Park Royal tube station

Park Royal is a station on the Piccadilly Line of the London Underground. It is between North Ealing and Alperton and is in Travelcard Zone 3. It is situated on the Western Avenue (A40) between residential Ealing and industrial Park Royal.

History

The Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now the District Line) opened the line through Park Royal on its new extension to South Harrow on 23 June 1903.cite book
last=Rose
first=Douglas
title=The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History
year=1999
publisher=Douglas Rose/Capital Transport
isbn=1-85414-219-4] A station, Park Royal & Twyford Abbey, was opened at that time a short distance to the north of the current station to serve the Royal Agricultural Society's recently opened Park Royal show grounds.

The current station was built for the extension of Piccadilly Line services over the District Line tracks to South Harrow. It opened on 6 July 1931 and replaced the earlier station which closed on the previous day.

First opened as a temporary timber structure, the current station building was designed by Welch & Lander in an Art Deco/Streamline Moderne style influenced by the Underground's principal architect Charles Holden. The station buildings are formed from a series of simple interconnecting geometric shapes. Plain red brick masses are accented with strong horizontal and vertical glazed elements. A large circular ticket hall with high level windows gives access to the platform stairs. The enclosures for these form cascades of glazed steps down to the platforms. The most prominent feature of the station building is the tall square tower adjacent to the ticket hall. This is adorned with the Underground roundel; and represents a visible locator for the station from some distance. The permanent structure was opened in 1936. Attached to the station building and across the small open space of Hanger Green are two curved three-storey retail and office buildings built in the same style as the station.

On 4 July 1932, the Piccadilly Line was extended to run west of its original terminus at Hammersmith sharing the route with the District Line to Ealing Common. From Ealing Common to South Harrow, the District Line was replaced by the Piccadilly Line.

From 1 March 1936 until 1947 the station name was modified to Park Royal (Hanger Hill). The suffix was then dropped and the station returned to the unmodified version. "Hanger Hill" referred to a residential estate adjacent to the station.

Future

Just to the north of the station, the Piccadilly Line crosses over the Central Line tracks heading west towards nearby Hanger Lane. As part of the on-going development of the First Central Business Park on the Guinness Brewery site, a new station will be constructed on the Central Line to the east of the crossing point. It is possible that this station will be called "First Central" or "Park Royal - First Central" although it will not be physically linked to Park Royal station. The timing of the construction of the new station is not known.

External links

* [http://photos.ltmcollection.org London Transport Museum Photographic Archive]
**ltmcollection|36/9887536.jpg|Temporary station, 1934
**ltmcollection|09/9862709.jpg|Ticket Hall in 1939
**ltmcollection|34/9885034.jpg|Station and attached shops, 1948
**ltmcollection|2v/i000012v.jpg|Park Royal Station from eastbound platform, 2000
**ltmcollection|7p/i000017p.jpg|External view of station, showing ticket hall and tower, 2001
* [http://www.firstcentral.co.uk/ First Central Business Park]

References

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