If you could hand-pick an individual to put together a book of this nature, it would be difficult to come up with a better suggestion than Mr Steve Ellwood. Sure, there may be better qualified architectural experts out there (or maybe not?), and equally excellent photographers - though I very much doubt there is a more knowledgeable local around to tackle the text itself.
You see, Ellwood is something of an obsessive when it comes to Newcastle. I'm guessing that architecture is his first love - whether it be the grand buildings and their features or the lesser-known structures and their minor details, Steve's your man. Readers of this blog will be aware that he is always popping up on Twitter and history forums with some obscure fact or observation - and, as I have already told you, he is a keen photographer, too. His general knowledge of Newcastle's history is considerable - so much so, in fact, that he is also a City Guide!
There will, of course, be those of you who will disagree with his choice of '50 Buildings'. But remember that Newcastle has an astonishing 4,000+ listed buildings, so the task was nigh on impossible. And what the author has tried to do, clearly, is present us with a nice cross-section of old and new, well-known and lesser known - and, indeed, nice and not-so-nice! Though published as recently as 2016, one of the buildings, the Dex Garage, New Bridge Street, has, in fact, already disappeared!
The individual entries are nicely balanced, with a decent dose of technical detail (but not too much) to accompany the layman-friendly text. The 50 total could easily have been 'upped' to two, three or even five hundred, such is the depth of the city's architectural riches. So, er, let's have another volume or three, Steve!
Newcastle in 50 Buildings, by Steve Ellwood, published by Amberley Books, 2016. Can usually be found on Amazon.
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