Coroner's Court

Coroner's Court, 29 Wood Street

Former council offices built in 1914–15 for Barnet Urban District Council, with a later extension to the rear. The building was designed by William Bartlett Chancellor, surveyor, possibly modifying an earlier 1913 scheme by Henry Arthur Cheers. It is constructed in a restrained English Baroque style.

The building is made of red brick with some burnt headers laid in English bond, with lighter red brick dressings and stone dressings. The roof is covered in clay tiles.

The plan is rectangular and two storeys high. The ground floor contains a vestibule with offices either side, leading to an entrance hall with a stair on the left and two further offices to the rear. The upper floor accommodates a council chamber and ante-room with additional offices to the rear.

The symmetrical north elevation comprises five bays. A stone plinth runs along the base. The centrepiece features a stone doorcase with attached Ionic columns and a broken-base segmental pediment bearing a carved relief coat of arms. The doorhead carries swept moulding and is inscribed 'BARNET UD COUNCIL OFFICES'. First-floor windows have recessed aprons. A timber modillion eaves cornice is broken by a semi-circular pediment with oculus. The doors are panelled. The hipped roof carries four tall chimney stacks—one to each side and two to the rear—with recessed semi-circular headed panels. All windows feature gauged brick arches; those on the front have keystones and are timber multi-pane sashes with exposed boxes. The west elevation includes a pair of keyed oculi lighting the upper-floor council chamber. A cupola crowns the roof.

Internally, a porch with timber glazed doors opens into a vestibule bearing wooden boards with names of civic dignitaries up to 1965; one records Barnet UDC, the other was relocated from the former borough offices of East Barnet UDC. An elliptical arch leads through to the entrance hall. A timber well stair with close-string and twisted balusters ascends from here. The council chamber is accessed through panelled double doors with moulded architrave. It features oak dado panelling, moulded plaster wall panels, and a deep coved plaster ceiling, with double doors opening to the ante-room. The ante-room is finished in similar manner. Most internal joinery is original. Lesser rooms contain simple chimneypieces but are otherwise without features of special interest.

Barnet Urban District Council was formed in 1894 (then in Hertfordshire). A design competition was held in 1913, won by Henry Arthur Cheers, who designed numerous public buildings. However, William Bartlett Chancellor of Lichfield was selected as surveyor in 1914 and produced the plans for the final scheme. Following the 1965 merger of Barnet UDC with four neighbouring boroughs into the London Borough of Barnet, the building became a registry office.

This building is of special interest as a handsome, well-detailed municipal building in the neo-Baroque style. It is one of only a few unaltered surviving examples of the smaller purpose-built local government headquarters constructed to serve the expanding suburban fringes of late 19th and early 20th-century London.