Royal Marine Barracks South West Block And Attached Front Basement Railings

PLYMOUTH

SX4653NW DURNFORD STREET, Stonehouse 740-1/65/781 (East side) 01/05/75 Royal Marine Barracks: SW block & attached front basement railings

GV II*

Formerly known as: Officers' Residence (7 flats) DURNFORD STREET Stonehouse, R M Barracks. Married officer's quarters at Marines barracks, now flats. c1860, designed by Colonel G Greene, Director of the Admiralty Works Department; converted to flats 1907. Plymouth limestone ashlar and limestone dressings; dry slate hipped roofs behind stone parapets with moulded cornices; tall ashlar stacks with moulded entablature; segmental-roofed dormers. PLAN: L-shaped plan of single-depth apartments with stair in the re-entrant. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys plus attic over basement and 4 storeys over basement; 1:5:3-window range with plinth, rusticated quoin strips and mid-floor string above ground floor. Late C19 horned sashes within plain stone architraves. Left-hand bay has tripartite windows over segmental-arched carriage entrance with small-paned overlight. Blocked pilastered doorways with moulded entablature central to next 5 bays and central to taller 3-bay block on the right. Other elevations have similar details. INTERIOR: former apartments divided by axial passage, retain some original 4-panel doors and plain stone fire surrounds; a good cantilevered open well stone stair with curved ends and iron balusters in the rear angle. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: late C19 latticed and scrolled wrought-iron railings surrounding forecourt and flanking steps. HISTORY: part of the expansion of the barracks in the 1860s by Greene. It was originally designed for 13 officers, closing the SW side of the C18 parade ground. Stonehouse is the oldest non-garrison barracks in England, and a complete complex of considerable architectural and historic significance. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1989-: 655).

Listing NGR: SX4637453978