An American in London
This is Russell Square Underground Station, one of the stations on the central part of the Piccadilly line that were financed by American financier and entrepreneur Charles Yerkes. It was opened by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway on 15 December 1906 and is a good example of a station designed by Leslie Green to serve the GNP & BR, later the Piccadilly Line, retaining original tiled lettering. It’s also an early example of the use of a strong and consistent corporate image; the characteristic ox-blood faience façades are instantly recognisable and count among the most iconic of London building types.
Yerkes was probably the ultimate capitalist who was not averse to using bribery and blackmail to obtain his ends, but we can thank him for financing some nice stations. His involvement in London’s Underground started in 1900 when he took control of the GNP & BR and a couple of others, He employed ‘complex financial arrangements’ similar to those that he had used in Chicago to take over the city’s street railways to raise the funds necessary to construct the new lines and electrify the District railway.
But it is Leslie Green, English Architect [1875-1908] who we should really thank for designing these iconic stations, with their distinctive ox-blood red tiled façades including pillars and semi-circular first-floor windows, and patterned tiled interiors.
An American in London
This is Russell Square Underground Station, one of the stations on the central part of the Piccadilly line that were financed by American financier and entrepreneur Charles Yerkes. It was opened by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway on 15 December 1906 and is a good example of a station designed by Leslie Green to serve the GNP & BR, later the Piccadilly Line, retaining original tiled lettering. It’s also an early example of the use of a strong and consistent corporate image; the characteristic ox-blood faience façades are instantly recognisable and count among the most iconic of London building types.
Yerkes was probably the ultimate capitalist who was not averse to using bribery and blackmail to obtain his ends, but we can thank him for financing some nice stations. His involvement in London’s Underground started in 1900 when he took control of the GNP & BR and a couple of others, He employed ‘complex financial arrangements’ similar to those that he had used in Chicago to take over the city’s street railways to raise the funds necessary to construct the new lines and electrify the District railway.
But it is Leslie Green, English Architect [1875-1908] who we should really thank for designing these iconic stations, with their distinctive ox-blood red tiled façades including pillars and semi-circular first-floor windows, and patterned tiled interiors.