Archive

Numbers 26-50

41. The alcoves at Barbican

14 August 2012
Architecture, Circle line, Hammersmith and City line, Metropolitan line, Numbers 26-50, Zone 1
5 Comments

Still mortar offerThis was suggested by Mark Siddall (yes, I am open to any and all nominations).

My photos don’t quite represent the full breadth of eerie elegance created when the sun is in a certain part of the sky and you are standing in a certain part of the station. But it’s the alcoves that best capture and amplify the effect of having so much of the area both cut into the ground and open to the sky.

The shadows and illuminations can give the impression of descending into a baroque catacomb – or, if it’s an especially warm day, an enormous kiln.

Catacomb with a viewThe sensations are heightened – literally – by the tall buildings rising up on all sides. It’s quite an atypical design for a station on almost the oldest stretch of line on the entire Underground. In fact I can’t think of another station on the Circle line that is quite so exposed to the sky, at least not in quite as dramatic a fashion.

This impression of cavernous space is compounded still further by the now disused platforms that sit alongside the Underground tracks:

Dead endThameslink trains to Moorgate used to come this way. Now, nothing. The platform wall is still dutifully updated with the latest advertisements, should your gaze drift momentarily across the tracks. Some of the roundels could do with a bit of attention, though:

Dirty rotten roundelI know some people think the “true” Underground is never open to the elements. I disagree. Barbican exposes the heart of the Underground in the heart of the London in heart-tugging style.

(Oh, and thanks Mark!)

40. The exterior of Mornington Crescent

31 July 2012
Architecture, Northern line, Numbers 26-50, Zone 2
2 Comments

"We've had a letter from a Mrs Trellis..."In previous entries I’ve been a bit down on the efforts of the architect Leslie Green, and not without cause. When you’ve seen one of his two dozen or so creations, there’s little point seeing any more. But I’m prepared to make an exception for Mornington Crescent.

[Cue enormously intrusive cheer from an over-enthusiastic Radio 4 quiz show audience.]

"And teams, today I want you to remember: no transversing on the diagonal"The reason I’m making an exception is because of its location.

The station is not boxed in on all sides by other buildings, thereby rendering its uniform design and texture all the more joyless. It is not undermined by its own limited aspirations, as so many of Green’s buildings seem to be. And it is not cowed by its surroundings, in the process diminishing its personality still further.

Instead it sits grandly at the bottom of Camden High Street, straddling a junction that allows it not one but two grand facades, which the sun flatters and to which your eye is drawn no matter from what direction you approach.

Mornington Crescent station is great in spite of, not because of, its architecture. It also, unlike its architect’s work elsewhere on the Underground, and the panel game to which it has given its name, makes perfect sense.

Pipe down, Radio 4 quiz show fans!

39. The wall of plants at Edgware Road

29 July 2012
Bakerloo line, Numbers 26-50, Objects, Zone 1
3 Comments

The Underground goes greenThere’s the wrong sort of Green, about whom I’ve already written. But there’s also the right sort of green. Edgware Road on the Bakerloo line has them both.

Flora herdIt’s a veritable flora herd.

The wall of foliage is so dominant it completely upstages those all-too-ubiquitous ox-blood red terracotta tiles. Less impressively, it threatens to overwhelm that rather lovely TELEPHONE sign peeking out from under the main entrance.

I hope they remember to trim it enough in summer months to stop unsightly growth (stop giggling at the back). Otherwise it might end up more like Hedge-wear Road.

I’ll stop now.

Hedgeware Road