Jack Wakefield

Why has TfL vandalised the Eduardo Paolozzi murals at Tottenham Court Road?

Last weekend I used the Northern Line at Tottenham Court Road station for the first time since it reopened. Oxford Street is not my favourite place in London but perversely for a tube station that was cramped, overcrowded and cavernously deep, Tottenham Court Road used to lift my spirits. That was wholly due to the wonderful effects of its Paolozzi mosaics; grubby and glittering schematic designs that plastered the walls and ceilings of the entrance hall and platforms. They were probably the only piece of art on the Tube that I have ever thought worked well. As such I was horrified when I heard that the murals were under threat after the Crossrail development and sad to read the story in the Standard that those in the entrance halls had been removed due to incompatibility with the station’s redevelopment. To some extent this shock was alleviated by the claim by TfL that 95 per cent of the mosaics had been preserved.

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