Going underground...

I came across these on the lovely Grain Edit blog the other day and had to share them. I have a childish fascination with buildings/spaces/interiors which are found untouched and hidden - there's some sort of 'secret garden' thing about it all...

Anyway... these beautiful 1950s posters were found in part of Notting Hill Gate tube station when lifts were replaced with escalators and parts of the station were sealed off and abandoned. They look so current it's incredible... or maybe I just surround myself with so many mid-century influences it's seems new and fresh to me!

See the full set of official images from London Underground here.

via mikeyashworth

It also reminded me of another 1950s forgotten space we stumbled across a while back... the Lewis's Department Store's Fifth Floor was recently rediscovered and captured by photographer Stephen King in this lovely book 'Lewis's Fifth Floor: A Department Story'. The entire floor was closed in the 1980s and again left almost untouched whilst it was used for storage. The grade II listed and hand painted tiles on the wall of the restaurant and the colours in the hair salon (which was at one time the world's largest hair salon!) are amazing.

An exhibition of King's photographs from Lewis's is on until 30th August at the National Conservation Centre in Liverpool.

All images copyright Stephen King