Inspirations

Gare du Nord, gateway to the Eurostar, has had a few incarnations, as well as embarrassments.  The first Gare du Nord was by a professor of architecture at the Ecole Polytechnique, Leonce Reynaud. It was inaugurated on 14 June 1846, and a short 14 years later was partially demolished due to a lack of space. This undercutting was highlighted when Queen Victoria (whose reign was longer than any British Monarch, or, for that matter, any female monarch in the world) toddled over for a visit to Paris with her enormous entourage.