The concrete castle that was a landmark in building techniques
INNOVATIVE PROJECT NEARS ITS CENTURY
NEARLY a century has passed since the construction of an intriguing Newcastle landmarks.
The Shilling House, on the West Road in Fenham, was fabricated in 1925 for the Newcastle Daily Chronicle to demonstrate the new-fangled technique of building with reinforced concrete.
Locals might be familiar with the curious tale of the property, which many say resembles a castle, as it was donated by the proprietors of the newspaper as the first prize in a raffle to raise money for the fund set up after the Montagu Pit Disaster.
To win the competition entrants had to pay a shilling (the equivalent of 5p now) and guess how many people used the Newcastle Tramways on one day in May.
The lucky winner, Mrs Margaret Hayes, took on the bargain modernist building and started her new life there.
Sixty-five-year-old Lyn Lunn, who lived in Fenham until 2003, has many fond memories of the Shilling House.
She often made visits to the property during the early 1970s, when it belonged to the parents of her good friend Moira.
Moira was the granddaughter of the original raffle winner.
“As a teenager, I would stay at Moira’s all the time, and her parents Sheila and Fred were very hospitable” recalled Lyn. It was very dark inside, and at that point, there was dark decor as well. I remember there being velvet blue walls and a large, dark wooden dining table, both of which would be considered very retro now.
“It wasn’t huge, but there was a massive garden that had a very steep decline. It’s definitely a local landmark – everybody knows it as either the ‘Shilling House’ or the ‘Castle House’. And when we were at school, we would joke that Moira was a princess for that reason.
“Most of us kids lived in council properties, so for her to live somewhere like that...we assumed she was super-rich and it was a topic of much amazement.
“It was so advanced for its time in terms of design and I still think it’s absolutely fabulous. I would own it if I could. People have said it’s haunted, but I certainly wasn’t aware of that when I used to hang out there.”
■ Enjoy trips into our local history archive at chroniclelive.co.uk/news/ history