Largest/smallest station footprint at ground level

[Chris M]

Inspired by comments in the Northern Line thread about the "birdcage" I'm wondering which stations have the largest and smallest footprint at or above ground level.

For the largest, my initial thought was Canary Wharf Jubilee but then realised there was the public park in the middle so maybe not. Ealing Broadway is quite an extensive station, but only part of that is used by the Underground so there may be bigger ones.
Euston is probably the most extensive served by the Overground, but it really doesn't use a significant part of it.
I initially thought that Canary Wharf is almost certainly the most extensive DLR station, but then wondered about Poplar?

For the smallest, it will probably be a station with no surface building and not many entrances, so my first thought was Hyde Park Corner, but then I wondered about stations below mainline ones such as Euston.
Cutty Sark and Woolwich Arsenal come to mind for the DLR, and these might be less spread out than the LU stations.
On the current Overground network, there are plenty of small stations but these are almost invariably at or above surface level (open air cuttings count as being on the surface). So possibly quite surprisingly Wembley Central, being almost entirely covered over with little at the surface might get the award. When the ELL reopens then I wouldn't be surprised if Shadwell took the crown away.

[Oracle]

I keep thinking that Regents Park is 'hardly there' : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Regent%27s_Park_stn_entrance_look_east.JPG

[Deleted]

Both Green Park and Bond Street, have a surprisingly small surface presence for such significant stations.

Baker Street must be up there with the largest for square footage of space taken at ground level.

Cutty Sark has quite a long entrance passage at ground level before you get to the escalators (although under a building) so I would think it takes more at ground level than Green Park.

[norbitonflyer]

Chancery Lane and St Pauls have little on the surface except stairwells: Chancery Lane has three, St Pauls only two, and one of those has a building over it.

How about Vauxhall?

Technically, Liverpool Street might have the least surface footprint, as both entrances are from the main station concourse, which is itself below street level.

[Bighat]

Feb 16, 2010 17:57:01 GMT norbitonflyer said:

Chancery Lane and St Pauls have little on the surface except stairwells: Chancery Lane has three, St Pauls only two, and one of those has a building over it.

How about Vauxhall?

Technically, Liverpool Street might have the least surface footprint, as both entrances are from the main station concourse, which is itself below street level.

There is also an entrance to Liverpool Street Underground in Old Broad Street, a few paces from the junction with Liverpool Street itself, by the traffic lights covering entry to the bus station.

[Deleted]

A few more. Heathrow T123 has a small street level footprint and T4 & T5 have none (AFAIK).

Euston Square doesn't have a massive foot print at street level.

[uzairjubilee]

Wimbledon Park is quite small.

[railtechnician]

An interesting thread, one does, however, have to be careful when thinking of station footprints!
Are we talking about the public area above ground only or all the area above ground? For instance there is more to Ealing Broadway and Heathrow T123 than the station public entrances! Liverpool Street also falls into this category with the substation (part of the station complex) entrance 'turret' above ground right outside Broadgate offices, but it is much more than that as it has the shopping arcade too and the staircase access from there to the LUL station roof.
I agree that Euston square has perhaps a small footprint but then Mansion House could possibly match it, it also has a separate substation & pumphouse entrance in the basement of a building and technically is just a stairwell from the street. Does an entrance in another's property count?
Regent's Park is hardly there but then again Warwick Avenue is in the same category as is Vauxhall and Seven Sisters would be perhaps if it didn't have the above ground entrance in Seven Sisters Road.
Bond Street is massive below ground and like other sites also has a substation whose basement is part of the station complex though it also has its own street entrance.
Manor House is hardly there , just the stairwells,if not counting the vent shaft and cable access to the substation around the corner but Hyde Park Corner still has an above ground entrance to the substation and emergency staircase to the platforms!
Baker Street was an entire block but wasn't Chiltern Court sold off by LT Property? Of course there is still a large footprint and again much larger than the public facades with staff entrances to canteen, offices, BT Police station and the old new works depot (now station offices I believe) in both the side streets.

It's a great thread but it's a tin of worms too!

[Oracle]

Take Hounslow West as another example: spread out under street level, plus you have the car park which partly covers ruinning tunnels.

[SE13]

Great Portland Street? There's not much on the surface there. Certainly Regents Park is up there, and there is another I just can't think of off the top of my head. Clue anyone?

Arsenal tube doesn't have much on the surface either, the entry is little more than a house width, and had the plan to build a station to serve Ashburton Grove gone through, there would have been absolutely nothing on the surface.

[Deleted]

Goodge Street is as far as I remember not very visible

[railtechnician]

Some of the Central line eastern extension tube stations cover much more ground than realised as they have susbstations far away with a street level footprint not adjacent to the station but nevertheless connected by a lengthy underground cable tunnel.
Now there's not too much to see at Barbican or Old Street, South Ealing would be very compact without the walkway to the platforms and Boston Manor might have a small footprint if it were not part of the Northfields complex. Of course if taken strictly at street level literally level with the road then it really is just the ticket hall which is very small and a similar contender could be West Finchley if it didn't have a small car park attached.
Then there's Acton Town, which is firmly attached to Acton Works not only by rail but also by private road and that in turn connecting to the Sports Ground. In fact Acton Town and Ealing Common complex are really separated at street level by no more than a zebra crossing! Going back a few years Chiswick Works was firmly tagged onto that lot too, a massive complex.

[astock5000]

Feb 16, 2010 15:22:03 GMT Chris M said:

I initially thought that Canary Wharf is almost certainly the most extensive DLR station, but then wondered about Poplar?

What about Canning Town (including the platforms for the Stratford International extension)?

[angelislington]

Goodge Street and Arsenal may have very small frontages, but how far back do they go? Looking on multimap's aerial view (and google streetview to verify I'm looking at the right building) Arsenal definitely goes back a huge way. It's the width of two houses and goes back about 3 times as far as the surrounding houses - about 6 times the size of the houses immediately to left and right. Goodge Street looks to be three times the width of neighbouring properties, and is about 2½ times as deep (from front to back).

[metman]

Ickenham was probably up there before it was modified.