Brentford Road station originally had four platforms; two on the line to Richmond and two serving a loop (the Chiswick Curve) which connected to the line through Kew Bridge station.
Between 1 June 1870 and 31 October 1870 the Great Western Railway (GWR) briefly ran services from Paddington to Richmond via Hammersmith & City Railway (now the Hammersmith & City line) tracks to Grove Road then on the L&SWR tracks through Gunnersbury.
The station was given its current name in 1871.
On 1 June 1877, the District Railway (DR, now the District line) opened a short extension from its terminus at Hammersmith to connect to the L&SWR tracks east of Ravenscourt Park station. The DR then began running trains over the L&SWR tracks to Richmond. On 1 October 1877, the Metropolitan Railway (MR, now the Metropolitan line) restarted the GWR's former service to Richmond via Grove Road station.
The DR's service between Richmond, Hammersmith and central London was more direct than the NLR's route via Willesden Junction, the L&SWR's or the MR's routes via Grove Road station or the L&SWR's other route from Richmond via Clapham Junction. From 1 January 1894, the GWR began sharing the MR's Richmond service and served Gunnersbury once again, meaning that passengers from Gunnersbury could travel on the services of five operators.
Following the electrification of the DR's own tracks north of Acton Town in 1903, the DR funded the electrification of the tracks through Gunnersbury. The tracks on the Richmond branch were electrified on 1 August 1905. Whilst DR services were operated with electric trains, the L&SWR, NLR, GWR and MR services continued to be steam hauled.
MR services were withdrawn on 31 December 1906 and GWR services were withdrawn on 31 December 1910 leaving operations at Gunnersbury to the DR (by then known as the District Railway), the NLR and L&SWR. By 1916, the L&SWR's route through Hammersmith was being out-competed by the District to such a degree that the L&SWR withdrew its service between Richmond and Addison Road on 3 June 1916, leaving the District as the sole operator over that route.
In 1932, the Chiswick Curve was closed and the tracks were later removed. The site of the curve is now known as a housing estate known as Chiswick Village.
The new London Overground line names and colours were introduced across the London rail network in November 2024
On 8 December 1954 the station was damaged by a tornado which ripped off the roof and injured six people.[9][10][11]
In the 1960s the station was redeveloped with just the two platforms it currently possesses. The London Overground and London Underground services share the same tracks.
London Underground is classed as an open access operator between Richmond and Acton Lane Junction with LU purchasing individual slots on the North London line from Network Rail.