TUBE TREASURE TROVE (W-Z)

 

TUBE TREASURE TROVE (W-Z)

     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.

WALTHAMSTOW CENTRAL

    Julia Black's platform tiles pay homage to textile designer, poet, artist, writer and socialist activist William Morris, who was born in Walthamstow. His childhood home in Forest Road now houses the William Morris Gallery and Museum ...

  

     Morris knew a thing or two about decorating walls and would surely have approved of street artist Atma's portrait of him overlooking the museum car park.

WANSTEAD

    I must admit that Wanstead may not have made this list were it not for the fact it's my local Tube station. Construction of the station began in the mid-1930s but was delayed by the onset of the Second World War. Employing 2,000 workers, the incomplete tunnels between Wanstead and Gants Hill were used for aircraft-component production by Plessey between 1942 and 1945 ...

     Wanstead station, designed by Charles Holden, finally opened in 1947. It still has its retro clocks and tiles - although these are mostly copies of the originals ...

      

In front of Wanstead station is something of a rarity ...

     

    There are 115,500 post boxes in the UK, but only 171 bear the Edward VIII cypher, as just 200 were produced during his short reign.

WARREN STREET

     Original tiling at Warren Street is a reminder that when it opened in 1907 it was named Euston Road station, becoming Warren Street just a year later. It was designed by Leslie Green and refurbished in the 1930s by Charles Holden. In 2012 it became the first station on the Underground to have a dedicated Wi-Fi service.

     The inevitable Victoria line motif is Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes's solvable maze (or warren). When I started this series, the intention was to call it The 100 Most Interesting Underground Stations. This was before I realised all sixteen stations on the Victoria line have unique tile motifs. This is (alphabetically) the last Victoria line station. Click here to see the full set of Victoria Line tile motifs. 

WARWICK AVENUE

      Warwick Avenue has no surface building and the station is accessed by two sets of steps to a sub-surface ticket hall. It was one of the first London Underground stations built specifically to use escalators rather than lifts.
      After Finchley Central by the New Vaudeville Band, perhaps the best-known song specifically about a tube station is Warwick Avenue by Duffy:
              When I get to Warwick Avenue

              I'll tell you, baby, that we're through

WATERLOO

     The Elephant sculpture by Kendra Haste at the Jubilee line entrance was originally commissioned as part of an art installation at Gloucester Road Station.

     Millions of people swarming like flies 'round Waterloo underground
    But Terry and Julie cross over the river
    Where they feel safe and sound
                          Waterloo Sunset, The Kinks

    Swarming round Waterloo station - the last time I passed through there - was a crowd of extras dressed for the races - together with a huge film crew.

    

   

      I don't know what the production is and, having worked in TV myself, know it's not cool to bother a film crew when they are being creative.

     Waterloo station has always been a popular filming location, particularly after the Eurostar terminal moved to St Pancras, creating some redundant space. Also, at weekends, the Waterloo and City line does not run.
     Scenes for many movies have been shot at Waterloo, including:
     The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) - the chase across the concourse took several days and used hidden cameras to avoid disruption.

    Sliding Doors (1998) - some of the Underground scenes were shot at Waterloo

    Terminus (1961) - John Schlesinger's BAFTA-winning documentary about Waterloo itself.

    Man Up (2015) - Simon Pegg's Jack meets the wrong blind date under the clock at Waterloo.

     A blue circle, about 2m in diameter, appeared under the clock during covid ...

     It is also where Del Boy first met Raquel in Only Fools and Horses - another blind date. The Bill, Top Gear and The Apprentice have all also used Waterloo in one form or another. And the new Harry Potter TV series has also recently filmed there rather than King's Cross.

WEMBLEY PARK

     The whole of Wembley Park station was rebuilt and expanded in the 2000s for the new Wembley Stadium. It was designed to shift 50,000 football fans in 20 minutes. There is nothing like it anywhere else on the network.

L B Black, 1925

In case you're wondering, Sheffield United beat Cardiff City 1-0

    On September 5, 2026, a mural of Freddie Mercury was unveiled at Wembley Park to mark what would have been his 80th birthday.

   

    The artwork, by the street artist Frank Styles, is called I'm Mr Mercury. Because it is broken up by steps, it is anamorphic, and can only be viewed properly from a marked spot about 65ft away.

   

    Winged figures refer to Freddie's Virgo star sign and koi carp his love of Japan. Quotations and lyrics run up the steps towards the stadium.

    Queen played Wembley Stadium several times, most memorably in 1985 - as the standout act at Live Aid.

WESTMINSTER

   

    Designed by Michael Hopkins and Partners, Westminster Underground station is a massive concrete and steel cavern beneath Portcullis House, also designed by Hopkins.

   

      Westminster's Jubilee line platforms are the deepest point of the Tube network, 104ft below sea level. Excavations to create these platforms caused the Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) to move 35 millimetres. Any more, and the tower would have cracked and possibly collapsed.

     Portcullis House (above) is an office block which accommodates the overspill of MPs and their staff from the Houses of Parliament. A thick slab of concrete separates Portcullis House from the station, reportedly to defend against any underground bomb attacks.

    Above the main exit - which faces Big Ben - is Larry Achiampong’s version of the roundel ...

  

    The roundel relates to people of African origin in London. It incorporates 54 stars representing each internationally recognised country on the African continent.

    Westminster tube station appears in the 2007 film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, when Arthur Weasley accompanies Harry to his trial at the Ministry of Magic.

WHITE CITY

     Whilst working at BBC Television Centre in the 1970s, I was often accosted outside White City station by a dowdy-looking woman giving away the Socialist Worker. It was Vanessa Redgrave.

   

     A blue plaque on the front of the station recognises that the architectural design of the station won an award at the Festival of Britain. Original seats with nested station names have been retained.

     When it opened in 1960, BBC Television Centre was the largest TV complex in the world, with eight main studios. Today much of the site has been redeveloped for residential, retail and office use, although three studios continue to operate as BBC Studioworks facilities.

    It's nice to see the Helios Fountain working. It was never switched on whilst I worked there for fear of it leaking into the basement and damaging the video tape machines. In those days, each VT machine cost the equivalent of half a million pounds today. And you needed two of them to do the edits you can now knock out on your laptop.

   

    The artwork of Tony Parsons now on view at 'TVC' evokes memories of some classic BBC programmes ...

   

Blackadder                                                          Daleks

Lulu

    Lulu, the Blue Peter Elephant, remains one of the best-ever bits of live television. Click here to watch it on YouTube.

WILLESDEN GREEN

    Rebuilt in 1925, Willesden Green Underground station is the best-preserved example of Charles W Clark's earlier urban style. Its most striking features are the cream marble faience, green tesserae mosaic tiling and diamond shaped clock.

    As there are no Underground stations beginning with X, Y or Z now is the time for me to, metaphorically, resurface at the end of my Tube Treasure Trove …

                          ... with just an appendix to come (I can't resist a list).

Tube Trivia and Addenda:

    West Ruislip station to Epping station is the longest possible direct Tube journey without changing trains (~34 miles on the Central line).

    

   Wimbledon is the only Underground station with a direct interchange with the Tramlink network.

               

      Waterloo has the largest number of escalators - 25.

     There are no Underground stations beginning with the letters J, X, Y and Z. I know that now.