 Plans for the station were made in December 1848 under the direction of George Turnbull, resident engineer for constructing the first of the Great Northern Railway out of London.The station's detailed design was by Lewis Cubitt, the brother of Thomas Cubitt (the architect of Bloomsbury, Belgravia and Osborne House), and Sir William Cubitt (who was chief engineer of the Crystal Palace built in 1851, and consulting engineer to the Great Northern and South Eastern Railways).The design comprised two great arched train sheds, with a brick structure at the south end designed to reflect the arches behind.