Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1703 to 1810

Summary from record TQ 76 NE 131 :

Large house, built 1703

Monument Types

• SITE (Post Medieval - 1703 AD to 1810 AD)

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
TQ 76 NE CHATHAM MAIN GATE ROAD
(East side) Chatham Dockyard
762-1/8/66
Former Commissioner's House
and attached staff
accommodation
24.5.71
GV I
Alternatively known as: Medway House, MAIN DOCK ROAD CHATHAM DOCKYARD
House, now offices. 1703, extended c1790. Brick with stone dressings, 4 large end stacks and slate hipped roof. Queen Anne Style.
PLAN: double-depth with right-hand single-depth extension.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, basement and attic; 7 -window range. A symmetrical front has stuccoed basement, plat bands to each floor, and a deep modillion eaves cornice all round. A mid-late C19 central timber porch bridging the basement area has a deep canopy and steps up to the entrance, with plate-glass sashes each side; rubbed flat brick arches to late C19 plate-glass sashes in exposed boxes, 2/2-pane second floor sashes, and five 2/2-pane dormer sashes.
Rear elevation has first-floor French windows and a mid (19 full-width cast-iron verandah with curved brackets and railings and steps down at the end. Right-hand single-storey, 3-window right-hand kitchen extension with parapet.
Right-hand staff accommodation and kitchen, a 2-storey; 8-window range, with timber doorcase 1 bay from the left with pilasters to an entablature and 6-panel door; cambered heads to 6/6-pane sashes in exposed frames, alternate blank openings on the second floor 2, 5 and 7 from the right.
INTERIOR: has a large full-depth entrance hall with full bolection-moulded panelling to a fine open well stair with 3 column-on-vase balusters per tread, curtail, and ramped moulded rail, richly moulded brackets, and a painted ceiling of Neptune crowning Mars by Sir James Thornhill, reported to have come from HMS Royal Sovereign, launched 1701; elliptical-arched doorways, left-hand ballroom has plaster panels, dado, fluted Corinthian pilasters, enriched bracketed cornices to doorways, and lavatory with Delft tiles and original basins. Full-width first-floor former office. Service stair to the right of the entrance at the front has turned balusters.
The staff accommodation has a dogleg stair with stick balusters from the entrance hall. HISTORY: the oldest intact building in any naval dockyard, distinguished by a remarkable complete interior. Built for Commissioner St Lo, the resident Commissioner, on the site of the earlier Commissioner's house, at the beginning of the early C18 rebuilding, possibly to his own -designs and- carried out by dockyard labour. The right-hand extension was for the Commissioner's staff and barge crew.
Part of a fine assemblage of Georgian dockyard buildings. (Sources: Collectanea Historica, essays in Memory of Stuart Rigold: Coad J: Medway House, Chatham Dockyard: Maidstone: 1981 ; Coad J: The Royal Dockyards 1690-1850: Aldershot: 1989: 55-63 ; MacDougall P: The Chatham Dockyard Story: Rainham: 1987: 58 ; The Buildings of England: Newman J: West Kent and the Weald: London: 1976: 205).
Listing NGR: TQ7588069088

Description from record TQ 76 NE 131 :
(TQ 7587 6907) SAM No. 216 [Medway House: scheduled]. (1) The Admiral Superintendent's House. Listed Grade II*. Built 1703. 3 storeys, attic and basement. red brick and gray headers. [Full architectural description]. (2) Requested by Commisioner St Lo in 1703. The oldest intact naval building in England. The kitchen wing was added in the later 18th century. (3) Now known as the Commisioner's House. Excavation of the Commisioner's Garden uncovered evidence for two diff phases of garden steps and at least four phases of activity which post date the earliest documentary evidence for the garden of 1698. Phase 1 C17: Garden in formal Anglo-Dutch style. Phase 2 1714: Garden laid out in simplified form. Phase 3 1755: Continuation of simplified style. Phase 4 1773: Steps changed, refurbishment of terrace. (4)

<1> English Heritage 1:1250 SAM location maplet (OS Card Reference). SKE41612.

<2> DOE (HHR) Borough of Chatham May 1971 (9) (OS Card Reference). SKE39910.

<3> Jonathan G Coad, 1989, The royal dockyards 1690-1850: architecture and engineering works of the sailing navy. No.1, Page Nos. 55, Plate Nos. 44-47 (Bibliographic reference). SKE6362.

<4> Lesley Howes, Archaeological Services, 1993, Commissioners Garden, Chatham Dockyard - Excavation Prior to Restoration 1993, The Commisioner's Garden, excavation prior to restoration, Lesley Howes, 1993. (Unpublished document). SWX6891.

<5> Coad, J., 1982, Historic Architecture of Chatham Dockyard 1700-1850 (Article in serial). SWX7760.

Sources and further reading

Related records