Web Encyclopedia News Blogs Forums

Leslie Green

Leslie William Green (1875—31 August 1908) was an English architect known for his design of iconic stations constructed on the London Underground railway system in central London during the first decade of the 20th century.

Green was born in Maida Vale, London in 1875 and was the son of Architect and Crown Surveyor Arthur Green and his wife EmilyExploring 20th Century London - Leslie Green. After studying in London and Paris he set up a practice as an Architect in 1897. Green married Mildred Ethel WildyExploring 20th Century London - Leslie GreenFreeBMD - Marriage records in 1902 and had a daughter Vera.

Works

Early commissions included works to homes and shops in various parts of the capital city and in 1899 he was accepted as a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)Exploring 20th Century London - Leslie Green.

In 1903 he was appointed as Architect for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London Ltd to design stations for three underground railway lines then under construction — the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (BS&WR) and the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR), which, respectively, became parts of the present day Piccadilly Line, Bakerloo Line and Northern Line.

The ground level station buildings were designed to a uniform Arts and Crafts style which was adapted to suit the individual station location. They were constructed as two-storey buildings with a structural steel frame — then a new form of construction recently imported from the United States. The steel frames provided the large internal spaces needed for ticket halls and lift shafts. They were clad in non-loadbearing ox-blood red glazed terracotta blocks, with the ground floor divided into wide bays by columns and featured large semi-circular windows at first floor level and a heavy dentilated cornice above.

The station buildings were constructed with flat roofs with the deliberate aim of encouraging commercial office development above, another benefit of the load bearing structural steel frame. Many of the surviving buildings are listed.

At platform level, the stations were provided with a standardised tiling design incorporating the station name, but with quickly identified individual colour schemes and geometric tile patterns formed in repeating panels along the platform length.

The railways were to open in 1906 and 1907 and the pressure of producing designs and supervising the works to so many stations in such a short period of time, placed a strain on Green's health. He was elected a Fellow of the RIBA in 1907, including details of his work for the UERL as part of his submission, but contracted tuberculosis and died on 31 August 1908Exploring 20th Century London - Leslie Green at the age of 33.

Legacy

Many of Green's station buildings survive, although internal modifications have seen most of his ticket hall designs altered to suit later developments. At platform levels a number of the original tiling schemes survive today or have, as at Lambeth North and Marylebone, been reproduced in recent years to the original pattern.

Examples of existing Leslie Green stations

For complete lists of central London stations of these lines see Bakerloo Line, Piccadilly Line and Northern Line.

Bakerloo Line

Stations between Edgware Road and Elephant & Castle inclusive constructed by BS&WR with Leslie Green station buildings:

Edgware Road — separate building from the District, Circle or Hammersmith & City Lines station.

Oxford Circus

Kennington Road — renamed Lambeth North in 1918.

Elephant & Castle — separate building from the demolished Northern Line station.

Piccadilly Line

Stations between Finsbury Park and Earl's Court inclusive constructed by GNP&BR with extant Leslie Green station buildings:

Holloway Road

Caledonian Road

York Road — station closed in 1932 but building remains.

Russell Square

Holborn (Kingsway) — suffix dropped in 1960s. The original station façades on Kingsway and High Holborn were uniquely of granite but were destroyed by 1930s replacements. The adjacent façades at ground and first floor of the building in which the station is situated were built to the same design using Portland stone.

Strand — renamed Aldwych in 1915. Station closed in 1994 but building remains and has been restored to close to original appearance.

Covent Garden

Leicester Square

Down Street — station closed in 1932 but building remains.

Hyde Park Corner — surface building no longer used as station access.

Brompton Road — station closed in 1934, one elevation remains.

South Kensington

Gloucester Road

Northern Line

Stations between Hampstead or Archway and Strand (now Charing Cross) inclusive constructed by CCE&HR with extant Leslie Green station buildings:

Tufnell Park

Kentish Town

South Kentish Town — station closed in 1924 but building remains.

Euston — surface building no longer used to access station.

Tottenham Court Road — not the current station of that name. Renamed Goodge Street in 1908.

Leicester Square

External links

(Images from the Photographic Archive of London Transport Museum)

Bakerloo Line

— now Marylebone, original building was unique in that the original ticket hall was in the basement, a design which Maida Vale would use. The original building was destroyed in WWII and the site is now a hotel with a subway running into Marylebone mainline station serving as entrance and exit.

— now demolished.

— this station is accessed via a subway and never had a surface building.

, — rebuilt in 1920s, demolished in 1990s.

— rebuilt in 1950s.

Piccadilly Line

— now Arsenal, rebuilt in 1930s.

- now demolished

- renamed Green Park and rebuilt in 1930s

Northern Line

— renamed Archway in 1939, rebuilt in 1960s.

— rebuilt in 1930s.

dougrose.co.uk - photograph of Leslie Green

Leslie Green

Works

Legacy

Examples of existing Leslie Green stations

Bakerloo Line

Piccadilly Line

Northern Line

External links

Bakerloo Line

Piccadilly Line

Northern Line

Further reading