Exploring the Piccadilly Line: Houslow West, Osterley & Boston Manor

Have you ever been on a photowalk? They're lots of fun... even when they don't involve all that much walking.

Last summer I went on a Art Deco themed photowalk organised by Kate of Made by Mrs M, exploring some of the great architecture on the Piccadilly Line. We visited Rayners Lane and Sudbury Hill, Sudbury Town and Park Royal, then took a detour to Chiswick Park for lunch. Now it's time to share the final part of our day...

In the afternoon we got the Tube out to Hounslow West, planning to work our way back to Central London afterwards via a couple more stations. It turns out that we probably should have saved Hounslow West for last because it turned out to be an absolute gem.

It didn't look too promising to start with but then we reached the ticket hall and wow! What a space.

The hall has seven sides, with a huge seven-sided light hanging from the middle of the ceiling. There's an original wooden ticket counter. And the colours are fantastic: that green! combined with those pink and orange tiles! Amazing. 

 

We all practically swooned, then rushed around taking lots of photos and saying "oooh" a lot - much to the amusement of the staff! It seems they don't get a lot of groups of women showing up with cameras and going into raptures over the fixtures and fittings.

After we'd all filled our cameras up with photos of Hounslow West, we headed back along the Piccadilly line to Osterley.

 

I adore this lamp-post just outside the station. More lamp-posts should look like this!

Then it was time for our final stop of the day: Boston Manor.

 

Here we all are reflected in the windows outside the station - yet another bit of curvy architecture!

Huge thanks to Kate for organising the day, it was so much fun. Kate organised another photowalk last year (this time exploring the Northern Line)... hopefully I'll eventually get around to blogging about that one too!

Not the Piccadilly Line: Chiswick Park Station

Time for my third blog post about the Art Deco Piccadilly Line photowalk I took part in last year, organised by Kate of Made by Mrs M. This is the "problem" with photowalks, you see, you take so many photos you end up having to write loads of blog posts to fit them all in!

After visiting Rayners Lane and Sudbury Hill, then Sudbury Town and Park Royal we took a break for lunch and headed to Chiswick Park (on the District Line). We only went there because it was nearby and we knew there were lots of nice places to eat quite near the station... but it turned out to be a great place for photos as well. Hurrah!

All over the platforms at Chiswick Park there are little details in this lovely green.

 

I love all the bold shapes of the concrete, and the little pops of colour against that plain background.

There are lots of traces of times gone by: old intercom systems, signs and phone booths.

The combination of the green with black and the safety yellow markings on the stairs makes for a very striking look! I'm not sure I would ever think to combine those colours but I think it kinda works?

There's more black in the entrance hall - I love the contrast of the black tiles with the bricks.

And the curves! What a joy these curved buildings are.

Altogether: an unexpected delight. Our lunch was pretty tasty, too! 

The final post in this series will be popping up in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for more Art Deco awesomeness. 

P.S. I have no idea which stations I took these final three photos at. I think I took them on our way to and from Chiswick Park but it's been so long that I can't remember which station we changed at or which pictures belong to which stations. I like them though, so here you go: three slightly random bonus photos for you! Don't say I never give you anything, haha.

 

 

(Maybe you travel on this part of the Tube yourself and recognise these places? Let me know!).

Exploring the Piccadilly Line: Sudbury Town & Park Royal

On a slightly grey day last summer, six of us went on a photowalk organised by Kate from Made by Mrs M (well, six of us including the lovely Kate herself!). We spent the day visiting Art Deco stations on the Piccadilly Line... and I took so many photos that I'm blogging about the day in bits.

After our first couple of stops, we left Sudbury Hill station...

... and walked to nearby Sudbury Town...

... it was nice to get out and stretch our legs, but it's a shame the weather wasn't nicer. Ah, the joys of an English summer.

Sudbury Town turned out to have a large entrance hall...

... with a high and brilliantly blue ceiling (and matching blue clock).

The kiosk in the entrance hall was blue too (of course) - I love that zingy green and blue combo!

As well as a quirky curved kiosk, Sudbury Town has a charming curved waiting room.

Lovely benches, too!

Next we hopped back on the Piccadilly Line, travelling two stops to Park Royal. I do love the design of these stations, with all those blocks of windows.

I wonder if this was for customers to post letters to staff, or a private mailbox for the staff to use?

Over the walkway and down the stairs...

 

... to Park Royal's curved entrance hall.

Like several of the stations we visited, Park Royal has a lovely old ticket kiosk still in place - though, sadly, no longer actually used to sell tickets.

 

 

The curved hall looks great from the outside, too.

There are flats built into the same block as the station, with more lovely brickwork and curves. I've got no idea what these flats are like to live in, but the building looks very lovingly designed from the outside.

 

 

A little further up the road we found more nice brickwork and tiles, and lots more curves... as well as the Boden shop, which had a very tempting-looking sale rail in the window!

 

 

By then it was definitely time to head for lunch, so we headed back to Park Royal in search of food. I'll blog about our afternoon's Art Deco finds sometime soon...