Answers And Appropriate Additions.
Kings Cross
This was a bit of a cheat because fbb missed out most of the the actual station. Here is how architect Thomas Cubitt envisioned the station as he submitted his designs …
… and here is what the railway company, London Underground, Islington Council managed to do to spoil it.
Clutter remained until new clutter was provided in 1973 in the form of a bigger and better Underground station access.
With the new booking hall and entrance on the western (left hand side) …
… most of the clutter has now been removed. An underground entrance remains …
… but from a little further to the east, Mr Cubitt’s facade is revealed in all its glory.
It is worth remembering that the King’s Statue (George IV. Never a cross in any sense of the word) …
The area we know as King’s Cross gets its name from a long-lost memorial to George IV. And everybody HATED it.
This is the original King’s Cross, a towering folly topped with a statue of the fourth George. It was built in 1830 (with the statue added in 1835) as part of a road improvement scheme. It lasted only until 1845:
It is also worth remembering that there was a proposal to CLOSE St Pancras station and merge it with a rebuilt Kings Cross.
The statue of John Betjeman at St Pancras railway station, London is a depiction in bronze by the sculptor Martin Jennings. The statue was designed and cast in 2007 and was unveiled on 12 November 2007 by Betjeman’s daughter, Candida Lycett Green and the then Poet Laureate Andrew Motion to commemorate Betjeman and mark the opening of St Pancras International as the London terminus of the Eurostar high-speed rail link between Great Britain and mainland Europe. The location memorialises the connection between St Pancras station and Betjeman, an early and lifelong advocate of Victorian architecture.
He is often (wrongly!) credited with saving St Pancras from demolition. The proposal to merge with Kings Cross, in the end, turned out to be impractical so the scheme was dropped.
Broad Street
The terminus of the North London Line from Richmond – another bit of London’s railway network once proposed for closure. The station building was closed off in 1956 and decline continued despite a half-hearted attempt to rejuvenate the North London Line.
When fbb visited some 60 years ago it was a grey, grim and ghoulish place with the only access being via the staircase on the side of the former station building. But as the video below explains, minimal services hung on – just!
Of course, the much revived Overground has changed the North London line out of all recognition.
Services from Richmond run every 15 minutes and are joined by the same frequency from Clapham Junction offering eight trains an hour to Stratford!
The East London line which runs to several South London destinations is better described as “frequent” running via Shoreditch High Street – offering 16 trains an hour (Mon to Sat) from Dalston Junction to Surrey Quays and beyond.
All round, an astounding improvement.
Liverpool Street
fbb blogged about Liverpool Street and the proposals for redevelopment a while back. This is (roughly) where the gateway is in the picture above …
… and from higher up c/o Google Earth!
The latest proposals, which involve ripping the “hotei” section apart and building upwards …
… have not gone down a bundle with Londoners. You can spot the “hotel” block under the massive extras in white plastic.
Which brings us to Liverpool Street’s predecessor.
Bishopsgate
Post 1875 this became a goods station, possibly the best looking goods station in the UK. The very poor picture below shows the substantial extensions made to accommodate the goods traffic.
Next a better shot of the “goods entrance” (and exit) for road vehicles.
The main structure was destroyed by fire in 1964.
The site is mostly empty now, but there are a few treasured remnants of the boundary wall …
… but you would have to know.
Google Earth, looking east, shows the former premises all green with the Shoreditch High Street Overground station on the left.
This is ihe view from the east …
…and this is the proposal!
Some on-line sources suggest that the original scheme is to be reduced in scope. Work starts in 2024, we are told.
Will that historic boundary wall be included in the development? Do the developers even know the history?
More Termini tomorrow.
Next Summer Quiz answers blog : Wednesday 23rd Aug
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