| The Spanish City | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Inside the Spanish City | |
 | |
| Alternative names | Whitley Bay Pleasure Gardens |
| General information | |
| Status | Grade II listed building (the dome) |
| Address | Watts Road, Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, England |
| Coordinates | 55°02′51″N 1°26′51″W / 55.047616°N 1.44747°W |
| Opened | 14 May 1910 |
| Renovated | 2011–2018 |
| Renovation cost | £10m[1] |
| Client | Whitley Bay Pleasure Gardens Ltd[2] |
| Owner | North Tyneside Council (June 2011) |
| Dimensions | |
| Diameter | 180 ft long, 275 ft deep[2] |
| Design and construction | |
| Architecture firm | Cackett and Burns Dick[2] |
| Structural engineer | L.G. Mouchel[2] |
| Main contractor | Davidson and Miller[2] |
| Renovating team | |
| Architect(s) | ADP[1] |
| Renovating firm | Robertson Group |
| Website | |
| Spanish City | |
The Spanish City is a dining and leisure centre in Whitley Bay, a seaside town in North Tyneside, Tyne & Wear, England. Erected as a smaller version of Blackpool's Pleasure Beach, it opened in 1910 as a concert hall, restaurant, roof garden and tearoom. A ballroom was added in 1920 and later a permanent funfair.[2]
Located near the seafront, the Spanish City has a 180 ft-long (54.8 m) Renaissance-style frontage and became known for its distinctive dome,[3] now a Grade II listed building.[4] There are towers on either side of the entrance, each of which carries a half-life-size female bacchanalian figure in copper, one holding cymbals, the other a tambourine. The building's architects were Robert Burns Dick, Charles T. Marshall and James Cackett.[5]
The band Dire Straits mentioned the Spanish City in their 1980 single, "Tunnel of Love", which from then on was played every morning when it opened.[6] By the late 1990s the building had fallen into disrepair, and in the early 2000s it was closed to the public.[7] A regeneration project was announced in 2011.[6] The building reopened as a dining and leisure centre at the end of July 2018.[8]
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
ADPwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d e f Rennison, Robert William (1996). Civil Engineering Heritage: Northern England. London: Thomas Telford, p. 41, citing Cackett, J. T. Dick, B. (1911). "Spanish City, Whitley Bay". Ferro Concrete: A Monthly Review, 2, pp. 168–175.
- ^ Stratton, Michael (1999). "New Materials for a New Age: Steel and concrete construction in the north of England, 1860–1939". Industrial Archaeology Review, 21 (pp. 5–24), p. 20ff.
- ^ Hedley, Jeanette (12 May 2006). "Duncan's amusements demolished", North Tyneside Council.
- ^ Usherwood, Paul; Beach, Jeremy; Morris, Catherine (2000). Public sculpture of North-East England. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 218, 319.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Glanceywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Exhibition marks Whitley Bay's Spanish City centenary", BBC News, 9 September 2010.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Oldfield21July2018was invoked but never defined (see the help page).