Photograph details

© Transport for London
Collection of London Transport Museum
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Photograph of a postcard depicting British Museum Underground station, Central London Railway. Interior platform view shortly after the opening of the station. The platform is constructed of wooden planking, and lit by electric arc lamps. The tunnel wall is covered with advertisements. Three men are sitting on a bench in the foreground.

Unknown photographer,

Location: British Museum station, High Holborn, Camden, WC1

Image no: 3734/1

Inventory no: 1998/88180

20th Century London caption: The British Museum station on the Central London Railway (C.L.R.) is seen here shortly after its opening on 30 July 1900. The platform is made of wooden planking and lit by electric arc lamps. These wooden platforms were a fire hazard and were replaced by concrete and steel ones in 1909. British Museum station no longer exists. The C.L.R. stretched at this time between Shepherds Bush and Bank, through the centre of London, areas which had not been previously serviced by the Tube. Long-term plans to create a direct interchange between the Central and Piccadilly lines came to fruition when a complete reconstruction of Holborn Station involved new platforms on the C.L.R. British Museum station was used as an air-raid shelter during the Second World War. Many people slept on the platforms and in the tunnels during the Blitz.

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