Euston Road - History

History

The New Road was enabled by an act of Parliament passed in 1756. Construction began in May of the same year, and it was open to traffic by September. It was intended to provide a route for sheep and cattle to be driven to Smithfield Market and for this reason the road terminated at Islington where it joined the existing St John's Street.

It also provided a quicker route for army units to reach the Essex. coast when there was a threat of invasion, without passing through the Cities of London and Westminster. Building of the New Road was opposed by the Duke of Bedford as it cut off his estate in what is now Bloomsbury from the countryside.

A clause in the act of 1756 stipulated that no buildings should be constructed within 50 feet (15 m) of the road, with the result that most of the houses along it lay behind substantial gardens. As the nineteenth century wore on, this regulation was increasingly ignored. In 1837 Euston Station opened on the north side. The Fitzroy family had become the main property owner in the area and in 1852 the central section of the New Road, between Osnaburgh Street and Kings Cross, was renamed Euston Road after Euston Hall, their country house. The eastern section of the New Road became Pentonville Road and the western section Marylebone Road.

The entire length of the New Road was dug up to allow for the construction beneath it of the Metropolitan Railway.

The area around the junction with Tottenham Court Road suffered significant bomb damage during the Second World War. Under the Greater London Plan of Patrick Abercrombie, Euston Road was widened. In 1960-1 a major set of transport modifications resulted in the destruction of the entrance to Euston Station and the construction of the underpass at the junction with Tottenham Court Road. During the 1960s, office developments grew up around this junction; including the Euston Tower skyscraper that now forms part of Regent's Place, attracting a number of significant tenants, most notably the former ITV broadcaster Thames Television, which had its corporate headquarters and a number of studios there from 1970 to 1993, and Capital Radio.

The road is on the edge of the London congestion charge zone, which means that road users are not charged for using the road itself, but are charged if they turn south into the zone. The road also approximately marks the northern boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 of Transport for London.

Euston Road appears on the London edition of the board game Monopoly.