1-20, With Car Porch And Attached Timber Fences

1-20 Merle Gardens is a square formed of four terraces and some flats, built between 1976 and 1978 by Ralph Erskine's Arkitektkontor, with Vernon Gracie as the site architect and structural engineering by White, Young and Partners. The main contractor was Shepherd Construction. The buildings are constructed from buff metric modular brick on a timber frame, with red brick used for the corner blocks and along Bolam Way. The inner area overlooking the square features dark blue and red weatherboarding, while the outer faces have dark blue weatherboarded eaves. The structures have monopitch metal roofs supported on plywood box beam purlins and are mainly two storeys high, consisting primarily of houses, with some flats overlooking Raby Street.

Notable features include projecting brick porches with sloping metal roofs at Nos. 1-3, and a brick carriageway opening between Nos. 4 and 5. No. 6 has a projecting timber and brick porch, along with a projecting timber oriel for the upper flat. Nos. 8 and 9 include bird boxes, and Nos. 9 and 10 are single storey. The timber windows are set in timber surrounds with aluminium opening lights, mostly sliding, and the timber doors feature glazed panels, many of which have been renewed in hardwood. The inner courtyard is enclosed by a raised brick wall, timber fences, and pergolas, particularly at the rear of Nos. 1-4. Nos. 14-20 display red brick on the elevations facing Bolam Way and continue the design of Cushat Close, featuring red and blue eaves weatherboarding and a large projecting timber car porch. The carriageway is connected by timber-clad heating pipes between Nos. 13 and 14.