Description

PORTSMOUTH

SU6300 QUEEN STREET 774-1/8/100 (South side) 25/09/72 HMS Nelson: The Wardroom and attached bollards (Formerly Listed as: QUEEN STREET Officers Mess of HMS Victory Barracks)

GV II

Officers' quarters and mess. 1899-1903. By Sir Henry Pilkington, RE, for the Admiralty. Red brick in English bond with rusticated basement; lavish yellow stone dressings. Slate roof with corniced, multi-flue, chimneys. Free Baroque style. PLAN: axial plan of 3 linked blocks, each double depth with rear centre wardroom. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys on basement, outer blocks with attic. 7 bay centre with central entrance tower; outer accommodation blocks of 5 bays. Ashlar bands; eaves cornice and architraves with tripartite keystones, and pediments to central block. Windows mostly 12-pane sashes. Dated heads to rainwater pipes. Outer blocks have external chimney stacks as buttresses each side of centre, linked by pierced arched parapet above eaves; Tuscan porches to centre on ground floor, with balustrades and above, a 2-storey window with carved panels and a stepped-gableted dormer. Centre block: tower projects, crowned by Ionic columned cupola with ship finial; on ground floor, Tuscan portico on brick basement with entablature, balustraded panelled parapet, and flights of steps at each side and at front, the latter breaking through under arch with royal coat of arms; 2-storey stair-window above has pilastered architrave with gablet and obelisk finial. Bay to left has Venetian window on 1st floor; bay to right paired windows; 2nd floor pilasters some rising from cartouches with admiralty crests; end bays have 2-storey canted oriels below gables with former ship figureheads in niches. Linking bays each have giant blind arch with rusticated voussoirs and massive carved keystone; 5-light window above and stepped embattled parapet. At south-west corner of building, 2 inverted cannon barrel bollards. INTERIOR: fine wardroom has Ionic entrance with decorative frieze, massive fireplace, musicians' gallery with elaborately carved dated frieze; above panelled wainscot, a series of paintings of famous naval battles including 'The Glorious 1st of June' and 'Copenhagen' by H Wylie; coats of arms of Nelson

and his captains at Trafalgar; arch-braced queen post roof; decorative iron chandeliers. Stair hall: marbled columns, stair rising around 3 sides has panelled wooden balustrade with carvings of The Victory throughout the ages and the ship's battle honours; decorative pediments and finials to newels. Other principal rooms have panelling, decorative fireplaces, Ionic pilasters and marbled columns supporting friezes and cornices, compartmental ceilings. Panelling, doors, light fittings and mirror re-used from the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert after its decommissioning c1953. HISTORY: a near-identical design to the other officer's quarters at Devonport and Chatham naval barracks, the first built for sailors, and a strikingly rich and strongly articulated piece of architecture. One of the clearest manifestations of the status and confidence of the Royal Navy at this time. (PSA Drawings Collection, NMR, Swindon: PTM/1703-15).

Listing NGR: SU6373200461

External Links

• Wikidata Q26666808

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Recommended Books

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)