Benwell Lane, Royal Victoria School for the Blind

House, now school. 1865 by Alfred Waterhouse for Dr. Thomas Hodgkin. Hammer-dressed snecked sandstone with ashlar plinth and dressings; dark slate roof with serrated ridge tiles and stone gable copings. Irregular plan. Tudor-Gothic style. 2 storeys and attics. Range around a courtyard. Extruded 2 storey porch at left of courtyard contains boarded door; loggia now glazed. Scattered fenestration - mullioned and transomed stair window, others sashes. Left projection has niches with low-relief coat of arms. Ashlar-coped ridge chimneys with buttresses and square yellow pots. Interior - geometric-patterned tiled entrance hall and dog-leg stair with pierced balustrade and grip handrail. Stair window glass has coats of arms of Middlesex, Newcastle and Cornwall, initials TH and LAH and date 1865. Gothic cast-iron radiator cover in hall. Hodgkin was a notable local historian. He gave the house to the Royal Victoria Home in 1894 and gave its grounds to the Urban District of Benwell as a public park. LISTED GRADE 2