Commandants House

The Commandant's House is a barracks commandant's house, now functioning as a nursing home, built around 1847 by Captain James of the Royal Engineers. It is constructed of red brick with limestone dressings and features rubbed brick headers, ashlar corner lateral stacks, and a hipped slate and pyramidal lead roof, reflecting a Late Georgian style. The building has a double-depth plan and stands two storeys tall with a three-window range.

The symmetrical entrance front includes a plat band and eaves cornice, an ashlar porch with clasping pilasters and cornice, and a round-arched doorway with a radial fanlight, margin lights, and half-glazed doors. The tripartite ground-floor windows have rubbed brick heads and 6/6-pane sashes, while the first-floor windows are also 6/6-pane sashes. The left-hand return and rear feature triple ashlar corner stacks with arched openings between them.

On the right-hand front corner, there is a rendered extra storey that forms an observation tower, topped with a leaded pyramidal roof and featuring a single 6/6-pane sash on each face. The right-hand return has a projecting pedimented central bay with a first-floor Venetian window and an oculus in the pediment.

Inside, the house retains original features such as stairs, panelled doors, and cornicing. The Commandant's House was built as part of the Gosport Royal Marines barracks, later known as HMS St Vincent, and it retains distinctive features, particularly the observation tower, which was specific to its role in managing the barracks. It is part of a group with James' entrance range to the west.