| Summary : Hyde Park Corner opened on 15th December 1906 as an intermediate station on the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway's line from Hammersmith to Finsbury Park. The need to house the lift machinery in an accessible position dictated the layout of the street-level building. The architect Leslie Green devised a standard layout for the station buildings on this section of tube which was then adapted to suit the shape of the Hyde Park site. The large ground floor housed the ticket office, staff accommodation and the lift upper landings, whilst the mezzanine floor, which housed the lift motors and winding and control gear, had large glazed arches. The structure was of of steel clothed in brick, faced on the street elevations with glazed ruby-red terracotta blocks known as faience. The ticket hall was originally tiled in green up to shoulder height, white above and the ticket office windows had moulded tile surrounds in the Art Nouveau style. In connection with the extension of the Piccadilly line in the 1930s, Hyde Park Corner was rebuilt to the designs of Charles Holden. The introduction of a new sub-surface ticket hall at the eastern end of Knightsbridge and two escalators flanking a fixed stair enabled the existing lift-served building to be closed, together with the adjacent station of Down Street. The new Hyde Park Corner opened on 23rd May 1932. The street level building is now used as a pizza restaurant. |