In Memory of The Plaza Traditional Cache
Dalesman: As the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache I am archiving it.
If you wish to email me please send your email via my profile (click on my name) and quote the cache name and number.
Many thanks,
DalesmanX
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A Nano in a high muggle area so stealth is needed and you'll need a pen for the log, needless to say, could all finders please put it back where you found it as there isn't a huge amount of cover there.
A cache in memory of my misspent youth at Surfers nightclub in Tynemouth. Strictly speaking, next to the cache location you had a small crazy golf course and then surfers but this is pretty much the nearest I could get. It's hard to imagine the location now fenced off for Dune reclamation housed a building as huge as The Plaza.
Originally named Tynemouth Aquarium and Winter Garden, it was built in 1877 and opened in 1878 at a cost of £82,500 and stood on the cliff overlooking the Long Sands. The architects were Messrs John Norton and Philip Massey of London it consisted of two floors, the lower one being devoted to the aquarium and the upper central block to the winter garden had a large arched glass roof.
At beach level there was a promenade and refreshment bar with the north section containing a skating rink which was capable of being flooded to provide a seawater bathing pool.
Five-storey towers stood at the north and south ends of the building which were used as storage areas and offices and contained huge water tanks which could be used to flood the building in the event of a fire, ironically.
The original architectural plans were magnificent, but the building was a complete failure because only two years after it was opened in 1880, the mortgage holders repossessed it and sold it at public auction to a Newcastle company for only £27,000 - a mere fraction of the building costs.
In 1898 the building was renamed Tynemouth Palace and by 1926 had changed its name to The Plaza, for a short time during the 1930’s it was known as Galaland, but was always generally referred to as the Plaza there after.
The building was sold several times over the years and despite its conversion for use as an exhibition hall, theatre, picture hall, dance hall, ballroom, skating rink and such like it was never well supported and went into a rapid decline within a few years of having been built.
In latter days the building fell into general disrepair and part of it was used as a night club, followed by a partial transformation into shops and an amusement arcade, a sad and sorry end to what should have been a magnificent Victorian edifice.
The building was destroyed by a fire in 1996.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Qbja n ovg, ebhtuyl urnq urvtug, sebz gur Gbl Zhfrr-rz!