Peckham Rye Station’s restoration is all but complete and in May, the scaffolding will be stripped away, laying bare the building’s Victorian splendour.
A buried staircase, abandoned billiard room, and stunning facade are just some of its soon-to-be-revealed secrets. Last week, the News got a sneak preview.
A Grand Beginning
When the station opened in December 1865, it was with some fanfare. Designed by legendary Victorian architect Charles Henry Driver, it bore his famous decorative style, known for bringing its beautiful organic forms to the everyday person.
The station also provided a useful stop for passengers heading to the popular Great Exhibition on Sydenham Hill, now Crystal Palace. Its connections with local stations were described as being “of the greatest accommodation” to local commuters in an 1866 issue of the South London Chronicle.
Decline and Decay
But over the next 150 years, the building’s illustrious beginnings were gradually forgotten.
This wasn’t helped by the 1930s arcade built at the entrance, which transformed the once airy forecourt into a maze of gloomy corridors. There was a restoration in the 1980s but some say it failed to recapture the station’s Victorian essence.
But in 2009, Peckham architect Benedict O’Looney embarked on a loving restoration of the building with support from Network Rail, the Railway Heritage Trust and Southwark Council.
The restoration is described as a “prelude” to the Peckham Rye Station upgrade – a modernisation programme that will see new lifts added, widened platforms, and construction of a new Station Square.
Restoring the Facade
The building’s 60 doors and windows have been refurbished and re-painted while broken parts of the Gothic Revival Bath stone have been repaired.
The 1980s restoration saw the repointing done with cement, which is now being removed and replaced with lime mortar. “We’re putting back materials that were used in the Victorian times… rather than the modern hard cement mortar that was jammed onto the building in the ‘80s,” explained Benny O’Looney.
Architectural lighting will be installed on the outside of the building so commuters can admire the restored features. When the 1930s arcade is demolished to accommodate the expanded Station Square, it’ll be much easier to appreciate the full scale of the new frontage.
Relatedarticles
Uncovering the Forgotten Staircase
“Holy smokes” – that was Benny’s reaction when he peered into a perilous hole, and first glimpsed the forgotten Victorian staircase which had been buried beneath piles of rubble for decades.
The stairs had once served platform two. But in 1962, when the old platforms were demolished, and replaced with island platforms, the staircase became inaccessible.
Driver was clearly integral to the stairs’ design. “It’s a tour-de-force of cast-iron work. You can see this fabulous foliate work here… this is one of the most impressive bits that survive at Peckham Rye Station,” said Benny.
The windows looking into the staircase have now been unbricked so passing commuters can peer inside.
Once the waiting room is opened up to the public, this staircase will be the main point of entry. An original black painted sign pointing the way has been carefully retouched.
The Old Waiting Room
The old waiting room, high up at platform level, was made to shelter Victorian travellers as they awaited their train.
Designed in the French Second Empire style, the vast vaulted room, with its huge iron beams, would have been an impressive sight. In its heyday, it was adorned with huge gas chandeliers, a plaster ceiling, and four huge crackling fireplaces.
In 1922, it was repurposed as a billiard room, although Benny says it was “always too big for that purpose”.
It lay abandoned after 1962, when iron plates were put on the windows. But the team has opened them to sunlight once again. Its grand opening is on May 16, when it will host New York-based artist Sarah Sze’s immersive sculpture exhibition, hosted by art organisation Artangel.
Taking it from the Top
When the station was first built, one of its most striking features was the roof. Intricate iron crestings, similar to those outside Parliament, would have looked out from atop the ‘French style’ zinc-clad mansard roof.
Even its brownish-yellow Taylor Patent Tiles were notable. Interlocking, robust and well-suited for mass manufacturing, they were a distinctly Victorian innovation.
But the iron crestings were removed in the interwar period and the tiling was lost. A re-roofing concealed much of the roof’s original geometry, which Benny gradually rediscovered using old photos, architectural surveys and even modern drone footage.
The team worked out that the tops of the original iron crestings had been gilded, and commissioned brand new crestings that captured Driver’s vision. The elements of the crestings were 3D printed and made from molten aluminium, instead of iron, to reduce weight.
They are slightly taller than the originals to make them more impactful to passers-by.
As for the tiles, the team found out Taylor’s Patent Tiles were being remade for the Leatherhead Station around a decade ago. They were commissioned for the station, and given an engobe glaze that give them their original, distinctive, mottled look.
Work in Progress
Although the restoration is all but finished, Peckham Rye Station’s revamp still has a long way to go.
Network Rail has publicised its proposals and work is underway. The total cost could come to around £40 million so new funding sources are still being sought.
Last year, Southwark Council was snubbed by central government when it applied for £15.2 million in Levelling Up funding to help with the upgrade. But however long it takes, this restoration represents a pivotal chapter in Peckham Rye Station’s story.
