Building
The Baltic Flour Mill was built by the Rank Hovis company to a late-1930s design by architects Gelder and Kitchen and completed in 1950 . It was extended in 1957 by the addition of an animal feed mill. The mill was closed in 1981. It was one of a number of mills located along the banks of the Tyne, all of which, due to their size, were prominent local landmarks. As of October 2011, the Spillers mill just downstream from the Baltic on the north bank of the river is in the process of being demolished. Another large mill was owned by the CWS and was located just upstream of Dunston Staithes. The site of this mill and the adjacent CWS soap works is now occupied by a housing estate.
Dominic Williams of Ellis Williams Architects won an architectural design competition, managed by RIBA Competitions, in the mid 1990s to convert the 1950s Baltic Flour Mill into a centre for art. After ten years in the planning and a capital investment of £50m, including £33.4m from the Arts Council Lottery Fund, BALTIC opened to the public at midnight on Saturday 13 July 2002. The inaugural exhibition, B.OPEN, featured work by Chris Burden, Carsten Holler, Julian Opie, Jaume Plensa and Jane & Louise Wilson and attracted over 35,000 visitors in the first week.
Read more about this topic: Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art
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