About 25 years ago, Barons Court tube station in west London was painted the wrong colour, so it’s about to get repainted the correct colour, as part of a larger set of heritage restoration works at the station.
The station opened in 1905 for the District line, and a year later the Piccadilly line started calling there as well. Inside the ticket hall, it’s very green, and the platforms should also be painted in District line colours, but in 1996-97, the station was repainted in a terracotta and maroon paint scheme.
The 1997 announcement about the refurbishment says that these were the original colours, but TfL now says that isn’t correct, as shown by areas where the paint is peeling away from the metal. It’s possible that the 1990s works accidentally used the Metropolitan Railway’s maroon colour scheme instead of the Metropolitan District Railway’s green colours.
The repainted station will be swapping browns for greens.
The repainting is taking place as part of the wider station revamp of the heritage listed station, as the main reason for the works is that Transport for London (TfL) needs to replace the rotting 1930s era timber canopy with new timber.
Due to the current state of the canopy over the platforms, they plan to replace the whole lot in one big job. TfL says that it explored the use of heritage-appropriate plastics but opted to stick with wood this time, although they’re using a different wood (accoya), which is more durable and needs less care in the long term.
At the same time, the cast iron columns holding up the canopy will be strengthened by having new skirting bolted around the base of the columns and new dado rails added.
They will also be replacing the rainwater drains with slightly larger cast iron drains that will improve drainage at the station and enable it to cope with 1-in-5 year storms, and some of the broken glazing will be replaced. Some old plastic glazing on the stairs will also be replaced with glass.
And, of course, the station will be more green and less brown when all this is done.
The changes are subject to approval from Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s planning committee, and a decision is expected next month.
Very good news that the station will be refurbished. However the residents of Margravine Gardens who live close by the station would be very grateful if the noise caused by the works at night could be kept to a minimum. In the past the comings and goings in the night / early hours of other morning of the workmen who park their vans/ cars/ lorries in this street has been excessive.
We are glad the station will be refurbished but echo Fiona Ligonet when she asks for night works to be carefully carried out so our sleep is not disturbed especially by works coming and going. We live very close to the station. Please could a telephone number be provided for contact.