OUR HISTORY
The hotel was once the life and soul of the battery world, with Eveready Battery’s having used the building for its offices in the late 1960’s.
Southgate’s history dates back to 1370, when a medieval settlement clustered around the South Gate of the King’s hunting grounds of Enfield Chase.
Life remained quiet until the Piccadilly Line reached here in 1933. Within just a few years, new housing was built, parades of shops appeared and Londoners headed north in their droves. The Tube station itself is a circular architectural delight, designed by the modernist architect Charles Holden, and looks rather like a spaceship.
Ever Ready House was originally a post war structure typical of the late 1960’s/1970’s. Used as offices for the battery giant Ever Ready, it then became local council offices until it was left empty for many years.
However, Southgate tube station was designed by architect Charls Holden and is Holden’s most well-known station designs created in the streamline modern variant of art deco. The Grade II listed underground station was built in the 1930’s.
One distinctive architectural feature is the row of windows around the entire circumference allowing light into the ticket hall, but these windows do not provide a sufficient platform for the wide flat roof. This is supported – umbrella like – by the sturdy central column, which extends through the roof to carry an electrical coil-like external embellishment.
As well as a remarkable exterior – the station fixtures and fittings, lighting and escalators are almost all originals meaning it is often used as a set for filming period dramas.
The tube station is often likened to a UFO.