County Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne

County Hall is a former municipal building, now a hotel, in Castle Garth, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The county hall, which was the meeting place of Northumberland County Council from 1910 to 1981, is a Grade II listed building.[1]

County Hall
LocationNewcastle upon Tyne
Coordinates54.96912°N 1.60964°W / 54.96912; -1.60964
Built1910
ArchitectJ.A. Bain
Architectural style(s)Classical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated30 March 1987
Reference no.1024938
Location of County Hall in Tyne and Wear

History

In the early 20th century the Moot Hall in Newcastle upon Tyne had been the local facility for dispensing justice and the meeting place of Northumberland County Council.[2] After deciding that the old Moot Hall was inadequate for their needs, county leaders chose to procure a new county headquarters: the site selected for the new building was within the Moot Hall precincts which formed an exclave of Northumberland.[3]

The new building was designed by J. A. Bain in the classical style and completed in 1910.[1][4] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of thirteen bays facing south east; the central section of five bays featured a porch with Doric order columns supporting a triglyph frieze on the ground floor and sash windows on each of five floors above; the left and right sections of had sections of three bays which slightly projected forwards.[1]

An extension down to the Side and the top storeys were designed by Cackett, Burns, Dick and McKellar and completed in 1933.[1][5] Following the creation of the county of Tyne and Wear in 1974 the County Hall was extraterritorial to the county of Northumberland, and so in the late 1970s Northumberland County Council decided to re-establish County Hall in Morpeth, to provide them with a meeting place within the territorial limits of the county; the county council completed the move to Morpeth in April 1981.[6]

The building in Newcastle was converted into a hotel, becoming the "Vermont Hotel" under the management of Lincoln Group in 1993.[7] Visitors to the hotel at that time included the singer, Engelbert Humperdinck, in 2001.[8] Meanwhile, the film, School for Seduction, starring the actress, Kelly Brook, was filmed in the hotel in 2004.[9] After Lincoln Group went into administration in January 2012,[10] the hotel changed ownership and was acquired by Gainford Hotels in April 2012.[11][12][13] The television presenters, Ant & Dec, visited the hotel for a charity event in May 2015.[14]

References
  1. Historic England. "County Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne (1024938)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  2. "Letter from Northumberland County Council, The Moothall, Newcastle Upon Tyne". 1902. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  3. "Ordnance Survey Map". 1898. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  4. Pevsner, Nikolaus; Richmond, Ian Archibald; Grundy, John; Ryder, Peter; McCombie, Grace; Welfare, Humphrey (1992). Northumberland. Yale University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0300096385.
  5. "1932 – Northumberland County Council Offices, Newcastle upon Tyne". Archiseek. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  6. "Northumberland County Council to spend £17m on HQ revamp". Hexham Courant. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  7. "Vermont hotel in Newcastle for sale for £9m". The Chronicle. 26 September 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  8. "When Engelbert met Eric". Northern Echo. 13 October 2001. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  9. "Focus on top locations". Chronicle Live. 18 August 2003. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  10. "Hotel firm Lincoln Group Ltd calls in administrator". BBC. 15 January 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  11. "Vermont hotel in Newcastle sold off £9m asking price". The Caterer. 10 April 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  12. "Sale of Newcastle's Vermont Hotel secures jobs". BBC. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  13. "Newcastle's Vermont Hotel and Martha's Bar sold to new owners". Chronicle Live. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  14. "Superheroes from the across the region came out in force on Friday". I Love Newcastle. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
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