The hotel’s story starts in 1865 when Midland Railway ran a competition for the design of a 150-
bed hotel with the brief that it needed to add lustre to its soon to be completed St Pancras
station. A handful of architects submitted their schemes within the requisite timeframe but
much to the annoyance of the other entrants the competition had to be extended for the
architect of choice of one of the Directors of the Midland Railway, George Gilbert Scott, to
submit an entry.
Perhaps inspired by Barry and Pugin’s designs for the Palace of Westminster (Houses of
Parliament) which was under construction at this time Scott submitted a plan far bigger, grander
and far more expensive than the original specification. Nevertheless, his audacity paid off and
he was awarded the contract in 1866. Unsurprisingly though this win came at a cost to his
original designs as he was instantly required to subtract a floor as well as having to adhere to a
number of other cost cutting measures, principally due to the international financial downturn
of the same year commonly known as the Panic of 1866.
Construction of the Midland Grand Hotel, as it was originally known, took place between 1868
and 1876 and was completed in various stages with the East Wing opening on 5th May 1873 and
the rest gradually opening through until the end of 1876.