Hms Drake St Nicholas Road Raleigh Block

This is a large barrack block, built in 1901 as part of the second phase of construction for HMS Drake in Devonport. The design was by Superintendent engineer Lt-Col P Smith, of the Royal Engineers. The building is constructed of dressed Plymouth limestone with limestone dressings and has a slate or asbestos slate roof hidden behind corniced parapets, and behind pedimented end gables. Flanking the end gables are panelled stone stacks with a moulded entablature. The style is Free Classical.

The building follows an overall rectangular plan with projecting corner wings and central wings to the sides. It is three storeys high, with a basement on the lower ground level, which is partly below ground at the higher end. The symmetrical end facades are 2:3:2 bays, featuring a central doorway and pairs of flanking windows. Additional doorways are spaced irregularly along the 2:8:2:8:2-bay sides. A mid-floor moulded entablature runs along the building, and the entrance fronts have keystones over the ground-floor arches and pediments above the central wings. The recessed, pilastered openings on the first floor have round arches with keystones, while the second-floor windows have flat heads with pediments. The corner blocks echo this detail on their returns. The central wings of the sides are characterized by rock-faced pilasters dividing the bays, and triangular pediments to the parapets. The long ranges, set back between the corner blocks, have pedimented hoods on brackets to the first floor, and consoles resembling machicolations above the second-floor windows.

The interior was noted to have large dormitories with corner washrooms and a central staircase, though it has not been inspected. Sailors had previously lived aboard hulks before the construction of these barracks, first at Devonport, then at Chatham and Portsmouth. HMS Drake was notable for being the only example built in ashlar. The barracks are part of one of the finest and most complete barrack complexes in England, reflecting the importance and status of the Royal Navy at the time.