search archive

browse archive Up

055/056/057/058/059/060 - Great Western Railway Paddington Station [New Station]

Object Type: Folder
In Folder: Historical Engineering Collection

▲

Expand to show object metadata

055/056/057/058/059/060 - Great Western Railway Paddington Station [New Station]

For the London terminus of the Great Western Railway (GWR), Isambard Kingdom Brunel was planning a grand building at Paddington, situated near to both the Grand Junction canal and the Regent’s canal. Instructed by the GWR to economise due to the soaring costs of building the main line, Brunel had to abandon his original plans. A temporary station was created using the arches of Bishop’s Bridge Road as a façade and to provide passenger facilities. This station opened on 4 June 1838, along with the new line which had been constructed as far as Maidenhead. As the main line through to Bristol was opened, and the GWR’s involvement with other companies whose railways joined with the main line increased, the temporary terminus was extended. In 1850, to accommodate the increasing traffic, the GWR agreed to the construction of a new permanent station to be designed by Brunel. Brunel was deeply influenced by the design and construction of the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851, and this can be seen in his use of wrought iron and glass in the three-span roof at Paddington. At the time, this was the largest train shed roof in the world with a main span (102’ 6”) and two smaller ones to the north (70’) and south (68’). These spans are crossed by two transepts, all overlooked by three oriel windows in the station building on today’s platform 1. The station decoration, including the iron tracery on the train shed screens, was provided by Matthew Digby-Wyatt, Brunel’s architect on the project. Fox Henderson & Company, were contracted as builders for the station. The main station building, which included offices, the new boardroom for the GWR and a royal waiting room, was constructed along Eastbourne Terrace. The Great Western Hotel was built along Praed Street, and opened in conjunction with the new Paddington Station in 1854. Brunel’s station was large enough to cope with the expansion of the Great Western Railway over the next 50 years. By the early 20th century new accommodation for increasing amounts of both traffic and employees was needed. On-going works from 1904 saw the footprint of Paddington Station increase, a more defined access area known as ‘The Lawn’ was created and more office space was created by extending the Company’s offices along Eastbourne Terrace. Major changes included the building of ‘Span 4’ between 1913 and 1916 which increased the number of platforms at the station, and today covers platforms 9 to 16. It was designed by the GWR’s engineer, W Armstrong, with architectural features to match Brunel’s original roof as closely as possible. Further expansion of station buildings took place in the 1930s, including a striking new ‘art deco’ office block on the west side of the station, which also remodelled passenger facilities in ‘The Lawn’. During the 1990s Paddington Station was extensively refurbished, with the glass in Brunel’s original roof replaced with polycarbonate glazing panels, the restoration of Digby-Wyatt’s ornamental tracing and significant improvements to The Lawn. A proposal to take down ‘Span 4’ to accommodate facilities for Crossrail was controversial. Between 2009 and 2010 the Edwardian roof was instead restored by Network Rail and Crossrail facilities are now housed underneath Eastbourne Terrace.

Network Rail Corporate Archive

Level of Description: Series

Reference Code: NRCA160588 - NRCA163325

Title: Great Western Railway - Paddington Station [New Station]

Extent and Medium: 183 drawings

Creator: Great Western Railway

Date: 1845-1932

Scope and Content: Drawings from the Great Western Railway for the New Station at Paddington dated between 1845 and 1932. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Contract Number: Paddington New Station

Drawing Number: n/a

Drawing Office Number: n/a

Keywords (Person): Brunel, Isambard Kingdom

Keywords (Country): England

Keywords (Structure Name): London Paddington Station

Keywords (Structure Type): Station

Show more ▼

View Gallery

Title

Description

Date

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.14 Drawing No.15 – Details of New Main Roof

Paddington Station Alterations. Twenty one drawings on one sheet of various sections, details and cross sections of details of new main [roof]. Drawing is signed by Ralph Holliday for Holliday and Greenwood.

28 April 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.16 Drawing No.1 – Details of End Screen to Arrival Platforms

Paddington Station Alterations. Six drawings on one sheet showing outside elevation, plan on top, details at A and details of downpipe. Illustrated wording on end screen states Great Western Railway Arrival Platforms

04 June 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.14 Drawing No.18 – Line No.9

Paddington Station Alterations. Ten drawings on one sheet of sections including sections of buffers relating to alterations of Paddington Station. Drawing is signed by Ralph Holliday for Holliday and Greenwood.

28 April 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.14 Drawing No.14 – Details of C.I. Ornamentation

Paddington Station Alterations. Fourteen drawings on one sheet of various sections and details for details of CI Ornamentation. Drawing is signed by Ralph Holliday for Holliday and Greenwood.

28 April 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.14 Drawing No.1 – Details of New Main Roof

Paddington Station Alerations. Four drawings on one sheet for details of new main roof. First drawing is of front elevation at Praed Street End, second drawing is of part elevation looking from road, third drawing is of sectional elevation and station side, fourth drawing is of outside elevation road side. Drawing is signed by Ralph Holliday for Holliday and Greenwood. Drawing also contains list of drawings and reference drawings.

28 April 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.14 Drawing No.9 – Details of Purlins and Ridge

Paddington Station Alterations. Twenty seven drawings of details of purlins at ridge. Drawing is signed by Ralph Holliday for Holliday and Greenwood.

28 April 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.14 Drawing No.3 – Details of New Main Roof

Paddington Station Alterations. Ten drawings on one sheet for details of new main roof. Drawings include elevation of roof and details and sections including detail of bays. Drawing is signed by Ralph Holliday for Holliday and Greenwood.

28 April 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.14 Drawing No.17 – Steel Girders Supporting

Paddington Station Alterations. Sixteen drawings on one sheet of steel girders supporting roof including details and sections. Drawing is signed by Ralph Holliday for Holliday and Greenwood.

28 April 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.14 Drawing No.12 – Details of Roof Connections

Paddington Station Alterations. Nine drawings on one sheet of various details, sections and elevations for details of roof. Drawing is signed by Ralph Holliday for Holliday and Greenwood.

28 April 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.14 Drawing No.5 – Details of New Main Roof Section

Five drawings on one sheet. Two drawings showing cross sections of rib, two drawings showing longitudinal sections at K and L and one drawing of ironwork details.

28 April 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.14 Drawing No.19 – Details of Steelwork to Platform No.9 for 70′ 0″ Traverser

Paddington Station Alterations. Twelve drawings on one sheet including plan of platform, elevations, cross sections and details of steelwork to platform No. 9 for 70'.0" Traerser. Drawing is signed by Ralph Holliday for Holliday and Greenwood.

28 April 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Drawing No.9 – New Office Block Arrivals Side Elevation to Approach Road

Paddington Station New Office Block. Elevation to Appraoch Road First and Second Portions. Showing elevation of building including the lettering 'Great Western Railway'

28 September 1932

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Alterations Contract No.14 Drawing No.7 – Details of New Main Roof

Paddington Station Alterations. Six drawings on one sheet of details of new main roof. First drawing is of a cross section, second drawing is of cross section, third drawing is of cross section, fourth drawing is of detail, fifth drawing is of section, sixth drawing is of section shewing connection of rib to 60 foot girder. Drawing is signed by Ralph Holliday for Holliday and Greenwood.

28 April 1914

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Drawing No.1 – New Office Block Arrivals Side

Paddington Station New Office Block. 1/40" Scale Site Plan. Drawing showing site plan of Paddington station; platforms 1-10, the Lawn, the GWR Royal Hotel, cab road and GPO sorting office with additional detail around the new offices.

29 December 1931

Great Western Railway Paddington Station – Lord Hill Bridge Drawing No.2 Inside and Outside Girder

Lord Hill Bridge. Ten drawings on one sheet. Drawings are of various sections including elevations and plans of girders and transverse section of bridge.

1845-1855

Great Western Railway Paddington Station – Alterations of Ranlagh Street Bridge

Details of alterations to Ranelagh Street Bridge. Three drawings on one sheet. First drawing is of elevation, second drawing is of end view, third drawing is of transverse section at CD.

02 September 1853

Great Western Railway Paddington Station – Westbourne Road Bridge Section and Plans

Details of Westbourne Road Bridge. Eleven drawings on one sheet. First drawing is of plan of girders and plan of girders removed, second drawing is of longitudinal section, third drawing is of elevation, fourth drawing is of transverse section, fifth drawing is of section of parapet, sixth drawing is of front elevation of parapet, seventh drawing is of plan of bottom of column at A.A, eighth drawing is of plan of diagonal braces and plan of roadway plates, ninth drawing is of transverse section over column, tenth drawing is of plan of bottom, eleventh drawing is of transverse section of girder.

1845-1855

Great Western Railway Paddington Station Drawing No.2 – Paddington New Lines and Subway Lord Hill Footbridge Extension

Paddington New Lines and Subway - Lord Hill Footbridge Extension. Seven drawings on one sheet. First drawing is of section XX-section YY, second drawing is of half elevation of girder, third drawing is of elevation at pier, fourth drawing is of [cross] section thro' ZZ, fifth drawing is of half plan of bridge, sixth drawing is of plan at pier, seventh drawing is of details at S, T, U and V. Drawing is signed by [Lancaster Owen].

12 April 1877

1 2 3 … 5 6 7 8 9 10 11