St James's Park is a
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The Undergro ...
station near
St James's Park
St James's Park is a urban park in the City of Westminster, central London. A Royal Park, it is at the southernmost end of the St James's area, which was named after a once isolated medieval hospital dedicated to St James the Less, now the ...
in the
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...
, England. It is on the
Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...
and
District
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
lines between
Victoria and
Westminster
Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
stations, and is located in
Travelcard Zone 1.
The station building is incorporated into
55 Broadway, formerly the headquarters of Transport for London, and has entrances both on the junction of
55 Broadway and
Petty France and on
Palmer Street, opposite
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...
. The station is close to several government offices. The station is not wheelchair accessible.
St James’s Park is one of two stations serving
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...
, the other being
Green Park
The Green Park, one of the Royal Parks of London, is in the City of Westminster, Central London. Green Park is to the north of the gardens and semi-circular forecourt of Buckingham Palace, across Constitution Hill road. The park is in the m ...
.
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, England, from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the ...
(DR, now the District line) when the company opened the first section of its line between South Kensington and
Westminster
Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
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 London Borough of Hillingdon, Hillingdon. Printed in mage ...
) 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 major 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 i ...
in the
City of London
The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
via the
North London Line 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"'' 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.
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
55 Broadway the company's new headquarters building designed by
Charles Holden and featuring statues and carved stone panels including ones by Sir
Jacob Epstein
Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American and British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1910.
Early in his ...
,
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 art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...
.
The platforms feature the green, blue, black and white tiling scheme first used for the reconstruction and extension to
Morden
Morden is a district and town in South London, England, now within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton, Londo ...
of the
City & South London Railway (now the
Northern line
The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...
) 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
The Tube map (sometimes called the London Underground map) is a schematic transport map of the lines, stations and services of the London Underground, known colloquially as "the Tube", hence the map's name. The first schematic Tube map was des ...
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
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.
Name
Over time, the station name has been spelt and punctuated differently, illustrating changing practice in punctuation.
Tube map
The Tube map (sometimes called the London Underground map) is a schematic transport map of the lines, stations and services of the London Underground, known colloquially as "the Tube", hence the map's name. The first schematic Tube map was des ...
s 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, Station 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 s ...
routes
11,
24,
148 and night routes
N2,
N11,
N44,
N52 and
N136 serve the station.
References
External links
London Transport Museum Photographic Archive**
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Circle line (London Underground) stations
District line stations
Tube stations in the City of Westminster
Former Metropolitan District Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1868
Grade I listed railway stations
1868 establishments in England