Former Officers' Mess, Fenham Barracks

The former officers' mess at Fenham Barracks, built between 1804 and 1806 by James Wyatt, Surveyor General to the Ordnance Board, is now used as student accommodation. Constructed in English bond brick with brown sandstone dressings, the building features brick ridge stacks and a slate hipped valley roof, showcasing a late Georgian style. It has a single-depth plan and is two storeys high with a basement, comprising a seven-window range.

The exterior presents a symmetrical front with an ashlar basement and plinth, a first-floor cill band, and an eaves frieze and cornice. The end sections of the building are slightly set forward. The central entrance is adorned with Tuscan columns supporting entablature blocks featuring Royal Artillery shields and an open pediment, leading to a round-arched doorway on pilasters with a radial fanlight and a late 20th-century six-panel door. The ground floor has round-arched, late 20th-century horned six-over-six pane sashes, with the end windows set within matching arched recesses. The first floor features segmental-arched, horned two-over-two pane sashes. The rear has a similar design, with a central round-arched stair light above the entrance that interrupts the cill band. The three-bay returns have openings at the front, with the outer ones being blind and the middle ground-floor window set within a round-arched recess.

The interior was completely rebuilt around 1994. Historically, the Ordnance Board was responsible for artillery barracks during the Napoleonic War, making this one of the earliest surviving officers' messes in the country and the only example of a stone barracks from this period. It is part of the former Fenham Artillery Barracks, which also included the sergeants' mess and guard houses.