Station Pylons To North And South Of Southgate Station

Pair of pylons, one to north and one to south of Southgate Station, forming part of the main oval-shaped station island. Erected in 1933 to designs by Stanley A. Heaps for the London Passenger Transport Board, based on a design by Charles Holden of Adams, Holden and Pearson.

Each pylon comprises a reinforced concrete tapering shaft incorporating a sign reading "UNDERGROUND", with the central nine letters set within dashed tracks. At the summit is a steel halo supporting five pendant lights. Below this is an upswept concrete canopy pierced by a concrete pier, with an encircling timber seat near the base. The northern panel has polished granite panels above the seat. Each pylon also includes lamp standards and a station sign.

Southgate Underground Station was approved in 1930 and opened in March 1933 on the northern extension of the Piccadilly Line. This seven-mile extension beyond the original terminus of Finsbury Park was designed to serve enlarging suburban areas in north Middlesex and required a parliamentary act. The first section of the line, from Finsbury Park to Arnos Grove, which included stations at Manor House, Turnpike Lane, Wood Green and Bounds Green, opened on 19 September 1932. Southgate and Enfield West, now Oakwood, followed in March 1933, and the terminus at Cockfosters opened on 31 July 1933.

The station group was commissioned by Frank Pick and designed by architect Charles Holden, who together created an architecturally distinguished group of buildings. Pick worked for London Underground railways from 1906 to 1940, throughout his career promoting high-quality, well-detailed design. Holden was an accomplished Arts and Crafts architect of the Edwardian period who uniquely transitioned to modernism following a 1930 study tour of continental railway stations and modern architecture. Together they promoted functionalist modernism for the new station designs, taking advantage of newly available materials and adopting the continental and American idea of a primary concourse as circulation space, with the ticket hall as the dominant element.

The pylons are functional and aesthetic components of the significant station interchange, with bold verticality intended to offset the low curving horizontality of the main station building. They are landmark features denoting the presence of the slightly set back station and form an integral design feature of the complex. They incorporate the distinctive London Underground logo and play an important role in the integration of modern corporate identity that the company pioneered. The southern pylon is believed to have been reconstructed at some point in the late twentieth century.