Magistrates Court

Magistrates Court

This court house at Rosslyn Crescent was built between 1932 and 1935 by W.T. Curtis, the Middlesex County architect, and H.W. Burchett. Originally known as Wealdstone Police Court, it was renamed Harrow Magistrates Court during the 1950s. It is one of several suburban police courts designed by the noted Middlesex County Council architects' department and represents a particularly good example of the genre, notable for its dignified Neo-Georgian design and unusually intact interior.

The exterior is faced in red and brown brick with stone dressings. The principal south-facing facade is long and low, dominated by a projecting central pavilion articulated by brick pilasters. An entablature with stone architrave and cornice runs along the front and continues along the east and west sides. The central pavilion features an entrance that breaks forward with paired pilasters, stone columns in antis, and a stone pediment topped with a carved cartouche. End bays are marked by smaller pedimented and pilastered breaks. The east and west facades follow a similar design with projecting end bays, though the east side has four replacement windows. External windows throughout are wooden sashes.

The rear north facade rises to two and a half storeys above ground level, with a high-level basement and glass brick cell windows visible. A single-storey projecting central bay is present, flanked by two pedimented and pilastered entrances at the east and west ends. The eastern entrance is raised and served by a modern metal access ramp, with a round-arched window to its left. A further entrance on the northeast corner provides access to the basement cells. First-floor balconies occupy the northeast and northwest corners, with the latter reached by a projecting hexagonal stair tower.

The building is largely single storey on its south-facing side, with a second storey above the north range, creating rising floor levels towards the north end. The roofs are mostly hipped, with roman tiles on the four sides and plain tiles for the central court rooms and hall. A central stone cupola with balustrade sits on the front range. Two prominent brick chimneys are positioned at each end of the front range. The entrance hall features semi-circular metal lunettes, while the two principal court rooms have round-arched clerestory metal windows—three on each of their east and west sides. External doors are timber. The front boundary is marked by a low brick wall and metal railings.

The plan is rectangular with the front range projecting slightly at its east and west ends. The two principal courtrooms occupy the west and east sides of a central corridor running north to south from the entrance lobby on the south side (now partitioned at its north end). An internal corridor surrounds the courtrooms and leads to offices along the four external sides of the building. A third courtroom on the east side occupies what was formerly the magistrates' luncheon room and part of the east corridor. The caretakers' flat, which originally occupied the first floor of the north side and is accessed by a stair in the northeast corner, has been converted to offices. The basement accommodates cells, servicing, and storage.

Interior walls and ceilings are painted plaster, though some modern suspended ceilings have been added. Floors are carpeted. Original varnished or painted timber doors survive, including a segmental pedimented doorcase and double door to the central principal office in the north corridor. Original fireplaces remain throughout. The two main courtrooms are mirror images of each other and retain their original wooden fittings: seating, magistrate's bench, and dock, with only minor alterations. Both have high coved ceilings and decorative plasterwork, with painted carved wooden royal coats of arms above the magistrate's seat. Glazed screens have been added to these rooms. The central lobby features an arched roof and columns, topped by a domed roof light at its partitioned north end.