Yahoo News Inside Tynemouth's former safe house for Jewish girls where homeowner didn't know its history
When the current owners of 55 Percy Park bought their home in 2017 they knew nothing of its fascinating history.
The seven-bedroom coastal property had been on the market for some time and required several renovations. But it was years before Martin Anderson and his family discovered that their Tynemouth home was once a safe house for more than 20 Jewish girls who fled persecution in Nazi-controlled parts of Europe in 1939.
Speaking from the first floor lounge, which is believed to have once been the girls' dormitory, Martin said: "I knew nothing of the history until I got a knock at the door on a very rainy night just over two years ago. It was Five Live and they asked if I knew the history of the house, which I didn't.
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"It was pure shock when I found out. We'd only bought the house because we liked it, not because of its history. It was a bit like pulling a thread from a woollen jumper, it's all unravelled."
It is believed that the room, with its high ceiling and large stone fireplace, would have previously housed bunk beds for the girls, aged between five and 14, who had arrived in North Tyneside via the Kindertransport initiative, an ambitious rescue effort which saw more than 10,000 Jewish children and young people safely transported into Great Britain. Most of the girls would be the only members of their family to survive the genocide.
Today, the former safe house displays a blue plaque outside, detailing the once forgotten history of the four-floor building.
And many grandchildren of the girls who once lived there have visited the property.
Martin said: "We've had BBC here and we did a roundtable with people from Israel and the grandchildren of the people from Auschwitz. Since then we've had another couple who couldn't make that day come up from London. She was a granddaughter of one of the people who were here and she spent about two hours here walking around and trying to fit together what she knew from her grandmother.
"There was lots of detail that we weren't aware of. It was a real eye opener to think of the number of people who once lived here."
Martin now believes that the ground floor of his home is where the staff would be housed.
While wardens and staff would have lived on the third floor of the hostel, which was set up and funded by the Newcastle Jewish Refugee Committee with the support of local families.
Martin said: "It makes sense because then the staff would have come downstairs to look after the children [on the first floor] and there would have been some storage space and maybe another bedroom for the night warden."
The fourth floor, which now has a double bedroom and bathroom, would have been a large attic space, explains Martin, who previously lived in Killingworth.
"We're reminded of the history of the house at least every weekend when we see people with cameras outside and various groups of people. We'll get knocks on the door from people saying 'do you mind if we take a closer look'.
"Although we do own the house, we're just custodians of the house and the history of it is very interesting."
