Fenchurch Street railway station, also known as London Fenchurch Street, is a central London railway terminus located on Fenchurch Place, off Fenchurch Street, in the southeastern corner of the City of London. It is one of the smallest railway termini in London in terms of platforms but one of the most intensively operated.
Uniquely among London termini, Fenchurch Street does not have a direct link to the London Underground, although a secondary entrance on Cooper's Row (also known as the Tower entrance) is close to Tower Hill tube station and Tower Gateway DLR station, while Aldgate tube station is also nearby. It is one of 17 railway stations in the United Kingdom managed by Network Rail.
The station façade is of grey stock brick and has a rounded gable roof. In the 1870s a flat awning over the entrance was replaced with the zig-zag canopy seen today. Above, the first floor facade has 11 round-arched windows, and above these is the station clock.
The station has four platforms arranged on two islands elevated on a viaduct. The station operates at capacity, especially during peak hours. To avoid overcrowding of the station, trains arriving during the morning peak period use alternate island platforms whenever possible. Office blocks (including the 15-storey One America Square) have been built above the station platforms in two places with only one short section of canopied platform and another short section of exposed platform.
The station has two exits: a main entrance to Fenchurch Place, just off Fenchurch Street itself, and another on Cooper's Row with access to the nearby Tower Hill tube station. The main station concourse is arranged on two levels connected by stairs, escalators and lifts. There is a ticket office and automatic ticket barriers at each entrance and retail outlets located on both levels of the station.
The station was the first to be constructed inside the City of London; the original was designed by William Tite and opened on 20 July 1841 for the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR), replacing a nearby terminus at Minories that had opened in July 1840.
The station was rebuilt in 1854, following a design by George Berkley, adding a vaulted roof and the main façade. The station became the London terminus of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) in 1858; additionally, from 1850 until the opening of Broad Street station in 1865 it was also the City terminus of the North London Railway. The Great Eastern Railway (GER) used the station as an alternative to an increasingly overcrowded station at Liverpool Street for the last part of the 19th and first half of the 20th century over the routes of the former Eastern Counties Railway. The L&BR effectively closed in 1926 after the cessation of passenger services east of Stepney. When the former Eastern Counties lines transferred to the Central line in 1948 the LT&SR became the sole user of the station.
Fenchurch Street station was the location of the first railway bookstall in the City of London, operated by William Marshall.
In the 1970s Fenchurch Street was considered an integral part of the proposed Fleet line. This would have brought it into the London Underground network. An extension from the end of the existing track terminus at Charing Cross to Fenchurch Street via Aldwych and Ludgate Circus would then have seen the line go on to a destination in east London, most probably via a new station at St Katharine Docks. Political wrangling delayed the extension, despite being considered the highest priority transport project in the city, and when in 1999 the extension was finally completed as part of the Jubilee line the route did not go through Fenchurch Street but instead went south of the River Thames before cutting back northwards at North Greenwich. Fenchurch Street remains isolated from the London Underground network, although within close walking distance of Tower Hill tube station and is shown on the Tube map next to Tower Hill's marker. The station is served by London Buses route 40.
1853, by G Berkeley (?) 2 storeyed, front block with facade of gault brick and Portland stone. Segmentally arched openings below with clerestorey. Upper storey has tall, narrow, round-arched windows and order of Doric pilasters supporting huge, segmental pediment with clock in tympanum. Gabled, timber canopy supported on decorative cast iron brackets, above ground floor openings. Interior not of interest.