The station served as the terminus of the line's western fork until 18 August 1924 when the second and final section of the extension to Edgware was opened.

When it was built it stood "in lonely glory amid fields", as one writer puts it, south of the old village of Hendon, which has since been swallowed up by London's suburbs.

[11] The fact that the area was largely undeveloped allowed a hitherto unusual degree of coordination between the station and the surrounding buildings that were constructed over the next few years.

The station was intended to be the centre and a key architectural feature of a new suburban town; it faces a circus 240 feet (73 m) in diameter that is intersected by four approach roads which provide access to all parts of Hendon and the surrounding areas beyond.

Writing in 1932, William Passingham commented the integrated approach taken at Hendon Central as "an outstanding example of the co-ordination of road-planning with passenger station requirements."