Magnet House & Andrews House, Gallowgate

HER Number:
8695

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Magnet House & Andrews House, Gallowgate

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SW

Class:
Commercial

Site Type: Broad:
Commercial Office

Site Type: Specific:
Commercial Office

General Period:
20TH CENTURY

Specific Period:
Mid 20th Century 1933 to 1966

Form of Evidence:
Extant Building

Description:
This building was listed Grade II in 1992 with the following description: 'Offices and shops. c1930. Designed for the General Electric Company. Steel frame clad with brick and Portland stone ashlar. Modern style. Slightly curved facade, 6 storeys and 21 windows. Ground floor ashlar clad, with central vehicular access with a pair of original steel gates, inscribed M.H. and A.H. Eitherside are entrances to upper floor offices, both with double panel doors and name plates above inscribed Magnet House and Andrews House, above overlights that to the right with built-in lantern. Above each doorway a projecting canopy with sloping bracket. Eitherside 2 shops, those to the right with original fascia board, only the coffee lounge retains its original front. Beyond to the left: a further doorway. Above, first floor ashlar clad, with 5 central windows in a single opening with unusual fluted mullions between, and eitherside 8 slightly taller metal framed windows. The next 3 floors are clad in brick with an ashlar cornice. The second and third floor windows are linked vertically with panels between, the central 3 windows have a single ashlar fluted surround, and set between the windows are 3 Art Deco style relief panels with painted symbolic figures. Eitherside 9 windows, those at either ends slightly narrower, with alternating Art Deco style relief panels and moulded ashlar panels. Fourth floor has 3 central windows in a single opening with unusual fluted mullions between, and eitherside 9 metal framed windows, those at either ends slightly narrower. Fifth floor ashlar clad, set back behind ashlar parapet, with central windows flanked by 9 wider metal framed windows eitherside.' {1} The building has 13 panels on its façade with art deco-style reliefs of men harnessing the power of electricity. They show a cloaked figure, a figure and a cog, a figure against some rocks and a figure and the sun. Pevsner says there are similar panels in Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's Battersea Power Station built 1932-4 {2}. Building converted around 2002 to student flats called Magnet Court with a new top storey and rear wings.

Easting:
424552

Northing:
564471

Grid Reference:
NZ424552564471

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Department of National Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural and Historic Interest, 1833-/20/10003; Paul Usherwood, Jeremy Beach and Catherine Morris, 2000, Public Sculpture of North-East England, p 115; Pevsner, 1992, Northumberland, p. 461; Grace McCombie, 2009, Newcastle and Gateshead - Pevsner Architectural Guide, p 171; https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1024722