The redevelopment of Kings Cross Station has been awarded an EU Prize for Cultural Heritage in the area of conservation.
The work on Lewis Cubitt’s 1852 Grade 1 listed station built for the Great Northern Railway has transformed the way passengers see and use the station. The project, begun in 2007, has seen the construction of a new passenger concourse including an impressive new roof and improvements to passenger facilities. The final phase, due for completion in August 2013, will involve the removal of the front canopy in order to reveal Cubitt’s original station façade for the first time in 150 years. (see images of the development on the Network Rail website).
Here are a few images of the station façade from the National Railway Museum collection.
Watercolour, Arrival of Queen Victoria at King’s Cross Station, by an unknown artist, possibly Lewis Cubitt, the station’s architect, about 1852
King’s Cross Station, about 1927
Rebuilding the forecourt of London’s King’s Cross station, 26 January 1973
Kings Cross station frontage, 2007.
The awards jury described the transformation of the formerly ‘depressing’ building as ‘both welcome and essential’ calling the project ‘inspiring’. They were impressed by the reuse of areas such as the former Parcels Office (as a pub/restaurant) and reinstatement of the Booking Hall but in particular “were uplifted by the exhilarating curves of the western concourse.” (http://www.europanostra.org/awards/108/).
The European Heritage Awards are overseen by the European Union and Europa Nostra and an awards ceremony for the winners will take place in Athens on 16 June. 15 prizes have been awarded in the conservation category, also including work on Railway bridges in the Langstraat Region, from ‘s-Hertogenbosch to Lage Zwaluwe, THE NETHERLANDS. Overall 200 projects were nominated in four categories, with six to be nominated as grand prix winners at the awards ceremony, with a further public choice award. For further information about the prize and other winners see http://www.europanostra.org/laureates-2013/.
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