It is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, between East Finchley and Archway stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 3.

[8][9][n 1] Due to the hilly terrain, the station was built in a deep cutting excavated from Highgate Hill, adjacent to Archway Road.

[9] A branch line was constructed from Highgate to Alexandra Palace by the Muswell Hill Railway (MHR) and was opened on 24 May 1873.

[16][n 4] Northern line services were extended from East Finchley to High Barnet on 14 April 1940 [15] and started serving the deep level platforms at Highgate on 19 January 1941, though not all of the new station buildings had been completed.

[9] The deep-level platforms were constructed 490 feet (150 m) long to accommodate extra-long nine-car trains, which were planned for services on the Northern line but never served Highgate, having been withdrawn at the start of the war.

In early 1946, the conversion of the LNER line from Mill Hill East to Edgware was scheduled by the LPTB for completion between January 1947 and June 1948.

Funds for new works were severely limited and priority was given to the completion of the western and eastern extensions of the Central line to West Ruislip, Epping and Hainault.

[26] Despite being shown as under construction on Underground maps as late as 1950,[n 8] work never restarted on the unimplemented parts of the Northern Heights project.

[31][n 9] After a temporary closure between October 1951 and January 1952, British Railways (the successor to the LNER) ran the last passenger services between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace on 3 July 1954.

[35][n 11] When works were finished in 1957, a single and upwards only escalator was provided to take passengers from the sub-surface ticket hall up to a simple exit at the top of the cutting.

[39] Much of the route between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace now forms part of the Parkland Walk, although this bypasses the station site for safety reasons.

[41] The current station consists of a central subterranean ticket hall, with escalators leading down to 2 separate 9-car long platforms.

[48] Jerry Springer, mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, and later a TV host, was born at Highgate tube station in 1944 during a World War II bombing raid by the Luftwaffe.