BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT Historic England has received a listing application for Snaresbrook Railway Station, London. A step free access scheme is to be installed by spring 2022, which will entail alterations to the station.

HISTORY AND DETAILS The station was built as the Snaresbrook and Wanstead Railway Station on the Eastern Counties Railway in 1856, later becoming part of the Great Eastern Railway in 1862. Much of the station was re-built in 1893 and some of the platform canopies with decorative cast-iron brackets date from this phase. Services were transferred from the London and North Eastern Railway to London Transport Central Line operation in 1947, when there were further alterations and the station took the name Snaresbrook as a separate tube station from Wanstead.

Snaresbrook Railway Station comprises a street level main block and ticket hall leading to two single platforms, which are linked by a footbridge. The main station building, built in 1856, is a two-storey stock brick building with cream-coloured brick dressings (similar to Woodford Station). It has six-over-six sash windows, although many of the window openings are blind, a deep eaves cornice supported on corbels, and a hipped slate roof with tall chimney stacks. Attached to the north side is an entrance lobby added in 1948; a red brick building with a flat concrete roof and fixed windows. The ticket hall retains none of its original features and has modern tiled finishes throughout (Leboff 1994, 122). An underbridge with a steel deck, red brick abutments and stairways incorporating London Underground signs, is located on the north side of the station. The station platforms have wooden valences and, on the eastbound platform, a canopy supported by decorative cast-iron brackets and moulded cast-iron columns dating from 1893. On the open sections of the platforms are concrete combined London Underground name, poster and lighting units added in 1947. The footbridge connecting the platforms was also installed in 1947 and has a steel deck and corrugated gabled roof. A disused westbound ticket office retains a glass London Transport directional sign.

CRITERIA AND ASSESSMENT The Principles of Selection for Listed Buildings (DCMS, November 2018) sets out the criteria for listing, and states that progressively greater selection is necessary for buildings post-dating 1850, because of the greatly increased number of buildings erected and the much larger numbers that have survived. The Historic England selection guide ‘Infrastructure: Transport’ (2017) provides further guidance, and states that for purpose-built railway structures after about 1860, increasingly rigorous selection is required, reflecting both the increased quantity of survival and standardisation of design. Architecture and design quality, technical or construction interest, date and extent of alteration will be key considerations. Group value can be a determining factor and some stations need to be assessed as a whole, taking into account the survival of other associated railway structures.

Based on the information provided and judged against the criteria and the considerations in our supplementary guidance, Snaresbrook Railway Station is not recommended for listing for the following principal reasons:

Degree of architectural interest: * architecturally the station lacks cohesion, having undergone several phases of alteration (originally built 1856, partly re-built 1893 and considerably altered in 1947), which do not complement each other particularly well; * the original station building is modest compared to listed examples along the Eastern Counties Railway (such as the earlier Cambridge (built 1845, National Heritage List for England List Entry 1343683), Great Chesterford (built 1845, 1238269) and Audley End (1845, 1238269)) or the later Great Eastern Railway (Ongar, built 1865, 1168416), and, moreover, has been significantly altered with a 1948 addition that detracts from the original building, whilst retaining few features internally; * the 1893 rebuilding contributed some elements of quality, such as the cast-iron columns and decorative brackets to the eastbound platform canopy, but only part of it survives and by this period such ironwork was relatively common; * the mid-C20 architectural contributions are too modest to stand comparison with listed London Underground stations of the period such as Loughton Station (1939-40, 1141221).

Degree of historic interest: * whilst the station retains elements of several phases of railway history, it is not a good example or representation of any one particular phase.

Group value: * there are no significant associated railway structures surviving, such as goods sheds or signal boxes.

CONCLUSION Based on the information provided, whilst possessing some notable features such as the 1893 cast-iron columns and brackets, 1947 London Underground lighting units and a glass London Transport directional sign, and making a positive contribution to the local area, Snaresbrook Railway Station does not meet the criteria for listing in a national context.

SOURCES Leboff, D, London Underground Stations (1994)