Site Records

SiteName: Down Street Station

Down Street
London W1
OS Grid Ref: TQ28618003

Sub Brit site visit August 1995 & 19th October 2001

Further down and we came to another crossover passage similar to the one in which we'd entered the platform level; this one also bearing a stairway, which would have served as the station's entrance from the lift shaft. Some old signs could be read through the partially removed brown paint telling passengers which platform to go to if they wanted to go in the direction of Hammersmith or Finsbury Park

Before climbing up the stairs we went a little further down the platform area. We passed some signalling equipment (behind locked doors) which had been installed in the 1950s to enable the sidings area mentioned earlier to be controlled remotely and then entered through one of the old platform cross over passageways, into a small cubicle on the opposite platform, which had been built and decorated as an officer's bedroom during the War.

These small rooms had been built along the length of the west bound platform. Just above the entrance, a small triangular fragment of the station's original bull's eye name board could be seen. This would have taken the form of a red circle with a blue strip bearing the station's name "DOWN STREET (for Mayfair)".

Walking out into the narrow corridor between the small cubicles, to our left we could see the way that led to the small stub of a platform that was left there for emergency access during the War; in fact this would have been one of the main routes of access to the station, where a train could be hailed by activating a manual signal situated on the platform. The train would stop allowing people to board from the small platform. Access to this platform was now blocked.

This area was the only part of the whole complex at track level that actually looked like it belonged on the Underground. Sections of the walls still bore the original tile unique station tile pattern and in one place the start of the word 'Down Street' could be observed.

Back to the second stair access, we then walked up the stairs and along another corridor very similar to the one we had first walked down from the spiral staircase except this one had no lights! Turning the corner at the end we were confronted by the gaping doorways into the old lift shaft. There would have once been two lifts but now the shafts were empty. During the war, three baffles of reinforced concrete had been installed in the shaft at regular intervals and a small rickety staircase installed to allow access into the space between the baffles. A metal bridge had been built across the sump of the shaft and we proceed over this bridge. Beneath the bridge, the remains of an old fan could be seen lying on the floor, this was part of the original ventilation system for the complex. This was one of the first air conditioned places in Britain, where the air could be purified, warmed or cooled as needed. The complex operated on a positive pressure basis, the pressure inside the sealed area was always greater than the outside. That way, any poisonous gases wouldn't leak into the site.

Through a small door on the other side of the lift shafts and we were back out again at the foot of the emergency spiral staircase. All that remained for us to do was walk back up the spiral staircase.

Sources:

• Londons disused underground stations by J.E.Connor ISBN 0 947699 29 3
• After The Battle No 12 http://www.afterthebattle.com.
• For further phographs and information on Down Street see Hywel Williams Underground History web site.

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