Jacques Ignace Hittorff was chosen as architect by James Mayer de Rothschild, chairman of the Chemin de Fer du Nord company. Work ran from May 1861 to December 1865, though the infobox and introduction give 1861 to 1864. The new station opened for service during 1864, while still under construction.
The facade is designed around a triumphal arch in many slabs of stone and carries allegorical sculptures of the cities the company served. The building has the usual U-shape of a terminus, and the main support beam is cast iron. The article gives the station 32 tracks on two platform levels.
Five supplementary tracks were added in 1884, and in 1889 the interior was completely rebuilt and an eastern extension built for suburban lines. Tracks were reorganized for Eurostar in 1994, and a refurbishment began in late 2019. The station handled 257,024,152 passengers in 2024 and is ranked the busiest in Europe.
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