NEW GRAND CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION AT BIRMINGHAM.
3 June 1854THE progressive extension of the railway system has led to the erection of several buildings for its general purposes; and these structures are entitled to rank amongst the most stupendous architectural works of the age. It is true that a certain critic of the day has sneered at the general taste displayed in our railway edifices, and the designs of engineers may not be sufficiently ornate for the architect’s standard; nevertheless, the combined genius of both professions to meet our railway requirements have produced some striking results; and the London and North-Western Company, as the proprietors of the largest railway in the kingdom, have just added to their buildings a station of corresponding magnitude; erected for the accommodation of their own immense traffic and that of the Midland, Stour Valley, and North Staffordshire lines. This grand Central Station, which was opened on Thursday last, June 1st, is situated in New-street, Birmingham. The entrance is at the bottom of Stephenson-place, where is a plain gateway leading to the main front of the station and hotel, which we shall describe more fully and illustrate next week. Entering the Station by an arcade, we arrive at the booking-offices for the respective railways; and, passing through these, emerge on a magnificent corridor or gallery, guarded by a light railing, and open to the Station (but enclosed by the immense glass and iron roof), from whence broad stone staircases, with bronze rails, afford access to the departure platform. We then stand on a level with a long series of offices, appropriated to the officials of the Companies; and a superb refreshment-room, about eighty feet long by forty broad, divided into three portions by rows of massive pillars.
We have now reached the interior of the Station, which our Artist (Mr. J.M. Williams) has so accurately and effectively represented upon the preceding page; and the details of which we abridge from Aris’s Birmingham Gazette:—
We must ask the reader to imagine that he stands on a stone platform, a quarter of a mile long; that behind him is a range of forty-five massive pillars projecting from the Station wall; that in front of him are ten ines of rails, jour platforms, and a broad carriage-way, bounded by another range of forty-five massive iron piilars; and that, above all this, there stretches, from pillar to pillar, a semicircular roof, 1100 feet long, 205 feet wide, and 80 feet. high, composed of iron and glass, without the slightest support except that afforded by the pillars on either side. Let him add to this, that he stands on a stone platform a quarter of a mile long, amidst the noise of half a dozen trains arriving or departing, the trampling of crowds of passengers, the transport of luggage, the ringing of bells, and the noise of two or three hundred porters and workmen, and he will have a faint idea of the scene witnessed daily at the Birmingham Central Railway Station.
The roof merits more particular description. It consiste of 36 principals or arches of iron, strongly framed together. The upper bar, which is called a rib, is curved in the segmeni of a circle; and each end rests upon a pillar; but between the rib and the pillar an ingenious system of rollers is introduced, so as to allow of either expansion or contraction by atmospheric changes. From each rib depend, at regular intervals, twelve "struts,” which are laced together by diagonal bars. The lower ends of the struts are attached to a bar of iron, called the tie-rod; and which corresponds in curvature with the rib. Each of these principals weighs about 25 tons. They are placed at intervals of 24 feet from each other. Each rib is composed of five distinct pieces, riveted together. These ponderous metal bars were raised by means of a travelling stage; and the last rib was fixed on the anniversary of the day when the first pillar was set up. The pillars weigh 3 tons 12 cwt. each. From rib to rib numerous “purlins” are stretched, and these serve to support the smaller divisions of the glazed roof. The roof is composed of glass and corrugated iron — the former bearing a proportion of three-fourths to the latter, which runs along in a broad strip on each side, and in two bands on the crown of the arches.
The ends of the station, both at Worcester-street and Navigation-street, are screened off down to the tie-rods with glass. It is proposed, we understand, to continue the roof to Navigation-street-bridge, but the continuation will be ridge-and-furrow, like the Great Exhibition of 1851. We must not omit to notice that ample provision is made for ventilation, by raising a lantern over the centre bay of the principals, and continuing it down the whole length of the roof. An elegant iron bridge crosses the station from the booking-offices’ corridor, and affords passengers a safe and efficient means of reaching the further platforms by flights of steps descending from the bridge.
The Station-roof has been constructed by Messrs. Fox and Henderson; and the building contracted for by Messrs. Bremsen and Gwyther. The engineer is Mr. Baker, who has been assisted by Messrs. Livock and Son.
THE GRAND CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION AT BIRMINGHAM.
10 June 1854WE now engrave the facade of this important structure, a view of the interior of which appeared in our Journal of last week.
The present Illustration shows the main front of the Station and Hotel, which is a handsome building in the Italian style, 312 feet long, and consists of a centre and right and left wings. The centre, which projects about twenty feet from the wings, is 120 feet long, and four stories in height. The lower story is composed of an arcade, divided by Doric pilasters into ten arches, and deriving richness of effect from each pilaster being flanked piers of rusticated masonry. This story is built entirely of Derbyshire stone. Above the arcade runs a boldly-moulded plain cornice, above which, corresponding with the arcade, are ten handsome windows with pedimented heads, and at the foot of each is an elegant baloony. The first floor is divided from the second by a string-course, above which is another line of windows, with square heads and cornices. Above this is another string-course and a range of smaller and less ornamented square-headed windows, placed immediately under the principal cornice, which is remarkable for its breadth of treatment combined with fulness of detail. The whole front is surmounted by a handsome balustrade, broken at convenient distances by the introduction of pedestals, between which the chimneys are placed with due regard for regularity of line; and as these are projections are finished with cornices and caps, they add to, rather than detract from, the effect of the building. The edifice, with the exception of the lower story, is constructed of white brick; the window-frames, mouldings, cornices, and the rusticated queins on the edges of the walls being formed in Portland cement. The wings are only three stories high, and are, of course, less ornamented than the centre — the windows being all square-headed, and the cornices plainer; but the mouldings and string-courses are carried on so as to preserve uniformity, and the upper string-course of the centre runs into the principal cornice of the wings. The Hotel, which is entered by a fine stone porch, comprises the whole of the left wing, the centre (excepting the ground-floor) and the third story of the right wing. The remainder of the edifice is devoted to rail purposes exclusively. The portion of the building fronting the Station is 504 feet long and 92 feet high.
Note
According to Network Rail, this original station "had the largest single span iron and glass arched roof in the world – a record it held until the opening of St Pancras in 1868." But it proved inadequate as the number of passengers increased, and an extension which nearly doubled its size, and covered more than twelve acres, was opened in 1885. This made New Street, again according to the Network Rail site, "the largest station in the country." However, even this was not enough: a complete rebuild was required. This came in the next century, but to no great acclaim. Bryan Little called the new building of the mid-1960s "unhappily unattractive," deploring the loss of its predecessor, which he saw as "dingy" but much more "characterful." Little particularly mourned the loss of the "great single-span roof" and "the public path which intersected it and gave ticketless access to the platforms below" (43).
Photograph (2015) by Roy Hughes, originally posted on the Geograph website, and reproduced on this Creative Commons licence.
The disappointing rebuild has now fortunately been superseded by the current (and much better received) domed concourse which was opened in September 2015. A glimpse of this is given on the left here. It might not be too fanciful to suggest that although the Victorian station and its hotel were demolished in 1964, there is an echo of the great spanned roof of those days in the new complex's most spectacular feature — "a giant atrium, allowing natural light throughout the station."
Image scans, transcription, note and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use the scanned images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. [Click on all the images to enlarge them.]
Bibliography
"The history of Birmingham New Street station." Network Rail. Web. 18 June 2026. https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history/iconic-infrastructure/the-history-of-birmingham-new-street-station/
The Illustrated London News Vol. 24 (3 June 1866): 505-6. Internet Archive. Web. 18 June 2026.
The Illustrated London News Vol. 24 (10 June 1866): 549-50. Internet Archive. Web. 18 June 2026.
Little, Brian. Birmingham Buildings: The Architectural Story of a Midland City. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971.
Created 18 June 2026