COP3//A DESIGN JOURNEY: PART 4-6//OUGD601

Underground Journeys: Charles Holden's designs for London Transport

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the heart of London

Piccadilly Circus, one of the busiest Tube stations in central London, was completely reconstructed in 1925-28. Built to replace the inadequate surface-level booking hall and lifts, the new circular hall could accommodate 50 million passengers a year. Holden transformed this bleak cavern into a welcoming underground environment by creating what he called an 'ambulatory'. His design was more like a high class shopping arcade than a station, with window showcases and marble wall panelling. Piccadilly became the jewel in the Underground's crown, much admired by visitors to London.

Holden was already working on an even bigger scheme for a new Underground headquarters. 55 Broadway was the largest and tallest office block in London, built on an awkward triangular site over St James's Park station. Holden decided on a cruciform plan which gave street level access to the offices and station from both sides. The mass of the building was stepped up to a central tower, giving maximum daylight to all floors. This was London's first taste of American-style office architecture, soon known as 'The Cathedral of Modernity'.

piccadilly new station

Piccadilly Circus is not only a central underground station, used by millions of Londoners, but is at the heart of visitor's London. By 1922 18 million passengers a year were using it, and complete reconstruction was necessary to allow for up to 50 million. Passenger flow was much faster in the new station, where escalators replaced lifts, though this curious publicity poster suggests complexity rather than simplicity.

Designer: Charles W. Baker (fl.1924-1934)
Copyright: TfL from the London Transport Museum collection

piccadilly circus cutaway

This illustration highlights the complexity of Piccadilly Circus station. Above ground, the Circus was the centrepiece of Nash's 19th-century urban plan for Regent Street and Holden wanted to replicate the circus underground with his booking hall. Below, a series of escalators, staircases and tunnels leading to the platforms exists, all meticulously worked out by the consulting engineers Mott, Hay and Anderson. Originally a large mural depicting London as the centre of the world by artist Stephen Bone, could be seen above the escalators.

Designer: Douglas MacPherson (1871-1951)
Copyright: TfL from the London Transport Museum collection

piccadilly circus interior

The coffered ceiling at Piccadilly Circus was only nine feet high and therefore ceiling lights were not possible. Instead, Holden designed cylindrical lights that hung from the top of the tapered, steel columns clad in bronze and scagliola (a type of imitation marble). Lighting was also provided by the illuminated showcases that lined the outer ring of the concourse. The subterranean booking hall was transformed into an architectural jewel.

Postcard
Architect: Charles Holden (1875-1960) for Adams Holden & Pearson
Copyright: TfL from the London Transport Museum collection

publicity and modernity

London Underground were always quick to maximise the publicity that any new building or service could offer. This poster uses the new Underground headquarters building as a powerful symbol the company's modernity and its commitment to providing a service to its customers. The image also highlights the Underground’s dominating presence in the heart of London.

Designer: Maurice Beck (1886-1960)
Architect: Charles Holden (1875-1960) for Adams Holden & Pearson
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections

changing the face of London Underground

In the early 1930s, Holden and Pick refined the elements of what soon became an instantly recognisable London Transport corporate design style. This was applied to new structures from bus shelters to Tube stations right across the city. It changed the face of London.

Before starting on this 'adventure', as Holden called it, he and Pick went on an architectural study tour of northern Europe in 1930. They particularly admired the work of Willem Dudok (1884-1974) in Holland and Erik Gunnar Asplund (1885-1940) in Stockholm. These European influences became the framework of ideals, reflected in Holden's next station series for the Piccadilly line extensions, built from 1931-3.

The prototype for what Holden modestly called his 'brick boxes with concrete lids' was Sudbury Town. This established a 'kit of parts' for new stations. Extended horizontal and vertical planes were used to create simple but bold forms and spaces. Traditional English brickwork was combined with smooth concrete, metal window frames and glazed tiling. Sometimes a tower was added or the box became a drum, as at Arnos Grove. Nearly all of these stations, generally considered Holden's finest, are now listed buildings.

Artist: Cecil Walter Bacon (1905-92)
Copyright: TfL from the London Transport Museum collection

southgate at night

Many of the new Piccadilly line stations were at their most evocative when seen after dark. Advances in technology brought cheap and reliable lighting including the possibility of floodlighting buildings. At night, Southgate station emanated an eerie glow and with its dramatically lit canopy and futuristic beacon on the roof, looked more like an alien space ship than an Underground station.

Photographed by Topical Press
Architect: Charles Holden (1875-1960) for Adams Holden & Pearson
Copyright: TfL from the London Transport Museum collection

new station architecture

Unusually, the station architecture was used as a marketing tool to publicise the opening of the new stations on the Piccadilly line. In this small poster, which appeared inside Underground cars, stations such as Arnos Grove and Turnpike Lane are featured as buildings that the travelling public are encouraged to 'come and see'. It also emphasises the improved travel time from Piccadilly Circus to Arnos Grove and stations beyond.

Artist: Unknown
Copyright: TfL from the London Transport Museum collection

integrated design

Holden's holistic approach to the design of the underground stations was encouraged by Pick's enlightened vision of a better urban environment. Everything was carefully integrated, and Holden was given responsibility for the design of all fixtures and decoration above and below ground. This included lighting, tiling, clocks, litter bins, ticket machines and booths. He also incorporated the Underground's distinctive roundel, lettering and signage which had been developed by Edward Johnston.

Holden's design work was not limited just to the Underground. He also developed a series of prototypes for passenger bus and coach shelters and bus stop posts. He even attempted to re-design the LT-type bus.

Although these ventures into product design are less well-known and not as successful as his station designs, they clearly illustrate the extent to which Holden and Pick worked to shape every physical aspect of the London Transport system.

ticket machine

For the new concourse at Piccadilly Circus station, Holden incorporated ticket machines and a passimeter ticket booth. Originally, the machines were to reach almost to the ceiling as this sketch shows; however in a low and confined space this was not ideal and they were reduced in size. Holden has also included the ceiling lights that were designed to imitate the capital detail on a classical column.

Pencil and coloured crayon
Architect: Charles Holden (1875-1960) for Adams Holden & Pearson
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections

fixtures and fittings

Frank Pick was a perfectionist when it came to station detail and insisted that all aspects of the interior fixtures and fittings were to the same standard as the architecture. This bronze litter bin designed by Holden is from Highgate station. By using the same materials and adopting a modern, functional style, Holden ensured a unified look across all the station interiors.

Architect: Charles Holden (1875-1960) for Adams Holden & Pearson
Copyright: TfL from the London Transport Museum collection

escalators

As part of the modernisation of the Underground during the 1920s and 1930s, many stations were fitted with escalators to make passenger access to the platforms quicker and more efficient. This photograph shows the new escalators at Leicester Square, then the longest on the system, with Holden's uplighter lamps. The escalators were examples of the latest technology, developed by the American company Otis.

Photograph by Topical Press
Architect: Charles Holden (1875-1960) for Adams Holden & Pearson
Copyright: Transport for London, Collection of London Transport Museum

modernist influences 

As well as the typical standard rectangular waiting shelter, Holden also designed a compact circular bus shelter with seats placed in each quadrant of the circle. The Modernist style of the structure took its influence from the street architecture that Holden had observed whilst travelling in northern Europe. Whilst simple and visually appealing, the shelter unfortunately offered little protection from the elements.

Photographed by Topical Press
Architect: Charles Holden (1875-1960) for Adams Holden & Pearson
Copyright: TfL from the London Transport Museum collection

design classics

In recognition of the now iconic Modernist stations, the London Transport Museum put together an exhibition devoted to the designs by Charles Holden in 1989. Rather appropriately, the display was housed inside the disused but fully restored passimeter ticket office, located in the centre of the booking hall at Holden's Arnos Grove station. A permanent homage to Holden, the display remains on view today.

Designed and printed by London Transport Museum
Copyright: TfL from the London Transport Museum collection