London Banter - View Single Post - White City Depot, the CLR power house, and the WLR-H&CR chord

thoss · December 6th 04, 05:58 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article . com,
writes

TheOneKEA wrote:
I've ridden past the site of the new White City mall on the H&C twice
now and have three questions to ask about the area:

I don't know the answes to your questions I'm afraid, but I've cot a
couple of my own:

The recently-demolished white elevated buildings; were they part of the
original exibition, or were they built later? I once got off an Oxford
Tube bus there to have a look at what was obviously once an entrance,
next to Shepherd's Bush station, but there was no way to see inside.
From the condition of the buildings they looked as if they had been out
of use for some time, but there was a dish on the side, near the front.
When were they last used, and what for.

In 1908 there was a Franco-British Exhibition at the site now occupied
partly by the BBC TV Centre on the west side of Wood Lane (the
exhibition site extended north to Du Cane Road). At the time the
Central Line (then the Central London Railway) ended at Shepherd's
Bush*, so the overhead building was built as a link to the exhibition
site. Hence the ornate entrance next to the tube station. There was a
passenger railway running inside the building, as well as exhibits.
This ended at a footbridge, long gone, across Wood Lane into the
exhibition grounds. The exhibition included a new sports stadium
where during the exhibition the 1908 Olympic Games were held. In 1914 a
British Empire Exhibition was held on the same site, with all of the
dominions and colonies having large exhibits. The vista of glittering
white buildings led to the area being called White City. Today the
Springbok pub, South Africa estate, Canada Way, Australia Road, India
Way etc. are reminders of the empire exhibition.

* On the exhibition's opening day, 14th May 1908, the Central London
opened its extension to Wood Lane (the station was, and may just about
still be, at the corner of what is now Ariel Way). So they needn't have
bothered with the overhead building. Parts of this were in use until
fairly recently; it housed the Vanderbilt tennis club, and the
northernmost surviving section was at one time used by BICC's Central
Research Laboratories. The Shepherd's Bush Green entrance building was
used as an office.

There was another Wood Lane station, on the opposite side of Wood Lane
opposite the Central Line station, on the Hammersmith and City Line.
This closed after a fire about fifty years ago.

--
Thoss