The Royal Arcade
The Royal Arcade was designed by John Dobson for the developer Richard Grainger and was based on the fashionable Lowther Arcade in London (designed by Witherdon Young) which had opened in 1830. Grainger had first offered the site on Pilgrim Street to the town council in 1830 for a new covered corn market, designed by Dobson. When it was rejected, Grainger decided to use the site for Newcastle’s first shopping arcade. The building of the Royal Arcade took less than a year, beginning in June 1831 and finishing in May 1832. The arcade was an elegant, neo-classical style building with daytime lighting provided through eight skylights, set in domes. It contained sixteen shops, banks, offices, the Post Office, Government offices, auction rooms, and a steam and vapour bath. The shop tenants included a furrier, a confectioner, a glass and china dealer and a portrait painter.
Suggested Further Reading
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