Former Clerkenwell Magistrates Court and Attached Railings

Former Clerkenwell Magistrates Court and attached railings

This building at 78 King's Cross Road was designed by John Dixon Butler, Architect and Surveyor to the Metropolitan Police, and completed in 1906. The magistrates court replaced an earlier police station on the site, which dated from 1842.

The building is constructed of fine orange brick to the upper storeys with elaborate Portland stone dressings. The ground floor features banded stone rustication, and a Welsh-slate mansard roof with dormers sits above rendered and stone end stacks. The style is Free-Classical with strong Arts and Crafts and Queen Anne Revival influences.

The main structure rises to three storeys with basement and attic levels. The double-fronted elevation to King's Cross Road displays a four-window range in a 1:2:1 arrangement, while the return frontage to Great Percy Street shows an eight-window range (2:1:1:1:1:1:1:1) with windows of varied shapes. A single-storey former police station projects forward on the front right elevation.

The symmetrical main front is dominated by a striking central composition: a two-storey continuous stone bow window with paired sashes flanked by pilasters on each floor, set within a recess and crowned by attic sashes beneath a giant semi-circular pediment supported by oversized brackets. The entrance below is distyle in antis with dentilled cornice, balustrated parapet, and recessed doorway flanked by small windows approached by rising steps. Flanking the entrance are keystoned round-arched architraved casement windows with curved and radial glazing bars to fanlights. The outer bays carry 6/6 stone pedimented sashes to the first and second floors, with moulded stone sill bands at each level.

The side elevation to Great Percy Street is asymmetrical and lively in composition, with an oddly shaped recessed cut-away to the upper storeys at the front corner. Banded stone rustication to the ground floor extends only across the first two bays. The irregular fenestration includes 4/4, 6/6 and 9/9 sashes arranged asymmetrically, with window heights decreasing toward the top. Two ground-floor stone entrances feature prominent hoods and oversized brackets with panelled doors and oeil-de-boeuf overlights. Paired and bay windows punctuate the elevation, except for a small single 4/4 sash to the right of the first entrance, and the far right bay which has paired sashes beneath a projecting bow. The elevation is finished with dentilled stone cornice and balustraded parapet.

The interior retains fine details in the entrance foyer and courtrooms.

Fine attached iron railings are associated with the building.

John Dixon Butler succeeded his father as Architect and Surveyor to the Metropolitan Police between 1895 and 1920, designing over 200 police stations and courts. This building represents a good and characteristic example of his evolved style, which owed much to the work of Philip Webb and Norman Shaw, with whom he had worked. The design occupies a prominent corner site. Three other police stations by Dixon Butler—two in Tower Hamlets and one in Enfield—and another magistrates court by him in Westminster are also listed buildings.