This week, Camden guide Lynette Denzey shares the second post in her series on Leslie Green, the architect behind 11 of Camden’s 17 Tube stations. Second stop: Warren Street.
CAMDEN’S GREEN STATIONS
Leslie William Green (Wikipedia)
In 1903 Leslie Green was appointed architect for the Underground Electric Railways Company (UER) and he was commissioned by UER to design 50 new stations – inside and out and they are an early example of a strong and consistent corporate image.
Warren Street Station
Now I know you will be thinking “where is the sang de boeuf”?
The original Green designed station had two facades – one facing Euston Road and the other facing Warren Street.
Well, Green’s station was totally rebuilt in the 1930s by architects Charles Holden and Stanley Heaps, both well-known names in the Underground world, and the station we can see today is very like the Piccadilly line extension stations designed by Holden in the 1930s.
Once again, this station had a name change. When built in 1907 it started out with another name, in this case Euston Road station. It was renamed Warren Street in 1908 to avoid confusion with Euston station. Now of course there are two Euston tube stations – Euston station, which is sited at the mainline station, and Euston Square, just a few hundred yards away, but with no connection to Euston station – which causes no end of confusion to visitors seen lugging their cases along the always busy Euston Road.
As shown above, at platform level at the end of the south bound platform, one of the original station names has been retained showing “Euston Road” which is a nice touch.
Although the exterior shows no sign of Green’s design there are however still glimpses inside Warren Street station of Green’s original designs.
Most of the original tiling on the platforms was replaced in 2000 during a refurbishment of the station but copies of the “Way Out” and “No Entry” tiled areas have been recreated which is another nice touch. Well done TfL.
The Victoria Line at Warren Street opened in December 1968. Stations on the Victoria Line have tiled decorations showing an illustration relating to that station’s name. Here, as seen in the photo below, it is a maze (signifying a warren) and it was designed by Alan Fletcher. Apparently, it is possible to navigate the maze in three minutes – provided no one is sitting on the bench under the maze and blocking the view.
Nearby at 28 Warren Street is The Smugglers Tavern. A pub has been standing on this site since 1798 and is reputed to be where the plot for the 1963 Great Train Robbery was hatched. A tenuous link between tube and rail!
But we always like to end our walks with some libation!
Discover more about Camden on one of our walks! Visit our website to see what’s coming up or get in touch with us and let us know where you’d like to explore.