1-35 Including Attached Walls, Fences And Gates

This is a group of terraced patio houses built between 1975 and 1978 for the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, designed by Ralph Erskine’s Arkitektkontor, with Vernon Gracie as site architect, White, Young and Partners as structural engineers, and Shepherds Construction Ltd as the main contractor. The houses are constructed of pale metric modular (large) brick with an internal timber frame, and the entrance fronts and gable ends are clad in soft green-coloured timber. Some walls feature concrete quoins. The roofs are long and sloping, covered with blue sheet metal supported on plywood box beam purlins.

The houses are arranged in an 'L' shape around a private entrance patio, with the remaining sides enclosed by adjacent units and an integral front wall. They are single-storey on the north-facing entrance level, and two-storey on the south-facing garden side. Entrance doors are situated on the side of the low wing of the patio frontage. Numbers 7-9 are two-storey throughout, with brick sheds providing shelter to the doors, and have turquoise metal roofs with brown timber cladding. Clad end walls, painted green, are visible at numbers 10 and 21, which adjoins a central play area.

The windows are aluminium sliding windows within timber surrounds. First-floor windows facing the garden have long, narrow extra windows situated under a prominent sill band, painted brown to contrast with the green cladding. Trellis work on the fencing extends upwards to form pergolas over the pedestrian walkways. Dark brown gates include a stand for milk. The front wall to number 17 was removed at some point. The internal layout is unusual, reminiscent of the work of Atelier 5 and their hillside housing design in Basle.

Dunn Terrace, the most westerly and detached section of the Byker area, comprises two areas of low-rise housing situated between branches of the higher Byker Wall. The well-preserved landscaping demonstrates Ralph Erskine’s concept of a high, sheltering perimeter wall to the north, separating the estate from the road and metro and creating a sheltered micro-climate to the south. The distinctive layout of terraces and pedestrian walkways, rather than the two-storey houses and squares found elsewhere, establishes Dunn Terrace's unique character. The strongly defined colours are an integral part of Erskine's design vocabulary and have been well maintained by the local authority. Historic information and sources can be found under Nos 1-75 Dunn Terrace.