Survey Data
Reg No
20863006
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Victoria Barracks
Original Use
Officers' mess
In Use As
Officers' mess
Date
1905 - 1910
Coordinates
168265, 72823
Date Recorded
29/03/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached seven-bay single-storey officers’ mess, dated 1908, with gable-fronted central breakfront having colonnaded semi-circular Doric portico flanked by canted bay windows to front (north) elevation. Prolonged by a single-storey flat-roofed block to east and having single-storey flat-roofed section to rear. Pitched artificial slate roof, rendered chimneystacks, slightly projecting verge coping, profiled gutters on corniced eaves. Hipped artificial slate roofs to canted bays. Leaded roof to portico. Smooth rendered walls with string courses and chamfered plinth course. Square-headed window openings in lugged and kneed render surrounds with painted sills and replacement casement windows. Oculus window to gable apex. Square-headed door opening in moulded render surround comprising moulded render scrolls and swag above date plaque reading A.D. 1908 to timber glazed double doors having multi-paned sidelights and multi-paned overlight. Limestone threshold, two curved steps to portico. Facing parade ground to north. One of a matching pair to the south section of the military parade grounds.
Appraisal
One of a pair of identical buildings which flank the southern edge of the parade ground of Collins Barracks, reputedly the largest military barracks parade ground in Europe. This building displays detailing typical of the early twentieth-century seen in the window surrounds, canted bays and curved portico. It forms an interesting contrast to the Georgian barrack buildings which complete the parade ground. Though some original fabric was replaced following the burning of the barracks in 1922, it retains much of its historic character.