When St Pancras Station was built in Victorian times, it took 6,000 men and 1,000 horses five years to complete, and cost £436,000. It opened in 1868, a masterpiece in iron and glass, designed by the great engineer W.H. Barlow. He created
a cathedral on two floors. Below, there was an enormous basement, used as a storage area for beer coming south from breweries in the Midlands. Above this floor, he built a vast crystal palace, the tallest and widest of its day, and one of the great feats of Victorian engineering. The glass roof, all 240 feet (75 metres) wide, appeared to float unsupported. It crossed the five platforms in a single, undivided span.