District line On 12 April 1869, the
District Railway (DR, now the District line) opened tracks through Earl's Court as part of a south-westward extension from its station at
Gloucester Road to
West Brompton where the DR opened an interchange with the
West London Extension Joint Railway (WLEJR, now the
West London Line). At its opening, the extension had no intermediate station. On 3 July 1871, the DR opened a northward link from the West Brompton branch which connected to the
Inner Circle (now the
Circle line) south of
High Street Kensington. Local residents near Earl's Court lodged a petition against the DR building the station, which opened on 30 October. The original station was a simple wooden booking office. On 1 February 1872, the DR opened a northbound branch west of Earl's Court station to the WLEJR to which it connected at
Addison Road (now Kensington Olympia). From that date the
Outer Circle service began running over the DR's tracks. The service was run by the
North London Railway (NLR) from its terminus at
Broad Street (now demolished) in the
City of London via the
North London Line to
Willesden Junction, then the West London Line to Addison Road and the DR to
Mansion House — at that time the eastern terminus of the DR. From 1 August 1872, the
Middle Circle service also began operations through Earl's Court; it ran from
Moorgate along the
Metropolitan Railway (MR) tracks on the north side of the Inner Circle to
Paddington, then over the
Hammersmith & City Railway (H&CR) track to
Latimer Road, then, via a now demolished link, to the West London Line to Addison Road and the DR to Mansion House. The service was operated jointly by the H&CR and the DR. On 9 September 1874, another extension was opened which took the DR west from Earl's Court to
West Kensington and
Hammersmith. Trains from Earl's Court could then travel via five different routes, and the station's efficient operation was central to the DR's success. The station was damaged by fire on 30 November 1875 and a more substantial replacement was built to the west of Earl's Court Road, opening on 1 February 1878. The original station site was redeveloped into shops and a post office around 1905. On 5 May 1878, The
Midland Railway began running a circuitous service known as the
Super Outer Circle from
St Pancras to Earl's Court via
Cricklewood and
South Acton. It operated over a now disused connection between the NLR and the
London and South Western Railway's branch to
Richmond (now part of the District line). The service was not a success and was ended on 30 September 1880. By the start of the 20th century competition from buses and the new electric
trams was eroding passenger numbers; to make itself more competitive, the DR began to plan the electrification of its services. An experimental service was operated for six months in 1900 when electric trains were tested over the section of track between Earl's Court and High Street Kensington. Following protracted negotiations with the MR over the method of electrification to be used, the first electrified section of the DR was opened in 1903. Electric services through Earl's Court began on 1 July 1905.
Piccadilly line On 30 June 1900, the Middle Circle service was withdrawn east of Earl's Court, which was the terminus of the service until 31 January 1905, when the service was cut back again to terminate at Addison Road. On 15 December 1906, the
Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR, now the Piccadilly line) opened between
Hammersmith and
Finsbury Park, serving Earl's Court from platforms in deep tube tunnels constructed beneath the surface station. Unlike at Gloucester Road and
South Kensington, other stations served by both the District and Piccadilly lines, a new building to house the
lifts to the deep level platforms was not required. Instead space was provided within the existing station, and the line ran in a deep tunnel beneath the District platforms. On 1 January 1909, Earl's Court became the terminus of the Outer Circle service when it stopped running east from there to Mansion House. By then, the service was operated by the
London and North Western Railway (LNWR, successor to the NLR).
Later developments On 4 October 1911, the first
escalators on the Underground opened at Earl's Court to supplement the lift access. They were promoted as "made entirely of fireproof material"; unlike the lifts, one could smoke on them. These operated from the GNP&BR platforms up to new passageways beneath the sub-surface District platforms. "Bumper" Harris, a one-legged engineer, rode the escalators on the first day of operation to reassure passengers of their safety. In 1936, the escalators were replaced in a contemporary style featuring cleated steps and combs, which had become standard elsewhere on the Underground network. They remain in use into the 21st century, though the wooden cladding has been removed because of fire regulations. A new station building on Earls Court Road opened in 1915. It was designed by District line architect Harry Ford and constructed from red brick. The Warwick Road entrance was rebuilt between 1936 and 1937 in the modern brick and glass style then employed by London Underground, though it retained the original facade from the opening of the Piccadilly line in 1905/6. During
World War II, bomb damage to the West London Line caused the closure of the line, and the Willesden to Earl's Court shuttle last ran on 2 October 1940. The section to Kensington (Olympia) was reopened on 19 December 1946 but ran only when exhibitions were open at
Olympia. The part of the station between the District and Piccadilly Lines was converted into a munitions factory used to make torpedo periscopes. A glass rotunda was added on top of the Warwick Road entrance in 1970. In 1984, the station was 'Grade II' listed as being of architectural and historical interest. The listing noted the 1878 train shed and the improvements in 1906 and 1937. The station underwent major refurbishment works in 2005. Additional lifts for the mobility impaired were added from the District line platforms. They initially suffered from operational issues, leading to a review of the equipment by Transport for London. In December 2006, work started on repairing the roof as part of a £10 billion restoration programme. At the 2009 National Railway Heritage Awards the reconstruction of the station's train shed roof gained a certificate of merit for the quality of the work carried out. In 2019, a report showed that Earl's Court was one of the most polluted stations in London. The levels of
nitrogen dioxide in the station complex approached , over three times the recommended objective limit of . It was concluded that the station was more polluted than Strand in the City of Westminster. ==Services==