Riding School, St Johns Wood Barracks

The riding school is located within the Royal Artillery barracks at St John's Wood and was built between 1823 and 1824, designed by Major B Tylden of the Royal Engineers. It is a painted brick building with a slate hipped roof and exemplifies a Classical style. The rectangular building has a six-window range and a prominent entrance porch at the east end. The porch features a round-arched recess with a segmental-arched doorway, a lunette above it, and a square timber clock tower with louvred sides and a weather vane. A segmental-arched doorway is located to the side of the porch on the eastern elevation, while the sides of the building have an arcade of arched recesses, each containing large, small-paned metal-framed lights divided into three by a round-arched mullion.

The interior features battered lower walls to prevent horses from becoming trapped and a wide timber queen post roof. Riding schools were an essential component of cavalry barracks, used for training and practicing maneuvers. St John's Wood barracks were constructed in the post-Waterloo period to enhance security in London, connected to Nash's Metropolitan Improvements. The riding school represents a significant surviving portion of the original barracks complex. Its size and design are comparable to the riding school incorporated in the Brighton Pavilion, and larger than the two earlier, smaller examples at Dorchester and Exeter. Historical plans and elevations are held at the National Archives (W078/1338).