Royal Arsenal Verbruggens House

TQ 4479 PLUMSTEAD ROAD SE18 (North side)

786/9/48 Royal Arsenal Verbruggen's House 08/06/73

GV II

House, later office. 1772-73, for Jan Verbruggen, Master Founder and his son Pieter, built by James Morris. Red Flemish bond brick with a slate mansard roof. Double-depth plan. 2 storeys, cellar and attic; 4-window range. Entrance in the S end has a coped, truncated gable, ground-floor arcade of round arches linked by impost band, and a modillion cornice; rubbed brick flat arches to 6/6-pane sashes, a half-glazed door, and 3 attic windows, the middle one blind. Matching parapetted 4-bay left-hand return has 4 flat-headed 3/3-pane dormers, and window-less right-hand return. INTERIOR: without plaster and most fittings at time of inspection (March 1994), has a full-width entrance room with fixings for panelling set in the walls, a rear right-hand open dogleg stair with column-on-vase balusters, columns newel and ramped rail; rear ground-floor plain stone mantle piece with a late C19 cast-iron fireplace. HISTORY: Verbruggen was Master Founder from 1770, and responsible for the reorganisation and extension of the nearby Royal Brass Foundry 1771. Later used to house the Ordnance Committee and Ordnance Board. (de Beer, Professor Carel, The Art of Gunfounding, Rotherfiela, 1991; Wesley H, The Royal Arsenal@ A brief history, Lodon, 1987, p.9; Hogg O F G, The Royal Arsenal, Oxford, 1963, p.432)

Listing NGR: TQ4295478475