Former Cooper's Motor Mart, Westgate Road

Nos 14 - 18, Westgate Road (Cooper's Studio) in Newcastle was originally Cooper's Auction Yard, built in 1897. It was designed to be a depot for horses, carriages, cycles and later, motor cars. It was in effect, an early forerunner of a multi-storey car park! It had an oval-shaped auction arena with gallery, and stabling for horses on ground and first floors and carriage, cycle and car parking on the second floor. Access between floors was by ramps and a carriage lift; a vehicle lift was added in 1925. It was later known as Cooper's Motor Mart, and more recently used by Hertz car rentals, before becoming disused. Later, Ryder Architecture made a sympathetic restoration and in 2009, converted the building to flexible commercial floor space, to ensure the long term future of the building.

The building is Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England. "...of special architectural interest as a fine and virtually complete example of a purpose built multi-storey repository for horses, carriages, cycles and early motor cars of 1897. A rare survival and apparently unparalleled nationally, it is of particular interest as a building which anticipates the coming age of motor transport."