151 Central Avenue, Gretna

Two symmetrical terraces, each comprising three blocks of four houses, facing one another across a wide avenue. Designed by Raymond Unwin with C M Crickmer as site architect, built in 1917 for munitions workers.

The houses are constructed in red brick, an unusual material for domestic buildings in Scotland. The blocks are linked by low porches. The inner house blocks feature two advanced square bays, whilst 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. Brick end and axial chimney stacks rise prominently. The roofs are piended slate. Original glazing consisted mostly of small-paned timber sash and case windows, though much has since been replaced with various materials and glazing patterns. Two blocks are now part pebble-dashed.

These terraces form the central core of Gretna village, designed along Garden City principles. The houses line the central street, which is wide and planted with green spaces, and are distinguished by their piended roofs, prominent chimney stacks, advanced bays, round-arched entrances, and small round windows. The original architectural detailing remains well-preserved and distinctive.

Gretna township was constructed between 1916 and 1918 to house workers at a munitions factory built to produce Cordite explosives for the British Army during the First World War. The factory, commissioned due to wartime ammunition shortages, stretched for 9 miles along the banks of the Solway. Thousands of workers from across Britain and Ireland were brought in, requiring both temporary timber housing and more permanent brick structures. The township was designed with Garden City principles in mind, incorporating green spaces, wide streets with shops and community facilities, and curving streets. In addition to housing, the town included several churches, a dance hall, a school, and a cinema. The factory was dismantled after the war, and only scattered remnants remain. The houses were originally built as dormitories but designed to permit conversion into private housing.