Government House Mess

ALDERSHOT

SU FARNBOROUGH ROAD 991/0/0 Government House Mess 20-NOV-02

II

Commanding officer's house, Aldershot. 1883; interior altered 1903 after fire damage. Red brick in Flemish bond with moulded brick details. Welsh slate hipped and gabled roofs. Brick axial and lateral stacks with thin brick pilaster shafts and corbelled brick caps. PLAN: Overall L-shaped plan. Square-plan main block with entrance through porte-cochere on south east side to hall which leads to stair hall at back and principal rooms on the south west garden front; billiard-room wing on rear north west side and long service wing on north east side. Queen Anne style. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attic. 3-bay south east front, the left bay advanced slightly, pairs of narrow sash windows, the first floor with brick pilasters, keyblocks in segmental heads and elaborate moulded brick Dutch gables with sunflower panels in arched panels; brick platband; brick porte-cochere at centre, now glazed, with pilastered elliptical arches and broken pediment with ball-finial. The north east side has large brick bay windows on the ground floor and advanced bay on right with pair of tall and narrow stair windows with lattice panes and Dutch gable above; projecting on right [NE] long 1 storey and attic service wing with flat roof dormers with shaped brick aprons below the eaves. 3-bay south west garden front, small projecting bay on right [S] corner with pilastered pedimental gable, large central projecting bay with Dutch gable and lateral stack to right and to left advanced gabled bay with pair of windows with brick pilasters and moulded brick cornice with arched panel above; at centre of ground floor a large canted bay and later cast-iron conservatory. Rear north west large brick bay window on ground floor, first floor windows with small pedimental gables and single-storey billiard room wing on left, in angle with service wing, with wooden canopy over terrace at end. Mostly sash windows. INTERIOR is in part the result of the 1903 interior reconstruction and largely complete, including a grand arcaded screen to the open-well stairs with balustrade; dining rooms, saloons and drawing rooms with Classical marble chimneypieces and moulded plastered ceilings and with joinery generally intact. SOURCE: Cole, H., The Story of Aldershot; pp.86,355-356. An important component of Aldershot garrison and a good example of a Victorian Queen Anne style house.