The station takes its name from Russell Square, a large
garden square in Bloomsbury, named after Francis Russell, the Duke of Bedford.
He owned much of the land in the area and was responsible for its development in
the early 19th century.
The station was designed by the architect Leslie Green and the station building
features his trademark ox-blood red tiled facade. The platforms can be reached
by a spiral staircase, which display a sign that helpfully informs users that it
has 175 steps, but actually, so I am informed, has 177.
Russell Square underground station is a listed building
and its entry, at English Heritage, reads:
"Reasons for Designation:
Russell Square Underground Station is designated at Grade II for the following
principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: a good example of a station designed by Leslie Green
to serve the GNP & BR, later the Piccadilly Line, retaining original tiled
lettering * Interior: while altered, features of interest survive at lower
levels including tiling and directional signage * Historic interest: the Yerkes
group of stations designed by Leslie Green illustrate a remarkable phase in the
development of the capital's transport system, with the pioneering use of a
strong and consistent corporate image; the characteristic ox-blood faience
façades are instantly recognisable and count among the most iconic of London
building types * Group value: with listed buildings in Bernard Street, including
the Hotel Russell (Grade II*)
History
Russell Square Station was originally part of the Great Northern Piccadilly &
Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), one of three tube lines opened 1906-7 by the
Underground Electric Railways Co of London Ltd (UERL). The City & South London
Railway - the world's first deep tube line - had opened in 1890 from the City to
Stockwell, and although a flurry of proposals for further routes ensued, further
progress was hampered by lack of capital until the Central London Railway (later
the Central Line) opened in 1900. From 1901-02 the American transport
entrepreneur, Charles Tyson Yerkes, acquired four dormant companies: the Charing
Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway; the Brompton & Piccadilly Circus Railway and
the Great Northern & Strand Railway, which were merged as the GNP&BR, and the
Baker Street & Waterloo Railway; the three were incorporated into the UERL in
1902. Yerkes died in 1905 before the tube lines were completed. The GNP&BR, or
'Piccadilly Railway' or 'Tube', opened on 15 December 1906, running from the
Great Northern & City Line terminus at Finsbury Park to the District Railway
station at Hammersmith, with 16 intermediate stations, increased to 19 in 1907,
when a spur to Strand (Aldwych) was also added. In 1910 the three combined UERL
tubes were formally merged as the London Electric Railway (LER) and the GNP&BR
became the Piccadilly Line.
Leslie Green (1875-1908) was appointed Architect to the UERL in 1903 and
designed 40 stations for the company in a distinctive Edwardian Baroque house
style (a small number of stations, such as Regent's Park, had no surface
building). The stations were two storeys high, of steel-frame construction clad
in brick and faced in ox-blood red faience produced by the Leeds Fireclay Co
Ltd, with flat roofs to enable commercial development above. The elevations
varied in their detailed treatment, but typically comprised a series of large
arcaded bays, frequently incorporating shop units, with Diocletian windows to
the upper storey, surmounted by a modillion cornice. Interiors followed a
standardised plan adapted to the particular site, comprising a ground-floor
ticket hall with lifts and a spiral stair down to corridors, and further stairs
down to the platforms, which were usually parallel. The upper storey housed lift
machinery. Ticket halls featured deep-green tiling with a stylised acanthus leaf
or pomegranate frieze, and ticket windows in aedicular surrounds. Stairs,
corridors and platforms were faced in glazed tiles with directional signage,
produced by various tile manufacturers, each station with its unique colour
scheme. Green suffered ill health and his contract with UERL terminated at the
end of 1907. He died the following year at the age of 33.
Details:
Materials: Steel frame clad in brick, faced in ox-blood red faience produced by
the Leeds Fireclay Co Ltd.
Exterior: 2 storeys high. Symmetrical elevation comprising 4 main pilastered
bays arranged 1-2-1 with alternating half-bays and terminating in a half-bays at
either end. The entrance was originally in the left-hand paired bay and the exit
(now blocked) in the westernmost bay; the ticket hall now occupies the entire
ground floor. The two western bays have original gilded raised lettering
denoting the station name; the blue tile Underground sign is a modern
reproduction, as are the lanterns. The upper storey has timber Diocletian
windows in keyed semi-circular arches with egg-and-dart decoration and
cartouches between the springers of the paired bays, and modillion cornice. Each
half bay has a deeply-hooded oeil-de-boeuf.
Interior: Ticket hall remodelled in the 1990s and retains no visible original
features. A small area of original green tiling remains in the straight stair
down to the spiral stair. Original tiling in turquoise, black and cream survives
in the spiral stair and in lower passageways, including directional signage.
Platform tiling was replicated in 2009, apart from the soffit banding."
Source
English Heritage.