B/W print; Hyde Park Underground station exterior, 1908

Hyde Park Corner Underground station was opened on 15 December 1906 by the Great Northern Piccadilly & Brompton Railway. This is now known as the Piccadilly line. This station was on the original section of the line between Hammersmith and Finsbury Park. The building was designed by Leslie Green in the Arts & Crafts style adopted for most stations on the line. A W H Smith shop can be seen in the station building. The growth of the chain has much to do with the deliberate siting of its shops near stations, in the knowledge that people always want something to read on the train. The station facade now fronts a pizza restaurant, following an early-1930s reconstruction.