The Charterhouse (Former Sergeants' Mess and Quarters)

The Charterhouse, formerly known as the Sergeants' Mess and Quarters, is a building constructed between 1936 and 1937, designed by A Bulloch, an architectural advisor to the Air Ministry's Directorate of Works and Buildings. It features cavity brick construction with an interlocking tile roof covering the parapetted hipped roofs and brick stacks.

The building has an overall U-shaped plan, with a central mess block facing east and rear service ranges connected to matching accommodation blocks to the north and south. It is two storeys tall, and all windows are wooden sashes set in flush boxes, featuring brick voussoir heads and concrete sills.

The south block has a symmetrical seven-window front with 12-pane sashes, eight-pane sashes in the outer bays, and a panelled door set in a semi-circular arch made of header bricks, topped with a blind tympanum and channelled rustication around the door. The returns have three windows, with a central door to the right. The matching north block has its main elevation boarded up as of 2003.

The central block, which is taller and projects forward, features a similar nine-window range with a central door. Behind this block is a parapetted four-window single-storey service range with a hipped roof and a rendered extension dating from around 1942.

Inside, there is some original joinery, including panelled doors and staircases with steel balustrades. This building is noted for its distinctive design in the neo-Georgian style, reflecting the influence of the Royal Fine Arts Commission and architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. The Charterhouse is recognized as one of the most complete and architecturally unified examples of the post-1934 RAF Expansion Period, comparable to Hullavington in Wiltshire.