Belsize Park is a London Underground station in Belsize Park, north-west London. It is on the Edgware branch of the Northern line, between Hampstead and Chalk Farm stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2. It stands at the northern end of Haverstock Hill. In July 2011 it became a Grade II listed building. The Royal Free Hospital is located a short distance to the north of the station.

History

The station was opened on 22 June 1907 by the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway as an intermediate station on its line from to. It is served by three lifts which descend 33.2 m to the platforms. The platforms can also be reached by stairs; there are 219 steps according to the sign in the station, which is equivalent to a 15 story building. The station was designed by Leslie Green in "Modern Style" and has his familiar facade of ox-blood faience with five round arched windows. It remained largely untouched until the late 1980s when the lifts were replaced and a new ticketing system installed. It was previously the site of the Trewint Industrial Home for Girls.

Deep-level air-raid shelter

Belsize Park is one of eight London Underground stations which have deep-level air-raid shelters underneath them. The shelter was constructed in World War II to provide safe accommodation for service personnel. Entrances to the shelter are at the junction of Haverstock Hill and Downside Crescent and off Haverstock Hill.

Connections

London Buses routes 168 and C11 and night route N5 serve the station.

In Popular Culture

The staircase at Belsize Park tube station is the scene of the eponymous homicide in Mavis Doriel Hay's 1934 murder mystery novel Murder Underground. The station also appears in the Coldplay pop video for the song "Paradise".

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