Newcastle Civic Centre: Our panel of experts voted in the region's best building; Our panel of 16 experts voted Newcastle's Civic Centre the best building in the North East in a poll in February.
Byline: Joanne Butcher
Earlier this year, a panel of experts voted the Civic Centre in Newcastle the North East's best building.
Some 16 architects, academics, writers and one TV presenter supplied us with their favourite 10 buildings in February this year.
They suggested 99 separate buildings which ranged from tiny to massive, ancient to modern and stretched from Berwick in the north to Teesside in the south.
Six churches, three pubs, four bridges, two castles and a treehouse were among the buildings suggested, and comments supplied by our experts showed how much they love some of the buildings that we see around us every day.
After totting up the votes, two buildings came out as clear favourites. Newcastle's Civic Centre and Durham Cathedral were both named by eight of our expert panel.
Among those to profess their devotion to Newcastle's 1960s town hall was Andrew Law, lecturer in town planning at Newcastle University.
He said: "As well as its remarkable exteriors, sculptures -- including the sea horses which adorn the tower at the top of the centre -- the interiors of the building are themselves beautifully kitsch. One can walk into luxuriously kitsch rooms of mustard coloured carpets, curtains and wood panelling.
"Other rooms sport red and mauve doors and double-door entrances which are reminiscent of Pinewood Studio sets for the James Bond films. Some of the double door rooms make you feel that you are about to walk into the offices of MI6 where M will be waiting for you in hurried anticipation.
"In other places some of the rooms contain '60s kitsch meeting tables which could host a meeting for a Cold War Cabinet or perhaps even Spectre. But to top it all off, the banqueting chamber in the Civic Centre is perhaps the most remarkable space of all.
"In this open hall one finds a series of pyramid-like alcoves which make you feel that you are on the set of Battlestar Galactica or some such 1980s space opera.
"Whilst I am making references to the kitsch aspects of the building, I do not mean this to be pejorative. It is the kitsch qualities of this remarkable building that make it so unique and a reminder of a time and an aesthetic gone by. As a child growing up watching the Bond movies at Christmas, a walk around the Civic Centre can take you to another time of politics, culture and perhaps even a period of optimism."
Durham Cathedral, a good 900 years older than the civic centre, and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was also on...
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