[8] The station is at the corner of Long Acre and James Street and the street-level concourse is a Grade II listed building.

[10] To connect the two companies' planned routes, the UERL obtained permission for new tunnels between Piccadilly Circus and Holborn.

[11][12][13] The station was opened by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway on 11 April 1907, four months after services on the rest of the line began operating on 15 December 1906.

In 2011, English Heritage gave the station frontage Grade II listed status,[6][7] on account of it being a good example of Leslie Green's architecture.

As part of Transport for London's investment programme, the ageing tiling dating back from the station's opening was replaced in 2010 in a like-for-like basis, retaining the look and feel of the platforms.

[22] At the bottom of the staircase, numerous posters, warning users of the long climb ahead, suggest they make use of the station’s lifts instead.