Survey Data
Reg No
50080977
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Previous Name
Griffith Barracks / Wellington Barracks / Richmond Bridewell
Original Use
Prison/jail
Historical Use
Barracks
In Use As
Office
Date
1850 - 1870
Coordinates
314791, 232564
Date Recorded
02/01/2014
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached six-bay former bridewell, built c.1860, with single-storey over basement front (west) elevation and two-storey east elevation, connecting earlier ranges to north and south. Subsequently in use as barracks stores, now in use as college offices. Hipped slate roof with clay ridge tiles, red brick chimneystacks with yellow clay pots, and some cast-iron rainwater goods. Snecked limestone with dressed limestone quoins to front elevation. Yellow brick laid in English garden wall bond with granite string course and limestone quoins to north and south elevations. Dressed limestone walls to ground floor and red brick laid in Flemish bond to first floor with limestone quoins and granite string course to east elevation. Square-headed window openings with red brick surrounds, granite sills and six-over-six pane timber sash windows having metal security bars to east and west elevations. Square-headed door openings with brick surrounds and timber battened doors, approached by granite steps with wrought-iron hand rails to front elevation. Square-headed door openings with cut limestone Gibbsian surround and red brick block-and-start surround, approached by granite steps and timber battened doors to east elevation.
Appraisal
This building was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century to link two gaol ranges of the old Richmond Bridewell. It is well-built and the use of dressed limestone, granite, and red and yellow brick provides colour and textural interest. The site was commandeered by the War Department and converted into a barracks in the period between 1877 and 1893. Archive drawings indicate it was used as a Quarter Master's offices and stores, and various workshops for carpentry, plumbing, painting, and tailoring.