Barras Bridge, Hancock Museum

This building was listed grade II* in 1971 with the following description:
'Museum.1878 by John Wardle for the Newcastle Natural History Society. Sandstone ashlar with plinth; roof not visible. Greek Revival style. 2 storeys, 4:1:5:1:4 bays. One-bay projections flank wide stone steps up to terrace with 5 double doors and overlights. Plain stone reveals to doors and to wood mullioned-and- transomed windows in end bays and on first floor; ground floor of projections has blind panels. Square Doric attached columns define sections. Entablature and parapet with raised panels over projecting wings and over central low relief THE HANCOCK MUSEUM on fascia. Square piers flanking lowest steps have cast iron urn-shaped supports to square gas lamps, now disused.'
McCombie dates it to 1880-4. Pevsner adds that "it is unbelievably Dobsonian for that date, with Dobson's beautiful ashlar, his Doric pilasters and heavy attic, and even the sans-serif capital letters of the pre-Victorian nineteenth century". The museum was named after renowned local naturalists John (d.1890) and Albany Hancock. Lord Armstrong made a generous contribution to its cost, and his statue now stands outside it (HER 5179). The platform in front of the museum is made up of 3m long slabs of sandstone brought from Haydon Bridge by train. Extended and converted into the Great North Museum in 2008-9.