The London Festival of
Architecture
website tells
us:
"Denmark Hill railway station is a
railway station in the London Borough of Southwark in London, England, on the
Inner South London Line. The station is managed by Southeastern and is served by
trains of that company and Southern. It is in Travelcard Zone 2. It is located
on Champion Park in the south of Camberwell, in an area known as Denmark Hill.
It is near to the King's College and Maudsley hospitals.
The station is mostly served by
local trains from three London terminus stations: London Bridge, London Victoria
and Blackfriars.
History:
The station was built in
1865. Its design is in the Italianate style, with an extremely decorative
frontage. After a fire in 1980 the building was renovated and restored. The
project included the addition of a public house, initially called the Phoenix
and Firkin to commemorate the fire, then called O'Neills and now known as the
Phoenix. A Civic Trust award was given to the building in 1986.
Design:
The platforms are below
road level and there is a short tunnel at one end of the platforms (Grove
tunnel) and a road bridge (underneath Denmark Hill, the road) at the other.
Access to the platforms is currently via steps but lifts are planned to be
introduced to provide disabled access particularly for visitors to the nearby
hospitals.
Services:
The station is managed
by Southeastern and is located on their line from London Victoria to Darford and
from Blackfriars to Sevenoaks. Inner South London Line services from the
station, to Victoria and London Bridge, are operated by Southern. The typical
off-peak trains per hour (tph) is:
2 tph non-stop to London Victoria
2
tph to London Victoria calling at all stations via Clapham High Street
2 tph
to Blackfriars and Kentish Town calling at Elephant & Castle (Monday to
Saturday)
2 tph to London Bridge via Peckham Rye
2 tph to Sevenoaks via
Bromley South
2 tph to Dartford via Lewisham and Bexleyheath (Monday to
Saturday).
Transport links:
London bus
routes 40, 176, 185, 484 pass the station and it is a 3 minutes walk to routes
42, 68, 468 and night routes N68.
Future plans:
Denmark Hill is
served by rail services on the Inner South London Line. Proposals have been
announced to close this line and incorporate it into the new East London Line
extension on the London Overground network between Queens Road Peckham and
Clapham Junction. Services to London Bridge will therefore be withdrawn and the
frequency of London Victoria services will be reduced from 4 per hour to 2.
Passengers for London Bridge would then have to change at Peckham Rye or Queens
Road Peckham or change at Clapham High Street for nearby Claphan North station
on London Underground's Northern Line, which is within walking distance, to
travel to London Bridge via the Bank branch of the line, or passengers can stay
on the line and change at Canada Water for Jubilee Line services to London
Bridge, though passengers will double back on themselves slightily. There is
considerable local opposition to this plan and a demonstration at the station on
26 June 2009 was attended by Val Shawcross, Tessa Jowell MP, Harriet Harman MP
and other local politicians from all parties. The London Overground extension
project was given the go ahead in February 2009 to be completed by late 2012.
However, the extension will make this are considerably more accessible to those
from South West, East and North East London. The extension would connect
services to Clapham Junction for interchange for London Overground services to
Willesden Junction, as well as connections to North London which would terminate
at Highbury and Islington, for connections to services to Richmond and
Stratford. The long proposed Bakerloo line extension to Camberwell would see the
Bakerloo line extended from Elephant and Castle station to Denmark Hill via
Camberwell. However, this project has no definite planning status. It's also
considered that if the Northern Line's Charing Cross branch becomes its own tube
line to increase the amont of trains on both it and the Bank branch, the Charing
Cross branch may be extended to Camberwell, instead of the Bakerloo Line,
although this would conflict with the planned extension to Nine Elms assocaited
with the Battersea Power Station redevelopment."
The English Heritage website tells us about
this Grade II listed building:
"Railway station, platforms and
canopies, part now public house, with retaining walls to cutting. 1864-66.
Gutted by fire in 1980, after which the centre section converted to a public
house.
MATERIALS: brick in Flemish bond,
stone and terracotta. Hipped roofs of slate and curved mansard roofs of metal.
Cast-iron columns, porch and brackets.
STYLE: high Victorian Gothic.
PLAN: 3-part plan. The centre
section has 2 storeys, hipped roof, and 9-window range; single-storey end
pavilions, with mansard roofs, 3 windows each. These project in front of centre
section to frame a porch area which is covered by a metal porch. At far ends of
the station are 2-storey extensions of 2 windows each, recessed somewhat from
the projecting pavilions.
EXTERIOR: all ground-floor windows
are round-arched except for those in the units at extreme ends, which are
segmental-arched to left and camber-arched to right. Continuous springing band
with stylised foliage cast in terracotta. Lower spandrels of each window are
recessed, some decorated with different coloured brickwork. Entablature with
bracketed cornice to all pavilions except for extreme end wings which have a
plain entablature. All ground-floor windows have hood mouldings and keystones
with incised ornament. Parapet to mansarded bays have balustrade cast in floral
pattern. First-floor windows of centre block are round-arched with springing
bands and hood mouldings grouped in threes. Deep cast-iron brackets support
porch which runs in front of the centre block. Stacks to join of centre and end
wings, ornamented with attached colonnettes and cornice. Return to Champion Park
has camber-arched windows and the same range of materials as on the main
elevation. Left return to round-arched windows. Ridge stacks to end units. The
east-facing elevation over the cutting has a glazed passage to stairs of a C19
design; the elevation reproduces motifs from the main elevation. The design of
platform fixtures and walls supporting the station over the cutting and
retaining walls to cutting in of original C19
design."