Scotswood Road, R.H Patterson's Ford Garage

Built 1962-4. Designed by Ryder and Yates. This innovative building had two levels (workshops below, showroom above) because the site was steeply sloping. There was a two-storey façade to Scotswood Road. The frontage was carried on three columns. This provided a flexible use of floor space. There were flag panels in the main façade. A chimney flue at the front of the showroom was clad on all four sides by the Ford logo. The projecting entrance lobby was covered in the Ford logo printed on Formica panels. The blank south elevation displayed the company name in huge letters to railway passengers. The car showroom had an uninterupted glass wall. The whole interior back wall was covered in a mural in black, grey and white by Peter Yates using logos from the range of Ford cars (Cortina, Lotus, Zephyr etc). The upper main structure consisted of a steel space frame, a relatively new technology. A tapered box was clad on top, with a ceiling beneath, supported by stanchions in the office walls. The flat roof of the offices was carried by steel beams. Castella beams spanned the north bay supported by lattice girders. The profile of the gables echoed the tapering shape of the roof trusses. The imaginative design was largely the inspiration of Keszek Kubik, a Polish Engineer who joined Ryder and Yates in 1963. The building is still a Ford dealership under the original owners, but has been over-clad in aluminium panels. Peter Yate's murals have been destroyed.