Harbour Commissioners Offices

Harbour Commissioner's Offices, 1913, designed by Cackett and Burns Dick of Newcastle.

The building is three storeys tall, arranged in three distinct sections across its facade. The left section fronts Bridge Street with five bays, the right section fronts Plessey Road with three bays, and a curved three-bay centre section contains the main entrance. The ground floor is constructed in ashlar with channelled rustication, while the upper floors are brick laid in Flemish bond with ashlar dressings. The roof is covered in Lakeland slate.

The facade features a moulded plinth, a first floor band, alternating raised quoins, and a modillion eaves cornice. The central entrance comprises panelled double doors set within a keyed moulded surround, flanked by bays containing oval geometrically-glazed windows in moulded surrounds draped by garlands. These elements are all set within a Roman Doric blind arcade with paired columns. The first floor has 15-pane sash windows in shouldered architraves with scrolled feet and cornices, with a cartouche bearing arms above the centre window. The second floor carries 12-pane sash windows in architraves. The Bridge Street frontage has similar fenestration, with ground floor windows topped by keyed lintels. The Plessey Road frontage is similar except for triple windows in the centre bay. The steeply pitched roof includes three flat-topped dormers towards Bridge Street, with end stacks and two ridge stacks, all featuring ashlar bands and cornices.

The interior contains a circular entrance lobby with a domed roof. The open-well stair features a wrought-iron rail employing a ship's wheel motif and a ramped moulded handrail. Stair windows are leaded with heraldic glass. The boardroom is panelled in fielded oak in early eighteenth-century style, with a bolection-moulded fireplace in polished crinoidal limestone carved with swags and trophies above, and a plaster ceiling in late seventeenth-century style with raised borders of flowers and fruit.

Panels of Dutch glazed tiles, predominantly featuring Dutch landscapes, are distributed throughout the building. These tiles were salvaged from the S.S. Walmer Castle, which was built in 1902 by Harland and Wolff and broken up at Blyth in 1932.