Inner London Sessions Court

Details

SOUTHWARK

TQ3279 NEWINGTON CAUSEWAY 636-1/5/539 (South East side) Inner London Sessions Court

II

County of London Sessions Court. 1914-1921, extended 1954-58. By WE Riley, LCC chief architect. Extension to south-east by Hugh Bennett and Edward Sheppard, also for the LCC. The 1974 block to the east by Bennett is not of special architectural interest. MATERIALS: brick structure faced with Portland stone and roofed with grey Westmorland slate. 1950s extension of brick and reinforced concrete. PLAN: main entrance elevation presents a shallow U-shaped plan. U-shaped plan to the left return. EXTERIOR: rusticated ground floor, 1st floor treated as a 'piano nobile', the windows set under cornices or segmental pediments. Second floor treated as attic. Main entrance elevation; the corners articulated by quoins and the forecourt filled in at ground-floor level by a rusticated range of authentic design, at the very centre of which a round-arched and heavily keyed entrance under a broad pediment. On left return the design is less ornamented but still the grand civic manner found on the main elevation; at the centre a trio of windows under cornices and pediment as on the main elevation. Rusticated ground floor repeated. INTERIOR: many grand interiors of authentic design, including public hall at the main entrance, which is a double-height rectangular hall with segmental barrel-vaulted roof and wall piers; wood gallery to 1st-floor stairs. Courts 1 and 2 on a square plan with Diocletian windows and domes to the rear, on either side of centre axis. Committee rooms and offices, many of which have handsome wood panelling; corridors with segmental barrel-vaults and other original decorative finishes. Of special interest is the early C17 chimneypiece in the Justice's Room. The new courtrooms, Nos 3 and 4, panelled in light coloured oak with red leather seat coverings; geometric canopy above judge's throne; many authentic features and finishes intact. The hall between the 2 courtrooms also intact, its floor a lively abstract pattern; this room also contains a dramatic steel and timber 'helicoidal' staircase that gives access to the consulting rooms on the 1st floor.

The exterior bears carved panels executed by R Bentley Claughton in 1956, next to the JP's entrance in Harper Road, where they had their own car park and walled garden. Claughton also carved the Coat of Arms in the main block of the Sessions House. HISTORICAL NOTE: a court stood on this site since 1791, when the Surrey County Sessions House designed by George Gwilt the Elder was erected. Later additions of 1853 and 1870-80. Following the Local Government Act of 1888, the connection between the Newington Sessions House and the County of Surrey was broken. After meetings in both Newington and Clerkenwell, the LCC decided to build a special structure on the Newington site. Originally the main block flanked by 2 wings formed an architectural approach from the Causeway. Demolished in c1923 to make way for ventilation shaft for the Northern Line. The centre block remains as Riley designed except that the courtroom in the centre used for civil proceedings was cleared to make access for the new courts in 1958. One of his last works for the Council. After bomb damage of 1941, an extension comprising 2 new courtrooms was planned. (The Architect's Journal: Mason P: Historical Note on the Inner London Sessions Court: 1921-; The Municipal Journal, 4 March 1955; The Builder, 1914 (1); The Builder, 12 September 1958).





Listing NGR: TQ3222379421

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

471142

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
The Builder in The Builder, (1914)
The Builder in 12 September, (1958)
The Municipal Journal in 4 March, (1955)
Mason, P, The Architects Journal in Historical Note On The Inner London Sessions Court, (1921)

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