Liverpool Street Station

Liverpool Street is a London railway terminus built between 1873 and 1875 for the Great Eastern Railway by their chief engineer Edward Wilson. The station was extended between 1890 and 1894, then overhauled and significantly remodelled between 1985 and 1992 by the British Rail Architects' Department led by Nick Derbyshire in connection with the contemporary Broadgate development.

Materials and Construction

The 1870s western trainshed is principally of Suffolk stock brick with Bath stone dressings. The roof is constructed from a combination of wrought and cast-iron columns and trusses. The only remaining portion of the 1890s trainshed is a section of wall in red brick with Bath stone dressings retained on the eastern face of the 1870s trainshed. The later work from the 1985-1992 remodelling was constructed mostly with steel, faced in stock brick to match the original work.

Layout

Liverpool Street Station can be broadly divided into three elements. To the north-west of the site is the original trainshed of 1873-1875, which covers the northern part of platforms 1 to 10 and comprises two central longitudinal bays flanked by narrow aisles. The second part is the 1985-1992 extension of the Wilson trainshed, which covers the southern parts of the platforms and the concourse, with distinct entrances to Liverpool Street (south) and Bishopsgate (east). The third part comprises platforms 11 onwards, set beneath the office block (Broadgate phases 6-7) to Bishopsgate, also dating from 1985-1992. This third part is not included in this listing. In addition to the street entrances, the station can be accessed at lower concourse level directly from the Underground station (not included in this listing) from the south end and the west, and via the shopping arcade (also not included in this listing) that opens to the south entrance to Broadgate Square.

Exterior

The principal entrances to the station on Liverpool Street and Bishopsgate are both designed in a neo-Victorian manner with flanking towers, newly-built as part of the 1985-1992 scheme. These entrance frontages do not contribute to the special architectural and historic interest of the station and are excluded from this listing.

The western screen wall to Sun Street Passage consists of repeated gabled bays of stock brick, each with triplets of lancet windows marked out with red brick surrounds to their upper sections. Two heightened and broadened bays punctuate the elevation, these with five upper lancets, which correspond with the longitudinal transepts of the trainshed. From the northern transept to the end of the range this wall dates from the 1870s, and all to the south of this belongs to the 1985-1992 remodelling. The windows and entrances to this range are all the product of the remodelling.

To the north, the end of the 1870s western trainshed can be seen from Exchange Square. There is simple dagger fretwork to the central naves and side aisles, recreated to match the original 1870s form (undertaken in conjunction with the later Broadgate work of 1987-1989).

Interior

The 1870s trainshed roof consists of two broad twin naves rising to 76 feet, with two narrow outer aisles. The naves are separated by a double row of columns, each with an ornate acanthus capital, replicating the original capitals which were removed in 1956. The outer aisles are composed of a series of vaulted bays, set square to the central naves. The original portion of the roof covers the northern part of platforms 1 to 10, terminating at the north transept which originally marked the end of the shorter suburban line platforms. The roof has a cantilevered spandrel-bracket form, with light suspended trusses. The central trusses to the nave have a relatively shallow arch for their width. There is decorative work to the cast-iron pierced spandrels, the form of which is continued throughout the later work of 1985-1992.

The distinction between the two parts of the roof is made clear by the condition of the glazing, though in their respective form there is little to visibly distinguish the two phases, save for the four radial braces on the north-south arches to the later structure and the slightly heavier detailing of the steel arch spandrels. The walls to east and west ends of the trainshed are, from the platform end back to the northern transept, from the 1870s, with three Gothic arches, heightened with upper lancets to the transept on both sides.

The south-western continuation of the trainshed built from the 1980s covers the area formerly occupied by Wilson's Great Eastern Railway offices and the station approach. It does not replicate the historic extent of the station trainshed, though the eastern extension broadly recreates the longer portion covering the mainline platforms, albeit with the modern transept integrated as part of the southern bays. This ends at the north elevation of the hotel, the form of which was composed to correspond with Wilson's original roof structure. The southern transept was introduced as part of the remodelling to cover the new unified concourse, designed to replicate (with some modification of proportions) the form of the original northern transept. The eastern protrusion of this transept connects with the contemporary Bishopsgate entrance. This stands broadly on the site of the eastern 1890s cab ramps, though continues the form of the 1875 roof.

The only visible remnant of the eastern station extension of 1890-1894 is an upper section of what was the western wall of the later trainshed, visible from the loading bay to the eastern Broadgate offices. This is built with contrasting red brick and rounded and keyed arches with blank recessed panels set beneath. To every third arch there is a stone console bracket, from which the trusses of the eastern trainshed would have been supported.

The design and layout of the station concourse is a product of the 1985-1992 remodelling. This is divided across two levels. The upper concourse is set at street level, with a larger platform-level concourse accessed from escalators and stairs from the Bishopsgate and Liverpool Street entrances. The raised concourse forms a gallery, with a walkway lined with retail units along the ends of the platforms, also serving to link the Bishopsgate entrance to the western bus station along Sun Street Passage. The new structures to the concourse are in a High-Tech idiom, of glass and steel finished in white. On the south side of the lower concourse are a range of retail units and cafés, which form part of the footprint of the former Great Eastern Hotel.

There are two First World War memorials: the Great Eastern Railway memorial and another erected by the London Society of East Anglians, which are respectively positioned on the east and north elevations of the hotel at upper concourse level.

The frontages of the principal entrances to Liverpool Street and Bishopsgate, along with the retail structures, fixtures, signage, toilets, stairs, escalators, raised walkways, and inserted offices within the upper and lower station concourse are not of special architectural or historic interest.