Inventory Site Record

Euston Square does not currently exist as a garden square, temporarily built over as part of the Government's HS2 rail scheme of which Euston Station is the London Terminus. The garden square was laid out in the early C19th on the site of the Bedford Nursery Ground. It formed two rectangular strips either side of New Road, built as a cattle route to Smithfield Market and later renamed Euston Road. The southern side of Euston Square became Endsleigh Gardens in 1880 and only the northern part survives as a garden, enclosed by railings, with grass and mature London plane trees. Euston Station opened in 1837 and was enlarged over the next decades. The two lodges, inscribed with names of stations served by the London and North Western Railway, date from c.1870 and were once at the station entrance. They are now the only survivors of the formal 1870 layout, which was replaced by the new station in 1968. Following completion of HS2, the historic gardens are due to be reinstated.

Site location:

Euston Road

Postcode:

NW1

What 3 Words:

bottom.less.call

Type of site:

Public Gardens, Garden Square

Borough:

Camden

Open to public?

No

Opening times:

(under construction for HS2 works)

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

Rail/London Overground/Tube (Northern/Victoria): Euston. Tube: Euston Square (Northern, Victoria). Bus: 10, 18, 30, 68, 73, 91, 168, 205, 253.

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

10/05/2023

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.camden.gov.uk; www.hs2.org.uk/euston 

Euston Square was laid out in the early C19th on the site of the Bedford Nursery Ground, as two rectangular strips of land either side of New Road, later renamed Euston Road, which was built in 1756, a cattle route to Smithfield Market. The name Euston comes from the Fitzroy family who owned land here who were the Dukes of Grafton and Earls of Euston. The southern side of Euston Square was renamed Endsleigh Gardens in 1880 and only the northern part survives as a garden in front of Euston Station, enclosed by mid-C19th cast iron railings with grass and mature London planes. It is bisected by a slip road and traffic island with a war memorial, and the two former entrance lodges to Euston Station. By 1928 the eastern area of the garden was let to the Council of St Pancras House of Fellowship and the western garden to the St Pancras Public Welfare Association.

Euston Station opened in 1837, planned by Robert Stephenson, whose statue by Baron Carlo Marochetti is now further north in the paved area by the station's new entrance. By 1838 the station had a double train shed designed by Charles Fox, decorative screen with two lodges and 72 foot high portico designed by Philip Hardwick and was enlarged over the C19th with grand hotels and a Great Hall by Philip Hardwick the Younger. The two Euston lodges date from c.1870 and, originally the entrance to the station, were built by J. B. Stansby, the company engineer for the London and North Western Railway. The names of stations served by the company are inscribed on the lodges and the pediments have reliefs with allegorical figures representing England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales by Joseph Pitts. The statue of Robert Stephenson was erected 1871 and was originally sited between the two entrance lodges, which are the only survivors of the formal 1870 layout of the station. The war memorial was erected and unveiled in 1921 by Reginald Wynn Owen for the LNWR, with a bronze wreath on each face and statues of a sailor, an infantryman, a member of the Royal Flying Corps and a gunner, and is dedicated to the 3719 men of the railway company who died in WWI. A later inscription commemorates those employees of the London Midland and Scottish Railway Company into which the LNWR had been absorbed.

In 1963 much of the original station including its Doric Arch was destroyed for a new station, which opened in 1968; offices were built between the station and Euston Road in 1976 and the station forecourt, hard landscaped in the 1990s, had a series of banners by artist Sue Ridge, with an earlier sculpture by Edouardo Paolozzi to the south. The two areas of gardens that survived had undulating ground, with grass, mature plane trees and shrubs with some planting by the path entrance from the east. 

The Government's HS2 rail scheme has led to the (temporary) destruction of Euston Square Gardens, although some of the mature trees and the iron railings remain in place. HS2 is the UK’s new high speed rail line being constructed from London to the North-West, with HS2 trains linking the biggest cities in Scotland with Manchester, Birmingham and London. "It is the largest infrastructure project in Europe and the most important economic and social regeneration project in decades." (source: https://www.hs2.org.uk/what-is-hs2/). The High Speed 2 (London – West Midlands) Act was passed in February 2017, giving the government permission to build the railway. Euston Station is the London Terminus of the project. Construction is expected to last until 2033. By 2018 the western garden at Euston Square had been levelled and asphalted in order to provide for temporary taxi provision for Euston Station. The eastern garden lasted until 2021, but was then boarded up behind hoardings, the ground levelled and trees removed for HS2 works.  

HS2 Ltd has committed to reinstating Euston Square Gardens eventually.

Sources consulted:

Survey of London; E Beresford Chancellor 'The History of the Squares of London: Topographical and Historical', London 1907; Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert, 'The London Encyclopaedia' (Macmillan, revised ed. 1993); Report of the Royal Commission on London Squares, 1928. HS2 OOC Leaflet, 'Euston Station Design, Spring 2022 engagement',  https://assets.hs2.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/HS2-Euston-Brochure-27.05.22-lower-res.pdf

Grid ref:

TQ296825 (529644,182564)

Size in hectares:

1.1462

Site ownership:

LB Camden

Site management:

(under HS2 construction)

Date(s):

c.1825

Designer(s):

Listed structures:

LBII: railings around gardens, statue of Robert Stephenson in station forecourt; two lodges, war memorial

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

Yes

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

Bloomsbury

Tree Preservation Order:

Not known

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

Not known

Other LA designation:

Public Open Space (Small Local). Strategic View Corridor

Euston Square Gardens, Lodge, September 2002. Photo: S Williams

Click a photo to enlarge.