The Wardrooms

A mess block and offices, now converted to office use, dating from 1901 as indicated on a fireplace inscription. The building was designed by Sir Henry Pilkington in the Baroque style. It is constructed of red brick with Portland stone dressings, features gable and ridge chimney stacks, and has a slate roof.

The building has a double-depth plan with a central stair hall. The exterior presents two storeys above a basement, with a seven-window range. The near-symmetrical façade is defined by a central square tower and end gables. The raised basement is rusticated and banded, with cill and plat bands continuing across the elevation, topped by a stone frieze and modillion cornice. The outer gables are finished with segmental pediments.

Access to the piano nobile is through a large porch with a banded base. At its centre is a round-arched gateway with a scrolled top, flanked by flights of steps rising on either side behind a balustrade. Above the gateway stand four Tuscan columns supporting an entablature, with a parapet and central balustrade. The porch is two bays deep with blocked antae framing a round-arched doorway fitted with a good fanlight and double doors.

The central tower rises through four stages in a single bay width, with banding matching the main range. The first floor features a round-arched balcony doorway beneath a 6/6-pane sash window. The second floor has a bracketed stone balcony with a segmental-arched 6/6-pane sash window framed by an architrave, and above this is a wreathed oculus. The tower is crowned by an octagonal belfry with a balustrade running all around. This stage has a cornice with segmental-arched pediments over clocks on the front and sides, recessed louvred windows between them, and is topped with a dome and finial.

At basement level, windows have split keystones above 6/6-pane sashes. The outer windows have cambered heads, while the inner bay has wider elliptical arches framing tripartite windows. On the upper floors, windows are 8/8-pane sashes with architraves, pulvinated friezes and pediments over keystones; these are paired in the inner bay. On the left-hand side, an inner bay contains three-light leaded casements. At ground floor level these have column mullions and a raised keystone, while above is a double-height round-arched stair window with two transoms and a central round-arched light. The first floor features recessed aprons with a cartouche between them.

The end gables each have a two-storey oriel window set on a massive moulded bracketed base, with windows matching those on the front, and a niche in the gable containing a full-height figure. The end returns have corbelled gable stacks, and a large diagonally-set lateral stack in the recessed rear section. Segmental-arched bridges, reportedly added later, connect this building with the outer mess blocks. These bridges have rusticated quoins, enriched cartouche keystones, crenellated parapets and five-light mullion windows.

The rear elevation has one-bay ends set back from a central five-window section. The outer bays are canted and feature Ipswich windows beneath large round-headed windows, with similar tall intermediate windows between. The building retains good dated cast-iron hoppers and downpipes.

The interior contains a large and richly decorated entrance stair hall with an open well stair. The stair has panelled wainscot and square newels with finials, and an open landing carried on marble columns over an axial passage with round arches. To the rear is the fine mess room, featuring a carved timber Free Baroque fireplace and overmantel decorated with river gods and a panel inscribed "ER 1901". The room has half panelling, an open end gallery, and a four-bay queen post roof supported on dragon corbels holding cartouches. The breakfast room to the front has marble Ionic columns and a panelled ceiling. Throughout are enriched doors with Art Nouveau brasswork and pedimented heads.

The building forms the middle element of three richly detailed mess blocks, part of a carefully planned early 20th century naval barracks. The complex includes the Captain's House, barracks on Pasley Road, and other ancillary buildings.