The enduring appeal of Arnos Grove station

It’s not in Whitehall nor Westminster; not on the central London tourist trail. Instead it’s ten miles away, on the wrong side of the North Circular, an obscurity in the suburbs, rarely visited for its own sake. But Arnos Grove Tube station is one of the masterpieces of 20th century British architecture – and this week it celebrates its 90th anniversary.

Until September 1932, the northern branch of the Piccadilly line ended at Finsbury Park. Then five new stations were built: Manor House, Turnpike Lane, Wood Green, Bounds Green and, finally, Arnos Grove, all commissioned by Frank Pick and designed by Charles Holden. Suddenly it was only 20 minutes to Leicester Square.

Pick was the leader of the then new London Transport and had a vision of creating a coherent visual identity for the brand, encompassing everything from the typeface on their famous posters to the trains and their stations. Central to the latter was Holden, previously best known for the Oscar Wilde grave in Père Lachaise in Paris and dozens of cemeteries for the fallen of the Great War.