Euston Arch - Construction

Construction

Designed by architect Philip Hardwick, it was inspired by the Roman architecture Hardwick encountered on a trip to Italy in 1818 and 1819. Strictly speaking it was not an arch at all, but a propylaeum of the Doric order. The sandstone structure was designed for the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR), mirroring Birmingham Curzon Street station, at the other end of the company's mainline. The arch was to be not only a fitting gateway to the midlands, but to the whole new world which the railway was to open up.

The construction of the arch was announced by the directors of the L&BR in a report dated February 1837:

The Entrance to the London Passenger Station opening immediately upon what will necessarily become the Grand Avenue for travelling between the Metropolis and the midland and northern parts of the Kingdom, the Directors thought that it should receive some architectural embellishment. They adopted accordingly a design of Mr. Hardwick's for a grand but simple portico, which they considered well adapted to the national character of the undertaking.

The arch was supported on four columns, and bronze gates were placed behind them. It stood 70 ft high (21 m) and 44 ft deep (13 m), while the diameter of each of the columns was 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m). The structure was built from stone from Bramley in West Yorkshire, and cost £35,000. Initially it had very little embellishment and no descriptive title until 1870, when the London and North Western Railway incised "Euston" on the architrave in letters of gold. There were two lodges on each side of the arch, executed like it in strictly classical style. Each of these lodges was separated from its neighbour by an imposing pair of bronze gates. The gates between the right-hand lodges were an entrance for carriages and very heavy goods going by train, while the right-hand lodge was an office for outgoing parcels.

The traveller would drive through the arch into an oblong courtyard running north to south and enclosed by a brick wall nearly 500 ft long (150 m) and 100 ft wide (30 m). On the eastern side (the arriving traveller's right) was a range of offices behind a colonnade of pillars.

The Arch was not admired by everyone in its early years. A guide to London published at the time of the Great Exhibition in 1851 described it as "gigantic and very absurd", and placed "without reference to the courtyard it leads to". The British Almanac for 1839 remarked that it was "noble", emphasising the purity of its style, but stated that "it was not necessary, as in the case of many porticoes to country houses, to have sash windows peeping out between Doric columns; the perfection of the style could be maintained and should be appreciated."

The addition of the station name was part of station improvements in 1869-74 which also saw the creation of an entrance drive from the Euston Road to the portico. In 1881, however, the westernmost pier and lodge of the arch structure were demolished to make way for offices, and soon afterwards a hotel extension blocked the view from Euston Road.