80 years ago, first residents at Knott’s flats
IT’S 80 years since the first residents moved into this wellknown Tyneside housing complex.
On December 21, 1938, a Mrs Whetherstone and her family were given the keys to their new residence in Tynemouth’s Sir James Knott Memorial Flats.
Initially, it had been reported the imposing block of flats overlooking the mouth of the River Tyne was intended for folk who earned a living from the sea.
By the time the flats opened, this had been widened to include people displaced by local slum clearance programmes.
In 1758, the cliff-top site became home to barracks for 1,000 troops. Later, the Duke of Northumberland bought the land, and the barracks became flats called Percy Square.
After negotiations between Sir James Knott Housing Trust and Tynemouth Council, Percy Square was demolished in the mid-1930s and work began on the Knott’s flats project.
It would house 140 families. Rents were fixed at 5s 10d for a one-bedroom flat, 6s 7d for a two-bedroom flat, and 7s 3d for a three-bedroom flat.
Each flat would have a large living room, kitchenette, bathroom and a small entrance vestibule. Electric lights and gas were included.
Architects incorporated special processes to make the floors as soundproof as possible.
And, with one eye on the possibility of a major European war in the offing, there were large underground workshops which could also double as air-raid shelters.
The complex also boasted what was believed at the time to be the biggest clock – at 12ft 6in in diameter – in the North East.
Happy 80th birthday...