Amateur film of private sector housing conditions, including slum clearance properties, in the Old Durham Road area of Gateshead, filmed between 1982 and 1984. The first sequences record the "Tyneside flats", a form of domestic housing found primarily in Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland urban areas. The film also documents the demolition of the slums. The filmmaker, Stephen Gray, worked for Gateshead Council as an Environmental Health Officer. Title: Unfit for Human Habitation...

Amateur film of private sector housing conditions, including slum clearance properties, in the Old Durham Road area of Gateshead, filmed between 1982 and 1984. The first sequences record the "Tyneside flats", a form of domestic housing found primarily in Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland urban areas. The film also documents the demolition of the slums. The filmmaker, Stephen Gray, worked for Gateshead Council as an Environmental Health Officer. Title: Unfit for Human Habitation Title: The Old Durham Road, Gateshead. Clearance Areas Early 1980s A series of shots record some of the Gateshead streets scheduled for demolition and the condition of their exteriors. These include a second hand junk shop at the corner of Haydn Place; the corner of Shipcote Terrace and Old Durham Road also featuring a corner shop; and a rickety former commercial premises with partially boarded up windows. Looking up the Old Durham Road, the unkempt late 19th century terraces are ‘Tyneside flats’ with characteristic paired doors. Details of chimneys in danger of collapsing are noted. Again at the corner of Haydn Place, a close-up reveals that the roof slates are in a state of disrepair and the guttering blocked with grass clumps. Rusted guttering above Edwin Macklow shoe repair business shop window is broken off. Chimney stacks are tottering, in need of pointing between bricks, and slates are missing from roofs. Looking at the rear exterior walls of the terraces reveals further disrepair of brick walls. Some are in danger of collapse. Repairs are piecemeal and slated roofs are sinking. The evidence of disrepair builds with chimney stacks and rotting wooden beams recorded in close-up. A middle-aged couple pose for the camera outside their front door, the woman holding shopping bags. Stairs at the rear of the house lead to an upstairs flat. Inside, details of water damage and mould on a ceiling are documented. Cement has been used to patch up a damaged wall. A woman emerges from her flat and walks down stairs in a dilapidated hallway, her pet dog following. She pulls at wallpaper hanging down from a ceiling. There are more slum conditions at a scullery sink. One of the windows is boarded up. Black mould has attacked part of a room ceiling and damp appears in another corner. There are views of the street outside through the windows. Title: Note condition of external WCs and coal houses. Only one property had an inside WC and bathroom. The dereliction of outer buildings housing toilets and coal bunkers is recorded. The plaster walls and ceiling have collapsed on the WC in one outhouse. Slates allow rain through. Glass is broken in an upstairs window. The next sequence opens with a sign for Dunston firm Alan Smith Demolition Ltd. indicating work has started on slum clearance of the streets noted. A bulldozer and demolition workers begin to demolish the Tyneside flats off the Old Durham Road. The final shots are of the cleared, grassed-over waste ground under snow where houses used to stand. A general view shows some 1960s council estate houses beyond and tower blocks in the distance. Title: The End. S. Gray 1984