50 Raby Way and Avondale House, Byker Wall

Sheltered block of 36 flats with warden's accommodation (styled no. 51). 1979-82 by by Ralph Erskine's Arkitektkontor; site architect Vernon Gracie; structural engineer, White, Young and Partners; main contractor, Stanley Miller Ltd. Pale yellow metric modular brick on concrete block construction; Marley Modern tiled roofs. One, two and three storeys sunk slightly into slope of hillside. North side with green weatherboarding to second floor and projecting first-floor oriel with strip windows on concrete stilts. Raby Street elevation of two storeys with projecting brown timber balconies on green frames under sloping roofs at first floor. Raby Way elevation with green weatherboarding on long banded elevation with prominent corner columns defining entrance. South elevation has more independent units of one and two storeys, with attached warden's house of two storeys with high monopitch roof and green weatherboarding, entered up steps set around low bastion retaining wall. Two single-storey units (nos. 52 and 54) entered via same steps, which with the wall form an integral part of the composition. Timber windows in timber surrounds with aluminium opening lights, mainly sliding; blue doors to single-storey units. Interiors not inspected but not thought to be of special interest. To Raby Street green timber fences and to Mason Street green steel railings are an integral part of the composition.

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*