Great Portland Street tube station

Great Portland Street
Station as seen from above looking north towards Regents Place
Great Portland Street Location of Great Portland Street in Central London
Location	Great Portland Street
Local authority	City of Westminster
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	1
London Underground annual entry and exit
2011	7.17 million[1]
2012	7.36 million[1]
2013	7.58 million[1]
2014	8.43 million[1]
Key dates
1863	Opened
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
London Transport portalCoordinates: 51°31′26″N 0°08′38″W / 51.5238°N 0.1438°W

Great Portland Street is a London Underground station near Regent's Park. It is between Baker Street and Euston Square on the Hammersmith & City, Circle and Metropolitan lines. Great Portland Street station is listed as a building of National Significance and lies in Travelcard Zone 1.^[2]

History

The station was part of the world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, which opened between "Bishop's Road" (now Paddington) on the Hammersmith & City line and "Farringdon Street" (close to the present-day Farringdon station). It was opened on 10 January 1863 as "Portland Road", renamed "Great Portland Street and Regents Park" in 1923 and changed to its present name on 1 March 1917.

The current structure was built in 1930 on a traffic island on the Marylebone Road at its intersection with Great Portland Street and Albany Street. Its construction is a steel framed cream terracotta clad exterior, with the perimeter providing shops and originally a car showroom with office space over the station. Great Portland Street was at a major sales location for the motor industry. It was designed by the Metropolitan Railway's architect C.W. Clark and was Grade II listed in January 1987.^[3]

The station lies at the northern end of Great Portland Street - a main road which marks the border between Marylebone and Fitzrovia.^[4][5] Local points of interest include Regent's Park, Marylebone's Holy Trinity Church, Fitzrovia's BT Tower and Regent's Place.

The station lies across the street from the main building of International Students House, a student residence and hostel and is also near the Harley Street medical district, famous for its doctors and surgeons.^[6]

Connections

London Buses routes 18, 27, 30, 88, 205, 453 and C2 and night routes N18 and N205 serve the station.

Gallery

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  Station as seen from above looking north

• 

  Original Metropolitan Steam Train passes through Great Portland Street Station

• 

  Platform roundel

• 

  View of station location circa 1790

• 

  Station tunnel running under Marylebone Road

• 

  Shown as the Metropolitan Railway's Portland Road Station in 1862

• 

  Thomas Crane's 1883 poster of Portland Road Station

• 

  Trial 1862 train journey passing Portland Road station.

References

1. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures" (XLS). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. June 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
2. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1213650)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
3. London Underground Station Heritage Board, accessed 10 January 2013
4. "About us". Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
5. "The Marylebone Association Constitution" (PDF). 14 May 1996. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
6. Orientation of the station above ground may be accessed via these videos of "Great Portland Street Station exterior and surroundings".

External links