| Old Town Hall | |
|---|---|
 Old Town Hall, Gateshead | |
| Location | West Street, Gateshead |
| Coordinates | 54°57′52″N1°36′14″W / 54.9644°N 1.6039°W |
| Built | 1870 |
| Architect | John Johnstone |
| Architectural style(s) | Italianate style |
  Shown in Tyne and Wear | |
The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in West Street, Gateshead, England.
The first town hall in Gateshead was in Bush Yard. [1] The council subsequently established itself in a building in Greenesfield in 1844. [2] The foundation stone for the current building was laid in 1868: a stand collapsed during the ceremony killing a member of the public. [3] The current building was designed in the Italianate style by John Johnstone who had also designed Newcastle Town Hall. [4] [5] Construction work on the Gateshead building was delayed after preparatory work penetrated a coal seam leading to the collapse of nearby properties and the building was eventually completed in 1870. [2] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto West Street; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured a round headed doorway on the ground floor, and three stained glass windows on the first floor: there was an ornately carved pediment with a statue depicting justice at roof level. [6]
The old town hall also served as a magistrates' court and a police station. [4] In 1892 an ornamental clock (By Gillett & Johnston), which is Grade II listed and stands in front of the town hall, [7] was presented to Gateshead by the mayor, Walter de Lancey Willson, on the occasion of him being elected for a third time. [4] He was also one of the founders of Walter Willson's, a chain of grocers in the North East and Cumbria. [4] Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, crossed the Tyne Bridge from the north and signed the town hall visitors' book at a small table on the south side of the bridge on 29 October 1954. [8] [9] [10]
The building remained the headquarters of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead until the council moved to Gateshead Civic Centre in Regent Street in 1987. [2] The town hall was occupied by the Microelectronics Applications Research Institute ('MARI') who established their head office in the building from 1987 to 2001. [11] It was then briefly used by the management of Sage Gateshead while they waited for their new building at Gateshead Quays to be competed in December 2004. [12]
The Tyneside Cinema occupied the town hall under a short term lease while a restoration and renovation project was undertaken on their premises in Newcastle upon Tyne between November 2006 and May 2008. [13] The main performance hall in the old town hall was refurbished in 2009 [14] and the building was managed by Sage Gateshead from January 2013. [15] In 2018 it was acquired by "Dinosauria" which has announced plans to convert it into an "unnatural history museum". [16]
Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is also the most populous city of North East England. Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius and the settlement later took the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose.
Gateshead is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, and has on its outskirts the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture.
South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England.
The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It includes Gateshead, Rowlands Gill, Whickham, Blaydon, Ryton, Felling, Birtley, Pelaw, Dunston and Low Fell. The borough forms part of the Tyneside conurbation, centred on Newcastle upon Tyne.
Sage Gateshead is a concert venue and musical education centre in Gateshead on the south side of the River Tyne in North East England. Opened in 2004 and occupied by North Music Trust it is part of the Gateshead Quays development which includes the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge. Its name honors a patron: the accountancy software company The Sage Group.
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The Quayside is an area along the banks (quay) of the River Tyne in Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, North East England, United Kingdom.
Pelaw is a residential area in Gateshead, located around 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from Newcastle upon Tyne, 11 miles (18 km) from Sunderland, and 17 miles (27 km) from Durham. In 2011, Census data for the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council ward of Heworth and Pelaw recorded a total population of 9,100.
Carr Hill is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, England. It is bordered by Felling to the north, Sheriff Hill to the south, Windy Nook to the east and Deckham to the west. It lies 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Gateshead, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and 13 miles (21 km) north of the historic City of Durham. Once a village in County Durham, it was incorporated into the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead by the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974.
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The Town Hall was a local government building located in St Nicholas Square, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Gateshead Civic Centre is a municipal building in the Regent Street, Gateshead, England.
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John Johnstone (1818–1884) was an architect who was responsible for the design of many public buildings in North East England in the mid 19th century.