Richard Grainger

British builder
the builder in Newcastle upon Tyne

Richard Grainger (9 October 17974 July 1861) was a builder in Newcastle upon Tyne. He worked with the architects John Dobson and Thomas Oliver, and with the town clerk, John Clayton, to redevelop the centre of Newcastle in the 19th century. Grainger Street and the Grainger Market are named after him; sometimes the whole area of Newcastle developed in the Neoclassical style around Grey Street and Grainger Street is referred to as Grainger Town.

Grainger was born in High Friar's Lane, the son of Thomas Grainger, a Quayside porter, and Amelia Burt, a seamstress. He was educated at St Andrew's Charity School in Newgate Street and was apprenticed to a carpenter at the age of 12. In 1816, at the age of 20 he started in business as a builder in partnership with his brother George, a bricklayer. However George died and Richard carried on alone. His first important contract was in 1819, to build a group of houses in Higham Place for Alderman Batson, a prominent Newcastle Methodist. Through Batson's influence he came into contact with various leading men in the town and married into a well to do family. His wife, Rachel Arundale, the daughter of a wealthy leather merchant brought him a dowry of £5,000. The couple eventually had thirteen children – six sons and seven daughters.

Between 1824 and 1826 he built the greater part of Eldon Square, designed by John Dobson and Blackett Street, designed by Thomas Oliver. In 1827 Grainger built St Mary's Place, designed by John Dobson, opposite the church of St Thomas the Martyr, which Dobson had recently completed. In 1829 Grainger began work on Leazes Terrace, Leazes Crescent and Leazes Place, all designed by Thomas Oliver and aimed at middle class tenants. In 1832 he completed building the Royal Arcade at the foot of Pilgrim Street. This was an impressive, elegant building, intended as a commercial and shopping centre. Unfortunately, it did not succeed in this role due to its remoteness from the town centre. It was eventually demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Pilgrim Street roundabout.

Up until 1834, Grainger had been limited to building individual blocks of buildings, but had become a rich man, owning property worth £200,000. However, in 1831 George Anderson died. Anderson was the owner of Anderson Place, a house and grounds in the north end of the town, inside the town walls and on his death the land became available for development. Grainger's first step was to buy the Anderson Place from the executors of the estate for £50,000, as well as other additional property for £45,000, but he could not afford to finance the development himself. In 1834 Grainger presented a comprehensive development plan to the town council. Dobson had already submitted a similar plan to the council previously and been rejected, so Grainger needed someone with influence to encourage the council to accept the new plan. He was advised to move his legal account to the solicitor's firm run by John Clayton, the town clerk. Clayton became Grainger's advocate and adviser, and the council adopted his scheme within two months. There were objections to the scheme on the grounds that it would involve the demolition of the Theatre Royal in Mosley Street and the Flesh Market, which was less than thirty years old. Grainger countered these objections by offering to build a new Theatre Royal and a new meat and vegetable market. The plan, covering a site, was for a commercial and shopping area based on three main thoroughfares, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street, leading to the lower part of town. Cross connection between these streets was provided by Hood Street, Shakespeare Street, Market Street and Nelson Street. The triangle formed by Grey Street, Grainger Street and Market Street contained the Central Exchange, originally intended as a corn market but rejected by the council. The new meat market was placed between Grainger Street and Clayton Street with the new vegetable market on the north west side of Clayton Street.