Historic Architecture of Newcastle Upon Tyne – B. Allsopp, 1967

The Central Exchange

I must admit that I have no experience, in the slightest, with architecture. I picked up this book with no prior knowledge and simply a curiosity about its contents. Thankfully, Allsopp writes in a way which is very clear and concise, and which allows even newcomers to architecture to understand. I’ve lived in Newcastle Upon Tyne for most of my life and yet I have never stopped to notice the grand architecture which lines most of its streets.

For someone new to the subject, this seems like a great book with which to start. The sections are arranged in order of construction, beginning with the Roman ruins around Newcastle and ending with the buildings of the twentieth century. This is a very accessible format which gives the reader the sense that they are part of the story of the city. Rather than simply reading about individual buildings, the reader is given sections which seem linked and help to provide some form of narrative to Newcastle’s architectural development. Before starting I worried that the specific terminology would be lost on me, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Allsopp gives definitions or explanations for anything that may be a little beyond common knowledge.

This book is fairly basic, giving a few details on each structure before moving onto the next. A few are afforded a little more description, such as the entirety of Grey Street, but most do not fill a page with text. The vast majority of space in the book is given to images of varying sizes, often there is a double page spread dedicated to each building. There are many entries more than could be memorised by reading it for the first time and photographs are given for most, if not all, of them. I might have preferred if a few of the structures were omitted in order to give extra details on the others, but the simple style is interesting enough. It is as though the reader is taking a whistle-stop tour through the city; giving just enough description to create interest but little more.

Allsopp covers architecture such as roman, medieval churches, and from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. There are also short pieces about the university and a interesting page showing a selection of turrets. As the sections get closer to the present day, or at least present day for Allsopp, the descriptions are more detailed and there are many more examples of different architectural styles.

In its entirety, the book consists of only 96 pages. With the reliance on images on almost every side, this is a text which can be easily read in an afternoon. In fact, I very much enjoyed reading it in a single session and would recommend the same to anyone else that reads it as the text has a satisfying flow to it. It is certainly interesting to see images of the ancient Roman ruins of Pons Aelius (The Roman settlement on the site of Newcastle) and then travel through time to structures such as the central arcade in only a short time.

The Emerson Chambers

The book was published in 1967 therefore the images, which must have been very modern at the time, show a Newcastle with which I am unfamiliar. The names of shops have changed, and some buildings have been altered or vanished completely. For someone that is local it is particularly interesting to see how the cityscape has been shaped even in the last half a century.

If you are looking to get endless facts about the city in this book then look elsewhere, however, that doesn’t seem to be its purpose in the first place. Instead, this book feels more like something of a passion project by an author who wanted to show the beauty in Newcastle’s buildings. Allsopp states his love for Newcastle’s buildings in his foreword and that love is clear to see throughout as he describes the various examples of architecture. If he intended to create interest in Newcastle’s architecture, then Allsopp fulfilled his purpose. I felt inspired enough by Historic Architecture of Newcastle Upon Tyne to take my camera into the city and get a few photographs of my own after reading this; something which I had never considered in twenty years of being in the city.

This book gave me a new appreciation for a city which had lost its intrigue. I now find myself looking up at the architecture instead of staring down towards the floor. The best thing that this book did was to inspire me to learn more about my own city. I have never taken much interest in Newcastle, but this book has given me a new way to look it. I would recommend this to anyone who would like to start learning a little more about the city of Newcastle, whether they know anything about architecture or not. There is certainly some satisfaction gained from seeing something so familiar in an unfamiliar way.

Grey Street towards Grey's Monument

The Theatre Royal

Images were taken by myself and edited by Eden Hall