The Byker Wall is the name given to a long unbroken block of 620 maisonettes in the Byker district of Newcastle upon Tyne England. The block was designed by the notable architect Ralph Erskine assisted by Vernon Gracie, and was built in the mid-1970s. Its Functionalist Romantic styling with textured, complex facades, colourful brick, wood and plastic panels, attention to context and relatively low-rise construction represented a major break with the Brutalist high-rise architectural orthodoxy of the time.
On March 16th 2005 the architect of the wall died at the age of 91.
The Byker Wall was infamous as the home of "Ratboy" a juvenile delinquent who hid in its heating shafts when running from police during the 1990s.
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