London Tube Stations: 1924–1961

The history and unique modernist architecture of London Underground stations

Charles Holden's designs for the London Underground from the mid-1920s to the outbreak of World War II represent a high point of transport architecture and modernist design in Britain. His collaboration with Frank Pick, the chief executive of London Transport, brought about a marriage of form and function, civic service and commerce, which is still celebrated today.

This book catalogs and showcases the surviving stations from this innovative period and later examples influenced by it. Photographs taken especially for this publication by Philip Butler, annotated with a station-by-station overview by Joshua Abbott, will guide you through the network's modernist gems. London Tube Stations 1924–1961 presents each period of development, line by line, with contemporary photos of the surviving stations. All the key stations have a double-page spread, with a primary exterior photo with one or two supporting images. A broader introduction, illustrated with photos from the London Transport Museum, gives historical context, while a closing chapter lists the demolished examples with further period images. These stations, as famed architectural historian Nicholas Pevsner later noted, would “pave the way for the 20th-century style in England.”