Great Portland Street tube station

The station was part of the world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, which opened between "Bishop's Road" (now Paddington) on the Hammersmith & City line and "Farringdon Street" (close to the present-day Farringdon station). It was opened on 10 January 1863 as "Portland Road", changed to its present name on 1 March 1917 but was renamed "Great Portland Street and Regents Park" in 1923 and then reverted to its present name in 1933.[7] The current structure was built in 1930 on a traffic island on the Marylebone Road at its intersection with Great Portland Street and Albany Street. Its construction is a steel framed cream terracotta clad exterior, with the perimeter providing shops and originally a car showroom with office space over the station. Great Portland Street was at a major sales location for the motor industry. It was designed by the Metropolitan Railway's architect C. W. Clark and was Grade II-listed in January 1987.[8]

The station lies at the northern end of Great Portland Street – a main road which marks the border between Marylebone and Fitzrovia.[9][10]

The local neighbourhood plan identified the gyratory around Great Portland Street Underground Station as one where public realm improvements and traffic calming should be made.[11]

The station is served by the Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, between Euston Square in the east and Baker Street to the west. All three lines share the same pair of tracks from Baker Street Junction to Aldgate Junction making this section of track one of the most intensely used on the London Underground network.

Metropolitan line

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:[13]

• 12 tph eastbound to Aldgate
• 12 tph westbound via Baker Street:
  • 2 tph to Amersham
  • 2 tph to Chesham
  • 8 tph to Uxbridge

The typical peak time service in trains per hour (tph) is:[13]

• 14 tph eastbound to Aldgate
• 14 tph westbound via Baker Street:
  • 2 tph to Amersham
  • 2 tph to Chesham
  • 4 tph to Watford
  • 6 tph to Uxbridge

Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Baker Street towards Hammersmith		Circle line		Euston Square towards Edgware Road via Aldgate
		Hammersmith & City line		Euston Square towards Barking
Baker Street towards Uxbridge, Amersham, Chesham or Watford		Metropolitan line		Euston Square towards Aldgate
Former services
Baker Street towards Hammersmith		Metropolitan line Hammersmith branch (1864–1990)		Euston Square towards Barking

The station is served by London Buses day and night routes.

• 
  Station as seen from above looking north
• 
  Original Metropolitan Steam Train passes through Great Portland Street Station
• 
  Platform roundel
• 
  View of station location circa 1790
• 
  Station tunnel running under Marylebone Road
• 
  Shown as the Metropolitan Railway's Portland Road Station in 1862
• 
  Thomas Crane's 1883 poster of Portland Road Station
• 
  Trial 1862 train journey passing Portland Road station.