Design and architecture in the Tube
The Piccadilly Line is dark blue on the famous map of the London Underground, that much-admired work of art that makes a complex web of eleven lines with 260 stations so easy to grasp. Many of the buildings of the Tube and their interiors also have artistic value, and some stations are listed monuments.
In December 1906, the first section of the Piccadilly Line, from Hammersmith in the west to Finsbury Park in the north-east, went into operation. A young architect named Leslie Green was responsible for design matters. His station façades of glazed terracotta tiles in the colour of oxblood, round-arched windows on the upper floor and clearly emphasised cornices are still highly recognisable today. Inside the stations, varied geometric patterns of tiles – white and yellow in Covent Garden, dark green and cream in Gloucester Road – adorn the walls and also serve the purpose of signposting.
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Address Between Heathrow Airport in the west and Cockfosters in the north | Hours In central London, the Piccadilly Line runs from approx. 5am to 0.30am.| Tip The excellent Museum of London Transport sheds light on the technology and many other aspects of the Tube – including such design highlights as historic posters (Piazza of Covent Garden, Sat–Thu 10am–6pm, Fri 11am–6pm).
In the 1930s, when the line was extended both east and west, the work was entrusted to a second talented architect: Charles Holden, who had already renovated the circular station concourse beneath Piccadilly Circus in 1928, adding the cladding of travertine stone that remains there to this day. He made a study trip to Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia to learn about the new Modernist architecture. He then designed stations of simple beauty using a lot of brick and glass, clear outlines, and contrasts between round and angular forms, for example Sudbury Town at the west end of the line and Southgate in the north.
For its 100th anniversary in 2006, the Piccadilly Line was brightened up by contemporary works of art commissioned under the common theme of »the travels of Marco Polo«, and the remaining original tiles were restored in Russell Square and Covent Garden. All of which gives even the most crowded, hot and stuffy Tube journey a certain aesthetic charm.
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