1 to 18 Greens Place

The flats at numbers 1 to 18 Greens Place are over 70 years old. They are the oldest purpose built block of flats in the town and also the only 1930s block.
The flats were built on the site of the old Green's Sailor Boys Institution. This was a home that took in boys from disadvantaged backgrounds and prepared them to be sent to the Wellesley Training ship that was moored on the Tyne at North Shields.
The Wellesley was an old ship of the line, originally called the Boscawen. This was donated by the Admiralty in 1873 and took in boys from the ages of twelve to sixteen where they were given training to suit them for a life at sea. The boys at the Green's Home would have been below the age of twelve. The Wellesley Ship was destroyed by fire in 1914 and, after a short spell in Tynemouth, the training facility moved to a shore establishment in Blyth. As a consequence there was no further need for the Green's Home. For a while the building was used as a working men's hostel but it eventually succumbed to the years and had to be demolished.
In 1936 an agreement was made between the "Mayor Aldermen and Burgesses of the County Borough of South Shields" and the "North Eastern Housing Association Limited" (now Home Group Limited) to "Erect upon the Mile End Road site at South Shields buildings comprising eighteen dwellings being flats of the type specified in plans and specifications". These were to be "available for the accommodation of persons of the working classes". Building took some time and the first people did not move in to the flats until 1938. They still have much of their original look and the influence of the 1930s Art Deco style can be seen in the shape of their windows and balconies. LOCAL LIST