Photographs Of Newcastle: Gallowgate

An area of Newcastle city centre which is undergoing huge change in recent years.

10th July 2022

Gallowgate, Magnet House and Andrews House.

Offices and shops. c1930. Designed for the General Electric Company. Steel frame clad with brick and Portland stone ashlar. Modern style. Slightly curved facade, 6 storeys and 21 windows.

Ground floor ashlar clad, with central vehicular access with a pair of original steel gates, inscribed M.H. and A.H. Eitherside are entrances to upper floor offices, both with double panel doors and name plates above inscribed Magnet House and Andrews House, above overlights that to the right with built-in lantern. Above each doorway a projecting canopy with sloping bracket. Eitherside 2 shops, those to the right with original fascia board, only the coffee lounge retains its original front. Beyond to the left: a further doorway.

Above, first floor ashlar clad, with 5 central windows in a single opening with unusual fluted mullions between, and eitherside 8 slightly taller metal framed windows.

The next 3 floors are clad in brick with an ashlar cornice. The second and third floor windows are linked vertically with panels between, the central 3 windows have a single ashlar fluted surround, and set between the windows are 3 Art Deco style relief panels with painted symbolic figures. Eitherside 9 windows, those at either ends slightly narrower, with alternating Art Deco style relief panels and moulded ashlar panels. Fourth floor has 3 central windows in a single opening with unusual fluted mullions between, and eitherside 9 metal framed windows, those at either ends slightly narrower. Fifth floor ashlar clad, set back behind ashlar parapet, with central windows flanked by 9 wider metal framed windows eitherside.

Grade 2 Listed. Source: Sitelines.

Gallowgate, Nos. 1 - 15.

Shops and offices. Late C19. Brick with ashlar ground floor and dressings; Welsh slate roof with corner copper turret. 4 storeys and attic; corner bay and 9 bays.

Rusticated pilasters frame shops. Left corner bank entrance of double panelled door and overlight flanked by columns supporting round arch; office door in arched entrance in bay no. 7; blocked door in third bay. Full-height oriels over entrances, that at corner round; other windows paired sashes in architraves.

Ground floor frieze and cornice; top cornice; consoles flank high shaped gables, with ball finials on alternate pediments, paired over first 2 bays and containing attic windows over oriels; similar gable on right end bay. 4 alternatively- pedimented dormers over other bays.

Grade 2 Listed. Source: Sitelines.

Gallowgate, Nos. 17 - 25, Bealim House.

Bealim House has a vast and interesting history. Previously a print works named Beall Ltd, the business was founded by John Beall in 1896. Due to family and personal reasons, John Beall Jnr and his son Percy Beall moved out of Bealim House in 1931 to a site on Stowell Street, Newcastle, to continue the print company under the name J and P Beall Ltd until the end of the Second World War. At this time, the firm was booming and the pair outgrew their site on Stowell Street, returning to the original building and naming it Bealim House – an amalgamation of Beall Lim(ited).

From 1931 – 1945 Bealim House hosted other tenants included GB Carnegie electricians and Johnny Rankin cycle shop. The basement was also an air raid shelter during the war. After 1945, the building was used for a number of functions including a sports shop owned by Newcastle United football player, Frank Brennan.

In 2000, Vaulkhard Group (formerly Fluid Group) bought the site, turning it into offices and popular sports bar, Fluid Bar and Kitchen. Now, the venue is still part of the Vaulkhard family and the bar has been renamed Bealim House, honouring the heritage of the building.