history
1929…
The Palace of Arts in Exhibition Park, Newcastle upon Tyne is the last surviving building from the 1929 North East Coast Exhibition. The Exhibition was an ambitious project built for a World’s Fair and its purpose was to celebrate and encourage Craft, Art and Industry at the start of the Great Depression.
“ambitious in its conception a miniature wembley”
Pathé News
The Exhibition was opened on 14th May 1929 by the then Prince of Wales. When it closed on 26th October over 4 million people had attended (with an average of 30 000 visitors per day. Several buildings were constructed in an Art Deco style to the designs of the official architects W and TR Milburn of Sunderland who had substantial experience in the fields of theatre and cinema design. Henry Kelly Limited of Newcastle were the builder.
The main buildings were the Palace of Engineering, the Palace of Industry, the Palace of Arts, the Festival Hall, Garden Club, a stadium of 20,000 capacity and the Women's and Artisans' sections. There was also an Empire Marketing Board Pavilion which was government sponsored and, unlike the other buildings, designed by government appointed architects.
GRADe II LISTED BUILDING
So passes the exhibition...
The exhibition grounds became a public park and the grounds were used in the 1960s for the Tyneside Summer Exhibition. After the exhibition the Palace of Arts was purposed as a science museum and, at one stage, extended to house the Turbinia (currently residing at the Newcastle Discovery Museum).
Still later it became the Newcastle Military Vehicle Museum in 1983 until it was closed in 2006, due to fears about the building's structural safety.
almost a century after the exhibition the palace once again opened its doors…
rebirth
Having remained almost derelict for a decade the building has brought back to life by Rob Cameron and Dave Stone who have a long history in the City within the creative, cultural sector.
The Palace was repurposed as a multi-functional arts and entertainment space that also houses Wylam Brewery one of the regions longest standing independent craft breweries.
“A building of such beauty and cultural significance should never be left to wither”
Rob Cameron & Dave Stone | Directors