Tyne and Wear HER(6361): Benwell, Benwell Lane, Royal Victoria School for the Blind - Details
6361
Newcastle
Benwell, Benwell Lane, Royal Victoria School for the Blind
Benwell
NZ26SW
Domestic
Dwelling
House
Early Modern
C19
Extant Building
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
2125
6427
NZ21256427
Department of National Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest 11/98; M. Hopes Dodds, 1930, Northumberland County History, p 234; I Farrier, 2015, Title Deeds to Benwell Dene House - West Newcastle Picture History Collection