THEVERDANTPATH St.PancrasMidland Railway Station
The construction of the stationwas not without its own special problems. Financially thewhole project depended on the capital markets, which were hitin 1866 by a major depression. Disaster was narrowly avoided despite widespread panic amongits investors and contractors.
On its way from Hampstead to the Thamesthe river Fleet’s effluent flowed through the site. Our Victorian forefathers treated this as a simple plumbing problem. Theysimply diverted the river and then encased it in a large metal sewer pipe.
The populated area around St. Luke’s lay in the middle of the proposed development. The church was simply moved stone by stone to Wanstead. Families living nearby were thrown out of their homes with out ceremony or recompense. Navies dug up the dead and cleared their decomposing bodies from the graveyard. The young apprentice architect, who supervised this macabre work during a cholera epidemic, soon afterwards exchanged his soiled spade for a pen. His name was Thomas Hardy.
In 1868 William Henry Barlow completed the shed of the southern terminal of theMidlands Railway, connecting London with the industrial wealth of the Midlands and Yorkshire. A narrow strip of land was left facing the main road for the proposed grand hotel.
In collaboration with Rowland Mason Ordish his 243ft single-span, 100ft. high glassed roof then covered the largest enclosed space in the world.
He raised the platforms on 20ft. high cast iron columns, the resulting undercroft, the area under the platforms, was used to store barrels of Burton-upon-Trent beer, with coal being the other important commodity transported. This allowed the trains to cross over the Regent’s Canal on a bridge, rather than having to burrow under it.
Disappearing under a cloud of coal-fired soot, surrounded by seedy streets, frequented by drunks and prostitutes, the station sank into a hinterland of industrial slumsand soon lost its intended prestigious status.Following a change of ownership the stationwas downgraded.The problem of smoke from the coal-fired steam engines was partially solved when the glass roof acquired added ventilation courtesy of the German Luftwaffe. The Clean Air Act of 1956and the electrification of the railways finally eliminated the problem. Following Dr. Beeching’s railways report of 1965, British Rail’s improvement plans, supported in principle by The Royal Fine ArtCommission, involved the wholesale demolition of both St. Pancras and Kings Cross stations, replacing them with one nice new modern contemporary Mega Station.
Fortunately for posterity, there was one member of the British Rail staff in the know, who knew that this would be ‘a criminal folly’, and discreetly blew his whistle in the ear of his friend John Betjeman. The recent destruction of Euston’s Great Hallwith its iconic NeoclassicalGateway and the imposition on London of the brutal architecture of the newly built Barbicanhad created a public receptive to Betjeman’smagic message for preservation championed by the Victorian Society,chaired by Nikolaus Pevsner.Once alerted,at the Ministry of Housing and Local Governmentin 1967,the hereditary LabourPeer Lord Wayland Youngpromptly upgraded the station and hotel from ‘scheduled for demolitionstatus’ to that of a protected Grade 1 listed building.
But it still remained shabby and neglected, with some suburban services being transferred to the Thames Link route. The prospect of a revival came with the creation of the Channel tunnel, when in 1996 it was designated as the home ofEurostar’s High Speed 1rail service, and renamed St. Pancreas International. Now£8 hundred million has been spent on a sympathetic redesign and refurbishment programme, under the assured hand of the British architect Alastair Lansley CBE. As Chief Architect and Curator he has blended a brilliant mix of high-tech ultra modern for the domestic services extension with Victorianperiod engineering to accommodate the longer Eurostar trains, that forms a seamless and aesthetically uplifting design. Thishas not only guaranteed the station’s future but it has now finally found the role that its creators aspired to andhas even surpassed its early prestige and glamour,not only as Great Britain’s gateway to and from the Continent, but as a destination in it’s own right.
In appreciation of his unique contribution,Betjeman’s accessible and cuddly bronze statue,designed by Martin Jennings, has been placed on a slate circle on the upper level of the station.He now stands proudly, his coat and hat blown by the wind of an arriving Eurostar engine, gazing up in awe at his restored station’ssky blue metal ribsthat float above pristine pink decorative brickwork,and all inspired by Augustus Pugin.
Station Restoration
Sir John Betjeman Statue Documentary