Hyde Park Corner tube station
Encyclopedia
Hyde Park Corner is a London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

 station near Hyde Park Corner
Hyde Park Corner
Hyde Park Corner is a place in London, at the south-east corner of Hyde Park. It is a major intersection where Park Lane, Knightsbridge, Piccadilly, Grosvenor Place and Constitution Hill converge...

 in Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...

. It is in Travelcard Zone 1
Travelcard Zone 1
Fare zone 1 is the central zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services. For most tickets, travel through the zone is charged...

, between Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge tube station
Knightsbridge tube station is a London Underground station in Knightsbridge , The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is on the Piccadilly Line between South Kensington and Hyde Park Corner, and is in Travelcard Zone 1.-History:...

 and Green Park
Green Park tube station
Green Park tube station is a London Underground station located on the north side of Green Park, close to the intersection of Piccadilly and the pedestrian Queen's Walk...

 on the Piccadilly Line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...

.

History

The station was opened by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway , also known as the Piccadilly tube, was a railway company established in 1902 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The GNP&BR was formed through a merger of two older companies, the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus...

 on 15 December 1906. The original, Leslie Green
Leslie Green
Leslie William Green was an English architect known especially for his design of iconic stations constructed on the London Underground railway system in central London during the first decade of the 20th century....

-designed station building still remains to the south of the road junction, notable by its ox-blood coloured tiles; it was until June 2010 used as a pizza restaurant
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...

. The building was taken out of use in the early 1930s when the station was provided with escalators in place of lifts
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...

 although an emergency stairway provides a connection to the platforms. The lift shafts are now used to provide ventilation. This non-operational part of the station is said to be chillingly haunted by the sound of girls crying, so station staff are reluctant to visit this part of the station at night. In 1978, there was a report of a haunting in the station in the middle of the night where a member of staff was too scared to return to the station, and has not returned since.

When the station was rebuilt with escalators the adjacent little-used station at Down Street
Down Street tube station
Down Street, also known as Down Street , is a disused station of the London Underground's Piccadilly line which closed in 1932. During World War II it was used as an air-raid shelter, notably by Winston Churchill and his War Cabinet.-History:...

 to the east (towards Green Park) was taken out of use.

Station Information

It is one of the few stations which have no associated buildings above ground, the station being fully underground. The current entrance to the station is accessed from within the pedestrian underpass system around the Hyde Park Corner junction.

When the central section of the Piccadilly Line is closed (such as after the 7 July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....

), the station becomes the terminus of the western part due to the presence of a crossover tunnel to the east of the station.

Refurbishment

Work started in May 2009 to improve parts of the station, as part of Transport for London
Transport for London
Transport for London is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London in England. Its role is to implement the transport strategy and to manage transport services across London...

's Transforming the Tube investment programme. Whilst these works take place trains will not stop at the station between 22:00 and 06:00 the following morning, from Sunday to Thursday inclusive (apart from selected dates, mainly when concerts are being held in nearby Hyde Park).

By June 2009, evidence of the works was visible at the platform level, with contractors beginning to remove some of the old glazed tiles from the walls.

Transport links

London bus route 2, 9, 10, 14, 16, 19, 22, 36, 38, 52, 73, 74, 137, 148, 414, 436, C2, night route N9, N16, N19, N22, N38, N52, N73, N74 and N137.

Image gallery

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