County Buildings and Judges House
COUNTY BUILDINGS AND JUDGES HOUSE, MARTIN STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1298178
- Date first listed:
- 17-Dec-1971
- List Entry Name:
- County Buildings and Judges House
- Statutory Address:
- COUNTY BUILDINGS AND JUDGES HOUSE, MARTIN STREET
Have you got a photo to share?
Join the Missing Pieces Project. We want you to share your photos and memories.
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 1999-11-07
- Reference:
- IOE01/01825/31
- Rights:
- © Mr Chris Ayre. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1298178
- Date first listed:
- 17-Dec-1971
- List Entry Name:
- County Buildings and Judges House
- Statutory Address 1:
- COUNTY BUILDINGS AND JUDGES HOUSE, MARTIN STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- COUNTY BUILDINGS AND JUDGES HOUSE, MARTIN STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Staffordshire
- District:
- Stafford (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SJ 92267 23264
Details
STAFFORD
SJ9223SW MARTIN STREET 590-1/10/69 (North side) 17/12/71 County Buildings and Judge's House (Formerly Listed as: MARTIN STREET County Buildings) (Formerly Listed as: MARKET SQUARE (East side) Shire Hall)
GV II*
County offices, and Judge's house formerly listed with Shire Hall (qv). Judge's house 1799-1802 by Joseph Potter Snr, extended by 1879; offices 1893-5, extended to left in 1899, by HT Hare. Ashlar with parapeted roof; offices of brick with ashlar dressings; graduated slate roof with several stacks. EXTERIOR: Judge's house of 3 storeys, 6-window range with higher 3-window range to right. Rusticated ground floor and top cornice with blocking course. 6-bay range has round-headed arches to loggia, those to right with triple keys and 2 cartouches to spandrels; cast-iron railings with decorative finials, and 2 gates; left part of ground floor has 2 windows with 12-pane sashes and entrance to left end with overlight and side lights to 5-fielded-panel door; part to right, altered 1890s, has 3-light ovolo-mullioned-and-transomed windows with leaded glazing flanking entrance with architrave, triple key and segmental pediment over paired half-glazed doors; right end has 3 double-chamfered cross-mullioned windows. 1st floor has 3 windows with 12-paned horned sashes and 5 with 4-paned sashes and one blind window to centre of right end; similar 6-pane sashes to 2nd floor. Facade to Martin Street (covered for cleaning during survey and previous description partly used): in Baroque revival style with Arts and Crafts influences. Asymmetrical facade of 2 storeys with attic; 8-window centre with projecting wings under hipped roofs, lower gabled pavilion to right end with carriage archway. Top dentilled cornice. Entrance has architrave and segmental pediment with small lights and relief carving. Ground floor has square windows with stepped voussoirs; 1st floor centre has double-transomed mullioned windows with leaded glazing; wing to right has Venetian window with flanking round windows; dormer windows have lead finials. Wings have cupolas with copper cladding. INTERIOR: very rich main spaces with panelling, plasterwork by F.E.E. Schenck, original light fittings etc. Entrance hall has 5-panel doors with segmental hoods, fireplace with Ionic columns and painted overmantel with county arms, coffered saucer dome. Stair leads up to barrel-vaulted landing with flanking groin-vaulted passages with fluted piers with half-columns and bowed timber balustrades. Corridor leads to council chamber, square with central dome, marble Composite columns, niches with figures by W Aumonier, 2 Venetian windows with Ionic pilasters and rich relief work over, other 2 sides have recesses and round windows over, pedimented entrances and contemporary fittings. Oak Room has panelling and fireplace to each end with architraves, pulvinated friezes and cornices, de Morgan style tiles, plaster modillioned cornice and coved ceiling with round windows. White Room has barrel-vaulted ceiling and white painted panelling with Ionic pilasters over dado, fireplace with egg-and-dart moulding, paired marble columns and fluted frieze and cornice, top entablature and bull's eye windows to ends. Library has Ionic corner and saucer dome on pendentives with rich relief plaster work, book cases have cartouches and festoons over, fireplace has de Morgan style tiles and enriched overmantel with painting. Ground floor has groin-vaulted corridor with entrances with eared architraves and fielded-panelled doors with roundels over. A very good example of late C19 civic building retaining complete interior spaces; one of Stafford's best public buildings. The Judge's House was listed, (as part of Shire Hall), on 16.1.51. (Buildings of England: Pevsner N and Nairn J: Staffordshire: London: 1974-: 244; Victoria County History of Staffordshire: Greenslade MW: A History of Stafford: London: 1979-: 202).
Listing NGR: SJ9223723279
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 384018
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Stafford, (1979), 202
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Staffordshire, (1974), 244
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 22:09:27.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.