Great Eastern Railway engineer Edward Wilson designed the station, which Lucas Brothers built, and Fairburn Engineering Company designed and built the roof. Local trains began on October 2, 1874, and the station fully opened on November 1, 1875. Plans called for an Italianate style, but the built design is described as approximately Gothic, in stock brick and bath stone.
The original roof had four wrought-iron spans, and Handyside and Co. built a new roof for the 1890s eastward extension. The station had 10 platforms at opening and 18 in the later layout, while the infobox lists 19. Charles Barry Jr. designed the Great Eastern Hotel.
Thousands of Jewish refugee children arrived in the late 1930s, and Frank Meisler's bronze Kindertransport sculpture stands at the main entrance. The station was reconstructed with a single concourse between 1985 and 1991, and Queen Elizabeth II reopened it in December 1991.
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