It’s easy to take something you see every day for granted. I have lived in Barons Court since 1976, continuously since 1984, and have taken the station for granted, but it has many special features making it one of the most distinctive stations on the underground.
It opened in 1905 and its fine Edwardian baroque exterior with terracotta cladding and Art Deco stained-glass windows above the shops is striking. It is topped off with a balustraded pediment. The platforms have distinctive canopies with wooden fringes and the back-to-back benches are these days rare. There are two clocks; one is on the westbound platform and the other in the ticket hall. The latter is of a type installed in all Piccadilly Line stations but now only surviving in stations outside central London. Both clocks are made by the Self Winding Clock Co of New York. Their clocks may also be seen in Grand Central Station.
The ticket hall took on its present form in the 1930s and the most striking feature is the green tiling and a darker green frieze above. These are Doulton tiles made in Lambeth and they are the only example in a London station. There are lots of other details like the iron canopy with a cartouche above the entrance, restored in the 1990s; the pedimented ticket windows, in use until the end of 2015; the 1920s bronze-framed information panels either side of the entrance lit by globe lamps on swan-neck brackets.
To be sure, there have been many alterations in the last 112 years but many original features remain and are usually taken for granted by the commuters and students who surge in and out daily. Now I have time to appreciate them.