1 - 17 Jubilee Terrace, Byker Wall

Three linked terraces of seventeen houses. 1976-78 by Ralph Erskine's Arkitektkontor; site architect Vernon Gracie; structural engineer, White, Young and Partners; main contractor Shepherd Construction Limited. Orange modular metric brick on timber frame, with pale brick on inner face to rest of estate and weatherboarding. Blue metal monopitch roofs with plywood box beam purlins. Two storeys. No. 1 on side return. Links between nos. 6 and 7, and 13 and 14. Nos. 1-6 have red metal door hoods in outer wall (no. 1 to side). No. 2 set back towards road. Inner face have red eaves with blue struts running upwards from first floor, where they form breaks in continuous strip windows.

Green weatherboarded first-floor link between nos. 6 and 7, which also have brighter green bird boxes linked by heating casing. Nos. 7-13 heavily cranked, with red metal door hoods to external elevation. No. 13 with projection at first floor over pavement, with projecting oriel under blue metal roof, weatherboarded in green at rear. Elevation facing rest of the estate with brown eaves weatherboarding to no. 7, blue eaves weatherboarding to no. 10, the rest with red weatherboarded eaves with blue struts. Nos. 11 and 12 stepped up slightly. Renewed windows to no. 9. Broad rooftop timber pergola over road links car entrance between nos. 13 and 14 on brick uprights.

No. 14 with renewed windows in upvc and black door hood. Nos. 15-17 with red metal door hoods. Rear has bright green eaves weatherboarding, with green weatherboarding to lower parts of nos. 15-17. Except where noted, windows of timber in timber subframes, with aluminium opening lights (mainly sliding). Some doors renewed in hardwood. Interiors not inspected but understood not to be of special interest. Wall and fence attached to no. 14 has built-in seat; fence continues and incorporates brick tree planter outside nos. 15 and 16; no. 17 set forward into estate. Projecting wall to no. 1 joins timber pergola which forms arch to inner gardens with seats. Brown fencing behind nos. 2-6. Pergola in garden to rear of nos. 7-13 of timber, with brick retaining walls and red timber pyramidal roof. A similar pergola outside no. 14 with attached low wall.

Jubilee Terrace forms the eastern perimeter of the estate, and is a prominent and characterful group by virtue of its timber pergolas and detailing.

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*