History
The Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now the District Line) opened the line through Park Royal on its new extension to South Harrow on 23 June 1903. A station, Park Royal & Twyford Abbey, was opened at that time a short distance to the north of the current station to serve the Royal Agricultural Society's recently opened Park Royal show grounds.
The current station was built for the extension of Piccadilly Line services over the District Line tracks to South Harrow. It opened on 6 July 1931 and replaced the earlier station which closed on the previous day.
First opened as a temporary timber structure, the current station building was designed by Welch & Lander in an Art Deco/Streamline Moderne style influenced by the Underground's principal architect Charles Holden. The station buildings are formed from a series of simple interconnecting geometric shapes. Plain red brick masses are accented with strong horizontal and vertical glazed elements. A large circular ticket hall with high level windows gives access to the platform stairs. The enclosures for these form cascades of glazed steps down to the platforms. The most prominent feature of the station building is the tall square tower adjacent to the ticket hall. This is adorned with the Underground roundel; and represents a visible locator for the station from some distance. The permanent structure was opened in 1936. Attached to the station building and across the small open space of Hanger Green are two curved three-storey retail and office buildings built in the same style as the station.
On 4 July 1932, the Piccadilly Line was extended to run west of its original terminus at Hammersmith sharing the route with the District Line to Ealing Common. From Ealing Common to South Harrow, the District Line was replaced by the Piccadilly Line.
From 1 March 1936 until 1947 the station name was modified to Park Royal (Hanger Hill). The suffix was then dropped and the station returned to the unmodified version. Hanger Hill referred to a residential estate adjacent to the station.
Read more about this topic: Park Royal Tube Station
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