The history of London Cannon Street station

Opened in 1866, London Cannon Street connects the south and south east of London with the city. It serves as an intermediate station between London Bridge and Charing Cross.

It has an iconic design by Sir John Hawkshaw and John Wolfe Barry. And features two Wren-style towers that still stand today. The building has undergone significant redevelopment over the years and now sees an average of 22 million passengers annually.

Origins

London Cannon Street, also known as City Terminus, was opened on September 1, 1866, by the South Eastern Railway. It was designed by Sir John Wolfe Barry and Sir John Hawkshaw. The station was built to compete with the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, which had plans to build a station at Holborn Viaduct. At the time, Cannon Street had a roof longer than that of nearby Charing Cross.

Cannon Street Bridge, designed by Sir John Hawkshaw, was built to cross the Thames. It included two footpaths: a public tollpath and one for railway employees. It opened with the station in 1866 and was originally named “Alexandra Bridge”. This was in honor of Princess Alexandra of Denmark, wife of Edward Prince of Wales.

In its first year, around eight million passengers used Cannon Street Station. The City Terminus Hotel, designed by Edward Middleton Barry, opened in 1867 in front of the station. It was taken over by the South Eastern Railway in 1872.

Record Breaking

The original station signal box was on a gantry across the bridge and had 67 levers. In 1893, the bridge was widened from 66ft 8in to 120ft, and two new signal boxes were built. Box No.1 had 243 manual levers, the most in any single box in Britain at the time. The widened bridge was the widest railway bridge in the world then.

Improvements

In the 1920s the Southern Railway rebuilt the platforms and renovated and cleaned the roof. They also installed four-aspect colour-light signalling and the number of platforms was reduced from nine to eight. In 1931 the Cannon Street Hotel was closed and turned into an office building called Southern House.

The Second World War

During World War II, the glazing from the station roof was removed and stored in a factory to protect it from damage. Unfortunately, the factory was bombed, and the glazing was destroyed. The station itself was also damaged. In December 1940, incendiary bombs hit the station but were quickly extinguished. The most damage occurred in May 1941 when two high explosive bombs hit the station and hotel. These severely damaged the roof, burning two floors of the hotel. Because of the damage, the roof was not replaced, and the skeleton ribs of the roof stood for another ten years.

Modernisation

In 1958, as part of British Rail’s modernisation plans, the train shed roof was demolished, and Southern House followed in 1963. The station platforms were lengthened again in 1957.

In 1962, plans were made for a multi-storey office building to replace the station roof. The buikding was designed by John Poulson, and scheduled for completion by 1965. By the late 1960s, only the two towers and part of the station building’s side walls survived.

Despite closure rumors, British Rail invested heavily in redeveloping and restoring the station in the 1980s. This included re-decking the railway bridge and restoring the two original Wren-style station towers. The weathervanes were gilded to complement the nearby dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral. This was one of the first major projects for the Railway Heritage Trust.

In 2019, as part of a £45 million artwork project, Cannon Street Bridge was lit up with new LED lights, replacing the outdated lighting. These new lights reduce energy consumption and light spill onto the river.

Today, the station sees an average of 22 million passengers per year.

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