St Pancras StationIn 1866 the ancient churchyard of St Pancras was excavated for the new Midlands Railway line into London. Both the train shed and the Midland Grand Hotel, the constituent parts of the new station, are outstanding structures: the train shed for its structural daring and drama, the hotel for its heroic attempt to adapt Gothic architecture for the requirements of modernity. In 2002 more of the churchyard was excavated as part of the station's transformation for the Channel Tunnel terminus. The work, to be finished in 2007, will reinvent St Pancras as the main hub for rail travellers between the UK and Europe. In the years between, the station has flourished but has also come close to being demolished. Simon Bradley examines this fascinating story of changes in taste and of our understanding of the past. It is a reminder of the revolutionary effects of the railway and of how the innovations of the Industrial Revolution have weathered subsequent technological change. St Pancras demands to be understood for the continuing thrall in which great urban monuments can hold us. The Wonders of the World is a series of books that focuses on some of the world's most famous sites or monuments. Their names will be familiar to almost everyone: they have achieved iconic stature and are loaded with a fair amount of mythological baggage. These monuments have been the subject of many books over the centuries, but our aim, through the skill and stature of the writers, is to get something much more enlightening, stimulating, even controversial, than straightforward histories or guides. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
A. W. N. Pugin allowed alongside archi architect Barlow's train shed Birmingham booking hall Britain British Rail Brunel built Cambridge Camden Society capital carriages century church competition construction Continental corridor decade departures arch early engineer England English entrance Eurostar Euston Road extra favour floor frontage building function Gavin Stamp George Gilbert Scott giant girders glazing Gothic Revival guests History included interior iron ironwork King's Cross late later less lift locomotives London materials meant medieval metres Midland Grand Hotel Midland Railway modern motifs Neo-Gothic Northern original Paddington Palace passengers photograph platforms Pugin railway companies railway station Railway's rival roof rooms route Ruskin secular side Society space span St Pancras Station St Pancras's staircase station hotel stone story Street structure style terminus timber tion town train shed train-shed tunnel viaducts Victorian Architecture walls Western