A visit to Piccadilly Circus tube station is not something to look forward to. I have always been aware of its iconic 1920s architecture but until now had not taken time to admire it.
The original 1906 station ticket office was above ground but by the 1920s passenger numbers had grown from 1.5 to 25 million. The present elliptical underground concourse was opened in 1928 and still retains many of its original features, although usage was above 40 million last year. Like Joseph Bazalgette’s London sewer network, architect Charles Holden planned ahead.
If I may digress, Holden’s contribution to architecture in the first half of the 20th century was immense. There has already been a post about one of his buildings, 55 Broadway (On Broadway) and I am sure there will be others. He designed war cemeteries after the First World War, a war memorial arch at Clifton School and many public buildings and offices. His design for tube stations even influenced the architecture of underground stations in Moscow. His signage is still in evidence.
A quirky feature set into an inner wall of the concourse is this Mercator map of the world bisected by a scrolling linear time bar; The World Time Today.
A former ticket office booth has this memorial poster.
He was employed by Frank Pick, general manager of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, to redesign and build new stations, mostly on the Piccadilly Line. Pick himself was of great importance, championing good design most of which has been retained to this day. It is a credit to what is now Transport for London that the tube system has not succumbed to the blandishments of designers wanting to “modernise” and “improve” the existing iconic signage to make it more “up-to-date”. It is also most appropriate that Frank Pick himself should be remembered on the concourse of Piccadilly Circus Station.
https://youtu.be/VwODy5xSrcc