Customs Warehouse, Newcastle

[Melvin Faust]

Now part demolished after a series of fires, part converted into luxury apartments this bonded warehouse was once one of the most striking derelict buildings in Newcastle. These pics were taken in the mid '90s shortly before the fires that led to the demolition

There was a stairway built through the building from one side to the other. Sadly it was closed off after the fires

 

[Lightbuoy]

Wow -they were HUGE!

Lovely old doors. Some of the tallest Warehouses I've ever seen.

Thanks a lot for sharing

Lb :jimlad:

 

[Melvin Faust]

Thanks

There's a few more photos here, some taken after the demolition had started
http://s672.photobucket.com/albums/vv81/Melvin_Faust/Bonded/

 

[MaBs]

Fantastic pictures! Looked like a really interesting building!

 

[Lightbuoy]

Thanks

There's a few more photos here, some taken after the demolition had started
http://s672.photobucket.com/albums/vv81/Melvin_Faust/Bonded/

Thanks for that link. Would be interested to see what's retained, once Demo' has finished.

Lb :jimlad:

 

[Foxylady]

What a fantastic building...it almost looks like a prison! Those doors are incredible...love the colours.
Great pics, Melvin.

 

[Melvin Faust]

Thanks for all your comments. This website has some pictures of the warehouse, including some recent ones showing what's left and the apartment conversion. There's video footage of one of the fires too!
http://newcastlephotos.blogspot.com/2006/02/hanover-st-bonded-warehouse.html

 

[Scruffyone]

amazing pics mate, like going in a time machine. I'd half expect to have Fagin relieve me of my wallet .
Too bad they aren't there anymore.

 

[TK421]

Hi Melvin,

I remember these well, in the late 80's I was working at the Central station, and took a wander down to them during a lunch break, to my suprise there was a door open and a little shop in one of the ground floor bits, I went in and there was a fella selling old toys, Dinky, Corgi etc!! I made a few visits and it was a really derelict old building, and looking back I kinda wish I had made more of an effort to explore it, oh well another merit for my Phd in hindsight

 

[Urban-Warrior]

What an excellent site.. love the doors really sets the era... shame they pulled them down, thanks for sharing

 

[Trinpaul]

WOW That must have been a brilliant site to visit. The 1st two pictures catch your attention immediately. The 2nd picture looks like you could be 100 years back in time. I love the old doors and the heavy iron fittings

 

[**suzy**]

It looka great, bet it's wicked on the inside as well. Imagine all that history in there

 

[Melvin Faust]

The Customs Warehouse 2009

Thanks again for all your comments. I had to go into Newcastle this morning so I had a brief look around the area to see for myself what it looks like now. Enough of the original building remains to give an impression of its vast size

The conversion work appears to be complete. All those lovely features such as the wooden doors, hatchways, barred windows and those huge numbers are gone I hope this is restoration work on the cobbles and not removal; the stone track way for carts is a rarity on a cobbled street).

This unconverted warehouse opposite still has its original windows

The stairs are still closed

The huge arched doorway now houses a Chinese restaurant!

Those who said my older photos looked like a step back in time are spot on in describing how the site used to feel when you visited. As you rounded the corner into the street and found yourself amongst such Dickensian looking buildings you had a very real sensation that you'd entered some sort of time warp!

 

[Trinpaul]

That is amazing......a "before and after" shot of picture #2. I am assuming that the brick / stone facing has just been cleaned up and is not a faux facade. It looks nice but there's something to be said for the old patina of grime.

 

[scrappy]

wow really like the look of this place before it was burnt out!

 

[dave]

Brilliant pics Melvin i took a few pics of it before the fires too though not as many as you did thinking at the time it would be here forever and i could come back sometime in the future how wrong i was. I did venture inside after the first fire on 3 occasions i think it was and took pics but again not enough if your interested i can dig them out sometime.

 

[Melvin Faust]

Thanks Dave, I'd be very interested to see pictures of the inside of the building before the conversion. When I visited it every street level access point was securely locked and access would have required a long ladder (though how those responsible for the fires got in I'm not sure)

 

[the|td4]

Great pics, I used to call that place the Bastille

I was very suspect of the apparent 'arson' attacks on that place. I suspect foul play on the part of the devlopers although I'm sure there's no way to prove it!

I'm glad it's been turned into something but it's a shame I never got a chance to explore it due to never being able to find a way in. There used to be something else to the... hmm right hand side of that (I think) that was part of an old office block, I visited that once but it was before I knew of 'urbex' as a hobby and just counted it as poking around, so no pics sadly.

Many thanks!

 

[L3AN]

When I was growing up in Newcastle it was one of my favourite buildings.. I remember one fire so many years ago.. man it looks terrible now.

Thanks for sharing those older pics - gorgeous!