Watch Office (Building 72) at former RAF West Raynham

Former watch office, built in 1937-1938 to the Air Ministry's Works Department drawing number 207/36, remodelled in 1943 when the observation tower was replaced with a new control room to drawing number 4698/43.

MATERIALS: the 1937-1938 range is constructed from monolithic concrete, internally lined with pioneer blocks, while the 1943 addition is of cement-rendered brick with a concrete slab roof

PLAN: the former watch office stands at the centre of a crescent of four hangars aligned on a concave axis with the airfield to the south-east. It is square-on-plan, aligned north-west to south-east.

EXTERIOR: all the windows are steel casements with horizontal glazing bars forming multi panes.

The ground floor, which faces south-east across the site of the former runway, is of four bays, with each bay having a two-light casement. Below the windows is a continuous sill band surmounted by terracotta tiles and above is a projecting band which continues around the remainder of the building. The watch room windows wrap round to the return elevations where there are single casements (the glazing bars to the left-hand return window now missing). The left-hand return also has a half-glazed wooden door with a three-light fanlight beneath a shallow concrete hood and a further single casement at the left-hand end. The wall between the watch office window and the doorway bears the scars of the now removed staircase which originally gave access to the control room on the roof. The right-hand return has two single casement with horizontal glazing bars, concrete sills and a continuous concrete lintel. The centre of the rear elevation has an identical door to that on the left-hand return giving access to the former airmen’s toilets. Flanking it on each side are single casements.

The control room on the roof occupies the rear part of the building, with the front section used as an observation gallery enclosed by the original steel balustrade. Its south-eastern elevation has, from left to right, a plain wooden door, a six-light casement window and a two-light casement. The returns both have four-light casements and at the rear there are two two-light casements. To the left-hand side of the doorway there is a steel cat ladder with a safety cage rising to the flat roof which is enclosed by steel railings.

INTERIOR: the watch room at the front of the building is subdivided by a partition wall with a small hatch which is operated by a sliding wooden door from the east side room. Above the hatch in this room is a wooden shelf. Most ground-floor rooms retain plain door surrounds, but the doors themselves are now missing, while the Duty Officer's rest room at the rear retains plain skirting boards along with horizontal security bars to the windows. The first-floor control room retains original braced and ledged doors.