Central Arcade, Shopping arcade in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
Central Arcade is a covered shopping passage in Newcastle upon Tyne that runs between Grey Street and Market Street through three glass-roofed corridors. The floors are laid with coloured mosaic tiles, and the walls carry decorative ceramic work that lines the full length of the walkways.
The site was first developed as a commercial building in 1837, and after a major fire, it was rebuilt in its current form as a shopping passage by Oswald and Son in 1906. That reconstruction established the link between the two streets that still exists today.
The Central Arcade is home to a mix of local shops and small independent traders that give the passage its everyday character. For many people in Newcastle, walking through it is a natural part of moving around the city centre rather than a destination in itself.
The passage is easy to reach on foot from the city centre and sits close to several other points of interest, so it fits naturally into a walk around the area. Because it is fully covered, it stays comfortable to walk through in any weather.
The mosaic tiles inside were made by Rust's Vitreous Mosaics, and the Corinthian columns were modelled on the Temple of Vesta in Rome. The choice to base a shopping passage on an ancient temple is unusual for the early 1900s and easy to walk past without noticing.
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