Town Hall, Ancillary Buildings and Former Police Station to Rear is a Grade II listed building in the Gateshead local planning authority area, England. First listed on 13 January 1983. Town hall, police station. 17 related planning applications.

Town Hall, Ancillary Buildings and Former Police Station to Rear

WRENN ID
stubborn-baluster-martin
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Gateshead
Constituency
Gateshead Central and Whickham MP: Mark Ferguson (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
13 January 1983
Type
Town hall, police station
Address
Town Hall, Ancillary Buildings and Former Police Station to Rear, West Street, NE8 1BP
OS grid reference
NZ 254 633
Coordinates
54.96438, -1.60374
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Town Hall, ancillary buildings, and former police station at the rear were constructed between 1868 and 1870 by John Johnstone. This substantial structure is built of ashlar with a Welsh slate roof and is designed in a neo-Romanesque style featuring various details. The building has two storeys and is composed of two, three, and two bays. The central block is taller and projects forward, with its bays framed by pilasters that support a heavy entablature adorned with an ornamental frieze and a modillion cornice. Above, there is a balustraded balcony with corner pedestals that hold urns (some of which are missing), and a central segmental pediment featuring allegorical figures, with a larger figure on a plinth above. The side sections have lower, hip-ended roofs and simpler entablatures also supported by pilasters.

The first floor features paired round-arched windows, with the central ones set in round-arched recesses that include oculi in their heads. The ground floor has paired segmental-headed windows, banded pilasters, and a rusticated plinth. The central entrance is round-arched and includes nook shafts and mouldings. The outer entrance bays are set back and have similar doorways, with the northern one accessed by a lone flight of steps due to the sloping hill.

The north return of the building has four bays in a similar style but includes a full basement storey. Attached to this is a mid-19th century Italianate ashlar building that is two storeys high with six bays; the left bay features a four-storey square tower with a corbel table on the second floor, deeply overhanging eaves, a pyramidal roof, and eccentrically placed stone chimneys. Beyond this is a later two-storey, three-window ashlar building of simpler design. The south return reveals a long rear part made of rubble, featuring round first-floor windows in raised surrounds. This section appears to be a much earlier building, possibly from the late 18th century, which was adapted and incorporated into the Town Hall complex.

Local climate

Town Hall, Ancillary Buildings and Former Police Station to Rear receives an average of 790 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 57% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 94% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 27 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 70% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
  • Sale history — 1 transaction since 2018
  • Related listed building consents — 17 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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