The fact Cockfosters station – an appraisal was popular prompted me to dig out this further look at one of the Piccadilly line’s iconic tube stations. Although we regularly visited Southgate in the 1960s, at no time was the Piccadilly line ever used this far. However the station certainly is remembered because this was where we changed buses for Winchmore Hill. From East London it was certainly a bit of a faff trying to get to this part of North London. Surprisingly heading into London itself wasn’t a problem because we had both the Liverpool Street-Shenfield and the Central lines and then the rest of the tube system was easily attained.
The 123 bus was of course the natural route we took, after having taken a local bus initially and then changed to the 123 in Cranbrook Road somewhere about where Wests department store was. The 123 did go to Winchmore Hill Green Dragon Lane but not until about 1977. It rather went to Manor House so from there we had to get another bus to I think first, Turnpike Lane (and of course that tube station I remember too in those early days), then another to Southgate and so on. Yes it was a fair bit of hassle but in them days, the only way really to do such things was by means of Red Rover tickets. Essentially the London Underground and BR (E) were out of bounds to those more lowly of us who wanted to make a substantial trip (apart from a straightforward run into town) like a day enjoying the sights of London or the Thames at Richmond or even Hampton Court (as we did sometimes) thus the ubiquitous Red Rover ticket was the option. And then it was a simple case of catching a 25 bus (sometimes it would be a RT with a rooftop number) all the way to Oxford Street or Victoria & continuing via other bus services. Otherwise it was the 123 bus etc for Southgate and Winchmore Hill – and at other times we merely enjoyed the delights of Valentines or Barking Parks.
Having known Southgate station for such a long time, even so its difficult to write about that because so much has been extolled about its unique design! And I’m sure there’s nothing new in terms of knowledge in this post even though its meant to be a fresh look at the station! So let’s cut to the chase and go where no-one has gone before 🙂
But first let it be known Southgate station has the first of the tranche of single word station names on this part of the Piccadilly Line – eg Southgate, Oakwood and Cockfosters. At the time of the opening of the extension, the eighteen preceding stations (since Knightsbridge) had at least a double word name – Holborn was once Holborn (Kingsway) and Arsenal was once Arsenal (Highbury Hill). And yes, Oakwood was Enfield West to begin with but that didn’t last long.
The ‘Tesla Coil’ – the spire that gives the station its futurist look.
Its been claimed the station’s tesla coil was the original inspiration for the Daleks’ stalk and eye. I think its just an assumption, its not borne by facts. Its a nice idea though 🙂 In the photographs of old that can be seen on this page the station’s spire clearly sports a shiny silver ball on top of the tesla coil. Like several others of these modernist Holden styled tube stations there’s a certain amount of neglect and it shows.
Southgate has a notable bus station interchange, a rarity by Charles Holden and a practice which was applied at Cockfosters too.
Essentially Southgate is a radical departure in terms of architecture sensibilities on the extension to Cockfosters. Its clearly an art deco building with aspirations of the future. The Guardian says “Hovering over the ground like an art-deco flying saucer, Southgate is the most futuristic of the many underground stations Charles Holden designed…” Indeed there may be a metaphor behind Southgate that I have not seen postulated anywhere else.
What do I mean by this? Let’s think about it for a second, the trains and platforms are in a tunnel, the station buildings are above ground (as per the tweet show above) and the extension itself was about the future. Hence the idea of Southgate station is perhaps of being one that flies above its trains and platforms. One reasonably can’t have a typical Holden design to convey that metaphor so this unique style was drawn up and thus we have a flying saucer at Southgate! Was Holden in fact thinking in this particular way when he designed the station? That’s one thing we’ll never know.
A symphony of architecture and @JohnstonJourney #typeface. The exquisite #charlesholden station at #southgate pic.twitter.com/6HCWWF9BzP
— Mark Ovenden (@markovenden) July 30, 2017
Above: A tweet that shows Southgate station looking like a…. The station opened on 13 March 1933 along with Oakwood (initially Enfield West.)
Another view of the station and its bus stands. August 2017. As the next picture shows a considerable amount of expense and effort was made in giving Charles Holden’s stations a super smoothed look.
Embed from Getty ImagesA rare picture of Southgate station under construction.
As mentioned in the Cockfosters – an appraisal post, initially this form of work was employed on the new style Piccadilly line stations, but it was soon found to be time consuming and expensive. Thus by the time Enfield West (Oakwood) had been reached it was used less. At Cockfosters station the concrete smoothing was used only very selectively. Fortunately the wooden grain look has given the terminus a very unique look especially in terms of a homage to the farmyard barns of Hertfordshire.
When Southgate station was built it was in a somewhat rural setting with a horse sited trough in front of the main entrance! I think the light pylons were added soon after opening and the horse trough removed about the same time. Image: Enfield Dispatch.
Colourised picture of Southgate station specially done for the 2024 version of this post! This is how the station would have been soon after opening however some detail has had to be missed off including the actual white blue squares around the base of the main station building. The horse trough and gas lamp posts have gone and are replaced by the light pylons and other modern street lighting. The image was sourced from a larger black & white one at Cogent Heritage.