Brunel's gateway to the west
Paddington Station
Paddington is perhaps the pleasantest London station for travellers thanks to brilliant engineering in Victorian and late twentieth century times.
Paddington now
The station has been refurbished and enhanced by the architects Grimshaw and partners since 1995.
Polished limestone has brightened the platforms while travellers can wait and shop in the Lawn - an area that was long ago station master's garden.
Paddington then
Paddington was built using the same techniques as the Crystal Palace. It opened in 1854 just three years after the Great Exhibition.
The statue near the entrance on platform 1 celebrates the engineer, Brunel, who worked with the architects and designers Matthew Digby Wyatt and Owen Jones to create this spectacular station.
Trains from the station ran along the railways built by Brunel from London to Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance.
Submitted by: Andrew Hunt, 22 January 2007
