St Pancras Railway Station
Wednesday, 14th November 2007 by Alex Turnbull
Today marks the launch of London's new Channel Tunnel1 rail link, High Speed 1 - which from now on terminates here at the "Cathedral of the railways", St Pancras railway station.
The station actually comprises two of the most celebrated structures of the Victorian era. In our first thumnbail we can see the clock tower of St Pancras Chambers (formerly the Midland Grand Hotel), which remains one of the most impressive examples of Victorian gothic architecture anywhere in Britain.
The Midland Grand Hotel closed in 1935, and the building was used as offices until the 60s, when only a public campaign saved it from being knocked down. The building became vacant in the 1980s2, and since 2005 it's been under renovation, and will soon once again be a hotel.
The Barlow Trainshed, designed by William Henry Barlow and completed in 1868, was the largest single-span structure built up to that time. The single span roof is 74 metres across, and was actually employed purely to make maximum use of the space without obstructions.
The trainshed has received a full renovation in preparation for its new role as the London terminus of High Speed 1, and we can see the work in progress in Google's images.
Here's more about St Pancras at Wikipedia. Thanks to Radio 2.
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"The Chunnel" - the longest undersea tunnel in the world. ↩︎
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The deserted building became a popular location for film and tv crews, appearing in many productions including the Spice Girls' first video and Batman Begins. ↩︎
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
I was here only yesterday – i notice they are planning an ‘exclusive’ apartment in the Hotel renovation. Its a snip at £10m! I’ll take two! 🙁
The train shed really is very, very big: http://www.flickr.com/photos/olly/1518224814/
I was looking at the run to the Old Oak Common service depot – they’ve upgraded two lines to the north of St Paininthe@rse, one round the back of Camden Town, across the foot of Parliament Hill fields, under Hampstead, then straight across Terrorist country (Kilburn and the back-end of Wormwood Scrubs were the London bombers worked from) to Old Oak Common, the other joining the Euston mainline before rejoining the first at Willesden Junction. The odd thing about that one is that there’s no overhead catenaries un the last leg, so perhaps it’s the feeder to the North, in which case you’ve got to change at Kings Cross if you’re on the North-East line.
I can’t believe you’re posting images of St. Pancras station and yet you fail to mention the fantastic building located directly next door to the west–that of the British Library, quite possibly the most significant research library in the world! Opened in 1997, the library itself was founded in 1973, although the original collection (which was gathered by a number of king’s but most notably expanded by King George III) has been in existence since the 1400s. The original collection has been housed in such notable places as St. James’s Palace, Montagu House (the original site of the British Museum), and more recently at the location of the current British Museum. (Since its removal from the British Museum, the room dedicated to the King’s Library has been renovated and is now known as the Enlightenment Gallery.) Not only is it an important research facility but it is an incredible resource for historical and archival purposes which the country is currently taking for granted. Budget cuts may force the library to charge fees for its services, which are currently free to all academic users. Plus, I spend a good deal of time there myself, so I of course feel it is of particular importance and should definitely be featured here soon!