From the 1920s to the 1960s, London Underground led the world in industrial design, branding, architectural coherence and, last but not least, threading an efficient urban mass transit system beneath an ancient, disjointed and geographically diverse city.
‘London Tube Stations 1924-1961’
Charles Holden, Arsenal (Highbury Hill) Station, opened October 1932
London Tube Stations 1924-1961 is a visual chronicle of these years, focusing on the remarkable output and legacy of architect Charles Henry Holden. From Arts and Crafts-influenced beginnings, through to experience of designing severe and reverential war memorials, Holden was a gifted architect. In 1923 he met Frank Pick, who had worked his way up from a publicity officer at the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) to managing director.
Charles Holden, Hounslow West Station, opened July 1931
Pick was a firm believer in the power of image and advertising. Under his watch, UERL became London Underground, together with its famous roundel symbol, with a bespoke typeface commissioned from Edward Johnston, and, in 1931, Harry Beck’s iconic tube map.
Charles Holden, Hounslow West Station. The heptagonal ticket hall and original bronze chandelier
Holden and Pick’s collaboration was a fertile meeting of minds. Extensions to the Northern Line and Piccadilly Line required new stations, often standalone structures that had to advertise their presence far and wide in the midst of shiny new suburbs, as well as provide interchange with buses. Holden’s designs synthesised the clean lines and expressive forms of the nascent Modern Movement with the English vernacular tradition. The two men even toured northern Europe in 1930 to explore the Bauhaus-era aesthetic for themselves.
John Easton Murray of Stanley Hall, Easton & Robertson, Loughton Station, 1940
True to the spirit of design evangelism, Pick described the process of station building as akin to the long-drawn-out construction of a cathedral, or ‘Medieval Modernism’. The stations have certainly endured, along with the designs inspired by Holden. This monograph, written by Joshua Abbott with new photography by Philip Butler, alongside archive images, chronicles a collaboration that still defines London’s contemporary streetscape.
London Tube Stations 1924-1961, Philip Butler and Joshua Abbott, FUEL publishers, £24.95, Fuel-Design.com
Also available from waterstones.com and amazon.co.uk
-
Gardens & Villas offers the unexpected through ‘deconstructed’ desert living in CaliforniaGardens & Villas, a home in Las Quintas, California, brings contemporary luxury to its desert setting through a collaboration between architects Andrew McClure and Christopher McLean
-
Daniel Obasi discusses Lagos’ Amah members’ club, where vocation and wonder can meetAmah, a new members’ club founded by photographer, art director and stylist Daniel Obasi, is a creative co-working space and meeting point for Lagos’ creative class
-
A closer look at Loewe’s delirious, erotically-charged collaboration with artist Richard Hawkins‘Modern life has become a collage,’ said Jonathan Anderson after his A/W 2024 menswear show, which featured Los Angeles-based artist Richard Hawkins’ collages across sweaters and bags
-
Lucienne Day’s lesser-known silk textiles are a splendour of geometry and colour at Margaret HowellMargaret Howell presents British designer Lucienne Day’s 'Silk Mosaics' in a solo exhibition, alongside the launch of the brand's 2025 calendar in homage to Day
-
The Home of Sustainable Things is a trove of circular design for domestic lifeThe Home of Sustainable Things (HOST), is a homeware shop in London, focused on circular design to encourage mindful living and more conscious consumption
-
‘At its best, it's all an act of love’: Apparatus’ Gabriel Hendifar on building a cult design brandFor our interview series with those lighting up London Design Festival 2024, Apparatus’ co-founder Gabriel Hendifar reflects on the New York brand's future, and its first year in London
-
‘If there wasn't a demand for design that fits the psyche of the day, we'd still be sitting on Victorian furniture,’ Sheridan Coakley, SCP founderAs part of our London Design Festival 2024 interview series, Sheridan Coakley speaks about four decades of the fair
-
‘If kids grew up going to London Design Festival they would learn so much’: architect Shawn AdamsIn the first of our interviews with key figures lighting up the London Design Festival 2024, Shawn Adams, founder of POoR Collective, discusses the power of such events to encourage social change
-
Discover London’s lesser-known design gems with ‘an opinionated guide’‘An opinionated guide to Design London’ by Sujata Burman and Wallpaper’s Rosa Bertoli is a carefully curated tour of intriguing design spots across the capital
-
22 bird houses come home to roost in ‘Dwellings’ at South London GalleryAs a new show opens this weekend in London, exploring the concept of the bird house, we interview one of its curators, Andu Masebo (not via Twitter)
-
Wallpaper's London Design Festival 2024 itinerary: don’t miss a thingWhat to see at London Design Festival 2024 (14 – 22 September), from Annie Frost Nicholson's interactive Juicy Booth to rare furniture designed by Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier
