The Euston Arch Part 1: Birth

The first trunk railway of the world we hail, London is linked to Birmingham by rail. Euston’s Great Portico was built to be, the gateway into Midland industry...

- John Betjeman

Wander past the rather dated and uninteresting Euston Station today and there are still some clues that point to a more architecturally inventive past. Two lodges, distinctly greek-revivalist in design, sit prominently on Euston Square looking out over the traffic lights onto the road in front. Nearer the main station concourse, the tired traveller in search of a pint may also find themselves drinking in “The Doric Arch” – a somewhat enigmatic name for what is, to all intents and purposes, a Station Pub.

Both these clues point to a hidden aspect to the station’s past that surprisingly few modern day commuters are even aware of – an aspect that, if a network of supporters have their way, will manifest itself again when Network Rail’s plans to rebuild the station come to fruition.

For Euston used to have a rather spectacular architectural feature – the Euston Arch.

1838 Lithograph of the Arch (Courtesy EAT)

In 1837, London was about to be graced with its first ever inter-city railway station – Euston. Euston and the London to Birmingham Railway (L&BR) of which it was the terminus, endured a difficult gestation. Under the watchful eye of Robert Stephenson, the precursor to the WCML had needed to overcome a number of obstacles over the years of its construction and was now near to completion.

At Kilsby Ridge in Northamptonshire, the construction of the Kilsby tunnel was finally nearing completion. The 2.2km tunnel, then the longest railway tunnel in the country, had been plagued with construction problems thanks to the unexpected presence of quicksand in the building zone. After years of work and a tripling of the cost, it would finally be ready for opening in 1838.

The Kilsby Tunnel, by John Cooke Bourne

Technical and political problems had also been overcome in the City itself. The siting of the terminus at Euston had finally been agreed (Stephenson would originally have preferred a terminus nearer the current site of Kings Cross) and construction of a pulley and chain system to bring trains into the City from beyond Camden was almost complete.

Then - The Winding House at Camden, Courtesy Camden Railway Trust

Now - The Winding House at Camden, Courtesy Camden Railway Trust

It has been argued that this was required as locomotives of the time were unable to traverse the steep incline required to pass through the area, but Peter Lecount, an Engineer on the project at the time, would later claim that the problem was more of a political one:

It is not because locomotives cannot draw a train of carriages up this incline that a fixed engine and endless rope are used, for they can and have done so, but because the Company are restricted, by their Act of Parliament, from running locomotive engines nearer London than Camden Town.

Whatever the reasoning, by 1837 the L&BR Company were nearing completion of their great opus and had turned their attentions to how best cap the £5.5m project at its Termini. They turned to Philip Hardwick, already a leading English architect, and tasked him with the job.

In February 1837, the Directors reported that:

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.

And thus the Euston Arch was born.

The Arch – more properly a Doric propylaeum (or gateway) – was the mental product of architectural ideas that had first taken root in Hardwick’s head back in 1818, when he had visited Italy. These Italian tendencies had first manifested themselves in his design of the City of London Club on Old Broad Street in 1833, but it was to be at the London and Birmingham ends of the new L&BR line that they would fully flourish.

The Club, photo by keepclicking

The Arch, the largest of its kind in the world, stood 70ft high and 44ft deep. A brick, timber and iron core was constructed which was then dressed with sandstone taken from the quarry at Bramley Fall near Leeds. Four columns within the structure helped support its weight, each measuring over 8ft in diameter.

The Arch Under Construction, by John Cooke Bourne

The design was strictly classical, with very little embellishment at all, and two lodges sat on either side – the gap between them featuring heavy and impressive bronze gates. The gates between the right-hand lodges acted as an entrance for carriages and heavy goods going by train, with the lodge on the right an office for outgoing parcels.

This design was matched by the equivalent structure that Hardwick built at the lines’ more northerly terminus at Curzon Street in Birmingham. There, a three-storey building was constructed in matching stone with four columns running up the front. Two small arches (visible in the drawing below) were intended to sit alongside the building, although modern excavations have shown that they were never constructed. Currently disused (and unlike the Euston Arch) this building survives to this day.

Then - Curzon Street

Now - Curzon Street

Upon its completion, the sheer scale of the structure ensured that it dominated its surrounds – giving the L&BR the imposing and epic gateway they had requested. Although some at the time felt that it was a little too grandiose, it soon became one of the most famous pieces of railway architecture in the country.

One final embellishment was added in 1870 – letters forming the word “EUSTON” being incised in gold on the architrave.


As the the years passed, the Arch remained, ever unchanging, as the area and station around it continued to develop. In 1849, a Great Hall was added - designed by Hardwick's son Philip Charles, and in 1881 the western pier and lodge were demolished to make way for offices. Still later, the Station Hotel was extended, hiding the arch from the road and making it a secret suprise for those visiting the station for the first time.

The Arch in its later days, courtesy of londondestruction

Seemingly impervious to the changes happening around it, for a while it seemed that the Arch would last forever as a testament to Victorian Railway Engineering.

It was not, however, to be, and almost exactly 100 years after it was first revealed to the world, storm clouds began to gather...


Continues here...