Offices plan for historic church
TOO SMALL FOR GROUP
Reporter A LANDMARK church at the top of one of Newcastle’s best-known roads could be converted into offices.
Dating back to 1903, Westgate Hall sits at the junction of Westgate Road, Corporation Street and Elswick Road.
The grand and imposing building has a distinctive tower with blockface, and is built into the steep road with three floors at one end and five floors at the other.
Grade II-listed in 1987, the building was originally built as a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and is owned by the Hillsong Church, which says it has now outgrown the hall and needs more office space.
Plans to convert the vacant flats above it into offices have been submitted to Newcastle City Council.
In an application, the Hillsong Church says: “The church group has grown now to the point that the existing building is not efficient for their daily use and management and require more office spaces to accommodate their growing staff and visitor pool.”
Hillsong Church is a Christian church known for its contemporary worship music.
In planning documents, the building is described as “intricate” and the dome on the building forms part of Newcastle’s skyline.
The applicants have said that, although they would like to install new signs on the outside of the building, the historic aspects will be protected.
The application says: “The proposals will have no significant impact on the architectural, artistic or historic interest of the asset as the proposals have been prepared to sympathetically integrate with the facade of the building whilst utilising the asset rather than working against it.”