Property: What Is London’s Best Connected Address?

Did you know there are 67 apartments at St.Pancras? One of London’s great landmarks and architectural icons has a less noticed distinction as the best-connected address in Britain for the well-funded commuter.

When the St Pancras Grand Midlands Hotel opened in 1873 the building’s designer George Gilbert Scott could hardly have imagined the advent of the Eurostar which now has trains to Paris and Brussels departing from inside the building, along with an unrivalled six Tube lines and a bustling network of overground train lines running into St Pancras International and the linked King’s Cross station.

The eclectic red bricks of the Victorian Neo-Gothic architecture towering above St Pancras survived demolition threats and nearly 30 years of sitting empty before a £200m renovation saw it reopen in 2011 as the Marriott-owned St Pancras Renaissance Hotel and 67 privately-owned residences known as the St Pancras Chambers.

With its flight-of-fancy exterior and the unmatched web of rail lines terminating at its ground level or running beneath it there is no surprise that a one-bedroom flat here is for sale with Knight Frank for £1,095,000.

The Apartment

This Victorian-style penthouse in the rafters benefits from a concierge and room service as well as the optional use of the hotel’s luxury facilities such as spa and gym membership.

While the décor looks a little like a holiday cottage the route to get there passes through the hotel’s grand interior including the new addition of Marcus Wareing’s brassiere and bar “The Gilbert Scott”, located in the former British Rail booking office.

Decor and Restoration

Scott’s grand stone staircase is a famous feature while the ladies’ smoking room, now used as a venue for hire, was the first place in Europe where women could smoke publicly without offending contemporary values.

The hotel closed in 1935 because of the cost of the armies of servants it required. The Victorian custom was not to install bathrooms so chamber pots and bathing facilities were hand-provided by hundreds of staff.

The building was then used as offices by British Rail, which was going to demolish it until a successful campaign by poet John Betjemen and Jane Fawcett, a WWII codebreaker who was directly involved in the sinking of Hitler’s battleship the Bismark.

After receiving listed status in 1967 and continuing to be used as offices the building was closed in the 1980s due to fire safety regulations. The modern restoration began with a £10m renovation of the exterior in the 1990s, followed by the full refurb by architects Aedas RHWL and the Manhattan Loft Corporation between 2004 and 2011.

The Sir George Gilbert Scott suite was restored to its original appearance with the firm spending £47,000 on what it describes as the “authentic wallpaper especially replicated using the exact same materials and methods as the original.” It is presented with “period furniture pieces such as the dining table and chairs,” according to Marriott Hotels.

Britain’s Best-Connected Residence

The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel is one of the few grand railway hotels to the have survived the middle of the 20th Century when the spread of car travel and the introduction of faster trains meant travellers no longer had to break their journeys at such luxurious stops. It’s an address which would bring envy and whispers from everyone around you.

None of the other survivors, such as the Paddington Hilton, can match the “international” status of St Pancras or offer the option of private apartments for sale so close to the platforms. Some of the hotel guest rooms even look directly out onto the platforms (left) and tunnels link the building to King’s Cross, London’s best-connected Tube station, so guests and residents can catch their train or Tube without setting foot in the street.

According to the Office for National Statistics the average UK commute in 2015 was 57.1 minutes and yet in just over two hours travel from St Pancras you could be taken from your front doorstep to Paris, Brussels or Sheffield if that takes your fancy.

by Stewart Vickers @VickHellfire

 

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