The Midland ran a competition for architects to design a hotel to front the station.
George Gilbert Scott was persuaded to enter by his friend, Midland director Joseph Lewis, and completed the winning design at home while attending to his son who had fallen ill.
Though plans were complete by the end of the year, financial pressure meant construction had to be delayed.
Work eventually started in 1868 and the main section of the Midland Grand Hotel opened on 5 May 1873, with the west wing following three years later.
The building is primarily brick, but polychromatic, in a style derived from the Italian gothic, and with numerous other architectural influences.
 Gilbert Scott reused many of the design details from his earlier work at Kelham Hall designed in 1857 and completed in 1863, but on a much grander scale for St Pancras.

The hotel closed in 1935 and was turned into St Pancras Chambers, a group of offices, with ownership retained by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (which was created when the Midland amalgamated with other railways).
In the late 1980s, British Rail sold off and vacated the premises.

Following the decision to connect St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, plans were made to restore the hotel for its original function.
Planning permission was granted in 2005 and funded as part of a £50m Government plan to refurbish the station.
The St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel occupies parts of the original building, including the main public rooms, together with a new bedroom wing on the western side of the Barlow train shed.
The upper levels of the original building have been redeveloped as apartments by the Manhattan Loft Corporation.
These have been sublet via Airbnb owing to their desired location.
The hotel held its grand opening on 5 May 2011, exactly 138 years after its original opening.

The hotel has been used as setting in several films, including Chaplin (1992), Richard III (1995) and From Hell (2001).
It was used for the filming of the Spice Girls' 1996 video, "Wannabe".
The Midland ran a competition for architects to design a hotel to front the station. George Gilbert Scott was persuaded to enter by his friend, Midland director Joseph Lewis, and completed the winning design at home while attending to his son who had fallen ill. Though plans were complete by the end of the year, financial pressure meant construction had to be delayed. Work eventually started in 1868 and the main section of the Midland Grand Hotel opened on 5 May 1873, with the west wing following three years later. The building is primarily brick, but polychromatic, in a style derived from the Italian gothic, and with numerous other architectural influences.  Gilbert Scott reused many of the design details from his earlier work at Kelham Hall designed in 1857 and completed in 1863, but on a much grander scale for St Pancras.
The hotel closed in 1935 and was turned into St Pancras Chambers, a group of offices, with ownership retained by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (which was created when the Midland amalgamated with other railways). In the late 1980s, British Rail sold off and vacated the premises.
Following the decision to connect St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, plans were made to restore the hotel for its original function. Planning permission was granted in 2005 and funded as part of a £50m Government plan to refurbish the station. The St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel occupies parts of the original building, including the main public rooms, together with a new bedroom wing on the western side of the Barlow train shed. The upper levels of the original building have been redeveloped as apartments by the Manhattan Loft Corporation. These have been sublet via Airbnb owing to their desired location. The hotel held its grand opening on 5 May 2011, exactly 138 years after its original opening.
The hotel has been used as setting in several films, including Chaplin (1992), Richard III (1995) and From Hell (2001). It was used for the filming of the Spice Girls' 1996 video, "Wannabe".
St Pancras railway station