| Summary : The original Leicester Square station was opened on 15th December 1906 by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway as an intermediate station of the line from Hammersmith to Finsbury Park. The station was designed by Leslie Green and constructed from faience, occupied a corner site serving the Theatreland of the West End. The station began to serve the Northern line on 22nd June 1907. The rebuilding of Leicester Square was first proposed in 1923, and high speed lifts were installed in 1926. Increasing traffic levels taxed the existing facilities, so an improvement programme was begun in May 1932 to enlarge the station with a concourse ticket hall beneath Charing Cross Road and Cranbourn Street. The 1906 building, the Crown Hotel and Hippodrome Theatre were underpinned whilst the steel frame of the ticket hall roof was assembled. New entrances were opened on the south east corner of Cranbourn Street, beneath the Hippodrome, and on the north corner of Little Newport Street. Much use was made of polished Creetown granite and untramarine blue tiling in the exterior finishings. All stairwells and the hall itself were faced in biscuit-cream faience slabs. Concourse walls were lined with showcases and kiosks. On early plans a circular booking office was shown in the middle of the hall, but two conventional passimeters were installed and the central space used for showcases. This space is now occupied by the station control room. A triple bank of escalators under Charing Cross Road descend 58ft to a circulating area above the Northern line platforms. A further three escalators under Cranbourn Street served the Piccadilly line. The new station was opened partially and temporarily for Cup Final traffic on 27th April 1935, and permanently on 4th May for the Silver Jubilee celebrations of King George V. The tiling on the Piccadilly line platfroms were given a facelift in the 1980s when the platform walls were given a border of film sprocket holes. |