In 1882 the entrepreneur and hotelier Frederick Gordon purchased Bentley Priory, a large country house near Stanmore. He planned to open it up as a country retreat for wealthy guests. Known as "The Napoleon of the Hotel World", Gordon was a successful international businessman, and had earned his millions through his international hotel chain. At the time, Stanmore was a remote, rural location, and Gordon built his own railway line from Harrow in an attempt to attract affluent clientele to his country hotel. He negotiated a contract with the LNWR, the railway company that owned the mainline at Harrow, to operate the Stanmore line on his behalf. Gordon's scheme met with some local opposition and he was forced to re-route the railway line further east to mitigate objections. The site for a terminus was selected in Old Church Lane in Stanmore. To allay the concerns of the local inhabitants — and to appeal to his well-heeled customers — Gordon commissioned an architect to design an elegant station building that resembled a Gothic-style English country church. The Stanmore branch line opened to great fanfare on 18 December 1890. The connection to the main line at Harrow & Wealdstone station faced away from London preventing through trains operating without a reversal; the passenger service was thus operated as a shuttle from Harrow and Wealdstone to Stanmore, normally run as a push–pull train.
Decline
The opening in 1932 by the Metropolitan Railway of its own Stanmore station about to the north-east, introduced a rapid, direct service to the West End and the City of London. This presented strong competition to the Village station, now operated by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. An intermediate station on the LMS branch line was constructed at Belmont in order to attract more passengers, opening on 12 September 1932. Stanmore station was renamed Stanmore Village on 25 September 1950 in order to distinguish it from the nearby Underground station. Declining receipts led to the passenger service being withdrawn on 15 September 1952, but a shuttle service continued between Belmont and Harrow. The London Transport 158 bus route provided alternative services. A daily freight train continued using the line beyond Belmont.
Closure
In 1963 the entire Stanmore branch line was marked for closure as part of the Beeching cuts. On 6 July 1964 the goods line from Belmont to Stanmore was shut; by then the run-round loop had been removed so goods wagons were propelled from Harrow and Wealdstone station. The last passenger train on the remaining section ran from Belmont to Harrow on 5 October 1964. The railway tracks were taken up in 1966 and the remaining trackbed was purchased by Harrow Council. Sections of the former line were sold off and built upon, but most of the line was left to grow wild. The Stanmore Village platform buildings were demolished in the 1970s for the construction of a road of new houses, September Way, which was built along part of the track alignment. Despite its architectural merit, Stanmore Village station was allowed to fall into ruin. Attempts were made to preserve the building, but it suffered from neglect and vandalism. In 1969 it was redeveloped by a property developer, who removed most of the Gothic architectural features and converted it into a residential property, which still stands today on Gordon Avenue. A plaque mounted on the wall of the house indicates the site of the station.
Architecture
Stanmore was an affluent and conservative community, and Great Stanmore Parish Council stipulated that Frederick Gordon's new station building should be of a high-quality design that would blend in with its surroundings. The station was built in a Gothic style, deliberately design to resemble a small English church complete with a square tower topped with a spire and decorated with gargoyles, a large clock on top of a buttressed Gothic portico, and an ecclesiastical-style entrance door. The station had a single platform covered by a cast-iron and glass canopy. The supporting pillars bore the coat of arms of the Gordon family: three boars' heads surrounded by thistles and roses.
Filming location
Stanmore Village station was used as a filming location for several productions including The Gold Express, which starred Vernon Gray and Ivy St. Helier, and a BBC television play, The Sun and I.
