2012

NZ2564 : Telephone exchange, Melbourne Street, Newcastle

taken 12 years ago, near to Gateshead, England

Telephone exchange, Melbourne Street, Newcastle
Telephone exchange, Melbourne Street, Newcastle
A fabulous building which should be better known. Pevsner somehow missed it completely. Information is hard to come by, but it must date from the late 1960s or early 1970s. One would like to know the architect.
Update: BT Archives kindly provided some information. The exchange was built in 1969-72 at a cost of £1.2m as part of the GPO/BT microwave system. The design team was Thomas Winterburn (Senior Architect at the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works), W. Freeman (Senior Civil Engineer), and E.W. Hutchinson (Project Engineer). It was, and possibly still is, known as "the Hadrian Trunk Switching Centre. A trunk switching centre is a particular type of exchange dealing with trunk calls (national calls to, or from, or passing through, the local exchange area)". The land was acquired in 1929 for the General Post Office. The first buildings were constructed in 1932 as general stores, garage and workshops. These were demolished in 1966.

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Stephen Richards and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Communications Primary Subject: Building other tags: 1950s-1970s Architecture Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
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Grid Square
NZ2564, 999 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Stephen Richards   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Tuesday, 14 August, 2012   (more nearby)
Submitted
Sunday, 2 August, 2015
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NZ 2557 6432 [10m precision]
WGS84: 54:58.3707N 1:36.1251W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NZ 2563 6430
View Direction
West-northwest (about 292 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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