Gateshead, St. James' Road, Park House

HER Number:
5094

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Gateshead, St. James' Road, Park House

Place:
Gateshead

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE

Class:
Domestic

Site Type: Broad:
Dwelling

Site Type: Specific:
House

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C18

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Site of Park House. Demolished in 1996. Was listed grade 2. Built in 1730 by James Gibbs for Henry Ellison. Fine red brick mansion in Flemish bond with stone dressings. Three storeys, seven bays. The interior had long been gutted apart from two brick passage arches. The building had been in industrial use, forming part of Clarke Chapman's factory. Sir Charles Parsons developed the design of the first steam turbine in secret in this building. The outside walls of Gateshead Park House were still standing in 1973. The site was later part of the Victoria Engineering Works (in 1882 the company was called Clarke, Chapman and Gurney). In 1884 Mr Gurney resigned. In the same year Charles Algernon Parsons bought himself a junior partnership in the firm. Gateshead Park House had just been purchased by the company for the development of electricity. Parsons took over Clarke Chapman's newly organised electrical department. The company now became Clarke, Chapman, Parsons & Company. On April 23rd 1884 Parsons took out his first patent numbers - 6734 and 6735 - covering the design of steam turbo-dynamos. On November 10th 1891 Park House was gutted by fire. The fine staircase shown in W.H. Knowles' "Vestiges of Newcastle and Gateshead", along with the oak panelling, were destroyed. Park House is shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map as an isolated stately home within its own grounds. By the second edition it has been incorporated within the Sunbeam Lamp Works (HER 4360) which lay just north of the main Victoria Engineering Works buildings.

Easting:
2664

Northing:
6293

Grid Reference:
NZ26646293

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 5094 >> Dept. of National Heritage, of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, Aug-36 K. Pearson, 1973, A History of Clark Chapman Co Ltd, Gateshead Unpublished thesis, Hebburn Technical College W. H. Knowles & J. R. Boyce, 1890, Vestiges of Old Newcastle and Gateshead, p 248-249 1st edition Ordnance Survey map, 1867 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map, 1898 P. Meadows & E. Waterson, 1993, Lost Houses of County Durham, pp 30-31; Grace McCombie, 2009, Newcastle and Gateshead - Pevsner Architectural Guide, p. 13; Alan Williams Archaeology, 2009, Former Freight Depot, Gateshead - Archaeological Assessment