Plaque

Underground Heritage Information
Maida Vale Station
Listed as a building of national significance
Architect: Stanley Heaps

The Bakerloo line extension from Paddington to Queen's Park opened in February 1915, although Maida Vale was not fully completed until 6 June that year. Architecturally the station design closely follows the format of the tube stations designed by Leslie Green in 1906/7 and seen throughout London. It is a sad irony that although Green was born and lived in Maida Vale for much of his life, and designed so many underground stations, he never lived to see his local station built. He died of tuberculosis in 1908.
Maida Vale was one of the first stations to be built with escalators installed from the outset. This altered the design from previous stations as the escalator machinery was below ground so the station had no need of a mezzanine.
The red terracotta exterior (or Sang-de-boeuf faience facade) differs in detail from earlier Leslie Green stations as here the pilasters are carried the full height (with decorative lamps attached), use simplified mouldings and exclude the heavy keystone features to the arches. The original external iron lamp brackets still survive today.
The station once utilised both sets of stairs in the ticket hall, one for the entrance and the other for the exit. The entrance level retains the rare and original mosaic tiled roundels depicting a solid red circle, which was the design used until the roundel was redesigned in 1919. The station was sensitively restored in 2007/8 during which the whole of the original tiling scheme was carefully replicated.
The station surface building and the distinctive staircases mosaics feature in Alfred Hitchcock's 1927 film 'Downhill' , as well as the 1982 film 'Runners', written by Stephen Poliakoff. Both films feature shots down the escalators, those in the earlier production being the original wooden escalators.

The station was Grade II listed on 26 March 1987.