Doric House was small building perched on top of a gents’ toilet on St Nicholas Street, it was made mostly from wood and plaster and opened for business on August 24th 1922.
The opening ceremony was performed by the wife of the managing director of the Robert Sinclair Tobacco Company, Mrs McCulloch, and the building was named after a brand of tobacco called Ogdon’s Doric Mix. Another brand of theirs, Ogdon’s Tabs, gave Geordies their word for cigarettes.
The architect was Robert MacKellar, he’d designed many of Newcastle’s iconic buildings, including the Police Station and the Vermont Hotel, but this was his favourite. “It’s the only thing I’ve built on top of a netty”, he said.
Its last occupant was ‘Syd The Watch’. A professional trombone player by night, Sydney Allsop spent his days mending watches in the shop which he rented from the council. The building by then was in very poor condition, and the aroma from its downstairs neighbour made it health hazard. The photo above shows it being demolished in June 1966.