User:Cassianto/sandbox2

Green, c. 1906

Leslie William Green (6 February 1875 – 31 August 1908) was an English architect who specialised in the design of train stations for the London Underground during the first decade of the 20th century.

He was responsible for the designs of no fewer than 28 Underground stations on what are today the Piccadilly, Bakerloo and Northern lines.

His designs, all in the Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style), are distinctive for their use of oxblood glazed tiles to the facade, red faïence blocks, pillars and semi-circular first-floor windows, and patterned, tiled interiors. The flat roof design purposely enabled development to take place above and over the building. Inside, the platforms featured geometric patterns with the station names written in large, pre-Johnston typeface.

Born in London, Green studied in London and Paris before moving to his father's practice in the mid-1890s.

His total designs total around 50 buildings,

was originally commissioned He was responsible for the designs of no fewer than 28 Underground stations on what are today the Piccadilly, Bakerloo and Northern Lines, placing him very much in the pantheon with Holden when it comes to station design.

He was made a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1907.

Green died of tuberculosis aged 33 in 1908. The historian and writer, Mike Paterson, who authored Green's entry on the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, considered Green's early death to be a factor in his relative obscurity when compared to Charles Holden, another prolific, albeit much later, designer for the London Underground.

Historic England have listed 10 of Green's stations on the National Heritage List for England.

One of the reasons for Green’s relative obscurity is perhaps the fact that he died of tuberculosis in 1908 at the tragically young age of 33, having been made a fellow of RIBA the previous year in the wake of his greatest achievement. He was responsible for the designs of no fewer than 28 Underground stations on what are today the Piccadilly, Bakerloo and Northern Lines, placing him very much in the pantheon with Holden when it comes to station design.

Early life

Green was born in 1875 at 99 Portsdown Road, Maida Vale. He was the eldest of four children, born to the architect Arthur William Green (1850–1904), who later became the surveyor to the Crown Estate, and his wife, Emily Ann (1847–1899). The family lived in relative affluence which enabled Arthur to send his eldest son into private education; in 1889, aged 13, Green enrolled at Dover College, where he studied for two years. At the end of 1891 he passed the preliminary examination for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and put his educational achievements into practice by joining his father's architectural office, simultaneously studying at the South Kensington School of Art. In 1894 he travelled to Paris for a further year's study before returning to London in late 1895 to become an assistant to his father in his father's practice. Green qualified for a RIBA studentship in 1897 and passed his associate examination the following year; he was elected a RIBA member in 1899.

By 1900 Green had already started to establish himself as an architect in his own right. That year he set up his office at 19 Haymarket; three years later had moved to an office in Adam Street, Strand, from where he practiced until his death.

Early life

Green was born in 1875 at 99 Portsdown Road, Maida Vale. He was the eldest of four children, born to the architect Arthur William Green (1850–1904), who later became the surveyor to the Crown Estate, and his wife, Emily Ann (1847–1899). The family lived in relative affluence which enabled Arthur to send his eldest son into private education; in 1889, aged 13, Green enrolled at Dover College, where he studied for two years. He formed an interest in architecture as a child and by the end of 1891 had passed the preliminary examination for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He put his educational achievements into practice when he joined his father's architectural office in Suffolk Street, Pall Mall. He simultaneously studied at the South Kensington School of Art, and in 1894, travelled to Paris for a further year's study before returning to London in late 1895 to become an assistant to his father. Green qualified for a RIBA studentship in 1897 and passed his associate examination the following year; he was elected a RIBA member in 1899. By 1900 Green had already started to establish himself as an architect in his own right. That year he set up his office at 19 Haymarket, before moving to a premises in Adam Street, Strand, three years later, where he practiced until his death. and was appointed the in-house architect for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) in 1903.

Green complained of failing health in 1905, made worse by the stressful undertaking of the UERL project,

In 1907 he could no longer continue. He died in 1908 at the age of 33 in Mundesley, Norfolk.

=

Green was born in Maida Vale, London in 1875, the second of four children of architect and Crown Surveyor Arthur Green and his wife Emily. He spent periods studying at Dover College and South Kensington School of Art, and in Paris, between periods working as an assistant in his father's architectural practice.

Green married Mildred Ethel Wildy (1879–1960) in Clapham in April 1902. In 1904, they had a daughter, Vera (1904–1995).

Career

Green established his own practice as an architect in 1897, working initially from his father's offices, before moving to Haymarket in 1900 and then to Adelphi House on Adam Street, by the Strand, in 1903. He became an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1898, and a member in 1899. Early commissions included works to homes and shops in various parts of the capital city.

In 1903 he was appointed as architect for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) to design stations for three underground railway lines then under construction – the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR) and the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR), which, respectively, became parts of the present day Piccadilly line, Bakerloo line and Northern line. Green was commissioned to design 50 new stations, including their external appearance, and internal fittings and decoration.

Russell Square station

One of the variety of platform tiling patterns designed by Green

Green developed a unique Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style) style for the ground level station buildings, adapted to suit the individual station location. They were constructed as two-storey buildings with a structural steel frame – then a new form of construction recently imported from the United States – providing the large internal spaces needed for ticket halls and lift shafts (the first escalators were introduced in 1911). The exterior elevations were clad in non-loadbearing ox-blood red (sang de boeuf) glazed terracotta (faïence) blocks, provided by the Burmantofts Pottery. The ground floor was divided into wide bays by columns, allowing separate entrances and exits, and also providing space for retail outlets. The design also featured large semi-circular windows at first floor level (occasionally with circular oculi) and a heavy dentilated cornice above. A broad strip between the two floors announced the name of the station in capital letters. The station buildings were constructed with flat roofs with the deliberate aim of encouraging commercial office development above, another benefit of the load-bearing structural steel frame.

The interior was tiled in green and white, with decorative details. At platform level, the stations were provided with a standardised tiling design incorporating the station name, but with quickly identified individual colour schemes and geometric tile patterns formed in repeating panels along the platform length. Directional signs were also included in the tile designs. The tiled surfaces created a unifying theme, and proved easy to maintain.

The railways were to open in 1906 and 1907, and Green was notified in June 1907 that the contract would be terminated at the end of that year. He was elected a Fellow of the RIBA in 1907, including details of his work for the UERL as part of his submission.

Many of Green's station buildings survive, although internal modifications have seen most of his ticket hall designs altered to suit later developments. At platform levels a number of the original tiling schemes survive today or have, as at Lambeth North and Marylebone, been reproduced in recent years to the original pattern. A number of the surviving buildings are Grade II listed buildings: Aldwych, Belsize Park, Caledonian Road, Chalk Farm, Covent Garden, Gloucester Road, Holloway Road, Oxford Circus, Mornington Crescent, Russell Square and South Kensington. His work was continued by his assistant, Stanley Heaps. The designs remain instantly recognisable: the screen appearance of the fictitious Walford East Underground station from the BBC soap opera EastEnders is inspired by Green's designs.

Death

Green contracted pulmonary tuberculosis and died on 31 August 1908 at a sanatorium in Mundesley-on-Sea, Norfolk.

Sources

• Leboff, David (2002). The Underground Stations of Leslie Green. London: Portrait. ISBN 978-0-7499-5135-1.
• Peake, Mervyn (2009). Mervyn Peake's Vast Alchemies: The Illustrated Biography. London: Peter Owen Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7206-1341-4.

External links

Media related to Leslie Green at Wikimedia Commons
"Walford East Station". Underground History. 27 April 2005. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
Images from the Photographic Archive of the London Transport Museum

Bakerloo line

• Edgware Road, 1907
• Great Central, 1907 – now Marylebone. The original building was destroyed in WWII.
• Baker Street, 1963 – demolished
• Regent's Park, 1945 – accessed via a subway and never had a surface building
• Oxford Circus, 1992
• Piccadilly Circus, Jermyn Street entrance, 1932
• Haymarket entrance, 1959 – rebuilt in the 1920s, demolished in the 1990s
• Waterloo, 1925 – rebuilt in the 1950s
• Lambeth North, 1929
• Elephant & Castle, 1925

Piccadilly line

• Gillespie Road, 1907 – now Arsenal, rebuilt in the 1930s
• Holloway Road, 1907
• Caledonian Road, 1907
• York Road, 1907
• King's Cross, 1907 – demolished
• Russell Square, 1934
• Holborn, Kingsway entrance, 1930, High Holborn entrance, 1907
• Covent Garden, 1925
• Leicester Square, 1907
• Dover Street, 1911 – renamed Green Park and rebuilt in the 1930s
• Down Street, 1907
• Hyde Park Corner, 1908
• Knightsbridge, 1925
• Brompton Road, 1925
• South Kensington, 1910
• Gloucester Road, 1925

Northern line

• Hampstead, 1925
• Belsize Park, 1925
• Chalk Farm, 1925
• Highgate, 1925 – renamed Archway in 1939, rebuilt in the 1960s
• Tufnell Park, 1921
• Kentish Town, 1925
• South Kentish Town, 1907
• Camden Town, 1925
• Mornington Crescent, 1907
• Euston, 1915
• Warren Street, 1907 – rebuilt in the 1930s
• Goodge Street, 1925

Further reading

• Leboff, David (2002). The Underground Stations of Leslie Green. Harrow Weald, Middlesex: Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-255-0.
• Rose, Douglas (2007). Tiles of the Unexpected, Underground. Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1854143105.
• "London Underground's Edwardian Tile Patterns". Doug Rose. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
• Bull, John (1 January 2010). "The Man Who Painted London Red". London Reconnections. Retrieved 31 August 2014.