0:00:07 > 0:00:09London Transport.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12A crowded journey to work for millions of commuters,
0:00:12 > 0:00:16but the result of one of the most successful corporate rebrands ever.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19One which used the clean, functional lines of Art Deco
0:00:19 > 0:00:23to sell a single, unified image to the travelling public.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35This is St James's station, which lies at the heart
0:00:35 > 0:00:37of the London Underground network.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40Up here is a fantastic Deco building,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43from which the whole network was run.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00In 1929, this building was the nearest thing you'd have in Britain
0:01:00 > 0:01:03to the experience of an American skyscraper.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06The Underground came in beneath the building -
0:01:06 > 0:01:09you could come up through here and go straight to work
0:01:09 > 0:01:12in the centre of London Transport's offices.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16You've got shops out here, multiple exits from the building,
0:01:16 > 0:01:22wonderful Art Deco detailing, these very abstract classical columns,
0:01:22 > 0:01:24in this fantastic travertine marble...
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Big entrance hall, protected from the weather.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31Fantastic clock, a jazz sunburst with it.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34The whole thing says modernity, it says the future,
0:01:34 > 0:01:38it says not being outside in the rain. And it's the easiest way
0:01:38 > 0:01:42to go to work, you come out of the station straight into the office.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53Suddenly quiet, and you get the feeling of control in here.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58Particularly, these machines are here to show that this is
0:01:58 > 0:02:00the nerve centre of the whole transport operation.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04These tell you the intervals between trains, but that's not what they
0:02:04 > 0:02:07symbolically do. They give the illusion that this building
0:02:07 > 0:02:12is quietly, efficiently, solidly organising the transport of London.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Here's where you can see it. This is the language of control.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20The travertine walls... They're marble, but what's important
0:02:20 > 0:02:24about this marble is it has a sense of flow. They look like rivers
0:02:24 > 0:02:28that have been frozen in stone. Of course, this motion is what
0:02:28 > 0:02:30this building is all about.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37ARCHIVE COMMENTARY: 'London, a great capital.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40'More people than in any other city in the world,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43'forever on the move over its vast surface.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47'11 million journeys made every day by London Transport vehicles.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51'The far reaches of the city stretch out to each other, and all London
0:02:51 > 0:02:53'is linked together.'
0:02:55 > 0:02:57After the First World War, the many companies
0:02:57 > 0:03:01that ran London's public transport began to amalgamate.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06By the 1920s, the Underground Group controlled Britain's first
0:03:06 > 0:03:09truly modern transport system - combining not just vehicles
0:03:09 > 0:03:15and trains, but technology, engineering, design and branding.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20The hub of the system was its new Art Deco headquarters
0:03:20 > 0:03:24at 55 Broadway, in the heart of Westminster.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32This is a fantastic space. The lift lobby of this building.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36It's really American. It's like a compressed version
0:03:36 > 0:03:40of the Empire State Building - not least this thing that tells you
0:03:40 > 0:03:44where the lifts are. What floor. Although it only goes up to ten,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48it looks like a great tower block. It's suggestive of height,
0:03:48 > 0:03:53lifts lifting enormous things up great high buildings, but it isn't.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57And the four lifts here are the nerve centre
0:03:57 > 0:04:02of what makes this lobby modern. So it's very grand, a great statement,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06and when you come into this lobby, you've already been through a lot
0:04:06 > 0:04:09of the building, which is the entrance from the station but also,
0:04:09 > 0:04:13it's a kind of arcade of shops. This is the essence
0:04:13 > 0:04:17of this building's modernity, is that all the things,
0:04:17 > 0:04:21the shops, tube station, lobby, lifts, it all takes place indoors,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25not out there in the open. This is a whole block we're standing in,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29not some tiny little building off a street.
0:04:30 > 0:04:3455 Broadway was big, bold and very modern. Much of the pleasure
0:04:34 > 0:04:36was in the Deco detail.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45It's often the most neglected bits of these buildings that are best.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47This is just a quiet little staircase.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52Probably nobody ever comes down here, but it's a really lovely
0:04:52 > 0:04:57little Art Deco moment, because this travertine is used to give large,
0:04:57 > 0:05:03interesting, flat, neutral-ish spaces. These are highlighted,
0:05:03 > 0:05:06this is a real Art Deco thing. Use highlights
0:05:06 > 0:05:08to bring to life plainness.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12The top edge of this baluster is nice and shiny - the goldness
0:05:12 > 0:05:15you only get from bronze, which is a real lush gold,
0:05:15 > 0:05:21and then this sort of sunburst. Although it's a much-used motif,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25it always gives you the sense you've got to be going up.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29It's a positive thing. Even these balusters have this
0:05:29 > 0:05:33kind of growth-movement thing going on. And I've just noticed here,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37they have these, I guess, skylight windows.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41But even these have a kind of jazziness about them.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45I mean, it has been a rude term, jazz-modern,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48but sometimes it's the term that works, and here it does.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50Anyway, going up here.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03This is nice, the stone ends, and you get these tiles beginning.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07They must have made millions of these tiles, making the whole
0:06:07 > 0:06:10of the inside of the Underground light, fresh and airy,
0:06:10 > 0:06:14and of course, hygienic. More bronze.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Oh, now this is really fantastic,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21because these balusters, when you look up this stairwell,
0:06:21 > 0:06:25you see them in all their magnificent primitivism. Lovely.
0:06:28 > 0:06:29Oh, man!
0:06:30 > 0:06:33This - I didn't expect to find this here.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37This is the map before Harry Beck's more graphic map,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41based on electrical circuit diagrams - the modern map we all know.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46But this is the old Underground map. It gives you this great sense
0:06:46 > 0:06:49of the chaos of the system, and also -
0:06:49 > 0:06:53really important to the Underground - although the centre is here,
0:06:53 > 0:06:58it's really about getting people in from the far suburbs like Southgate
0:06:58 > 0:07:03into the centre. So really, this marks the expansion of London.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08Here's Old London, here's Underground London. Massive.
0:07:16 > 0:07:2155 Broadway was designed by architect Charles Holden.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24His design was influenced by American skyscrapers
0:07:24 > 0:07:29and the Paris Exposition of 1925 - the birthplace of Art Deco.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34Holden's intention was to create a modern, functional building
0:07:34 > 0:07:38that provided a bright and light working environment focused around
0:07:38 > 0:07:41the needs of the people who'd actually use it.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48This is the mail system.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52It comes from a time when mail was very small.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Just tiny little letters. You'd shove them in there,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58they'd drop down to the basement, then they'd sort them and deliver
0:07:58 > 0:08:02them to the offices. So it looks pretty automated but to me,
0:08:02 > 0:08:04it seems like a big hole you throw your mail down.
0:08:04 > 0:08:10It's really nice that here, it says Cutler-Mail-Chute-Company,
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Rochester, New York. I think, in this building generally,
0:08:14 > 0:08:18a lot of language says, "We're American, we're efficient."
0:08:18 > 0:08:21America was synonymous with the future.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26Right over here, central to the whole business of business,
0:08:26 > 0:08:32is a clock. Electric clock. I guess a lot of people didn't have watches,
0:08:32 > 0:08:36so every time you left the office and went anywhere else,
0:08:36 > 0:08:41there was this big clock telling you you're wasting company time.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45The nicest thing on this floor is this lovely Grecian water fountain.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49Fantastic marble mouldings, and it works.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Unfortunately, the water isn't very nice.
0:08:58 > 0:09:0155 Broadway was Charles Holden's vision,
0:09:01 > 0:09:05but it was the brainchild of Frank Pick, the managing director
0:09:05 > 0:09:09of the new Underground Group. These two men, Holden and Pick,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13were pivotal in the development of London's transport network.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Together, they undertook a massive modernisation of all its assets
0:09:17 > 0:09:20to make them fit for the 20th century.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25Well, Frank Pick was the managing director of the Underground,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27he was this amazing business brain who'd come from
0:09:27 > 0:09:30the North Eastern Railway who brought everybody together.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34So he couldn't design anything himself, but knew exactly
0:09:34 > 0:09:37the right people to bring in for the posters, architecture,
0:09:37 > 0:09:41- the rolling stock, the textiles, so on.- And that was his job?
0:09:41 > 0:09:45- To oversee everything? - Well, he is an accountant.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48He's probably one of the only accountants that's ever been
0:09:48 > 0:09:52so incredibly creative and insightful
0:09:52 > 0:09:55in bringing together people like these artists and designers.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59He knew all the European modernists who were in the vanguard of design,
0:09:59 > 0:10:04but he was also able to kind of fuse that with an English modernity
0:10:04 > 0:10:09which was almost medieval in its attention to detail and its love of craft.
0:10:09 > 0:10:15So he was trying to create something that was modern that had a kind of Arts & Crafts thoroughness?
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Absolutely. Totally thorough.
0:10:17 > 0:10:23He had one eye on the skyscraper and one eye on the sylvan English landscape.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26So how did that manifest itself in the Underground?
0:10:26 > 0:10:30I mean, cos that's nothing to do with the landscape or skyscrapers.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Well, the architecture I think of the Underground
0:10:34 > 0:10:36and certainly 55 Broadway, where we are now,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40was a synthesis of the absolute forefront
0:10:40 > 0:10:44of transatlantic design and technology.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46So what did Holden do on the Underground?
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Holden did many stations on the Piccadilly Line and the Northern Line,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53he worked from 1922 till the beginning of the Second World War,
0:10:53 > 0:10:58- and he made this incredible building. - And was it a close relationship?
0:10:58 > 0:11:02It was very close. It was so close that they occasionally fell out.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04There was a point when Holden was nearly sacked
0:11:04 > 0:11:09because Frank Pick found out that Holden had given one of the stations
0:11:09 > 0:11:11to one of his junior architects,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15and unfortunately it happened to be Pick's local station in Hampstead.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19When Pick found out, he threatened to sack Holden and the whole practice,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23and it was only through Holden's much gentler approach to the fiery Frank
0:11:23 > 0:11:25that Holden was able to retain the consultancy.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45- DING! - Lift going down.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50So this is the tenth floor, which is really the posh floor.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52In there's the executive dining room.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55The ceilings are twice the height of the floor below,
0:11:55 > 0:11:58and out here is the managerial garden.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03No doubt you could come out here with a good pipe
0:12:03 > 0:12:05and ponder the infinite variety of modernism.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14These tall buildings offered a re-framing
0:12:14 > 0:12:19of not just offices and transport but also luxury.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Because height, getting up above everyone else,
0:12:22 > 0:12:27was almost like a definition of being above, more luxurious than, everybody else.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30So out here on this roof garden,
0:12:30 > 0:12:35which also had connotations of Babylonian splendour,
0:12:35 > 0:12:39you could look down on everybody around you.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42And certainly Pick and Holden could stand here...
0:12:44 > 0:12:48..and see that they'd built a monument to the centrality of London transport.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51To the whole business of being in London.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56And even now that buildings have grown in height, not many come above this,
0:12:56 > 0:13:00but in 1929, this was the tallest thing around.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04And being up here on the tenth floor was at least three storeys above everyone else.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07So here, you were on top of the world.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37Finished in 1929, 55 Broadway was the tallest building in London,
0:13:37 > 0:13:42a gleaming white monolith to the ambition of the new organisation.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48You can feel the underground through the ground here, vibrating,
0:13:48 > 0:13:51coming from that building over there.
0:13:51 > 0:13:52It really looks like a skyscraper.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56It has that kind of ziggurat ancientness about it,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59it's tall and it's narrow and it's white.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02It's modern and primitive all at the same time.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04And it's very American.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09Art Deco drew much inspiration
0:14:09 > 0:14:12from the primitivism of ancient cultures,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16particularly the Egyptian and Mayan civilisations.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29One thing you can really appreciate from up here,
0:14:29 > 0:14:31perhaps the best view of this building,
0:14:31 > 0:14:35is how different it is from all the other buildings around it.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40These old buildings here are on a block, but they're four buildings to a block.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45This occupies one huge site, with a street marking the boundaries.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48That's a very, very American design,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51pioneered in the 1880s when the first skyscrapers were put up.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55It's a real tour-de-force example of the modern Britain,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57not the Victorian, Dickensian Britain
0:14:57 > 0:15:00but the new, forward-looking, futuristic Britain.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Not least because it's a great big white building
0:15:04 > 0:15:07surrounded by coal-stained old grot.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20This stone - Portland stone -
0:15:20 > 0:15:24is the stone of choice for most British architects,
0:15:24 > 0:15:25because this stone,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28which is somewhere between limestone and marble,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30epitomises the nature of Britain.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34It has the whiteness of the White Cliffs, although this isn't white,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36cos as you can see, it's filthy.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38It's stuffed with fossils
0:15:38 > 0:15:43and, somehow, it combines modernity and ancientness
0:15:43 > 0:15:44all in the same thing.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49It's clean, modern, but also, you can see this sediment of old Britain
0:15:49 > 0:15:52squashed into lumps of stone,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55so it's the ideal choice for a headquarters building.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59Nothing says stability and forever-ness like this stone.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13Holden intended this building as a new Temple Of The Winds.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17Aware it was likely to shock, he chose to commission works
0:16:17 > 0:16:20from avant-garde sculptors like Henry Moore and Eric Gill
0:16:20 > 0:16:22to adorn each elevation.
0:16:22 > 0:16:23Holden chose Jacob Epstein,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26one of the most controversial artists of the day,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29to contribute two pieces called Night and Day.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31It was a bold choice.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35This sculpture of Day by Sir Jacob Epstein,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38when it was put up, caused great offence, a great scandal,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40because the penis of the boy
0:16:40 > 0:16:43was originally about an inch-and-a-half longer,
0:16:43 > 0:16:44and this extra inch-and-a-half
0:16:44 > 0:16:47had the effect that, when the rain ran down it,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50water cascaded off the end of the penis and into the street,
0:16:50 > 0:16:54so an inch-and-a-half had to come off.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56The primitivism of the sculpture represents, in a way,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58the primitive power of electricity,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01and the thing about modernism and primitivism
0:17:01 > 0:17:04was that they talked about huge, uncontrollable forces.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08The force of electricity was like the ancient force of gods, and here,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12this ancient, unknowable god of Day sending his son off
0:17:12 > 0:17:13to do his job in the world
0:17:13 > 0:17:15is what this sculpture's all about.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18It's not immediately obvious to the passer-by,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22but you get this sense that the Underground, its electricity,
0:17:22 > 0:17:24is a great heavy, primitive god.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37Frank Pick, crucially, understood the value of good design,
0:17:37 > 0:17:41and that the look of London Transport IS its personality.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45He had begun his modernisation programme by commissioning posters
0:17:45 > 0:17:47that would persuade commuters
0:17:47 > 0:17:50to use the trains in their leisure time.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54In the 1920s, bright, colourful Art-Deco designs
0:17:54 > 0:17:57produced by the best artists of the day
0:17:57 > 0:18:00were always given pride of place in the Tube stations.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Frank Pick understood just how effective they could be
0:18:03 > 0:18:05in persuading the public
0:18:05 > 0:18:08that this was a modern, forward-looking transport system.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15So there's over 20,000 posters in here.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19'The posters commissioned from Pick's office at 55 Broadway
0:18:19 > 0:18:22'were pivotal in the development of the organisation.'
0:18:23 > 0:18:25So I've pulled these samples out,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28that I thought you might be interested in, from the period.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Oh, they're fantastic.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33So, what are the dates of these, then?
0:18:33 > 0:18:35The Clive Gardiner at the end is late '20s.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38It's 1927. It's a good example
0:18:38 > 0:18:40of how Gardiner would kind of appropriate
0:18:40 > 0:18:42some of the more avant-garde art styles,
0:18:42 > 0:18:46such as Cubism, into a way that worked for a wider public,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48which a lot of artists did do at that time.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Yeah. You can really see it in the sunburst yellow here,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55which is somewhere in between Deco and Cubism. It's great.
0:18:55 > 0:18:56What about this one?
0:18:56 > 0:19:00This is by Jean Dupas, from 1930, and it's a good example
0:19:00 > 0:19:03of an artist really just working in their own style.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06What was the purpose of these particular posters?
0:19:06 > 0:19:10This was an example of promoting off-peak travel, essentially.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13This is particularly directed at women,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15promoting the idea of going out in the day,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17when the services were underused.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Where were they exhibited?
0:19:20 > 0:19:23This would have been inside the station,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26so it would have been... Perhaps as you were leaving,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29it would prompt an idea of what you might do at the weekend,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32because it was essentially about promoting leisure travel.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36And people would have known this was a fashionable image.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38That would have been seen as the latest thing.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42I think to some people it would have done, but I think, to other people,
0:19:42 > 0:19:47it was the first experience a lot of people would've had of these styles.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49So their first touch of Art Deco?
0:19:49 > 0:19:53- Yes, without necessarily knowing it was happening.- They're wonderful.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55The posters were the starting point
0:19:55 > 0:19:58for one of the most radical redesign programmes
0:19:58 > 0:20:01ever undertaken by a single company.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06Pick and Holden were able to do this because Art Deco was a total style.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11A style which was appropriate for all the company's assets,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14from its headquarters building at 55 Broadway
0:20:14 > 0:20:16to the smallest fitting on the platforms,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19and so, too, the trains which ran on its tracks.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25Do you know, this is just as I remember these trains.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27When I was a kid, I loved to go on the Underground train.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30It was so different from where I grew up.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33And they are exactly - EXACTLY - as I remember them.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Although these trains stayed in service until the late 1980s,
0:20:37 > 0:20:39they were originally introduced in the 1930s,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42and this is called the 1938 Stock.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44It was a revolutionary train at the time.
0:20:44 > 0:20:45It was the first train
0:20:45 > 0:20:48that had all of its running gear underneath the train.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50It was styled in an Art-Deco way,
0:20:50 > 0:20:55and had a lot of very nice features that we can still see on it today.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57You have these Art-Deco lampshades,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00which are called "shovel shades" by people who work for London Transport.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03- Ha!- And also, in the sort of seating fabric,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06and the technical name for this sort of fabric is moquette,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10and Frank Pitt employed some of the leading textile designers of the day,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14people like Marion Dorn and Enid Marx, to produce this,
0:21:14 > 0:21:18so the overall effect is a very comfortable and spacious environment
0:21:18 > 0:21:20for passengers to use.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22I mean, this is so obviously Art Deco,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24with this ribbed, kind of go-faster stripe thing
0:21:24 > 0:21:28and these very Bauhaus geometric patterns.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31If it were treated separately, I'd see it as design,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34but as a whole, I just think, "Yeah, it's a Tube train."
0:21:34 > 0:21:36I think it's part of that fitness for purpose
0:21:36 > 0:21:39that Frank Pick was trying to achieve with the trains.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41From a technical point of view,
0:21:41 > 0:21:45they're a great improvement on the trains that went before,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48but they're also very attractive spaces for passengers to use.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53And the seats are pretty amazingly comfortable...you know?
0:21:53 > 0:21:55They're nice, aren't they?
0:21:55 > 0:21:57Pick took a personal interest
0:21:57 > 0:22:00in the designers that were chosen and the samples,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03and we know that both from the posters that he commissioned
0:22:03 > 0:22:07but also from the moquette samples, that he personally signed these off,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10even though, as managing director, and later vice-chairman -
0:22:10 > 0:22:14he was extraordinarily busy - he still put aside an afternoon a week
0:22:14 > 0:22:16to do that sort of commissioning.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Do you think that kind of total control helped the system?
0:22:20 > 0:22:24It did. I mean, Pick brought order to what was a very disparate system
0:22:24 > 0:22:26in the 1920s and '30s,
0:22:26 > 0:22:30and this sort of thing reassured the passengers
0:22:30 > 0:22:33that they were getting a consistent service.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40'I'm surprised by just how many forgotten Deco gems
0:22:40 > 0:22:42'are stored at the museum's depot.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45'It's like nothing has ever been thrown away.'
0:22:45 > 0:22:46Oh, I remember this.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50Finlays. I must have had millions of cigarettes out of here.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54These kiosks were very much part of the overall station designs
0:22:54 > 0:22:56in the 1920s and '30s.
0:22:57 > 0:23:03Yeah, they've got that kind of Deco, streamlined speedy-box approach.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05This is fantastic.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07This is a passimeter,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10and this is where passengers would have bought their tickets from.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14Why is it called a pass...? Did they count people as they went past?
0:23:14 > 0:23:17They'd count people and also, it's a way of dispensing tickets
0:23:17 > 0:23:19in the main hall of the station,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23so this particular one was designed by Charles Holden.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25It is so Deco. These curved windows...
0:23:27 > 0:23:30..and the whole idea that you're going past somewhere,
0:23:30 > 0:23:32you're not stopping at a window.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37And this mad contrast between expensive material and lino!
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Toilet flooring. But...
0:23:39 > 0:23:42- Green Art Deco!- It keeps that expensive feel of marble
0:23:42 > 0:23:47- in the station.- Absolutely. And so modern.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Modern plastic material is as acceptable as bronze. It's great.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52Now, that really is Deco.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56And this is the sign store,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59which is, of course, of critical importance
0:23:59 > 0:24:01in creating a standardised...
0:24:01 > 0:24:04So you've got all the signs from all the periods?
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Absolutely. For London Underground.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13So, this is an example of the type of signs that were on the Underground
0:24:13 > 0:24:17- before they began to standardise. - So when are these from?
0:24:17 > 0:24:18These are from the 1900s.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22They use a jumble of typefaces, and difficult to read.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25- Yeah. That is so Victorian, isn't it?- It is.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27And it was coming from that Victorian tradition
0:24:27 > 0:24:29where what Pick did was,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32he introduced a new Underground typeface
0:24:32 > 0:24:35which was commissioned from the leading calligrapher of the day,
0:24:35 > 0:24:37a man called Edward Johnston,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39and he produced this very clear font
0:24:39 > 0:24:43which was then used on signs with lots of white space behind,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47the new bull's eye or roundel logo very prominently positioned,
0:24:47 > 0:24:49and minimum of text to give maximum impact.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54You can really see how crowded all this information is.
0:24:54 > 0:24:55And this is just so empty.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59It's just pure information, as we now expect to see it,
0:24:59 > 0:25:01and I love this, the arrow going straight down the Tube.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05I really didn't get before that this IS the Tube.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07It's lovely.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15During the '20s and '30s, the Tube network
0:25:15 > 0:25:18pushed further and further out of crowded and dirty central London
0:25:18 > 0:25:20to new and leafy suburbs.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29It was Charles Holden who oversaw the design of the new stations,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33designs which became increasingly radical for suburban London.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37As a result, London's transport system boasts more listed buildings
0:25:37 > 0:25:40than any other public body in Britain.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48Of course, travelling in the Tube in the '30s
0:25:48 > 0:25:50wasn't so different to now.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53It was noisy and it was rattley but, above all, it was fast.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12This is Southgate,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15one of Holden's most wonderful stations on the Piccadilly Line.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19Opened in 1933,
0:26:19 > 0:26:23Southgate was the most dazzling of all Holden's stations.
0:26:23 > 0:26:30These escalators were about the most modern thing people would go on.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32They were like a toy in themselves.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35They made you feel like you were in the modern world.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38And this fantastic warm-lit tunnel taking you up to the light.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41You definitely want to go up it.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44It's almost like a metaphor of birth.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46And, of course, home is at the end of this.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50You're home. You're sick to death of work and you're coming home.
0:26:50 > 0:26:56And this is like a drop of water in a pool, radiating out.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00The thing about these stations is, as a Londoner,
0:27:00 > 0:27:04you're just really familiar with them, but back in the '30s,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07this was international modernism, it was Art Deco,
0:27:07 > 0:27:11it was Europe and cinema and Hollywood and the future all in one.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17In 1933, this building was the edge of modern London,
0:27:17 > 0:27:21a beacon of modernity in a sea of Tudorbethan houses.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26People coming here would feel this was the edge of the city.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29When they went down here, they'd be going into work.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33But coming out, it was a release from everything that work was.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35You didn't really want historic transport.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38You wanted your transport to be the future, to be electric,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41to be light, to be bright, to be clean,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44and the minute you came here, you could see it.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46This was, at night, bright with light.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50The whole thing glowed in a sea of semi-rural darkness.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58From its heart at 55 Broadway to the furthest reaches of the network,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01in the posters, the stations and the trains,
0:28:01 > 0:28:03Holden and Pick's Art-Deco designs
0:28:03 > 0:28:08enriched and advanced the lives of millions of people in the '30s.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11But London Transport's bright new world still endures,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13even now in the 21st century,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16fulfilling the purpose for which it was meticulously designed.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:38 > 0:28:42E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk