Description

TQ7669NE
686-1/2/89

GILLINGHAM
Pembroke
CENTRAL AVENUE (south side)
Former Blake Barrack

(Formerly Listed as: CHATHAM, CENTRAL AVENUE, Chatham Maritime (South side) 4 Barrack blocks, Grenville, Anson, Nelson and Blake)

28/09/90

GV
II
Barracks, now offices and laboratories. c1902 by Sir Henry Pilkington. Red brick with Portland stone dressings, brick gable and ridge and lateral stacks and slate cross-gabled roof.

STYLE: Free Edwardian Baroque.

PLAN: single-depth axial.

EXTERIOR: three storeys with attics to end cross ranges; 25-bay range. Long symmetrical ranges have a plinth, banded rustication to a ground floor plat band, second floor impost band becoming corniced frieze on end gables, and a modillion eaves cornice, the eight-bay intermediate ranges divided by shallow paired lateral stacks to the first and second floor with a central downpipe. Three bay end gables have clasping pilaster strips, with scrolled ends to raking coping, and thin lateral stacks flanking central windows to a tall gable stack with a central rib; deep, full-height central canted bay. Segmental-arched 6/6-pane sashes have large split keystones to ground and first floors, brick and stone voussoirs to the second; ground-floor windows to the intermediate sections wider with side lights.

Return gables have an outer blind bay, with a central porch with blocked Tuscan columns to an entablature with BLAKE in raised letters and a segmental pediment and a half-glazed double door, and a bay above with entablature and parapet, paired 4/4-pane sashes in a keyed architrave and 4/4-pane sashes to the sides; above is a round-arched 8/8-pane sash with architrave and brackets to a round-arched pediment set forward from the cornice over a cartouche with flanking fish.

Rear elevations plainer, with square latrine towers at each end with pyramidal roofs connected to the barrack by a ground floor arch and one-light range above. Good cast-iron dated hoppers and square downpipes. Roofs have banded ridge and lateral stacks, some truncated, with late C20 dormer louvres and air conditioning units.

INTERIOR: plain with axial corridors and stairs in ends and central projecting sections.

HISTORY: one of four matching barracks at the former HMS Pembroke, and part of a carefully planned group with the Officer's Mess, Captain's House, Motor Dept (qqv), and other ancillary buildings.

Listing NGR: TQ7665169537

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26558176

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

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)