Once a forgotten, but albeit still grand, reminder of Victorian Sunderland, Mackie’s Corner has risen from the ashes to become a hub of retail and business once more. We Are Sunderland - A weekly round-up of lifestyle highlights. From eating out to what’s on - celebrating the city’s best bits! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Sunderland Echo, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more.
It was built by local businessman Ralph Hutchinson on the corner of Fawcett Street and Bridge Street to accommodate the then town’s very first fashion stores in the 1840s, who named the buildings Hutchinson’s Buildings - a name still carved in the stone above its main door. Advertisement Advertisement It became a busy shopping destination and one of its most-popular tenants would inform its colloquial name of Mackie’s Corner. Occupying the prime corner unit, hat maker Robert Mackie would often draw attention from passersby who could see him crafting titfers through the window.
In later years, the buildings housed city institutions such as Chambers nightclub, however, the building fell into disrepair during the late 20th century and from the early 2000s it had mostly lain derelict, a ghost of its former self. Seeing the potential in one of the city’s finest old buildings, in 2017 it was taken over by Sunderland firm Kirtley Co who have completely transformed the Grade II-l.