Central Arcade, Newcastle upon Tyne

"Central Arcade" redirects here. For other uses, see Central Arcade (disambiguation).

Central Arcade
Interior of the arcade
Central Arcade, Newcastle upon Tyne is located in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Central Arcade, Newcastle upon Tyne
Location within Newcastle-upon-Tyne
General information
LocationNewcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates54°58′26″N 1°37′23″W / 54.974°N 1.623°W / 54.974; -1.623
OS grid referenceNZ248643

The Central Arcade in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, is an Edwardian shopping arcade built in 1906 and designed by Oswald and Son, of Newcastle. It is in the Central Exchange building, which was built by Richard Grainger in 1836–38 to the designs of John Wardle and George Walker. The Central Arcade is Grade II* listed.[1]

The Central Exchange is a triangular building which was intended to be a corn exchange but became a subscription newsroom. In 1870 the Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts converted the newsroom into an art gallery, concert hall and theatre.[2]

This was replaced by a vaudeville theatre in 1897, but in 1901 the interior was destroyed by fire, after which the current Central Arcade was built within the walls of the original building.[3] According to one source, the faience tiles in the arcade were produced by Rust's Vitreous Mosaics, Battersea,[2] but a book on Burmantofts Pottery states that this arcade was their last major work in external faience in 1906.[4]

  1. ^ Historic England. "Central Arcade (1355247)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b "The Central Arcade, Newcastle". Architecture.knoji.com. 4 October 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  3. ^ David Morton (17 April 2018). "Newcastle's magnificent Central Arcade in the 1980s – and the same view today". Newcastle Chronicle. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  4. ^ Burmantofts Pottery (1983) Bradford Art Gallery & Museums and Leeds City Museum p15