Gloucester Road () is a London Underground station in Kensington, West London. Its entrance is located close to the junction of Gloucester Road and Cromwell Road. Close by are the Cromwell Hospital and Baden-Powell House.

The station is served by three lines: Circle, District and Piccadilly. On the District and Piccadilly lines, the station is between Earl's Court and South Kensington stations. On the Circle line, it is between South Kensington and High Street Kensington stations. It is in London fare zone 1.

The station is in two parts: sub-surface platforms, opened in 1868 by the Metropolitan Railway as part of the company's extension of the Inner Circle route from Paddington to South Kensington and to Westminster; and deep-level platforms opened in 1906 by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway. A variety of underground and main line services have operated over the sub-surface tracks. The deep-level platforms have remained largely unaltered with lift access. A disused sub-surface platform features periodic art installations as part of Transport for London's Art on the Underground scheme.

The station building is Grade II listed. In 1949, the Metropolitan line-operated Inner Circle route was given its own identity on the tube map as the Circle line. In 1907, "Brompton" was dropped from the station's name to bring it into accordance with the deep-level station.

In the 1970s, the eastbound Circle line platform was taken out of use and the track layout was rearranged to remove the westbound Circle line track and widen the island platform. The eastbound Circle and District lines both serve the north side of the island platform and the westbound Circle line which was redirected to serve the south side of the island platform. The disused platform is used for Art on the Underground installations, often placed into the brick recesses in the northern retaining wall. In the 1990s a deck was constructed above the District and Circle line platforms on which was constructed a shopping mall and apartment building.

Deep-level station

thumb|Piccadilly line station building

thumb|The dark green and cream tiled walls of the Piccadilly line's lower level passages and platforms have been restored.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the DR had been extended to Richmond, Ealing Broadway, Hounslow West and Wimbledon in the west and to New Cross Gate in the east. The southern section of the Inner Circle was suffering considerable congestion between South Kensington and Mansion House, between which stations the DR was running an average of 20 trains per hour with more in the peak periods.

To relieve the congestion, the DR planned an express deep-level tube line starting from a connection to its sub-surface tracks west of Gloucester Road and running to Mansion House. The tunnels were planned to run about beneath the existing sub-surface route with only one intermediate stop at Charing Cross (now Embankment). Parliamentary approval was obtained in 1897 but no work was done. In 1898, the DR took over the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway#Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway, 1896 (B&PCR) which had a route planned from South Kensington to Piccadilly Circus. The route was modified to join the DR deep-level route at South Kensington.

Following the purchase of the DR by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London in 1902, the planned DR and B&PCR lines were merged with a third proposed route from the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway#Great Northern and Strand Railway, 1898. The DR deep-level route was revised at its western end to continue to Earl's Court and surface to the east of Barons Court. The deep-level platforms were opened on 15 December 1906 by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR, now the Piccadilly line) which ran between Finsbury Park and Hammersmith. A new surface building for the lifts was designed by Leslie Green with the GNP&BR's distinctive ox-blood red glazed terracotta façade.

As part of the development over the sub-surface platforms, the station buildings were remodelled internally to share a single entrance and ticket office. Space in the Piccadilly line building that was formerly used for operational purposes or as the exit to the street is now used for retail purposes. During the 2000s, the deep-level parts of the station underwent refurbishment with areas of damaged wall tiles being replaced. The dark green and cream tiled walls of the Piccadilly line's lower level passages and platforms were restored, with damaged tiles being replaced by reproductions to match the original designs.

On 24 May 1957, Teresa Lubienska, a Polish Countess who had survived Auschwitz concentration camp, was stabbed five times on the eastbound Piccadilly line platform and died shortly afterwards. A cry of the word bandits was heard by a station worker and she was escorted to St Mary Abbots Hospitial, where she died soon after. Her murder remains unsolved to this day.

Artwork on disused platform

thumb|Murals celebrating the various works by [[Art on the Underground on the disused platform]]

In 2000, the disused eastbound platform was suggested as a location for temporary art installations, with artworks located in the brick recesses in the northern retaining wall. Platform for Art, and subsequently Art on the Underground have used the disused platform for temporary installations of sculptures, murals or photographs. Artworks have been by a variety of artists over the past 20 years, including David Shrigley, Chiho Aoshima and Heather Phillipson.

Services

Gloucester Road station is on the Circle, District and Piccadilly lines in London fare zone 1. On the District and Piccadilly lines, the station is between Earl's Court and South Kensington. On the Circle line, it is between South Kensington and High Street Kensington. Gloucester Road is the westernmost interchange between these three lines, although the tube map promotes the easier interchange at South Kensington.

Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but generally District line trains operate every 2–6 minutes throughout the day; supplemented by Circle line trains every 8–12 minutes. Piccadilly line trains operate every 2–6 minutes throughout the day, and operates a 24-hour Night Tube service on Fridays and Saturdays.

Connections

London Buses day and night routes serve the station.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • London Transport Museum Photographic Archive