Plaque

Piccadilly Circus Station

Inscription

Underground Heritage information.
Piccadilly Circus Station. Listed as a building of national importance.
Architects: Entrances and ticket hall - Adams, Holden & Pearson in collaboration with S.A. Heaps, 1928 rebuild.
Piccadilly Circus opened on 10 March 1906 on the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (Bakerloo line). The Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (Piccadilly line) platforms and interchange opened on 15 December 1906.
When originally built the station had a street level building incorporating a ticket hall designed by Leslie Green, which stood on the corner of Piccadilly Circus and Haymarket. This was abandoned following the 1928 redevelopment and has since been demolished.
The increasing number of people using the station led to a major redesign and a new sub-service ticket hall and circulating area designed by Charles Holden, which would also provide public pedestrian subways opened in 1928.
Due to the difficulties in managing the roads above the station, the current ticket hall was excavated from the bottom upwards rather than the traditional 'cut and cover' method more commonly used. The high cost of such a complex task prompted the 'Office of Woods and Forests' to transfer the rights in the subsoil of the Circus to the Underground for a sum of ten pounds.
Walls and stairwells were finished in cream Travertine marble with a coffered fibrous plaster panelled false ceiling. The roof itself is supported by four central columns, with fifty other columns spaced around the columns in two rows. The columns were clad in a maroon scagliola {imitation marble or stone} which was enhanced by the tungsten lighting then in use.
The first fluorescent tube lighting to be used on the Underground system was installed on the westbound Piccadilly Line platform on the 2 October 1945. All four platforms were left untouched by the 1928 reconstruction but extensively modernised by the Underground in 1987.
The ticket hall was Grade II listed on 2 October 1983.

Site: Piccadilly Circus Underground Station (2 memorials)

W1, Piccadilly Circus

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Piccadilly Circus Station

Subjects commemorated i

Adams, Holden and Pearson

Architectural partnership. 1899 Charles Holden joined H. Percy Adams' practic...

Read More

Leslie Green

Architect. Born Leslie William Green in Maida Vale. In 1903 he was appointed ...

Read More

Stanley Arthur Heaps

Architect. He designed a number of stations on the London Underground system,...

Read More

Charles Holden

Architect. Born Bolton. c.1897 he moved to London and worked briefly for C. R...

Read More

Bakerloo Line

London Underground line running from Elephant and Castle to Harrow and Wealds...

Read More

Show all 7

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Piccadilly Circus Station

Created by i

Transport for London / London Transport

This organisation has been a bit of a political football, often having its na...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Piccadilly Circus Station

Also at this site i

Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Centenary - Piccadilly Circus

Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Centenary - Piccadilly Circus

Bakerloo Line Centenary of the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway, 1906 - 2006

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Edgar Kail

Edgar Kail

SE22, Edgar Kail Way, Champion Hill Stadium

Our photograph of the Lorraine Wilson plaque was taken before the foliage started obscuring it.

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
George Green School - 1884

George Green School - 1884

E14, East India Dock Road, 155, National Skills Academy

Above this large, plain, plaque there is a small ornate stone with "G.S." on a shield surrounded with foliage, quite badly damaged. Whic...

2 subjects commemorated
Aneurin Bevan and Jennie Lee

Aneurin Bevan and Jennie Lee

SW1, Cliveden Place, 23

Plaque unveiled by Lord Kinnock.

2 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
Charity School - plaque

Charity School - plaque

EC1, Hatton Garden

2023: Lionel Wright  has drawn our attention to an error in this plaque: St Andrew's Holborn was not destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666....

4 subjects commemorated
Alliance Assurance Company

Alliance Assurance Company

NW3, Gainsborough Gardens, The Lodge

This plaque records the fact that the buildings on the estate of the Wells & Campden Charity have been insured with the Alliance Assu...

2 subjects commemorated