Richmond
Listing Details
Listing: Local
Local Authority: Richmond Upon Thames
Description
Richmond station was reconstructed in 1936-37 with a fine new art deco station building set back behind a forecourt. It was designed by John Robb Scott, the Southern Railway’s Chief Architect who completed the rebuilding of their great terminus at Waterloo in 1922 (Memorial Arch – Grade II listed) and Surbiton (Grade II) in 1938. Richmond has a formal symmetry with the central ‘cube’ faced with Portland stone accommodating the double-height booking hall which has some Scandinavian-classical influences, particularly the projecting surrounds to the tall central Crittal windows and flag-pole brackets (photo below).
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Slightly lower wings either side share the same Crittal steel windows to the offices on the upper floors and accommodate retail units on the ground floor to the left.
Splayed stair tower wings with full height glazing above black polished granite doorway surrounds complete the original composition with a later wing of lesser quality added in the post-war years.
The archive photograph dates from 1938, soon after the completion of the reconstructed station. Note the angled flag-poles are now in a vertical position.
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The stairs between the ticket hall and the lower-level platforms retain their very elegant art-deco handrails with rounded ends. The seven platforms have very broad canopies with supporting columns and ornate brackets (bottom photo) serving the District line branch to Upminster, the London Overground line to Stratford via Willesden Junction and the South Western lines to Waterloo, Windsor, Shepperton and Reading.
The London Borough of Richmond has designated this railway landmark ‘A Building of Townscape Merit’ (BTM) protected by the Central Richmond Conservation Area.
Where next?
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