Sunlight Chambers, Newcastle

Sunlight Chambers is a listed residential and commercial building on Bigg Market in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was designed by architects W. & S. Owen in a modified Baroque style[1] and was named after Lever Brothers' Sunlight detergent brand.

Sunlight Chambers
LocationNewcastle upon Tyne
Coordinates54.9713°N 1.6134°W / 54.9713; -1.6134
Built1901-2
Architectural style(s)Baroque
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated30 March 1987
Reference no.1116510
Sunlight Chambers, Newcastle is located in Tyne and Wear
Sunlight Chambers, Newcastle
Location of Sunlight Chambers in Tyne and Wear

History

Lever Brothers was founded in 1895 by brothers William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). Together with chemist William Hough, the brothers created a soap that used glycerin and vegetable oils such as palm oil instead of tallow. The resulting soap was free-lathering. At first, it was named Honey Soap but later became "Sunlight Soap".[2]

In 1901, the brothers hired architects W. & S. Owen to design a building for the Newcastle branch of their company. It was constructed between 1901 and 1902 and was named after Lever Brothers' then-famous soap brand.

Design

The building is constructed in a modified Baroque style using sandstone ashlar. The building features a frieze depicting harvest and industry. Its roof consists of French tiles and its architrave-featuring windows are dormer at roof level.[3]

Sister building in Dublin

At almost the same time, Lever Brothers built a branch in Dublin, which they also called Sunlight Chambers. Although the Irish building was designed in an Italianate style rather than a Baroque style, both Sunlight Chambers feature a characteristic circumferential frieze.

See also

Port Sunlight

References
  1. "SUNLIGHT CHAMBERS, Non Civil Parish - 1116510 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  2. Jeannifer Filly Sumayku, Unilever: Providing Enjoyable and Meaningful Life to Customers[Usurped!][Usurped!], The President Post, 22 March 2010
  3. "SUNLIGHT CHAMBERS, Non Civil Parish - 1116510 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
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