Stockwell Tube Station - History

History

Stockwell station was ceremonially opened on 4 November 1890 by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), as the most southerly station on the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) - London's first deep level tube railway. Passenger services began just over one month later on 18 December 1890.

The station was built with a single island platform with tracks on either side, an arrangement rarely used on the Underground network, but which exists today at Clapham North and Clapham Common. Stockwell's original platform was further north than the modern ones, and trains pass them today. The other terminal of the C&SLR line was the King William Street tube station, which was open for 10 years (1890–1900) and is currently inaccessible following the rebuilding of Regis House above it and other alterations that were made during the extension of the Jubilee Line.

In 1900, Stockwell ceased to be a terminus, after the opening of an extension to Clapham Common. A flight of stairs at the south end of the platform was also added to take passengers to a subway that passed over the new northbound tunnel and joined the lift shaft at a higher level.

The original building at Stockwell was similar to – but larger than – the existing surface building at Kennington with a domed roof to the original lift shaft. The two lifts each carried 50 people to and from the platforms until their replacement by escalators in the mid-1920s. Between 1923 and 1924, the station was modernised in advance of the 1926 extension from Clapham Common to Morden (Morden Extension). New surface buildings designed by T. P. Figgis were constructed on the original site, topped by a large decorative dome inside which were a pair of small guide wheels for the wires which controlled the hydraulic lifts. At the same time the platforms were rebuilt to a larger diameter – and with a single platform in each tunnel – south of the original station tunnel.

With the opening of the Victoria Line on 23 July 1971, parallel cross-platform interchanges were provided between the two lines in both directions and the 1920s surface buildings were replaced by a modern structure.