Greater London, Westminster, Hyde Park Cavalry Barracks, Officers' Flats (Block G)

Building Notes

The Married Officers Quarters (Block G) is comprised of eight maisonettes, seven have four bedrooms and one, intended for the commanding officer, has five. The bedrooms are on the second floor and the reception rooms overlook the park, on the first floor. The entrances run along a first floor walkway on the Knightsbridge side of the building and are accessed by an external spiral staircase.

Below the maisonettes is a two-storey car park. At the time of building this provided parking for all the soldiers but as car ownership increased parking spaces have become limited. On the lower ground level storage lockers are provided for residents of the maisonettes and the tower block.

Archive Details

The sketches in the Sir Basil Spence Archive show alternative designs for the block and, include designs for flat type accommodation as an alternative to the maisonette arrangement. The sketches also show alternative layout plans for individual maisonettes.

The drawings in Archive include details such as room layout plans. These show the regulation furniture, which was provided by the army and was specified in a Barrack Synopsis from the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, 1948.

Archive Summary

The Sir Basil Spence Archive holds 245 drawings specifically relating to the Married Officers Quarters. 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.