1 - 3 Fairless Garden, Byker Wall

Three short terraces, each of three houses, linked by fences and enclosing a private courtyard. 1974-6 by Ralph Erskine's Arkitektkontor; site architect Vernon Gracie; structural engineer, White, Young and Partners; main contractor Shepherd Construction Limited. Pale brick and uneven green weatherboarding on timber frames, with yellow and red weatherboarded eaves, under shallow double-pitched metal roofs with plywood box beam purlins and projecting eaves to garden elevations. Two storeys, all the nos. 1 slightly higher and without the weatherboarding, but with prominent downpipes extending from the projecting eaves. All windows of timber with timber subframes and aluminium opening lights (mainly sliding), save for nos. 2 Winship Garden which have been renewed in upvc. Timber doors with glazed panel, some renewed in hardwood. Interiors not inspected but understood not to be of special interest. Brown fences link the three terraces to form a small semi-private courtyard. Granite kerbs from development formerly on the site to front and rear, notably to frontages of Winship and Fairless Garden abutting Spires Lane. Fixed seating to front and rear a particularly plentiful feature in this part of the estate.

The Byker area, first extensively developed in the 1890s, was earmarked for redevelopment from the late 1950s, with a new motorway to the north. In March 1967 the Housing Architect's Department proposed the building of a barrier block to shelter the area, and this idea was supported by Ralph Erskine, who was invited to develop the area for Newcastle Corporation in 1969. His Plan of Intent, published in 1970, promised a complete redevelopment programme of housing and landscaping with cost yardsticks, while maintaining the traditions and character of the neighbourhood, and to rehouse the residents without breaking family and social ties. His achievement in rehousing 40% of the original residents on the original site was exceptional, as were his methods of keeping the community informed of development and seeking their support and suggestions for the low-rise housing. In achieving these goals Erskine sought to exploit the south-facing sloping site, to develop a system of pedestrian routes through the estate and to provide a `specific "local" individuality to each group of houses.' The estate was redeveloped in a rolling programme of no more than 250 units at a time, to try to maintain the community's infrastructure. The idea was a sheltering perimeter block, which protects the estate from traffic noise and creates a micro climate, with low-rise housing in its lee. The modular metric facing brick of 290mm x 90mm x 65mm was developed by Crossley and Sons in County Durham, in collaboration with the City of Newcastle. When mortared, it forms a 12" by 4" by 3" unit. The inventiveness of the decoration, developed following the relatively muted `pilot scheme' at Janet Square, marks Byker out from other post-war housing for bringing the humane concepts of `romantic pragmatism' with its neo-vernacular details and materials to public housing in a unique way. It is probably also the greatest achievement of this important and idiosyncratic international architect. `If there is something marvellously lighthearted about the design, this I would say is the topographical keynote of the new Byker' (Architectural Design, June 1975, p.333).

Sources
Tyne and Wear Archives
Architectural Review, December 1974, pp.346-62
Mats Egelius, Ralph Erskine, Architect, Stockholm 1990, pp.148-60 LISTED GRADE 2*