| Summary : Hendon Central underground station opened on 19th November 1923 as an intermediate station on the Hampstead Railway's extension from Golders Green to Edgware Road. It was to Frank Pick, the then Joint Assistant Managing Director of the Underground Group, that the task of planning this extension fell, with the design of the station building falling under the care of in-house architect Stanley Heaps and his assistant Thomas Bilbow. The station design was in a Georgian style with a low pitched pyramidal roof and Portland stone colonnades of coupled Doric columns before the entrances. Detailing of the stonework was kept simple. The main building enclosing the ticket hall was steel-framed with a cladding of narrow red Dorking bricks, and red Italian tiles covered the upper roof with its projecting eaves. Heaps later commented that the building style was chosen with consideration for the suburban surroundings, and mindful of the fact that the public would become aware of this surface line without the use of 'buildings that blatantly advertised the railway' but which were 'sufficiently dignified to command respect, and sufficiently pleasing to promote affection'. Bronze lettering on the frieze showed the station name, and a decorative wrought iron balustrade with enamel bullseye 'UndergrounD' sign stood on top of the stone parapet. The ticket hall was essentially a concourse around which all facilities were grouped; this was based on American and Continental practice. From the outset tickets were issued from a wooden passimeter in the centre of the hall. The station had an island platform with shelter provided by deep wood and steel canopies. The character of the station was spoiled somewaht when a development of flats was built above the station. |