Euston Road is an important
thoroughfare in central London
, England
and forms
part of the A501. It is part of the
New
Road
from Paddington
to Islington
, and was opened as part of the New Road in
1756. It was London's first bypass, through the fields to the north of
London in the 1740s, but it is now generally regarded as
being in central London.
The New Road was intended to provide a route for sheep and cattle
to be driven to
Smithfield Market
and for this reason the road terminated at Islington where it
joined the existing St. Johns Street. The road also provided a
quicker route for army units to exit London.
Building of the New
Road was opposed by the Duke of Bedford as it cut off his estate in
what is now Bloomsbury
from the countryside and construction required an
enabling act of Parliament.
Strips of
terrace houses developed along both sides of the Road and in 1832
Euston
Station
opened to the North of the New Road. The
Fitzroy Family had become the main property owner in the area and
in 1852 the Road was renamed as Euston Road after 'Euston Hall'
their country house.
The area around the junction with Tottenham Court Road suffered
significant bomb damage during the Second World War. Under the
Greater London Plan of
Patrick
Abercrombie Euston Road was widened.
In 1960 - 61 a major
set of transport modifications resulted in the destruction of the
entrance to Euston
Station and the construction of the underpass at the junction with Tottenham Court
Road
.
During the
1960s office developments grew around this junction including the
Euston
Tower
skyscraper that now forms part of Regent's Place
, attracting a number of significant tenants, most
notably the former ITV broadcaster Thames Television who had their corporate
headquarters and a number of studios there from 1970 to
1993.
The
road runs from west to east from Marylebone
Road
to Pentonville
Road. It meets the northern end of Tottenham Court
Road at a large junction where there is an underpass. Traffic runs in three lanes in each
direction though this is currently restricted at the Eastern end
due to ongoing site works around King's
Cross
and St Pancras railway stations
. The road is commonly clogged with traffic
throughout much of the day.
The road is on the edge of the
London congestion charge zone. This
means that road users are not charged for using the road itself,
but are charged if they turn south into the zone. The road also
approximately marks the edge of
Travelcard Zone 1 of
Transport for London.
Notable architecture
King's
Cross and St Pancras railway stations are at the eastern end of the
road, the British
Library
is nearby, and Euston railway station
is a little further to the west.
Euston Tower is also on the road. Both the old and new
headquarters of the
Wellcome Trust
are on the south side of the road.
About half-way along, at the junction
with Upper Woburn Place is St Pancras New Church
. Almost opposite is the Euston Road fire
station, built 1901–2, in an "Arts and Crafts" style. It was
designed by
Percy Nobbs (1875–1964). At
100–110 is the Shaw Theatre. It was built in honour of GB Shaw in
1971, and completely rebuilt in 1998.
The new University
College Hospital
building is also on the south of the
road.
Euston
Road appears on the London edition of
the board game Monopoly.
Future Proposals
In 2002 the
Greater London
Authority commissioned a masterplan for the improvement of
Euston Road from the prominent architectural firm
Terry Farrell and Partners. The
study is ongoing, with some minor changes to the streetscape
already applied.
The work was supplemented in 2007 with a
parallel investigation by the postgraduate Architecture Design
Studio 15 at the University of Westminster
.
Major
redevelopment works are ongoing at the East end of the road linking
King's Cross and St Pancras railway stations with a new passenger concourse and access to
Europe via High Speed
1.
West to East
Tube stations on Euston Road
Ordered from West to East:
External links
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