12 Blandford Square (Fired Earth)

Handsome three storey brick building with curved-headed windows with sandstone keystones. The main façade has a raised pediment surmounted with a sandstone ball finial. There are sandstone obelisk finials to either side. There is a sandstone cornice. Presumably a former Co-operative building like nearby Blandford House (HER 5170). The co-op had a two-storey stable on Blandford Square. The Fired Earth showroom has support columns and drainage channels inside. The original proposed plan of a stable building on this site held by Tyne and Wear Archives is stamped as rejected, so presumably was not built. The plan shows a pitched roof and the current building has a flat roof. The two storey stable would have had horse ramps and a feed loft. The existing building looks like a warehouse with a grand façade.