Chapman's Plummer House Demolition

I love demolitions, me! You would think so, given the number of posts and photos I publish here, or perhaps that it is just the sheer number of buildings that have been demolished in recent years in Newcastle City Centre and Gateshead.  But there is something fascinating about watching the progress of a building being demolished - seeing a building being ripped apart by the pincer movements of a giant set of pliers, on the outstretched arm of a Thomson's of Prudhoe crane (or rather, the  Komatsu 450 high reach excavator machine with a grab attachment).

There is the thrill of destruction, the dramatic transformation of a building and its surroundings.  It is the odd perspective you get from peering into the innards of a building, the fabric and make up of a building; and the evidence of previous lives - a bit like seeing the personal effects of left behind in deserted towns such as the Belorussian town of Pripyat following the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986.  And then, post-demolition, there is the emptiness, the gap, new views of the surrounding buildings are revealed; the landscape is changed, sight lines and perspectives are altered.

The latest one to have grabbed my attention is the part-demolition of Plummer House, the former Chapman's furniture store on the corner of Market Street, Carliol Square and John Dobson Street. Plummer House was built in 1910, and was home to Tilley's dance hall before Chapman's Furniture Store moved here from its Prudhoe Street location (where Prudhoe Chare is now - up the side of Marksies on Northumberland Street). Chapman's closed in 2012, and the building is to be converted into student flats.  Part of the building is listed (Market Street block) to it is the rear extension to the building on Carliol Square which is getting demolished.