Gari, industrie Grand Hornu, metrou

Gari, industrie Grand Hornu, metrou

Grand Hornu

Belgia,Bruxell

industrie

Reconversia orasului industrial Grand Hornu

A. Adresa sitului:

82, rue Sainte Louise, B-7301 HORNU / Province du Hainaut, BELGIQUE

B. Contact:

ASBL Grande-Hornu Images, Françoise Foulon-Busine

Maryse Willems, 82, rue Sainte Louise, B-7301 HORNU. Tel. 0033 65 613879

e-mail:maryse.willems@grand-hornu.be

C. Scurta descriere:

Grand-Hornu a fost construit intre 1820-1835 de Henri De Gorge, intreprinzator si inovator,

pentru a-si dezvolta exploatarile de huila. Primul oras industrial, este un exemplu de urbanism

celebru in Europa secolului al XIX-lea pentru conceptia sa arhitecturala unitara, integrand

munca, administratia, locuirea, ca si echipamentele necesare educatiei, sanatatii si loisirului.

Istoria reconversiei

Lasat in parasire dupa inchiderea sa in 1954, apoi condamnat la demolare printr-o decizie regala

din 1969, situl ii datoreaza supravietuirea arhitectului Henri Guchez care rascumpara in 1971

constructiile in ruina si intreprinde primele restaurari pentru a-si stabili acolo biroul de

arhitectura.

La inceputul anilor ’80, Claude Durieux, deputatul permanent al Provinciei Hainaut, formeaza o celula de studiu pentru punerea in valoare si dezvoltarea sitului in continuitate cu vocatia sa

initiala, unind inovatiile tehnologice si sociale.

Aceasta initiativa s-a concretizat in 1984 prin aparitia ASBL Grande-Hornu Images care

propune, in concordanta cu caracteristicile si istoria locului, patru axe de dezvoltare: cultura,

turism, tehnologie si prospectare. Acest proiect a condus in 1989 la rascumpararea sitului de

catre Provincia Hainaut.

Pentru instalarea ASBL Grande-Hornu Images in sit si realizarea programului de activitati

(vizite, expozitii, animatii pedagogice) axate pe istoria locului si relatia dintre arta si industrie

(arhitectura, design, arte aplicate) s-a reabilitat o aripa care inconjoara curtea centrala si s-a

realizat reconversia depozitului de lampi si a pavilionului de pe latura de sud pentru receptie si cafeterie.

Pentru a permite dezvoltarea economica si tehnologica, aripa nordica a curtii eliptice a fost data in locatie antreprizei de telecomunicatii Atea-Siemens, iar Castelul de Gorge celor de la ASBL Technocité, care se ocupa de tehnologiile de varf.

In 1991, Comunitatea Franceza a Belgiei a ales situl de la Grande-Hornu pentru amplasarea

Muzeului de Arta Contemporana. Aceasta realizare, inceputa in 1999 si terminata in 2002, se

inscrie in partea sud-vestica a curtii eliptice si vechea Casa a Inginerilor; aceasta se continua cu cladiri noi implantate in special pe coltul de sud-est.

D. Localizare:

Situat in provincia Hainaut, in apropierea autostrazii Bruxel-Paris si de frontiera franceza,

Grande-Hornu face in prezent parte din comuna Boussu (20.000 de locuitori), in inima

bazinului minier Mons. Ansamblul se afla aproape de Haine si de marile cai de comunicatii

(drum, canal, cale ferata) care leaga Mons de Valenciennes.

E. Datare si arhitecti:

1821-1824. Construirea casei Inginerilor, trasarea drumurilor si proiectele primelor case de

catre arhitectul François Obin din Lille.

1825. Pierre Cardona, arhitect din Termond, ii urmeaza lui Obin si modifica substantial

planurile atelierului de constructii de masini.

1825-1835. Bruno Renard, din Tournai, elev al lui Percier si Fontaine la Paris, aduna diversele elemente intr-un plan de ansamblu, articulate in jurul celor doua curti.

1954. Incetarea activitatilor miniere, inchiderea sitului.

1959. Scoaterea la vanzare a cladirilor si materialelor. Casele au fost cedate ocupantilor.

1971. Arhitectul Henri Guchez rascumpara cladirile centrale amenintate cu demolarea si

opereaza o prima restaurare partiala.

1989. Reconversia depozitului de lampi si a pavilionului de pe latura de sud in receptie si

cafeterie de arhitectul Patrick Malette.

1994-1998. Elaborarea proiectlui pentru Muzeul de Arta Contemporana (MAC’s) de catre

arhitectul din Liége Pierre Hebbelinck.

1999-2002. Construirea MAC’s si reamenajarea receptiei sub conducerea lui Pierre Hebbelinck.

F. Tipologia sitului:

Asa cum stau marturie cartile postale vechi din cartea lui Marcel Capouillez, aspectul actual al

sitului, marcat de calmul si maretia arhitecturii neoclasice, contrasteaza cu ambianta activa si

dinamica data de galerii, antrepozite, sasiuri cu moleta, transportoare aeriene si cai ferate, astazi disparute. In schimb, monotonia drumurilor, cu repetarea caselor identice, este astazi rupta de diferenta de culoare sau de alte semne distinctive realizate de locuitori.

Nucleul orasului este constituit de doua grupuri de cladiri industriale ordonate pe o axa est-vest.

Grupul de est, asezat la intersectia a doua axe majore, formeaza centrul orasului industrial.

Acesta inconjoara o curte eliptica, pe care sunt amplasate fatadele Casei Inginerilor si

Atelierului de constructii masini, in timp ce aripile curbe adapostesc diverse ateliere si depozite de materiale. Grupul de vest, axat pe pavilionul central cu o tripla arcada, inconjoara pe trei laturi o curte ale carei colturi sunt marcate de doua pavilioane proeminente, surmontate de un lanternou. In jurul acestui ansamblu monumental sunt amplasate 450 de locuinte, impartite pe sase strazi marginite de case insiruite formind si doua piete. Piata Saint-Henri formeaza, in lungul strazii din Mons, intrarea in complex, in timp ce piata Verte, spatioasa, lunga, plantata cu arbori, constituie parcul orasului, destinat loisirului. In partea de sud a ansamblului, de o parte si de alta a unui spatiu inaltat care traverseaza strada De Gorge, Casa Administratorului si Casa Inginerilor prezinta fatade pe axa nord-sud. Datorita amplasarii in vecinatatea Casei Inginerilor cu care au o relatie vizuala, cladirile majore ale orasului sunt orientate spre figura protectoare a lui Henri De Gorge a carui statuie este ridicata in centrul geometric al orasului.

G. Intinderea sitului:

Suprafata neconstruita a amplasamentului: 50.000 m

Suprafata ruinelor nereabilitate: 1.960 m ; Suprafata ruinelor reabilitate: 5.540 m

Suprafata construita contemporana: 4.000 m ; Suprafata desfasurata: 10.510 m

H/I Compozitia actuala a sitului si parteneri:

Provincia Hainaut este proprietara sitului.

Casele din oras au devenit proprietatea locuitorilor.

Comunitatea franceza dispune prin contract de inchiriere pe termen lung de jumatate din sit

pentru MAC’s.

Provincia a incredintat ASBL Grande-Hornu Images valorificarea turistica si culturala (design

si arte aplicate) si gestiunea patrimoniala a sitului.

ASBL Technocité dispune de castelul de Gorge pentru formarea tehnologiilor de varf.

In localurile ocupate de Siemens pana in 2003 vor fi instalate salile de animatie destinate

stagiilor.

J. Starea reconversiei:

Ansamblul lucrarilor a fost terminat din 2002.

K. Memoria celor ce muncesc:

Ideea de a infiinta un muzeu al minelor a fost inlaturata din cauza ca materialul a fost vandut ca fier vechi si situl abandonat timp de 15 ani. In schimb a fost instalat un mic muzeu istoric. El este astazi inlocuit cu un ghidaj electronic multimedia, care permite un traseu individual.

MAC’s si-a deschis portile in 2002 cu prezentarea unei opere a lui Christian Boltanski,

memorial dedicat muncitorilor de la Grande-Hornu. Aceasta prima achizitie este emblematica

pentru un demers care isi doreste sa asocieze memoria cu cercetarea, patrimoniul si creatia.

L. Reusite si/sau esecuri:

Situl atrage astazi 100.000 vizitatori pe an.

Pentru a incuraja o democratizare a accesului si o descoperire globala, vizitatorul plateste un

pret unic de 6 € pentru diferitele vizite.

De la instalarea Grande-Hornu Images in 1984, situl a generat in incinta sa si imprejurimile

imediate peste 400 de locuri de munca.

M. Costuri si investitii:

Situl a fost cumparat de Provincia Hainaut cu ajutorul Loteriei Nationale si a Fundatiei Regelui Baudouin.

Finantarea proiectului provine de la diferiti parteneri: Provincia Hainaut, Comunitatea franceza si Regiunea valona.

Realizarea MAC’s a beneficiat de un aport de fonduri europene (FEDER), in cadrul proiectului Objectif 1, destinat regiunilor aflate intr-o situatie economica defavorizata.

N. Bibliografie:

- H. WATELET, Une industrialisation sans développement. Le bassin de Mons et le

Charbonnage du Grand-Hornu du milieu du XVIIIème s. Au milieu du XIXème s., Ed. De

l’Université d’Ottawa et Recueil de la Faculté de Philo et Lettre de Louvain-la-Neuve, 1980

- H. WATELET, Le Grand-Hornu, joyau de la révolution industrielle et du Borinage, Ed. Grand-

Hornu Images, 1993

- FONDATION ROI BAUDOUIN, Des pierres pour le dire. Autour du Grand-Hornu, Ed. Credit

Communal, 1989

- F. ROELANTS DU VIVIER, Les ateliers et la cité du Grand-Hornu de 1820 à 1850, Teza

prezentata la Université Catholique de Louvain, 1971

- M. CAPOUILLIEZ, Le Grand-Hornu en cartes postales anciennes, Ed. Grand-Hornu Images,

- Y. ROBERT, Le complexe industriel du Grand-Hornu, Ed. Scala, 2002

- J.-N. MATHIEU, (lucrare colectiva sub indrumarea), Architecture historique et projets

contemporains. La reprise des monuments. Pratique de la réutilisation sur 40 sites en Europe

aujourd’hui, Ed. Le moniteur, 2003

- R. MATTHU, Pierre Hebbelinck, Le Musée des Arts contemporains au Grand-Hornu, Coll.

Référence, Ed. Institut Supérieur d’Architecture St Luc Bruxelles, 1999

- Ch. DASSONVILLE si M. COHEN, (lucrare colectiva sub indrumarea) MAC’s, Musée des Arts

Contemporains au Grand-Hornu, Coll. Visions, vol. 1, Ed. La lettre volée / Communauté

française de Belgique, 2002

O. Autorul si data elaborarii fisei:

Roland Matthu/ «Euroculture»; aprilie 2004

Fig. 1 Elemente compozitionale ale sitului

Fig. 2 Vedere aeriana a sitului

Fig. 3 Piata centrala

Fig. 4 Cladirea noua si vechiul cos de fum

Fig. 5 Intrarea in sala de expozitie

Fig. 6 Sala de expozitie

Fig. 7 Cartierul muncitoresc

Fig. 8 Triunghiul de supravietuire

La inceput francezii au fost atrasi de un design mai architectural, cu servicii organizate la capatul liniilor in jurul unei mari Sali de intrare cu Sali de asteptare.

Aceasta forma a fost adoptata de Francois Leonce Reynaud(1803-1880) la prima Gare du Nord(1845-6).

2vestibule; 3 birouri de bilete; 42 de locuri pentru bagaje; 5 Sali de asteptare; 7 saloane; 8 birouri a sefilor de statie; 9 toalete

Gare Saint Lazare

Juste Lisch(1828-1910)/ cu hotelul cu care comunica

Gare Saint-Lazare is one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris. It is the second busiest behind the Gare du Nord, and serves several lines to Normandie.

The first station at St Lazare was 200 m north-west of its current position, called Embarcadère des Batignolles. The station was opened by Marie-Amélie (wife of Louis-Philippe, King of the French) on 24 August . The first line served was the single track line to St Germain-en-Laye. In St-Lazare was the terminus for three lines; by this number had tripled. The station had 14 platforms in after several enlargements, and now has 27 platforms sorted in six destination groups. On 27 April the inner suburban lines were electrified with 750 V third rail

. The same lines were re-electrified at 25

The Gare Saint-Lazare has been represented in a number of artworks. It attracted artists during the Impressionist period and many of them lived very close to the Gare St-Lazare during the 1870s and 1880s.

Édouard Manet lived close by, at 4 rue de Saint-Pétersbourg. Two years after moving to the area he showed his painting 'Le Chemin de Fer' at the Paris Salon in 1874. This painting , now in the National Gallery of Art at Washington D.C., portrays a woman with a small dog and a book as she sits facing us in front of an iron fence, while a young girl to her right views the railroad track and steam beyond it. It was painted from the backyard of a friend's house on the nearby rue de Rome. At the time of its first exhibition it was caricatured and the subject of ridicule. and

Gustave Caillebotte also lived just a short walk away from the station. He painted Le Pont de l’Europe (The Bridge of Europe) in 1876 (now in the Petit Palais, Musée d’Art Moderne in Geneva, Switzerland) and 'On the Pont de l'Europe' in 1876-80 (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth). The former picture looks across the bridge with the ironworks diagonally crossing the picture to the right with a scene of partially interacting figures on the bridge to the left of it, and the latter depicts the iron structure of the bridge face-on in a strong close-up of its industrial geometry, with three male figures to the left side of the painting, all looking in different directions. (The Pont de l'Europe is a massive bridge spanning the railyard of the newly-expanded station, which at that time had an iron-work trellis)

St-Lazare station from the Pont de l'Europe

In 1877, painter Claude Monet rented a studio near the Gare Saint-Lazare. That same year he exhibited seven paintings of the railway station in an impressionist painting exhibition. He completed 11 paintings of this subject. , and

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare St. Lazare (cropped; this is a detail only)

Lesser-known artists who depicted the Gare Saint-Lazare were Jean Béraud, who painted 'The Place and Pont de l'Europe' in 1876-78 and Norbert Goeneutte (1854-1894), with a studio providing a very good view of the Pont de l'Europe, who painted this scene many times in the late 1880s. One of these is 'The Pont de l'Europe and Gare Saint-Lazare' from ca. 1888 (in the Baltimore Museum).

An engraving showing the Place de l'Europe bridge at the time of its opening in 1868 was made by Auguste Lamy.

In 1932, the wasteland behind the station became the subject of one of the most celebrated photographs of all time, Henri Cartier-Bresson's Derrière la gare de Saint-Lazare

In 1998 the Musée D'Orsay and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., put on an exhibition called 'Manet, Monet, and the Gare Saint-Lazare' .

The Gare Saint-Lazare is mentioned or plays a role in Emile Zola's La bête humaine and Roland Sadaune's Terminus St-Lazare.

The Gare Saint-Lazare is seen in the 1995 film French Kiss with Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan. It is the last scene in Paris where Kevin Kline's character is being chased by Police Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon (Jean Reno) while trying to board a train south to Cannes.

Garre d’Orsay

Victor Laloux(1850-1937)

Gare d'Orsay is a former Parisian railway station and hotel, built in to designs by Victor Laloux, Lucien Magne and Émile Bénard; it served as a terminus for the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans (Paris-Orléans Railway). It was the first electrified urban rail terminal in the world, opened May 28, , in time for the 1900 Exposition Universelle. It was the terminus for the railways of southwestern France until 1939, by which time the station's short platforms had become unsuitable for the longer trains that had come to be used for mainline services; it closed to long-distance traffic in , though some suburban trains continued to use it, and the station's hotel closed at the beginning of .

The former station was used as a collection point for the dispatch of parcels to prisoners of war during the Second World War, and after the war as a reception centre for liberated prisoners on their return; a plaque on the side of the building facing the River Seine commemorates this latter use.

It served as the setting for several films, including Orson Welles' version of Franz Kafka's The Trial. It was at the Gare d'Orsay that General Charles de Gaulle held the press conference at which he announced his 'availability to serve his country' (effectively placing himself at the head of a coup d'état) on 19 May , ushering in the end of the French Fourth Republi

Située en bord de Seine dans le VII^e arrondissement de Paris, la gare d'Orsay est l'ancien terminus de la compagnie du Paris-Orléans. Elle permet ainsi de prolonger jusqu'au cœur de Paris les lignes de la Compagnie d'Orléans, qui souffrent de la position excentrée de la gare d'Austerlitz. Elle est due à l'architecte et Premier Grand Prix de Rome Victor Laloux. Son inauguration a lieu en à l'occasion de l'exposition universelle.

Edifiée sur le quai d'Orsay, sur les vestiges du Palais d'Orsay (anciennement occupé par la Cour des comptes et par le Conseil d'État, et incendié sous la Commune), elle côtoie l'Assemblée nationale et le ministère des Affaires étrangères, à proximité des Champs-Elysées et de nombreux ministères. La gare a pour vocation originelle d'accueillir les visiteurs de l'exposition internationale, et les délégations étrangères qui se rendent à Paris. La nouvelle gare se doit donc de représenter le savoir-faire français sans porter atteinte aux quais de la Seine proche, au 'bon goût' et l'Académisme triomphant de l'époque. Ainsi, Laloux construit cet édifice en employant une ample et audacieuse verrière à structure métallique qu'il s'empresse de masquer à l'aide d'un parement de pierre richement orné. Trois statues monumentales représentent les trois principales destinations desservies par la Compagnie d'Orléans : Orléans, Bordeaux et Nantes. L'extrémité ouest du batiment est un hôtel de 370 chambres, que l'on reconnait à sa façade.

La riche décoration des caissons de sa voûte intérieure n'est rendue possible qu'à la condition de n'ouvrir la gare qu'aux trains à traction électrique (ce que la longueur des souterrains précédant la gare impose également). Les motrices à vapeur s'arrêtent donc en gare d'Austerlitz et des tracteurs électriques prennent le relais jusqu'en gare d'Orsay.
Dès les années 20 des projets de liaisons avec la gare des Invalides et celle du Luxembourg sont prévus. Mais seul une amorce d'environ 300 mètres vers Luxembourg est construit et servira par la suite comme tiroir pour les manoeuvres en gare, puis à partir de comme garage pour les rames de banlieues.

Ses quais devenant trop courts pour l'évolution des transports ferroviaires, l'édifice voit sa fonction limitée au trafic de banlieue en 1939. Le trafic grandes lignes est alors reporté, en amont, à la gare d'Austerlitz.

A doua Gare du Nord

- Jacques Ignace Hittorff

Gare de l’Est

Arh F A Duquesney(1790-1849)

Elev al lui Percier

The Gare de l'Est was opened in 1849 by the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer de Paris à Strasbourg (the Paris-Strasbourg Railway Company) under the name 'Strasbourg platform.' This platform corresponds today with the hall for main-line trains, and was designed by the architect François Duquesney. It was renamed the 'Gare de l'Est' in , after the expansion of service to Mulhouse.

Renovations to the station followed in and . In it was doubled in size, with the new part of the station built symmetrically with the old part. This transformation changed the surrounding neighborhood significantly.

At the top of the west façade of the Gare de l'Est is a statue by the sculptor Philippe-Joseph-Henri Lemaire, representing the city of Strasbourg, while the east end of the station is crowned by a statue personifying Verdun, by Varenne. These two cities are important destinations serviced by Gare de l'Est.

On 4 October , the Gare de l'Est saw the first departure of the Orient Express for Istanbul.

The Gare de l'Est is the terminus of a strategic railway network extending towards the eastern part of France, and it saw large mobilizations of French troops, most notably in 1914, at the beginning of the World War I. In the main-line train hall, a monumental painting by Alfred Herter, dating from , illustrates the departure of these soldiers for the Western front.

SNCF has started service on LGV Est Europeen from Gare de l'Est on 10 June , with TGV and ICE service to north-eastern France, southern Germany and Switzerland. Trains are initially planned to run at 320 km/h (198 mph), with the potential to run at 350 km/h (217 mph), cutting travel times by up to 2 hours.

Garre du Lyon

de tipul garilor terminus

restaurantul Le train Bleu

decoratii de factura clasicista

The Gare de Lyon is one of the six large railway terminus in Paris, France. It is named after the city of Lyon, a stop for many long-distance trains departing here, most en route to the south of France. In general the station's SNCF services run to the south and east of France. The station also hosts regional trains and the RER. It is served by the Gare de Lyon metro station.

The station was built for the World Exposition of 1900. On multiple levels, it is considered a classic example of the architecture of its time. Most notable is the large clock tower atop one corner of the station, similar in style to the clock tower of the UK Houses of Parliament, home to Big Ben.

The station houses the Le Train Bleu restaurant, which has served drinks and meals to travellers and other guests since 1901 in an ornately-decorated setting.

On 27 June , a runaway train crashed into a stationary rush-hour train, killing 56 people and injuring a further 55.

The station was comicly featured in Mr. Bean's Holiday starring Rowan Atkinson.

Le train Bleu

tendinta de mascare a metalului- vizibile detalii care amintesc de piatra

multa vreme neutilizat

a fost considerat un eclectism supraincarcat

a fost depozit

moda redescoperirii sec XIX: restaurant-: acum e singurul restaurant de gara care este frecventat si de persoanele care nu vin pentru gara

Sali pe teme: regiuni / colonii ale Frantei- picturi cu reprezentari alegorice cu referire la geografie

Zona de bistro- banchete, fara garderoba

Modernizare- primele care sufera schimbari drastice sunt instalatiile sanitare

se pastreaza lavoarul si instalatiile autentice

in zona WC exista un salon “oriental”- doar pentru fumat; decoratie de inspiratie maura

vedere catre fata garii- piata si catre interior-: dubla orientare

elementele decorative metalice- fantani din fonta- sf sec XIX

Hector Guimard

statie de metrou care se pastreaza in stare originala

Art Nouveau

Structura metalica

Hector Guimard (Lyon, March 10, - New York, May 20, ) was an architect, who is widely considered today to be the most prominent representative of the French Art Nouveau movement of the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.

Guimard did not originally have such a high reputation, because he did not have any followers; however, recently, people have come to realize the extraordinary formal and typological profusion of his architectural and decorative work, the best of it done in a relatively short fifteen years of prolific creative activity.

Gara din Budapesta(Nyugati)

statia de vest

Gustave Eiffel

Primul exemplu de statie monumentala unde holul pasagerilor este expus in fatada fara un geam cu rozeta sau arcade

Gara din Budapesta (Kelety)

ST PANCRAS Station, London

Victoria Station
London, England. G. Stephenson. (1845-49)

The National Rail station is officially named London Victoria, a name that is commonly used outside London, but rarely by Londoners . Operationally, there are effectively two separate stations:

• The eastern (Chatham) side, comprising platforms 1–8, is the terminus for services to Kent on the Chatham Main Line and its branches.
• The western (Brighton) side, comprising platforms 9–19, is the terminus for services to Surrey and Sussex, including Gatwick Airport and Brighton on the Brighton Main Line and its branches.

This split is generally held to, as the track layout does not allow much swapping, with only a small number of connecting flyovers between the main lines in the Battersea area, plus a single track connection immediately outside the station. As the Brighton side is the busier of the two, disruption on that line sometimes results in some of its suburban services using the eastern side. This is particularly true of the Gatwick Express, which travels along the Brighton Main Line, as it will often divert over Chatham side tracks during engineering works in order to maintain service levels.

Victoria also serves as the London terminus for the Venice Simplon Orient Express, from Platform 2, the longest platform. London Victoria Station is currently run by station manager John Dedross (Network Rail)

[edit] Early history

Its origins lie with the Great Exhibition of , when the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway came into existence, serving the site of the exhibition, which had been transferred to Sydenham from Hyde Park. The terminus of that railway was at Stewarts Lane in Battersea on the south side of the river. In , a joint enterprise, the Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway, was set up to take trains over the river, 1.25 miles (2km) in length. The railway was owned by four railway companies: the Great Western (GWR); London & North Western (LNWR); the London, Brighton and South Coast (LBSCR); and the London, Chatham and Dover Railways (LCDR). It was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1858.

The station, opened in 1862, was in two parts: the western side, occupied by the Brighton company, with six platforms, ten tracks and a hotel (the 300-bedroom Grosvenor); while the Chatham company occupied a less imposing wooden-fronted building. The latter's station had nine tracks and was shared by broad-gauge trains of the GWR, which arrived from Southall via the West London Extension Joint Railway through Chelsea. The approach tracks and station were built on the route and basin of the Grosvenor Canal.

In 1884 Fenians (predecessors of the Irish Republican Army) blew up the station cloakroom using a crude bomb made from dynamite, an alarm clock and a pistol.

The GWR remained part owner of the station until 1932, although its trains had long since ceased to use it. Each side of the station had its own entrance and a separate station master; a wall between the two sections emphasised that fact.

A plaque marks the arrival of the body of The Unknown Warrior at platform 8 at 20:32 on 10 November .

[edit] Rebuilding

Victoria Station concourse

At the start of the 20th century both parts of the station were rebuilt. It now had a decent frontage and forecourt, but not as yet a unified existence. Work on the Brighton side was completed in 1908 and was carried out in red brick; the Grosvenor Hotel was rebuilt at the same time. The Chatham side, in an Edwardian style with baroque elements, designed by Alfred Bloomfield, was completed a year later. The two sections were connected in by removing part of a screen wall, when the platforms were renumbered as an entity.

The station was now serving boat trains, and during World War I it became a terminus for trains carrying soldiers to and from France, many of them wounded. After the war the Continental steamer traffic became concentrated here, including the most famous of those trains, the Golden Arrow. The Night Ferry also operated to/from Victoria station. The area around the station also became a site for other forms of transport: a bus station in the forecourt; a coach terminal to the south; and now a terminal for trains serving Gatwick Airport.

The station had a news cinema later a cartoon cinema that would show a continous programme for travellers. The cinema was designed by Alastair Macdonald, son of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and was in operation from 1933 until being demolished in 1981.

The station was redeveloped internally in the 1980s, with the addition of shops within the concourse, and above the western platforms (the 'Victoria Place' shopping centre).

On 18 February an IRA bomb exploded in a litter bin, killing David Corner , and injuring 38. The warning given by the terrorists was insufficient to evacuate the station.