This view from the middle of the River Tyne, on the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, illustrates how significant the Quayside has been in the history of Newcastle, though it's only recently become a prestigious location again after a period of neglect.
Starting at the left, No.9, the Exchange Buildings, was built c1862 and is now Grade II Listed. It occupies an entire block (if that concept really applies to UK cities...).
Next is the entrance to King Street; the nearer (Grade II Listed) building, 25 King Street, has its main eight-bay 'Jacobethan' façade, as the address suggests, but the single-bay return to Quayside seems to allude to a narrow, gabled Dutch warehouse.
Next door, under a pair of entablatured dormers, is the Mercantile Building, built as offices in 1883 and now Grade II Listed.
A central dormer with a Diocletian window identifies the roofline of the Grade II Listed 25-27 Quayside, built as a shop and offices in 1869. It somehow manages to fit four stories (plus attics) into the same height as its three-storey neighbours.
The modern façade next door is, unsurprisingly, not Listed. It seems strange that such a development was permitted; presumably it predates the era of the Quayside's architectural heritage being valued.
Next is the Customs House at 39 Quayside, built in 1766 but refronted in 1833 by Sidney Smirke. It's the highest-rated building on the Quayside, Listed at Grade II*.
63 Quayside, brick-built and Grade II Listed, was built in the late 18th or early 19th Century as a house with shop (the painted word 'charts' may date from this era), but the street-level frontage (behind the tree) dates from a c1983 conversion into a public house.
Next door is the Grade II Listed, Art nouveau Baroque façade of Coronation Buildings (65 Quayside), built as offices in c1902, though the rear half was demolished and the front restored in c1982.
Rather plainer is Baltic Chambers (77-79 Quayside), built in the early 20th Century as offices and Grade II Listed "for group value with No. 65". That status doesn't extend to the turreted building on the corner, 81 Quayside which, though dramatic, isn't Listed.
Dominating the left of the background is the iconic (but 'only' Grade II Listed) Tyne Bridge, which opened in 1925 and remains the tenth tallest structure in the city; the artificial cliffs of its granite towers accommodate a nesting colony of kittiwakes. The through-arch bridge was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson (also responsible for Liverpool's Queensway Tunnel) and built by the Middlesbrough firm of Dorman Long; the latter also built the Sydney Harbour Bridge but despite that connection and a superficial resemblance, that through-arch bridge wasn't based on this one.
Spanning 162 m (counting the approaches, 389 m), the bridge carries the A167 main road 26 m above the river. At the time of its construction, the 'New' Tyne Bridge was the largest single-span steel arch bridge in the UK.
Though repainted, the particular shade of green used on the 7,112 t of steelwork is original.
Half-hidden to the right is the towered, redbrick Turnbull's Warehouse, built 1888-98 for Robinson and Co., printers and now Grade II Listed.
Note the lampposts on the Bridge. The Doric portico behind the third from the left is that of the Grade I Listed Moot Hall, designed by John Stokoe in the Greek revival style and built as courts in 1811 (with alterations in 1877 and later).
To the right is the stepped profile of County Hall, first built in 1910 then extended in 1933. It's now Grade II Listed and converted into a hotel.
Incidentally, until 1974 the Moot Hall and County Hall occupied an exclave of the County of Northumberland.
Behind and between the previous two is the keep of the city's eponymous New Castle. 'New' is, of course, relative; the Norman keep dates from 1168-78 and is a Grade I Listed Scheduled Ancient Monument. However, the battlements aren't original, having been added by Newcastle Corporation in c1811.
Another part of the castle is visible at the far right: the steeply-pitched roof of red pantiles is that of The Black Gate. Built in the 13th Century, altered in the 17th Century and restored in 1883 for the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, the old gatehouse of the castle is now, Grade I Listed, a museum and private library.
The final landmark is barely visible on the right edge of the image: the octagonal spire of the (catholic) Cathedral of St. Mary is 1.3 km away. The Grade I Listed building was designed by Augustus W.N. Pugin and built in c1844, though the tower is by A.M. Dunn and E.J. Hansom and dates from c1872.