South Eastern Railways Office Under Threat

By · September 9, 2011 at 9:25 am · 6 Comments · Latest News · Report an error ·

The Victorian Society has launched an appeal to save a distinctive former railway office in Tooley Street, SE1.

The South Eastern Railways Office was built, as the name might suggest, for the eponymous train operator. It was designed by Charles Barry Jr and constructed in 1893, and according to the Society, has earned a reputation as London’s ‘Flatiron building’, mimicking the celebrated New York skyscraper of that name, because of its unusual wedge-like shape (best appreciated in this map or this photograph).

South Eastern Railways closed in 1922, and today the building is occupied by the Churchill at War exhibition, a restaurant, and a paintball firm. Yet it is slated to be demolished as part of the London Bridge station redevelopment, and replaced with a public plaza.

Chris Costelloe, a conservation consultant for the Society, argues that Network Rail’s case for the demolition is “unconvincing”, and argues that it should be retained within the London Bridge rebuild. Yet a request for granting it listed status was rejected last month by the Heritage Minister. The Society has urged Southwark council to refuse the demolition order, but at this point the building’s fate doesn’t look good.

Photo by R/DV/RS

See also:

16 Tube stations get listed

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  • Robert B

    I’m sure they could come up with a fantastic development that preserved the old building… if they really wanted to…

  • Anonymous

    Let it go. We’re getting a nice new station and they need it taken down to make a nice space for people to arrive in.

  • Mark

    It is opinions like yours that London is regraded as one of the ugliest cities in Europe. Once a place that inspired painters like Canaletto  to capture it Wren spires,it resembles now a freak glass and metal jumble sterilised of all beauty. I suppose you think the current Euston station is more attractive than the original.

  • Anonymous

    I never visited the original Euston, did you? What part of it did you think was beautiful? the Great Hall and Arch? Quite possibly. The train shed? Certainly not. Euston was, by most accounts, a dysfunctional jumbled mess. Like London Bridge…

    Canneltto wouldn’t be moved to pain the current London Bridge, perhaps he wouldn’t care of it’s replacement either, but the people that USE it will find it a vast improvement – much as they did at Euston.

  • Michael

    Oh, Euston- you mean that station which despite being only fifty years old, is being torn down in a couple of years due to being so badly designed? And look how unsuccessful working with old buildings has been at St Pancras- perhaps it is one of our city’s most loved buildings and a huge tourist attraction, but I’m sure you would have preferred it if they tore it down in the 60′s and built a concrete box. The point is, Victorian/ Edwardian buildings (or at least, those which survived past the 1920′s) have proven their adaptability by surviving so long. It would be vandalism to demolish them now.

  • Sdsd

    No, no, and no again to demolition. Modern architects have proved incapable of building anything appeasing to the eye of anyone beyond the passing tourist. And the age old adage of ‘modern = utility’ is a) often incorrect and b) on similar logic would have us all living in concrete tower blocks all over London. Our history is what makes this city and our country. Of course you could argue that these buildings will ‘become’ our history. I fail to see how steel and glass will ever be looked upon by future generations in the same light. More likely such buildings will be knocked down in 30 years. And p.s. Euston station is a nightmare to use

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