St James's Park is a London Underground station near St James's Park in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

, central London. It is served by the District and Circle lines and is between Victoria and Westminster stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. The station building is incorporated into

55 Broadway 55 Broadway is a Grade I listed building close to St James's Park in London. Upon completion, it was the tallest office block in the city. In 1931 the building earned architect Charles Holden the RIBA London Architecture Medal. In 2020, it was ...

, formerly the headquarters of Transport for London, and has entrances both on the junction of

and Petty France and on Palmer Street, opposite

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. The station is close to several government offices. The station is not wheelchair accessible.

History

The station was opened on 24 December 1868 by the

District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first par ...

(DR, now the District line) when the company opened the first section of its line between South Kensington and Westminster stations. The DR connected to the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

(MR, later the

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the line i ...

) at South Kensington and, although the two companies were rivals, each company operated its trains over the other's tracks in a joint service known as the ''" Inner Circle"''. On 1 February 1872, the DR opened a northbound branch from its station at Earl's Court to connect to the West London Extension Joint Railway (WLEJR, now the West London Line) which it connected to at Addison Road (now Kensington (Olympia)). From that date the ''" Outer Circle"'' service began running over the DR's tracks. The service was run by the North London Railway (NLR) from its terminus at Broad Street (now demolished) close to

Liverpool Street station Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

in the City of London via the

North London Line The North London line (NLL) is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of west, north-west, north, and east London, England between Richmond in the south-west and Stratford in the east, avoiding central London. Its route is a rou ...

to Willesden Junction, then the West London Line to Addison Road and the DR to Mansion House, the new eastern terminus of the DR. From 1 August 1872, the ''"

Middle Circle The Middle Circle was a Great Western Railway service in London that operated from 1872 to 1905. The route was from the District Railway station at Mansion House to Earl's Court, then via the West London Railway to Latimer Road on to the Hamme ...

"'' service also began operations through St James's Park running from Moorgate along the MR's tracks on the north side of the Inner Circle to Paddington then over the Hammersmith & City Railway (H&CR) track to Latimer Road then, via a now demolished link, to the West London Line to Addison Road and the DR to Mansion House. The service was operated jointly by the H&CR and the DR. On 30 June 1900, the Middle Circle service was withdrawn between Earl's Court and Mansion House. On 31 December 1908 the Outer Circle service was also withdrawn. St James's Park stn entrance Broadway

The station has been reconstructed twice. In the first decade of the 20th century the original DR station was reconstructed in conjunction with the building of Electric Railway House a headquarters building for the DR's owners the London Electric Railway. The station was then rebuilt again between 1927 and 1929 as part of the construction of

the company's new headquarters building designed by Charles Holden and featuring statues and carved stone panels including ones by Sir Jacob Epstein, Eric Gill, and

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

. The platforms feature the green, blue, black and white tiling scheme first used for the reconstruction and extension to Morden of the

City & South London Railway The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first successful deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. The railway was originally intended for cable-hauled trains, but owing ...

(now the Northern line) also designed by Holden and opened between 1924 and 1926. In 1949, the Metropolitan line operated Inner Circle route was given its own identity on the tube map as the Circle line. The separate Palmer Street entrance and booking hall were rebuilt as part of a further redevelopment in the 1960s. Together with 55 Broadway, the station is a Grade I listed building.

Name

Over time, the station name has been spelt and punctuated differently, illustrating changing practice in punctuation. Tube maps up to the early 1930s show the name as "St. James' Park". From Harry Beck's first map in 1933 until the early 1950s the name was shown as "St. James Park". From 1951, it was "St. James's Park". Current practice on tube maps is "St James's Park" without the full stop after the "St". Originally installed in the late 1920s when the first version of the name was in use, the station name displayed in the platform roundels exhibit modification to account for this change. One of the roundels on the eastbound platform still reads "St. James' Park", the rest have had new name plates affixed giving the spelling and punctuation as "St. James's Park".

Gallery

File:55 Broadway, London 01.JPG, Interior Image:St James's Park stn look clockwise.JPG, Platforms looking clockwise/westbound Image:St James's Park stn look anticlockwise.JPG, Platforms looking anticlockwise/eastbound Image:St James's Park stn roundel.JPG, Platform roundel Image:St James's Park stn entrance Palmer Street.JPG, Western entrance on Palmer Street

Connections

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...

routes 11, 24,

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211 Year 211 ( CCXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, in the Roman Empire it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Terentius and Bassus (or, less frequently, year 964 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomin ...

and 507 and night routes N2, N11, N44, N52 and N136 serve the station.

References

External links

London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
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{{District line navbox Circle line (London Underground) stations District line stations Tube stations in the City of Westminster Former Metropolitan District Railway stations London Underground stations located underground Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1868 Grade I listed railway stations 1868 establishments in England