Euston Road

View of Euston Road in the early 20th century

Before the 18th century, the land along which Euston Road runs was farmland and fields. Camden Town was a village retreat for Londoners working in the city.[7] Euston Road was originally part of New Road, promoted by Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton and enabled by an Act of Parliament passed in 1756.[3] Construction began in May that year, and it was open to traffic by September.[8]

The road provided a new drovers' road for moving sheep and cattle to Smithfield Market avoiding Oxford Street and Holborn, and ended at St John's Street, Islington.[3] It provided a quicker route for army units to reach the Essex coast when there was a threat of invasion, without passing through the cities of London and Westminster,[8] and was a barrier between the increasing urban sprawl that threatened to reach places such as Camden Town.[7] The Capper family, who lived on the south side of the proposed route, opposed its construction and complained their crops would be ruined by dust kicked up by cattle along the route. Capper Street, a side street off Tottenham Court Road, is named after the family.[3] A clause in the 1756 Act stipulated that no buildings should be constructed within 50 feet (15 m) of the road, with the result that most of the houses along it lay behind substantial gardens. During the 19th century the law was increasingly ignored.[8]

The St Pancras Renaissance London Hotel opened as the Midland Hotel in 1873 and fronts St Pancras station.

Euston station opened on the north side of New Road in July 1837. It was planned by Robert Stephenson on the site of gardens called Euston Grove, and was the first mainline station to open in London. Its entrance, designed by Philip Hardwick, cost £35,000 (now 3,384,000) and had the highest portico in London at 72 feet (22 m). The Great Hall opened in 1849 to improve accommodation for passengers, and a statue of Stephenson's father George was installed in 1852.[9] The Dukes of Grafton had become the main property owners in the area, and in 1857 the central section of the road, between Osnaburgh Street and Kings Cross, was renamed Euston Road[10] after Euston Hall, their country house. The eastern section became Pentonville Road, the western Marylebone Road.[8] The full length of Euston Road was dug up so that the Metropolitan Railway could be built beneath it using a cut-and-cover system and the road was then relaid to a much higher standard.[7][11] The new Anglican church of St Luke's Church opened on Euston Road in 1861; it was shortly afterwards demolished and replaced by St Pancras railway station, which opened in 1867, with the fronting Midland Grand Hotel following in 1873.[12] The Euston station complex was controversially demolished in 1963 to accommodate British Rail's facilities. The replacement building opened in 1968, and now serves 50 million passengers annually.[13]

Tolmers Village was in the tiny triangle (less than 2 hectares (4.9 acres)) on the north side of Euston Road between Hampstead Road and North Gower Street. It was built in the early 1860s over a former reservoir to provide affordable middle-class terraced housing but its proximity to a main road and the Euston Station complex meant it ultimately catered for the working classes. By 1871, around 5,000 residents were housed in a 12-acre (4.9 ha) area. The estate continued to expand throughout the early 20th century in a piecemeal fashion, and attracted Greek, Cypriot and Asian immigrants following World War II.[14] In the 1970s, the estate came under threat from property developers who wanted to demolish it and build offices, which led to demonstrations and protests, including supporters from University College. The plans were cancelled, but the estate was still bulldozed and replaced by tower blocks.[14][3]

Euston Tower in 2004

The area around the junction with the Tottenham Court Road suffered significant bomb damage during the Second World War. Patrick Abercrombie's contemporary Greater London Plan called for a new ring road around Central London called the 'A' Ring, but post-war budget constraints meant that a medley of existing routes were improved to form the ring road, including Euston Road.[15] An underpass to avoid the junction with the Tottenham Court Road was proposed by the London County Council (LCC) in 1959,[16] with construction beginning in 1964.[17] The property developer Joe Levy was keen to develop buildings in the area and bought various properties. When the LCC refused planning permission because of the underpass development, Levy, who had outline planning permission, insisted the council pay him £1 million if they wanted to compulsorily purchase the site. Over the next four years, Levy bought properties along the north side of Euston Road, and an agreement was reached so that the council built the underpass and he built a complex of two tower blocks with office shops and apartments, the Euston Tower.[18]

The tower attracted a number of significant tenants, including Inmarsat[19] and the independent radio station Capital Radio. The ITV broadcaster Thames Television's corporate headquarters were nearby at No. 306–316 Euston Road from 1971 to 1992 when the station closed. That building was demolished in 1994 and redeveloped when Thames, now a production company, moved all operations to Teddington Studios.[20][21]

In the early-21st century, the Greater London Authority commissioned a plan to improve the road from the architectural firm, Terry Farrell and Partners. The original study proposed removing the underpass (which was subsequently cancelled) and providing a pedestrian crossing and removing the gyratory system connecting the Tottenham Court Road and Gower Street. The scheme was approved by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone as "the start of changing the Marylebone to Euston road from a highway into a series of linked public spaces."[22] The pedestrian crossing opened in March 2010.[23] Livingstone's successor, Boris Johnson, favours keeping the Euston Road underpass and declared it to be a good place to test his nerves when cycling around London.[24]

In 2015, Transport for London announced its intention to close one lane in each direction on Euston Road between 2020 and 2026 to accommodate work on High Speed 2. The decision was condemned by Camden Borough Council as it could affect business and cost more than £1 billion in lost revenue. The AA said the works were the largest ever proposed in London and would affect far more than local traffic due to its Inner Ring Road status.[25]