High Street, The Metropole Public House

1896 by William Hope. Vaguely Jacobean. Had a full sized theatre at one end (HER 7875) which has been demolished. This 3 storey public house was originally part of the larger Metropole Theatre building, erected to great fanfare at the end of the 19th century by Weldon Watts. The building was lauded in the press at the time, and hoped to encourage High Street improvements, which were already being called for. Red brick with stone dressings, its steeply pitched welsh slate roof is graced with chimneys to the ridge. Each elevation has large arched windows to ground floor bar area, and 6 over 1 sashes to 1st and 2nd floors with arched heads to the 2nd. A small wooden dormer with pediment sits behind the parapet of the east elevation. The door is in a chamfered corner beneath a large supporting corbel. In an ornate style, with the top storey expressed in large, elaborate gables. The stalls entrance from the building’s time as a cinema is still visible to the East elevation with a cast iron supporting pillar and ‘Scala’ inlaid into the floor. The corner site at the heart of Gateshead coupled with the highly ornamented style creates an imposing presence and expresses the theatrical history of the building. The combination of brick and sandstone is visually warm in comparison to some of the greyer buildings in the vicinity, and the detail attractive, with the large arched windows to the ground floor creating a lively frontage to both elevations. It is clearly of its time in both design and materials – a time no longer well represented in the architecture of this part of Gateshead. MATERIALS Red brick, sandstone, slate ARCHITECT William Hope DATES 1896 LOCAL LIST