Hms Drake St Andrews Church Hms Drake Theatre Complex

HMS Drake Theatre Complex, Saltash Road, Devonport, Plymouth

This building complex was constructed between 1879 and 1886, with extensions added from 1892 to 1912. It was designed by Superintendent Engineer Lieutenant-Colonel P Smith of the Royal Engineers. Originally built and used as a barrack master's house and canteen, it has since been converted to theatre use and now serves partly as a church.

The complex employs a Free Classical style throughout. The main materials are Plymouth limestone, with rock-faced ashlar used to the basement of the theatre end and limestone brought to course with limestone dressings elsewhere. Slate roofs sit behind parapets with moulded entablature or triangular pediments. Stone axial and lateral stacks feature moulded entablature, and there is a louvred ventilator above the projection room of the theatre.

The building follows a single-depth plan, with a house at the north end and a canteen to the south side, separated by a courtyard. A wide through passage with attached single-storey cloakrooms sits at the higher end of the theatre, leading to a pedimented two-storey block and another block at the higher end.

The theatre frontage comprises a six-bay range with a pedimented moulded doorway approached by steps on the left and blind windows. The theatre is set over a basement with a single-storey link building alongside. The theatre passage and accompanying buildings on the right are set back from the theatre front. The passage has a wide round-arched doorway with corbelled imposts and two tall transomed windows with plain architraves to its right. The parapet entablature continues as a mid-floor entablature across a five-bay pedimented front, approached by a full-width round-ended flight of steps, with a keyed oculus to the pediment.

The building to the right is a three-window first-floor range with segmental-arched ground-floor openings, comprising a doorway on the left and a window on the right. Above the doorway is a banner inscribed "FISHER". A wider three-window return on the right-hand side displays similar details. The three-bay left-hand return of the theatre has a central triangular pediment over a large three-light round-arched window with square columns as mullions, with blind flanking windows. The side wall of the house to the left of the theatre is a two-window range.

The rear elevation maintains similar general detailing to other elevations. On the left is a wing with a central tripartite window on each floor. To its right are ramped walls to the courtyard with a pedimented end. Beyond this is another tripartite window and the round arch of the rear of the through passage, followed by a four-window range with horned sashes with glazing bars. Set back to the right is a large three-light double-transomed window with a squat ground floor flush with flanking buildings. At the far right is the four-window-range house front, featuring a pedimented and moulded doorway on the right approached by a flight of steps, original horned sashes with glazing bars, and a pair of panelled doors.

The interior of the theatre retains its original roof structure with tie rods. An office has a dogleg stairs arrangement and panelled doors. The other buildings within the complex were not inspected in detail.

Theatres were built in a number of military barracks in the late nineteenth century, though HMS Drake was notable as the only one of the Navy's three first-class barracks to have one. This building forms part of one of the finest and most complete barrack complexes in England, manifesting the Royal Navy's status and importance at that time. Now housing St Andrew's Church, it remains a significant example of Victorian military architecture.