About

The first science museum outside of London opened its doors in Newcastle on 20 July 1934. 

The Municipal Museum of Science and Industry was inspired by the North East Coast Exhibition, a world fair held on the Town Moor in Newcastle between May and October 1929. 

The North East Coast Exhibition was designed to show the rest of the country, and perhaps even the world, the region's potential for innovation and creativity. Despite the economic depression which clouded the late 1920s and 1930s, over four million visitors attended. This gave strength to the argument for a permanent museum to showcase the region's scientific and industrial excellence, past and present. 

Dr Wilfred Hall, an Electrical Engineer, came up with the idea and enlisted the help of prominent industrial figures such as Sir Charles Parsons, Professor Granville Poole, the North East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, and Newcastle City Council. Planning for the museum took three years and local firms Vickers-Armstrongs and Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company made annual financial contributions in the years leading up to its opening. When it finally opened, the museum was housed in one of the pavilion buildings built for the North East Coast Exhibition, which today is Wylam Brewery. 

The museum's first curator was Captain Ernest William Swan. Swan was born in Newcastle in 1883 and was the son of naval architect, Henry Frederick Swan and the nephew of the shipbuilder CS Swan, founder of Swan Hunters, a prominent Tyneside shipbuilding company. By 1901, Swan was the manager of the gun mounting department of Armstrong Whitworth and Co. He was responsible for the installation of armaments in British and foreign battleships. In 1906, he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and fought in both the First and Second World Wars. 

Captain Swan had offered his services to the museum's founders, and he became the Honorary Curator of the Newcastle Museum of Science and Engineering from 1934 until his death in 1948. He was tasked with curating the museum's collection and had a keen interest in the collection being of interest to everyone and providing 'great educational value to young people and students'.

A 1934 article from the Sunday Sun listed some of the key objects on display at the museum: 

'At the entrance nearby stands the first field gun built by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. Nearby is a model of the Tyne by the Swing Bridge. By turning the handle, the bridge can be opened and closed. Workmen are now busy on a huge working model of a power station, part of the great Grid system. This is being done by the North Eastern Electric Supply Company. There are countless models of ships, among them the first iron screw collier to be built on the Tyne'.

The collection grew over the next forty years with the addition of Billy, one of the first locomotives built by George Stephenson at Killingworth Colliery (now on display at Stephenson Steam Railway) and Turbinia, once the world's fastest ship, which went on public display in 1961, in a specially constructed extension named 'Turbinia Hall'. 

By the 1970s, it became clear that the building was unfit for purpose and Tyne & Wear County Council set about finding a home for the museum that could also house the County's archive and a central store for museum collections which had been spread across other county museums. 

In December 1975 the Council agreed to purchase the empty northern headquarters of the Co-Operative Wholesale Society, Blandford House. By 1977, Tyne & Wear Archives had relocated from Pilgrim Street and two years later, the museum followed. 

Blandford House is a late Victorian building designed by Newcastle architects Oliver & Leeson for the Co-Operative Wholesale Society's northern headquarters. 

Work began on the building in 1893, but due to the Co-Operative's rapid growth and development, the need for space became so urgent, that as soon as the room was available, staff were moved in. Building works were not completed until 1899. 

Blandford House was a warehouse and distribution centre for over 100 Co-Operative stores in the region, from Berwick upon Tweed in the north to Scarborough in the south. The building also included salesrooms and offices, grocery, clothes, shoes furniture and stationery departments and mock-up shop front displays. 

Looking around Discovery Museum today, it won't take you long to spot features that provide a glimpse into the building's rich history. 

Goods were first brought by horse and cart and then by motor wagon into the central loading bay, where today you can see Turbinia on display. 

The impressive Great Hall was once the site of a large staff dining room and a space for quarterly meetings. Occasionally, it was used for plays and concerts and during the First World War, it was used for recruitment. 

Key features of the hall include wrought iron girders - made by Dorman Long (the same company that made the Tyne Bridge), art deco style suspended ceiling lanterns and rare Burmantofts tiles. 

The General Office, where over 100 clerks worked processing orders and invoices, is now the home of Story of the Tyne. The temporary exhibition space on the ground floor of the museum was once the Bacon Room, where hams were boned, washed and rolled before being hung from the ceiling. 

Visitors to Tyne & Wear Archives will pass through the former site of a bank built in 1932 to service the financial needs of the region's stores and into the Co-Operative's Directors' Suite. 

The Directors' Suite, fitted with decorative plaster ceiling mouldings and lavish walnut panelling, was refurbished in the 1930s to include new office accommodation. It had a separate dining room, and new toilet facilities. The best quality blue ceramic fittings were used in the male washroom. They were supplied by Adamsez, who operated in Scotswood from 1903 to 1975. 

Overlooking the flight of stairs leading up from the old office entrance is a stained glass window, decorated with rising sun and wheatsheaf motifs which were popular symbols with the Co-Operative and wider Labour movements. 

By the late 1960s and early 70s the Co-Operative Wholesale Society was in decline. The number of shops in the region had reduced. Instead of goods being taken to Blandford House for redistribution, they were taken directly to each store. Fewer managers and buyers visited, facilities were no longer needed, and the headquarters was closed in 1972. 

The museum was renamed the Museum of Science and Engineering, and it officially opened at Blandford House on 9 June 1981 with its first exhibition 'Motive Power'. 

The museum relaunched as Discovery Museum in 1993 with the opening of Great City! which told the story of Newcastle's 20th century history. 

In October 1994, Turbinia which was still housed in the old Municipal Museum of Science and Industry building in Exhibition Park, was towed through the streets of Newcastle to its new home at Discovery Museum. 

After the closure of the John Joicey Museum in 1994, its collections were transferred to Discovery Museum. 

Today, Discovery Museum is home to one of the finest collections of scientific and technical material outside of London. 

The role played by Tyneside in the worldwide development of the electricity industry is covered by the electrical science and engineering collection which includes approximately 900 objects and 700 supporting archive materials which chart the important early years of the industry. It focuses on the work of Tyneside electrical pioneers, Joseph Swan, Charles Parsons, John Henry Holmes and Alphonse Reyrolle. 

The museum houses significant maritime history, social history and regimental history collections. The museum's large costume collection holds over 12,000 items focused on women's fashion, accessories and shoes, ranging from the 16th century to present day. The textile collection also includes Coptic textiles from the 4th century, samplers, lace banners and household textiles.