At the beginning of the 20th century the North Eastern Railway (NER) expanded the trainshed and station to the designs of William Bell, installing the present five arched span platform roof.

[2] In 1846 the York and North Midland and Manchester and Leeds railways began proceedings to create a new terminal station and connecting branch line in Hull.

[9] The station was located on the western edge of the growing Georgian town, and took its name from "Paragon Street".

[11] The station and hotel were both in the Italian Renaissance style, with both Doric and Ionic order elements; the facades show inspiration from the interior courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese.

The main station building was aligned east–west, south of the tracks, facing onto Anlaby Road – a two-storey centrally located booking hall was entered via a small porte-cochère,[map 5] and flanked by eleven bay wide single storey wings, with two storey three bay buildings on either end, one a parcels office, the other the station master's house.

[11][12][10] The train shed contained five tracks and two platforms, each 30 feet (9.1 m), covered with a three span iron roof.

[10] By the time of completion of the station hotel George Hudson, chairman of the York and North Midland was in disgrace after his fraudulent dealings had been discovered.

[18] In 1853 the Victoria Dock Branch Line had opened in Hull, connecting the Victoria Dock and a number of stations in Hull on a circular route around the outskirts of the town; the line connected to the existing network at junctions 0.5 miles (0.8 km) west of the station.

[27][28][29] In 1884/5 the hotel was also expanded, adding room at first floor level by extending westward across a concourse entrance.

The extension included a new five span steel platform roof, with a two span roof over the concourse, built by the Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Co.,[map 6] with the offices resited to the east end of the station, facing the station concourse, together with the adjacent Hotel.

[map 12] The booking office's main entrance faced Paragon Square (Ferensway) accessed under a large iron made porte-cochère.

[39] An additional range of buildings was built c. 1908 to the south-east of the station, to provide stock rooms for the hotel.

[47] On 5 March 1916 during a First World War Zeppelin raid that killed 17, a bomb blast blew out the glass in the station roof.

[49] On 14 February 1927 it was the site of a head-on train collision (see Hull Paragon rail accident) in which 12 passengers were killed and 24 seriously injured, caused by a signalling error.

The signal box was badly damaged when a parachute mine exploded nearby[60] during the same night the station's small railway museum was destroyed by fire.

[62] In 1965 the Newington branch which had been used by trains running from west of Hull to Bridlington and beyond was closed and replaced by a new chord near Victoria crossing.

[12] In 2000 outline planning permission was given for a transport interchange and shopping and leisure complex near Ferensway, Hull; in 2001 full planning documents were submitted for works on a 42-acre (16.8 ha) site included a new shopping arcade development incorporating a hotel and car parking facilities; a transport interchange incorporating the station; as well as landscaping, setting out of streets, a petrol station and a housing development.

[62] The new transport interchange was officially opened by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh when they unveiled a plaque on 5 March 2009 after arriving at the station on the Royal Train.

[79] In February 2017 a full-size model of the Gipsy Moth aircraft used by Amy Johnson to fly solo from Britain to Australia, created over a six-month period by inmates of Hull Prison, was put on display at the station.

[80] This remained throughout the City of Culture but moved to the adjacent St Stephen's shopping centre in March 2018.

[81] The station underwent a revamp during 2017, with a £1.4 million investment providing a new waiting area and more retail units.

[83] In September 2024, TransPennine Express announced a £500,000 refurbish of the toilet facilities, following a letter from Hull MP Diana Johnson, who described the situation as "unacceptably poor".

Hull Paragon Interchange opened on Sunday 16 September 2007 combining rail and bus station services on a single site.

The Paragon Hotel public house, now the Hull Cheese, gave its name to the street and dates back as far as 1700.

[98] Since the British Railways period, which commenced in 1948, the official name has been Hull, which excludes the Paragon suffix.

[100] Since redevelopment in 2007, the official name has been Paragon Interchange; however, as of 2012, timetables continued to use Hull, except when referring to bus services.