- Lewis Cubitt
Lewis Cubitt was born on
29 September 1799 and died on9 June 1883 . He married Sophia Kendall (1811-1879) on23 January 1830 .He was the younger brother of
Thomas Cubitt , the leading master builder inLondon in the second quarter of the 19th century, and he designed many of the housing developments constructed by his sibling. He was also younger brother of William Cubitt, the formerLord Mayor of London .He built many bridges in his career but most of them were built in South America, Australia and India. One example of his work is to be found in
Peterborough , where his cast iron bridge, which today carries theEast Coast Main Line railway over theRiver Nene , was built in 1847.Apart from some minor repairs and strengthening in 1910 (the steel bands and cross braces around the fluted legs to help carry increased train weights) it remains just the way he built it. It is now a unique "listed structure" - the only cast iron bridge in the UK carrying a high-speed train line.
Clearly interested in railways, Lewis also designed London
King's Cross railway station , which was built in 1851-2, and the associated Great Northern Hotel, in 1854. A Granary by Cubitt behind King's Cross Station is planned to be refurbished to be part of theUniversity of the Arts in the re-development of the railway lands behind the terminal.
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