Paddington station is one of London’s great Victorian railway termini: the main-line station was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1854 as the headquarters of the Great Western Railway (GWR), and it remains a major hub for services to west London, the Thames Valley, South West England, South Wales, and Heathrow. 
 
The present station replaced an earlier 1838 terminus nearby; Brunel’s 1854 building is famous for its wide-span wrought‑iron roof trusses and glazed arches, a textbook example of mid‑Victorian railway engineering and light-filled space.
 
Interesting fact...
In Michael Bond’s first book, A Bear Called Paddington (1958), the Brown family find a small, lost bear on a platform at Paddington station, sitting on a battered suitcase with a label around his neck reading “Please look after this bear. Thank you.” They name him “Paddington” after the station where he is discovered.