Liverpool Street Station contains what must be a unique feature for London: a lift inside a war memorial.
I've walked past hundreds of times. I've even stopped to take a photo — so impressive and imposing is this monument to the 1,100 men of the Great Eastern Railway, who gave their lives in the First World War.
But only recently did I notice the lift. There it is, in the lower left corner. Obvious once you've noticed it.
Its installers must have been confronted with a tricky design brief. Something like: "You must make the lift blend in with the wider monument, but you also have to make it stand out, so that people can find it."
The solution was to clad its doors in matching marble, yet place a standardised lift sign right above them.
You'll find this curious specimen close to the main underground entrance, over on the southern end of the station. It connects the mezzanine (or street) level to the main concourse, and is much used by people with luggage, wheelchairs and buggies.
The lift hasn't always been here. Indeed, neither has the war memorial. It was shifted up to the mezzanine from the booking hall in the early 1990s, during a major reworking of the station. The lower left panel was removed at this time to make way for the lift access. As far as we can tell, nobody raised concerns publicly. Can you imagine the uproar on social media if, today, Network Rail suggested knocking through part of a war memorial to build a lift shaft?
The war memorial is also notable for its macabre beginnings. It was unveiled on 22 June 1922 by Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson. A couple of hours later, the Field Marshall was assassinated on the steps of his house by two Irish Republicans. His commemorative plaque and relief-portrait now occupy the lower-right corner of the wider memorial.
And what of its future? Plans are once again afoot to remodel Liverpool Street Station. Several elements have proved controversial, including a bulky office development over the concourse. But within those plans we note a minor detail: "The lift within the base of the memorial will be relocated to a more suitable location".
Soon, this uniquely maladroit design feature will be erased, and the memorial restored to its former glory. It's had its ups and downs, but the disfigured monument will one day be whole again.
