London Underground stations that have suffered the most unsympathetic changes?

[56 1/2]

Anyone like to vote for the Station that has suffered the most unsympathetic changes or add ons that have spoiled the original architecture.

Can be one thing or the whole station.

Pictures a bonus

 

[AlbertBeale]

Anyone like to vote for the Station that has suffered the most unsympathetic changes or add ons that have spoiled the original architecture.

Can be one thing or the whole station.

Pictures a bonus

British Museum! Elements of the station abandoned in the '20s(?) were still visible until the 1980s at least. Then swept away for a horrible office block. At least some abandoned stations are still visible on the street, old tiling and all.

 

[bramling]

Anyone like to vote for the Station that has suffered the most unsympathetic changes or add ons that have spoiled the original architecture.

Can be one thing or the whole station.

Pictures a bonus

Pretty much every station refurbished under the PPP!

 

[trebor79]

I've always thought that what they did with the Knightsbridge modernisation was little short of vandalism.
Mind you, so many of the deep tube stations have been covered in plastic fascia. Often panels are removed on the escalator shafts in particular, and you can see the original tiling with cable traysl supports and the frame for the plastic panelling pinched through it.
Horrible.

 

[W-on-Sea]

Can't find any pictures online (and the damage was caused by demolition, not additions), but I reckon Edgware is a shadow of its original self. As built in the 1920s, it had two wings, each with a colonnade, that gave it (according to the drawings I've seen) a much grander and more impressive appearance than merely the centre section that remains. One wing was demolished in the late 1930s, as part of preparations for the (later abandoned) Bushey Heath extension; the other one (which I do just about remember) remained until the late 1980s, when it was demolished to make way for the new bus station.

On a smaller scale,Rayners Lane had its flow ruined with the automated ticket system went in (also late 80s/early 90s), leading to the closure of the northern street entrance, effectively destroying its symmetry.

 

[bluegoblin7]

Euston Square must be somewhere near the top of the list. Originally like Baker Street and Great Portland Street it now... isn’t.

 

[bramling]

Euston Square must be somewhere near the top of the list. Originally like Baker Street and Great Portland Street it now... isn’t.

That’s a good shout. Nowadays it’s a horrid station to use. It was probably okay in the 80s when the place would have been a ghost town, but is hopelessly cramped and awkward for the passenger numbers it now handles.

I’d love to see Edgware put back to its original design, and likewise Colindale.

Another batch where the surface building compares unfavourably to the originals are Stockwell, Oval and Borough. It’s bordering on tragic to see how Stockwell looked upon opening complete with a walled garden. Again in a utopian world this is one I’d love to see put back.

 

[Dstock7080]

Hammersmith (D&P) from the 1930s concrete platforms, three entrances of different periods into two ticket halls.
Now all gone.

 

[Ladder23]

be interesting on this thread to see photos of comparison!

 

[Dstock7080]

be interesting on this thread to see photos of comparison!

platform views; side entrance opposite King Street, main entrance Broadway, rear entrance Talgarth Road.

© London Transport Museum

 

[Mojo]

FWIW, I think the current station looks a lot better!

 

[56 1/2]

Certainly agree about Rayners Lane, its disrespect to the original and makes half the passengers walk further, something I would grudge every single day, how they got away with it in a listed building is unfathomable.

Same line Uxbridge has suffered many "improvements" the worst of which was all the hanging down sound system, the same coverage is possible with other hardware. I hope that whoever was responsible is ashamed of themselves. The after picture C Julian Oxley I also think that the A stock looked right against the the simple angle of the Holden pillars all down the line, the "waist" on S stock and the fiddly red doors and blue skirt just jars. I also wish that the shops in the crescent outside the front had not diverted from the original unity and design. If TfL are the landlord they should pressurise the tenants.

Please keep submitting - there is always the hope that grown ups will read and not do the next abomination or maybe even put right something.

 

[Busaholic]

FWIW, I think the current station looks a lot better!

Are you Phyllis from the heart of Newcastle? Yes, one man's meat and all that.

 

[leytongabriel]

Leyton station entrance buildings had a pretty nasty post-war makeover.

 

[simple simon]

Old Street!

The street frontage replaced by an entrance in the middle of a roundabout