Crystal Palace Subway shortlisted for restoration project award

The Crystal Palace Subway has been shortlisted for “Restoration or Conservation Project of the Year” at the National Museums and Heritage Awards.

How’s it going: the recently restored and reopened Crystal Palace Subway

Of course, the Subway is in fact a restoration project 15 years in the making, finally opening to the public last September after more than a decade of dedicated work by volunteers and enthusiasts at the Friends of Crystal Palace Subway, helped more recently by the newly formed Crystal Palace Park Trust.

The £3.5million restoration project to the Grade II*-listed Crystal Palace Subway sees it now a major visitor attraction, just in time for its 160th anniversary in 2025.

Recognition at the prestigious awards, regarded as “The Oscars of the museum world”, is a further accolade, with the Subway shortlisted in the category highlighting the quality of work undertaken on restoration, repair and conservation projects.

A new glass roof over the east courtyard and extensive repairs to the walls, floor, steps and entrances have “breathed new life into the Victorian subway”, according to the Trust.

The structure dates from 1865, built by Charles Barry Jnr as part of a second railway station built to serve the vast Crystal Palace after it had been moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham. The Subway is a richly decorated underpass with 18 stone columns, evenly spaced and topped by terracotta-and-cream brickwork fanned vaults. It runs under the busy Crystal Palace Parade.

It is now the most substantial surviving part of the complex which was destroyed in fire in 1936.

The subway originally served as the access point for first-class rail passengers to the Crystal Palace. The station, which was the highest railway station in London, closed in 1954 when services on the line were withdrawn.

How it started: 15 years ago, the Subway was a sorry shambles, having been abandoned decades earlier when the Higher Level railway station closed, left open to the elements

The restoration is the result of a community-led campaign, spearheaded by the Friends of Crystal Palace Subway, with the capital works led by Bromley Council and made possible thanks to generous funding from Historic England and the City of London Strategic Investment Pot.

The careful and sympathetic restoration has seen the Subway brought back into public use, and has been visited by around 6,000 people in the first three months since reopening, hosting events from a craft market and pop-up cinema screenings to stand-up comedy and a silent disco.

The Subway’s restoration was guided by expert advice provided by Historic England with Bromley Council appointing architects Thomas Ford and Partners and conservation specialists DBR Ltd to transform the space.

News of the shortlisting follows the Subway winning a National Railway Heritage Award late last year, showing further recognition of the restoration work.

Techniques used in the restoration project included 3D digital technology combined with historical document research and onsite surveying to unearth obscured or lost heritage features.

The winners of the Museums and Heritage Awards, delivered in partnership with ICON, the Institute of Conservation, will be announced at a ceremony on May 15.

The next opportunities to visit the Crystal Palace Subway are:

• Thu Mar 20, 11am to 2pm – free, book ahead
• Sat Mar 22, 10.30am to 1pm, for National Lottery Open Week – free, book ahead, Lottery ticket holders only
• Sat Mar 22, 1-3pm – free, book ahead
• Sun Apr 27, 11am to 2pm – free, book ahead.

See crystalpalaceparktrust.org for more information and booking details.

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