. F . F

Frank Pick (1878- 1941)

Frank Pick: ‘It is certain that the future of London cannot be an accident like the past. If it is to hold together, to remain a workable, manageable

unit, it must now be planned, be designed, be organised ‘ 1926.

Frank PickStarted working for London UERL 1906, became Managing Director 1928, CEO &

Vice Chair of London Passenger Transport Board 1933- 1940

Had strong interest in design and its use in public life

Commissioned eye-catching commercial art, graphic design and modern

architecture. Branding including the roundel and the typeface still used today

Under his direction, the underground network and associated bus services

expanded considerably stimulating the growth of the London suburbs

His impact on the growth of London between the wars has led to him being

likened to Baron Haussmann and Robert Moses.

– Thomas Heatherwick

“Frank Pick’s vision was of a public transport system that did not just get you to where you needed to go but also tried to make a meaningful contribution to the

culture of the city.”

Charles Holden (1875

- 1960)

• In 1924, with plans for the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) extension, Pick commissioned Charles Holden to design the station buildings in a new style. They replaced designs by Underground’s own architect Stanley Heaps.

• Vision of efficient, technological modernity

• Designed more than 50 tube stations built over a 24 year period (1924-1948)

• Streamlined and simplified designs Welcoming, brightly lit with large, uncluttered ticket hallsQuick access to trains via escalatorsTickets issued from a number of ‘passimeters’ - glazed booths at the centre of the ticket hall

Modernism: “a new architectural idiom”

Influence of European architecture

• Pick & Holden made short tour of Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands - July/August 1930

• Pick greatly excited by the ‘Amsterdam school’ of Architecture.

• Willem Marinus Dudok in Hilversum

• In Denmark, Pick impressed with the way designers responsible for all elements of a building.

Ostereley

Kantoorgebouw de Telegraaf,Amsterdam, J.F. Staal & G.J. Langhout 1930

Hilversum Raadhuis, W.M.Dudok 1928

Arnos Grove Stockholm Public Library, 1928, Erik Gunnar Asplund

Krumme Lanke, 1929, Alfred Grenander Rotonde de la Villette, 1784

Brick boxes with concrete lids

Sudbury Town, July 1931, Charles Holden

Het Schip, 1919, Amsterdam, Michel de Klerk

Krasnoye Znamya, 1926-37, St. Petersburg, E. Mendelson

De Bijenkorf, 1926,The Hague, Piet Kramer

Sudbury Town Underground Station

• Concrete and brick booking hall

• Elegantly proportioned

• Cantilevered canopies

• Curved waiting room

• Large panels of glazing

• Spacious and well lit

• Two Art Deco uplighter in booking hall. Bauhaus style hoop & sphere lamps.

Sudbury Town signage

• Front and rear elevations had a neon name sign

• Signs in Delf Smith’s ‘petit serif’ version of Johnston.

• Station nameboards in same typeface unique & never repeated.

• Also used at select places in in the Piccadilly rebuild.

• First cylindrical ticket hall in Britain

• Flat concrete roof supported by 16 sided cylindrical column with a circular passimeter at base.

• The Observer described it as an ‘architectural gem of unusual purity.’

• Station furniture included double - sided wooden seats holding the roundel.

• Its shape inspired many other stations

Southgate• Designed after Arnos Grove 1933

• Revolutionary - a spectacular circular creation

• Took island setting of the ticket hall to logical conclusion - gracefully balanced & geometrically perfect

• Resembles a spaceship

• Lighting beacon said to have inspired the design for top half of the Daleks.

• One of finest examples of Art Deco/Streamline Moderne

Frank Pick’s Legacy• ‘almost impossible to exaggerate the high regard in which

(London Transport) was held during its all too brief heyday.’ Christian Wolmar (Transport historian)

• ‘the greatest patron of the arts’ Nikolaus Pevsner 1968

• Corporate identity & visual style, holistic design.

• Developed vision for the future of London in the 1930s - put an improved urban lifestyle for all at centre, in contrast to grandiose plans of European dictators.

• Modernist architecture - ‘the test of the goodness of a thing is its fitness for use. If it fails on the first test, no amount of ornamentation or finish will make it any better; it will only make it more expensive, more foolish.’

Find out more……• Frank Pick’s London: Art, Design and the

Modern City (2013) Oliver Green, V & A Publishing

• London Underground by Design (2013) Mark Ovenden, Penguin

• Man Who Built London Transport: Biography of Frank Pick (1979), Christian Barman, David & Charles

• http://design.designmuseum.org/design/frank-pick