35 Facts About Gibson Kyle

Richard Gibson Kyle, known professionally as Gibson Kyle, was an English architect practising in and around Newcastle upon Tyne.

Gibson Kyle's father was a Northumberland journeyman mason and contractor-builder.

Gibson Kyle was teetotal and took part in the temperance movement.

Gibson Kyle was involved in a number of business ventures in Newcastle, and he took active part in local politics.

Kyle's father was named Gibson Kyle, and he was a mason.

Gibson Kyle senior was one of the contractors for building Morpeth Gaol, and his servant Sarah Detchen who stole from him was the first convict to be jailed there.

Richard Gibson Kyle was born in Ponteland, Northumberland, in 1820, and died at 2 Roseville, Bensham, Gateshead on 21 January 1903, aged 82 years.

Gibson Kyle was a teetotaller, and belonged to the Newcastle auxiliary of the United Kingdom Alliance.

Thomas Middlemass, who worked in Richard Grainger's Clayton Street shop, had noticed that lead was going missing, and young Gibson Kyle was hidden away there to watch for the thief.

In 1892, Gibson Kyle was called as a witness at the inquest regarding fatalities in the Gateshead Theatre Royal fire of 1892.

Expert witnesses, including Gibson Kyle, stated that the number of exits and lack of fire precautions made the theatre unsafe.

Gibson Kyle was heavily involved in local business issues, including the gas lighting industry in 1859.

In 1866 Gibson Kyle was a director of the Union Permanent Benefit Building Society, whose offices were at 93 Clayton Street, Newcastle.

Gibson Kyle was regularly involved in the sale of land with development plans.

In 1868, Gibson Kyle was elected a town councillor for the West Ward of Gateshead, on a Ratepayers' Association ticket since he vowed to lower the rates, though he received both cheers and hisses when he won.

In 1874 Gibson Kyle was elected as a member of Newcastle Town Council for Westgate Ward, the polling having taken place in a shed in the cattle market, where the voting numbers had been low.

Gibson Kyle was always too full of business to give either room or time for the purely elementary education of beginners.

Gibson Kyle often said, If you err, err on the side of strength.

Gibson Kyle had a horror of shams, and warned young men of the dangers attending flimsy and cheap construction.

Gibson Kyle was appointed architect to the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral, and he designed a "large number of churches" in the area.

Gibson Kyle had been looking out of an upstairs window when he climbed out onto a skylight to retrieve a pen.

Gibson Kyle was "greatly stunned" and badly cut with broken glass.

Gibson Kyle was treated at the Infirmary, then taken home by his sisters.

In Newcastle, Gibson Kyle associated with other architects, including his contemporary Septimus Oswald, whose funeral he attended in 1894.

Gibson Kyle was father of architect Joseph Oswald who designed the Central Arcade, and Newcastle Breweries' head office in Newgate Street.

Gibson Kyle designed "numerous cinemas throughout the North," and during World War II converted basements into air raid shelters.

Gibson Kyle designed it to accommodate 300 people on the ground floor.

Gibson Kyle called for tenders for the erection of Choppington parsonage, near Morpeth, Northumberland, in April and May 1867.

Gibson Kyle was listed among the guests, but the architectural sculptor Curry was not.

On 9 July 1858, Gibson Kyle called for tenders for the construction of a parsonage at Rookhope, Durham.

Gibson Kyle called for tenders from builders, to erect a Baptist chapel in South Shields, with a deadline of 9 July 1869.

In December 1870, Gibson Kyle was calling for tenders for "enlarging, partially rebuilding and re-seating" work on Wallsend United Methodist Church.

Gibson Kyle called for tenders from builders, for the extension and alteration of the Central Hall, Blyth, in March 1892.

In 1893 Gibson Kyle designed a block of 50 tenements for married couples, and a lodging house for women, in Miller's Hill, Newcastle, winning first prize in a competition for plans at Newcastle Town Hall.

Gibson Kyle won the commission for this in open competition.