Royal Marine Barracks North Barrack Block And Attached Basement Railings

The Royal Marine Barracks North Barrack Block, located on Durnford Street in Stonehouse, Plymouth, was built around 1860 and designed by Colonel G Greene, who was the Director of the Admiralty Works Department. The building has undergone alterations in the late 20th century. It is constructed from Plymouth limestone rubble with limestone dressings and features dry slate roofs on two levels, with a hipped end on the right and coped gable ends on the slightly taller later block on the left, all topped with a coped rubble parapet over a dressed stone band. The structure has two truncated stone stacks.

The barrack block has a single-depth plan, with the left-hand section slightly projecting forward. It stands three storeys tall above a basement and has a 17:12-window range. The windows are horned sashes with glazing bars, which have replaced the original hornless sashes, all set within plain stone architraves. There are bands above the basement and ground floor, segmental-arched doorways, and an enclosed stone porch with a parapet and side windows on the left. At the western end of the rear, there is a square stair tower topped with a pyramidal roof.

Although the interior was not inspected, it has been reported to have been rebuilt. Surrounding the forecourt are late 19th-century latticed and scrolled wrought-iron railings that flank the steps leading up to the doorways. Historically, this barrack block was built to match the 1783 barrack after the demolition of the former North officers' wing, as part of an enlargement of the barracks by Greene in the 1860s, which enclosed the 18th-century parade ground. Originally, the layout included single-depth rooms flanking entrance stair halls, with a sergeant's mess and library at the western end and a men's day room and billiard room at the eastern end. Stonehouse is recognized as the earliest and most significant barracks in England not associated with a fortification, representing a rare example of 18th-century planning and holding great historical value.