The Guard House, c.1896, is the oldest surviving building of the Meeanee Barracks. The 1910 plan shows it simply as a square outline, labelled Guard House. A veranda is shown attached to the south side. The building was laid out as an inverted ‘T’ with enclosed yards at the north-west and north-east corners, presumably for prisoner exercise. The range to the south is made up of two large rooms, most likely the office and guard room, with a smaller room on the west side. This has no direct access to the main building and has its own doorway close by the main gate. It is possible this is a room for the sentries to use when the Guard House is closed for the night. The wing projecting north is the cell block, comprising four cells, two on either side of a broad corridor. The postcard of the Guard House shows that the south wall had three tall windows with hoppers above the level of the veranda. These were removed and replaced by smaller windows when the Guard House was converted to a Medical Centre in 1958-61.<1><2>
It is a single-storey building comprising an E to W aligned range and a N to S projection. It dates to c.1896 and was the original barracks Guard House although it was converted to a Medical Centre in 1958-61. The building is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond and has gabled roofs covered with asbestos tiles. The west wall is built directly into the barracks boundary wall. The gable ends have narrow wooden louvres on York stone sills, original ventilation for the building. The 1958-61 modernisation programme altered or removed all of the original fenestration. The south elevation in particular has been changed. Although the original cast iron veranda is intact, the tall windows visible on the early 20th-century postcard have been bricked in and any trace obscured by a concrete render. Metal-framed versions have replaced the original sash windows. One of the windows in the east wall has been converted to a doorway with a covered access leading to the adjacent building MCC3053.

This building is locally listed: http://www.colchesterhistoricbuildingsforum.org.uk/drupal/node/1529 [accessed 12/07/17]