Sheriff Hill
This led to the building of the first council housing estate in Gateshead. Alderman Hodkin laid the foundation stone on 27 October 1920; as work commenced the Alderman demonstrated the authority's concerns, telling the local newspaper that: "we can build houses, but we cannot build homes. Only the people themselves can do that and I hope that the spirit of ‘esprit de corps’ will prevail and this will be a model estate" Demand was highthere were 427 applicants for the first twenty eight houses builtand the council built further tracts of housing in a broad triangle between Sodhouse Bank, Ermine Crescent and The Avenue, although central government withdrew its promised funding. By 1936, most of the social housing available as of 2012 was in existence and provides accommodation to over half of the population of the suburb.
Mitchell – Foster – Young House
Rotting at the corners where vines and moisture encroached finally undermined the integrity of the structure and the unoccupied house was in danger of collapsing in 2005, when a plan to repair it was created. Those plans were abandoned when termite and other animal-caused damage was discovered. The house had been originally built too close to the ground, making it impossible to avoid future similar damage if the house was simply repaired without a proper higher foundation. Alternatively, a plan was implemented to completely restore the house by dismantling it nail-by-nail and board-by-board. A newly built barn housed the methodically marked and cataloged timbers and boards, until a new, raised foundation was built. Then, in reverse order, the timbers and boards were reinstalled.