England: St Pancras Station, London

April 2012

Darling station of film and TV, St Pancras is one of those London landmarks that is iconic even for people who have never been to the city (like Grand Central's interior in Manhattan). AFVdR and I were wandering on my first "long" visit to London, and we stumbled upon it and its super-modern Eurostar hub - adjacent to the "Harry Potter film famous", King's Cross.

London nearly lost St Pancras, too:

By the 1960s, St Pancras was seen as redundant, and several attempts were made to close it and demolish the hotel (by then known as St Pancras Chambers). These attempts provoked strong and successful opposition, with the campaign led by the later Poet Laureate, John Betjeman. Jane Hughes Fawcett with the Victorian Society was instrumental in its preservation, and was dubbed "the furious Mrs. Fawcett" by British rail officials. Many of the demonstrators had witnessed the demolition of the nearby Euston Arch a few years previously and were strongly opposed to the distinctive architecture of St Pancras suffering the same fate. The station was given Grade I listed building status in November 1967, preventing any drastic modifications. The plans were scrapped by BR in December 1968, realising that it was more cost-effective to modernise the hotel instead, though they disliked owning it.

(Wikipedia)

In reality, even though protected, no one knew what to do with building for decades and it increasingly fell into disrepair. Luckily, someone with vision decided to make the new terminus for the Eurostar/Channel Tunnel trains at St Pancras/King's Cross. That led to a complete renovation of both stations. One of London's now iconic landmarks not only was saved, it exploded in activity.

Now the dual station complex (along with its tube lines) is one of the busiest in the entire country - and a vital transport link in London. It is hard to believe that anyone ever thought of tearing the whole place down!