Description

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
NZ 2564 SW MELBOURNE STREET
(North side)
1833/21/10027
Former Tramways Power
Station and Offices

GV II

Corporation tramways offices and power station, now transport offices and garage, with yard wall and gates to north. 1901 by B.F. Simpson. Ashlar ground floor and basement to office; brick with ashlar dressings above and for power station. Roof of Welsh slate with copper turrets and ashlar coping. Yard wall brick with ashlar gateway and wood and wrought iron gates. Offices on corner with Trafalgar Street have basement and 4 storeys, 1 x 3 bays and 3-bay rounded corner; power station at right has one high storey with shallow basement, and 15 bays. Free style. Office entrance at left of curved corner has moulded surround with segmental head to double panelled doors, and tall well-cut letters 'OFFICE' fill the spandrels; tall overlight has radiatitlg stone glazing bars and round head, with cartouches carved on corbels of long brackets supporting prominent dripmould. Paired basement windows have many small lights; ground floor windows have 4 x 4 square lights with stone mulli.ons and transoms. Wide segmental arches to first floor windows have ashlar alternate quoins and voussoirs, and wood mullions and transoms. Similar treatment to paired upper windows with square heads, those on second floor resting on sill string and those on third floor plainer but with bracketed sills. T op windows have keys supporting top ashlar entablature with gutter cornice. Side bays of curved corner have stone oriels through second and third floors rising to tapered octagonal turrets with fishscale decoration to disc-and-dome roofs with ball and spear finials. Between turrets a tall ashlar pyralnid rises from the eaves with central carved arms of the Corporation of Newcastle, and above the arms the roof continues in slate with copper lucames. These are in the style of those on late medieval halls of the Low Countries, with projecting prowcd roofs and tapered finials. A similar roof over the right bay to Melbourne Street rises behind a high parapet. Elaborately shaped coping to this and to gable at left return. Former power station at right tapers on rising street, with low segmental heads to 7 basement lights at ground level. Tall wide ashlar door in third bay from right has long, paired curved brackets springing from block at sill level and supporting deep baroque hoodmould. Within this surround a segmental head over renewed vehicle door has carved spandrels; overlight has stone glazing bars radiating from richly-carved panel; and head of arch has well-cut inscription of art nouveau letters 'NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE CORPORATION TRAMWAYS' in moulded surround. Tall round-headed windows have glazing bars, radiating to round heads, and opening lights in lowest section, and are recessed on sloping sills. Moulded brick surrounds have ashlar bands overlapping and continuing from alternate jambs and from side keys; top keys project into brickwork. Deep ashlar eaves fascia below bracketed gutter cornice; 5 moulded rain water hoppers below fascia. Tall yard wall on left return to Trafalgar Street adjoins office building and has tall, deeply chamfered vehicle entrance with elaborate ashlar piers and gabled arch; full-height wood gates have art nouveau scrolled wrought iron top panels. Interior of offices shows richly glazed walls, partly covered with late C20 boarded cladding, to long flight of steps to ground floor. Well-painted stained glass in entrance overlight depicts in yellow stain the first horse-drawn trams of 1870s and the electric trams of 1901, with deep colours to symbolic figures over the central arms of the Corporation. Stair well has stone or concrete dogleg stair with art nouveau wrought iron balustrade and moulded wood handrail curling out to ground floor. Power station interior shows full length iron gallery at rear, and turned balusters to viewing gallery at offices end. Full length gantry on free-standing pierced H girders supports crane for lifting turbines.

Listing NGR: NZ2537764239

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26561007

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)