18 - 28 Chirton Wynd, Jubilee Terrace, Byker Wall

Nos. 18-28 Jubilee Terrace, 1-14 Manor House Close, 1-7 Village Place, 1-9 Chirton Wynd. 54 houses set in short linked terraces. 1976-78 by Ralph Erskine's Arkitektkontor; site architect Vernon Gracie; structural engineer, White, Young and Partners; main contractor Shepherd Construction Limited. Red modular metric brick to Welbeck Road and Bothnal Street, the edge of the estate, pale modular metric brick within the estate, all on timber frame, with weatherboarding. Blue metal monopitch roofs with plywood box beam purlins. Two storeys, save for no. 9 Manor House Close, which has three, and nos. 10-13 Manor House Close, which are split level.

No. 1 Manor House Close is linked at first-floor level to no. 28 Jubilee Terrace. Nos. 1-8 Manor House Close have bright green high weatherboarded eaves over strip of first floor windows, which are interrupted only by occasional brown panels, all on red brick facade, which features prominent dividing fences with triangular top sections. No. 4 with blue eaves and upvc windows. No. 9 with brown weatherboarding over first floor, enlarged first-floor window serving living room, green door hood, red door and end brown bird box. Rear facade simpler, with blue half weatherboarding to carriageway link to no. 28 Jubilee Terrace, nos. 2-4, 7 and 9. Bird box also links no. 1 with no. 28 Jubilee Terrace. Blue door hoods and good surviving line of red doors.

Nos. 10-13 Manor House are set at right angles, with link via bird box and timber carriage arch to no. 14, which is attached to no. 4 Village Place. This group with nos. 1-9 Manor House Close and 5-7 Village Place enclose a green. Nos. 10-13 are split-level houses, nos. 10-12 of one-two storeys on sloping site, no. 13 of two and three storeys. Bird boxes at each end, and between nos. 12 and 13. Uphill side (looking towards Headlam Green, q.v.) With high eaves of bright green weatherboarding, prominent fences between units with triangular tops. Rear with blue doors, and narrow strips of weatherboarding above adjoining kitchen windows. Timber link formed of heating pipe covers and bird box between nos. 13 and 14. No. 14 and no. 4 Village Place have brick frontage to pedestrian way, with, to square, a band of brown weatherboarding between first-floor windows and red weatherboarded eaves over. Return flank of no. 4 Village Place with green weatherboarding and bird box, blue door hood, and single-storey outshut of brick. Blue fences.

Nos. 5-7 Village Place have blue door hoods to front, and high red eaves weatherboarding to rear, with brown weatherboarding between first-floor strip windows. Nos. 1-3 Village Place are attached to no. 9 Chirton Wynd, and thence via first-floor weatherboarded brick carriage arch to nos. 5 and 7 Chirton Wynd. All these houses have red metal door hoods. Nos. 1-3 Village Place and No. 9 Chirton Wynd have garden elevation of soft green and blue weatherboarding below first-floor sills, a brown weatherboarded band between first-floor strip windows, which continues as struts between units, and bright green weatherboarded eaves. Bird box at either end. Prominent blue fences, and red seat in green outside. Elevation to Chirton Wynd of blue half weatherboarding, with prominent oriel over carriagearch. Rear elevations to nos. 5 and 7 (no. 9 is sideways to road) have brown weatherboarding between first floor strip windows, and end bird boxes, and red eaves with brown struts.

Link via heating pipe covers and bird boxes between nos 5 and 3 Chirton Wynd. No. 3 has soft blue weatherboarded frontage to Chirton Wynd, with brown weatherboarding between first-floor windows and red metal door hood. Garden elevation with brown weatherboarding between windows, blue weatherboarding between them and red eaves.

Nos. 1 Chirton Wynd and 18-28 Jubilee Terrace have red brick to exterior of estate, with pale brick facing inwards. No. 1 with projecting single-storey outshut, under blue metal roof and with blue weatherboarding to gable end. Red metal door hoods and red doors. Garden elevation has red eaves, with brown weatherboarding between first-floor strip windows. Blue weatherboarded band below, with full weatherboarding to nos. 18, 22 and 24; no. 27 entirely weatherboarded in green and with renewed windows. Timber fences between each unit, with triangular tops. Brick end wall to no.1 Chirton Wynd. Outside it a timber pergola with red metal roof.

All windows of timber with timber sub-frames, and aluminium opening lights (mainly sliding) except where noted above. Some doors renewed in hardwood where prominent original groups are not noted. Interiors not inspected but understood not to be of special interest.

This is the south-eastern corner of the Chirton neighbourhood, an area of particular complexity and character noted for its intricate coloured weatherboarding, linking arches and use of bird boxes, and for its built-in garden seating and pergolas.

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*