In Oracle APEX 5.1 it's possible to remove the Component View from the Page Designer.
From the Page Designer open the browsers console window and type the following code:
From the Page Designer open the browsers console window and type the following code:
$("#componentView,[aria-controls='componentView']").remove();pageDesigner.storeTabsLayout();
This is a per user preference, and persists across APEX sessions.
For more details see John Snyders' blog, I've just repeated it here so I don't forget.