| Summary : Embankment station is one of several on the Underground to have gone through intermittent name changes in its long history. The original District Line station opened in 1870 as Charing Cross, and was constructed over typical cut-and-cover tunnels built into the new Victoria Embankment. The Bakerloo station of 1906 was called Embankment, and altered to Charing Cross (Embankment) when the Hampstead line terminus platform and reversing loop were added in 1914. The following year the combined stations became Charing Cross. The plan to extend the Hampstead line southwards in the 1920s, in order to link up with the old City and South London at Kennington to form the Northern Line, led to the removal of the loop. This was replaced by a new platform for southbound traffic below Villiers Street, the old platform being retained for northbound traffic. This was completed in 1926, when a major reconstruction programme for the station was begun. Congestion in the old layout led to a new, larger booking hall being built next to the arcade linking Villiers Street and the Embankment entrances. A concourse was built below the District platforms to make a convenient interchange between the three lines, and new staircase and escalators were constructed. Interior decor was of white, rectangular tiling, with green and black. This unified the new interior elements, the old Bakerloo/Hampstead platforms remaining as built. Further minor improvements were made to the station for the Festival of Britain in 1951. The station was renamed Charing Cross Embankment in 1974, and again as Embankment in 1976 in preparation for the opening of the Jubilee extension to Charing Cross station in the Strand. |