Euston Square () is a
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The Undergro ...
station at the corner of
Euston Road
Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to Kings Cross, London, King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston ...
and
Gower Street, just north of
University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
– its main (south) entrance faces the tower of
University College Hospital
University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lo ...
. The multi-interchange
Euston station is beyond
Euston Square Gardens, which is one street east. The station is between
Great Portland Street and
King's Cross St Pancras stations on the
Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...
,
Hammersmith & City and
Metropolitan lines in
Travelcard Zone 1.
History
The station was opened as Gower Street on 10 January 1863 by the
Metropolitan Railway
The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...
(MR), the world's first underground railway. The line runs east–west under Euston Road at this point. The station originally had entrances in single-storey pavilions with stone-effect
stucco render on each side of Euston Road with stairs to the platforms.
The MR was constructed using the
cut-and-cover
A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two Portal (architecture), portals common at each end, though ther ...
method with the tunnel and station platforms directly under the road. The walls to the rear of the platforms were originally lined in buttressed brickwork supporting a brick arch wide and high composed of between six and twelve layers of brickwork. Ventilation shafts lined with glazed white tiling were spaced along the platforms to let in light from openings in the front gardens of the houses at street level.
In 1864, Parliament authorised the
North Western and Charing Cross Railway to construct a line to connect the mainline stations at
Euston and
Charing Cross
Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...
. This would have connected to the MR to the west of Gower Street, but the company was unable to raise funds. A revised scheme under the name of the
London Central Railway (LCR) was approved in 1871. The proposals included an interchange at Gower Street with the LCR's platforms north of and parallel to the MR's. LCR branches would have connected from east of Gower Street to Euston and
St Pancras stations. As before, the LCR was unable to raise funding and the scheme was abandoned in 1874.
In 1890, the MR obtained parliamentary permission to construct a pedestrian subway under Euston Road from the station to the mainline station. This was never constructed.
In 1906, the original timber platforms were reconstructed in concrete as a fire precaution related to the
electrification of the MR. The station was given its present name on 1 November 1909.
Between 1929 and 1931, the station buildings were reconstructed to a design by the MR's architect
C. W. Clark. A bridge was constructed above the tracks so that a single ticket office could be provided in place of the separate ones for each platform. At the same time the station platforms were lengthened requiring the closure of Euston Road to enable the roadway and tunnels to be excavated as quickly as possible. The brick arch of the tunnel roof and the side walls were removed and replaced with a flat roof on steel beams supported by concrete walls to the rear of the new platforms.
During World War II, much of the southern side of Euston Road between Gower Street and Gordon Street was destroyed by bombing. When the site was reconstructed post-war the southern entrance was reconstructed again to incorporate it into the corner of the new building that occupied the site. The north entrance remained. In the 1960s, in conjunction with the construction of an underpass at the junction of Euston Road and
Tottenham Court Road, Euston Road was widened. At this time, the north entrance building was demolished and converted to a simple subway entrance.
In the 21st century, the buildings on the south side of Euston Road were again redeveloped and the station entrance was again reconstructed. Since late 2006, the south entrance is incorporated into the corner of the headquarters of the
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...
with the entrance in Gower Street. A linking pedestrian
subway connects under Euston Road from the north side. Since 2011, two lifts provide access between the main entrance and the westbound platform.
Future
In December 2005,
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...
announced plans
to create a subway link between the station and
Euston station as part of the re-development of Euston station. This will create a direct link for users of main line rail services which depart from Euston. These plans would also be pursued during a rebuilding for
High Speed 2
High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since 2019. The line's planned route is between Handsacre – in southern Staffordshire – and London, with a Spur line, branch to Birmingham. HS2 is to ...
.
Services
The station is served by the
Metropolitan,
Hammersmith & City and
Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...
lines, between to the east and
Great Portland Street to the west. All three lines share the same pair of tracks from
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder James Baker. The area was originally high class residential, but now is mainly occupied by commercial premises.
The street is ...
Junction to
Aldgate
Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London.
The gate gave its name to ''Aldgate High Street'', the first stretch of the A11 road, that takes that name as it passes through the ancient, extramural Portsoken ...
Junction making this section of track one of the most intensely used on the London Underground network.
Circle line
The typical service in trains per hour (tph) is:
* 6 clockwise via Liverpool Street and Tower Hill
* 6 tph anti-clockwise to Hammersmith via Paddington
Hammersmith & City line
The typical service in trains per hour (tph) is:
* 6 tph Eastbound to Barking
* 6 tph Westbound to Hammersmith via Paddington
Metropolitan line
The Metropolitan line is the only line to operate express services, though currently this is only during peak times (Westbound 06:30-09:30 / Eastbound 16:00-19:00). Fast services run non-stop between
Wembley Park
Wembley Park is a district of the London Borough of Brent, England. It is roughly centred on Bridge Road, a mile northeast of Wembley town centre and northwest from Charing Cross.
The name Wembley Park refers to the area that, at its broad ...
, and
Moor Park, while semi-fast services run non-stop between Wembley Park and Harrow-On-The-Hill.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:
* 12 tph Eastbound to Aldgate
* 2 tph Westbound to Amersham (all stations)
* 2 tph Westbound to Chesham (all stations)
* 8 tph Westbound to Uxbridge (all stations)
Off-peak services to/from Watford terminate at Baker Street
The typical peak time service in trains per hour (tph) is:
* 14 tph Eastbound to Aldgate
* 2 tph Westbound to Amersham (fast in the evening peak only)
* 2 tph Westbound to Chesham (fast in the evening peak only)
* 4 tph Westbound to Watford (semi-fast in the evening peak only)
* 6 tph Westbound to Uxbridge (all stations)
Connections
That station is served by
London Buses
London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...
day and night routes.
References
Bibliography
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External links
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*Historic photographs of the station
London Transport Museum Photographs Collection**
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{{Circle line navbox
Circle line (London Underground) stations
Hammersmith & City line stations
Metropolitan line stations
Tube stations in the London Borough of Camden
Former Metropolitan Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1863