Gallowgate, Tyne Brewery office building

Offices for the newly merged Newcastle Breweries and Scottish Brewers (Scottish and Newcastle) built between 1964 and 1965 to designs by brewery architect C.P. Wakefield-Brand. The building was formally opened on 2 December 1965 by Sir William McEwan Younger Bt. D.S.O. The ground floor housed the main entrances, foyer, reception and stores. Above this were offices to either side of a curved spinal corridor, formed of demountable wood partitions, fixed partitions and glazed screens. At either end of the spinal corridor there are service blocks comprising lifts, stairs and cloakrooms. The board room, director's suite and flat occupied the 9th floor. There was a caretaker's flat on the top (11th) floor. In 2005 the brewery closed and has since been demolished. This office block is the only survivor of the complex and is being converted into a hotel (2010). The building has 11 storeys plus basement. It has a reinforced concrete frame between columns with metal windows over buff brickwork panels. The main elevations are supported on sculptured piloti columns and beams clad in plain white mosaic. There is a balcony at 10th floor level formed of columns faced in black granite slabs. The end elevations are clad in brickwork panels with a central vertical window slot. In plan the building has a gently curved, concave front elevation. To either side of the main entrance are black marble slabs which record the foundation and opening dates. Fixtures and fittings have mostly been removed. In the service blocks a few original toilet doors with metal plates survive. Both original stairs with terrazzo flooring survives. The upper two floors retain some later wooden cupboards and a caretaker's flat. Pevsner describes the building as 'more interesting than most of its kind because it curves gently'.