Sunderland Echo Building, West Wear Street

The Sunderland Echo was founded in 1873 by Samuel Storey and used offices on Press Lane. By 1876 the Echo had offices on Bridge Street and had built machine and composing rooms on West Wear Street. In 1890 the Sunderland Post was also using the West Wear Street building. The western end of this red brick building has an elaborate façade with sandstone arches and columns and a sandstone plaque with the date 1890, topped with a pinnacle, decorative stonework and stone cladding and attractive arch-headed fenestration. "The Sunderland Echo" is painted onto the west and south elevations. Ground floor was the store room for oil, ink and reels and a machine room and boiler room. Printing probably took place on the first floor. Second floor housed a kitchen and canteen and offices. The original building was extended between 1897 and 1905. In the 1960s a concrete and glass building was added to the eastern end. In 1976 the Echo vacated the building and moved to new premises at Pennywell.