Welcome to the Open London - St Pancras Chambers
It was fine and glorious September morning when I set of for the St Pancras hotel. It was London's
annual Open House weekend, an event that I had pretty much missed over the last decade. This
morning however, I was meeting up with friends. We had an ambitious number of venues to tour,
and it all started at St Pancras.
The queue had already snaked out of the building and was heading towards the British Library
by the time I arrived. As I was running late, I took a quick run along the line looking for
my friends, but they must have already gone in. Not deterred I joined the queue and waited.
The weather was fantastic, so this was not a hardship.
St Pancras was for the best part covered in a web of scaffolding, as building work was being
carried out. If the exterior looks grand it is nothing in comparison to the interior. Gold
leaf topped columns and tall ceilings greeted me as I stepped from the baking sun into the cool
reception area. A sweeping, tiled corridor hid the interior. This was just the start of my
adventure.
The hotel is open for visitors but it usually costs a fee and you are limited to the ground
floor. Today they had opened the main stairwell, and the landings on all the floors up to the
recently restored ceiling at the head of the stairwell. I was amazed at the degree of preservation
of these victorian artefacts. Ceramic light switches, mosaic flooring, and the pair of amazingly
named Ascending rooms.
Much restoration seems to have taken place on the building, although the main room of the
ground floor looked like it had seen better days. The previous occupants having knocked
hundred of holes in the ceiling to provide support for a new lower ceiling.
Despite the neglect it was looking good for its age. On the first floor, there was scalloped alcove
with a glorious painted mural within it. The whole building must have looked fantastic when it was
in full use.
This was probably the last time the St Pancras Chambers would be open to the public like this,
as it was soon to be reconditioned and overhauled by a large hotel chain. Despite its obvious
heritage, and I might be making a wide sweeping statement, but in my view the large hotel chains
are really only interested in how much money it can make, and almost have no interest in preserving
or making good what is already there.
I personally hope that I am wrong and that the character of the buildings interior is preserved.
It was a fantastic morning, and as I stepped from the Building I found my friends waiting for me. Our
ambitious plans had been scaled down somewhat so that we could enjoy the glorious and unexpected good
weather.
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