Former Galvanising Shed (Visitor Centre)

TQ 76 NE CHATHAM EAST ROAD (West side) Chatham Dockyard 762-1/8/52 Former Galvanising shed (Visitor Centre)

GV II

Galvanising shed, now visitor centre. Mid C19, altered c198S. Brick with stone dressings, with slate roof. Italianate style. Rectangular plan. EXTERIOR: single storey; 12-bay range. Coped gabled ends have raised centres with flanking pilasters, cambered head to boarded vehicle entrance, flanking round-arched windows blind below the springing and a large central round-arched windows with diagonal and central keys. Sides divided by flat-headed recesses containing round-arched windows as the front. Raised louvred ridge. INTERIOR: metal roof trusses, with a gantry crane supported by central posts. HISTORY: galvanised corrugated sheet (patented 18205) was increasingly used for enclosure from the 18405, and the Admiralty Works Department were pioneers in its use on the slip roofs. The slip roofs were recovered in zinc-plated sheet iron by the 18405, and thereafter the use of corrugated Iron increased in use in the naval yards. Part of the development of the dockyard with the No.1 Smithery (qv), associated with the mid-C19 increase in iron for buildings and warships.

Listing NGR: TQ7608969373