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Victoria Station Arcade, London
- English National Heritage: Victoria Station Arcade Including Nos 15 And 16 Terminus Place, And Nos 9-14 Terminus Place (Facade Only)
Victoria Station Arcade and the attached range of shops in Terminus Place formed part of the rebuilding of Victoria Metropolitan District Railway (MDR) Station in 1909-11. The MDR (known as the District Railway), had been acquired in 1901 by the American transport entrepreneur, Charles Tyson Yerkes, becoming a subsidiary of his Underground Electric Railways Co of London Ltd, which implemented the planned electrification of the line in 1901-5. Electrification meant that stations could now be fully enclosed and ticket halls sited below ground, freeing up valuable space at street level for retail lets. Victoria was one of several MDR stations to be rebuilt during this period. The architect, George C Sherrin, had designed MDR stations at Liverpool Street, South Kensington and Kensington High Street, each incorporating a shopping arcade. Steel framing was by now routinely employed in Underground station construction, which enabled the addition of extra storeys for commercial lets at a later date. At Victoria, a large superstructure over the station and arcade was envisaged at the outset, enabled by the provision of deep concrete foundations and a reinforced concrete raft over the station platforms. Sherrin had produced designs for a grand hotel in the Edwardian Baroque manner, but the plans were rejected by the London County Council. After Sherrin's death in December 1909 the station design was completed by Harry W Ford, architect to the MDR, who made some minor modifications to the arcade. In 1922-5 a large office block, Victoria Station House, was built over the arcade to the design of Trehearne and Norman. At the same time a single-storey restaurant was built at the rear of the shops in Terminus Place. - Historic England