Be thankful city features weren’t lost to whims of 60s modernism
THE 1960s and 70s, for better or worse, brought much physical change to Newcastle. As memories of World War II receded, forward-thinking local politicians and planners were keen to transform the city into a modern, thriving metropolis, fit for Tyneside folk of the late 20th century.
The old was repeatedly replaced by the new.
Two-thirds of the terraced Georgian-era Eldon Square were pulled down and a sprawling indoor shopping centre of the same name took their place; Grainger’s Royal Arcade was deemed expendable and made way for the multi-storey Swan House office block and roundabout, one of the intended new ‘gateways’ to the city; and the Central Motorway cut an unforgiving swathe through Newcastle, sweeping away anything that stood in its path.
But not every planning scheme came to fruition.
One of them, the All Saints development, which would have seen the radical transformation of a substantial chunk of Newcastle’s historic Quayside, was initially given the green light but eventually stopped in its tracks.
On March 6, 1969, the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, on its front page, carried a story under the headline ‘£6m plan for city precinct on riverside’.
It was reported how a London property firm, in partnership with the city corporation, planned to build 12 ‘giant’ concrete office blocks on a 14-acre site running from City Road to the Quayside, east of the Tyne Bridge.
The offices, built in a cluster dropping down towards the River Tyne, would provide 750,000 square feet of floor space, and 5,000 ‘white collar workers’ would be employed there.
The 18th century All Saints Church would be the focal point of the development, while another couple of historic buildings deemed worthy enough to dodge the bulldozers were Trinity House and the Customs House. Nearly everything else would be obliterated.
The twelve modernist tower blocks, which would differ in height, would be named after North-country saints, including Bede, Cuthbert, Aiden, Edwin and Oswald. All cars would be parked ‘below ground’, and the ambitious development would include shops, restaurants, pubs and banks.
The architect behind the scheme, Sir Basil Spence - responsible for the controversial design of Coventry Cathedral and the then recentlycompleted Newcastle Central Library - told the Chronicle: “The Tyne is a marvellous masculine river typically North British. I hope it will never be tarted up with tulips and the like.”
Work began on phase one of the project in April 1970, and by
November 1971, three of the planned 12 office blocks had been built.
In the event, that would be the full extent of the All Saints development.
Take a walk down to the location today, at the bottom of Pilgrim Street and immediately east of the Tyne Bridge, and you will find the jarring juxtaposition of an elegant 230-year-old church cheek by jowl with functional 55-year-old offices.
It was the river frontage section of the All Saints project which proved to be most problematic for Newcastle’s city planners who consistently rejected proposals for one particular monolithic office block.
By 1974, after endless fruitless negotiations, newspapers began reporting that the scheme was now unlikely to progress.
One of the country’s foremost planning experts, Mark Tewdwrjones of University College London, formerly of Newcastle University, told the Chronicle: “The issue that scuppered the scheme was the planners’ insistence that the skyline had to be kept intact, such that the view of the area from the Gateshead side had to be uninterrupted, with views of the church portico and the spire retained. We can thank the 1960s planners for making the case here.
“The view from both the Gateshead side and from the Quayside up King Street to All Saints at the top remains a gem in the city, framed as it is by the buildings of King Street and Queen Street. Equally, the views down from All Saints across the river to the Tyne Bridge and The Sage are just as impressive.”
Fifty-five years ago when the All Saints scheme was mooted, the Quayside area in question was in decline and down-at-heel, but in recent decades has had new life breathed into it and become home to top-end restaurants and desirable office space.
Today, we can only be thankful the likes of King Street and Queen Street, as well as some of the age-old riverside alleyways and courts, weren’t lost forever to the whims of 1960s modernism.