Description

WOLVERHAMPTON

SO9198NW NORTH STREET
895-1/11/276 (West side)
16/07/49 The Law Courts
(Formerly Listed as:
NORTH STREET, Wolverhampton
(West side)
Town Hall)

GV II

Shown on O.S. map as Town Hall.
Town Hall, now Crown Courts. 1867-71. By E.Bates. Ashlar with
brick returns, slate roofs. 2 storeys with attic; 15 bays,
centre bay and 2 bays at each end project. French Renaissance
style. Rock-faced plinth, band over ground floor, giant angle
pilasters and top entablature with balustraded parapet; centre
bay has paired pilasters. Ground floor has segmental-headed
windows with keystones and sashes; 1st floor has round-headed
casement windows in recesses with flat pilasters, archivolts
and keystones, that to centre is Venetian window with enriched
spandrels and large keystone, bracketed balcony has panel with
town arms; frieze above is panelled. Segmental-headed central
entrance has architrave, keystone and lamp bracket with later
lamp, paired panelled doors. Central bay has clock to parapet
with segmental pediment and 6 flanking urns, domical vault
with iron cresting and 2 enriched bulls' eyes; flanking stacks
with cornices; end bays have round-headed dormer windows with
segmental pediments and flanking urns, pavilion roofs have
iron cresting and flanking stacks. Returns have similar
treatment to 1st 2 bays with blind windows, the rest of brick
with windows in round-headed recesses over basement due to
slope of ground, 3 bays to right return have large windows to
former council chamber. INTERIOR: octagonal entrance hall has
piers with Corinthian capitals, coved ceiling and lantern with
moulded surround; elliptical arch to entrance has coffered
soffit, wood balustraded balcony above; entrances to left and
right have panelled pilaster strips and friezes under consoled
segmental pediments and paired panelled doors; staircase leads
off hall to rear, square balusters to swept-out handrails,
statue of G.B.Thorneycroft, the 1st mayor, 1851, taken from
his grave in Wolverhampton Cemetery in 1874; other faces have
niches with coffered vaulting; floor has central panel of
encaustic tiles; No 2 court, formerly council chamber, has
panelled walls and fittings and coved canopy with central
domical vault to dais; stained glass to windows; Ionic columns
to balcony. Panelled Mayor's Parlour with ribbed ceiling, open
pedimented doorway and Ionic pilasters to overmantle of
fireplace.
(West KJ: Merridale Heritage Trail: Wolverhampton: P.10).

Listing NGR: SO9126198714

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The Law Courts at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26497537

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)