Royal Courts of Justice: Queen's Court Building

Queen's Court Building is a law court constructed between 1965 and 1968 to designs by Eric Bedford (Chief Architect), G Stoddard (Senior Architect), and John Masson (Project Architect from 1968), all working for the Ministry of Public Building and Works.

The building has a reinforced concrete structure clad in Portland stone on all elevations, with purpose-made steel windows. It is rectangular in plan and rises five storeys, including two mezzanine levels. The main elevation faces north onto Carey Street. The eastern half of the south elevation extends slightly to create a direct link with the West Green Building (completed 1911-12).

The building is constructed around a three-storey core containing four courtrooms on each floor, surrounded by offices and other accommodation arranged on corresponding and mezzanine floor levels. The three-storey core is expressed externally through double-height floor-to-ceiling metal windows on the south elevation. The north elevation has eight window bays across five storeys, lighting the offices within, while the south elevation has five bays where the eastern portion joins the West Green Building. Each bay projects slightly with smaller panes of glass on the returns, creating boxed, articulated fronts.

The west elevation is smaller and more sparsely fenestrated, with vertical emphasis. The eastern front emphasises the verticality of a staircase tower at the north-eastern corner, which is massed and detailed to echo the staircase tower at the rear of the West Green Building. Wall heights and vertical panels are treated consistently to provide variety across the facades.

The ground-floor foyer has Perlato marble floors and polished Portland stone walls. Foyers on each court floor run the entire length of the building, providing space for litigants and barristers. Each foyer has a mezzanine-level balcony giving access to public galleries. The two upper foyers have similar arrangements providing access to courtrooms from the south side, which is naturally lit by large floor-to-ceiling windows formed as square bays with seating areas.

Behind the courtrooms, a judges' corridor runs the entire length of the building on each of the three courtroom floors, providing access to judges' offices and clerks' offices on four of the five floors. The floor levels in this section are offset from the courtroom floor levels, allowing the building to achieve five storeys overall.

Each courtroom has timber panelling and retains original wooden benches, bookshelves and other furniture. The dais front features three square blue panels with a gold outline motif. A Portland stone sound reflector with a gold-engraved royal coat of arms is built into the rear wall behind the dais. The public gallery to the rear of each courtroom has been blocked up on the courtroom side to provide additional storage.

A fibreglass sculpture titled 'Civilization: The Judge' (1962) by Siegfried Charoux is placed in the main concourse on the ground floor. This is one of a series of six sculptures on the theme of civilization, each commissioned for a specific London building. This cycle represents Charoux's best-known work.