 The station was planned by the Great Northern and Strand Railway (GN & SR), which had received parliamentary approval for a route from Wood Green station (now Alexandra Palace) to Strand in 1899. After the GN & SR was taken over by the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway (B & PCR) in September 1901, the two companies came under the control of Charles Yerkes'Metropolitan District Electric Traction Company before being transferred to his new holding company, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) in June 1902. To connect the two companies' planned routes, the UERL obtained permission for new tunnels between Piccadilly Circus and Holborn. The companies were formally merged as the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway following parliamentary approval in November 1902.
