Wills Building

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The Wills Building is a well-known landmark in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was built in the Art Deco style as a cigarette factory in the late 1940s for W.D. & H.O. Wills. It is situated on the Coast Road from Newcastle upon Tyne to the Billy Mill roundabout in North Shields, and overlooks the Wallsend golf course. It was originally built with the office block facing onto the Coast Road with the factory itself forming the wings and rear of the building, making the whole factory complex into a quadrangle.

After the factory closed in the mid 1980s it stood empty for a number of years. During this period it was a sad sight with windows smashed by stone throwing vandals, but as it was the front of the building was a Grade II listed building it could not be demolished. Many local people thought it should be redeveloped and various schemes including conversion into a hotel were put forward but did not bear fruit. The rear and sides part of the factory complex were demolished at around this time. But it was not until the main building was converted to luxury residential apartments by George Wimpey that the building was restored to its former glory.

The Wills Building features on page 286 of the excellent book "Newcastle + Gateshead Architecture And Heritage" by Faulkner, Beacock and Jones ISBN 1 904438 29 6. One feature of the conversion from factory to apartments was the use of blue tinted glass, as can be seen in the above photo, for the windows facing south looking over the Coast Road to reduce the solar gain of the large windows. But this doesn't stop the windowsills from being an excellent spot to grow chili peppers. Another notable feature of the conversion was the excellence of the soundproofing between the flats, although with the windows open the noise from the dual carriageway below is fairly noticeable.

To find the Wills Building you can use Google Maps here or Google Earth here.