Euston Station is a strong contender for the most boring railway terminus in London. But it wasn’t always this way... ko-fi.com/jagohazzard / jagohazzard
I'm fascinated by The Euston Arch. It just seems so tragic, knowing something that grand was demolished. Looking at photos, it doesn't look like something that existed, but otherworldly.
The same thing happened in New York at around the same time. The old Penn Station was demolished to build a sports arena. This caused enough of an uproar that Grand Central, and many other stations around the country, were spared from the "urban renewal" craze in the following years.
@Mr Spoon Yes, that was the "urban renewal craze" I mentioned. Many cities across the country were effected, not just New York. They saw it as a way to reverse the "flight to the suburbs" (which it didn't). However, the fate of Penn Station focused attention on preservation of historically significant buildings, in the U.S., like Euston did in the UK.
The thing that hurts most about the loss of Penn Station, to me, is that the architects of the original terminal obviously designed it to last centuries, a monument to rail, to New York, to America, even, and it barely lasted half a century.
@@JagoHazzard I'm quite a big fan of the brutalism of the period although I agree that they shouldn't have demolished old Euston and also that Euston is an ugly building
I think that’s unfair. Whilst the outside of the station is modest and those office blocks dominate, the interior of the booking hall was well designed with interesting and high quality materials and shapes on the flooring and ceilings. Modifications over the years, especially the addition of the mezzanine level and wooden cladding on the surfaces, have been extremely detrimental to the original conception. The low level train shed at the back was always a bit dark and frumpy, mind.
I don’t see how they can find something that was destroyed. A few sections maybe but no attempt was made at the time to preserve most of the original. Do you have more info. on this ?
My first job in tunneling was as a chain boy assisting the engineer with his survey and build QA. This was on an existing tunnel that needed electrification mounted in the roof of the tunnel so the tunnel had to be enlarged. The tunnel ran from chalk farm, under the roundhouse to the marshaling yard at Euston, it was used to run empty carriages into the station. A short while later I was employed again as a chain boy resurveying the streets around Euston in preparation for the upcoming Victoria Line Tube. I can remember the Arch but it and the gardens were just a hang out for wino's and Ladies of the Night. Trouble was we were working at night when foot traffic was lighter. The next time I visited Euston was on the construction of the Victoria line station, for that we constructed access shafts and new passageways plus some lift shafts. I also worked out at Walthamstow digging the tubes lines and stations. The 60s were swinging for me, a nice fat wage packet each week, girls in mine shirts and a Mini Cooper, a young lads paradise.
I still find it amazing that in a city which loves to demolish things as much as Birmingham does, the original terminus at Curzon Street has survived all these years.
Jago - You’ve scored a hit here! I ‘ve never seen so many public comments on one subject. Excellent video, as expected. I saw Euston being demolished in March 1963, and saw the original Stephenson roofs, not yet taken down. I hated the 1960s, when it felt like half the railway system was being smashed up. My favourite London termini are Paddington and King’s Cross; both seem to have survived without much of the fine architecture being ruined.
The 'new' Euston made up for a lot of the old stations shortcomings... The parcel deliveries all went (and still go) up onto the roof and the post goes onto the platforms via its own access road beneath the concourse, so they dont interfere with passengers. It was a good system and just a shame that now parcels and mail no longer run on the railways. The big open concourse was a revelation when it opened and, despite what the train spotters will have you believe, was - and is - very popular with passengers. Big departure board in front. Tickets to the left. waiting rooms to the right, underground and taxis behind you. In recent years its all been rejigged with extra food outlets but the basic concept remains. Before then - and this is from my Father - Euston was a maze. For example, trying to catch the tube meant leaving the station and crossing the road to a separate building! The replacement was never pretty on the outside but the addition of the offices between it and the Euston Road in the early 1980s wiped out even the ability to see it! But the rebuild WAS needed, particularly with the addition of the Victoria line at the same time, making sense of the terrible tube station. Much of the old station was no loss architecturally, Its just a shame the Arch and some aspect of the Great Hall, couldnt have been retained
''very popular with passengers'' ....er, like who? No one I know says they love the station. They say it's difficult to find your way around, difficult to find the main entrance (if you're not a Londoner), hardly any seating (though all London's termini have this problem), and generally not that nice to wait around in.
@@robtyman4281 I agree its hard to find the entrance but thats mainly because of the office blocks that were built between the station and Euston Road in the 1980's. I have seen several passenger BR surveys, old and new. and Euston ALWAYS came top or near the top of 'best station'. Like I said, when reading rail enthusiasts posts, magazines and websites, its easy to believe Euston is hated but thats not the case? Compared to the ins and outs of Victoria (now that IS hard to find your way around), the choking diesel fumes of Paddington and the vastness of Waterloo, Euston scores well with visitors and Londoners alike. Its the nostalgia buffs that dislike it but they arent the ones the railways rely on for income
@@jimtuite3451 Yeah I do agree with you on that, Euston is ugly architecturally wise but I find it far more user friendly and easier to navigate than say St. Pancras (this is gonna be controversial), Victoria or Paddington. And don't get me started on Birmingham New Street.
@@hi-viz While the open space of the new shopping centre is better I do agree with you on Birmingham New Street. I remember when it was opened after the rebuild a couple years back and I had no idea where I was supposed to go! As for Euston I don't mind it inside but outside I would say the 80s office blocks do a good job of hiding the building. Unfortunately I wasn't born when the it was in it's former guise, and neither was my dad.
Kings X was my favourite London terminus , many hours in childhood with my Ian Allen Eastern Region book crossing of the numbers, while eating lunch of corn beef sandwiches at the end of platform 10.
"Even by the bleak standards of Sixties architecture, Euston is one of the nastiest concrete boxes in London: devoid of any decorative merit; seemingly concocted to induce maximum angst among passengers; and a blight on surrounding streets. The design should never have left the drawing-board - if, indeed, it was ever on a drawing-board. It gives the impression of having been scribbled on the back of a soiled paper bag by a thuggish android with a grudge against humanity and a vampiric loathing of sunlight". -- Richard Morrison, The Times
About 60% of the stone work still exists. On demolition the remains were used as in fill in the River Lea navigation. Some stones were fished out when the area was done up in preparation for the 2012 Olympics. Another lump was discovered as part of a rockery in Enfield If they do rebuild it, it would be great if as much of the surviving stone as possible was re-used
There is a similarly hideous station at the other end - Birmingham new Street - an underground maze with no Ariadne's thread, and a shopping centre above it.
But vastly better than it used to be - at least the above ground section is smart now. The most unbelievably stupid decision when rebuilding was not to provide extra tracks to the east to relieve the bottleneck, which is why HS2 will have to go into Curzon Street instead. But at least one will see the "other" arch then!
@@iankemp1131 Try to get a taxi. It used to be 10 paces across the concourse to the taxi rank. Now it's a few hundred metres through a shopping centre. A long walk with luggage in those circumstances is not an improvement. If you are suggesting that the shopping centre is an improvement on the previous shopping centre - I agree. But the station - that bit set aside for travellers - is worse than before. It used to be that you went through the ticket barrier and were presented with different platforms. Now there are 4+ ticket barrier areas, and you can never be sure which one you are going to pop out of on arrival. A single improvement for rail users (apart from a slight widening of platforms) is entry on the same level as the concourse. In the old days having to go up a ramp, across a shopping centre, then down escalators with yobs spitting from above, was unpleasant.
Right to the end of Steam, Camden bank was a problem. The reason for the troughs at Bushey were there so locos at the head of heavy express trains could leave Euston, and climb Camden bank with the tenders half empty, then dip for water at Bushey, where as if the exit been less steap, the troughs would have been around Northampton!
Is there an explanation for the way trains coming in to Euston habitually slow down to a crawl for that last mile or two,after emerging into the daylight from the tunnels around Queens Park,etc.?
i luv euston station,my first visit to london from where i live in lancashire all seemed very modern back in 1981 as a 19 year old,then over the years i saw all the other london terminus stations when i visited,euston has a good vibe to it,the station will grow on you,st pancras is amazing,and euston is to me to.
I need to go see Kings X & the modern St Pancras (screens of me and my Ian Allen books from 1955-60), next time I am in the UK. Last time we turned up at Waterloo, what a joy that is now.
I used to work at Euston Underground. Knew of the Doric Arch Propylaeum, as I've heard it called. It was sinful and criminal to demolish what was an impressive entrance and structure of giant proportions. The current Euston, rebuilt in the 60's is boring and doesn't have the grandeur of the old station. I can only assume back in the 50's and 60's, unlike now, the appreciation of the heritage value wasn't considered as much. Today we have a tendancy to want to preserve things from times past. I made a model of the Doric Arch in 2001, still have it. It was said some stones are lying about somwhere.
It was a Propylaeum, not an arch, with side pavilions. I loved the old station and especially the Great Hall which was restored by BR to the original paint scheme. You could read its extensions in the ironwork and even see where the original line had been. I then worked at the new concrete station-cold and soulless. Harold Macmillan, the PM hardly gave the request for demolition a glance. I believe the demolition contractor offered to resite the Propyleum at his own expense. Interestingly, The LMS wanted to rebuild the station before the War. I don't expect they would have saved much either. How Ernest Marples was contractor for the M1 construction while still Minister of Roads (sorry, Transport), beggars belief.
As I live in Birmingham this fascinates me. I've been in the listed entrance building at Curzon St with its beautiful columns on the front, which mirrored the Euston Arch in style. It is the last remaining piece of the B'ham Station & one of the oldest standing pieces of railway architecture in the world. It's going to be incorporated into the new HS2 station.
Apparently, the main reason for the arch being demolished wasn't to make way for the main line station (which ends well before where the arch was) but to facilitate digging a hole to rebuild the tube station - hence it was demolished well before the rest of the station. Apparently, according to parliamentary records, demolishing it cost £12,000, whereas relocating it would have cost £190,000. While the pieces were numbered, supposedly to allow future reconstruction, the authorities allowed them to be scattered around London on the flimsy excuse that nowhere could be found to store them. Around 60% ended up lining the Prescott Channel, while other bits found their way into the gardens of those involved in the demolition. Sadly, while various people have expressed an interest in seeing it rebuilt, given the government's asked that the new-new station be redesigned (probably at least partially to cut costs, given the spiralling costs of the HS2 project), rebuilding the arch probably won't occur to them (or be cited as too costly - especially if some parts have to be rebuilt due to being unobtainable).
Really enjoyable video, thanks. My 4x Great Uncle was Matthew Kirtley, He was born in February 1813 in Clough Dene, Tanfield Co Durham. Tanfield was a pioneering place in the development of the railway and Kirtley joined the Stockton & Darlington Railway as an apprentice aged 13 in 1826 and would have worked under either the Stephensons or Timothy Hackworth. He was present as a 16 year old at the Rainhill trials, and he was soon on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway working as a fireman. His career was closely linked to George and Robert Stephenson's and it was with their help that Kirtley’s career progressed - he became an engine driver and by 1836 he was employed by the London & Birmingham railway looking after locomotives and static engines at Camden shed. It is said that it was he who drove the first train into the Euston station.
You've left out what happened next. He became Locomotive Superintendent of the Birmingham & Derby Jnct Rly, which became part of the Midland Railway, which is where he became famous as their first Loco Supt, designing many successful locomotives, dying in office in 1873.
Thank goodness architects are beginning to see beyond the dull designs of Le Corbusier and looking to other architectural styles of the past. Resurrecting the arch would surely be the final nail in the coffin of the nightmare urban planning of the 50s and 60s.
Ernest Marples, whose line of business let us not forget, was road construction, and a crook of the first order. And Beeching? Don't get me started. I do remember reading that there was a meeting at BR., with Beeching and rank and file BR employees, most of whom were due to lose their livelihoods. One man was asked: "What do you want from Dr. Beeching?" The man's reply was short, but perfect: "His testicles in an eggcup."
I'm a great fan of St Pancras, so much so that I actually loved prior to the Eurostar. While working on a Masters degree at Leicester I used it frequently.
@@JagoHazzard Only slightly? It's been desecrated, made into an airport-like shopping mall with a railway attached. I grew up in St Albans, so St Pancras was our London terminal, as it was in later years when I was working in London, and I could buy a bag of plums or cherries at the little fruit stall on the station concourse. I just hate it now.
The Euston Arch is iconic. It would be nice to bring it back. But what did the station look like. I've never seen a satisfactory image of the outside of whatever building was behind that Arch by the time it was destroyed. A former frequent traveller from Euston.
I imagine that once you'd walked through the Euston Arch the front of the station building was unremarkable, I'm only guessing though. The interior was beautiful and there are photos available. www.wikiwand.com/en/Euston_railway_station en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euston_Arch#/media/File:Euston_Arch.jpg
Here's a good aerial view of Euston in 1936 : www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW049910 (you can navigate to different angles too). By this time the late-Victorian hotel had been built across the entrace road, blocking the view of the arch from Euston Road. The aerial views also make clear what the famous lithograph of the station in its early days and many photos of the Arch in the 20th century do not - that the Arch was a long way back from the Road, and that the original lodges which survive today are not the ones which flanked the Arch. As far as I can tell the Arch was pretty much on the spot occupied today by the Krispy Kreme outlet! This is one of the reasons why BR were not too fussed about preserving the Arch - it had been essentially hidden to anyone who wasn't already inside the station precinct and hadn't been the iconic, public-facing symbol that it is often made out to be for the best part of 75 years. Not that I agree at all with it being removed! The aerial photos also show that even the 'old' Euston was something of a mess both in terms of architecture and layout. Which the new one singularly failed to improve on!
There was an elegant walkway at right angles to the platforms. Behind that was the Great Hall and Shareholders' Meeting Room which in the 1950s was used as an exhibition space.
My dad used to take me to Euston to watch trains when I was about 8...1956, and what a beautiful station it was then. So depressing to see how little the "modern world" cared for it. Its reconstruction would be welcomed, even though it would be a poignant reminder of how many other wonderful features of the early railways have been destroyed.
Euston's main saving grace is it's a simple station to navigate and the departures board is easy to follow, and in recent years, the choice of places to eat and shop is so much better than the British Rail buffet on the first floor and WH Smiths from the old days. Yet it is a boring building, the approach to the platforms is dark and miserable, and the passage to the Underground is claustrophobic.
Controversial but having had to deal with Victoria (and on a similar tier, Waterloo) as my main station growing up, I have great appreciation for the interior of Euston and how easy it is to go from tube to train, train to tube, plus the "waiting room" on a mezzanine overlooking the concourse and the departure board. While it interfaces badly with the street and the outside world (trying to find the entrance when walking from St Pancras Thameslink was a nightmare), it is a great interchange and I dread to think what it may look like Post-HS2 given how stations seem to increasingly be mazes.
I used to work in one of the office blocks outside Euston, it was as boring inside as it was outside. My favourite terminus was Broad Street. When I used it in the 70's it was in a dreadful state, and the buffet, or cafe was so neglected that it still had a "Festival of Britain" sticker in the window.
Our much awarded architects over the years since 1945 have much to answer for in their destruction of many fine buildings. The cry was and is still ringing in my ears: ‘off with the old and on with the new’. And this was echoed by many in the lower ranks of society within a particular political party. Everything that was modern is better.
There are pieces of the arch sitting on the lawn the last time I was in London in 2018. The two small buildings adjacent to it are now very fine pubs. They still need larger loos, though. Great beer selection, check it out!
Many of the current buildings at the front of Euston station have been added since the 1960s rebuild BR was expert at either using spare land and air space for office developments and getting income from so doing, or selling surplus land off; around St Pancras, the British Library is on the old Somers Town goods depot site, there is housing on the coal yards around Brill Place, etc - disposal or development of the King's Cross railway lands was delayed by the construction of HS1. They even managed to get a new railway built by developers between Blackfriars and approximately the site of Holborn Viaduct station. Gradually, land in front of the rebuilt Euston was built on, and so now the actual railway station terminal building is difficult to see; it isn't the most beautiful of station termini, but it is practical and very much of its time. If it was to have been rebuilt say thirty years later it would probably have been very different because there wouldn't have been the need to provide facilities for Royal Mail and parcels, and it might then have been possible to have a trainshed with more glass and retain the Propylaeum (but not the Great Hall) - what are now Overground services to Watford have never been more than 120m in length, and so the station could possibly have managed with a couple of short platforms behind it, longer platforms fanning out on either side. Also remember that BR was driven by a simple question when it considered investment in something like the new Euston; how many extra bums on seats would a prettier - and more expensive - station generate?
OMG, I am old! I used Euston for 3 years, as a student at UCL, from 1969. It was almost brand new then, as was the Victoria line. There was no plethora of office blocks then between the station entrance and Euston Square gardens. Now you say it is due a rebuild. OMG indeed!
2:30 Great still being able to see the cargo rails visible in Camden Market. And two restored examples of the cargo-handling robots that criss-crossed the yard throughout the 1890s and 1900s!
When it was pointed out to him that there might be a teeny bit of a conflict of interests however, he divested all his shares in the construction company....to his wife.
I remember I was visiting Family in coventry we had no idea abot HS2 and when we came back we accidentally got on the new trains we got of the next stop down and had to an hour for another train
I have read somewhere that the original plan was to have UCL Hospital rebuilt on top of the station site (bit like Guys even though it's not on top), but as you know it was eventually put on Euston Road. My favourite use of Euston was in a 70s Tomorrow's World special about the Channel Tunnel, they depicted Euston as a "London Central" for all those trains from North of London to the continent.....
For Ian Kemp~ Ian, Dr Beeching’s legacy is this: huge areas of the UK are now devoid of railways , and there was no logic to the recommendations for closures on the super scale. So many towns lost railway connections. The most efficient railway route, the Great Central, from Marylebone to Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield, etc., got the chop while Barney Arms in Norfolk (population c 0) is still around. Railwaymen by the hundred thousand lost their careers. As so many people now know, Beeching and Ernest Marples (the worst ever Transport Minister) worked together. I have never met anyone who thought that Beeching was good for the railway industry and the country. One could say far more, but I think that you and I are in opposite corners on this subject.
What I can’t understand is why ,at the time they couldn’t simply have buried the dismantled arch for future generations to rebuild - like now. There would have been enough places to put it and it wouldn’t have incurred much extra cost to do so. But then, I suppose if Ernest Marples had a hand in it, the arch was doomed.
‘Hey whatever man’ the Architectural ethos of the modern world of concrete glass and steel. The arch was from a time when folk had pride in what they made and they would make it beautiful, completely pointlessly, just because they could. I love your work Mr Hazzard Sir. I may have mentioned this before.
I was stationed at Lossiemouth in the early eighties and coming from Gloucestershire, was always torn between Kings Cross for the west coast main line or Euston for the east coast main line. ...in the days when travelling by train was fun.
In the US there was a similar situation that helped lead to historic preservation. Old Penn Station in New York City was a grand station that was replaced by a station in the basement of the new Madison Square Garden. As a result when Grand Central Station was threatened with being torn down it was preserved and eventually renovated. Today it is a great gem in the middle of the city.
@@JagoHazzard Especially what replaced it. The new station is literally in the basement of the city's main indoor arena. But it saved Grand Central, as well as other grand stations like Union Stations in Chicago and Washington. My Euston Station story involved Gordon Brown's children. It was not long after the 2010 election (the Late May Bank holiday weekend about 3 weeks after the election) and we were heading up to Scotland. My kids started climbing over something they probably should not have been climbing on and who joins them but Gordon Brown's kids. Sarah Brown's attempts to get the kids to sit down and behave were about as successful as ours.
Wow, I didn’t really know about the history of Euston, but when I did spend some time there in 1997 when I took a trip to Liverpool, I figured it was different.
I think given the current state of the west coast mainline, Euston fulfills its job of warning travellers "This station is evil and if you try and catch a train from here there's a 50/50 chance of you reaching your destination" really well
Barring Heathrow Airport, Euston station is the most unpleasant travel experience I have ever had. Being glared at by rifle-totimg policemen whilst scrambling through the melee to get up or down the stairs to the tube is not something I want to repeat any time soon.
They should definitely build that beautiful Arch again 🤞 Great video, I'm actually inside Kings Cross St. Pancras right now 😊😂 Watching this video inside, sipping a hot tea from Kings Cross Pret 😊
Now that was interesting I have heard so many people tell me about Euston’s arch throughout my life I’ve read plenty more Ernest Marples and the short sighted politics that went on back then have severely affected this country’s railways The thought of the Doric arch being reinstated is absolutely amazing As part of a new station fantastic! I personally would be happy to see the current one flattened As you comment no one seems to be upset about it possibly going From a tourist point of view London is about its historic buildings and architecture Let’s put right what was done wrong 😊
I'm told that technically its a Propylaeum. The proposed plans to rebuild it as part of the Euston redevelopment for HS2 seem to have all gone quiet. Anyone heard any more about this? There was an article recently posted about rebuilding Euston on HS2's Facebook page but it mentioned nothing about the arch.
Shocking that Marylebone kings cross. And all their beautiful architecture could have been lost forever . In Ashford in Surrey they demolished the much loved college, before. Anything was final , to build flats r us .in its place . One idea would have been to build the flats ( not as many ) a green and a folly of the old building . Which would have been great , sadly our beloved county. Council robbed us of our little bit of Quirky history . It’s so 😂😂😂😂. Long live the Arch .
I used to work in the office building the station is hiding behind, and given that I rarely take trains north, if I didn’t work there I probably wouldn’t know the station was there despite living in London for 20 years!
I like the look of the arch. It definitely make Euston stand out more amongst beautiful station facades around London. Considering that it was the station of the LNWR, who called themselves the “premier line”, you’d think such a station would be grand and impressive.
Birmingham Curzon Street Station Arch is the only bit of the terminus station in Brum left. The area is also going through big changes due to HS2. With the Arch being a part of the development.
Over here in the US,there is a movement to rebuild Penn Station (NY),in its original form. Because of the original station's demolition,and subsequently twice rebuilding,it is now considered an eyesore,and is really in need of an overhaul! Also the tunnels into and out of the station were severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy,those also need to be replaced entirely! Back to the future! Remember trams,they're back too!Ha,lol!!
Indeed yes, Ernest Marples was replaced by Tom Frazer who sacked Beeching. Best thing for the railways and for John Betjeman who masterminded the preservation/restoration of St Pancras, Kings Cross and Liverpool Street (Do not confuse with Liverpool Lime Street)
I would like to see the arch rebuilt. It is funny how the station was demolished at about the same time as New York's Pennsylvania Station, a true crime against the city. I have been in Euston many times on my trips to London and on the lawn are pieces of the arch that were found in a canal. At least the two little buildings buildings that flanked the arch are now excellent pubs but I wish they had larger toilets. One toilet in a pub is just inadequate and the ventilation could be improved throughout but the beer selection is excellent.
I seem to remember that there was a (?BBC) documentary on the Euston Arch. Some of its pieces ( column pieces with fluting), ended up in the demolition business owner's back garden. If they were to rebuild the arch perhaps they could re-incorporate these pieces.
@@davidbull7210 If we're talking about the wedge shaped victorian building on Queen Victoria St in the City Of London then yes it was demolished in 1994.
Jago - I don’t know if I’ve already told you this. On my father’s side of the family was Lionel Banes of Ealing Studios. He was one of the film cameramen for the film “Train of Events.” This shows several interior views of the old Euston, c1948/9.
Another thing- HS2 caused the closure of one of the best pubs in which I've ever had a pint of real ale in all of the U.K. - the Bree Louise. Casks on hand-pump, cask on stillage- it was a real ale paradise!
Had the pleasure of using the station few times in various modes of transport (ironically, not on the mainline) and I must say that Euston station is an absurd hub of transport links: bad looks, non-intuitive layout; it is simultaneously congested and spacious (how is that even possible?); everything thrown together, yet you add miles upon miles to your daily step count when you interchange; you can't tell for sure where it starts and where it ends, because it tries to be too many things at once. Hopefully the redevelopment will make this mess into something usable or at least pretty.
I suppose this is our Penn station; a beautiful building torn down, and replaced with what the 1960s regarded as ‘architecture’- I suppose it’s the sacrifice that saved so many others, like st Pancras, and Grand central in the states. like you say in the video, it taught us to appreciate our historical landmarks
You can't think of Euston as equivalent to Penn station. The old Euston was a mess, much of it decidedly unimpressive, such as the departure platforms. I think it had a unique character but was still a mess.
Marylebone is and always will be my favourite terminus. I sometimes imagine if the Great Central was saved and electrified ,channel tunnel trains would split into two lines in north London sharing between St Pancras / Marylebone International. To make the Great Central main line worth preserving, close the Midland line north of Kettering and take the Corby route to Nottingham instead as it's main line.
It’s a station with a lot of charm, I think. It’s not super-grand like St Pancras or King’s Cross, but that’s not a bad thing in its surroundings. It reminds me of a country mansion.
@@JagoHazzard My understanding is the company ran out of money hence the modest structure. It reminds me of a library more than a station that's why I love it.
@@JagoHazzard Marylebone is my favourite London terminus too - I like its strange mix of high quality, 'impressive' architecture but on a modest scale. John Betjeman described it as "'a public library from Nottingham which has unexpectedly found itself in London". Then there are the weird corners (that L-shaped concourse) and wistful sense of unfinished business you get from it only having six (originally four) of the intended ten platforms, and the way it's overshadowed by the huge wedding-cake of a hotel right across the street. I also like that it's the only London terminus to still have open, unimpeded access straight from the street to the platforms, as in the days when hansom cabs and parcel carts would roll straight up to the trains. You can walk up Great Central (!) Street and see straight through the entrance arch to trains on the platform.
@@JagoHazzard If you look at the passenger trains timetabled by the GC into Marylebone and compare to Chiltern now, Chiltern run far more departures out.
"Whatever man, I don't care" is the exact epitome of rhe architects who did away with beautiful architecture only to replace it with concrete and asbestos in the name of social improvement. A similar thing could be said about the old Birmingham New Street Station. *shudder* Personally, I don't want to be too critical of the new building because it's a vast improvement on what was there before. However, in my opinion, the metal and glass exterior doesn't look as smart as it once did after a few soakings from the English rain.
Even the new New Street station isn't a patch on the original, with it's massive glass and cast iron canopy. A similar thing can be said about Snow Hill, which used to have a very grand facade but is now in a remote corner of the city centre, hidden under its own car park.
