Description

KESWICK

NY 2623 BANK STREET
887/1/10004 Police station and Magistrates Court
07-AUG-00

GV II

Magistrates Court and Police Station. 1901-2, with minor late C20 alterations By the Cumberland County Architects Department. Borrowdale rubble slate walling with Cumbrian Red Sandstone ashlar dressings . Coped gables, tall square gable stacks and Westmorland slate roof coverings, laid to diminishing courses. Severe Vernacular Revival style with some Classical detailing.
PLAN: Linear arrangement of buildings along street frontage, with the Court Building to the north-west and Police Station to the south-east.
FRONT (north-west ) ELEVATION: Stepped range of buildings, with single storey L-shaped courthouse to left. Wide gable to street, incorporating tall Venetian window to centre. To the right, principal entrance set within shallow porch, with wide segmental pediment carried on massive bracket to left and tapered square column to right. Further right,2 single light openings and a 2-light window, all with flush ashlar surrounds and undivided sash windows. Right hand end links with police station. This is of 2 storeys and 3 bays, with a double fronted 3-bay section of domestic proportions to the left, with central doorway within quoined surround with shallow depressed arched head below dripmould. Flanking doorway are tall 3-light mullioned windows with flush ashlar surrounds above steeply -pitched gabled dormers. Next, a further 3-bay range of 2 storeys, set back from frontage, with 2 doorways, a 2-light dormer rising through the eaves, and a shallow 3-light window at eaves level. Advanced gable at right-hand end with former full width ground floor opening now infilled, and 3-light window above.
SIDE ( north-east ) ELEVATION: 6-bay range extends to south-east, with open porch enclosing doorway with Gibbsian surround approached by flight of 7 stone steps and enclosing 6-panel door with rectangular overlight. To the rear of this wing, a tall curved wall with plain flat copings encloses a rear yard.
INTERIOR: Courthouse retains a near complete contemporary interior, with canopied witness stand, magistrates bench, prisoners dock, recorders bench and public enclosure, all with square-panelled fronts. The police station retains cells with massive iron doors within moulded ashlar surrounds.
An early C20 courthouse and police station complex prominently sited and carefully detailed to create an imposing presence within the townscape, with good surviving interior detail.-

Listing NGR: NY2659123561

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26661457

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.

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