North Office Block (Building Number 1/144)
NORTH OFFICE BLOCK (BUILDING NUMBER 1/144), MAIN ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1272311
- Date first listed:
- 13-Aug-1999
- List Entry Name:
- North Office Block (Building Number 1/144)
- Statutory Address:
- NORTH OFFICE BLOCK (BUILDING NUMBER 1/144), MAIN ROAD
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1272311
- Date first listed:
- 13-Aug-1999
- List Entry Name:
- North Office Block (Building Number 1/144)
- Statutory Address 1:
- NORTH OFFICE BLOCK (BUILDING NUMBER 1/144), MAIN ROAD
- Statutory Address 2:
- NORTH OFFICE BLOCK (BUILDING NUMBER 1/144), VICTORIA ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- NORTH OFFICE BLOCK (BUILDING NUMBER 1/144), MAIN ROAD
- Statutory Address:
- NORTH OFFICE BLOCK (BUILDING NUMBER 1/144), VICTORIA ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- City of Portsmouth (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SU 62957 00827
Details
SU6200NE VICTORIA ROAD (South side) HM Naval Base 774-1/17/248 North office Block (Building No 1/144) GV II Includes: North Office Block (Building No. 1/144), MAIN ROAD HM NAVAL BASE Smithery, then clothing store, now office block. 1791-94; change of use 1852; C19 and C20 alterations. Red brick in Flemish bond with ashlar dressings, brighter-red brick arches and stone sills to windows. Welsh slate roof with later brick stacks. Rectangular plan. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, part with attic. Ashlar plinth, 1st-floor plat band, string over eaves band, and coping to parapet. North elevation: 9 bays arranged 3:3:3. End sections project, that on right with stuccoed raised quoins, ground floor, and eaves band, and having flat-arched entrance and four 12-pane sashes; otherwise this elevation has segmental-arched windows with replacement glazing, shorter on 1st floor, the bay 3 ground- floor window replaced by a door. West elevation: 7 1st-floor windows, 3 on right narrower and more closely-spaced. Stuccoing as before. 2 entrances and flat-arched 12-pane, 16-pane and 4-pane sashes to ground floor. 4 segmental-arched and 3 round-arched windows above. Cornice with brick dentils and pediment to right bay. South elevation: 3:5:3 bays, the 3 on left apparently of different build. Ends project. Similar to north elevation but with stepped dentilled brick eaves band and no parapet. Windows of bays 4 and 8 have doors inserted. C20 Iattic over right section. East elevation: 12 bays. Entrance at bay 7 with original bulbous head to rainwater pipe on its left dated 1848. INTERIOR: in north range at west end some panelled door and window reveals. In south range on ground floor a single remaining chamfered square wooden column. Ground and 1st floors refitted as offices mid-late C20. Braced collared queen-post roof trusses. HISTORY: After the much-altered smithery at Devonport the oldest naval smithery building, although much altered in mid C19 conversion which removed the original hand forges and chimneys, when it was superseded by the No.2 Ship Shop and Brass Foundry (qqv) for the steam-powered navy; without significant internal details. (Sources: Coad J: The Royal Dockyards 1690-1850: Aldershot: 1989:154; The Portsmouth Papers: Riley RC: The Evolution of the Docks and Industriel Buildings in Portsmouth: Portsmouth: 1985: 14)
Listing NGR: SU6299200361
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 476693
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Coad, J G, The Royal Dockyards 1690-1850: Architecture and Engineering Works of the Sailing Navy, (1989), 154
Riley, R C, The Portsmouth Papers in The Evolution of the Docks and Industrial Buildings in Portsmouth, (1985), 14
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 17-Jun-2026 at 08:04:39.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.