Location, Location, Location
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Above is an extract map of the junction between Knightsbridge (the thoroughfare) which runs east-west across the top, Brompton Road running diagonally from top centre and Sloane Street (north south). RED dots are current Underground station entrances, BLACK dots are former access points.
There is one more, further along Brompton Road ...
... at the junction with Hans Crescent where the unmarked slab, bottom left, is Harrods. For the record, Harvey Nichols is in the top right hand corner of the above map extract.
fbb has visited Harrods and shopped in the Food Hall. He bought two pieces of "prawn toast" from the "deli" counter - which was all he could afford! He consumed the tasty morsels straight away.
Casting off all fear snd apprehension, fbb will now guide his readers through the fascinating history of Knightsbridge underground station - a narrative which should be very ordinary but which very much isn't.
We begin in the 18th century when the area was almost all country ...
... although fbb is not knowledgeable enough to accurately identify the particular bit of country!
But below we are in the early 19th century.
Note that there are plenty of small plots bordering the main roads where residences for the genteel middle classes would be available, maybe the upper middle classes.
Moving on ...
... posh shops and larger apartment blocks are arriving, until, at the start of the 20th century ...
... the wodge that is today's community is in place. It was to this area that the Piccadilly and Brompton Railway Company built its "tube" line, opening in 1906. It is now the Piccadilly Line.
In passing, note that today's Knightsbridge station is fully "accessible" (well nearly - white background wheelchair symbol), a situation which has prompted this series of blogs. But for the time being we need to realise that, in the above area, TWO former stations have closed..jpg)
They were at Down Street ...
... and Brompton Road, as mentioned in Monday's blog.
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The Piccadilly Line (to be!) opened with two entrances at Knightsbridge Station, neither of which was on Knightsbridge, the road.
The main entrance was on Brompton Road ...
... where we see an alleyway archway on the far right..jpg)
This leads to (or maybe was part of?) Hoopers Court. The main station building sat on the left hand side.
The alley is still there today, next to where the station entrance once was..jpg)
It is now well lit, clean and almost inviting.
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After a short bit of tunnel, the alley opens out and, on the left ...
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... is a redevelopment of part of the block as 1 Hoopers Court, posh pads and offices, presumably.
The style of that fascia may seem familiar because at the far end of Hoopers Court we would have found the back entrance to Knightsbridge station ...
... with Hoopers Court to the left. Until recently the former entrance retained Leslie Green's ox-blood glazed tiling.
So we have identified the two original entrances to Knightsbridge Station ....jpg)
... that remained current until 1934; by which time the private Piccadilly and Brompton Railway Company had become part of London Transport; and big changes were afoot.
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Continued in Friday's blog.
Next Harlington blog : Thurs 15 May
Quite the opposite, the Leslie Green tiles were covered up and painted over for many decades as it was a part of the adjacent Basil Street hotel. They were recently restored as part of the redevelopment works. Sounds like you may have looked at a mis-dated street view!
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