Royal Courts of Justice: West Green Building

The West Green Building is a courtroom building forming part of the Royal Courts of Justice, erected between 1909 and 1912 to the designs of Sir Henry Tanner. It is executed in Gothic revival style, closely matching the neighbouring earlier building designed by George Edmund Street.

The building is constructed of Portland stone with granite and red sandstone dressings, and is roofed in slate with lead fixtures. The structure comprises three floors with a semi-exposed basement, revealed on the south side due to the slope of the land, and an attic storey. Broad public foyer spaces on the ground and first floors span the full width of the building and are linked by a semi-circular staircase. The upper foyer provides access to the public galleries in each court, while the lower foyer gives access to the well of each court. The building is connected to the Main Building of the Law Courts by means of a lobby and open colonnade on its eastern flank.

The south front is symmetrical and replicates motifs seen on the west front of Street's main courtroom building. It features a decorative band below the first-floor windows, and at second-floor level a continuous shallow colonnade set within the thickness of the wall with red sandstone columns. The front comprises five bays with tourelles at the corners. At the centre is a wide projecting bay containing two and three-light windows and a gable with crocketed coping crowned by a statue of Henry II. To either side are bays with first-floor square oriels supported on buttresses, and flanking these are single lancets. The corner tourelles rise from first-floor level and are supported by columns at the corners of the building. Attic dormers have gabled heads, and prominent chimneys rise to the ridge.

The west flank features a projecting gable at right with tourelles to the corners, three windows to each floor with decorative bands and shallow colonnade as before. To the left are three paired lights at ground-floor level and three two-light casements to the second floor with a gabled and crocketed surround shared by all three. Further left is a square projecting bay and a stair turret. Parts of the turret and walling to its left were rebuilt with less structural decoration following war damage.

The east flank has a gable with tourelles at left, as seen on the west flank. Projecting to the right is a square staircase tower with four tiers of stepped windows climbing its side. To the right again is a colonnaded walkway with pedestrian openings at right and left, and three glazed and traceried windows to the centre. Above these, at first-floor level, are small lancets with carved surrounds. A central gable contains three further lancets and a small round window to the apex. The wall behind these is recessed and contains the arched upper windows lighting the side walls of the courtrooms.

The West Green building is joined to the main building by a link block in the form of an open colonnade at ground-floor level with three arches having moulded arches and shafts to the sides. At first-floor level are grouped lancets and niches supported by richly carved corbels and columns. To the north is a polygonal staircase turret with pointed roof.

The north face is largely blank and abutted by the Queen's Court building, which is listed separately. Two roofs run north-south above the courts, each with a flèche at the centre of the ridge, similar but smaller to that above the hall of the main courtroom building.

Internally, the building has broad corridors with flagged floors at both principal levels. Courtrooms feature wooden panelling to their lower walls and bare stonework above, with panelled ceilings and galleries to the rear facing the bench, as in the main courthouse. The semi-circular staircase has a wrought-iron balustrade with wreathed curtail and hardwood handrail. It is placed behind a screen of three arches at ground-floor level and has a vaulted ceiling with stone ribs. At the west end of the ground-floor corridor is a window with stained glass coats of arms.