| Summary : Built 1868-74, this complex comprises the train shed, Saint Pancras Chambers and various ancillary buildings, and includes the Midland Hotel. The building architect was Sir G.G. Scott and the engineer for the train shed was W.H. Barlow. The building, in Gothic style, is of hard red brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. The front block was originally the hotel and is of four storeys with two extra storeys in the roof. There is a clock tower to the west, crowned with a metal covered spire. There is a larger tower over the western of the two archways, with a pitched roof and four spire-crowned turrets. The western wing is curved, with an arcaded carriage porch and crowning gable flanked by two small spires. The archways to the station are approached by ramps and steps partly supported by a retaining wall with shops set into it. The train shed has an arched roof of iron and glass and low arcaded buildings on either side, that to the east is of two storeys to Pancras road and incorporates shops into the lower part. Under the station there is a huge storage floor, about 216m x 71m on plan, that was formerly used as beer vaults. The station above this floor is supported by a grid of 705 large cast-iron columns to wrought-iron girders and floor plates. |