Building Number 27, former Groves sergeants' mess (Groves and Henderson Barracks)

Former sergeants’ mess. 1920 to Air Ministry Directorate of Works drawings 220/20 and 344-345/20. Later used as offices.

MATERIALS: red brickwork in stretcher bond to cavity walls, some dressings in limestone ashlar. The hipped roofs have concrete plain tiles (replacing slate) on timber trusses.

PLAN: located adjacent to and as part of the Groves Barracks at the west end of the main parade ground, the building is a near-square, single-storey, hipped-roofed, block with a small internal service yard. In addition to the dining room, there were originally writing, reading and card rooms, a billiard room, and a kitchen with services to the rear.

EXTERIOR: the front (east) elevation has small-pane casements with the returns having sash windows with glazing bars. The front elevation has a prominent canted bay each side of the centre, with casements framed by bold stone mullions and transom, in 1:3:1 lights, set flush to the brickwork below and carried up to a parapet with coping above the eaves line. At the centre of the elevation are a pair of part-glazed panelled doors in a stone pilaster surround with a flat canopy on brackets, above which is a small tripartite lunette in a brick arch. To each side of the entrance is a tall narrow casement with stone transom, lintel and sill. The right return has three sashes, the centre unit paired, and near the front is an external stack, cropped at eaves level; the left return has a small extension with a casement window, under a swept-down section of the roof, and behind this is the entry to the service yard. A simple eaves box is taken round the whole building.

INTERIOR: original joinery including panelled doors and double doors in hall set under a semi-circular arch.