Welcome

The Charles Holden is a traditional English pub offering the best of British food, brilliant ales and wines, in a relaxed environment for all the family and the whole of the local community. The Charles Holden also has a magnificent garden with an allotment and kitchen garden area. Charles Holden was the architect who brought the tube to Colliers Wood in 1926.

From him we take our inspiration to be:

In Colliers Wood      Of Colliers Wood      For Colliers Wood

Charles Henry Holden
(1875 – 1960)

An English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, including our own Colliers Wood Tube station. Charles also designed Bristol Central Library, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway and for the University of London's Senate House.

After working and training in Bolton and Manchester, Holden moved to London. His early buildings were influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, but for most of his career he championed an unadorned style based on simplified forms and massing that was free of what he considered to be unnecessary decorative detailing.

He believed strongly that architectural designs should be dictated by the intended functions of buildings. After the First World War he increasingly simplified his style and his designs became pareddown and modernist, influenced by European architecture. Holden was a member of the Design and Industries Association and the Art Workers' Guild. He produced complete designs for his buildings including the interior design and architectural fittings.

Although not without its critics, his architecture is widely appreciated. He was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects' (RIBA's) Royal Gold Medal for architecture in 1936 and was appointed a Royal Designer for Industry in 1943. His station designs for London Underground became the corporation's standard design influencing designs by all architects working for the organisation in the 1930s. Many of his buildings have been granted listed building status, protecting them from unapproved alteration.