Description

IDMISTON -
SU 23 NW
4/95 Building 106, Chemical Defence
Establishment, Porton Down
II

Headquarters building, 1916 for Royal Engineers Experimental
Station (Gas Corps) now administration offices. Rendered brick
with asbestos slate roof. Single storey, symmetrical, in Colonial
style. Central entrance and circulation with wings ending in
cross wings, forming an extended H-plan. Central pair of panelled
doors with floating segmental pediment on consoles and 2-bays of
timber paned cross windows either side, terminating in line
rusticated raised quoins, the whole capped with elegant simple
triangular pediment. Wings of 9 bays, each again symmetrical, the
central bay set forward with slight pediment and window within wide
architrave and apron. Wings at ends 5 x 3 bays with rusticated
quoins to corners and central bay on each face also set forward and
pedimented. Various later extensions at rear. Roofs hipped.
Central timber clocktower with clock and windvane.
Interior: lobby from entrance leads to octagonal domed circulation
area with doors to cardinal faces and blind doors on angles, all
with architraves. Central corridor to offices in wings, some with
8-panelled doors. North-west wing contains conference room.
Important as the first building erected in Britain for the
development of chemical warfare, under the command of Lt. Co. A.W.
Crossley CMG, CBE, LLD, FRS, RE. The Old Chemistry Building,
1922, and the Old Physics Building, the first laboratories survive
as stores, but are utilitarian and not of special interest.

Listing NGR: SU2107137050

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26587684

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

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)