Denmark Hill railway station

Denmark Hill railway station is in the area of Denmark Hill in south London, England, on the Thameslink, South London, Victoria-Dartford and Chatham lines.HistoryThe station was built between 1864 and 1866. Its design by Charles Henry Driver is in the Italianate style, with an extremely decorative frontage and French pavilion roofs.In 1920 the waiting room was used by The Mystical Church of the Comforter, founded by Mrs Elizabeth Mary Eagle Skinner, who was known as “The Messenger”. The waiting room was transformed by an altar, painted white and surrounded by the seven colours of the rainbow. The Nottingham Evening Post for 17 June 1926 reported that babies were baptised, funeral services were read and even a marriage was solemnised. The porters and clerks of the railway company often worked to the accompaniment of hymns sung by the congregation. The church is believed to have ceased to function after the death of Mrs Skinner in November 1929.By the late 1970s the building had been neglected. In March 1980, arsonists broke into the booking hall and the resulting fire destroyed the roof. Initial work by British Rail engineers to make the building safe by demolishing parts of the remaining building triggered a protest campaign by the Camberwell Society. Following a joint initiative between them, the Southwark Environment Trust and the British Rail Director of the Environment, Bernard Kaukas, the building was restored in 1985 at a cost of £300,000.