The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in West Street,

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

, England. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The first town hall in Gateshead was in Bush Yard. The council subsequently established itself in a building in Greenesfield in 1844. The foundation stone for the current building was laid in 1868: a stand collapsed during the ceremony killing a member of the public. The current building was designed in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Ita ...

by John Johnstone who had also designed Newcastle Town Hall. 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. 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 In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

at roof level. The old town hall also served as a magistrates' court and a police station. In 1892 an ornamental clock (By

Gillett & Johnston Gillett & Johnston was a clockmaker and bell foundry based in Croydon, England from 1844 until 1957. Between 1844 and 1950, over 14,000 tower clocks were made at the works. The company's most successful and prominent period of activity as a be ...

), which is Grade II listed and stands in front of the town hall, was presented to Gateshead by the mayor, Walter de Lancey Willson, on the occasion of him being elected for a third time. He was also one of the founders of Walter Willson's, a chain of grocers in the North East and Cumbria.

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, accompanied by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...

, crossed the

Tyne Bridge The Tyne Bridge is a through arch bridge over the River Tyne in North East England, linking Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead. The bridge was designed by the engineering firm Mott, Hay and Anderson, who later designed the Forth Road 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. The building remained the headquarters of the

Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It includes Gateshead, Rowlands Gill, Whickham, Blaydon, Ryton, Tyne and Wear, Ryton, Felling (UK), Felling, Birtley, Tyne and ...

until the council moved to

Gateshead Civic Centre Gateshead Civic Centre is a municipal building in the Regent Street, Gateshead, England. History The civic centre was commissioned to replace the aging 19th century town hall in West Street. After Tyne and Wear County Council was abolished in A ...

in Regent Street in 1987. The town hall was occupied by the Microelectronics Applications Research Institute ('MARI') who established their head office in the building from 1987 to 2001. It was then briefly used by the management of

Sage Gateshead The Glasshouse is an international centre for musical education and concerts on the Gateshead bank of Quayside in northern England. Opened in 2004 as Sage Gateshead and occupied by North Music Trust, the venue's original name honours a patron ...

while they waited for their new building at Gateshead Quays to be competed in December 2004. 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 Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

between November 2006 and May 2008. The main performance hall in the old town hall was refurbished in 2009 and the building was managed by Sage Gateshead from January 2013. In 2018 it was acquired by "Dinosauria" which has announced plans to convert it into an "unnatural history museum".

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1870 City and town halls in Tyne and Wear Buildings and structures in Gateshead Grade II listed buildings in Tyne and Wear