| Summary : Redbridge was one of three new stations on the Eastern Avenue tube with plans for the station dating from late 1935. At first it was to be named West Ilford, and then 'Red House' after a nearby tavern on Redbridge Lane. Subsequently the station took the name Red Bridge - after the crossing over the River Roding just outside Wanstead - and the name later became one word. Waste ground was used for the station, and it was intended that the structure be set in a large forecourt bounded by a parade of shops to be continued into Redbridge Lane and Eastern Avenue. Work had not been started on the station buildings at the outbreak of war and facilities were erected over and around the platform stairwell to serve the tunnel factory for the manufacture of aircraft components. After the war steel shortages delayed construction of the permanent buildings. Work began in late 1946 and was completed towards the end of 1948, essentially to the pre-war Charles Holden design, but without the parade of shops. The station comprises a squat vent tower rising over the stairwell adjoining a circular ticket hall. The steel-framed building had an exterior facing of Buckinghamshire bricks on a plinth of concrete blocks, with a low percentage of red bricks to give a darker overall colour. The island platform was just below the surface and excavated by cut-and-cover. Walls were faced with biscuit cream tiles and the frieze of Underground symbols edged in bright blue bands, the bands being repeated on the trackside walls. A limited number of Harold Stabler's decorative tiles were fixed in the stairwell. The ticket hall was lined in brindled Staffordshire bricks up to the ring beam and light-brown sand-lime bricks continued to the clerestory roof, with circular pavement lights set into the segmental recesses. The station was one of the last examples of Charles Holden's work for London Underground and, although uncomplete, opened to traffic on 14 December 1947. |