High Coxlease

New house designed by W. R. Lethaby for Thomas Eustace Smith (1831-1903), Tyneside owner of ships and docks, shipbuilder, and MP for Tynemouth, and his wife Martha, art patron (later known as Eustacia, 1835-1919) on land leased from the crown on a 99-year lease, rent £20 p.a. the first year, and £60 p.a. subsequently, with an undertaking to spend 'not less than £4,000, the house to be completed and finished fit for habitation by the 10th October 1901'.