RNAS Lee - The Airfield Research Group

4.3 4.37 4.3
Headquarters Coastal Area & Station Offices 110 110-112/31 110
112/31 (Eagle (Eagle (Eagle Block) Block) (116)
(116)
Built almost opposite the guardhouse at the main entrance to the station and facing onto Eagle
Road, is the offices of HQ Coastal Area. Its position and size of Eagle Block together with its
unique design reflect it s importance not only as the station offices, but also as the Headquarters
of Coastal Area which was its original function.
The layout is in three-storeys with a wing placed either side of the central block connected
together by three-storey corridors giving the building a characteristic ‘H’ shaped plan-form. Built
with a steel-framework supporting steel roof trusses and cased steel beams supporting
reinforced concrete floors. The rolled steel stanchions are cased in with brickwork and the
position of these on the exterior walls are shown by brick piers. Wall in-filling between stanchions
is of cavity wall construction.
Heating was provided by a boiler located in a basement in the central block which was served by
a central chimney.
The two wings have their own projecting entrance vestibules, with double doors giving access to
a hall and a central corridor with offices either side. The central block has a similar arrangement
of central corridor connecting with offices either side and also joins with the corridors in either
wing. When built, the ground floor of both the central block and the left-hand wing functioned as
the station offices while the ground floor of the right-hand wing and all subsequent floors were
used by Headquarters Coastal Area. Access to the upper floors is from a staircase located in the
left-hand wing and served by an entrance in the connecting corridor.
Office accommodation such as this built of brick clad steel-framing, common elsewhere, is a rare
feature on RAF stations. Together with its historical aspect, this is a very interesting building.
� NGR: SU 5603 0108 (116)
4. 4.38 4.
Officers’ Officers’ Mess Mess and and Quarters Quarters (Wardroom) (Wardroom) 1840 1840-47/33 1840
47/33 1852/33 1852/33 (118)
(118)
The as-built wardroom is not the original design for a new officers’ mess and quarters, but a
much larger one which replaced the idea of incorporating Westcliffe House into the new building.
The new design was for a detached three-storey structure, built on massive lines compared with
anything built elsewhere. The mess was large enough to accommodate a total of 100 members
and quarters were provided in the main building for 54 while a further seven officers could be
accommodated in Westcliffe House.
Designed to impress and reflecting its importance as the officers’ mess of the Coastal Area
Headquarters, the architect has incorporated some features of the adjacent Westcliffe House
including similar facing bricks and roof tiles. The use of a mock Tudor architectural treatment to
the central entrance is also in-keeping with Westcliffe House. This officers’ mess has a more
compact layout, than that of the later standard Bulloch design, as here the quarters are
incorporated into the main block creating a ‘U’-shaped plan-form. The traditional way had been
to place the officers’ quarters in two separate wings either side of the mess block with connecting
corridors. This was not suitable here. The architect has instead made the best use of a
restricted site and his design complements Westcliffe House in a very effective way.
A central entrance and vestibule opens into an oak-panelled hall. Here on one side of the
vestibule is the telephone room, while on the other side is an orderly room. Through the hall is a
central ‘T’-shaped corridor with an inner hall which receives natural light from an oak-framed top
light. The inner hall gives access to the mess room. The mess room at 66ft by 34ft and is very
impressive with a plaster beam barrel-vault ceiling, in the centre of which is a large diameter laylight.
The use of a barrel vault ceiling was traditional and is a feature of other RAF stations such
as Henlow, Northolt and Uxbridge. The walls are decorated with panelling and plasterwork and
the north wall has six large windows. The west wall has a band gallery for use when special
functions and events took place.
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