City Police Courts, Manchester

City Police Courts, Manchester
Minshull Street Crown Court
Type Law Courts
Location Manchester, England
Coordinates 53°28′43″N 2°14′06″W / 53.4786°N 2.2349°W / 53.4786; -2.2349Coordinates: 53°28′43″N 2°14′06″W / 53.4786°N 2.2349°W / 53.4786; -2.2349
Area city centre
Built 1868-71
Architect Thomas Worthington
Architectural style(s) Flemish Gothic
Governing body Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name: City Police Courts, Manchester
Designated 3 October 1974
Reference no. 388318
Location of City Police Courts, Manchester in Greater Manchester

The City Police Courts, now commonly called Minshull Street Crown Court, is a complex of court buildings on Minshull Street in Manchester, designed in 1867–73 by the architect Thomas Worthington.[1] The court was designated a Grade II* listed building on 3 October 1974.[2]

Police Courts showing the 1990s extension

The style is Worthington's trademark flamboyant Flemish Gothic with a massive corner tower and a chimney stack styled as a campanile. The courts are constructed in red brick with sandstone dressings and steeply-pitched slate roofs. There is a profusion of animal carving by Earp and Hobbs.[3] Worthington drew both on his rejected designs for the Town Hall, and on his earlier plans for Ellen Wilkinson High School, although the central tower he used there is placed asymmetrically at the Police Courts, due to the constraints of the site.[1] The interior court rooms "have been preserved with relatively few alterations."[1]

In 1993-96, the buildings were extensively modernised. The original courtyard was glazed over and an extension was added to the Aytoun Street side of the courts. The architect for these works was James Stevenson of the Hurd Rolland Partnership.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hartwell 2001, p. 172-3.
  2. ↑ "City Police Courts - Manchester - Manchester - England". British Listed Buildings. 1974-10-03. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  3. ↑ Hartwell/Hyde/Pevsner 2004, p. ???.

Sources

  • Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2004). Lancashire: Manchester and the South East. The Buildings of England. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10583-5.
  • Hartwell, Clare (2001). Lancashire: Manchester. Pevsner Architectural Guides. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0 300 09666 6.
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