Victorian Architecture Continued

 Following on from an earlier post on Victorian Architecture we pick things up in the 1860s.

1865

St Pancras Station/ Midland Grand Hotel / St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel

In London 1865 while Midland Railway were constructing St. Pancras station they held a competition to design the station front and an adjacent 150 bedroom hotel. Midland Railway had decided to build their own terminus in London allowing better access to the capital for passengers on their extensive network across the North of England and the Midlands. The site chosen was located next to King's Cross Station, owned by rival company Great Northern Railway. Midland Railway decided their new station was to be an engineering masterpiece with architect William Henry Barlow designing a single span, iron roof that would create the largest enclosed space ever built in the world.

St Pancras A Cathedral Of The Railways

Architect George Gilbert Scott who was best known for his work in the Gothic Revival style on cathedral and church construction and restoration and designing the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, ignored the room limitation submitted an entry for a grand, Gothic hotel with 300 rooms, his designs featured a tall clock tower, spires, turrets, rows of decorative windows, dormer windows and arched entrances, best suited to an extravagant cathedral, the interior was to incorporate a grand staircase, walls adorned with gold leaf detailing and a fireplace in every room, his designs also called for modern features such as revolving doors, lifts, concrete floors, fireproofing and even bathrooms. Despite his plans exceeding the required specifications and cost Midland Railway were impressed with his vision and George Gilbert Scott won the competition. The company decided that the materials used in the construction of the new station and hotel from the bricks and stone to even the mortar between them would come from the Midlands and it was built to showcase the products and skill of the area. It soon became apparent however just how costly this grand vision was and to save money the amount of floors up to the roofline was altered from five to four.