Carliol House

Fine example of an interwar regional electricity central offices and control room for NESCO (Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Company), important historically as a regional model for the national grid. The building façade in Portland stone has some good classical detailing and bears a plaque commemorating J W Swan's pioneering contribution to the industry {1}. Very fine inter-war building (1927) by Tait, Burnet and Lorne. Included electrically heated boilers for central heating, high speed electric lifts and a central vacuum plant for cleaning the building. Merz and McLellan, consulting engineers, were accomodated in the same block. 1924-8 by LJ Couves and Partners and Burnet, Tait and Lorne {McCombie 2009, 34}. Steel frame, Portland stone cladding. A strong composition with a low-domed corner turret incorporating showroom entrances. Bronze plaque by Richard A. Ray, 1931, to Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, inventor of the electric incandescent lamp and a pioneer in the science of photography. The long, sleek Market Street front curves downhill. At its centre a Greek-derived office entrance of granite with fat Doric columns of grey fossil-flecked limestone. In 2007 Gifford carried out an appraisal of the building. Internally, it was noted that the main vestibule and hall were furnished with original floorings and light fittings, together with the main and east staircases. The majority of the internal doors feature original inlay or scoring work while specialised marbling paintwork survives on the doorframes and skirting boards of the second floor together with Art Deco hanging lamps. The fittings of the control room of the North Eastern Electric Supply Co. still survive in the western end of the building, which has remained largely unchanged.