Harbour Master'S Office

The Harbour Master's Office is a substantial mid-19th century building with two storeys and a basement, featuring three windows. It has a moderately low pitched slated roof and two central chimneys along with one rear tall brick chimney, all with stone-coped plinths, a stone cornice, and a blocking course, supported by brick brackets. The building displays a heavy stone eaves cornice with moulded, closely set brackets and a stone frieze below that has the inscription "HARBOUR MASTER'S OFFICE" in incised sans-serif capitals. There is a stone band at the first floor level and a stone-coped basement plinth. The walls are made of multicoloured stock brick.

The sash windows, which have glazing bars, feature moulded stone architraves and bracketed cills. The outer windows on the ground floor are three-light, and the ground floor and first floor centre windows have console bracketed cornices. To the right, there is a set-back two-storey entrance extension with a blank first floor. Access is provided by seven steps leading to a four-panel door beneath a bracketed stone cornice hood. The property is enclosed by tall cast iron spearhead area railings with stout, domed posts topped with spike finials and swept square bases at intervals, along with similar wrought iron gates on both sides. There is also a set-back one-storey entrance extension on the left, featuring a door identical to that on the right.

The Harbour Master's Office is part of a group with all the listed buildings on Ballast Quay and No 18.