In 1998 Northumberland Street in Newcastle was pedestrianised. Before the bypass was built, the street was on the route of the A1.

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The Angel of the North, by internationally renowned sculptor Sir Antony Gormley, was completed on the 16th of February 1998. The contemporary sculpture was made with 200 tonnes of steel, with a wingspan of 54 metres (177 ft) across. It stands on a hill on the southern edge of Low Fell, and can be seen from the A1 and A167 roads into Tyneside, and the East Coast Main Line rail route. The Angel was built on the site of a former colliery pithead baths. Funded by the National Lottery work began in 1994.

The Rutherford Fountain in the Bigg Market was unveiled following it's restoration on the 21st of April 1998. The red sandstone monument, originally built in 1894, had become weathered required renovation. A decision was made not to reconnect the water supply to the renovated fountain for health and safety reasons. The fountain bears the message 'water is best', the message of the anti-alcohol Band of Hope Union which commissioned the fountain in 1890 in memory of John Rutherford.

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The National Glass Centre in Sunderland was officially opened by Prince Charles on the 23rd of October 1998. Sunderland has a long history of glass making and had the first stained glass in Britain (in 674AD, the city's patron saint, Benedict Biscop, commissioned French glaziers to make a stained glass window for the new Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory). The glass-making industry in Sunderland boomed in the 18th century, driven by an abundance of cheap coal and high-quality imported sand. 

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