North Jesmond House

Shown on Ordnance Survey second edition. Built in 1821 for Sir Thomas Burdon, coal owner, Sheriff and then Mayor of Newcastle, and knighted in 1817. The OS first edition 1:2500 map of 1858 suggests that the original building was altered and extended to form a square central block flanked by receding end bays with a short east wing. Between 1864 and 1898 the footprint of the house altered again. The two end bays were extended to project beyond the main elevation and a double height bow and a canted bay window were added to the right and left bays. In 1869 the house was sold to Dr Charles Mitchell although members of the Swan family continued to live there. Henry Frederick Swan, shipbuilder, is recorded between 1874-5. In 1912 the nuns of La Sagesse School took over the house. In 1923 a building for boarders was built (later became the junior school). In 1929 a chapel was added. The school expanded into Jesmond Towers (HER 5724) next door in 1948. La Sagesse School (Filles de la Sagesse/Daughters of Wisdom) had opened in 1906 in a house called 'Summerfield' on Durham Road in Gateshead. In 1907 the school moved to Ferndene on Saltwell Road, Gateshead. Then they moved to North Jesmond House. The glass house was removed and the east range incorporated in a new southwards projecting school and chapel range, added between 1938 and 1941. La Sagesse School vacated the property in 2008. North Jesmond House is built in ashlar sandstone with a decorated upper band. The central section is three storeys with a pitched roof and gable end stacks. To either side are two storey bays with hipped roofs. The central section is the latered shell of the original mansion house described by Dendy in 1904. It has a central entrance with six panel door (upper two panels replaced with glass). It has a Georgian semi-circular fanlight above, partly obscured by a heavy classical stone porch. The porch supports a tall timber first floor bay window with pyramidal roof with dormer window. The windows are of simple rectangular form with modern replacement sash frames. The attic storey has a pair of gabled dormers. The parallel east wing was added in the late 1930s and incorporates a five bay buttressed chapel. The house was extended to the west in the mid C20 to provide single storey classrooms. Interior - the core of the early 19th century mansion-house has a few surviving six panel doors and a couple of fireplaces, cornicing, deep skirting boards, some shutters, four panel doors. The original staircase has been lost and a new one inserted left of the main entrance. Put forward for listing in July 2009 but not added to the list due to being of insufficient architectural quality and being too altered to meet the national criteria for listing. The building has recently [2010] been leased by the BBC for the filming of 'Tracy Beaker'.