Sunday 16 February 2020

Frank Pick

Frank Pick (1878-1941) was the Managing Director of London Underground in the 1920s and the first Chief Executive of London Transport. He commissioned some of the most recognisable icons of London Underground's identity such as the red, blue and white tube roundel, the Johnson typeface and the art deco architecture of many underground stations designed by Charles Holden.
To celebrate his life and work there is a  large piece of artwork dedicated to his memory in the ticket hall of Piccadilly Circus underground station.
This is a permanent addition to the station's architecture incorporating the Johnson typeface and the roundel. The words used were taken from some of his lecture notes which are housed in the London Transport Museum archives.



It is worth going to Piccadilly station to just admire the colourful tile designs.





If you want to see more of Piccadilly check it out on my other blog here

17 comments:

  1. He did a good job and made the stations very attractive!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those bright and cheery tiles are great. If you’re going to go underground this is definitely the best way to do it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I never heard of him before. I'm always learning something new from you! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello, nice memorial. The tiles are colorful and cheerful. Enjoy your day, wishing you a great new week!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the tiles. They couldn't help but brighten a traveler's day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love those types of stations. They don't do make them like they used to do and they can get really boring. In Brussels quite a few underground stations had cartoon characters (like Tin Tin and such) on their walls. It was always good fun to travel and the time went so fast.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's a fitting tribute and I really like the backlit roundel.

    ReplyDelete
  8. There was already an underground in the 20th ! amazing ! I think in Brussels they started in the 70th. The walls are still decorated as Mara says.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Perfect tribute. I love the simplicity. Your station tours have opened my eyes to the many I have never visited. Never thought about there being a man behind it all!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a great idea. I wish I was there to see it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. For a second or two there I thought I was over on your other blog! What a perfect tribute to Mr Pick (whom you just taught me about). Yes, it would definitely be worth a visit to Picadilly Station, just to see this design art. And then of course to follow a certain excellent guide to the area “above the under ground.” (You could add a link to your other blog here, in case you have some visitors who don’t know about it yet.)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Those designs are really very good, perhaps so good that Frank should have branched out (no pun intended) into other art. Unless he did of course?

    ReplyDelete
  13. The red and green tiles make the underground station so attractive.
    I like the round insignia too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great photos of underground at Piccadilly Circus ~ enjoyed my visit there in London ~

    Happy Moments to You,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Certainly colourful, loved seeing your photographs.

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete

Thank-you for reading my blog. I would love to read your comments.