2 - 18 Garmondsway, Byker Wall

Complex square and surrounding terraces comprising 38 houses. 1976-79 by Ralph Erskine's Arkitektkontor; site architect Vernon Gracie; structural engineer, White, Young and Partners; main contractor, Marshalls (Elland) Limited; remedial and remodelling contract 1981-3 under close Arkitektkontor supervision. Two storeys, buff and orange brick with weatherboarding on timber frame; green metal roofs supported on plywood box beam purlins.

Finchale Terrace forms two sides of the perimeter, with buff brick to Raby Street and orange brick to south, with eaves of red and brown/ bright green weatherboarding respectively. Dark blue timber projecting porches to nos. 1-7 under bright green sloping roofs; big porch to no. 9, rest of terrace with bright green metal door hoods. Bird boxes to end of no. 12, and forming link with timber carriage arch between nos. 1 and 2. Rear elevations clad in pale blue weatherboarding, with red doors and dark blue fences. Projecting brick bin store with timber pergola roof incorporates fragments said to be from the former Newcastle Old Town Hall.

No.12 forms a strong visual link with the houses of Glanton Close, a narrow courtyard of houses. No. 2 attached to no. 6 Garmondsway, no. 1 to no. 8 Garmondsway. Green weatherboarding, with projecting brown porches to nos. 4-8, and bird boxes to nos. 1, 8 and 9. No. 1 Harbottle Street with brown weatherboarding.

The houses in Garmondsway have dark brown eaves, with full-height weatherboarding to two faces of no. 8. Projecting oriel to no. 6, with lighter brickwork under. Bird boxes to nos. 8, 10 and 18. Projecting porches to nos. 14 and 16, with green roofs; green metal hoods to rest. Projecting oriel to no. 2 Lilburn Close, which is attached to Garmondsway. The rest of Lilburn Close with bright green eaves and projecting brown weatherboarding and brick porches under green sloping roofs to nos. 6-14. Carriageway to no. 4. Timber windows in timber surrounding with aluminium opening lights, mainly sliding, to all houses; timber doors with glazed panel, many renewed in hardwood.

These 38 houses are all that were built of the Janet Street neighbourhood, after the contractors, Marshalls, failed to fulfill their contract, and failed to meet the exacting standards of Erskine's office. In 1981 a remedial contract was let to check the ties between the timber frame and brick cladding of the 28 completed houses, a further 12 were completed, and the remaining 90 uncompleted shells were demolished. The houses are now of the same high standard as the rest 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*