Architecture of British Transport in the Twentieth Century

Transport buildings—railway stations, airport terminals, bus and coach stations, motorway service areas, filling stations, and garages—are such a part of everyday scenery they are easily overlooked. This book is the first to take a close look at the architecture of British transport buildings of the twentieth century, a period during which transportation systems, methods, and even purposes underwent enormous change.

The contributors to the book consider transport buildings both well known and unfamiliar from a variety of intriguing viewpoints. They explore the design and promotion of the London Underground, the battle between road and rail, the intentions of architects—to glamorize travel, to calm fears, to accommodate huge numbers of travelers—and the political and cultural significance of the transport buildings that have become a major part of modern life.

Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art