The Midlands Grand

The Midlands Grand (seen from King's Cross)

King’s Cross is a lovely, old Victorian building with lots of wrought iron and brick. So much more what I expect from a London train station. This picture does not really do it justice. The scale is amazing. The station consists of two side-by-side train sheds. Both accommodate six trains pulling into the station. You can see the other train shed through the archways in the center. I can agree with Dirk’s assessment of the station. For those of you who haven’t read the novel (shame on you!) but intend to, please note that I haven’t actually given away any of the plot points. For those of you who have, you know the observation I mean… he makes it just before he is swooped upon by the eagles.

The other major landmark of the book was a bit more difficult for me to recognize. The Midlands Grand Hotel is, in fact exactly as Douglas Adams describes it. Its roofline is a confusion of turrets and dormers further confused by the addition of chimneys, gargoyles, and stonework ornamentation. It actually sits at the end of the St. Pancras station, not at the end of the King’s Cross Station as I had thought from my readings of the novel. There is a small (by comparison) hotel in the same block as King’s Cross Station that I, at first must be the place. It was as I was walking past the other (much larger and more interesting (architecturally) building that I noticed the name plate put there by the historical preservation society proclaiming that the building I liked better was, in fact, the Midlands Grand hotel. I had already taken a couple pictures of it thinking that I just liked it enough to want a picture of it.

So, here without any further ado is the Midlands Grand as seen from the entrance to King’s Cross:
They are doing a lot of work around it. There is restoration work, but also this is where the Chunnel terminal in London will be.

As you can see, it is quite ornate, but here is the roofline that is being described in the book: