Gateshead Car Park
Until they built the Angel of the North, Gateshead’s main point of architectural interest was the multi-storey car park in the town centre.
When it was completed in 1964, it was widely regarded as a fine example of forward thinking and modern architecture. However, 40 years on, it seems unthinkable that such a forbidding and ugly collection of concrete was allowed to be built.
Demolition was planned in 2001, however immortalisation in the 1971 film, Get Carter, seems to have given it a stay of execution.
Local opinion is pretty much divided when it comes to the car park - many see it as eyesore which should be pulled down at the earliest convenience, whereas others view it as a building of immense cultural significance.
Posted 6 years, 5 months ago on 23rd September 2003.
Comments
I agree Maria, it’s reached a stage where it’s become an icon of the area, partly through Get Carter and also because it has withstood so many attempts to pull it down. I also don’t think it’ll ever be demolished simply because it will cost too much to pull it down.
Phil · 6 years, 5 months ago
It’s horrible. Tear it down, and replace it with something more aesthetically pleasing - for example a tyre and clutch fitters'.
tony · 6 years, 2 months ago
I am currently undertaking my dissertation at Northumbria university. I have chosen to highlight the buildings of Owen Luder in Gateshead, (My home town) namely The Trident centre aka "Get Carter car park" and the Derwent tower in Dunston. If anyone has done anything similar are has even the slightest bit of useful knowledge on these buildings I would be extreamly grateful if they could pass any information onto me. Thanks very much. dannywhalen@msn.com
danny whalen · www · 6 years ago
The same architect of the ugly Tricorn centre in Portsmouth.
I’m not sure what to make of it... not sure if I can get away with brutalist modern architecture.
Dale Collis · www · 5 years, 10 months ago
I am an art student at Northumbria Uni and take inspiration from architecture around the city. The "Get Carter car park" I think originates from an era of discovering the use of new industrial materials like concrete and steel, this experimentation throughout architecture has given us some of our greatest monuments, and 1960 s design should'nt be neglected! The car park is part of our cultural history, it represents an honesty to form and material and shames the flimsy Barret home style of architecture that is attacking Newcastle and Gateshead at the momment.
rachel pittam · 5 years, 4 months ago
I am currently a student at Northumbria University and studying the car park. i was greatly unsurprised to find out that Owen Luder created the building. the same Architect to build the Trident Shopping Centre. at first i thought it was an eye sore. however, you have to admire the 1960s' peoples foresight. The only problem comes when you compare north of the river with the south. Gateshead have done a good job so far with the fantastic Baltic and Sage. I think this building should be the second thing to be pulled down which Luder designed. Nice one!
Alan Croft · 5 years ago
I don’t know much about this carpark since I am from Canada, but I feel a great loss when historical buildings are torn town. I know that Europe’s cultural history is so much older than Canada’s so it may not make a difference whether or not a relatively modern carpark is torn down, however in Calgary it would be a big deal since we are a young nation!
L. Todorovic · www · 4 years, 10 months ago
I love this structure and it really should be repaired and used again in one way or another, mixed commercial and residential perhaps? North facing appartments would have fantastic views. Few problems though like the sloping floors and low ceilings...
I’m a final year student at Northumbria uni and I’m doing such a project, if anyone has some helpful information I would be very grateful to receive it.
pedrjones@aol.com
Peter Jones · 4 years, 7 months ago
It is truely horrendous, knock it down!
Deborah Connor · 4 years, 7 months ago
they say if you can remeber the 60’s you weren’t there. pretty soon, there’ll be no architecture left for those of us who weren’t there to remember them by. i’m still angry that my beloved Tricorn’s gone - don’t let the same thing happen here.
chris watts · www · 4 years, 7 months ago
My train being slightly delayed on Saturday because of flooding at Tynemouth station, I had plenty of time to look at the panels from engravings of Newcatle and Gateshead by Hilary Paynter, between the two platforms at Monument. Gateshead Car Park stands proud and beautiful on one of the panels and I thought what a shame if it were to be demolished. It presents an outstanding and unique silhouette on the Gateshead skyline, to quote a car park lover friend of mine, and it is a feature in the same way as the Angel of North (also controversial), Baltic or the Sage. I am so glad to read that Peter Jones is making it his project. Personally, I also like the shopping units and if the whole lot was restored imaginatively, well... Let’s save the Gateshead car park!
C. Zardi · 4 years, 7 months ago
It is a very imposing strucure which gives me a thrill every time I see it. It is not the car park’s fault that it has been under used and badly maintained. It is as recognisable and iconic as the Angel of the North. It is important and interesting architecturally. It is a landmark whose silhouette is as instantly recognisable as that of the Angel. It would be a great mistake to demolish it.
Barry Scaum · www · 4 years, 6 months ago
Hey i love the fact people are as enthusiastic about the car park as me! I’m also doing a project at uni where i have to involve the car park. I’m redesigning Gateshead Town centre and don’t know what to do with the car park, me thinks a film museum, with studios, shops, apartments would be very funky, i would live there! If anyone has info that wouls help in my project, this would be appreciated. Please leave it, it’s a landmark and part of Gateshead heritage.
Amy Clark · 4 years, 4 months ago
I’m in two minds about the car park. On one hand, it would be a shame to lose a link to Gateshead’s past, what with the ‘60’s architecture of the building and the fact Michael Caine entered it to film a scene for Get Carter there back in 1971. On the other hand, Gatehead’s shopping centre is appallingly outdated, and the car park is all scuffed on the sides. I went there last week, and some of the lifts aren’t even in use any more! Why didn’t they paint it right up to the top? It badly needs updating, this is the 21st century, and the revitalised Quayside further over-chiefly Gateshead’s creation, not Newcastle’s-puts it to shame. The people of the town deserve better. If the can get a new shopping centre put up, who knows-they might even become a city soon enough! They’re halfway there already!
Tony Dixon · 4 years, 4 months ago
It has to be saved.
It is a piece of modern architectural heritage.
Like it or not, Brutalism wass here, and to me, it (the car park) is an icon of its times.
We have already lost the sister structure to this one (The Tricorn, which was never properly finished and neglegted to the point that it became an eyesore.)
This car park is in far better shape than the Tricorn ever was, and with a bid of modernisation and repair, could remain one of the symbols of Gateshead and Tyneside for a long time,
Chris Mills · 4 years, 4 months ago
I would hate for the multi-storey car park at gateshead to be demolished. The use of beton brut and the sculptural qualities of the car park define it unmistakably as a ‘Luder’.
Owen Luder is one of britian’s most important post-war architects.
Chris Hunter · www · 4 years, 2 months ago
Although I have never seen it in person, I have become quite obsessed with the "Get Carter" Carpark. Maybe the Trident in Portsmouth needed to go - but I think Gateshead would lose a unique piece of architecture if the carpark went. They could fix it up and it would be cheaper than tearing it down and rebuilding something else. To hell with the "European style" proposed Gateshead revival: The carpark just screams "ENGLAND" and should be saved.
To sum up, although I normally despair at the surfeit of depressing, brutalist concrete structures in this country, I will give a pass to the Gateshead car park.
M. E. Manning · www · 4 years, 2 months ago
Just forgot to say in my original post: It’s a f—ing scary-ass building (from what I’ve seen in countless pictures). I heard somebody describe it as looking like a 1950s B-movie alien. Aye to that.
But that only adds to its allure and is all the more reason to keep it. Save the Gateshead Carpark!
M. E. Manning · 4 years, 2 months ago
No way should it be demolished. More brutalist architecture please. Please save it! It beats the crap out of Mr Fosters creation on the other side of the river and that awful ‘Gherkin’. Tastes go in cycles and I bet the ‘Sage’ will be considered an eyesore in the future.
Laury Curran · 4 years, 2 months ago
As a final year Interior Architecture student at Napier in Edinburgh, I have chosen what once I personally thought of as an eyesore to my home town Gateshead, to be part of my Major Project to complete my BDes Hons Degree. This piece of concrete architecture which is situated in the heart of the town centre I feel now has become a major part of Gateshead. For the town centre to be developed in the future would be fantastic, to level the town to Newcastles standards. The town would be lost without it, and if it comes to demolition then the people of Gateshead would feel they have lost part of their past. Keep it, if it’s good enough for Get Carter, it’s good enough for us.
Maria Hutchinson · 6 years, 5 months ago