It was a lovely bright day last
Sunday so I decided to walk from Thames Ditton to Surbiton Station to start my
journey back to Norwich. I had just spent the weekend visiting my mum to
celebrate Mother’s day. This gave me the opportunity to sketch the stark white modernist
railway station I had admired for so many years. I had about an hour before I
needed to catch my train. I spotted a table outside a pub near the station with
a perfect view for sketching.
Surbiton is situated in a southwest
suburb of London along the Thames River. The station is the work of the Southern Railway’s
architect James Robb Scott and was renovated in the early 30’s, opening its doors
again in 1937. It is constructed of reinforced concrete. In 1998 the station had a refurbishment and it is now a grade II- listed building. It was great to
observe the art deco style of curved forms, the long horizontal and vertical lines,
which were iconic of that period, along with the beauty and simplicity of the
san serif typeface used in the signage.
Surbiton’s claim to fame, is that it is the station that Professor Dumbledore whisks Harry Potter away from in Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince, filmed in late 2007. Not sure my proportions are quite accurate but I managed to capture the essence of it.
