Waterloo Block is a Grade II listed building in the Tower Hamlets local planning authority area, England. First listed on 30 November 1989. Barracks, museum, office.
Waterloo Block
- WRENN ID
- stubborn-alcove-moon
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Tower Hamlets
- Constituency
- Poplar and Limehouse MP: Apsana Begum (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 30 November 1989
- Type
- Barracks, museum, office
- OS grid reference
- TQ 336 806
- Coordinates
- 51.5086, -0.07597
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Waterloo Block is a barracks built in 1845, now serving as a museum and offices. It features squared and coursed limestone with ashlar dressings and a slate roof, showcasing a Castellated Gothic Revival style with Domestic Tudor details. The building has three storeys and a 19-window range. A corbelled crenellated parapet crowns the recessed central bay, which includes an ogee-arched window above Tudor-arched three-light windows and a pointed-arched doorway. This doorway is flanked by octagonal turrets that have lancet windows and gargoyles beneath the crenellated parapet. The seven-bay ranges also have crenellated parapets and Tudor-arched two-light transomed windows set in recessed bays, ending with slightly projecting square towers that feature similar details. The interior was remodeled in the mid-20th century but still retains some segmental brick vaulting. The barracks were constructed to house nearly 1,000 soldiers following a fire in 1841 that destroyed the Grand Storehouse on the site.
Local climate
Waterloo Block sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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