Sir John Moore House, Former Bodmin Depot

Sir John Moore House, formerly Bodmin Depot, is an officers' quarters and mess building, now offices, dating from 1881. It was designed by Major H C Seddon RE at the War Office and converted around 1980. The building is constructed of squared rubble with dressed stone, stone ridge stacks, and a slate roof. It has a double-depth plan.

The exterior is characterised by a near-symmetrical 10-window range. The front features wide, coped end gables on kneelers, set forward, along with cill and lintel bands and an eaves cornice. Central and right-hand entrances have hood moulds over round-arched doorways, with a double 20th-century door to the central entrance and a single door within a gabled porch on the right. A single-storey block extends beyond the right-hand opening. The windows are 2- and 3-light, with square column mullions on the ground floor, and have late 20th-century uPVC casements. The rear features wide outer gables and a central square bay with a pyramidal roof.

Inside, a central stair hall contains a dogleg staircase with decorative cast-iron balusters and marble fireplaces.

The building is an example of a standard design for the Localisation depots, originally providing accommodation for officers and servants, as well as mess rooms and kitchens. The Cardwell reforms led to the redistribution of barracks across the country to strengthen local connections and recruitment. Sir John Moore House is the only example of this design built in stone, and is part of one of the two most complete surviving depots, alongside the depot in Reading. It is associated with a former Militia armoury.