Ze7 Lippitts Hill: Spider Block

The Spider Block Accommodation Range, built 1939-40 by the War Office, stands at Lippitts Hill as a distinctive example of military utilitarian design.

The original structure comprises six timber-framed and weather-boarded single-storey ranges linked by corridors, standing on brick plinths with felted shallow-pitched timber roofs and metal casement windows. A later extension added soon after 1951 to the west side is brick built with roofs of corrugated metal or asbestos sheeting and metal casement windows. A further small flat-roofed extension with a plastic water tower was added to the southern end of the central northern range to provide additional bathroom facilities.

The plan follows a distinctive 'Spider' arrangement with the original block configured in two parallel rows of three ranges, joined at their ends by corridors and linked by two cross corridors. The post-1951 extension adds three further ranges of similar proportions to the west side.

Each of the six original ranges comprises six bays defined by metal casement windows with a horizontal pattern of glazing bars and timber doors in each gable end. All ranges are supported on brick plinths with shallow pitched felted roofs. The principal entrances are located on the eastern side, in the southern gable of the north range and the north gable of the southern range. A former entrance in the corridor linking the two blocks is now blocked, forming a concrete-lined niche, possibly a fire point. The post-1951 brick extension maintains similar proportions and metal-framed windows with horizontal glazing bar patterns to the original block. All windows in the original Spider Block retain 1940s Crittal-style window furniture.

Interior spaces are utilitarian in character. Most rooms are open to the roof with exposed king-post trusses and rafters intact. Where ceilings have been inserted in bathrooms and corridors, the main structure remains virtually unaltered beneath. The roof structure in the later phase uses concrete posts and wooden angled braces supporting a common rafter roof. The majority of original carpentry survives, with one-over-three panel timber doors throughout the original block and four-panel horizontal doors in the later extension. Small timber fire bucket shelves survive in the corridors, and a linen cupboard with shelving remains at the west end of the southern range corridor.

The southern half of the Spider served as dormitories, with each bay defining a single living space divided by fitted storage furniture and accommodating a single bed. The central southern range functions as an ablation block with later twentieth-century toilet and shower fittings. The northern half contains some stud partitioning inserted to create smaller rooms, altering the original configuration but not affecting main structural components. The northern legs also served as dormitories; where accessible, they remain as single open spaces with no surviving fitted furniture.