The Town Hall was a local government building located in St Nicholas Square,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), 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 ...

History

Until the mid-19th century civic leaders had held their meetings in the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...

. The town hall had its origins in the Corn Exchange which was designed by John and Benjamin Green and built in stone in St Nicholas Square (between the

Bigg Market The Bigg Market is a site of historical significance in Newcastle upon Tyne and dates back to the Middle Ages, when it was the site of a thriving marketplace that formed an important part of the Great North Road. The market was named after a ty ...

and the Cloth Market) by a private company in 1839. The foundation stone for the new town hall was laid by the mayor, Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, in 1855. The design, which was undertaken by John Johnstone in the Italian neoclassical style, involved incorporating the Corn Exchange into the central section of the building as an assembly hall capable of accommodating 3,000 people: a large concert organ was acquired at that time. The design also involved a council chamber and municipal offices for Newcastle Town Council. The main frontage of the new building, facing the cathedral, had four

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

columns on the ground floor and also on the first floor while the rear elevation, facing onto the Bigg Market, had a tower with a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

. The works, which cost some £50,000, were completed in 1863. The first organised

dog show A dog show is an event where dogs are exhibited. A conformation show, also referred to as a ''breed show'', is a kind of dog show in which a judge, familiar with a specific dog breed, evaluates individual purebred dogs for how well the dogs ''c ...

in the UK was held in the assembly hall in the building in 1859. The town council, which became a city council in 1882, failed to maintain the building properly and the tower had to be demolished in the 1930s. By the middle of the 20th century condition of the town hall had deteriorated to such an extent that the council was forced to relocate to modern facilities at

Newcastle Civic Centre Newcastle Civic Centre is a local government building located in the Haymarket area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the main administrative and ceremonial centre for Newcastle City Council. Designed by the city architect, George Kenyo ...

in Barras Bridge in 1968. A "winter zoo" involving lions, tigers, monkeys, exotic birds and snakes continued to be held in the building in the late 1960s but, ultimately, the town hall had to be demolished in 1973. The site was subsequently redeveloped to create a complex of modern office buildings known as No. 1 Cathedral Square (the southern section) and Stanegate House (the northern section).

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Newcastle upon Tyne City and town halls in Tyne and Wear Government buildings completed in 1863