| Summary : Railway station, opened by the Great Western and Central Joint Committee as Northolt Junction on 1st May 1908. In the 1940s, when South Ruislip was to become an intermediate station on the Central line extension from North Acton to West Ruislip, a new station was built to the designs of Dr Frederick Curtis with Howard Cavanagh and RH Jones of the Architect's Office, British Railways (Western Region). The project started immediately after the Second World War, but could not be completed for some years because of the economic situation. Temporary passenger facilities were provided and the platform completed in the short term, and the work on the road level station building continued sporadically throughout the 1950s. By the time finace was available to erect permanent structures Curtis's designs had become outdated and they were restyled and simplified by John Kennett and Roy Turner. The reinforced concrete work at South Ruislip was started in the late 1940s but passengers used temporary facilities for some years. The circular drum tower had been designed glazed panels set between the frame stanchions. As built, translucent panels were fixed around the outside of the tower. Lower walls were of dark blue-grey concrete brick - cheaper than the traditional clay variety. Despite the extremely restricted budget the architects wished to integrate a piece of art into the South Ruislip building, so an abstract cast concrete frieze by Henry Haig was fixed to the ring beam inside the hall, giving visual interest and concealing light units. The artist was influenced by the rhythms and patterns of traffic flow through the ticket hall. The station opened to serve Central line trains on 21st November 1948. |