Earls Court Station

TQ 2578 NE EARLS COURT ROAD SW5

249/45/1 Earls Court Station

07.11.84 II

Underground station. Facade to Earl's Court Road 1906, by Harry W Ford. Train shed 1878 by John Wolfe Barry. Extended to Warwick Road in 1937. Main facade of buff glazed faience with green trimmings. Two storeys. Five bays wide. Shop to ground floor on left of station retains original shop windows with curved plate glass. Thermal windows above with timber glazing bars. Ionic columns between on projecting volute brackets. Segmental pediment to blocking course of centre bay. Balustrade over. Faience fascia inscribed District Railway: Earl's Court Station. G N Piccadilly and Brompton Railway'. Entrance through three bays of buff faience, with white terracotta keystones over original windows which have timber frames and beading. Glazed roof to ticket area between steel trusses. Train shed with elaborate pitched roof and arched iron trusses running at right angles. Each district line platform has a timberEarl's Court' sign incorporating underground map. Six classic timber seats with roundel backrest, with `Earl's Court' name. Circular booking hall to Warwick Road, whose 1970s addition on top has no merit. The 1930s entrance is of brown brick, wired glass in metal glazing bars and incorporating the Underground logo; concrete roof tiling. Faience band to inside of drum. In addition there is a separate escalator shaft leading into the Earl's Court Exhibition Centre, which is one of the best surviving escalator halls on the underground system, with bronze uplighters. The tiling to the Piccadilly line platforms has been renewed sympathetically to the original design.

Earl's Court is one of the most interesting of the complex, multi-period stations, with features of architectural interest from three principal eras of underground development.

Sources Laurence Menear, London's Underground Stations David Lawrence, Underground London

Listing NGR: TQ2550678539