One of my great architectural loves are old train stations. Especially if a bit past their days of glory; sooty, shambolic and chaotic warrens of crowds, pigeons and unexpected beauty.
This is Victoria station built by the Southern Railway Company. A great station of London although blighted by buses, fast food outlets and discarded newspapers. In a gloriously pretentious French Renaissance style and flanked by the equally French and impressive London Chatham Railway terminus and the colossal Grosvenor Hotel. The station was built in 1860 and rebuilt in 1898. Victoria was the main station for trains to Europe until the development of Eurostar and the Orient Express still departs from here. The station is where the hero in The Importance of Being Earnest was discovered and is mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories.
An obsessive drawing in crabby permanent marker for speed, with ink over.
I may do a series of drawings of London's great train termini.
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