Park House, St. James' Road

Site of Park House. Demolished in 1996. Was listed grade 2. Built in 1730 by James Gibbs for Henry Ellison. Fine red brick mansion in Flemish bond with stone dressings. Three storeys, seven bays. The interior had long been gutted apart from two brick passage arches. The building had been in industrial use, forming part of Clarke Chapman's factory. Sir Charles Parsons developed the design of the first steam turbine in secret in this building. The outside walls of Gateshead Park House were still standing in 1973. The site was later part of the Victoria Engineering Works (in 1882 the company was called Clarke, Chapman and Gurney). In 1884 Mr Gurney resigned. In the same year Charles Algernon Parsons bought himself a junior partnership in the firm. Gateshead Park House had just been purchased by the company for the development of electricity. Parsons took over Clarke Chapman's newly organised electrical department. The company now became Clarke, Chapman, Parsons & Company. On April 23rd 1884 Parsons took out his first patent numbers - 6734 and 6735 - covering the design of steam turbo-dynamos. On November 10th 1891 Park House was gutted by fire. The fine staircase shown in W.H. Knowles' "Vestiges of Newcastle and Gateshead", along with the oak panelling, were destroyed. Park House is shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map as an isolated stately home within its own grounds. By the second edition it has been incorporated within the Sunbeam Lamp Works (HER 4360) which lay just north of the main Victoria Engineering Works buildings.