Buildings
Keelmen’s Hospital
Built in 1701, Keelmen’s was not a hospital in the modern sense but an alms-house. It was built for retired and sick keelmen and their families. In later centuries, the building was used as tenement, social, and student housing but as, of 2024, had been vacant for 15 years.
At a glance
- Built in 1701, Keelmen’s Hospital is a Grade II* listed alms-house.
- As the keel trade declined, the Hospital took in residents with other occupations, such as sailors, mariners and watermen.
- From the late nineteenth century onwards, the building became tenement housing for the city’s poor until its closure in 1962.
- Then, from 1978 – 2009, it was converted into student accommodation for what is now Northumbria University.
- In partnership with Newcastle City Council, our conservation project runs 2026-2028.
2023 – Today
Our work
T+WBPT worked in partnership with Newcastle City Council to restore Alderman Fenwick’s, 28/30 The Close and All Saints Church, all three Grade I listed on Historic England’s register.
After All Saints was completed, we worked with City Council to review Heritage at Risk in the city and identified Keelmen’s as a potential project. Viability funding was provided by Historic England and Newcastle City Council. Project development phases were funded by Architectural Heritage Fund, and, in 2026, £4.6 million was awarded to the project by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and matched by the Council.
Conservation work began in April 2026 to bring the building back to life as 20 affordable apartments managed by Newcastle City Council, helping to save heritage at risk and meet the housing need.
With over 300 years of history, Keelmen’s has so many stories to tell and we’re sharing them in the form of talks, tours, exhibitions and interviews with former residents, workers, and those with a family connection – we’re even working with The Glasshouse on a new keelmen’s ballad!
To find out more about this project, head here.
Keelmen’s is a beautiful building that is so quiet and peaceful in the centre of the city […] The Trust considers it to be the most significant ‘At Risk’ building in Newcastle. This is a huge challenge but with support from the AHF, Historic England, Newcastle City Council and National Lottery Heritage Fund then we are confident that this can be delivered.
Martin Hulse, trust manager
1701 – 2009
History
- The keelmen fundraised £2000 (just under £300,000 today) and petitioned Newcastle’s common-council for some land to build themselves a hospital in July of 1700.
- The design of the building was inspired by colleges and monasteries, with the corridors resembling cloisters. ‘Dr Moor, bishop of Ely, remarked of this hospital “that he had heard of and seen many hospitals, the works of rich men; but that it was the first he ever saw of heard of which had been built by the poor”.
- Whilst most alms-houses in England only provided short term medical care, Keelmen’s provided long term treatment for its elderly residents.
- The keelmen’s lease of the building expired in 1898 when it was then converted into tenement housing. It remained as council housing until 1962, and was student accommodation from 1978-2009. It has since been vacant and a target for abuse.
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