The architecture of Newcastle Upon Tyne is dominated by Neo-Classicism, but the city was not impervious to the feverishly eclectic climate of the Victorian era. Commercial patrons were keen to explore a range of styles and other Renaissance idioms were soon exploited. One of the more short-lived stylistic affectations to impinge upon Newcastle was that of the French Renaissance, which had a sporadic influence on British architecture in the 1870s and 80s. The style figured prominently in the North East, with both the Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle (begun 1869) and Sunderland Museum and Library (1877-9) invoking the image of the French château. In Newcastle, the Union Club in Westgate Road and the Newcastle and Gateshead Gas Company Offices in Grainger Street West were executed in François Ier style.
The Newcastle and Gateshead Gas Company offices (1884-6) dominate a large open site on Grainger Street West. Designed by John Johnstone, the elevations abound with rounded oriel windows and the roof is clustered with finials, attenuated dormers and the distinctive mansard roofs that were the mainstay of the French Renaissance style. The details, if not the overall form, are derived from the famous château at Chambord, a potent source of influence which the Victorian critic James Fergusson had praised as a particularly graceful example of the style. According to The Builder, ‘The gas company’s offices, to the north of the church, make a very picturesque block, with their high roofs and François I dormers and forest of elaborate finials.’ This redevelopment coincided with the vogue for the French Renaissance style and the commercial buildings that sprang up at the base of Grainger Street West made flamboyant use of French idioms in order to compete for the attention of visitors arriving at Newcastle.
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Please see my related articles on North East history:
http://factoidz.com/wh-knowles-excavator-of-corstopitum-roman-settlement/ http://factoidz.com/englands-most-elegant-railway-station/ http://factoidz.com/charles-mitchell-preeminent-victorian-shipbuilder/
