Summary
Officers' Mess, completed late 1925 to early 1926, by Messrs Laing and Son of Carlisle, with an associated servants' quarters and a squash racket court.
Reasons for Designation
Vimy Officers' Mess, Servants' Quarters and Squash Court, Catterick Garrison, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* an early application to a military building in the C20 of the symmetrical style of English classical architecture of c.1700, a contrast to the style of Edwardian army buildings;
* its compact design was innovative and influenced the style of messes built for the British Army and Royal Air Force in the 1930s;
* built using good-quality materials and displaying a high standard of workmanship in its execution;
* the original plan form has been retained with many internal fixtures preserved, including much panelling and other carved work by Robert Thompson of Kilburn, one of the most important exponents during the interwar period of the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement;
* the contemporary servants' quarters and squash court have interdependent and closely aligned functions with the mess. The survival of the servants’ quarters is a rarity among military buildings nationally.
Historic interest:
* one of the first significant permanent post-First World War buildings built for the British Army, and one of the earliest at Catterick Garrison, the most significant addition to the British Army’s estate following the First World War.
Group value:
* it has a strong group value with other listed buildings at Catterick Garrison.
History
Catterick Garrison, south of Richmond, North Yorkshire, was known as Catterick Camp before 1973. It was the most significant addition to the British Army estate as a result of the First World War, comparable in significance to the establishment of Aldershot in Hampshire after the Crimean War. Robert Baden-Powell (1857-1941), during his tenure as Inspector-General of Cavalry, is believed to have first considered the site, originally an area of farmland, for a military training camp in 1908-1910 but it was only in late 1914 that it was identified for a temporary training camp to accommodate two Army divisions (40,000 men). The Scotton Hall estate was acquired in 1915 and construction was begun by March 1915 under the supervision of Colonel Simeon Hardy Exham (1850-1927), a retired Royal Engineer. The pre-existing road system was retained for the Camp, with Moor Lane (later Horne Road) and Scotton Road running roughly north-west to south-east, and Catterick and Hipswell Roads running roughly west to east. The camp was divided into Scotton Division south of Catterick road and Hipswell Division to the north. The first soldiers arrived in October 1915. In this initial phase of construction, which continued well into 1916, about 2,000 huts were built. These were constructed using a steel frame, either with walls of concrete blocks or metal formwork plastered in cement. Scotton Hall was used as a residence for senior military personnel. In 1923, partly as a result of the loss of British Army training camps in Ireland, the decision was taken to make the camp permanent. Hipswell Lodge, which had been used as quarters for senior officers, was acquired, along with its estate, from the Prior Warnesford family and another house, Pin Hill (demolished), also requisitioned for army use.
The contracts for the creation of the large, permanent camp was given by the War Office to Messrs John Laing & Son of Carlisle for a sum of £450,000, and to Messrs A & S Wheater Limited of London, for £600,000. The temporary huts were upgraded with brick facings and improved heating and sanitation. The Yorkshire Post reported in 1924 that 'The most advanced portions of the undertaking are the "R", "S", and "T" lines, lying beyond the Scotton Garrison Church. When finished, these will be taken over by the Royal School of Signals, which is to be moved from Maresfield to liberate land taken during the war'. This transfer, along with those of other units, prompted the construction of a series of impressive buildings in the second half of the 1920s, generally designed in a Wren or Neo-Georgian style. The architects of these buildings, apart from the Sandes Soldier’s Home, are not generally known but were perhaps designers employed within the War Office. The withdrawal of the British Army from the Rhineland in 1929 saw further expansion and redevelopment at Catterick through the 1930s, a phase known as the Second Reconstruction Plan, culminating in the construction of a series of large purpose-built ‘Sandhurst’ barrack blocks replacing the First World War hutting. Further extension took place during and after the Second World War. During the first two decades of C21, many of the earlier barrack buildings were demolished and replaced by blocks with 'single-occupancy' rooms as a part of the Single Living Accommodation Modernisation (SLAM) project, completed in 2018.
The Royal Corps of Signals had mostly moved up to Catterick by the end of 1925, with Vimy Officers' Mess being completed shortly afterwards at a cost of £36,000. Vimy Barracks was built specifically to house the Royal Corps of Signals, who were founded in 1920. The new Vimy Officers' Mess was designed to be an imposing structure, befitting the importance given to the role and status of this new Corps, with well-appointed rooms, and an entrance hall decorated with oak panelling by Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson of Kilburn, North Yorkshire, along with several pieces of furniture. It was situated to the west of Scotton Park, in an elevated position overlooking the Burrel Beck, and was the first major building built during the post-First World War reconstruction of Catterick Garrison. Its design was loosely inspired by the Queen Anne-style country houses of the late-C17 and early-C18 and is unlike the other messes that came before and after at Catterick Garrison; it was a one-off three-storey design, rather than the more usual two storey structures. The design of the mess presumably came from the Office of Works, although the architect’s name is unknown. At the same time as the mess was built, a small servants' quarters was built to the rear to accommodate visiting officers' servants. During the 1930s, the mess was known as the Signals Training Centre (STC) Mess. The Corps remained in residence at Catterick until 1994 when it moved its training regiments, 11th Signal Regiment (the Recruit Training Regiment) and 8th Signal Regiment (the Trade Training School) to Blandford Camp, Dorset. After being vacated, the mess became The Infantry Officers' Mess.
Robert Thompson (1876 to 1955) was a well-known wood carver and joiner who produced a wide range of work including: furniture, architectural items, church monuments, and fittings. From about 1920, he began to incorporate a carving of a mouse on each of his pieces. The carved mouse became his trademark and has led to him being known as the Mouseman of Kilburn and Mousey or Mouseman Thompson. Another typical feature of Thompson's work was the rippled surface produced by an adze on the surface of panels, as seen on the oak panels at Vimy Mess. The demand for his ecclesiastical and secular work steadily increased during the inter-war period and his Kilburn workshop expanded from ten craftsmen in 1928, to thirty by the middle of the following decade. Many of his ecclesiastical commissions were for church interiors in Yorkshire and examples of his work can be seen at St Mary the Virgin, Bridlington and St Mary's, Beverley, among others. Robert Thompson died in 1955 and was buried at the Church of St Mary, Kilburn.
Details
Officers' Mess, completed late 1925/early 1926, built in a restrained Queen Anne style by Messrs Laing and Son of Carlisle, with an associated servants' quarters and a squash racket court.
MATERIALS: steel girder frame clad in brown/blue and orange/brown bricks laid in English bond, with contrasting red gauged brick lintels. Portland stone ashlar porch, ground-floor window surrounds, quoins, string course, and dressings. The windows are uPVC double-glazed with a similar appearance to that of the original timber fenestration. Hipped Welsh slate roof with grey ridge tiles, slender brick chimneystacks with ashlar cornices and yellow terracotta chimney pots, and a mixture of cast-iron and plastic rainwater goods. Flat asphalted roofs to the ablution blocks.
PLAN: L-plan, three-storey structure aligned north-east to south-west, with single-storey domestic services to the rear forming a courtyard. The secondary steel fire escape* and modern extractor equipment* at the rear are not of special interest and are excluded from the listing.
EXTERIOR:
FRONT ELEVATION: the main (south-east) elevation is a symmetrical 15-bay three-storey elevation, with a continuous slightly projecting first-floor ashlar stringcourse, flush alternating ashlar quoins to the corners, and painted moulded eaves cornices with modillions. The wider central bay projects out from the wall line; the brick corners formed into lesenes or pilaster strips with stylised ashlar plinths and capitals supporting a broken pediment formed by the deflection of the eaves cornice. It has an ashlar Tuscan-style pedimented entrance porch to the ground floor raised on a low brick plinth, with a broken pediment that lacks a tympanum and rests on a carved architrave and is lit by a suspended lantern attached to its soffit. The pediment is carried on a narrow cornice, frieze and architrave, supported by two Tuscan-style columns that are raised on a three-step podium. The main entrance has double half-glazed panelled timber doors, with a semi-circular nine-light fanlight, set within an ashlar surround beneath a canted tripartite ashlar keystone, and is flanked to each side by a Tuscan-style pilaster and a tall narrow window which has an ashlar drip mould and sill, set beneath a short side projection of the cornice.
The central bay is flanked to each side by seven brick-built bays, which are raised on a brick plinth with ashlar dressings. The ground floor of each bay is lit by a single tall multi-light segmented uPVC window set in an ashlar shouldered architrave, with a tripartite keystone. The first and second floors of each bay have paired 10-light uPVC casement windows; those to the first floor have flat gauged brick lintels with plain ashlar keystones, whereas those to the second floor lack a keystone.
SIDE ELEVATIONS: the two-bay north-east elevation comprises a three-storey return bay of the main range with a single ground-floor window with a brick apron, and two windows to the first and second floors set beneath the hipped northern end of the main roof. The narrower single-bay side elevation of the flat-roofed northern ablutions block is attached to the rear and has a similar appearance, although it is set back slightly and is built of orange coloured bricks. A single-storey, flat-roofed, two-by-three-bay former billiard room is attached to the rear of the ablutions block.
The south-west elevation comprises a one and a half bay return of the main elevation, with an attached, secondary but near contemporary single-storey, 'T'-plan, flat-roofed bar extension that aligns with the internal ground-floor axial corridor. It is lit by similar windows to those of the main elevation and has one chamfered elevation, adjacent to a double doorway with a bracketed flat canopy. The three-storey, four-bay, 'L'-plan south wing is built in orange/brown bricks with a hipped slate-clad roof and is attached to the rear of the main range return. This wing has three windows per bay to the first and second floors; the floors are stepped down in height, resulting in narrower single ground-floor windows that lack ashlar architraves and keystones. The northern return of the south-west wing is occupied by the kitchens, services, ablutions, and latrines. It has flat roofs that step up over the ground, first and second floors, with a hipped slate roof over the central area. A sub-rectangular-plan, single-storey, flat-roofed kitchen store projects to the rear, forming the northern side of a service courtyard, set within the re-entrant angle between the south-west wing and the main range. A similar former domestic coal store and latrine range projects from the right-hand side of the stair hall at the rear of the main range. A light well on either side of this range allows natural light into a cellar with three beer and wine rooms, and a boiler room.
REAR ELEVATION: the rear (north-west) elevation is similarly detailed to the side elevations with the same style of brickwork and windows, although the majority of these are narrower water closet windows. A gabled central range housing the stair hall and the main staircase projects out from the centre. A flat-roofed two-storey central projection has an off-set oculus to the ground floor, beneath a first-floor bay window that has a segmental head and is supported by an ashlar sill and two brackets. The flat roof backs onto the gabled elevation that has asymmetrical windows to the second floor and an oculus in the apex. The central range is flanked to either side by rectangular-plan, three-storey ablutions and latrine blocks with stepped flat roofs.
INTERIOR: the ground floor is entered by a central entrance porch leading into a central vestibule with dark oak half-glazed panelled doors with brass kick plates, and half-glazed side panels. The vestibule leads into a hallway with a white terrazzo floor and oak panelling by Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson that rises to the picture rail and is lit by brass chandeliers suspended from the ceiling. The hall is heated by a pair of carved oak radiator cabinets with carved Greek-key ventilation panels, and by a Tudor-style ashlar fireplace with a wrought-iron grate. The fireplace is set into a panelled chimney breast, and has a carved overmantle displaying linen-fold panels and the crest of the Royal Corps of Signals.
The rear of the hallway is occupied by the main well stairs, with painted concrete steps that have moulded ends and open string risers, a ramped timber handrail carried on a painted cast-iron balustrade of open panel balusters displaying a central wreath motif, and a square timber newel terminal on three thick wrought-iron posts, raised on a curtail step. The first flight of the stairs has oak panelling up to the picture rail and the panelling then carries on at dado height after the second landing. The staircase is also panelled at it base, with two small telephone booths lit by borrowed light from a central oculus, via half-glazed side panels and by small circular windows in their doors, which are fitted with sinuous brass handles. At least ten signature 'Mouseman' Thompson mice carved in bas-relief can be found in the panelling of the hall and the right-hand axial corridor.
The axial corridor, which is divided by modern fire door partitions* (the partitins are not of special interest), runs the width of the building and is aligned north-east to south-west, giving access to the principal rooms by tall half-glazed doors with obscured glazed rectangular fanlights. To the left, the corridor gives access to the mess room (dining room), service stair, mess office, pantry, servery, and to a flight of stairs that descend to a basement occupied by a central heating boiler room, beer store, and wine cellar. To the right, the axial corridor gives access to an ante room with a folding partition screening a billiards table, a bar, a meeting room (Crimea Room, former billiards room) and to the ground-floor lavatories. The mess room has oak panelled wainscoting, and projecting wall piers that support encased beams and coved ceiling panels. The western end of the room has a raised stage, allowing it to be used for addresses and/or entertainments (this area is marked as ‘Band’ on an original site plan). The left-hand end of the axial corridor gives access via a small vestibule to a secondary mess bar; it also leads into the west wing, with the kitchens and service area to the rear, top lit by panelled skylights. The smaller ante rooms towards the north-eastern end of the axial corridor are similar in style to the mess room and have polished steel fireplaces set in Arts and Crafts-style oak overmantels and have projecting wall piers that support encased beams and coved ceiling panels. The meeting room (former billiards room) to the rear is interconnected to the bar by a large open doorway and it has a central rectangular parquet floor.
The first- and second-floor axial corridors are accessed from the main staircase and by a service staircase in the west wing, and are subdivided by modern fire door partitions* (the partitions are not of special interest). The corridors serve bed-sitting rooms, with several bathrooms and water closets to the rear with modern sanitary ware. Each bedroom has cornicing, timber room dividers with octagonal decorative shafts, a fitted wardrobe, and a small sitting room. The moulded architraves to the first-floor bedroom doors are more heavily moulded than those of the second floor, suggesting a hierarchy of rank between different officers.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES
Servants' Quarters, late 1925 to early 1926, architect unknown.
MATERIALS: orange/brown bricks laid in English bond, painted galvanised steel windows and a hipped slate roof.
PLAN: rectangular-plan, single-storey structure, aligned north-east to south-west.
EXTERIOR: the irregular four-bay main elevation faces south-east. The entrance is situated in the second bay from the left and has a half-glazed panelled timber door that has four stacked horizontal glass panels and is set beneath a flat canted red rubbed-brick lintel. The remaining three bays are occupied by galvanised-steel windows set in timber window frames, with ashlar sills and rubbed brick lintels. The window to the left has a pair of eight-light side-opening casements with a central mullion, while the other windows are 12-light horizontal, centre-swivelling casements. The southern end wall also has paired casements; the irregularly set windows in the rear elevation are like those of the main elevation with a paired casement in the right-hand bay, and the northern end wall has three narrow frosted glass windows. The hipped roof is clad in Welsh slate with dark grey ridge tiles and lead flashing; it has deep eaves and is drained by a mixture of cast-iron and plastic rainwater goods.
INTERIOR: the entrance leads into a plain plastered axial corridor that runs along the south-east wall; the southern end of which gives access to a common room. Three doorways in its north-western wall give access to three simple bedrooms, and the northern end gives access to an ablutions area comprising a urinal, water closet and bathroom.
Squash Court, built about 1927, architect unknown.
MATERIALS: orange/brown bricks laid in stretcher bond, with artificial slate and plastic-coated corrugated sheeting roofs.
PLAN: square, double-pile plan, with projecting porch and plant room.
EXTERIOR: a two-storey, four-bay, double-pile structure, with a secondary gabled porch against the main (south-east) elevation, a lean-to plant room against the north-east wall, and a pair of gablet roofs separated by a central valley. The former panelled skylights of the roof have both been clad in plastic-coated corrugated sheeting. The ground-floor of the main elevation is lit by three 12-light double casement windows with tile drip moulds and sills, and the first floor is lit by four similar windows. All the other walls are blind.
INTERIOR: the interior has plain painted brick walls. A narrow ground-floor corridor entered from the porch spans the building against the south-east wall, with doorways in the north-west wall giving access into the two parallel squash courts. A timber winder staircase with a square newel post and a plain splat balustrade rises up into the eastern bay, giving access to a first-floor viewing gallery that spans the rear of both courts.
* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas ) Act 1990 ('the Act') it is declared that the modern steel fire escape, modern extractor equipment at the rear, and internal fire door partitions are not of special architectural or historic interest, however any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or interest may still require Listed Building Consent and this is a matter for the Local Planning Authority to determine.
