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Life Magazine (1938)
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auf den ersten Blick vielleicht einfach/schlicht, wie Pierre Cardin seine Puppe hier angezogen hat ...
ich mag die Dynamik der unendlich langen Beine und ihre Stellung mit Standbein und Spielbein ... durch die Schatten und natürlich durch den Seitentausch der Farben bekommt es etwas Harlikineskes, als währen die Schatten der Arme die springenden Beine ... und natürlich mag ich hier die verspielte Gürtelschlaufe, die einfache Kopfbedeckung, das Farbenspiel des Weiß ...
English
at first glance it may seem simple/plain, the way Pierre Cardin dressed his doll here...
I like the dynamics of the infinitely long legs and their position with the standing leg and the free leg... the shadows and of course the swapping of the colours give it a Harlikinsque feel, as if the shadows of the arms were the jumping legs... and of course I like the playful belt loop, the simple headgear, the play of colours in the white...
a series ...
Architect of fashion design...
Pierre Cardin, born Pietro Costante Cardin on July 2, 1922 in San Biagio di Callalta, Italy, is a legendary French fashion designer known for his avant-garde style and innovative, architecturally inspired contributions to the fashion industry.
His family moved to France in 1924 due to the political situation in Italy. Although his father wanted him to become an architect, Cardin developed a passion for tailoring that made him a key figure in the development of modern fashion.
With a total of 76 years of professional experience until his death in 2020, he is considered the longest-serving person in the fashion business in the world.
Cardin, along with Paco Rabanne and André Courrèges, was considered the inventor of futuristic fashion from 1963 onwards.
Cardin's activities were not limited to fashion. There was hardly an article in the consumer goods sector that was not produced with his label: "Wristwatches, table, bed and terry linen, porcelain, ceramics, cutlery, upholstery fabrics, transistor devices, record players and car interiors". In the automotive sector, Cardin's name appeared on the AMC Javelin model (1973), the Sbarro Stash (1976) and the Cardin Evolution I (1980).
From the 1970s onwards he worked on furniture design and created brightly painted bentwood furniture in a geometric style, which he called sculptures utilitaires (utilitarian sculptures).
One of his employees was Philippe Starck.
In 2007, Cardin had over 800 companies in 180 countries with around 200,000 employees, 850 licenses, 18 restaurants and four theaters (Théâtre des Ambassadeurs). His corporate conglomerate also includes hotels, media, castles and ships. One of the remarkable things about the Cardin company is that it does not belong to a holding company and shares in the company have never been sold.
Cardin claimed not to have incurred any debts in the company's history.
in tabular form...
1936
At the age of 14, Cardin learned the basics of fashion design and construction as a tailor's apprentice.
1939
He left home and worked for a tailor in Vichy, where he made women's suits.
1945
After working for the Red Cross during World War II, Cardin goes to Paris to study architecture and work in the fashion house of Paquin and Elsa Schiaparelli.
He designs the costumes for the film Beauty and the Beast by Jean Cocteau.
1947
He becomes head of Christian Dior's tailoring studio and designs the iconic Bar suit for the first Dior collection.
1950
Cardin creates his own fashion house at 10 rue Richepanse in Paris and begins to design masks and costumes for the theater.
1951
He designs costumes for a masked ball in Venice organized by Carlos de Beistegui.
1953
He presents his first women's collection and becomes a member of the Chambre Syndicale, a prestigious association of haute couture designers.
1954
Cardin introduces the bubble dress, which becomes his trademark and cements his reputation as a fashion designer.
He opens his first women's fashion boutique, Eve, at 118, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris.
1957
Cardin travels to Japan and is the first fashion designer to explore this market. During his stay, he teaches three-dimensional tailoring at the Bunka Fukuso School of Design.
In addition to his boutique Eve, Cardin opens his first men's boutique, Adam.
1958
He receives the Young Designers Award in Boston, USA.
1959
He presents one of the first ready-to-wear (PrĂŞt-Ă -porter in addition to haute couture) collections for women by a major designer at the Printemps department store, which further cements his influence in the fashion world.
1960
Cardin launches his first men's collection, called "Cylindre", which represents an important step towards men's fashion. His models are all students at the University of Paris.
1961
He creates the men's ready-to-wear department, cementing his status as a pioneer of ready-to-wear.
1963
The Beatles change their style on the advice of their manager and wear an iconic Pierre Cardin suit.
The women's ready-to-wear department is created.
1966
Pierre Cardin presents his first children's collection, proving his versatility and commitment to expanding the brand's reach.
Pakistan International Airlines introduces the uniforms he designed.
1968
Introduction of the "Cardin" fabric in the "Mod Chic" line and opening of a children's boutique at 8, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
First license agreement outside of fashion for porcelain tableware and start of furniture design.
1970
Inspired by space exploration, Cardin visits NASA and tries on Buzz Aldrin's spacesuit. He designs futuristic garments that embody the aesthetics of the space age, including austere tunics and vinyl outfits.
1971
He redesigns the Barong Tagalog, the Philippine national costume.
1972
Launches his first men's fragrance, "Pour Monsieur."
1973
Cardin receives the "Basilica Palladiana," an award given each year to a successful Venetian.
1974
Cardin becomes the first fashion designer to appear on the cover of Time magazine in recognition of his influence on world fashion.
1975
Opens his first furniture store.
1977
Cardin receives the prestigious DĂ© d'Or of French Haute Couture for the first time.
1978
Awarded the Prestige Tourisme diploma for his contribution to the development of French tourism.
1979
Winned the prestigious DĂ© d'Or of French Haute Couture for the second time and became the first Western designer to present a fashion show in China since the Cultural Revolution, demonstrating his commitment to international fashion diplomacy.
Maxim's flower boutique opened in Paris.
1980
Opening of a retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, showing his work from 30 years.
1981
Cardin acquired the famous Maxim's de Paris restaurant and expanded his brand to include the hotel and catering sectors.
He launched his first women's perfume, "Choc".
1983
He received the French Haute Couture DĂ© d'Or award for the third time.
1985
Launched the Pierre Cadrin doll line.
1987
Appointed Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
1991
France appoints him Officer of the Legion of Honor and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador to promote cultural understanding through fashion. He also designs jewelry for UNESCO's Chernobyl program.
Cardin receives the gold and silver star of the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure, Japan's highest honor.
1992
Cardin is elected a member of the Institut de France's Academy of Fine Arts, becoming the first designer to be admitted under the Academy's dome.
1995
He signs a contract with the Chinese government to produce uniforms for the army, police and post office. Other contracts for uniforms with other countries followed.
2000
At the Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris, he presents a retrospective collection to celebrate his 50th anniversary in the fashion world.
2007
Cardin receives the CFDA Fashion Award in New York.
2011-2018
During these years, Cardin organizes several fashion shows, including one on an aircraft carrier in Tianjin and one at the Villa Medici in Rome. He also celebrates important anniversaries with retrospectives around the world.
2020
In February, his star is added to the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.
In December, Pierre Cardin dies at the age of 98 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.
Pierre Cardin_22_084_pa2
Leeton. Population 7,500.
Like Griffith, Leeton was a child of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and also a town designed by the architect who laid out Canberra, Walter Burley Griffin. One of the three men behind the establishment of the MIA was Sir Samuel McCaughey who had a grand house built just outside of Leeton in Euroley Road Yanco. It is now the Yanco Agricultural High School. McCaughey had started his own private irrigation system with channel at Yanco in the early 20th century for pastoralism. He bought Yanco pastoral station (he already had several others) and at great cost built over 300 kms of water channels so that he could not irrigate but supply water to 40,000 acres. In 1906, as a Member of the Legislative Council he envisaged a big government scheme that would support of population of over 50,000 people. In 1906 the NSW government passed a bill to construct the Burrinjuck Dam. Water from that dam first became available in 1912. A narrow gauge railway was built from Narrandera to Yanco in 1907 to transport materials for the development of the MIA. The station at Yanco railway was the nearest for Leeton until 1922. By 1960 there were over 1,900 kms of water supply channel, over 1,200 kms of drainage channels. The town was named Leeton after the Minister of Public Works at that time Charles Lee. The MIA water supply is now for horticulture more than pastoralism except in the outer areas. Leeton is now the rice capital of Australia but extensive areas of citrus trees and vines are grown. McCaughey’s dream ended for him in 1919 when he died at his home in Yanco. His estate was valued at £1,600 million of which he left to charities, the Presbyterian Church, hospitals etc. and a quarter of his estate went to the University of Sydney. At one time before his death he owned around 3.25 million acres! His sandstone and brick mansion at Yanco was left to the area as a school.
The central park in Leeton is McCaughey Park. Walter Burley Griffin was a follower of the Garden City Movement, like Charles Reade the designer of Colonel Light Gardens hence the curved and circular roads, and the avoidance of rectangles and squared corners. Streets were designed to follow contours and the highest point of Leeton, opposite the Hydro Hotel has three decorative water towers named after Walter Burley Griffin. The oldest was erected in 1913, the second in 1937 and the last in 1974 to feed water by gravity to the town. The first solid building built in Leeton was the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Trust offices in 1912 which later became the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission building in 1937 when a new Art Deco building was opened. . It is now the town museum and art gallery. This Trust employed the men who built the town and in the early years 250 homes were built each year, and the Trust workshops employed about 100 men. Because so much of the town was built during the Art Deco period with 21 buildings registered by the NSW Art Deco society which is impressive as they only list about 80 in the Sydney region. Most of the best examples of Art Deco in Leeton are mainly in: Pine and Kurrajong Avenues. Leeton has an annual Art Deco festival during July each year. Most of the earliest building in Leeton were timber framed and the beautiful Art Deco ones came along in the 1920s to 1940s.
In terms of development of the region at lot happened in 1914 as farmers were on their lands and residents were accommodated in Leeton and workers accommodated in barracks. The Leeton Progress Association was formed in 1914 as were the Yanco Agricultural and Horticultural Society, the Murrumbidgee Dairy Farmers Association (the butter rectory opened in 1913), the Murrumbidgee Farmers Union and the local newspaper, The Murrumbidgee Irrigator began publishing. Clarkes brothers General Store was in a solid shop as opposed to the 1911 tin shed. The one teacher school built in 1911 had five teachers and around 300 children by 1914. A Catholic School began in 1917 using the church as its school room until 1936. By 1914 Leeton had Methodist (replaced 1937), Baptist (replaced 1937), Anglican (the parish hall added in 1929) and Catholic churches (replaced in 1955). The current Presbyterian Church was built in 1957, replacing the 1916 timber framed one. By 1914 Leeton had only one Bank that of NSW (replaced in 1938). A second bank did not open until 1920 – the Commercial Bank of Sydney (replaced in 1957.) Leeton is a prosperous still growing town. One of the important employers in town is the Sunrise rice mill. It is the headquarters of Sunrise Australia which exports much of the rice not destined for the domestic market in Australia. In recent years Leeton has made a positive attempt to attract and befriend immigrant workers and families. Many are needed for the local abattoirs and agricultural work. There is now a sizeable Afghan community in Leeton with the highest proportion outside of Sydney. Leeton has small communities of Fijians, Pacific Islanders and East African workers. Cotton is also grown near Leeton. In terms of industry the town cannery was crucial and the major employed.
The NSW government cannery opened in Leeton in 1914 with government contracts for tinned fruit, vegetables and orange juice. The State Cannery eventually became Leeton Cooperative Cannery. It employed around 750 people throughout the year with a peak work force double that during the harvest season. In its last decades is marketed fruit etc as Letona brand. Sadly the cannery closed in 1994. Letona also sold locally grown rice as Letona Rice. The rice growing industry in Leeton began in 1924 and two sisters. Lois and Margaret Grant were among the first six pioneers of rice growing when it started. Lois Grant succeeded so well in this male industry and she was a founding member of the MIA Rice growing Cooperative Society. The cooperative marketed its rice as SunRice. It is now marketed as SunWhite Rice. Leeton is still a major rice producing region of Australia and most is produced for export. Australia including Leeton and the Riverina region leads the world in water efficient and sustainable and highly mechanised rice growing. The MIA grows much of Australia’s rice with more grown in other regions of the Riverina. About 25,000 to 65,000 hectares are used for rice growing in the MIA depending on the season and water allocations. There are between two rice mills in the Riverina with a major one near Leeton. The other major mill for SunWhite is at Deniliquin. One hectare sown in rice can produce about 12 tons of rice grain.
Some Art Deco structures to look for in Chelmsford Place and in the Main St which is Pine Ave. Starting at the top of Chelmsford Place by the Art Deco Walter Burley Griffin designed water tanks.
•The Walter Burley Griffin water towers. Oldest is 1913.
•The Hydro Hotel. Built as a coffee palace as Leeton originally teetotal site. Built in 1919 and burnt down in 1924. Rebuilt in Art Deco style 1924-26 and re-opened in 1927.The interior has many deco features.
•Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission headquarters. Erected 1937. It has many heritage items in the excellent little museum. It is also the Leeton Art Gallery. Worth a visit. It closes 3 pm.
•Leeton Town Council and Shire Offices. No Art Deco features. Built in 1962. Modernist style.
•The Art Deco Fire station with rounded corners, inset brick work etc. Includes stepped features over doorway. Built in 1938.
•At the roundabout turn left near the modern Art Deco style bus shelter. In front is the Roxy Theatre and the Art Deco memorial clock in the roundabout. The Roxy is to re-open in 2025 after renovations. Built in 1929-30. Check foyer if you can. The memorial clock was unveiled in 1926 in Art Deco style and the clock added in 1965.
•In Pine Ave. First on left is the Commonwealth Bank. This structure built in 1935.
•On the next corner intersection is Leeton Mall in brick with some Art deco features. This was the former Richards Store. A cream and red brick structure with stepped shapes on chamfered corner entrance. Building has vertical and horizontal banding. Built in 1936.
•Next left is the Hotel Leeton a much earlier structure but some Art Deco features. It was built in 1926.
•Nearly opposite is the Seton and Beyond Bank building with some great Art Deco detail with stylistic Rose and radiating rays.
•Just before the next side street adjacent to the Leeton Hotel is the Murrumbidgee Irrigator newspaper offices. Established 1915 but this Pine Ave building is marked as 1928.
•Over the next side street on opposite is the former Kinlock’s store. Built in 1938. Turn around here/
•Almost opposite it is the current Leeton Steel building. It was built in 1930s as the Leeton Fruit Growers Cooperative.
•On the way back take Church Street through to the Park. The Wade Hotel is on the corner with excellent Art Deco motifs. Architect designed and built in 1937. Named after the first head of irrigation for the MIA. As you cross Mountford Park on your left will be the modern St Peters Anglican Church. The first church was built in 1913 of locally made adobe bricks. The newer Church Hall was built in 1929. This Church was built in 1973.
•The next building on your right is the Leeton Courthouse. It was built in 1922 and opened in August 1924.
•On your left is the impressively large red brick Catholic Church. Wagga architect S J O’Halloran designed it in 1951. To facilitate the building, the Wagga Wagga diocese purchased the Yanco Brickworks in 1951 to produced 440,000 bricks for the church. The Romanesque style church is asymmetrical with a round stained glass window over the entry. It was completed in 1955 and at that time was the largest Catholic Church in country NSW. Return to the roundabout and the Roxy Theatre going past some good Art Deco buildings including the Morris Chambers.
Went to London to visit the Bartlett school of architecture summer show.
Met an ex student of mine. One of the groups exhibiting presented their work exclusively on iPads. Here's two students viewing the work.
A terrific exhibition, so much talent, hard work and creativity. A credit to students and staff.
I am retired now, miss working with those talented young people.
PETCO Park and the new pedestrian bridge
Architect (for the bridge): Safdie Rabines Architects (2008-2011)
For the stadium: Populous (then HOK Sport); Antoine Predock (design); Spurlock Poirier (landscape); ROMA (urban planning) (2000 - 2004)
For the Omni Hotel: Hornberger + Worstell Associates
Location: San Diego, CA
Finally got a chance to go back for a night shot.
Villa Cavrois, Croix, France, 1932
Architect Robert Mallet Stevens (1886-1945)
Built between 1929 and 1932, the villa was the result of an order placed by Paul Cavrois with the architect Robert Mallet-Stevens to house his family of seven children and his domestic servants. Covered in yellow facing bricks set on a concrete frame and double brick walls, the villa was thought out as a total work of art comprising an exemplary case of homogenous construction between architecture, decoration and furniture. It is the architect’s technical and aesthetic manifesto in terms of the care given to its materials and equipment. Clear guidelines governed the design of the building: “air, light, work, sports, hygiene, comfort and efficiency”.
The Villa Cavrois is a masterpiece of modern architecture and a unique example in the North of France. The villa is 60 meters long, it has 3.800 m² including 1.840 m² habitables and 830 m² of terraces and a garden of 17.600 m² (originally 5 ha). The Villa Cavrois is a testimony to the modernist vision of the 1920s as it was conceived by designers such as Le Corbusier, Pierre Chareau and the Bauhaus school. Luminosity, hygiene and comfort are the keywords that underlie such buildings. Villa Cavrois illustrates this concept with simplicity and elegance. The large modern mansion was organized to offer the best possible lifestyle to the nine members of the family and to facilitate the daily work of the household staff. Mallet-Stevens' work was not limited to the design of the building. He also designed the interior decoration and the gardens which surround the house. The choice of materials, concrete ceiling, metal, steel, glass, green Swedish marble in the main dining room, yellow Sienna marble in the fireplace alcove of the hall-salon, parquets of oak, iroko, zebrawood, Cuban mahogany, and the furniture of the rooms echoed the hierarchy of space: everything was conceived and adapted for use in place. Simplicity and functionality of the furniture prevail in all parts. The luxury of this house does not lie in carved detailing or gilding, it unfolds in the richness of the materials used, such as unadorned marble, metal and wood. The Villa Cavrois provided for its occupants a large number of amenities especially rare for the time, even in luxury houses. Use of the latest modern technology, especially electricity meant each room was provided with electric lighting, a radio loudspeaker, an electric clock and telephones enabled people to communicate between rooms or with the outside world. The villa was equipped with a modern boiler room and a wine cellar. The water system provided hot and cold water, as well as softened water for cooking and drinking. Lighting was the object of special care. The lighting, both direct and indirect, is very delicate and elegant. In collaboration with the lighting engineer André Salomon, Mallet-Stevens conceived an indirect lighting which fit in the architecture and he has provided most of the rooms of the villa of a lighting device system which direct the light towards the ceiling to obtain an unchanging light closer at the natural one. Hygiene was very important in the conception of the Villa Cavrois, as it is shown by the clinical aspect of the kitchen of metal and white paint and also by the presence of a swimming pool of 27 metres long and 4 metres depth at the diving boards.
The villa was occupied by German troops between 1940 and 1944 and was damaged at the end of the war. When he returned in 1947, Paul Cavrois called upon architect Pierre Barbe to add two apartments for his elder sons. The family lived in the villa until 1985. The following year, it was sold to a real estate firm that wanted to subdivide the park. Despite its automatic classification as a historic monument in 1990, the villa was no longer maintained by its owner. The State bought the property, which was in serious danger, in 2001, and undertook a major restoration project to its original historic condition as when it was inaugurated in 1932. The lighting, the furnishings attached to the decorations, as well as the bookcases and benches have all been restored using the original materials. The parquet floorings, metal doorframes and marbles have been restored or returned. The restoration of the park has returned it to the original land’s very subtle gradient with the precise layout of the alleyways, while replanting plant species identified from old photographs. The reflecting pool, which had been filled in during the war, and the swimming pool have been restored to their original state. The restoration was carried out between 2009 and 2015. Since 2012, the villa has been part of a worldwide conservation programme for emblematic houses of the 20th century, “Iconic Houses”.
(built 2019, see tags for further known data). Op dit werk is een Creative Commons Licentie van toepassing.
Architects: GLC Architects Department, 1967-72. Group Leader; Colin Lucas. Project Architect; Lydia Dransfield.
Primary School in the foreground was the first building to be completed on the site.
© Tous Droits Réservés
Architecture Nancy //
Beaudouin Architectes
www.beaudouin-architectes.fr/2012/11/logements-quartier-d...
Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox
Location: 33rd Street and 10th Ave, New York City
Height: 1,296 feet (395 m)
Floors: 92
Type: Office
Tenant: Time Warner, KKR, Wells Fargo, HBO, CNN, Warner Brothers, Neiman Marcus
This will be the second tallest office tower in New York City right after 1 WTC and New York highest outdoor observation deck.
Architect Gunnar Asplund & sculpture "Resurrection" by John Lundqvist. Part of the Unesco World Heritage List.
The Neo-futuristic "thin shell" concrete design of the TWA Flight Centre (Adjacent to Terminal 5 at JFK) was executed to Eero Saarinen's plan despite the unexpected death of this noted Finnish-American architect at age 51 in 1961. Opening after his death, in 1962, it closed as a passenger terminal in 2008. The building has been imaginatively redeveloped as the TWA Hotel; the only hotel actually situated on the JFK complex. Central to marketing and re-design was the installation of cosmetically restored Lockheed Starliner N8083H on the portion of original apron that survives. This is an original TWA airliner, lovingly restored from near derelict condition to form a centre-piece cocktail bar and visual landmark for the new hotel.
The Theatre Royal is a historic theatre, a Grade I listed building situated on Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne.
History
The theatre was designed by local architects John and Benjamin Green as part of Richard Grainger's grand design for the centre of Newcastle, and was opened on 20 February 1837 with a performance of The Merchant of Venice. One of the first managers here was Thomas Ternan who employed his wife, Frances Ternan as the main actress.
The shareholders of the Proprietors' Committee appointed lessees to manage and programme the theatre. The longest running individual lessee, before Ltd companies, was Edward D. Davis from 1845 to 1870 during which in 1867 the interior was redesigned by architect Charles J. Phipps.[3] William Glover and George Francis, both of the Theatre Royal, Glasgow took over from 1871 to 1878; to be followed by Charles Bernard of the Gaiety Theatre, Glasgow until 1882. James Howard and Fred Wyndham of Edinburgh and Glasgow became lessees from 1883 to 1887. Due to their intention, carried out, of also leasing the Tyne Theatre and Opera House, the shareholder committee did not renew their lease of the Royal.
Instead, Robert Arthur of Glasgow and now lessee of Her Majesty’s Theatre, Dundee took over in 1888. After the fire of 1899 he instructed architect Frank Matcham to totally redesign the interior, re-opening in 1901. The venues of Robert Arthur Theatres Ltd in Scotland and England, which had many shareholders in Tyneside, prospered until losses overwhelmed the company in 1911. At this point the Arthur shareholders, led by the family of Joseph Cowen MP, appointed a new chairman of the lessee company, Michael Simons, of Glasgow, who in 1895 had created Howard & Wyndham Ltd.
From 1912 onwards the Theatre Royal Newcastle was an important part of the Howard & Wyndham group, led successfully by chairman Simons, followed by the Cruikshank family, whose King's Theatre, Edinburgh joined the group in 1928. Newcastle City Council took over ownership in 1967.
Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh formed a triangle of industry, commerce and entertainment business from the 1870s onwards. From 1962 and increasingly from the 1970s the interchange of shows and pantomimes was joined by tours each year of Scottish Opera and of Scottish Ballet. Opera North joined in:
Following a performance of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, a huge fire destroyed the interior of the building in 1899. It had its interior redesigned by Frank Matcham and reopened on 31 December 1901. Externally, the building is exactly as it was when it was first built.
It underwent a major refurbishment and restoration in the latter part of the 1980s, reopening on 11 January 1988 with a performance of A Man For All Seasons starring Charlton Heston.
The Theatre Royal went dark on 14 March 2011 due to a major restoration of the auditorium, box office, bars and restaurant. The restoration restored the theatre to the original 1901 Frank Matcham Edwardian interior. The whole interior was stripped apart from the original plasterwork which was carefully preserved. The proscenium arch, tiers and boxes were gold leafed and the plasterwork restored. On all levels the seats were replaced with Edwardian-style theatre seats in keeping with the restoration. The amphitheatre which was removed during previous renovations was restored to offer more leg room and better views than the gallery. This took the theatre to five distinct seating areas, the stalls, grand circle, upper circle, amphitheatre and gallery. Wheelchair spaces were installed on levels which had previously been inaccessible. As well as the boxes near the stage, boxes at the rear of the grand and upper circles were also restored taking the total number of boxes up to ten. The stage lift and orchestra pit were replaced to offer better facilities for opera and musicals. A new ventilation system was put in place to improve comfort levels in the theatre. New frescos for the lobby and upper circle were commissioned and put in place. This ÂŁ4.75m project introduced higher standards of comfort and improved energy. The Theatre Royal reopened on 12 September 2011 with Alan Bennett's epic period drama The Madness of George III;[8] George III was in fact the monarch who gave the Theatre Royal its charter.
The theatre currently hosts a variety of shows, including ballet, contemporary dance, drama, musicals and opera. Almost all of the shows that come to the Theatre Royal are part of national British tours, and in a typical year the theatre will have 30 to 35 visiting shows. For the annual pantomime, and any visiting musicals and opera performances, there is a sizeable orchestra pit available which can seat 60 musicians if necessary. The stage itself is also of substantial size, and can house 50 singers, dancers, actors and musicians.
The Original Theatre Royal
Newcastle's original Theatre Royal opened on 21 January 1788. Its location on Mosley Street obstructed plans for the redevelopment of the city centre (as it was on the route of Grey Street), so it was demolished to make way for the present building. One of the theatre's most successful managers at this time was Stephen Kemble of the famous Kemble family, who managed the theatre from 1791 to 1806. The original theatre's final performance was on 25 June 1836.
Technical details
The current theatre has a proscenium stage, and accommodates a variable orchestra pit on 2 lifts - which reduces the stall seating. The audience is seated on four levels: stalls (501), grand circle (252), upper circle (249) and gallery (247).
Project A
Project A is a one-year actor training programme led by an artistic director and supported by leading industry specialists. Delivered from within the Theatre Royal over an academic year (3 terms) participants gain professional standard actor training culminating in a production term to be performed in the Studio Theatre and toured nationally.
The course started in September 2015 with the first year free for the successful actors. The programme is seen as an alternative to drama school and is expected to lift the actors involved into the industry.
The Royal Shakespeare Company have very strong ties to the theatre and are involved with the programme heavily in the second term.
Grainger built Grey Street in the 1830s. Several architects, including John Dobson, were involved. The street’s entire western side was designed by two architects from Grainger's office, John Wardle and George Walker. Grey Street contains the Theatre Royal designed by John and Benjamin Green, the southern entrance to Monument Metro station, and the Central Arcade. BBC Radio 4 listeners voted it “Best street in the UK” in 2010.
Initially named Upper Dean Street, Grey Street runs south from Grey's Monument, following the route of the Lorke or Lort Burn, which formerly flowed openly into the Tyne and is now enclosed, curving slowly to the east and descending to the river. It ends after the Mosley Street junction, where Dean Street, constructed in 1749, begins.
Sir John Betjeman said:
As for the curve of Grey Street, I shall never forget seeing it to perfection, traffic-less on a misty Sunday morning. Not even Regent Street, even old Regent Street London, can compare with that descending subtle curve.
Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the River Tyne's northern bank, opposite Gateshead to the south. It is the most populous settlement in the Tyneside conurbation and North East England.
Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, the settlement became known as Monkchester before taking on the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose. It was one of the world's largest ship building and repair centres during the industrial revolution. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it separated and formed a county of itself. In 1974, Newcastle became part of Tyne and Wear. Since 2018, the city council has been part of the North of Tyne Combined Authority.
The history of Newcastle upon Tyne dates back almost 2,000 years, during which it has been controlled by the Romans, the Angles and the Norsemen amongst others. Newcastle upon Tyne was originally known by its Roman name Pons Aelius. The name "Newcastle" has been used since the Norman conquest of England. Due to its prime location on the River Tyne, the town developed greatly during the Middle Ages and it was to play a major role in the Industrial Revolution, being granted city status in 1882. Today, the city is a major retail, commercial and cultural centre.
Roman settlement
The history of Newcastle dates from AD 122, when the Romans built the first bridge to cross the River Tyne at that point. The bridge was called Pons Aelius or 'Bridge of Aelius', Aelius being the family name of Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was responsible for the Roman wall built across northern England along the Tyne–Solway gap. Hadrian's Wall ran through present-day Newcastle, with stretches of wall and turrets visible along the West Road, and at a temple in Benwell. Traces of a milecastle were found on Westgate Road, midway between Clayton Street and Grainger Street, and it is likely that the course of the wall corresponded to present-day Westgate Road. The course of the wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort at Wallsend, with the fort of Arbeia down-river at the mouth of the Tyne, on the south bank in what is now South Shields. The Tyne was then a wider, shallower river at this point and it is thought that the bridge was probably about 700 feet (210 m) long, made of wood and supported on stone piers. It is probable that it was sited near the current Swing Bridge, due to the fact that Roman artefacts were found there during the building of the latter bridge. Hadrian himself probably visited the site in 122. A shrine was set up on the completed bridge in 123 by the 6th Legion, with two altars to Neptune and Oceanus respectively. The two altars were subsequently found in the river and are on display in the Great North Museum in Newcastle.
The Romans built a stone-walled fort in 150 to protect the river crossing which was at the foot of the Tyne Gorge, and this took the name of the bridge so that the whole settlement was known as Pons Aelius. The fort was situated on a rocky outcrop overlooking the new bridge, on the site of the present Castle Keep. Pons Aelius is last mentioned in 400, in a Roman document listing all of the Roman military outposts. It is likely that nestling in the shadow of the fort would have been a small vicus, or village. Unfortunately, no buildings have been detected; only a few pieces of flagging. It is clear that there was a Roman cemetery near Clavering Place, behind the Central station, as a number of Roman coffins and sarcophagi have been unearthed there.
Despite the presence of the bridge, the settlement of Pons Aelius was not particularly important among the northern Roman settlements. The most important stations were those on the highway of Dere Street running from Eboracum (York) through Corstopitum (Corbridge) and to the lands north of the Wall. Corstopitum, being a major arsenal and supply centre, was much larger and more populous than Pons Aelius.
Anglo-Saxon development
The Angles arrived in the North-East of England in about 500 and may have landed on the Tyne. There is no evidence of an Anglo-Saxon settlement on or near the site of Pons Aelius during the Anglo-Saxon age. The bridge probably survived and there may well have been a small village at the northern end, but no evidence survives. At that time the region was dominated by two kingdoms, Bernicia, north of the Tees and ruled from Bamburgh, and Deira, south of the Tees and ruled from York. Bernicia and Deira combined to form the kingdom of Northanhymbra (Northumbria) early in the 7th century. There were three local kings who held the title of Bretwalda – 'Lord of Britain', Edwin of Deira (627–632), Oswald of Bernicia (633–641) and Oswy of Northumbria (641–658). The 7th century became known as the 'Golden Age of Northumbria', when the area was a beacon of culture and learning in Europe. The greatness of this period was based on its generally Christian culture and resulted in the Lindisfarne Gospels amongst other treasures. The Tyne valley was dotted with monasteries, with those at Monkwearmouth, Hexham and Jarrow being the most famous. Bede, who was based at Jarrow, wrote of a royal estate, known as Ad Murum, 'at the Wall', 12 miles (19 km) from the sea. It is thought that this estate may have been in what is now Newcastle. At some unknown time, the site of Newcastle came to be known as Monkchester. The reason for this title is unknown, as we are unaware of any specific monasteries at the site, and Bede made no reference to it. In 875 Halfdan Ragnarsson, the Danish Viking conqueror of York, led an army that attacked and pillaged various monasteries in the area, and it is thought that Monkchester was also pillaged at this time. Little more was heard of it until the coming of the Normans.
Norman period
After the arrival of William the Conqueror in England in 1066, the whole of England was quickly subjected to Norman rule. However, in Northumbria there was great resistance to the Normans, and in 1069 the newly appointed Norman Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Comines and 700 of his men were killed by the local population at Durham. The Northumbrians then marched on York, but William was able to suppress the uprising. That same year, a second uprising occurred when a Danish fleet landed in the Humber. The Northumbrians again attacked York and destroyed the garrison there. William was again able to suppress the uprising, but this time he took revenge. He laid waste to the whole of the Midlands and the land from York to the Tees. In 1080, William Walcher, the Norman bishop of Durham and his followers were brutally murdered at Gateshead. This time Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William's half brother, devastated the land between the Tees and the Tweed. This was known as the 'Harrying of the North'. This devastation is reflected in the Domesday Book. The destruction had such an effect that the North remained poor and backward at least until Tudor times and perhaps until the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle suffered in this respect with the rest of the North.
In 1080 William sent his eldest son, Robert Curthose, north to defend the kingdom against the Scots. After his campaign, he moved to Monkchester and began the building of a 'New Castle'. This was of the "motte-and-bailey" type of construction, a wooden tower on top of an earthen mound (motte), surrounded by a moat and wooden stockade (bailey). It was this castle that gave Newcastle its name. In 1095 the Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Mowbray, rose up against the king, William Rufus, and Rufus sent an army north to recapture the castle. From then on the castle became crown property and was an important base from which the king could control the northern barons. The Northumbrian earldom was abolished and a Sheriff of Northumberland was appointed to administer the region. In 1091 the parish church of St Nicholas was consecrated on the site of the present Anglican cathedral, close by the bailey of the new castle. The church is believed to have been a wooden building on stone footings.
Not a trace of the tower or mound of the motte and bailey castle remains now. Henry II replaced it with a rectangular stone keep, which was built between 1172 and 1177 at a cost of ÂŁ1,444. A stone bailey, in the form of a triangle, replaced the previous wooden one. The great outer gateway to the castle, called 'the Black Gate', was built later, between 1247 and 1250, in the reign of Henry III. There were at that time no town walls and when attacked by the Scots, the townspeople had to crowd into the bailey for safety. It is probable that the new castle acted as a magnet for local merchants because of the safety it provided. This in turn would help to expand trade in the town. At this time wool, skins and lead were being exported, whilst alum, pepper and ginger were being imported from France and Flanders.
Middle Ages
Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress, the centre for assembled armies. The Border war against Scotland lasted intermittently for several centuries – possibly the longest border war ever waged. During the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, David 1st of Scotland and his son were granted Cumbria and Northumberland respectively, so that for a period from 1139 to 1157, Newcastle was effectively in Scottish hands. It is believed that during this period, King David may have built the church of St Andrew and the Benedictine nunnery in Newcastle. However, King Stephen's successor, Henry II was strong enough to take back the Earldom of Northumbria from Malcolm IV.
The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle, in 1174, after being captured at the Battle of Alnwick. Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town and Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century.
Around 1200, stone-faced, clay-filled jetties were starting to project into the river, an indication that trade was increasing in Newcastle. As the Roman roads continued to deteriorate, sea travel was gaining in importance. By 1275 Newcastle was the sixth largest wool exporting port in England. The principal exports at this time were wool, timber, coal, millstones, dairy produce, fish, salt and hides. Much of the developing trade was with the Baltic countries and Germany. Most of the Newcastle merchants were situated near the river, below the Castle. The earliest known charter was dated 1175 in the reign of Henry II, giving the townspeople some control over their town. In 1216 King John granted Newcastle a mayor[8] and also allowed the formation of guilds (known as Mysteries). These were cartels formed within different trades, which restricted trade to guild members. There were initially twelve guilds. Coal was being exported from Newcastle by 1250, and by 1350 the burgesses received a royal licence to export coal. This licence to export coal was jealously guarded by the Newcastle burgesses, and they tried to prevent any one else on the Tyne from exporting coal except through Newcastle. The burgesses similarly tried to prevent fish from being sold anywhere else on the Tyne except Newcastle. This led to conflicts with Gateshead and South Shields.
In 1265, the town was granted permission to impose a 'Wall Tax' or Murage, to pay for the construction of a fortified wall to enclose the town and protect it from Scottish invaders. The town walls were not completed until early in the 14th century. They were two miles (3 km) long, 9 feet (2.7 m) thick and 25 feet (7.6 m) high. They had six main gates, as well as some smaller gates, and had 17 towers. The land within the walls was divided almost equally by the Lort Burn, which flowed southwards and joined the Tyne to the east of the Castle. The town began to expand north of the Castle and west of the Lort Burn with various markets being set up within the walls.
In 1400 Henry IV granted a new charter, creating a County corporate which separated the town, but not the Castle, from the county of Northumberland and recognised it as a "county of itself" with a right to have a sheriff of its own. The burgesses were now allowed to choose six aldermen who, with the mayor would be justices of the peace. The mayor and sheriff were allowed to hold borough courts in the Guildhall.
Religious houses
During the Middle Ages a number of religious houses were established within the walls: the first of these was the Benedictine nunnery of St Bartholomew founded in 1086 near the present-day Nun Street. Both David I of Scotland and Henry I of England were benefactors of the religious house. Nothing of the nunnery remains now.
The friary of Blackfriars, Newcastle (Dominican) was established in 1239. These were also known as the Preaching Friars or Shod Friars, because they wore sandals, as opposed to other orders. The friary was situated in the present-day Friars Street. In 1280 the order was granted royal permission to make a postern in the town walls to communicate with their gardens outside the walls. On 19 June 1334, Edward Balliol, claimant to be King of Scotland, did homage to King Edward III, on behalf of the kingdom of Scotland, in the church of the friary. Much of the original buildings of the friary still exist, mainly because, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries the friary of Blackfriars was rented out by the corporation to nine of the local trade guilds.
The friary of Whitefriars (Carmelite) was established in 1262. The order was originally housed on the Wall Knoll in Pandon, but in 1307 it took over the buildings of another order, which went out of existence, the Friars of the Sac. The land, which had originally been given by Robert the Bruce, was situated in the present-day Hanover Square, behind the Central station. Nothing of the friary remains now.
The friary of Austinfriars (Augustinian) was established in 1290. The friary was on the site where the Holy Jesus Hospital was built in 1682. The friary was traditionally the lodging place of English kings whenever they visited or passed through Newcastle. In 1503 Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII of England, stayed two days at the friary on her way to join her new husband James IV of Scotland.
The friary of Greyfriars (Franciscans) was established in 1274. The friary was in the present-day area between Pilgrim Street, Grey Street, Market Street and High Chare. Nothing of the original buildings remains.
The friary of the Order of the Holy Trinity, also known as the Trinitarians, was established in 1360. The order devoted a third of its income to buying back captives of the Saracens, during the Crusades. Their house was on the Wall Knoll, in Pandon, to the east of the city, but within the walls. Wall Knoll had previously been occupied by the White Friars until they moved to new premises in 1307.
All of the above religious houses were closed in about 1540, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.
An important street running through Newcastle at the time was Pilgrim Street, running northwards inside the walls and leading to the Pilgrim Gate on the north wall. The street still exists today as arguably Newcastle's main shopping street.
Tudor period
The Scottish border wars continued for much of the 16th century, so that during that time, Newcastle was often threatened with invasion by the Scots, but also remained important as a border stronghold against them.
During the Reformation begun by Henry VIII in 1536, the five Newcastle friaries and the single nunnery were dissolved and the land was sold to the Corporation and to rich merchants. At this time there were fewer than 60 inmates of the religious houses in Newcastle. The convent of Blackfriars was leased to nine craft guilds to be used as their headquarters. This probably explains why it is the only one of the religious houses whose building survives to the present day. The priories at Tynemouth and Durham were also dissolved, thus ending the long-running rivalry between Newcastle and the church for control of trade on the Tyne. A little later, the property of the nunnery of St Bartholomew and of Grey Friars were bought by Robert Anderson, who had the buildings demolished to build his grand Newe House (also known as Anderson Place).
With the gradual decline of the Scottish border wars the town walls were allowed to decline as well as the castle. By 1547, about 10,000 people were living in Newcastle. At the beginning of the 16th century exports of wool from Newcastle were more than twice the value of exports of coal, but during the century coal exports continued to increase.
Under Edward VI, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, sponsored an act allowing Newcastle to annexe Gateshead as its suburb. The main reason for this was to allow the Newcastle Hostmen, who controlled the export of Tyne coal, to get their hands on the Gateshead coal mines, previously controlled by the Bishop of Durham. However, when Mary I came to power, Dudley met his downfall and the decision was reversed. The Reformation allowed private access to coal mines previously owned by Tynemouth and Durham priories and as a result coal exports increase dramatically, from 15,000 tons in 1500 to 35,000 tons in 1565, and to 400,000 tons in 1625.
The plague visited Newcastle four times during the 16th century, in 1579 when 2,000 people died, in 1589 when 1700 died, in 1595 and finally in 1597.
In 1600 Elizabeth I granted Newcastle a charter for an exclusive body of electors, the right to elect the mayor and burgesses. The charter also gave the Hostmen exclusive rights to load coal at any point on the Tyne. The Hostmen developed as an exclusive group within the Merchant Adventurers who had been incorporated by a charter in 1547.
Stuart period
In 1636 there was a serious outbreak of bubonic plague in Newcastle. There had been several previous outbreaks of the disease over the years, but this was the most serious. It is thought to have arrived from the Netherlands via ships that were trading between the Tyne and that country. It first appeared in the lower part of the town near the docks but gradually spread to all parts of the town. As the disease gained hold the authorities took measures to control it by boarding up any properties that contained infected persons, meaning that whole families were locked up together with the infected family members. Other infected persons were put in huts outside the town walls and left to die. Plague pits were dug next to the town's four churches and outside the town walls to receive the bodies in mass burials. Over the course of the outbreak 5,631 deaths were recorded out of an estimated population of 12,000, a death rate of 47%.
In 1637 Charles I tried to raise money by doubling the 'voluntary' tax on coal in return for allowing the Newcastle Hostmen to regulate production and fix prices. This caused outrage amongst the London importers and the East Anglian shippers. Both groups decided to boycott Tyne coal and as a result forced Charles to reverse his decision in 1638.
In 1640 during the Second Bishops' War, the Scots successfully invaded Newcastle. The occupying army demanded ÂŁ850 per day from the Corporation to billet the Scottish troops. Trade from the Tyne ground to a halt during the occupation. The Scots left in 1641 after receiving a Parliamentary pardon and a ÂŁ4,000,000 loan from the town.
In 1642 the English Civil War began. King Charles realised the value of the Tyne coal trade and therefore garrisoned Newcastle. A Royalist was appointed as governor. At that time, Newcastle and King's Lynn were the only important seaports to support the crown. In 1644 Parliament blockaded the Tyne to prevent the king from receiving revenue from the Tyne coal trade. Coal exports fell from 450,000 to 3,000 tons and London suffered a hard winter without fuel. Parliament encouraged the coal trade from the Wear to try to replace that lost from Newcastle but that was not enough to make up for the lost Tyneside tonnage.
In 1644 the Scots crossed the border. Newcastle strengthened its defences in preparation. The Scottish army, with 40,000 troops, besieged Newcastle for three months until the garrison of 1,500 surrendered. During the siege, the Scots bombarded the walls with their artillery, situated in Gateshead and Castle Leazes. The Scottish commander threatened to destroy the steeple of St Nicholas's Church by gunfire if the mayor, Sir John Marley, did not surrender the town. The mayor responded by placing Scottish prisoners that they had captured in the steeple, so saving it from destruction. The town walls were finally breached by a combination of artillery and sapping. In gratitude for this defence, Charles gave Newcastle the motto 'Fortiter Defendit Triumphans' to be added to its coat of arms. The Scottish army occupied Northumberland and Durham for two years. The coal taxes had to pay for the Scottish occupation. In 1645 Charles surrendered to the Scots and was imprisoned in Newcastle for nine months. After the Civil War the coal trade on the Tyne soon picked up and exceeded its pre-war levels.
A new Guildhall was completed on the Sandhill next to the river in 1655, replacing an earlier facility damaged by fire in 1639, and became the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council. In 1681 the Hospital of the Holy Jesus was built partly on the site of the Austin Friars. The Guildhall and Holy Jesus Hospital still exist.
Charles II tried to impose a charter on Newcastle to give the king the right to appoint the mayor, sheriff, recorder and town clerk. Charles died before the charter came into effect. In 1685, James II tried to replace Corporation members with named Catholics. However, James' mandate was suspended in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution welcoming William of Orange. In 1689, after the fall of James II, the people of Newcastle tore down his bronze equestrian statue in Sandhill and tossed it into the Tyne. The bronze was later used to make bells for All Saints Church.
In 1689 the Lort Burn was covered over. At this time it was an open sewer. The channel followed by the Lort Burn became the present day Dean Street. At that time, the centre of Newcastle was still the Sandhill area, with many merchants living along the Close or on the Side. The path of the main road through Newcastle ran from the single Tyne bridge, through Sandhill to the Side, a narrow street which climbed steeply on the north-east side of the castle hill until it reached the higher ground alongside St Nicholas' Church. As Newcastle developed, the Side became lined with buildings with projecting upper stories, so that the main street through Newcastle was a narrow, congested, steep thoroughfare.
In 1701 the Keelmen's Hospital was built in the Sandgate area of the city, using funds provided by the keelmen. The building still stands today.
Eighteenth century
In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages predated the London Library by half a century.
In 1715, during the Jacobite rising in favour of the Old Pretender, an army of Jacobite supporters marched on Newcastle. Many of the Northumbrian gentry joined the rebels. The citizens prepared for its arrival by arresting Jacobite supporters and accepting 700 extra recruits into the local militia. The gates of the city were closed against the rebels. This proved enough to delay an attack until reinforcements arrived forcing the rebel army to move across to the west coast. The rebels finally surrendered at Preston.
In 1745, during a second Jacobite rising in favour of the Young Pretender, a Scottish army crossed the border led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Once again Newcastle prepared by arresting Jacobite supporters and inducting 800 volunteers into the local militia. The town walls were strengthened, most of the gates were blocked up and some 200 cannon were deployed. 20,000 regulars were billeted on the Town Moor. These preparations were enough to force the rebel army to travel south via the west coast. They were eventually defeated at Culloden in 1746.
Newcastle's actions during the 1715 rising in resisting the rebels and declaring for George I, in contrast to the rest of the region, is the most likely source of the nickname 'Geordie', applied to people from Tyneside, or more accurately Newcastle. Another theory, however, is that the name 'Geordie' came from the inventor of the Geordie lamp, George Stephenson. It was a type of safety lamp used in mining, but was not invented until 1815. Apparently the term 'German Geordie' was in common use during the 18th century.
The city's first hospital, Newcastle Infirmary opened in 1753; it was funded by public subscription. A lying-in hospital was established in Newcastle in 1760. The city's first public hospital for mentally ill patients, Wardens Close Lunatic Hospital was opened in October 1767.
In 1771 a flood swept away much of the bridge at Newcastle. The bridge had been built in 1250 and repaired after a flood in 1339. The bridge supported various houses and three towers and an old chapel. A blue stone was placed in the middle of the bridge to mark the boundary between Newcastle and the Palatinate of Durham. A temporary wooden bridge had to be built, and this remained in use until 1781, when a new stone bridge was completed. The new bridge consisted of nine arches. In 1801, because of the pressure of traffic, the bridge had to be widened.
A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Fenham Barracks in 1806. The facilities at the Castle for holding assizes, which had been condemned for their inconvenience and unhealthiness, were replaced when the Moot Hall opened in August 1812.
Victorian period
Present-day Newcastle owes much of its architecture to the work of the builder Richard Grainger, aided by architects John Dobson, Thomas Oliver, John and Benjamin Green and others. In 1834 Grainger won a competition to produce a new plan for central Newcastle. He put this plan into effect using the above architects as well as architects employed in his own office. Grainger and Oliver had already built Leazes Terrace, Leazes Crescent and Leazes Place between 1829 and 1834. Grainger and Dobson had also built the Royal Arcade at the foot of Pilgrim Street between 1830 and 1832. The most ambitious project covered 12 acres 12 acres (49,000 m2) in central Newcastle, on the site of Newe House (also called Anderson Place). Grainger built three new thoroughfares, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street with many connecting streets, as well as the Central Exchange and the Grainger Market. John Wardle and George Walker, working in Grainger's office, designed Clayton Street, Grainger Street and most of Grey Street. Dobson designed the Grainger Market and much of the east side of Grey Street. John and Benjamin Green designed the Theatre Royal at the top of Grey Street, where Grainger placed the column of Grey's Monument as a focus for the whole scheme. Grey Street is considered to be one of the finest streets in the country, with its elegant curve. Unfortunately most of old Eldon Square was demolished in the 1960s in the name of progress. The Royal Arcade met a similar fate.
In 1849 a new bridge was built across the river at Newcastle. This was the High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, and slightly up river from the existing bridge. The bridge was designed to carry road and rail traffic across the Tyne Gorge on two decks with rail traffic on the upper deck and road traffic on the lower. The new bridge meant that traffic could pass through Newcastle without having to negotiate the steep, narrow Side, as had been necessary for centuries. The bridge was opened by Queen Victoria, who one year later opened the new Central Station, designed by John Dobson. Trains were now able to cross the river, directly into the centre of Newcastle and carry on up to Scotland. The Army Riding School was also completed in 1849.
In 1854 a large fire started on the Gateshead quayside and an explosion caused it to spread across the river to the Newcastle quayside. A huge conflagration amongst the narrow alleys, or 'chares', destroyed the homes of 800 families as well as many business premises. The narrow alleys that had been destroyed were replaced by streets containing blocks of modern offices.
In 1863 the Town Hall in St Nicholas Square replaced the Guildhall as the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council.
In 1876 the low level bridge was replaced by a new bridge known as the Swing Bridge, so called because the bridge was able to swing horizontally on a central axis and allow ships to pass on either side. This meant that for the first time sizeable ships could pass up-river beyond Newcastle. The bridge was built and paid for by William Armstrong, a local arms manufacturer, who needed to have warships access his Elswick arms factory to fit armaments to them. The Swing Bridge's rotating mechanism is adapted from the cannon mounts developed in Armstrong's arms works. In 1882 the Elswick works began to build ships as well as to arm them. The Barrack Road drill hall was completed in 1890.
Industrialisation
In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle's development as a major city owed most to its central role in the production and export of coal. The phrase "taking coals to Newcastle" was first recorded in 1538; it proverbially denotes bringing a particular commodity to a place that has more than enough of it already.
Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the following:
George Stephenson developed a miner's safety lamp at the same time that Humphry Davy developed a rival design. The lamp made possible the opening up of ever deeper mines to provide the coal that powered the industrial revolution.
George and his son Robert Stephenson were hugely influential figures in the development of the early railways. George developed BlĂĽcher, a locomotive working at Killingworth colliery in 1814, whilst Robert was instrumental in the design of Rocket, a revolutionary design that was the forerunner of modern locomotives. Both men were involved in planning and building railway lines, all over this country and abroad.
Joseph Swan demonstrated a working electric light bulb about a year before Thomas Edison did the same in the USA. This led to a dispute as to who had actually invented the light bulb. Eventually the two rivals agreed to form a mutual company between them, the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, known as Ediswan.
Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine, for marine use and for power generation. He used Turbinia, a small, turbine-powered ship, to demonstrate the speed that a steam turbine could generate. Turbinia literally ran rings around the British Fleet at a review at Spithead in 1897.
William Armstrong invented a hydraulic crane that was installed in dockyards up and down the country. He then began to design light, accurate field guns for the British army. These were a vast improvement on the existing guns that were then in use.
The following major industries developed in Newcastle or its surrounding area:
Glassmaking
A small glass industry existed in Newcastle from the mid-15th century. In 1615 restrictions were put on the use of wood for manufacturing glass. It was found that glass could be manufactured using the local coal, and so a glassmaking industry grew up on Tyneside. Huguenot glassmakers came over from France as refugees from persecution and set up glasshouses in the Skinnerburn area of Newcastle. Eventually, glass production moved to the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. In 1684 the Dagnia family, Sephardic Jewish emigrants from Altare, arrived in Newcastle from Stourbridge and established glasshouses along the Close, to manufacture high quality flint glass. The glass manufacturers used sand ballast from the boats arriving in the river as the main raw material. The glassware was then exported in collier brigs. The period from 1730 to 1785 was the highpoint of Newcastle glass manufacture, when the local glassmakers produced the 'Newcastle Light Baluster'. The glassmaking industry still exists in the west end of the city with local Artist and Glassmaker Jane Charles carrying on over four hundred years of hot glass blowing in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Locomotive manufacture
In 1823 George Stephenson and his son Robert established the world's first locomotive factory near Forth Street in Newcastle. Here they built locomotives for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, as well as many others. It was here that the famous locomotive Rocket was designed and manufactured in preparation for the Rainhill Trials. Apart from building locomotives for the British market, the Newcastle works also produced locomotives for Europe and America. The Forth Street works continued to build locomotives until 1960.
Shipbuilding
In 1296 a wooden, 135 ft (41 m) long galley was constructed at the mouth of the Lort Burn in Newcastle, as part of a twenty-ship order from the king. The ship cost ÂŁ205, and is the earliest record of shipbuilding in Newcastle. However the rise of the Tyne as a shipbuilding area was due to the need for collier brigs for the coal export trade. These wooden sailing ships were usually built locally, establishing local expertise in building ships. As ships changed from wood to steel, and from sail to steam, the local shipbuilding industry changed to build the new ships. Although shipbuilding was carried out up and down both sides of the river, the two main areas for building ships in Newcastle were Elswick, to the west, and Walker, to the east. By 1800 Tyneside was the third largest producer of ships in Britain. Unfortunately, after the Second World War, lack of modernisation and competition from abroad gradually caused the local industry to decline and die.
Armaments
In 1847 William Armstrong established a huge factory in Elswick, west of Newcastle. This was initially used to produce hydraulic cranes but subsequently began also to produce guns for both the army and the navy. After the Swing Bridge was built in 1876 allowing ships to pass up river, warships could have their armaments fitted alongside the Elswick works. Armstrong's company took over its industrial rival, Joseph Whitworth of Manchester in 1897.
Steam turbines
Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine and, in 1889, founded his own company C. A. Parsons and Company in Heaton, Newcastle to make steam turbines. Shortly after this, he realised that steam turbines could be used to propel ships and, in 1897, he founded a second company, Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company in Wallsend. It is there that he designed and manufactured Turbinia. Parsons turbines were initially used in warships but soon came to be used in merchant and passenger vessels, including the liner Mauretania which held the blue riband for the Atlantic crossing until 1929. Parsons' company in Heaton began to make turbo-generators for power stations and supplied power stations all over the world. The Heaton works, reduced in size, remains as part of the Siemens AG industrial giant.
Pottery
In 1762 the Maling pottery was founded in Sunderland by French Huguenots, but transferred to Newcastle in 1817. A factory was built in the Ouseburn area of the city. The factory was rebuilt twice, finally occupying a 14-acre (57,000 m2) site that was claimed to be the biggest pottery in the world and which had its own railway station. The pottery pioneered use of machines in making potteries as opposed to hand production. In the 1890s the company went up-market and employed in-house designers. The period up to the Second World War was the most profitable with a constant stream of new designs being introduced. However, after the war, production gradually declined and the company closed in 1963.
Expansion of the city
Newcastle was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835: the reformed municipal borough included the parishes of Byker, Elswick, Heaton, Jesmond, Newcastle All Saints, Newcastle St Andrew, Newcastle St John, Newcastle St Nicholas, and Westgate. The urban districts of Benwell and Fenham and Walker were added in 1904. In 1935, Newcastle gained Kenton and parts of the parishes of West Brunton, East Denton, Fawdon, Longbenton. The most recent expansion in Newcastle's boundaries took place under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, when Newcastle became a metropolitan borough, also including the urban districts of Gosforth and Newburn, and the parishes of Brunswick, Dinnington, Hazlerigg, North Gosforth and Woolsington from the Castle Ward Rural District, and the village of Westerhope.
Meanwhile Northumberland County Council was formed under the Local Government Act 1888 and benefited from a dedicated meeting place when County Hall was completed in the Castle Garth area of Newcastle in 1910. Following the Local Government Act 1972 County Hall relocated to Morpeth in April 1981.
Twentieth century
In 1925 work began on a new high-level road bridge to span the Tyne Gorge between Newcastle and Gateshead. The capacity of the existing High-Level Bridge and Swing Bridge were being strained to the limit, and an additional bridge had been discussed for a long time. The contract was awarded to the Dorman Long Company and the bridge was finally opened by King George V in 1928. The road deck was 84 feet (26 m) above the river and was supported by a 531 feet (162 m) steel arch. The new Tyne Bridge quickly became a symbol for Newcastle and Tyneside, and remains so today.
During the Second World War, Newcastle was largely spared the horrors inflicted upon other British cities bombed during the Blitz. Although the armaments factories and shipyards along the River Tyne were targeted by the Luftwaffe, they largely escaped unscathed. Manors goods yard and railway terminal, to the east of the city centre, and the suburbs of Jesmond and Heaton suffered bombing during 1941. There were 141 deaths and 587 injuries, a relatively small figure compared to the casualties in other industrial centres of Britain.
In 1963 the city gained its own university, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, by act of parliament. A School of Medicine and Surgery had been established in Newcastle in 1834. This eventually developed into a college of medicine attached to Durham University. A college of physical science was also founded and became Armstrong College in 1904. In 1934 the two colleges merged to become King's College, Durham. This remained as part of Durham University until the new university was created in 1963. In 1992 the city gained its second university when Newcastle Polytechnic was granted university status as Northumbria University.
Newcastle City Council moved to the new Newcastle Civic Centre in 1968.
As heavy industries declined in the second half of the 20th century, large sections of the city centre were demolished along with many areas of slum housing. The leading political figure in the city during the 1960s was T. Dan Smith who oversaw a massive building programme of highrise housing estates and authorised the demolition of a quarter of the Georgian Grainger Town to make way for Eldon Square Shopping Centre. Smith's control in Newcastle collapsed when it was exposed that he had used public contracts to advantage himself and his business associates and for a time Newcastle became a byword for civic corruption as depicted in the films Get Carter and Stormy Monday and in the television series Our Friends in the North. However, much of the historic Grainger Town area survived and was, for the most part, fully restored in the late 1990s. Northumberland Street, initially the A1, was gradually closed to traffic from the 1970s and completely pedestrianised by 1998.
In 1978 a new rapid transport system, the Metro, was built, linking the Tyneside area. The system opened in August 1980. A new bridge was built to carry the Metro across the river between Gateshead and Newcastle. This was the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, commonly known as the Metro Bridge. Eventually the Metro system was extended to reach Newcastle Airport in 1991, and in 2002 the Metro system was extended to the nearby city of Sunderland.
As the 20th century progressed, trade on the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides gradually declined, until by the 1980s both sides of the river were looking rather derelict. Shipping company offices had closed along with offices of firms related to shipping. There were also derelict warehouses lining the riverbank. Local government produced a master plan to re-develop the Newcastle quayside and this was begun in the 1990s. New offices, restaurants, bars and residential accommodation were built and the area has changed in the space of a few years into a vibrant area, partially returning the focus of Newcastle to the riverside, where it was in medieval times.
The Gateshead Millennium Bridge, a foot and cycle bridge, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 413 feet (126 m) long, was completed in 2001. The road deck is in the form of a curve and is supported by a steel arch. To allow ships to pass, the whole structure, both arch and road-deck, rotates on huge bearings at either end so that the road deck is lifted. The bridge can be said to open and shut like a human eye. It is an important addition to the re-developed quayside area, providing a vital link between the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides.
Recent developments
Today the city is a vibrant centre for office and retail employment, but just a short distance away there are impoverished inner-city housing estates, in areas originally built to provide affordable housing for employees of the shipyards and other heavy industries that lined the River Tyne. In the 2010s Newcastle City Council began implementing plans to regenerate these depressed areas, such as those along the Ouseburn Valley.
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Port House Antwerp, Belgium by Zaha Hadid Architects.
The Port House combines a new beam-shaped structure and a former fire brigade building into a new headquarter building for the Port Authority. The project is strategically located between city and harbour, with magnificent views over both the centre and the port from behind the articulate glass walls – some transparent, others reflective – in reference to the Antwerp diamond trade.
In early September 2012 Zaha Hadid gave the official order to begin construction work on Port House, the new headquarters for Antwerp Port Authority on the Kattendijk dock. The new Antwerp Port Authority headquarters will house approximately 500 staff in a single new location that comprises both a former fire station and a new extension. Together, these two entities form an impressive new landmark as the headquarters of the Antwerp Port Authority, overlooking both the city and the harbour. Staff and visitors arrive in the central atrium from where public counters, offices and meeting rooms in the existing building are directly accessible. The offices, meeting rooms, auditorium and panoramic restaurant in the new extension are accessible via panoramic lifts just off the central courtyard. Two underground levels of car and bicycle parking, the restoration and renovation of the existing building and the exterior landscaping of the site also form an integral part of the design. The new extension is positioned asymmetrically over the central courtyard, allowing light to enter the heart of the building. Leaving the existing structure untouched, it is supported by two sculpted concrete pillars that house stairs and lifts as well as a series of carefully placed steel columns that land in the courtyard. The new volume is enclosed by articulated surfaces of triangular glass panels which are slightly rotated with respect to one another to achieve ever-changing reflections that enhance its diamond shaped geometry. From the new building visitors will have a truly impressive view over the city as well as the port, so further strengthening the dialogue between the people of Antwerp and their port.
Total Floor Area: 12,800m2 (Gross); 114m Length; 24m Width; 46m Height (4 Extra Floors) Site Area: 16,400 m2 Date: 2008-2016.
Fennie+Mehl Architects in their San Francisco Offices.
Lighting: Paul C Buff Einstein with 86" umbrella and Diffuser camera right. Paul C Buff Einstein with 64" umbrella and Diffuser camera left. Fired with Cybersyncs.
Student Residence Hall and Dining Center designed by architects Helix (with consultant Carvell Architects). Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, Missouri.
Architects: Collective Josef Kaiser and Klaus Deutschmann, c.1962. Erected during the final stage of construction of the flagship boulevard, large apartment block in the Modern style, now listed. Karl-Marx-Allee 14-20, Berlin-Mitte, Germany.
Architect Ana Williamson at her office in Menlo Park CA. Photographed for InMenlo.
Lighting; Paul C Buff Einstein with Beauty Dish and Grid camera right. Fired with Cybersync.
Architecture by Hintersteininger Architects, Stuttgart.
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The construction of the new headquarters of the tool service provider Hahn+Kolb Group in Ludwigsburg is an architectural highlight in the region. The company was located at the previous location in Stuttgart-Feuerbach for more than 100 years, but the lack of local capacities made expansion impossible. The new area in the west of Ludwigsburg, on the other hand, offered ideal conditions for a new building. Within 15 months, a modern logistics center and an administration building were built on the 48,000 square meter property.
The new buildings were designed in an unusual geometry: dynamically rising from south to north, the almost 20m high distribution center opens into a crystalline glass body. The north-facing roof area, which extends to the floor, also serves as an open staircase to the lounge area on the first floor. An absolute specialty are the south facades - also inclined to the ground - which are fully equipped with photovoltaic elements. From a static point of view, the individual geometry of the sales and technology center is both a challenge and a masterpiece: the massive sloping facades are architectural features and at the same time the fundamental elements of the structure. Like the rest of the roof areas, these steep facades were sealed with plastic sheets from Sika Germany.
The energy facade now lies like a skin over both parts of the building and ensures an annual electricity yield of 88,000 kWh. In addition, the entire building concept complies with the principle of sustainability: natural ventilation and bright workplaces through the house-high glass facades, skylights and a spacious atrium ensure ideal working conditions.
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Photography & retouching by Matthias Dengler
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