Porte Cochere, Pedestrian Loggia and Octagonal Turret Forming Frontage to Leicester Station

Details

718/8/205 LONDON ROAD 10-JUL-73 Porte cochere, pedestrian loggia and o ctagonal turret forming frontage to Le icester Station (Formerly listed as: LONDON ROAD LONDON ROAD STATION (SCREEN WALL TO LO NDON ROAD AND CONDUIT STREET ONLY))

II Railway station porte cochere including pedestrian loggia and octagonal turret. Built in 1892 for the Midland Railway Company. Designed by Charles Trubshaw, architect to the Midland Railway Company.

MATERIALS: Red brick with terracotta detailing and dressings, with riveted metal roof beams to support a glazed roof structure.

PLAN: Linear plan on a north-west/south-east axis incorporating passenger and vehicle access from London Road and entry and exit access to and from the platforms and the station booking hall.

EXTERIOR: The London Road frontage to the porte cochere has an arcaded front of nineteen bays divided by flat brick pilasters, above which is an entablature with an arcaded parapet supported with fourteen large urns. Each bay incorporates a round-headed arch defining either a window or a pedestrian way, each with a fluted keyblock and a continuous impost mould. There are four large elliptical arch carriage ways with bas-relief decoration in spandrels, the two arrival carriageways with open pediments rising through the parapet. At the south-east end is a curved corner leading onto a shorter frontage wall to Conduit Street. This has a further arched carriage entrance, detailed as those to the London Road elevation, two further blind arches. All of the carriage and pedestrian openings have decorative iron gates made by Elgood Brothers of Leicester. At the north-west end is an octagonal domed turret with a lantern all executed in terracotta, the sides of the drum with clock faces set below scrolled broken pediments. To the side of the turret, and at a lower level than the rest of the building frontage, is a further elliptical arch-headed carriage entrance with large lidded urns to the parapet above.

INTERIOR: The glazed roof structure of the porte cochere is of triple span form and eleven bays in length. The main trusses are made up of riveted metal beams, with full-width tie beams supporting the inclined roof truss members and continuous collar beams, as well as the longtitudinal valley beams running the length of the building. The rear wall of the porte cochere has a series of seven arch-headed window and door openings to the north-west end, some giving access to the booking hall beyond. Next to these are a series of arch-headed openings including two openings originally designed to provide access to the porte cochere via staircases from the platforms below for passengers departing the station. The north-west end wall has two wide-arched openings and two doorways with overlights. The openings give access to a curved access way from the road frontage openings at the north-west corner of the porte cochere, within which there is also a balustraded passenger walkway.

HISTORY: The present Leicester Station was opened in 1892, and completed in 1895. it was designed by the architect Charles Trubshaw, and replaced an earlier Midland Railway station of 1840. The new station was designed on two levels, the passengers arriving and departing the station at street level on London Road, on what was effectively a wide railway overbridge which spanned the railway below and supported the station booking hall and porte cochere. The ornamental gates to the porte cochere were designed by Thomas Elgood, who together with his two brothers had established an art metal company In Leicester. In the late 1970s, the station was substantially remodelled, with the rebuilding of the main platforms and its buildings and the removal of the glazed roof at platform level. In 1985 further alteration saw the replacement of the original booking office and the porte cochere is now the principal surviving element of Trubshaw's design.

SOURCES: Palmer M and Neaverson P, 'Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands' (1992) Pevsner N and Williamson E, 'The Buildings of England: Leicestershire' (1984)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The Porte Cochere, including pedestrian loggia and octagonal turret, to Leicester Station is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architecture. The porte cochere is a distingushed example of late C19 railway architecture completed in 1892 by one of the most important and ambitious companies of the era of railway development in England to the designs of the notable railway architect Charles Trubshaw. * Intactness. The porte cochere is the most intact element of the station complex, having sustained little significant alteration, in contrast to the main booking hall, the station platforms and platform buildings, all of which have been remodelled. * Prominence. The porte cochere forms the approach frontage to the station complex. Its architectural detailing and the use of decorative terracotta were intended to help create an impression of grandeur reflecting the importance of the Midland Railway Company at the height of its development at the end of the C19.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

188688

Legacy System:

LBS

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