Refreshment room (part of the former stable block), Ravenscourt Park

Refreshment room (part of the former stable block), Ravenscourt Park

This building originated as part of the former stable block of Ravenscourt Park house in the early or mid-18th century. It was partially demolished and converted into a refreshment room in the late 19th century, with subsequent additions made in the 20th and early 21st centuries.

The structure is built of London-stock brick with red-brick quoins and red-brick and stone dressings, featuring timber windows and doors throughout, all beneath a hipped slate roof. The plan is L-shaped.

The main block rises to two storeys with an attic level, with single-storey wings extending to the north and east. The symmetrical west-facing front elevation features a central two-window projection topped by a pediment containing a brick bullseye arch in its tympanum, housing a painted-black clock with gilt detailing. This projection is flanked by single-window bays. A central double-leaf door with a metal fanlight and elliptical arch opening is flanked by round-arched windows fitted with fanlights. The other windows have segmental heads: two ground-floor six-over-two horned sashes and four smaller first-floor multi-pane windows. All openings on this elevation have brick surrounds topped by brick voussoirs, with brick keystones appearing on the ground floor. Sash and casement windows continue around the side and rear elevations. Blocked first-floor bullseye arches are visible on the rear and north elevations. The south elevation of the main range is blank and was partially rebuilt in the late 20th century. Bracketed eaves support the main roof and pediment. The hipped roof is crowned by a zinc-clad turret topped with a timber cupola and weathervane; a 20th-century light occupies one side of the turret.

Attached to the north elevation is an early 20th-century single-storey toilet wing topped by a timber lantern, with an early 21st-century flat-roof extension beyond. To the east sits a mid-20th-century flat-roof single-storey kitchen infill. A late 19th-century single-storey pitched-roof wing extends from the south-east corner, featuring varied 19th and 20th-century windows. This wing exhibits exposed brickwork on its north elevation and a rendered south elevation supported by flat buttresses, with a mid-20th-century flat-roof extension at its east end.

Internally, the main ground-floor refreshment room is open-plan with a ceiling supported by a row of three cast-iron columns; the late 19th-century counter and kitchen no longer survive. Two doorways at the top of steps in the rear wall provide access to 20th-century kitchen and store rooms. The first floor above the refreshment room is accessible via a ceiling hatch. The former tack room retains timber harness racks on its walls. At the centre stands the late 19th-century tapering octagonal base of the clock chamber, constructed of timber planks with a four-panel door and four-pane windows on two sides, sitting below the bell turret. Opposite are cupboards housing the mechanism for the front-elevation clock. A blocked doorway marks the former access to a demolished external stairway. The room is topped by a king-post truss roof.

The west-end room of the rear wing has been incorporated into the late 20th-century kitchen. The middle section contains the former late 19th-century boiler room with a simple corner brick fire surround. The mid-20th-century east-end extension houses modern staff facilities. The northern toilet-block wing comprises an early 20th-century element lit by the roof lantern and an early 21st-century flat-roofed extension, both fitted with modern male and female toilet facilities.

The mid-20th-century, late-20th-century, and early-21st-century flat-roof extensions are of lesser architectural interest.