SEEING RED

The history of the London Underground has always interested me and in this latest article I am going to look back at the life of Leslie Green, the English architect who was responsible for the design of iconic stations with the distinctive ox blood tiling. I'll also look at the stations I have visited so far and give a brief history.

Leslie Green (Photographer Unknown)

Leslie William Green was born in Maida Vale, London on 6 February 1875 and educated at Dover College and South Kensington School of Art.

In 1897 he established his own architect practice working from his father's offices before moving to Haymarket in 1900 and finally Adam Street, close to The Strand. He had been made an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1898 and a year later a member of RIBA.

His early work included many shops and homes across London but it was his work for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) for which he will be best remembered.

It was in 1903 that he was appointed as architect for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) to design the stations for the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR) and the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) all of which were under construction. Today the lines are known as the Piccadilly Line, Bakerloo Line and Northern Line.

Green was tasked with designing fifty new stations. Not only the exteriors but also the fixtures and fittings internally. He had developed a modern style for the ground-level stations with each adapted to suit their locality. Constructed as two-storey structures with steel frames, an idea that had originated in America, they provided large internal areas for ticket halls and lift shafts

The exteriors were clad in ox-blood (sang-de-boeuf) red glazed tiles. They were manufactured by the Burmantofts Pottery based in Leeds which, in 1889, merged with other companies to become the Leeds Fireclay Company.

Covent Garden Station

Built with separate entrances and exits the stations were noticeable by not only the red tiling but the arched windows at first floor level.They had flat roofs which would allow office building above.

The idea of tiling continued in the booking halls and platform levels with green and white tiles while, on the platforms, the station names and direction signs were also made using tiles. It created a unified theme and was easy to maintain.

The three lines were due to open in 1906 and 1907 and in June of 1907 Green was told his contract would end at the end of the year. Green died in August 1908 and many of his original buildings have survived even though the interiors have been modernised. Many are Grade II listed buildings. 

The following is a list of the relevant stations on each of the three lines...

Bakerloo Line: Edgware Road, Great Central, Baker Street, Regent's Park, Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Embankment, Waterloo, Kennington Road and Elephant & Castle.

Piccadilly Line: Gillespie Road, Holloway Road, Caledonian Road, York Road, King's Cross, Russell Square, Holborn, Strand, Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus, Dover Street, Down Street, Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge, Brompton Road, South Kensington and Gloucester Road.

Northern Line: Highgate, Tufnell Park, Kentish Town, South Kentish Town, Golders Green, Hampstead, Belsize Park, Chalk Farm, Camden Town, Mornington Crescent, Euston, Euston Road, Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street, Leicester Square and Charing Cross.

Note: Many of these have been demolished or are due for demolition, closed, never had a station building or have been renamed.

What follows is a brief history of four of the Leslie Green designed station buildings that I have visited and photographed. I am planning more London trips and will be seeking out more of the stations and photographing them and hope to add to this article in the future.

Covent Garden

Situated on the Piccadilly Line between Leicester Square and Holborn it serves the Covent Garden area and is located on the corner of Long Acre and Janes Street. In 1929, with the extension of the Piccadilly Line, the station was earmarked for closure based on the fact that the closing of less-busy stations in the central London area would improve the reliability of the service and journey times. Fortunately the closure never took place and the station building remains and is now a Grade II listed building.

York Road

Located on the corner of York Road (now York Way) and Bingfield Street the station was on the Piccadilly Line between King's Cross and Caledonian Road. The station opened in 1906 but due to low volume of passengers it closed in 1932.

York Road Underground

It was unusual due to the fact that, unlike most underground stations on the line where the lifts stopped at a level above the platforms and so passengers had to descend a final flight of stairs to catch their train, the lifts at York Road went right down to the platform level. This meant that the platforms had to be further apart than normal and so the interconnecting passageways were much longer than normal. The station building still exists although for how much longer, who knows.

Euston

There were three underground stations built to serve Euston mainline station and two of these were built by two different companies, City & South London Railway (C&SLR) and the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR). The London & North Western Railway (L&NWR) owned the land and had given their permission to both companies as long as there were separate stations and entrances to both from within the main station. They opened in 1907 and closed in 1914 leaving just the entrance in the mainline station in use.

Euston (on Melton Street)

The CCE&HR underground station was located on Melton Street just west of the mainline station. After its closure it housed the ventilation equipment for the Victoria Line. Another Leslie Green designed station that should have Grade II listed building status but is unfortunately being demolished (or has already been) to make way for the construction of the HS2 rail line. I was fortunate to visit the site recently and capture this image. The other station was located east of the mainline station at the junction of Eversholt Street and Drummond Street but has long since been demolished.

Aldwych/Strand

Aldwych station was opened in 1907 with the name Strand after the street on which it was located. It was the terminus of the short branch line from Holborn on the Piccadilly Line. Several reasons have been given for the existence of the short bit of line. One is a Parlimentary condition that the line be built. Another is the idea to extend the line south of the river, an idea that is more likely as plans were apparently made.

Strand (Aldwych) Station

It changed its name to Aldwych in 1915 as the nearby Charing Cross Underground Station was also called Strand at the time. It changed it's name back to Charing Cross in 1979. Confusing or what! Never a busy station it was considered for closure many times and in 1962 only weekday peak hour trains ran and by 1994 the station was closed The station building is on the corner of Strand and Surrey Street and if you go around the corner into Surrey Street you will find another entrance to the station.

Strand (Aldwych) Station entrance on Surrey Street

During the Second World War the station was used as an air raid shelter and the unused tunnels as storage for rare and priceless treasures from the British Museum. Today it is maintained by the London Underground as a museum piece and often used as a location for TV and films.

For further reading on the London Underground, it's history and visiting some of the sites I recommend the following books.

London's Disused Underground Stations (J. E. Connor)

Do Not Alight Here (Ben Pedroche)