Sir John Hawkshaw designed the train shed, and Lucas Brothers built the station and hotel for the Charing Cross Railway Company, which the South Eastern Railway absorbed later in 1864. The station opened on January 11, 1864. The original roof was a single span of wrought iron, 510 feet (155 m) long and 164 feet (50 m) wide, rising 102 feet (31 m) over six platforms.
Edward Middleton Barry designed the Charing Cross Hotel, which opened on May 15, 1865 with a French Renaissance frontage and 250 bedrooms over seven floors. He also designed the Eleanor Cross replica in the forecourt, in red Mansfield stone, based on the original of 1291 that Parliament demolished in 1647.
The roof collapsed on December 5, 1905, and a utilitarian replacement opened in 1906. Terry Farrell and Partners designed the postmodern Embankment Place, completed in November 1990, which replaced most of that roof.
Comments