150 Central Avenue, Gretna

150 Central Avenue, Gretna is a Grade B listed building forming part of the unique munitions workers' village of Gretna, designed along Garden City principles.

The building comprises two symmetrical terraces, each of three blocks containing four houses, built in 1917 by renowned town planner Raymond Unwin, with C M Crickmer acting as site architect. The terraces face one another across a wide avenue, linked by low porches. The structures are brick-built, with two blocks now part pebble-dashed; original glazing was mostly small-paned sashes. The inner house blocks feature two advanced square bays, while the outer blocks are L-plan with three terminal bays set forward. Original inner doors are paired with doors and side lights all contained within semi-circular arched heads. The buildings have brick end and axial stacks and piended slate roofs.

The houses are constructed from red brick, an unusual material for domestic buildings in Scotland. Distinctive architectural features include the piended roofs, prominent chimney stacks, advanced bays, round-arched entrances and small round windows.

Built between 1916 and 1918, these houses form the central core of Gretna, constructed to provide accommodation and community facilities for workers of the nearby munitions factory stretching nine miles along the banks of the Solway, which produced Cordite explosives. The township was designed with green spaces, a wide central street containing shops and community facilities, and curving streets. The houses were originally designed as dormitories for factory workers but constructed to permit conversion into private housing. The township also included churches, a dance hall, school and cinema. After the First World War, the factory was dismantled.

Many original windows and doors have been replaced with various materials and glazing patterns. The small-pane timber sash and case glazing pattern visible in early photographs of Gretna is no longer predominant.