TUBE TREASURE TROVE (H)

 

TUBE TREASURE TROVE (H)

     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 Walter Clark - Metropolitan Railway architect; designed around 25 stations and helped define the architectural character of the Met line and Metro-land.

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.

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. 

HAMMERSMITH

Hammersmith (Hammersmith & City/Circle)                           Hammersmith (District/Piccadilly)       

     Like Edgware Road, Hammersmith has two separate stations. To interchange between them you need to walk about 60 metres through Hammersmith Broadway shopping centre. Alternatively, you could stay on the Underground, but that would require a minimum of fourteen stops and changing lines twice!

HAMPSTEAD

       Hampstead is the deepest Tube station at about 58.5m below ground level (Nelson’s Column is 51.6 metres tall). There are lifts but no escalators. Taking the spiral staircase is not recommended.

The station, originally called Heath Street, still retains some interesting heritage features.

HATTON CROSS

     The Speedbird mosaics at Hatton Cross are the stylised emblem of a bird in flight designed in 1932 by Theyre Lee-Elliott as the logo for Imperial Airways. The classic design has been used by the airline and its successors - BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) and British Airways - ever since. The term "Speedbird" remains the call sign for British Airways.

HEATHROW TERMINALS 2 & 3

    

     When it opened in 1977 as Heathrow Central, it became the first airport in the world to be served directly by an Underground railway.

      The station was renamed Terminals 1, 2 & 3 when Terminal 4 opened in 1983. Despite Terminal 1 closing in 2016, many signs still say "Terminals 1, 2 & 3". 

     The station platforms feature abstract murals of Concorde (the supersonic airliner) in vitreous enamel by artist Tom Eckersley.

HEATHROW TERMINAL 4

                                  

                                                             

      Heathrow Terminal 4 is the only Underground station with a one-way train service. So, before the Elizabeth line opened, if you wanted to get from Terminals 2 & 3 to Terminal 4 you had to head east on the Piccadilly line to Hatton Cross - then double back. 

    Stylised Concorde silhouettes are set into the platform tiling. You need to use a bit of imagination.

HIGHBURY & ISLINGTON

      The tiled motifs on the Victoria line platforms are by Edward Bawden and depict Highbury Manor. During the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, rebels led by Jack Straw attacked and destroyed the fortified manor house which belonged to the wealthy Knights Hospitallers. Robert Hales, the Knights Hospitallers’ leader in England, was particularly hated for his role in collecting the poll tax that helped trigger the revolt. For centuries afterwards the ruined site became known as Jack Straw’s Castle - not to be confused with the famous Hampstead pub of the same name, which closed in 2002 and has since become luxury flats and a gym.

HOLBORN

       

     Holborn station was redecorated in the 1980s, with enamelled metal platform murals designed by Allan Drummond that reference the British Museum. These murals show Egyptian and Roman antiquities, with sarcophagi, statues and trompe-l'oeil columns.

     The station was used to store British Museum treasures during WW2.  A newspaper even offered a cash reward to anyone who dared spend the night there in the 1960s amid rumours of a mummy ghost – nobody took them up on it.

HOLLAND PARK

     Holland Park station, which opened in 1900, boasts the most complete original Central London railway entrance. It was built with a flat roof to accommodate a retail unit. Over 125 years later, there is still no retail unit.

HOLLOWAY ROAD

      Holloway Road is unmistakably a Leslie Green station with its oxblood red faience and arched windows.

     
      Also beautifully preserved are the original ceramic ticket booths and tiled platform name friezes.

    

London Transport Museum Depot, Acton

     In 1906, a double-helix spiral escalator was installed at Holloway Road — the remains (above) can now be found at the Acton Depot of the London Transport Museum.
     It appears that the complex machine was never put into passenger service, possibly because of safety concerns, although no records have been found to confirm this.
    When I first tried to imagine Holloway Road’s spiral escalator, I assumed it was simply two spiral escalators intertwined — one going up and one going down. Only after studying the design more closely did I realise the ingenious (and rather mind-bending) concept: a single continuous belt of steps, rather like passengers joining a moving cable car system.
     As no photographs of the escalator are known to exist, I asked AI to produce a visualisation. It struggled with the complexity of the design, occasionally drifting into something resembling an M.C. Escher impossibility — but it does give a reasonable impression of this extraordinary piece of forgotten Underground engineering.

Tube Trivia and Addenda:

    The highest number of active stations on the London Underground was reached in 1975 when Hatton Cross opened. The number of stations on the network has since decreased to 272. 

     Jerry Springer was born in Highgate Underground station in 1944 during an air raid. His parents were German Jewish refugees. 

     Hounslow East station is actually closer, by around 250 metres, to the centre of Hounslow than Hounslow Central.

     This series of posts only features Underground stations. However, if you want to know more about the Elizabeth Line click here for my thoughts - mostly from the day it opened in 2022.