Even today you're not short of significant buildings to draw along Euston Road. It starts at Kings Cross. The name refers to an equestrian statue of George IV erected as a memorial on his death in 1830. So popular was George as a monarch that the statue was removed in 1845, unmourned and unmissed.
As I say, even today there's a lot to choose from - the Grand Midland Hotel above St. Pancras Station, the British Library and Euston Station. I've opted to use something from the back catalogue - as is my prerogative - and so we have my drawing of the Doric Arch outside Euston Station from 1837 - 1961. As I wrote when I first posted this sketch -
The first threat to the arch came in the late 1930s when a radical plan to rebuild the station was drawn up, which would have involved moving the arch at the very least. The second world war put paid to this, however it only turned out to be a stay of execution. Despite the fact that both station and arch were grade II listed, the plan for the current station were put forward in about 1960, and nobody in officialdom showed any appetite whatsoever for moving the arch to a new home. The London County Council balked at the cost, and Transport Minister Ernie Marples said all options for not demolishing the arch had been carefully examined and rejected. This was the same Ernie Marples whose company built motorways – not that he was at all biased, you understand. Pleas from great men such as Sir John Betjeman to be given time to raise the money to meet the cost of removing the arch and storing it until such time as a new home could be found for it were ignored.
Contrary to how it might seem from what I’ve just written, I do appreciate that you cannot keep things just because they have been there a long time. Otherwise we’d all be living in Bronze Age roundhouses. But I do think that there was a very strong case for keeping the Euston Arch and I point my finger at those who made the decision and rushed to demolition, and am happy to say that you have let down the people you were working for and sold all our birthright for a mess of concrete.
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