English: Holborn Underground Station, 16 February 2024. It was opened in December 1906 by the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), by then part of the Underground Electric Railways of London, and eventually becoming the Piccadilly Line of the London Passenger Transport Board.

The station was designed by Leslie Green, the UERL’s first Chief Architect from 1902 to 1907, when he became ill with TB, tragically dying in 1908 aged only 33. He was an early user of the American steel framed structure so that his two storey station buildings would be able to have offices or flats built on top at the same time or at a later date. In the case of Holborn, the offices above are contemporary. The suffix ‘Kingsway’ was dropped in 1960.

Green generally favoured a British Arts & Crafts style and wanted to adopt a corporate style for the UERL. However, Holborn is an exception and does not feature his ox-blood glazed faience tiled exterior because the planning rules of London County Council required stone-faced buildings on Kingsway to keep in character with the area. Holborn’s facade features granite and Portland Stone.

The Central London Railway (also part of the UERL) ran beneath Holborn station but its own station, British Museum, was some way away and no connection was made between the two stations. However, in the early 1930’s the station was modernised by Charles Holden and new Central Railway platforms built at Holborn which replaced British Museum in September 1930. In addition, Holden restyled the façade and replaced the granite elements with Portland Stone. It was renamed Holborn (Kingsway) although the suffix fell out of use by the 1980’s.

Pictured is a floor tile pattern in the platform on the westbound Central Line Platform. Note the upper level box trunking into which all cables were tucked inside and which also acted as a freize displaying the station name; in addition, the trunking was coloured the same as the Underground Line serving the platform i.e. red for the Central Line in this case. Of further interest are the wall depictions of exhibits at the British Museum, which Holborn station served (although the nearest panel displays an advert for the Science Museum!). Also of note is the use of New Johnston lettering.

These ideas were part of an extensive 1980's plan for station and platform refits which unfortunately was abandoned afer only a few stations were refitted due to a shortage of funds.