Description

SX4556NW
740-1/32/167
08/07/98

PLYMOUTH
SALTASH ROAD, Devonport
(West side)
HMS Drake: Howard Building

GV
II

Officer's accommodation, now administration block. 1879-86,
Superintendent Engineer Lt-Col P Smith, RE; extended to SW
1929.
MATERIALS: rusticated Plymouth limestone to basement,
otherwise limestone brought to course and with limestone
dressings; dry slate mansard roof behind parapet with 3
pilastered and segmental-pedimented dormer windows and roof
hidden behind balustraded parapets of flanking attic storeys.
Free Classical style.
PLAN: articulated rectangular plan plus small plan projection
to centre of each end.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys plus attic, or attic storey, over
basement; symmetrical 1:3:1-bay front. Keyed segmental arches
and band to basement, sill string above and pilasters dividing
bays; mid-floor entablature plus roundelled balconies on
shaped brackets; architraves to openings, moulded hoods on
consoles above French windows and moulded parapet entablature;
3-bay attic storeys with pilasters dividing bays and side bays
blind. Original 12-pane horned sashes and French windows and
original panelled doors to central doorway surmounted by
segmental pediment on shaped brackets. Other elevation with
similar detail where inspected.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
HISTORY: this was the original officer's accommodation when
the barracks was first occupied. They moved into the Wardroom
(qv) when it was completed in 1902. Sailors lived in hulks
until their first barracks were built here at Devonport, then
Chatham and Portsmouth. They followed the same designs, but
HMS Drake was the only one built in ashlar. Part of one of the
finest and most complete barracks complex in England,
manifesting the status and importance of the Royal Navy at
this time.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1989-:
655 & 656).

Listing NGR: SX4497756719

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26666082

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)