Central Arcade Newcastle

Even in a city well supplied with buildings of quality, the Central Arcade stands out for its sumptuous ceramic decoration. In plan, it links two sides of a triangular island building with a spur connecting to the third side (see diagram below).  The original building of 1840 was intended to serve as a Corn Exchange but before opening, it was remodelled as a conference hall with a coffee house and subscription newsroom included.  In its third iteration it was converted into a concert hall and art gallery in 1870. By 1897 it had become a vaudeville theatre which 4 years later was destroyed by fire. During rebuilding as shops and offices in 1906 the toffee coloured Central Arcade was cut through the centre to a design by J Oswald and Son. It is listed at Grade II* by Historic England.

Like the opulent, theatrical County Arcade in Leeds (1900) the faience decoration was supplied by Burmantofts of Leeds.  Renaissance motifs with rococo flourishes strike a more sober note on Tyneside than the exuberant floral swags and polychromed ironwork arches to be seen in Leeds. Central Arcade offers a café crème experience with a rich depth of colour in place of the dazzle of Leeds.  At each end, twin-arched entrances are topped by operatic ensembles of ornamental ceramics designed to impress. The shop fronts are restrained and close to the originals, there are no banners or intrusive signage to confront us with the vulgarity of commerce. Mostly specialist shops trade here as in many other arcades, less reliant on passing trade. Footfall is light despite the surrounding streets teeming with pedestrians - most who make there way under the arches are taking a short cut for the sake of protection from the elements and a time saving of about a single minute.  A more economically viable future for such places is difficult to imagine but for now at least the Central Arcade continues to delight the eye with its superb interior.

The immaculate condition of the arcade is a tribute to the owners and city planners who have enabled such sensitive conservation of an architectural treasure that despite a city centre location is unable to attract the prime retail that draws the Leeds public into the County Arcade in great numbers.  Perhaps it’s an act of contrition for permitting the demolition of one of the finest arcades in the country. This happened in the 1960s when the Royal Arcade of 1832 got in the way of an urban motorway project. There’s a low-res image that gives some impression of its magnificence below but what seems to have doomed it was the originally chosen location on the very edge of the city centre where it struggled from the start to attract custom.

Royal Arcade (1832 - 1963)

 

Postcard of the Day No. 107, County Arcade Leeds

This postcard view of the County Arcade in Leeds shows something of what was on sale in the first decade of the arcade’s existence (1900-1910) - there was a Jeweller, Hairdresser, Optician, Confectioner and seller of umbrellas. The opulent architecture is identical to what we see today. On my annual visit to Leeds I always pay my respects to the splendour of the County Arcade. Although the gleaming mahogany shopfronts stock little of interest to me, the sheer visual exuberance of Frank Matcham’s theatrical fantasy always captivates. The repetition of ornamental cast iron ribs decorated with brilliantly coloured Burmantofts faience, Sienna marble pilasters, balustraded balconies, stone ball finials, and wonderful gilded mosaic panels combine to delight the eye. The Victoria Quarter in Leeds has been valued and cherished as a priceless civic asset offering a sense of continuity with the Victorian heyday of a proud industrial city.  Click here to read a previous post from 2008 on this subject.

 

County Arcade

A recent trip to Leeds provided an opportunity to sample the Italianate opulence of this late Victorian temple of commerce. The architect was the prolific designer of theatres, Frank Matcham. A profusion of polished, reflective and decorative chromatic surfaces imparts an emphatically theatrical quality to the arcade. In spirit, it feels like an intimate small scale version of Milan’s great Galleria and an Italian influence can be detected in the provision of three glazed domes, the extensive use of Siena marble and a decorative scheme that employed richly coloured mosaics and ceramic detailing in Burmantofts faience. The whole scheme combines into a dazzling and sumptuous setting in which to shop for luxury items.



Interest in Matcham’s work revived in the 1970’s after decades of neglect and the County Arcade was lovingly restored at great expense to its former glory in the early 1990’s. This involved rebuilding all but 6 of the original mahogany shop fronts. The deep perspectives are enhanced by the overhead repetition of beautifully decorated cast iron ribs and globe lighting pendants descending from ironwork braziers. While it may well be the case that the citizens of Leeds have not created an artistic and intellectual narrative around their arcades as happened in Paris, they can at least take satisfaction in the fact that no surviving passage couvert surpasses the decorative splendour of the County Arcade.

Jackfield Tile Museum

Opulent decorative architectural ceramics define the Victorian architectural legacy – the voracious appetite for complex ornamentation sustained a large industry manufacturing fired clay terracotta and faience products. Companies involved include Doulton, Maw, Burmantofts and Craven Dunnill. In the form of cladding these products both protect and enhance and remain in use to the present. Some of the better known examples have been described here in the past (Michelin Building, Edward Everard in Bristol, Usine Menier and the County Arcade in Leeds) and this is a record of a visit to the Jackfield Tile Museum near Ironbridge that offers a spectacular display of tiling schemes in the Craven Dunnill factory. In the former Drawing Office and Trade Showroom an extraordinary range of mostly Victorian tiles reflects the global span of inspiration derived from Owen Jones’s Grammar of Ornament and the influence of Victorian illustrated books. Elsewhere there are recreations of a 1920s butcher’s shop and an Edwardian pub interior plus examples from London Underground. I have an aversion to museums that insist on guiding the visitor along a didactic track but happily at Jackfield the sheer volume of exhibits allows the visitor to wander at will.