Greater London, Westminster, Hyde Park Cavalry Barracks, Warrant Officers' Mess (Block D)

Building Notes

The Warrant Officers' Mess block (Block D) provides recreational spaces for soldiers, the Riding Master's office, and individual accommodation for 19 warrant officers on the top floor of the building. The Mess itself is placed on the first floor and is arranged with sliding partitions, which allow the room to be divided into smaller spaces, or used as one large reception hall.

The Riding Masters office sits alongside a viewing gallery, from which one can look out over the ground floor gymnasium and the adjacent riding school (Block E).

Archive Details

The manuscript material in the Sir Basil Spence Archive provides details of architectural features that were salvaged from the previous barracks premises and used in this block. These include a stone coat of arms taken from above the main gate of the old building, which is mounted on the wall of the staircase leading to the Mess. There are also two stone figures taken from the north facade of the old barracks, which have been incorporated into fixed seating in the anteroom.

The drawings in the Archive include details of the band practice room, which was located underneath the ramp leading from the stable yard to the riding school. These show designs for soundproofing and acoustic elements used in the space.

Archive Summary

The Sir Basil Spence Archive holds 733 drawings specifically on the Warrant Officers Mess block. The building is also shown on a number of drawings for the whole scheme. The Archive holds 182 manuscript folders and 809 photographs relating to Hyde Park Calvary Barracks. The photographs include a series of construction photographs, taken month-by-month, of the whole site.

This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.