36 Victory Avenue, Gretna

36 Victory Avenue, Gretna

Designed by Raymond Unwin and Courtnay M Crickmer in 1916, this is part of a significant U-plan grouping of terraced housing that forms three rows of 2-storey buildings arranged around a central courtyard. The entire group (numbered 30-52 Victory Avenue) represents one of the few surviving examples of the Garden City principles applied to Gretna's planned layout.

The buildings are constructed in red brick, an unusual residential building material for Scotland at the time. The southern row is symmetrical across nine bays and features a pair of advanced central gables with ball finials as decorative elements. The eastern and western rows each contain eight bays. Ground floor window openings are predominantly segmental-arched. Entrance doors are fitted with consoled flat canopies. Numbers 46-52 have been later rendered with pebble dash.

The roofs are piended with grey slates and corniced ridge stacks. The original windows and doors have been largely replaced with various modern materials and glazing patterns, though early photographs record that the original glazing consisted of small-pane timber sash and case windows.

This U-plan grouping is a key surviving element of Gretna's town plan. Gretna was built from 1916 to 1918 as a purpose-built township to house workers for the nearby munitions factory, which stretched for nine miles along the Solway and produced Cordite explosives during the First World War. The township was planned along Garden City lines with green spaces, a wide central street containing shops and community facilities, and curving streets designed with informality and high standards of residential design. Raymond Unwin, one of the most important figures in early 20th century British town planning, oversaw the development; Courtnay M Crickmer served as resident architect. The factory was dismantled after the war.