| Photographs: | |
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| List: | Register of the National Estate |
| Class: | Historic |
| Legal Status: | Registered (21/03/1978) |
| Place ID: | 2015 |
| Place File No: | 1/12/036/0224 |
| Statement of Significance: |
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The Officers Quarters and related buildings at Victoria Barracks, dating from 1842, are historically highly significant.
The Quarters is one of the longest continuously occupied barrack buildings in Australia and, as part of Victoria Barracks, since its construction it has been an important element of the principal military establishment in NSW.
It has a lengthy association with Australian military history and with the history of Sydney and NSW.
(Criterion A.4) The Officers Quarters was the first building completed at Victoria Barracks. Further, it and its related structures reflect attitudes to military barrack planning and the provision of officer accommodation during the middle of the nineteenth century, and the way that accommodation needs have changed since then. (Criterion B.2) The Quarters reflects aspects of Victorian Regency design, and is an important example of a major officer barracks from the Victorian era. (Criterion D.2) Due to its materials, scale and design, the Officers Quarters is the finest and most important officers' quarters built in the nineteenth century in the Australian colonies, and is part of a very fine collection of NSW sandstone and slate roof buildings at Victoria Barracks. (Criterion F.1) The place's significance is heightened through its association with Lieutenant Colonel George Barney, who as the senior colonial military engineer played an important role in NSW during the period. (Criterion H.1) The Quarters has social significance for large numbers of army officers and their families who have lived in the building during many decades of use. (Criterion G.1) Possessing a commanding, elevated site, overlooking sports areas and the parade ground, and being very large in scale, the Officers Quarters is a visually very strong element within the Victoria Barracks complex. The Officers Quarters with sandstone walls and slate roof contribute to the aesthetic significance of the Barracks Precinct. (Criterion E.1) |
| Official Values: Not Available |
| Description: |
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History The Officers Quarters building is a major element of the Victoria Barracks complex. Victoria Barracks superseded the old barracks in George Street. By 1836 these old barracks were in a poor state and needed to be replaced. A new site, located on a high ridgeline south-east of the centre of Sydney Town, was chosen and it had a commanding outlook, useful from a military point of view. Work on the new barracks complex began in February 1841. The bulk of the workforce was convict, and there were also free tradesmen. Local sandstone was the major building material. The Officers Quarters was the first building to be completed in 1842. It was designed by Lieutenant Colonel George Barney, the Commanding Royal Engineer, who played a notable role in the colony during the period. He designed various harbour improvements, roads and bridges, convict sites, fortifications, played a civic role in Sydney, led the ill-fated Port Curtis settlement, was a member of the Legislative Council and finally Surveyor General of NSW. As built, the Officers Quarters comprised 40 officers' barrack rooms (single officers in the northern wing, and two family residences in the southern), plus the officers' mess and recreational rooms in the centre of the building, and a cellar underneath the centre section. Buildings to the rear included the mess kitchen, larder, scullery, mess-man's rooms, officer's kitchens, toilets and stables. Part of the building's importance today is the way it reflects attitudes to military barrack planning and the provision of accommodation for officers. Victoria Barracks accommodated the various British garrison regiments serving in NSW. The first to use the barracks was the 11th (North Devonshire) Regiment, followed by the 77th, the 12th, the 50th, and the last, prior to the withdrawal of British troops from the colony in 1870, was the 18th. After this time, the barracks was used by members of the small permanent military force that had been raised. During the twentieth century Victoria Barracks continued to be the army headquarters for NSW, including of course during two world wars and other conflicts. During the Depression when Royal Military College Duntroon moved temporarily to Sydney, it was accommodated in the Officers Quarters from 1931 to 1937. Then the army's fledgling Staff College used the building from 1938 until it moved to its present home at Fort Queenscliff in Victoria. During the Second World War, the Intelligence Corps staff occupied one wing of the building. Since the war, the building has been the quarters for married army officers, and it continues in this role today. The Officers Quarters not only has a very lengthy association with NSW military history but is one of the longest continuously occupied barrack buildings in Australia. Description The symmetrical Officers Quarters (building 13 within the Victoria Barracks complex) is designed in Victorian Regency style. It is constructed of sandstone walls, with a gabled slate roof (the roof, originally slate, was tiled at one time, but has been returned to slate). The building is over 100 metres in length, and is two storey. A double storey verandah runs the full length of the building (originally it did not run across the central pedimented bay). Verandah columns are cast iron and also act as downpipes; balustrades too are cast iron and like the columns were imported from Britain. In the centre of the Quarters is the pedimented projecting bay with fine carvings in the gable, depicting the crown, royal cipher and date. There are multiple chimney pots to the various chimneys. Some changes have been made during the the building's lifetime. An extension was built to the northern end before 1870, and the southern end has been extended as well. The verandah was extended across the central section probably between the late 1870s and late 1880s. In 1910 Wunderlich metal ceilings were placed in many of the rooms. Other changes were made, especially in regard to the room arrangement, so that now the original 40 room plan cannot be seen; some residences today are small, others extend over two storeys. The barracks chapel now occupies the former mess. Some original joinery and various other original internal features remain. The buildings at the rear (as described above, buildings 15, 16, 17) are single storey, the centre one having a large gabled roof. They have been converted to garages and storerooms. Due to its scale, design and construction, the Quarters is the finest and most important officers' quarters to be built in the Australian colonies during the nineteenth century, and as a major feature of Victoria Barracks is part of a group of the finest sandstone military buildings of the period in NSW. The Officers Quarters is located on an elevated site at the eastern end of Victoria Barracks, overlooking sports areas and the parade ground, and it forms a major visual element within the whole complex. |
| History: Not Available |
| Condition and Integrity: |
| The exterior of the Officers Quarters is generally in good condition, and the interiors are also good. As mentioned above in the Description, various changes have been made over time. These include, particularly, changes to the room plan and the use of the rear buildings. The more recent changes include, during the 1990s, refurbishment of kitchens and bathrooms, repainting of interiors, new floor finishes and, during 2000, repairs to the external stonework. Conservation works were still underway when the April 2001 conservation management plan was being compiled. (May 2001) |
| Location: |
| Including open spaces to north and west, excluding twentieth century brick and timber additions. Part of Victoria Barracks Precinct, Oxford Street, Paddington. |
| Bibliography: |
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Eric Martin and Associates, April 2001, Victoria Barracks, Sydney NSW, Conservation & Management Plan for 12 Residences.
Defence Housing Authority. National Trust of Australia (NSW), file. |
Report Produced: Wed Feb 10 02:42:07 2010