Summary : Russell Square was opened on 15th December 1906 by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway as an intermediate station on its 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 Russel Square 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 station name was embossed in the tiles in Roman letters and picked out in gilt, displayed at mezzanine level. Russell Square was unique on the Piccadilly in having three lifts in a 30ft diameter shaft. 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. The platforms were decorated in a unique tiling scheme with a variety of green and cream tiles placed in gometric patterns so as to improve upon plain white walls and aid station recognition. |