In 1860 the London, Chatham & Dover Railway was authorised to build a line across south London from Beckenham in Kent to Victoria, with a branch into the City of London over Blackfriars Bridge. The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway - which had already reached the West End from Crystal Palace and whose main line to Croydon and Brighton ran from London Bridge - realised that the area between was about to be invaded by the Chatham company.

Accordingly it built, partly in cooperation with the Chatham, what became known as the South London Line between Victoria and London Bridge. One of the stations on this line was Denmark Hill. This station, which was completed in 1865, was the first of several built by the Brighton company in an extravagant Franco-Italian style, such as Tunbridge Wells West and Eastbourne which came later.

The roof is pitched and hipped over a two storey centre piece, and on either side there are single storey wings with convex pavilion roofs. The main roof is topped with an iron fringe. The whole is in yellow stock brick with round-arched windows. It is built over the tracks with four platform faces reached by long covered staircases. Access to these is through a glazed veranda running the whole width of the building.

English Heritage described the building as ‘˜A rare and unusually complete example of a Victorian suburban station'. It is Listed Grade II.