55? North, Pilgrim Street, NE1

Image: © Mike Quinn Taken: 22 Apr 2015

Formerly known as Swan House, this shining light in the pantheon of Newcastle’s Masterpieces of Modern Architecture https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=109769006 was built in 1963-1969 and refurbished in 2004. It occupies a prominent position in Newcastle City Centre above a roundabout that carries a busy road system through the city. In 2002 the Newcastle Evening Chronicle ran a story about the transformation of what they describe as a "1960s concrete monstrosity" into 165 executive flats, shops, bars and restaurants in a Continental-style plaza called 55° North - the building thereby apparently shedding its monstrosity status along with its original name. The article added that "The former BT complex (that) towers above the busy Pilgrim Street traffic roundabout ... was voted one of the biggest eyesores on Tyneside by Chronicle readers in our Carbuncle Awards" http://manchesterhistory.net/architecture/1960/swanhouse.html . Another view of the building, along with further info about it, is shown in Image (photographed by Andrew Curtis). Several archive photos of Dobson's Royal Arcade, that was demolished in the 1960s to allow the construction of the Central Motorway and Swan House, together with further info, are at http://www.timmonet.co.uk/html/body_swan_house.htm .

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