St James’s Park Station (55 Broadway) Illustrated Card
£3.50
Illustrated card of St James’s Park Station (55 Broadway) created exclusively by Charlotte Berridge.
Architect: Charles Holden (opened 1929)
All my cards are printed on 250gsm FSC approved card, supplied with a recycled envelope. They are carefully hand packaged in a biodegradable cellophane bag. Each folded card measures approx 105mm wide x 148mm tall.
All cards are blank inside for your own message.
A little bit of history…
The Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) (forerunner of London Underground) headquarters was constructed over St James’s Park station between 1927 and 1929. The building officially opened on 1 June 1929 Now called 55 Broadway, this Grade I listed building was hailed as London’s first skyscraper, the tallest office block in London. Back in 2016, I went on a brilliant Hidden London tour of the building. It really captivated my interest & fuelled my growing love of Charles Holden architecture. Holden’s innovative stepped design allowed good lighting to all floors, with minimum effect on surrounding buildings. On each elevation, the building is decorated with a relief, collectively known as ‘the four winds’. Each relief was by an avant-garde sculptor of the day. Halfway along the north and east facades are a matched pair of sculptures, Day and Night by Jacob Epstein. The modernism and graphic nakedness of these sculptures created public outrage on their unveiling. Newspapers started a campaign to have the statues removed. Frank Pick, the managing director of the UERL took overall responsibility and offered his resignation over the scandal. In the end, Epstein agreed to remove 1.5 inches (38mm) from the penis of the smaller figure on Day and ultimately the furore died down. London Transport occupied the building from 1933 to 1984, followed by its successors London Regional Transport from 1984 to 2000, and Transport for London (TFL) from 2000 to 2020. When TFL vacated the building it was announced that it would be converted to a luxury hotel. The ground floor currently contains a shopping arcade and has many beautiful Art Deco details.
