Abandoned Station on London Underground

The Londonist reports that the long-abandoned Down Street Underground station may reopen, if it can be converted to some new public use. Built in 1907, it has been closed for some 80 years. Yet it's still down there (pun intended), dark and empty, a ghost station on the Piccadilly Line. 

From a passing train you may catch a glimpse of it between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner. But that won't be easy. The platforms were disguised during the Second World War, when the old station was an underground hideout for War Office workers. Read more about that here.

Down Street station, street level

Stairs down to platform

There are many such abandoned stations. It's a subject avidly followed by a well-developed subculture of enthusiasts. What accounts for such deep interest in this obscure subject? I believe it is the seductive attraction  of... hidden mysteries. They are right there beneath our feet, like abandoned mines or the underground stream central to the bizarre speculations of  The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, a 1982 treatise on a hypothetical link between Jesus, the Holy Grail, the France's royal Merovingian dynasty and painters of the 16th century.

But don't be distracted by that now-discredited theory. Abandoned Underground stations are real. The long-shuttered Down Street station could return to service in some new form. I hope it does. We need to make use of historical spaces before we throw up yet another dreary modern building.   

Further Reading:

• Connor, J.E., London's Disused Underground Stations, Capital Transport Publishing; 2nd edition (January 1, 2001), 128 pages, ISBN-10: 185414250X
• Connor, J.E., Abandoned Stations on London's Underground, Connor & Butler Ltd, 2000, ISBN 0947699309 
• London's Abandoned Tube Stations: http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/
• Urban Ghosts: http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2013/11/13-abandoned-stations-disused-platforms-london-underground/
• Disused Underground Stations (official Transport for London site): https://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/culture-and-heritage/londons-transport-a-history/london-underground/disused-underground-stations