Description

TQ7669NE
686-1/2/94

GILLINGHAM
Pembroke
CENTRAL AVENUE (South side)
The Wardrooms

(Formerly Listed as: CENTRAL AVENUE, Hms Pembroke (South side) Central Mess Block at HMS Pembroke)

06/06/84

GV
II
Mess block and offices, now offices. Dated 1901 on fireplace; by Sir Henry Pilkington. Red brick with Portland dressings, gable and ridge stacks, and slate roof.

STYLE: Baroque.

PLAN: double-depth plan with central stair hall.

EXTERIOR: two storeys and basement; seven window range. A near symmetrical range has a central square tower and end gables, a rusticated banded raised basement, cill and plat bands, stone frieze and modillion cornice; outer gables have segmental pediments.

A large porch to the piano nobile has a banded base with a central round-arched gateway with scrolled top and flights of steps up each side with a balustrade; above, four Tuscan columns and entablature, with a parapet and central balustrade, two bays deep with blocked antae, to a round-arched doorway with good fanlight and double doors.

Four stage one bay tower is banded as the main range, with a round-arched first floor balcony doorway beneath a 6/6-pane sash, a bracketed stone second floor balcony, segmental-arched 6/6-pane sash with architrave, and a wreathed oculus; an octagonal belfry has balustrade all round, a cornice with segmental-arched pediments over clocks to front and sides, recessed louvred windows between, and a dome and finial. Basement windows have split keystones to 6/6-pane sashes, cambered heads to outer windows, wider elliptical arches to the inner bay which has tripartite windows. Upper floors have architraves with pulvinated friezes and pediments over keystones, paired to the inner bay, to 8/8-pane sashes; the left-hand side has an inner bay with three-light leaded casements, on the ground-floor with column mullions and a raised keystone, and a double-height round-arched stair window above with two transoms and a central round-arched light. The first floor has recessed aprons with cartouche between.

End gables have a two storey oriel on a massive moulded bracketed base, windows as the front, and a niche in the gable with a full-height figure. End returns have corbelled gable stacks, and a large diagonally-set lateral stack in the recessed rear section; segmental-arched bridges, reportedly added later, connect with the outer mess blocks (qv), with rusticated quoins, enriched cartouche keystones, crenellated parapets and five-light mullion windows.

Rear has one bay ends set back, central five window section has outer canted bays with Ipswich windows beneath large round-headed window, and similar tall intermediate windows. Good dated cast-iron hoppers and down pipes.

INTERIOR: a large and richly decorated entrance stair hall has an open well stair with panelled wainscot and square newels with finials, and an open landing carried on marble columns over an axial passage with round arches. To the rear is the fine mess room, with a carved timber Free Baroque fireplace and overmantel with river gods and a panel inscribed ER 1901, half panelling, open end gallery, and a four bay queen post roof on dragon corbels holding cartouches; breakfast room to front has marble Ionic columns and a panelled ceiling. Enriched doors with Art Nouveau brasswork and pedimented heads.

HISTORY: forms the middle of three richly detailed mess blocks, and part of a carefully planned early C20 naval barracks, with the Captain's House, barracks (Pasley Rd) and other ancillary buildings (qqv).

Listing NGR: TQ7659469525

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26558185

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6