28 AND 30, CLOSE

NZ 2563 NW NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE CLOSE (north side)

24/188 Nos. 28 and 30 (14.6.54)

G.V. I

Large late C16 merchant's house, altered. Dressed stone ground floor, upper facade of C18 or early C19 English bond brick with a second floor band. Pantiled roof. Late Cl7 timber-framed rear extension rests on an older stone base and re-uses some original windows. Brick nogging and a corrugated iron roof. Front of No. 28 four storeys, five bays; No. 30 three storeys, three bays. Plain door and sash windows, some with glazing bars. Inside the unity may be seen. The first and second floors of the front range each consist of one enormous room whose chief feature is a ceiling of close-set beams completely plastered, with quasi-classical side mouldings and bands of renaissance ornament below and between. Paired birds, flowers, scrolls and arabesque patterns involving animals appear. The thistle is a frequent motif. The ornament may be compared to C16 Scottish painted work. A contemporary stone fireplace with flattened Tudor arch and sharp shallow roll mouldings is on first floor. Stone mullioned windows of two, three and five lights have a double hollow chamfer. In the rear extension is a handsome oak staircase with urn and spiral turned balusters, thick moulded handrail, and moulded closed string. The ground floor is high and plain, suggesting that it may always have had a mercantile use. Much of the second floor ceiling had fallen down and the building was in poor condition at time of survey.

Listing NGR: NZ2505263771