Tynemouth Watch House

This is a watch house built in 1886-7 for the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade by C.T. Gomoszynski, the Borough Engineer. The building was originally called the Tynemouth Watch Club House. It was constructed as the headquarters for the Life Brigade, which was founded in 1864, and was the first of its kind in the country. Its purpose was to save lives by using rocket-borne lines to reach shipwrecks, particularly in the area of the Black Midden rocks in the Tyne, which were responsible for many fatalities. The building is listed primarily for its historical significance.

The watch house is constructed with weatherboarding on a painted rendered plinth. It has a Welsh slate roof with wood finials and a ventilator. The design is an H-plan, consisting of a one-storey, six-bay centre block flanked by a three-storey left tower and a two-storey right tower, both with canted bays. Most windows are sashes with late 19th-century glazing bars, with the exception of those on the top floor of the three-storey tower. The rear elevation features a four-panelled door in the inner return of a three-bay loggia, along with sliding storm shutters to three windows in the loggia, two windows in the left wing, and one window in the right. A painted brick chimney stack is located on the right return.