Magistrates Court

Magistrates Court and Central Police Station, Derwent Street, Derby

A combined police station and magistrates' courts building constructed between 1932 and 1934, designed by Charles Henry Aslin, Borough Architect. The building is built in red brick with ashlar dressings and hipped Westmorland slate roofs in the Georgian Revival style.

The structure rises to 2 and 3 storeys, arranged on a hollow square plan with a corner entrance and a central 2-storey range containing cells and courts set diagonally within the perimeter.

The recessed corner entrance bay features 3 round arched doorways with enrichment and original bronze sliding gates. Above this are 3 windows, the centre one topped with a scroll pediment and the side windows with cornices, all fitted with wrought iron balcony railings. A further storey up are 3 square windows beneath a shallow pediment containing a cartouche. A pair of bronze standard lamps on plinths, linked to the boundary wall, stand outside.

The returns of the entrance block each have 3 windows per floor, with a keystone marking the central first floor window.

The Derwent Street frontage is symmetrical with 9 windows and features a central ashlar doorcase containing glazed double doors and overlight, reached by steps. The door and window above are flanked by smaller windows. An external boundary wall with dice and square piers topped with flat urns extends along this elevation.

The river frontage displays 17 windows arranged in a 7/3/7 pattern, with a projecting centre beneath a stepped parapet. Three first floor French windows have ashlar surrounds with segmental heads and a continuous balcony with wrought iron balustrade. An ashlar balustrade runs along the river's brink.

The acute angled corner between the Derwent Street and river frontages has a concave corner containing a 3-light ground floor window and above it a French window with ashlar surround, scrolled pediment and wrought iron balcony railing, all set beneath a stepped parapet. Relief panels are positioned in each return.

The Full Street front contains 10 windows arranged in a 3/3/4 pattern, similar in treatment to the Derwent Street elevation, with a comparable boundary wall though some urns are missing.

The rear elevation originally displayed 17 windows in a 6/5/6 arrangement with a central flat-roofed single-storey projection. This projection features a central recessed double door and overlight flanked by 2 windows, with a projecting centre above containing 5 windows and a keystone cartouche in the parapet. To the left is a symmetrical range with central doorway and flanking lights. To the right is a similar frontage altered in the mid-20th century by a bridge corridor on the first floor.

Windows throughout are original steel glazing bar casements. The building is surmounted by a coped parapet with urns.

The interior contains a ground floor entrance hall with dentillated cornice and a swept double stair featuring elaborate bronze balustrades, a shell ceiling and skylight to the stairwell. The main stairwell and first floor waiting area are lined with polished stone panelling and moulded cornices. An open-well rear stair of concrete and terrazzo with steel balustrade and curved wooden handrail serves the police station section.

Court 1 features dentillated cornices to its cross beam ceiling and retains mainly original fittings. Court 2, formerly the Assize court, has a patterned ceiling border and mainly original fittings. The former gallery and jury box, screened off around 1992 to form Court 4, display similar decoration. The adjoining jury room has a dado, chair rail and cross beam ceiling with skylight. The retiring room contains wood panelling, a polished stone fireplace and an enriched border to the panelled ceiling with original pendant lamps. The judges' room features similar panelling and a cross beam ceiling with skylight. Offices and corridors are plain with overlights to doors; a splayed skylight lights a first floor corner office. Court 3, on the ground floor, was adapted from an office around 1950. The cell block is largely original, lined throughout with white glazed brick.

This building forms an important element of a major municipal redevelopment scheme undertaken between 1932 and 1949.