Military Vehicle Museum

NZ 26 NW NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE CLAREMONT RD 8/550 A Military Vehicle Museum (former Palace of Arts) II Exhibition building. Built 1928-9. Steel framed with concrete cladding. Single storey. 15 bays by 19 bays. The main facade has a projecting central portico with 10 base-less and capital-less square fluted columns, raised on a 7 step base, with a 3 step flat parapet which continues around the whole building. Either side are 3 bay blind wings with 3 blind windows each. The building is surmounted by a central octagonal cupola, topped by a shallow octagonal dome. The side facades are articulated with 20 base-less and capital-less fluted pilasters. Interior has a central domed space and linking galleries all round, divided by wooden panelled walls with Art Deco style doorways between. This building was built as the Palace of Arts for the North East Coast Exhibition, opened by the Prince of Wales on 14 May 1929. After the exhibition closed on 26 October 1929 the building was purchased by Newcastle upon Tyne Corporation for the Museum of Science and Engineering opened in 1934. It now houses the Military Vehicles Museum, it is the only surviving structure from the 1929 North East Coast Exhibition.

Listing NGR: NZ2464265824