County Sessions House, Liverpool

County Sessions House

County Sessions House
Location William Brown Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Coordinates 53°24′37″N 2°58′44″W / 53.4102°N 2.9788°W / 53.4102; -2.9788Coordinates: 53°24′37″N 2°58′44″W / 53.4102°N 2.9788°W / 53.4102; -2.9788
OS grid reference SJ 350 908
Built 1882–84
Architect F & G Holme
Architectural style(s) Neoclassical
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated 14 March 1975
Reference no. 1063783
Location in Merseyside

The County Sessions House stands at the top of William Brown Street in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, to the east of the Walker Art Gallery. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.[1]

History

The courthouse was built between 1882 and 1884, and was designed by the Liverpool architects F & G Holme.[2] It functioned as a local county courthouse, and contained three courtrooms, chambers for barristers and judges, cells, and facilities for administration. It is no longer used for these purposes.[3]

Architecture

The building is constructed in ashlar stone on a granite base.[1] Although its appearance is Neoclassical, its style is described as being "late Victorian" and "derived from Renaissance Venice rather than ancient Greece and Rome".[2] It is built in a single storey with a basement, and its front has five bays. The basement is rusticated. At its front is a portico with eight paired columns, above which is a frieze bearing the inscription "COUNTY SESSIONS HOUSE".[1] The tympanum contains the arms of Lancashire County Council.[4] The windows have round arches and are flanked by Ionic pilasters. At the sides, five bays have similar columns, beyond which the building is plainer, in yellow brick and stone.[1] The interior is complex and richly decorated.[1][3] It contains an Italian Renaissance staircase.[4]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to County Sessions House, Liverpool.
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Historic England, "1063783 (1063783)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 10 July 2013
  2. 1 2 Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006), Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 300, ISBN 0-300-10910-5
  3. 1 2 Pye, Ken (2011), Discover Liverpool, Liverpool: Trinity Mirror Media, p. 23, ISBN 978-1-906802-90-5
  4. 1 2 Sessions House, Liverpool Architectural Society, retrieved 6 August 2011
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