Archive

Jubilee line

4. The west entrance to Canary Wharf

10 March 2012
Architecture, Jubilee line, Numbers 1-25, Zone 2
3 Comments

Every home should have oneIt looks like it was designed by Ken Adam for one of the more opulent Bond films of the 1970s – perhaps as part of Hugo Drax’s jungle lair in Moonraker, or as one of the furnishings inside Stromberg’s undersea base in The Spy Who Loved Me.

In fact this fantastically strident and gleaming phalanx of escalators was designed by Norman Foster, as part of the western entrance to his Docklands masterpiece that is Canary Wharf station:

What's it Wharf?Ken Livingstone pressed the button that first started these escalators whirring, back on 17 September 1999.

I’d argue that they hold their own against each and every one of the area’s many elevated landmarks, if not actually edging them by virtue of sliding in graceful solitude underground rather than jostling for attention in the sky.

Rising up out of the station towards the stunning glass canopy over the entrance, you’re greeted with a view that tells you exactly what kind of world into which you’ve arrived:

Every penny of itAs for the view that greets you when travelling in the opposite direction, as you descend into the immense catacombs of the station itself… that deserves a whole separate entry all to itself.

2. The steps at Wembley Park

1 March 2012
Architecture, Jubilee line, Metropolitan line, Numbers 1-25, Zone 4
2 Comments

And cue the orchestra...If anyone were to ever write a musical about the Underground, and were that musical then turned into a big budget film, this would be where the opening number would unquestionably have to take place.

If Wembley is England’s national stadium, then this is England’s national staircase:

Shuffle, hop, stepIt was finished in 2007. I’ve no memory of what was here before, having moved to London in 2006 and only first visited the station soon after the refurbishment was complete. I believe some sort of temporary staircase was thrown up in time for Euro 96, the kind of “temporary” that turns into “10-year residency”.

The Euro 96 connection was rekindled when David Seaman joined Ken Livingstone to officially open the reshaped station building. I love this quote from the former England goalkeeper:

“It’s great to see the Wembley Park Tube station in action today… Wembley Park will certainly be a fans’ favourite.”

There’s no doubt the steps help contribute to an exciting prelude of emotion for anyone heading to a sporting event at the stadium:

This way to national heartache

For those beating a retreat in the opposite direction, however, there’s another treat for the eye: a mammoth, brilliant-white, conical turret soaring high above the steps and into the sky:

Proving a pointIt’s almost enough to turn me into a sports fan.