This map, designed by Leslie MacDonald Gill, was published in 1914 by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London.

It was commissioned by Frank Pick, the company’s commercial director, with the aim of improving the use of the London Underground. At the start of the 20th century, the London Underground had a clear structural problem: it operated at full capacity during rush hour and ran half-empty for the rest of the day. With this map, Pick sought to convince Londoners that the Underground was also a means of transport for leisure and exploring the city.

The Wonderground Map, whose name combines wonder (amazement) and Underground (underground network), shows all the stations that were in operation on the network in 1914, as well as theatres, museums, parks and monuments. This highlights how the underground network provided access to all these places, whilst the aesthetic blends humour and social satire. The map’s design also eschews geometric accuracy in favour of being a good pictorial map. The main streets are shown in bright yellow, the parks in green, the River Thames in blue, and all the Underground stations as a red building with a blue band – the colours of the London Underground.

MacDonald Gill designed three different versions of this map for the company. In addition to this one, dating from 1914, he designed the second version in 1924, to mark the British Empire Exhibition held in London that year, and the third in 1927.

The Wonderground Map is an essential reference in the history of pictorial urban maps and in the history of graphic design applied to public transport. You can read more about this genre here special issue on pictorial maps.

Sources

• London Wonderground Map