Newcastle
Fenwick Department Store
Last Updated:
5 Nov 2024
Newcastle
This is a
Department Store
54.975026, -1.612563
Founded in
Current status is
Extant
Designer (if known):
Marshall & Tweedy
Still operating
Fenwick’s. Once clustered in with Bainbridge’s, Shepherd’s, Cook’s, Binns, Howard’s, Beavans, Parrish and Wengers. It’s the solitary survivor of Newcastle’s once thriving department scene. Another long read anyone?
J J Fenwick first appeared on this site as a draper and ladies tailor, though also provided other services & goods like funeral arrangements, sunshades and mantle making. He was originally the manager and buyer for Messrs. Brag & Co, another firm who specialised in draperies and ladies clothing on Pilgrim Street. His skills and experience clearly led his aspirations to open his own store - originally a doctors house.
The success of the store early on is clear. There are constant notices through the 1880s for new dressmakers with a “wage no object to skilled workers”.
As you can see in the historic photos below from 1885, 1890s, the store grew in size fairly rapidly. In fact, it only took a decade for the firm to open on Bond Street in London and swallow up adjacent plots at the Newcastle site. In 1893 a full handmade facsimile of the Bayeux Tapestry was exhibited at the store. The Archbishop of Canterbury made a fleeting visit before leaving for Chollerford to visit Chester’s Fort.
From 1897, the firm became a PLC, further highlighting its growth.
The white stone facade we see today dates from 1913, incorporating the old doctors house as well as the old Oak Leaf pub, a billiards room and two more shops surrounding. The new building gave it a frontage of 116ft and five storeys high. The French Renaissance frontage combined with Italian marble floors and solid mahogany furnishings to make for an experience few will have encountered. There was even a fountain inside with a life sized figure imported from Italy, replicating one found at Pompeii. This is also when the traditional Christmas bazaar opened, and at this stage the firm employed 500 people.
Marshall and Tweedy led the designs for this megastore, who were also responsible for the Portland Terrace Bus Depot, 107-109 Pilgrim Street and the Whitley Bay Playhouse.
Listing Description (if available)
Both Ordnance Surveys here depict the Fenwick operation before and after their large scale expansion of 1913 just above Brunswick Place. The 1890s plan however still features the Oak Leak, a pub down the side street which was knocked down alongside the early 19th century terrace on Brunswick Place. There's a ton of other pubs shown now extinct too - the Star Hotel, the Ord Arms and the Northumberland Arms in its historic iteration. Interestingly there's two separate cement works, which both will certainly have popped up during the late 19th century boom in the city.
The 1947 map features even greater expansion, developing the curious cluster of buildings between Blackett Place and Eldon Square. This entirely enveloped the Brunswick Place Methodist Church which is why it feels so tightly packed in these days. Eldon Square still remains in its entirety until the 60s and 70s alongside the historic lanes of High Friar Street and Sidgate Street - all consumed by the Eldon Square development. You'll notice the huge complex network of tramway lines, which was by this time being replaced in favour of trolleybuses.
The 1913 Marshall & Tweedy facade in September 2024
The Fenwick store in 1885, a few years after opening. The full frontage was designed especially for the draperies after hosting a doctors house. Source: Newcastle Libraries
Fenwick's during the Christmas of 1931. The windows appear to be boarded up for the big reveal. Source: Newcastle Libraries