University Pe and Fitness Centre

The University PE and Fitness Centre, formerly known as the Grand Assembly Rooms, was built in 1889 to designs by Lamb and Armstrong of Newcastle. It is a large building of stone to the front range, brick to the main block, with a slate roof and tall stone stacks. The layout is rectangular, with two main storeys, a central corridor, a principal room to one side, and smaller rooms, many now changing rooms. There are attics above.

The main facade, of two storeys with attic dormers, is almost symmetrical, featuring oriels that project under shaped gables with finials. A balustraded parapet sits between the two oriels, with a dormer set behind. Decorative features include a bolection moulded cornice, engaged columns to the first-floor centrepiece with lozenge moulded bases, and fluted Ionic pilasters below on the ground floor. A central round-headed window is flanked by round windows and doorways with large fanlights. All round-arched openings have keystones, and there is elaborate decoration in the spandrels. A frieze between the orders carries the inscription "AD: THE GRAND ASSEMBLY ROOMS: 1889" in decorative cartouches. Double-panelled entrance doors provide access. The windows are a mix of sashes and bottom-hung casements, with some ground-floor windows on the side elevations featuring coloured glass. A mullion and transom window is found in the former Committee Room. The north elevation is more regular, with seven bays of windows to the main upper hall and four larger windows to the lower hall. All windows have round-headed upper lights within rectangular frames.

Internally, the building retains significant decoration. The entrance hall has roundels and plaster cartouches, with columns and arcading and decorated spandrels. A broad open-well staircase with a timber balustrade leads to an upper landing designed as a round-arched screen with Jacobean-style columns. The lower hall, which was not accessible at the time of inspection, retains original doors leading to a corridor and an end fitness room. The upper floor is more elaborate, with a lecture hall that may have originally been a tearoom, featuring a fireplace and staircase down from the entrance. The Committee Room has moulded plaster panels, a frieze, and a fireplace with an overmantel. The large hall has original doors with strapwork mouldings, and coloured glass lights are present in the corridor doors. Numerous balustraded staircases, including one at the rear that leads to an attic with an open truss roof, are also features.

The building is listed for its survival as a good Victorian public building, with noteworthy stone decoration on the principal facade and a range of original internal fixtures. It forms a group with the Students’ Union alongside.