The Jubilee line station gets heritage protection.
You know you're getting old when buildings that you remember as new are placed on the heritage list. Such is the case with Southwark Tube station, which has been granted Grade-II-listed status by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, on the advice of Historic England.
The station, designed by MacCormac Jamieson Prichard, opened in 1999 as part of the extension to the Jubilee line. It was one of several entirely new stations, all built in a kind of 'epic temple of concrete' style.
Southwark is a 'grower'. While its littermates at Canary Wharf and Westminster bombard you with scale, Southwark unfolds subtly, with human-scale chambers and a playful way with colour and light. Its drum-like entrance hall harks back to the art-deco stations of Charles Holden, such as Southgate and Arnos Grove. It won several architectural awards, and always feels a pleasure to pass through.
Every beauty has its flaws, however. As Mike Ashworth, London Underground's former Design and Heritage Manager, told us:
"I still roll my eyes every time I use it as, for some reason, we chose to put a litter bin immediately below the awards plaques. Not just roll my eyes but feel the cold hand of Frank Pick, the legendary Underground boss in pre-war years, and whose comments on such detail I can only begin to imagine."
The listing provides protection against any major changes to the station itself. However, it's not yet clear how it will affect the planned over-site development of student housing, which was approved by Southwark Council earlier this year. Transport for London sound bullish, mind. According to Heritage Manager Edmund Bird
“We are delighted to see the station recognised as we look forward to progressing with plans that will see MacCormac Jamieson Pritchard’s vision for development above the station sensitively completed in the coming years.”
