Location 2: The Exchange Building
Returning back onto High Street East, we are looking at one of the most impressive buildings that still stand in the area.
The Exchange Buildings was built in 1814, to a design by John Stokoe of Newcastle upon Tyne, for a fee of £8000; this money was raised by subscriptions of £50 shares. The building would become the administrative, commercial and cultural centre for the rapidly developing port of Sunderland; the first Town Hall, a classical design built in stone, with a stucco façade and a clock turret built of iron and timber. This fine commercial space would host many important social events, including a banquet in 1827 by the Marquis of Londonderry in honour of the Duke of Wellington. (A description of this event can be read in publication Garbut the 1817).
An outbreak of cholera in the east end of Sunderland in the 1830's marked the beginning of the decline of the building's prominence, as the focus of the city centre moved westwards. Towards the end of the 19th century the building became the Mission to Seamen's, and during the early 20th Century the building was used by the Hebron Tabernacle Church, but a gradual decline in use during the post-war years saw the Grade II listed building slide into dereliction, threatening its survival.
Preceding the Exchange Building stood the Half Moon Inn. This building was converted from a private residence in the 18th Century. In 1903 it was rebuilt with a frontage of tiles which were so admired by an American visitor that before the building was demolished the tiles were removed and shipped to America. During the time it stood derelict a boy searching for pigeon’s eggs, slipped and was impaled on railings sited around the building.
Next to the Exchange stands the Eagle Building. There was on this site in 1674 an inn named the Three Crowns, later named the Exchange Tavern, after which it became the Royal Exchange (1850s). During this time the landlord Mr. Metcalfe acquired the adjoining building (Corn Exchange Chapel) for the holding of musical entertainment, which ended in 1863. The two buildings were taken over by Mr. Newbiggin, who converted them into the Eagle Tavern and the Eagle Tobacco Factory. At the apex of the frontage stood a Golden Eagle 6ft 6ins in height, carved from pine. A company by the name of Fairgrieves acquired the building in 1913 and not long after this the Eagle Tavern closed. Fairgrieves Mouldings occupied the building into the 1990’s. They manufactured Bakelite products and were, indeed, one of the first Bakelite factories in England.
Looking across from the Exchange Building you will see the Salvation Army Hostel on the corner of Cork Street (formerly George Street) and this is the second Hostel to occupy this site, which previously was the site of the original Havelock House. In former times this stretch of the south side of the street was known as High Justice Trees, when shops occupied this site a level promenade was built to offset the slope of the street making shopping easier.
You can also see Bodlewell House built in 1937 and named High Garth. In 1996 the name was changed when the ground floor was converted into offices for Home Housing Association and East End Welfare Rights Service, recently developed into private accommodation. In previous years this area was the site of the Saddle Inn and the Shakespeare Tavern.
Bodlewell House at the corner of High Street and Drury Lane was the house in which Clarkson Stanfield, the renowned maritime artist, seaman, landscape, scene painter and Royal Academician was born. Clarkson Stansfield’s father, James Fields Stanfield (1749-1824), was a seaman, actor and campaigner for the abolition of the slave trade.
In 1840 on the now unoccupied site next to the Exchange Building, a building was erected to accommodate Horner’s Commercial hotel. The British Empire, a coaching inn, was to occupy a part of this building at a later date.
However, on the opposite side of High Street, on the site now occupied by a block of flats, there used to stand the Gaiety Theatre; beloved by all East End Cinemagoers.
During the Second World War, buildings on the East side along with the standpipe of the water pump, were destroyed by an enemy bomb. This is now occupied by modern flats that back onto the fish quay.
