Newcastle, Northumberland Road, The White City (Hippodrome)

HER Number:
7697

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle, Northumberland Road, The White City (Hippodrome)

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE

Class:
Recreational

Site Type: Broad:
Sports Building

Site Type: Specific:
Skating Rink

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Built by Gosforth builder George W. Parkinson to designs by Joseph H Morton & Son in 1909, with an imposing dome and ornate stucco façade, as a skating rink. The name was inspired by London's White City exhibition of 1908. The first phase of roller skating was known as 'rincomania'. The four-wheeled skate had been invented in America in 1863. From February to August 1912 the building was the Dreamland Ballroom de Luxe. Then it was taken over by the Variety Theatres Controlling Company and partially rebuilt. Sunderland architects W. and T.R. Milburn removed the dome and renamed the building the Hippodrome. It held 2703 people. It was opened by the Lord Mayor on 23 November 1912 as a variety theatre which also had a cinema licence. It closed on 20 May 1933.

Easting:
2500

Northing:
6473

Grid Reference:
NZ25006473

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Geoff Phillips, 1990, Newcastle Past and Present, p 64; Frank Manders, 1995, Bygone Central Newcastle 1; Vanessa Histon, 2008, Keys to the City; Frank Manders, 1991, Cinemas of Newcastle, page 82; Lynn Pearson, 2010, Played in Tyne and Wear- Charting the heritage of people at play, p 18