Both designers delivered in spades. Barlow's train shed has been much celebrated following its recent restoration, and Scott's hotel has now reopened after a huge rebuilding project.
The hotel can be seen at the left of that shot (above), a year or so back when building works were in full swing. Until recently, the only interior shots I've seen (apart from a couple of my own rubbish shots about a decade ago, when I managed to have a tour) have been ancient black and white monument records:
Luckily we've been able to enjoy the restored exterior for some time (British Rail spent several million pounds on it in the last years before their abolition):
But now we are able to see the full insanity of the mad, polychromatic interiors designed by Scott:
This is less a traditional hotel and more a Gothic fantasy:
A Victorian delight in rich patterning and bold colours is everywhere:
And the grand staircase is an absolute masterpiece:
I'm rather taken with the delicacy of the corridors, too (though aesthetically I'd have preferred tiling to carpet):
Ah, but the magnificent folly of that staircase:
Rooms here are far too expensive for any mere mortal to enjoy, so you're much more likely to experience it through photography and an occasional visit to the public bar. Savour these images...
The main reception is now delightfully situated in what was originally the covered cab rank:
The one piece of renovation I'm less persuaded by is the new public bar in the booking office (a delightful, wood-panelled space that was only just saved when BR wanted to demolish it and replace it with a 1960s plastic-style travel centre):
But if I only dislike one aspect of this renovation I think that's a major triumph for the developers.
I'm delighted it's been brought back into use, even a use that is not so very far from that for which it was originally intended.
2 comments:
I agree entirely with you about the hotel (I queued for hours to get a look round some years ago, when it was mostly still covered in BR magnolia paint, and have been praying ever since for what has now been completed.
I'm less keen on the Barlow train shed, though I appreciate very much the engineering achievement. Its partly that there are so many and so intrusive glass barriers obstructing one's vision: the impact was greater, despite the filth, when it was just the London Midland terminal [The new domestic terminal is an unmitigated horror in every possible respect!]
As trainsheds go, my affection is firmly for Cubitt's KX next door: functional elegance if ever there was.
I have to say I agree with you about the trainsheds: I preferred St Pancras as it was, a vast, cavernous engineering triumph which dwarfed both us passengers and our trains -- a strangely comforting feeling.
And I am hugely looking forward to the restoration of KX: the simplicity of its design is, truth be told, more to my taste than StP, much as I admire the achievement of the latter.
And the less said about the StP Domestic Terminal the better. Certainly it was not Norman Foster's finest hour.
Post a Comment