"S. Pancras Station, London, like Paddington, was conceived independently of the (former) Midland Hotel and offices fronting it. The train shed, by the engineer William Henry Barlow in conjunction with R.M. Ordish, is the largest and most spectacular of the High Victorian period, being a single span of 74 m (243 ft), rising 30 m (100 ft) high in a slightly pointed wrought-iron arch. The total length is 213 m (700 ft). At the base, the arched vault is secured by rods 76 mm (3 in) in diameter under the platforms."

—Sir Banister Fletcher. A History of Architecture. p1122, 1126.

"Its 243-foot span was not an exceptional dimension for bridges, as we know, but for an interior it was extraordinary, especially extended in depth to form the widest and largest undivided space ever enclosed. The skeletal transparency of the ferrovitreous vault added a futuristic, magic dimension to the stunning space, especially as the vault was made to spring from the platform level where the passenger stood."

—Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p472-3. DF.