Crown Court And Railings Attached To Front

Crown Court and Railings, York Castle Precinct

This court house, now Crown Courts, was built between 1773 and 1777 to an original design by John Carr. The building has undergone several subsequent alterations and extensions: the rear was altered and a new range added by Peter Atkinson junior and Matthew Philips between 1818 and 1821; the interior was remodelled and a podium added around 1835 by G. T. Andrews and P. F. Robinson; a further rear extension was added in 1870, and an extension at the right end in 1937. The building was restored in 1991.

The exterior is constructed of sandstone ashlar, partly on a limestone basement, with the rear range built of brick rendered in Roman cement with Roman cement mouldings. The roofs are of slate with brick, rendered and stone stacks, and cupola roofs of lead. The podium is of dressed stone with painted cast-iron railings.

The front elevation presents two storeys with one-storey extensions at each end, all set on a low podium. A pedimented tetrastyle portico in antis is flanked by four-bay ranges with distyle in antis end bays and single bay extensions. The portico and columnated bays are executed in a giant Ionic order and break forward slightly. A broad flight of steps leads up to the podium, with a second flight ascending to the raised podium before the portico. Basement openings sunk in the podium behind iron grilles have flat chamfered lintels. Central double doors within the portico are flanked by round-headed radial-glazed sashes beneath radial fanlights and an arcaded hoodmould on a moulded impost band. In the returns are additional glazed panelled doors with wrought-iron grilles and festooned scrolled overthrows beneath tall radial-glazed fanlights, set in round-arched openings of radiating voussoirs. Three radial glazed oculi in moulded surrounds light the first floor, above a band of guilloche moulding. Ground floor windows in the flanking ranges are round-headed and radial-glazed; those in the end bays are stepped back beneath a moulded round arch on moulded imposts. First-floor windows are of six panes, with radial glazed oculi in the end bays. A first-floor band of guilloche moulding runs across the facade, continuing behind the attached columns in the end bays. A moulded modillion eaves cornice sits beneath a balustraded parapet supporting a lion and unicorn couchant on either side of the pediment. The pediment tympanum encloses relief carving of crossed fasces and a staff bound with laurel, crowned with the figure of Justice bearing scales and a spear. The parapet is terminated by pedestal blocks carved with garlands and supporting garlanded urns. The left extension has double doors of eight flush panels in an architrave with a moulded cornice hood and plain parapet broken by blind balustrade. The right extension matches, with a 24-pane sash window beneath a cornice in place of a door.

The rear elevation comprises a basement and two storeys across a twelve-bay main range with full-height polygonal bays in the centre and at the right end. Further right is a one-storey, three-window wing on a basement; to the left is a two-storey two-window extension. The right end of the main range is obscured by a one-storey seven-bay extension on the basement. The basement of the main range is blind except for a barred door in the centre polygonal bay and six-pane sash windows in the right end bay. Ground-floor windows in the polygonal bays are 15-pane sashes, and first-floor windows are 12-pane sashes. To the left of the centre bay, ground-floor windows are 12-pane sashes and first-floor windows are 16-pane sashes; to the right, first-floor windows are 12-pane sashes. The wing at right has barred lunettes in the basement and 15-pane sashes on the ground floor. The extension at left has a blind basement and two sash windows in shallow architraves on the ground floor. The front extension has rusticated quoins, barred round-headed windows in the basement beneath an arcaded hoodmould of keyed arches on a moulded impost band, and 12-pane sashes on the ground floor. Windows throughout have raised architraves beneath floating moulded cornices; on both floors are sill bands, stepped down beneath taller windows, with moulded sill blocks on the ground floor but without sill blocks on the first floor. All parts have a moulded cornice below a low plain parapet.

The basement contains re-used cell doors of wood strengthened with cast-iron plates.

The entrance hall and flanking court rooms rise through two storeys. The side and front walls of the entrance hall are arcaded on the ground floor with lunettes beneath a continuous round-arched hoodmould on moulded imposts. The upper part is lit by oculi in moulded surrounds. A frieze of lion masks set in marigolds alternates with triglyphs below a dentil cornice enriched with a band of flutes and roundels. An inserted single-storey screen concealing staircases has a central opening between sunk-panel pilasters with paired console capitals, and flanking arcades of round-arched windows surmounted by a balustraded gallery. The staircase is a combination of dogleg and flying staircases with slender cast-iron balusters and a moulded ramped-up handrail. At the rear of the stairhall are two inserted doors in architraves with moulded dentil cornice hoods.

Court I, to the left, has its lower walls covered in raised and fielded panelling, with the upper part behind the bench in moulded plaster panels. Twelve Corinthian columns, painted to resemble marble, carry a dome lit by a radial glazed lantern. The dome entablature has a frieze of alternating foliar paterae superimposed on crossed fasces and falchions, and triglyphs, with an enriched dentilled cornice. The dome has plaster moulded panels between rib bands of guilloche enclosing rosettes. The bench is flanked by doors of six raised and fielded panels in architraves with fluted friezes and dentil cornice overdoors. A fluted frieze continues across the gallery fronts beneath cast-iron balustrades of crossed fasces with lion mask medallions. The main gallery has side balustrades of slender bobbin balusters and newels, with a frieze and cornice similar to that in the entrance hall, and circular windows at the rear in moulded surrounds. Nineteenth-century court furniture and benches are present, and on the bench canopy is a carved Royal Arms of 1840, initialled IW for John Wolstenholme.

Court II, to the right, has decoration and fittings that largely repeat those of Court I. Variations include the dome entablature with a frieze of festooned pelta and torch standards, and a dentil cornice enriched with egg-and-dart. The dome ribs are bands of guilloche enclosing palmette decoration, terminating in rosettes, with an edging of fans and festoons. The gallery balustrades are of bulbous balusters. Four original six-panel doors are recessed in deep panelled reveals beneath fluted friezes and enriched dentil cornice overdoors, one with rosette paterae. The doors are of two or three panels with deep reveals on the outer side, flush panelled.

A room in the centre of the main rear range has a moulded dado rail and panelled window cases, one of which is altered to a doorway. A plain marble fireplace with panelled pilaster jambs and a cast-iron basket grate by Carron is present. The passage to the rear is divided by two screens of plain pilasters with grooved console capitals, sunk-panel friezes, and dentil cornices; doors are half-glazed and panelled between glazed side lights, all with embossed glass. Doorways off the passage have panelled reveals.

The High Sheriff's Room has two marble chimneypieces with plain surrounds and mantelshelves on console brackets, panelled window reveals, and a deeply coffered ceiling with beam soffits moulded in bands of pierced guilloche enclosing rosettes, pierced foliate bosses, and a foliate central rose. One room retains a fireplace with a fluted surround and angle roundels.