All posts tagged: 1929

Historical Map: Baltimore United Railways & Electric Co., 1929

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Historical Maps

A charming map of streetcar services – and a few of those newfangled gas buses! – in central Baltimore from 1929. Points of interest are clearly illustrated, and the map is surrounded by vignettes of life and architecture in this “historic, pleasant, thriving city”. A prominent cartouche proclaims that “STREET CARS and BUSES in Baltimore go wherever there is anything to see…” and little streetcars have been drawn running along major thoroughfares. As a side […]

Historical Diagram: Piccadilly Circus Tube Station by Renzo Picasso, 1929

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Cutaway Maps, Historical Maps

We all know that I love a good cutaway diagram, and this example – drawn by Italian architect and urban designer, Renzo Picasso (no relation) – is just superb. Drawn in 1929, coinciding with the opening of Charles Holden’s sub-surface circular booking hall which replaced the original 1906 above-ground Leslie Green-designed station building. The unusual perspective, halfway between the platform level and the (invisible) roads above, permits a wonderful level of clarity in the drawing.  […]

Historical Map: Cutaway View of Berlin’s Hermannplatz U-Bahn Station, c. 1929

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Cutaway Maps, Historical Maps

Here’s a lovely cutaway view of Hermannplatz station, at the intersection of what is now U7 (the lower platform here, running east-west) and U8 (the platform above, running north-south).  The map also shows the pedestrian tunnels that connected the station directly with the basement of the monumental Karstadt department store, then one of the largest in the world. However – probably for reasons of clarity – the diagram places the entrance in the first basement […]

Historical Map: George Dow Diagram of LNER Great Northern Suburban Services, 1929

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Historical Maps

Almost everyone credits Harry Beck with “inventing” the diagrammatic transit map in 1933 with his iconic London Underground map. But the diagram form had already been in use for a number of years before that, as shown in this delightful 1929 diagram for LNER suburban services out of London’s Kings Cross station to points north. It was designed by George Dow, who created many such diagrams for the LNER. His son, Andrew Dow, wrote a […]