The North East Coast Exhibition was a

world's fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

held in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcas ...

and ran from May to October 1929. Held five years after the

British Empire Exhibition The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. Background In 1920 the British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibi ...

Wembley Park Wembley Park is a district of the London Borough of Brent, England. It is roughly centred on Bridge Road, a mile northeast of Wembley town centre and northwest from Charing Cross. The name Wembley Park refers to the area that, at its broades ...

, London, and at the start of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

the event was held to encourage local

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

History

It was opened on 14 May by the then Prince of Wales (later

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1 ...

) in what is now Newcastle's Exhibition Park. When it closed on 26 October over 4 million people had attended (with an average of 30 000 visitors per day) Several buildings were constructed in an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

style to the designs of the official architects W and TR Milburn of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

who had substantial experience in the fields of theatre and cinema design. Henry Kelly Limited of Newcastle were the builder and construction costs were £114,000. The main buildings were the Palace of Engineering, the Palace of Industry, the Palace of Arts, the Festival Hall, Garden Club, a stadium of 20,000 capacity and the Women's and Artisans' sections. There was also an Empire Marketing Board Pavilion which was government sponsored and, unlike the other buildings, designed by government appointed architects.

Legacy

The exhibition grounds are now a public park, the Newcastle's Exhibition Park used in the 1960s for the Tyneside Summer Exhibition. One of the art deco pavilions, a single storey steel framed concrete clad building, originally the Palace of Arts still stands, and is

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

. After the exhibition it was used as a science museum, in the 1960s was part of the Tyneside Summer Exhibition and at one stage, extended to house the

Turbinia ''Turbinia'' was the first steam turbine-powered steamship. Built as an experimental vessel in 1894, and easily the fastest ship in the world at that time, ''Turbinia'' was demonstrated dramatically at the Spithead Navy Review in 1897 and set ...

(currently residing at the Newcastle

Discovery Museum The Discovery Museum is a science museum and local history museum situated in Blandford Square in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It displays many exhibits of local history, including the ship, '' Turbinia''. It is managed by Tyne & Wear Archives ...

) and still later became the Newcastle Military Vehicle Museum in 1983 until it was closed in 2006, due to fears about the building's structural safety. It was put up for sale in November 2011. The building was purchased by Shepherd Offshore Ltd in 2012 with the intention that it would be used to house a carriage museum. This did not go ahead and planning permission was granted to Wylam Brewery in September 2015 to develop a micro-brewery and events space. £1.8m was spent on refurbishment and the venue opened in May 2016.

References

External links

* pictures of the Palace of Arts from the exhibition, in 1929, and modern day World's fairs in England History of Newcastle upon Tyne 1929 in England 20th century in Newcastle upon Tyne {{England-hist-stub

History

Legacy

See also

References

External links