Queen Victoria’s train passed over the High Level Bridge a few days after the Great Fire of 1854 and she was horrified by what she saw below her on the Quayside. The buildings from Sandhill to the Custom House had been largely reduced to rubble and the blaze had killed 53 people. She contributed £100 to the disaster fund and Newcastle Corporation made a promise to her that the area would be rebuilt.
This was entrusted to a property developer called Ralph Walters, who brought the architect William Bonython Moffatt up from London to design one of the UK’s largest office blocks on part of the site. Moffatt had formerly been in partnership with Sir George Gilbert Scott, whose best-known work is the magnificent Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station. This was built after the pair had parted company because of massive debts racked up by Moffatt.
Exchange Buildings was intended to house the numerous shipping companies, importers and exporters and coal merchants whose premises had been destroyed by the Great Fire. It would also contain a first class hotel, where deals could be struck and clients entertained in comfort and style. Ralph Walters exchanged contracts with the Corporation on June 24th 1858 and the following morning he was on the site at 6am to watch the foundations being dug, accompanied by Moffatt.
William Bonython Moffatt wasn’t a likeable man, he’s described as being ugly and covered in hair, and had a flashy lifestyle but always seemed short of cash. His flamboyant designs for this new building required 120 stonemasons, who weren’t happy with what he paid them; numerous strikes slowed down the work and pushed back the completion date. Moffatt quit as the architect in October 1859 after a disagreement with Ralph Walters, he returned to London where he was promptly sent to prison for six months because of a £1,000 debt.
The building was completed under the supervision of the Clerk of Works, James Roberts, and opened for business in the summer of 1861 when the first tenants moved in, but it didn’t have a name until the following year. Newcastle Corporation discussed this at length and dismissed several suggestions. Local newspapers dubbed it the “Quayside Phoenix” because it had risen from a fire, but in May 1862 a decision was reached to call it Exchange Buildings.
The hotel opened in Exchange Buildings on July 4th 1864. The main entrance was on the Quayside and led into a bar, which in turn led into a huge dining room that occupied the centre of the building. It was named the Queen’s Hotel, so that when Victoria crossed the High Level Bridge on her way to and from Balmoral, she could look down on the Quayside and see that Newcastle Corporation had kept their promise to her.
The Queen’s Hotel closed in 1888 but Exchange Buildings is still on the Quayside.