take livestock to Smithfield Market's slaughterhouse. Grade II-listed cattle ramps can still be seen in West Smithfield - leading to an underground car park.

     On the station concourse is a memorial to Edward Johnston, designed by Fraser Muggeridge. Johnston (1872-1944) was one of the foremost calligraphers and typographers  of the twentieth century. His ground-breaking Underground typeface (Johnston Sans) was commissioned by Frank Pick. Originally designed in 1916 for posters, its use has gradually expanded to every form of signage on London's transport network.

     Muggeridge's installation, unveiled in 2019, is a striking typographic artwork, using giant wooden printing-block versions of Johnston's letters to celebrate both the man and the alphabet he created.

     Johnston's original printing blocks are on display at the London Transport Museum Depot in Acton. It is open to the public on three weekends of the year ....

FINCHLEY CENTRAL

     If Edward Johnston designed the letters. Harry Beck designed how we read them.

      

    Harry Beck was an engineering draftsman who lived near Finchley Central. In 1931, bored on his night shifts, he redrew the Tube map on the back of an envelope. He ignored geography and treated it like an electrical circuit: straight lines, 45° angles, stations spaced evenly. London Transport thought it was too radical. The public loved it. The design he created has barely changed since, and his idea has been widely adopted by urban transport systems worldwide.

Before Harry Beck …..                            Harry Beck’s map, 1933 ….

     

                 Finchley Central is two and sixpence
                 From Golders Green on the Northern Line
                 And on the platform, by the kiosk
                That's where you said you'd be mine

                                Finchley Central by The New Vaudeville Band

FINSBURY PARK

     Tom Eckersley's duelling pistols on the Victoria Line platforms allude to the duels that used to take part in a field near here - just outside the boundary of London. 

     Hot air balloon murals on the Piccadilly Line platforms commemorate the first hot-air balloon flight in London, which took off from the nearby Artillery Ground in 1784.

FULHAM BROADWAY

    The station is in a cutting and was originally open air until it was covered by the Fulham Broadway Shopping Centre development. The station entrance is now inside the shopping centre.

    The station was previously Walham Green. Its original booking office is nearby and is now a Wetherspoons pub.

     The Walham Green has been beautifully refurbished with many of the original station signs and architectural features retained, including the historic terracotta block façade. The main bar is a row of ticket windows - and it even has a roof garden. It gets especially when Chelsea are at home - Fulham Broadway is the nearest station to Stamford Bridge.

     Fulham Broadway is the station in 1998’s Sliding Doors, where reality changes because of a missed train. Scenes for the movies were also filmed at Waterloo and Bank. 

     Yes, I know it's a bit lame taking a photo of sliding doors, especially as the train in the movie is blue, not red. Yes, and I also know it's a bit geeky to pause Netflix to check the opening scene.

Tube Trivia:

   

    In 2001 Euston Station introduced an air-freshener called Madeline  - passengers complained of nausea and headaches. It was discontinued after one day

    Harry Beck sold the copyright for his iconic map for five guineas. It has probably generated more revenue for London's transport authorities than any train ever has.