Willesden Green

Just one stop on from Kilburn but it seemed much further. Stepping off the tube onto the platform I was immediately struck by a much more attractive and characterful station mainly because this one has many of its original features from when it was rebuilt in 1925. The station was opened in 1879 when the Metropolitan railway was extended out from Baker Street. Charles Walter Clark was responsible for the design of this station when it was rebuilt. He designed 25 stations in total. Willesden Green is now a listed building. 

 

Willesden Green is one of the few stations to retain all its platform buildings from the old metropolitan railway.

The colours of the tiles take you back in time. This is the waiting room.

At the end of the waiting room you can see the Mark Wallinger labyrinth hanging on the wall. Wallinger was asked to create an art installation to celebrate the tube's 150th anniversary in 2013. He decided to create a labyrinth for each of the 270 tube stations. Each one is unique to that station. They represent the maze that is the underground system and life's journey being a labyrinth. They are not always in such an obvious place as this one but a little search will usually reveal its whereabouts.

The ticket hall interior still retains the original green mosaic tiling. This was mentioned as one of the reasons for the station becoming Grade II listed in 2006.

The exterior was also a pleasant surprise with its white marble looking so bright and clean in the morning sunshine. 

The diamond shaped clock is a trademark of the designer Charles Walter Clark.

Across the road from the station is a more modern mosaic displaying the name of this small town.

In the middle of the town's name is this mosaic of a cat. This is the first of a series of cat mosaics that are going to be created by the local community and displayed around the the high street. The mosaics are based on the cat designs of Louis Wain (1860-1939) a local resident and cat illustrator. This mosaic of 'Louis' the cat was made by over 30 members of the local Willesden Green community. I spotted this second cat mosaic a little further down the high street.

This is the first time I have visited Willesden Green so I decided to begin with a walk down the high street, Walm Road. The first shop that took my eye was The Galaxy Newsagent, a common type of shop usually found close to a station selling newspapers, soft drinks, sweets and cigarettes. However, not many advertise stocking Havana Cigars! Were they really selling genuine Havana cigars? I wonder how old that sign is as I can't remember the last time I saw someone smoking a cigar. I didn't go inside to ask but now I wished I had.

The high street was full of shops but it looked very quiet for a Monday morning.

A variety of eating places but more of a cafe culture here than a fast food culture which seemed to be present in Kilburn, the last station I visited. The range of shops and restaurants reflects the diversity of the area.

At the end of the High Road is Willesden Green library. The Victorian library has been extended to provide a library, art gallery, community meeting rooms. a performance space as well as Brent Museum and archives. The building has been the subject of disputes between the local council and the community. In 1984 Brent Council wanted to demolish the old Willesden Library's late Victorian facade seen here. Locals protested and the decision was reversed. A modern library was built behind the old library. Again in 1988 the Council tried again to demolish the Victorian library building but again were unsuccessful. Finally developers withdrew their plans. The 1990 library building was demolished and the Victorian facade was incorporated into the design for the new library. The design won the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architecture) London award in 2017.

The library is now a locally listed heritage building and recently celebrated its 125th anniversary.

Inside the library.

On one floor of the library is the Brent Museum with some very interesting displays about the history of the Borough.

I left the high street and turned down Willesden Lane. I am so glad I did because I came across this Buddhist temple. It is called the True Buddha Temple. The building was once a Welsh chapel and Welsh Boys' school until declining numbers led to it being sold 11 years ago. It was bought and converted into a Buddhist Temple in the mid 1990s. The cross was removed  and put in safe keeping at the back of the church. Symbols and items important to the Buddhist faith were added to the old church and built in the grounds.

A Kouro was placed in front of the temple. This is a deep bowl with a small roof that contains incense and ash used for purifying.

A rather fierce looking Buddha looked on from the garden.

 

The Buddhist faith has many different strands. The 'True Buddha' is one of the newer forms of Buddhism. It has about 5 million followers around the world. Anyone is welcome to visit the temple but sadly it wasn't open at the time I visited.

On the same road and just a few minutes walk away is this Hindu temple which also took over a disused church building. In the 1960s and 1970s, Gujarati communities began to settle in the Willesden area. Many were refugees from East Africa, especially Uganda, where the dictator Idi Amin had ordered their expulsion from the country. 

This group of Hindus were looking for a place of worship for their growing community and so the building of the Shree Swaminarayan temple at Willesden began. In 1975 the temple began in the old church but as the congregation grew it took over the building next door. It was then decided to demolish both buildings and build this three storey temple which opened in 1988. It is now one of the biggest temples in Europe.

I liked the wide suburban roads in this area. The ones I walked down were all clean and very quiet.

Many religions are represented in the streets close to the high Street. Around the corner on Brondesbury Park is a synagogue. There was considerable Jewish immigration at the end of the 19th century into Brondesbury and Willesden Green. Then again prior to the outbreak of WW2 about half a million European Jews fled to England to escape persecution in Europe. This lead to the establishment of several synagogues in this area.

One of the most impressive churches close to the station is St Gabriel's Church. It was consecrated in 1897 and is now grade II listed. In 1891 an Iron Church was built on the site of the present church hall. An iron church or tin tabernacle is a type of prefabricated ecclesiastical building made from corrugated galvanised iron. They were developed in the mid 19th century and it became a cheap way of building churches, chapels and mission halls. The iron church was built on land bought from All Souls College, Oxford who were big land owners in the area. The congregation soon outgrew the iron church which could only accommodate 300 people. Fund raising began and a new church was built on land given by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the foundation stone was laid in 1896. The Iron Church was converted to a church hall once the new church was built. The church bells which were installed in 1919 came from Whitechapel bell foundry that also made Big Ben and the Liberty Bell.

Walking back to the station I came across another place of worship, the Central Mosque of Brent. The mosque was established in 1981. Next to the mosque is the Pakistan Community Centre. It began life as the Pakistan Workers Association in 1965 helping the newly arrived migrant workers from the Indian subcontinent to find jobs and housing.

The mosque was next to the railway lines so a short walk brought me back to the station. I enjoyed my walk round Willesden Green with its clean, wide streets and interesting High Street. But I'll probably remember its wide range of places of worship more than anything else.