1 - 11 Winship Terrace, Byker Wall

Staggered and stepped terrace of eleven houses. 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, under shallow double-pitched metal roofs with plywood box beam purlins and red weatherboarded eaves. Two storeys, with sharp bend between nos. 7 and 8, the former with projecting first-floor brown timber balcony in extra bay to left, the latter set back. White vertical struts between first-floor windows and red weatherboarded eaves. Projecting downpipes from the deep eaves a feature of the composition, particularly of nos. 5 and 6. Full-height weatherboarding to nos. 2, 3, 6, 8, 10 and 11 and rear of no. 9. Blue gables to sides where terrace steps down hill. Doors with glazed panels, some renewed in hardwood. Windows of timber in timber subframes with aluminium opening lights, mainly sliding, no. 5 renewed. Interiors not inspected but understood not to be of special interest. Granite kerbs to front from streets previously on the site; brown fences between houses and to rear. Forms a major thoroughfare with the terrace on Spires Lane (q.v.)

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*