In 1865, the Midland Railway Company held a competition for the design of a 150-bed hotel to be constructed next to St Pancras, which was still under construction at the time. Despite being much bigger and more expensive than the original specifications, the company liked George Gilbert Scott's plans and construction began
The east wing opened in 1873, and the rest followed in Spring 1876. The hotel was expensive, with costly fixtures including a grand staircase, rooms with gold leaf walls and a fireplace in every room. It had many innovative features such as hydraulic lifts, concrete floors, revolving doors and fireproof floor constructions, though none of the rooms had bathrooms. The hotel was taken over by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1922 before closing in 1935. After closing as a hotel, the building was renamed St Pancras Chambers and used as railway offices. Planning permission was granted in 2004 for the building to be redeveloped into a new hotel. The main public rooms of the old Midland Grand were restored, along with some of the bedrooms, a new bedroom wing was also built. The St Pancras Hotel opened in 2011, 138 years after the original hotel.